For private detective Fairlington Lavender a missing persons case is routine, especially in the unrestrained, neon subculture of South Miami Beach. The Case of the Yellow Flower Tattoo was everything but routine. In 2009 Lavender is contacted by Betsy Rodney, a retired New England school teacher who, along with her retired twin brother Richard, lives in a well ordered, predictable, and sheltered world of their own creation that resembles a 1950s lifestyle. This strange and peaceful existence is shattered when Richard disappears without a trace. In his attempt to locate Richard Rodney, Lavender dives into the nefarious world of South Beach nightlife and finds himself face to face with the Russian Mafia. The connection between Richard and the underworld confounds Lavender until he discovers a Russian girl named Yana who proves to be the link between the mob and Richards disappearance. Lavender digs deep; deeper than he should, in order to locate Richard and his mysterious new friend. His investigation techniques utilize 21st century technology along with 1940s era deception, subterfuge, and muscle. The Case of the Yellow Flower Tattoo takes the reader on a trip to South Beach and reveals the shadowy side of this city. Its classic Fairlington Lavender at his best.
Someone has broken into the safety depository at the Wilputte Bank & Trust, but nothing has been stolen. Nancy is called in to investigate—and meets a couple of robbers comparable to Bonnie and Clyde!
The former global CEO of Chanel charts her unlikely path from literature major to global chief executive, guiding readers to move beyond the confines of staid expectations and discover their own true paths, strengths, and leadership values. Driven. Shy. Leader. Wife. Mother. We live in a world of categories — labels designed to tell the world, and ourselves, who we are and ought to be. Some we may covet, others we may fear or disdain; but creating a life that’s truly your own, means learning to define yourself on your own terms. In Beyond the Label, Maureen Chiquet charts her unlikely path from literature major to global chief executive. Sharing the inklings, risks and (re)defining moments that have shaped her exemplary career, Chiquet seeks to inspire a new generation of women, liberal arts grads, and unconventional thinkers to cultivate a way of living and leading that is all their own. Through vivid storytelling and provocative insights, Chiquet guides readers to consider the pressing questions and inherent paradoxes of creating a successful, fulfilling life in today’s increasingly complex and competitive world. "Why should we separate art frombusiness, feelings from logic, intuition from judgment?" Chiquet poses. "Who decided you can’t be determined and flexible, introspective and attuned, mother and top executive? And where does it state standing unflinchingly in your vulnerability, embracing your femininity, won’t make you stronger?" Wise, inspiring, and deeply felt, Beyond the Label is for anyone who longs for a life without limits on who she is or who she will become.
Type: novella word count about 39,300 A new approach to the classic fairy tale. The story of Beauty and the Beast with a twist. What if the woman was the one turned into the creature? A realm of adventure and peril mingled with romance, friendship, magic, and sword and sorcery. Join Pluck in this novella series as she travels through a strange land of danger and intrigue as she finds allies and foes alike in her search to lift her monstrous curse. A story like Beauty and the Beast but with more action adventure and menacing darkness. On the planet Terra when recorded history began, Man coexisted with the Necroms. The dawn of this period was known as the First Age of Magic. In the Second Age of Magic, a war broke out between Man and the Necroms and by the middle of the Second Age, Man was nearly wiped from creation. Those who survived fled Wellspring and journeyed across the sea into the unknown, finding new homes and creating fortified domains. In the Third and final Age of Magic, Man established five island kingdoms: Commery, Fletching, Morgog, Swelldom, and Hort. For generations, the wars continued until an arranged marriage between the two strongest kingdoms of Commery and Morgog ceased the bloodshed, and so Man established the first Emperor and Empress and the tradition of Amalgamation. When both the Emperor and Empress of the Five Kingdoms died, the two strongest kingdoms' heirs married and crowned a new dynasty and so began the Age of Amalgamation. During this age, a witch placed a curse on a girl named Pluck. The curse had been meant for a boy, Prince Edward of Fletching, for stealing the Mystic Rose. Pluck transformed into a Necrom with the Kiss, Edward's first kiss, as her only redemption. The Kiss wouldn't be an easy task since showing her face meant her death. Pluck goes through her young adult life training to become a High Guard as a means to lift her curse but it never comes. What does the future hold for her? Beauty Of The Beast Epic Fantasy Action-Adventure Sword and Sorcery Dark Fantasy YA Novella Series: 1. BOTB1A: The Flower, The Sword, And The Kiss 2. BOTB1B: A Vow Of Love And The Challenge 3. BOTBC: Hearts Betrayed And Blood Revealed Pluck looks like a Necrom (tiger, lion, cheetah, and panther) an animal that should only exist in mythic fiction. Young adult Pluck grows into a heroic warrior and faces her curse as the Prince leaves their island in this high fantasy adventure. She will encounter new realms and magical realism lands full of supernatural races that should only live in legend or myth. This Beauty and the Beast like story will take her to a land of untold dangers. In this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, she must find a way to exist in her cat-like form that others see as hideous long enough to gain her freedom. A not so classic approach to a version of the famous fairytale. Sword and sorcery with a little romance thrown in will delight anyone who enjoys fairy tales as they journey with the Beast Woman. This book uses a mixture of YA fantasy to create a book for all ages to enjoy. Will she finally receive the Kiss in this romantic fantasy and finally end the hex that has kept her hidden away from everyone? Her survival depends on whether or not she can earn the trust of Edward and help him remember who she was to him as children. As young adults, they were close. She had been brought in to learn with him as a preteen and she went through schooling with him. All of that is in the past now... Now everything depends on the Prince and what he will do once he realizes what she truly is. What will he do once he sees the Beauty of the Beast? YA Beauty and the Beast retelling of the classic fairytale to delight and tickle hearts of all ages with friendship, love, romance, and struggle of good versus evil. In this reverse Beauty and the Beast retelling, Pluck as a child is cursed while saving her prince. She is transformed in a cat-like humanoid known as a Necrom, and Necroms are hated and feared by all humans. Pluck must hide away but as she becomes an adult there is a chance for her to receive the one thing that will lift her curse. A reversed retelling of Beauty and the Beast that spans a whole world. Discover new creatures and beings in this epic fantasy reversed retelling fairy tale.
At least thirty-seven per cent of male convicts and fifteen per cent of female convicts were tattooed by the time they arrived in the penal colonies, making Australians quite possibly the world's most heavily tattooed English-speaking people of the nineteenth century. Each convict’s details, including their tattoos, were recorded when they disembarked, providing an extensive physical account of Australia's convict men and women. Simon Barnard has meticulously combed through those records to reveal a rich pictorial history. Convict Tattoos explores various aspects of tattooing—from the symbolism of tattoo motifs to inking methods, from their use as means of identification and control to expressions of individualism and defiance—providing a fascinating glimpse of the lives of the people behind the records. Simon Barnard was born and grew up in Launceston. He spent a lot of time in the bush as a boy, which led to an interest in Tasmanian history. He is a writer, illustrator and collector of colonial artifacts. He now lives in Melbourne. He won the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books in the 2015 Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book of the Year awards for his first book, A-Z of Convicts in Van Diemen’s Land. Convict Tattoos is his second book. ‘The early years of penal settlement have been recounted many times, yet Convict Tattoos genuinely breaks new ground by examining a common if neglected feature of convict culture found among both male and female prisoners.’ Australian ‘This niche subject has proved fertile ground for Barnard—who is ink-free—by providing a glimpse into the lives of the people behind the historical records, revealing something of their thoughts, feelings and experiences.’ Mercury 'The best thing to happen in Australian tattoo history since Cook landed. A must-have for any tattoo historian.’ Brett Stewart, Australian Tattoo Museum
Two years ago, SAS hard man Simon Tabor got away with murder. Tabor prefers to call it retribution - retribution for the brutal rape and killing of his younger sister in a brothel on the Costa Del Sol. Now he's been unofficially drafted in by the Met police to help in a new murder enquiry. A young girl has washed up on an English beach with an intricate orchid tattooed on her groin - a similar design to one discovered on his dead sister. As Romanian brothel owners are ritually massacred around Britain, while in Spain millionaire orchid expert Dr Felix Blake nears the end of a sinister experiment in bioengineering, Tabor begins to see a pattern emerging. The pattern's key is the tattoo. The tattoo marks the death of mankind as we know it...
The Golden Girls meet Dirty Harry… From USA Today bestselling authors With a family wedding on the horizon, these feisty amateur sleuths vow to make it the shindig of the century in three short weeks with food and fun for all. Then they discover wedding guests all over Georgia are being swindled, and they can’t ignore it. They’re determined to uncover the truth, but posing undercover as wedding guests isn’t as simple as it seems, what with dodgy DJs and chicken dances. When the investigation leads to their own backyard, a thirty-year-old secret comes out, and the wedding plans start to crumble. Will they be able to tempt the bad guy out into the open, or will the wedding shenanigans ruin everyone’s happily ever after? Recipes included! (Originally published as Gimme Some Sugar in the Granny/G Team series) Although all books are stand alones, if you would like to read the entire series chronologically and follow the character development, the following is the correct order. The novellas are secondary to the main series. 1. In for a Penny 2. Collard Greens and Catfishing 3. Christmas Cookies and a Confession - A Jenny & Teague romantic adventure novella 4. Deviled Eggs and Deception 5. Sweet Tea and Second Chances - A Jenny & Teague romantic adventure novella 6. Fried Pickles and a Funeral 7. Wedding Mints and Witnesses
Looking to start a series? Read the start of five different series ranging from science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Grab something cold to drink, dive in, and find a series to pass the hot days of summer. 1. AabiLynn's Dragon Rite #0: A fantasy sword and sorcery heroic book. Cara, a young slave girl, has one chance at freedom and to find a family that loves her. She must be chosen by a baby dragon and form a bond like no other. Can Cara select a dragon egg and link with the baby dragon within or is she doomed to return to her loveless existence? Crippled from birth, Cara was sold by her father to cover his debt. A slave with no rights, she exists in bleakness and despair. A chance encounter could change all of that for her. 2. Shades of Gray #1 & #2: Dive deep into this dystopian science fiction book series with the first two novels and unravel a mystery plaguing this parallel world. Explore a doomed planet in this dystopian fiction where a female legal assassin ( Life Closer ) known as the Phoenix must partner with a rogue experiment known as the Pandora Project. The Phoenix has discovered that someone murdered her mother and she will stop at nothing to discover their identity and take her revenge. In this post apocalyptic fantasy, Pandora has no memory beyond a year ago and she is hunted by Life Closers, bounty hunters, and killer robots know as Un-Men. Can the Phoenix help her discover her past or will the Phoenix kill Pandora when she no longer needs her help? Pandora is no pushover and a mystery surrounds her very existence. Pandora will either bring about a Twilight that is the first rays of dawn or Pandora will bring about a Twilight that will usher in darkness forever. Apocalyptic science fiction books about the bounds of friendship in the face of adversity and mistrust. In the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Noir, a mega-city half the size of the United States, corporations govern the people and profit is above all. A cyberpunk style world where technology is more advanced in a desperate attempt to save the planet from destruction. 3. Beauty of the Beast #1 The Mystic Rose: Part A: The Flower, The Sword, And The Kiss: A fantasy magical realms action adventure book. Beauty and the Beast with a twist. What if the woman was the one cursed? Pluck, a young girl, saves her prince from a horrible hex but is cursed in his place. She takes on the appearance of a dreaded beast called a Necrom, a cat-like humanoid. Pluck needs the Kiss, the prince's first kiss to end her curse. Can she receive the Kiss or will her dispised appearance only bring her more heartache? Pluck has other things to worry about. She and her prince have shipwrecked in a place where the dreaded Necroms live. Pluck might just need to sacrifice herself to save her prince. 4. Monster of Monsters #1 Part 1 & Part 2: Science fiction horror action adventure book. A neglected young girl, Kein, stumbles across a hidden cave where something monstrous lurks. Desperate for affection and attention, the young girl embraces the monster, believing to have found love and acceptance. The young girl now a woman is lured into a dangerous world where monsters are contestants in a deadly game where desires and wishes can be won in a game that no one has won. Can Kein find the family she so desperately wants or will she be food for the very monsters that she wants to embrace? 5. AaBack's Grimm- Dark Fantasy Fairy Tale #1 Tale Of Two Worlds: The Wizard, The Battle Mage, And The Werewolf & #2 Friends Reunited: The Janus Beast, The Rose Beauty, And The Cursed Duckling: In this epic fantasy fairy tale book, Jane is cursed in the normal world. No one can remember her past five minutes. Jane is pulled into a fairy tale world where the Beast from Beauty and the Beast exists and where everyone remembers her. Has Jane found the perfect home or is the World of Grimm holding something deadly for her?
'I love puzzles, and finding answers is the only truly enjoyable part of what I do.' Professor Patricia Wiltshire is a forensic ecologist, her days spent at crime scenes collecting samples, standing over dead bodies in a mortuary, or looking down her microscope for evidence. Working at the interface of where the criminal and natural world interact, Patricia has been involved in some of the most high-profile murder cases. Now, through a study of her most infamous, and fascinating cases - including the murder of Sarah Payne, and the Soham murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - Patricia will show us how she finds the answers to some of the worst crimes imaginable. Not only does she help the police solve crimes and give answers to the most bemusing circumstances, she can help to exonerate the innocent and enable confessions from the guilty. In The Natural History of Crime we join Patricia in putting the puzzle together, teasing the evidence out of her cases and showing us all how life and death have always been, and always will be, intertwined. Nature has given us a messy, imperfect world, but her job is to help make sense of it when we need it to most.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In the propulsive debut novel from the host of the #1 true crime podcast Crime Junkie, a journalist uncovers her hometown’s dark secrets when she becomes obsessed with the unsolved murder of her childhood neighbor—and the disappearance of another girl twenty years later. ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: PopSugar You can’t ever know for sure what happens behind closed doors. Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the infamous case of January Jacobs, who was discovered in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist. But she’s always been haunted by the feeling that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice. When Margot returns home to help care for her uncle after he is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, she feels like she’s walked into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembers—genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under circumstances eerily similar to January’s. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and to solve January’s murder once and for all. But the police, Natalie’s family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could January’s killer still be out there? Is it the same person who took Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night twenty years ago? Twisty, chilling, and intense, All Good People Here is a searing tale that asks: What are your neighbors capable of when they think no one is watching?
