Cruising Caprice! Madison Night has a reputation for excellence in mid-century modern decorating, but when a covert opportunity to expose a crime ring on a cruise ship comes her way, she goes undercover. The job will test her acting skills as much as her investigative prowess: she’s booked as a Doris Day impersonator and police captain Tex Allen is posing as her manager husband. But roleplay and reality blur when the body of the entertainment director is found on the lido deck sometime between shuffleboard and sunset. The purser was Madison’s lone contact on the cruise ship, which leaves her adrift. Catching crooked employees is one thing, but exposing a murderer in the middle of the ocean is another. It’s bad enough that she’s expected to sing for her supper; her convenient cover story puts her in the center of danger. With a very fake husband and a very real crisis, Madison has to dive deep for answers before the tides turn against her. Can Madison keep her head above water, or will this case send her overboard? THE GLASS BOTTOM HOAX is the twelfth mystery in the Madison Night series. If you like Doris Day movies, resourceful sleuths, or edgy cozies, you’ll love Diane Vallere’s fun, escapist mystery.
In this Thanksgiving twist on Rear Window, a seemingly ordinary holiday gathering takes a dark turn when a squabble across the street turns from cozy into something deadly… When a freak accident sidelines klutzy fabric store owner Polyester Monroe, she’s destined to enjoy her Thanksgiving party from a wheelchair by her window. But when shady actions in the apartment across the street catches her attention, she’s less concerned with mobility than credibility; her friends are quick to write off her fears as folly. Convinced she witnessed a crime, Poly enlists the help of the local sheriff to investigate, but even he finds nothing suspicious. Her only ally is an unexpected guest. Tensions rise and tempers flare as guests dismiss Poly’s suspicions, but when the scene becomes impossible to explain without reasonable doubt, what started as a parlor game of spying on the neighbors turns into a race to keep a killer in town before the train leaves the station—with the killer on board. Get ready for a Hitchcockian holiday treat that blends laughter, intrigue, and homage to the master of suspense himself.
After being forced to kill an FBI agent gone rogue in self-defense while working in the violent crimes unit for the Investigative Services Branch, ranger Madison Thorn is comfortable with her move to the fraud and cyber division. At least numbers don't lie. So she's less than thrilled when a white-collar crime investigation in Natchez, Mississippi, turns violent. She could also do without being forced to work with former-childhood-enemy-turned-infuriatingly-handsome park ranger Clayton Bradshaw. When a woman who looks just like Madison is attacked on the same night Madison's grandfather is shot, it becomes clear that there is something much bigger going on here and that Madison herself is in danger. Madison and Clayton will have to work together--and suppress their growing feelings for one another--if they are to discover the truth before it's too late. USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Patricia Bradley closes out her popular Natchez Trace Park Rangers series with this complex story of family secrets, mixed motives, and learning to trust.
A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.
A thrilling new voice in fiction injects the absurd into the everyday to present a startling vision of modern life, “[as] if Kafka and Camus and Bradbury were penning episodes of Black Mirror” (Chang-Rae Lee, author of My Year Abroad). “Stories so sharp and ingenious you may cut yourself on them while reading.”—Kelly Link, author of Get In Trouble FINALIST FOR THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Chicago Review of Books, Kirkus Reviews With a focus on the weird and eerie forces that lurk beneath the surface of ordinary experience, Kate Folk’s debut collection is perfectly pitched to the madness of our current moment. A medical ward for a mysterious bone-melting disorder is the setting of a perilous love triangle. A curtain of void obliterates the globe at a steady pace, forcing Earth’s remaining inhabitants to decide with whom they want to spend eternity. A man fleeing personal scandal enters a codependent relationship with a house that requires a particularly demanding level of care. And in the title story, originally published in The New Yorker, a woman in San Francisco uses dating apps to find a partner despite the threat posed by “blots,” preternaturally handsome artificial men dispatched by Russian hackers to steal data. Meanwhile, in a poignant companion piece, a woman and a blot forge a genuine, albeit doomed, connection. Prescient and wildly imaginative, Out There depicts an uncanny landscape that holds a mirror to our subconscious fears and desires. Each story beats with its own fierce heart, and together they herald an exciting new arrival in the tradition of speculative literary fiction.
Popular Mechanics inspires, instructs and influences readers to help them master the modern world. Whether it’s practical DIY home-improvement tips, gadgets and digital technology, information on the newest cars or the latest breakthroughs in science -- PM is the ultimate guide to our high-tech lifestyle.
National bestselling cozy mystery author Diane Vallere brings you a riveting installment of amateur sleuthing and decorating in the delightful and humorous Madison Night mystery series. Two abandoned bodies lead to a polarized community. Can an amateur sleuth bridge the divide and help catch a killer? After a lawsuit puts interior decorator Madison Night’s business on indefinite hold, she needs a distraction. A walk in the park with police captain Tex Allen is anything but: they discover two corpses on the property. The bodies are unidentifiable, and inconvenient weather conditions have rendered the crime scene obsolete. With no leads, the case seems unsolvable. With time on her hands, discovers a clue that ties the victims to a local florist. A surprise court date catches her off guard, and her continuing involvement in the case may cost her more than she can afford to lose. Can Madison dig up the evidence needed to catch a killer before the bloom fades on her business? APPREHEND ME NO FLOWERS is the seventh thrilling cozy mystery in the humorous Mad for Mod series. If you like vintage fashion, edgy cozies, and police investigations, then you’ll love Madison Night’s latest adventure. Buy APPREHEND ME NO FLOWERS for a fun, petal-pushing mystery today! Keywords: humorous mysteries, cozy mysteries, amateur sleuths, women sleuths, mystery with humor, fashionable fiction, fashionable mysteries, friendship fiction, traditional mysteries, Dallas, Texas, vintage, Doris Day, stylish sleuths, funny mysteries, mysteries set in Texas, funny cozy mysteries, humorous cozy mysteries, traditional mystery, designer mystery, cozy hobby mystery, animal mystery, dog, determined sleuth, female sleuth, women sleuth, fearless sleuth, crime, crime fiction, murder mystery, amateur detective, sleuthing in style, stylish sleuthing, suspense, thriller, over-50 Madison Night Mad for Mod Mysteries (cozy/traditional mysteries winking at Doris Day movies) Midnight Ice (Prequel) Pillow Stalk That Touch of Ink With Vics you get Eggroll The Decorator Who Knew Too Much The Pajama Frame Lover Come Hack Apprehend Me No Flowers Teacher's Threat The Kill of it All Love Me or Grieve Me (Oct 2022) What people are saying about the Madison Night Mysteries: "Make room for Vallere's tremendously fun homage. Imbuing her story with plenty of mid-century modern decorating and fashion tips, not to mention a steady patter of Doris Day trivia, Vallere debuts a well-paced cozy series. Her disarmingly honest lead and two hunky sidekicks will appeal to all fashionistas and antiques types and have romance crossover appeal." - Library Journal "If you are looking for an unconventional mystery with a snarky, no-nonsense main character, this is it. Madison is a strong leading lady who lands in lots of quirky situations. Instead of clashing, humor and danger meld perfectly, and there's a cliffhanger that will make your jaw drop. You'll look forward to the second Madison Night mystery." - RT Book Reviews "A charming modern tribute to Doris Day movies and the retro era of the 50s, including murders, escalating danger, romance... and a puppy!" - Linda O. Johnston, Author of the Pet Rescue Mysteries "It was fast and furious, had a lot of info, characters, suspects, and even a few tangled romances. I love mysteries where I can't figure out who the real killer is until the end, and this was one of those. The novel was well-written, moved at a smooth pace, and Madison's character was a riot." - ChickLit Plus "This was a delightful read for me. I particularly enjoy and like Doris Day and was so surprised that Pillow Talk was mentioned in the book along with Doris Day. It's nice having a cute, cozy mystery to read, I look forward to more in the series!" -Bookreporter.com "If you love the Technicolor movies of Doris Day and Rock Hudson and watch Mad Men for fashion tips, author Diane Vallere has written a mystery that will appeal to the mid-century modern heart." - ReaderToReader.com "An intricately plotted and well-written book, I really enjoyed the story. I can't imagine decorating a house in the style from Doris Day's movies but it makes fine reading." - Fresh Fiction
Midwife Sarah Brandt Malloy and her detective husband, Frank, must discover who killed a prominent—but despised—society banker before an innocent family is destroyed in Murder on Wall Street, an all-new Gaslight Mystery in the USA Today bestselling series. Reformed gangster Jack Robinson is working hard to bolster his image in Gilded Age New York City society as he prepares to become a new father. But when Hayden Norcross, the man who nearly ruined his wife, is shot in cold blood, Jack knows the police will soon come knocking on his door. Frank Malloy has to agree—things don’t look good for Jack. But surely a man as unlikeable as Hayden had more than a few enemies. And it’s soon clear that plenty of the upper echelon as well as the denizens of the most squalid areas of the city seem to have hated him. Sarah and Frank have their work cut out for them. As the daughter of the elite Decker family, Sarah has access to the social circles Hayden frequented, and the more she learns about his horrific treatment of women, the more disturbed she becomes. And as Frank investigates, he finds that Hayden had a host of unsavory habits that may have hastened his demise. But who finally killed him? Sarah and Frank must put the pieces together quickly before time runs out and Jack’s hard-won new life and family are ripped apart.
'Exquisite Corpse' was a game played by the surrealists in which someone drew on a piece of paper, folded it and passed it to the next person to draw on until, finally, the sheet was opened to reveal a calculated yet random composition. In this entertaining and provocative book, Michael Sorkin suggests that cities are similarly assembled by many players acting with varying autonomy in a complicit framework. An unfolding terrain of invention, the city is also a means of accommodating disparity, of contextualizing sometimes startling juxtapositions. Sorkin's aim is to widen the debate about the creation of buildings beyond the immediate issues of technology and design. He discusses the politics and culture of architecture with daring, often devastating, observations about the institutions and personalities who have dominated the profession over the past decade. Their preoccupation with the empty style of 'beach houses and Disneyland' has consistently trivialized the full constructive scope of contemporary architecture's possibilities. Sorkin's interventions range from the development scandals of New York where 'skyscrapers stand at the intersection between grid and greed', through the deconstructivist architectural culture of Los Angeles, to the work and ideas of architects, developers and critics such as Alvar Aalto, Norman Foster, Paul Goldberger, Michael Graves, Coop Himmelblau, Philip Johnson, Leon Krier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Rogers, Carlo Scarpa, James Stirling, Donald Trump, Tom Wolfe and Lebbeus Woods. Throughout Sorkin combines stinging polemic with a powerful call for a rebirth of architecture that is visionary and experimental--a recuperated 'dreamy science'
