'This masterly investigation, spanning 30 years, into the assassination of a cold war dissident, Georgi Markov, in London in 1978 exposes an assassin worthy of James Bond' -Observer, Book of the Week London, September 1978: exiled Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is murdered in broad daylight on Waterloo Bridge with what appears to be a poison-tipped umbrella. It would become the most infamous unsolved killing of the Cold War. Many years later, young journalist Ulrik Skotte is approached with explosive new information about a man alleged to be responsible for Markov’s death – a spy code-named Piccadilly who worked for the Bulgarian secret service. This meeting launched Skotte into a hunt for the killer lasting more than a quarter of a century, bringing him face to face with eccentric conspiracy theorists, a washed-up former dictator, ageing Danish spooks – and, ultimately, with Agent Piccadilly himself. Drawing on an incredible cache of original documents, interviews and archive material, The Umbrella Murder provides jaw-dropping answers to questions that have persisted for nearly five decades: who killed Georgi Markov? And who has been protecting the assassin ever since?
The first Umbrella Academy spin off series! Umbrella Academy creators Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá are joined by Way's Killjoys cowriter Shaun Simon (Collapser, Electric Century) and artist INJ Culbard (Everything, At the Mountains of Madness), for a supernatural adventure featuring the breakout character from the hit Netflix show, now on Season 3! When 18-year-old Klaus gets himself kicked out of the Umbrella Academy and his allowance discontinued, he heads to a place where his ghoulish talents will be appreciated—Hollywood. But after a magical high on a stash stolen from a vampire drug lord, Klaus needs help, and doesn't have his siblings there to save him. Collecting issues #1–#6 of the first Umbrella Academy spinoff miniseries, with a foreword by Robert Sheehan, portrayer of Klaus in the hit Netflix series!
A fun, illustrated history of the umbrella's surprising place in life and literature Humans have been making, using, perfecting, and decorating umbrellas for millennia--holding them over the heads of rulers, signalling class distinctions, and exploring their full imaginative potential in folk tales and novels. In the spirit of the best literary gift books, Brolliology is a beautifully designed and illustrated tour through literature and history. It surprises us with the crucial role that the oft-overlooked umbrella has played over centuries--and not just in keeping us dry. Marion Rankine elevates umbrellas to their rightful place as an object worthy of philosophical inquiry. As Rankine points out, many others have tried. Derrida sought to find the meaning (or lack thereof) behind an umbrella mentioned in Nietzsche's notes, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote essays on the handy object, and Dickens used umbrellas as a narrative device for just about everything. She tackles the gender, class, and social connotations of carrying an umbrella and helps us realize our deep connection to this most forgettable everyday object--which we only think of when we don't have one.
"Use the combos, keep the feet light. This is it." That's boxing champ Julius, psyching himself up for a showdown with, of all people, unstoppable killer Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Perhaps not familiar with the fact that a goalie mask is meant to stop rock hard vulcanized rubber flying at 100 mph, his fists prove laughably ineffective. Jason's though, are anything but. He punches Julius's head clean off with one right cross. A fist might seem like unconventional weaponry compared with the knives and axes usually deployed by unspeaking, unfeeling, unstoppable killers in horror films. And it is. But it doesn't even scratch the surface when it comes to weird ways people have been killed in horror. Horror movie victims have had ears of corn buried in their backs, they've been decapitated by basketballs, lacerated by avant-garde sculptures, skewered by mounted deer antlers, bludgeoned by pogo sticks, and punctured with unfurled umbrellas. Death by Umbrella! The 100 Weirdest Horror Movie Weapons showcases these oddball deaths and some even stranger ways killers have gone about their grisly business - MOs that would leave even the most seasoned coroner shaking their head provided, of course, that it's still attached, for in the world of horror, no one is safe. Authors Christopher Lombardo and Jeff Kirschner are Toronto horror journalists and hosts of the Really Awful Movies Podcast, a weekly celebration of low budget genre film. They also review horror films new and old at ReallyAwfulMovies.com.
Molecules of Murder is about infamous murderers and famous victims; about people like Harold Shipman, Alexander Litvinenko, Adelaide Bartlett, and Georgi Markov. Few books on poisons analyse these crimes from the viewpoint of the poison itself, doing so throws a new light on how the murders or attempted murders were carried out and ultimately how the perpetrators were uncovered and brought to justice. Part I includes molecules which occur naturally and were originally used by doctors before becoming notorious as murder weapons. Part II deals with unnatural molecules, mainly man-made, and they too have been dangerously misused in famous crimes. The book ends with the most famous poisoning case in recent years, that of Alexander Litvinenko and his death from polonium chloride. The first half of each chapter starts by looking at the target molecule itself, its discovery, its history, its chemistry, its use in medicine, its toxicology, and its effects on the human body. The second half then investigates a famous murder case and reveals the modus operandi of the poisoner and how some were caught, some are still at large, and some literally got away with murder. Molecules of Murder will explain how forensic chemists have developed cunning ways to detect minute traces of dangerous substances, and explain why some of these poisons, which appear so life-threatening, are now being researched as possible life-savers. Award winning science writer John Emsley has assembled another group of true crime and chemistry stories to rival those of his highly acclaimed Elements of Murder.
A DETECTIVE WHO'S NO ANGEL DESPITE HIS NAME. Discover a gripping series of murder mysteries set in south Yorkshire. MEET DETECTIVE INSPECTOR MICHAEL ANGEL. AN OLD-SCHOOL POLICEMAN WHO SOMETIMES RUBS HIS COLLEAGUES UP THE WRONG WAY. HE'S GOT HIS FLAWS, BUT HE NEVER GIVES UP ON A CASE. Please note this book was first published as "THE UMBRELLA MAN." "Effortlessly blends an intricate puzzle with a contemporary police procedural." Publishers Weekly AN ARSONIST AND MURDERER THREATENS TO SET FIRE TO THE LUXURY HOME OF THE LOCAL MP. Detective Inspector Michael Angel has two suspects. One has completely disappeared, the other is securely locked up in a police cell. A search of the suspect's home reveals a bizarre setup: a dozen umbrellas are suspended from the ceiling, packed with rice. Will the umbrella man be able to execute his threat while still in police custody? MEANWHILE, IMELDA WILDE, A FAMOUS MAGICIAN'S BEAUTIFUL ASSISTANT, IS MURDERED. It appears to be a copy of an unsolved crime committed twenty-five years ago. What's the connection between the two disparate cases? Michael Angel must race against the clock to unravel this baffling mystery. Perfect for fans of R.D. Wingfield, Colin Dexter, Peter Robinson, Reginald Hill, and Agatha Christie. THE DETECTIVE Michael Angel is over fifty, married to Mary. They don't have any children. They are a devoted couple but the relationship sometimes breaks down due to his job or due to the problems of Mary's sister who lives in Edinburgh and imposes on their easygoing natures. Michael works at the small local police station and is devoted to defeating crime, murder, and dishonesty of any sort and has no personal ambition beyond being a good husband and a successful detective. He doesn't want promotion with all the routine office work and stress that goes with it. He is incorruptible but always short of money. He is always at odds with his immediate chief, Detective Superintendent Horace Harker, who is lazy, a hypochondriac and not a bit interested in assisting Angel in serious police work. THE SETTING Bromersley is a market town at the bottom of the Pennines surrounded by stone and hawthorn-edged fields grazed by cattle and sheep. It is cold as anywhere in the winter but its closeness to the mountains protects it from many gales and heavy falls of snow. The town's industry today includes the manufacture of ball bearings and whisky bottles, and a huge brewery produces Bromersley's best bitter, which is considered the finest beer for miles around. Wednesday is market day, and the town centre is host to the frequent cries of stall-holders hawking their wares while the enticing smells of cheeses, coffees, foreign spices and fish and chips tempt your taste buds as you wander through the stalls. The police always find it difficult to catch pilferers and pickpockets in such a crowd. Bromersley folk are easy to befriend but many of the old people are stubborn and still buy their fruit and veg in pounds and ounces, not kilos and grams. Praise for Roger Silverwood "Solid plotting, unpretentious writing, thoroughly reliable entertainment." Morning Star "A cast of characters you really want to populate with familiar faces of actors you see each week on TV - great fun. Angel is terrific." Books Monthly DETECTIVE ANGEL SERIES Book 1: THE MISSING NURSE Book 2: THE MISSING WIFE Book 3: THE MAN IN THE PINK SUIT Book 4: THE MORALS OF A MURDERER Book 5: THE AUCTION MURDERS Book 6: THE MISSING KILLER Book 7: THE UMBRELLA MURDERS
The first reports seemed absurd. A Russian dissident, formerly an employee of the KGB and its successor, the FSB, had seemingly been poisoned in a London hotel. As Alexander Litvinenko's condition worsened, however, and he was transferred to hospital and placed under armed guard, the story took a sinister turn. On 23 November 2006, Litvinenko died, apparently from polonium-210 radiation poisoning. He himself, in a dramatic statement from his deathbed, accused his former employers at the Kremlin of being responsible for his murder. Who was Alexander Litvinenko? What had happened in Russia since the end of the Cold War to make his life there untenable, and even in severe jeopardy in Britain? How did he really die, and who killed him? In his spokesman and close friend, Alex Goldfarb, and widow Marina, we have two people who know more than anyone about the real Sasha Litvinenko, and about his murder. Their riveting book sheds astonishing light not just on these strange and troubling events but also on the biggest crisis in relations with Russia since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Rumor has it that a long-lost movie showing a second gunman in the Kennedy assassination exists somewhere in Dallas. Eddie Nickles, an entrepreneur who gleefully leads tourists along the ill-fated motorcade route, offers a quarter-million dollars he doesn't have to anyone who provides the mystery footage. When he drags P.I. Jack Flippo into the mix, it isn't long before both men are running for their lives.
