Scumble River is celebrating its bicentennial in style -- with historical reenactments, bingo, a coal-tossing tournament, and a Crazy Craft race. Serving as the guest of honor is none other than the town founder's great-great-grandnephew, Gabriel Scumble. But his visit turns out to be short-lived when Skye's students Frannie and Justin find him dead with a pickax protruding from his chest.
Their manifestoes ring bells Sweet, like Christmas jingles Melodies of melodious octaves Hopeful and lively Full of energy and strength Strong enough to pull down mountains But a trap, a deceitful and pretentious lie. Who are these snakes, these green snakes amongst us? This new collection of poetry by Ngozi Olivia Osuoha explores the possibilities.
Miriam has cared for her father in the family home during his vituperative last years with the help of a creepily polite nurse, Alice. On Father's death, Miriam's older sister, handsome, divorced Annabel, comes home after over thirty years in Tasmania to find Daddy has left the bulk of his fortune to her. Alice complains to Annabel that Miriam has sacked her and is intent upon blackmail, having evidence, she says, that Miriam did away with the old man. Scatty Miriam and tough Annabel join forces against Alice and the blackmailer's body is soon hurtling down the well, but all does not end there...
p.B. J. Whiting savors proverbial expressions and has devoted much of his lifetime to studying and collecting them; no one knows more about British and American proverbs than he. The present volume, based upon writings in British North America from the earliest settlements to approximately 1820, complements his and Archer Taylor's Dictionary of American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, 1820-1880. It differs from that work and from other standard collections, however, in that its sources are primarily not "literary" but instead workaday writings - letters, diaries, histories, travel books, political pamphlets, and the like. The authors represent a wide cross-section of the populace, from scholars and statesmen to farmers, shopkeepers, sailors, and hunters. Mr. Whiting has combed all the obvious sources and hundreds of out-of-the-way publications of local journals and historical societies. This body of material, "because it covers territory that has not been extracted and compiled in a scholarly way before, can justly be said to be the most valuable of all those that Whiting has brought together," according to Albert B. Friedman. "What makes the work important is Whiting's authority: a proverb or proverbial phrase is what BJW thinks is a proverb or proverbial phrase. There is no objective operative definition of any value, no divining rod; his tact, 'feel, ' experience, determine what's the real thing and what is spurious."
When exotic pet-sitter Belinda Blake moves into a carriage house in tony Greenwich, Connecticut, she’s hoping to find some new clients. Instead she discovers a corpse in the garden—and a knack for solving murders . . . Pet-sitter Belinda Blake doesn’t rattle easily, but move-in day has been eventful, to say the least. The python in her care tried to slither to freedom—just as she met Stone Carrington V, her landlords’ disarmingly handsome son. With the constrictor back in its cage, she heads out to the garden, only to discover a designer shoe poking out of the boxwood hedge—attached to a woman’s dead body. The victim, Margo Fenton, was a Carrington family friend, and no one in their circle seems above suspicion. Between client trips to Manhattan and visits to her family in upstate New York, Belinda begins to put the pieces together. But though she’s falling for Stone’s numerous charms, Belinda wonders if she’s cozying up to a killer. And soon, daily contact with a deadly reptile might be the least dangerous part of her life . . . “A humorous series debut with exotic pets and a zany cast of characters. Gilbert’s cozy will make you smile.” —Amanda Flower, USA Today bestselling author of Premeditated Peppermint “Cozy fans will root for pet-sitter Belinda Blake as she unravels this cleverly-crafted mystery in a delightfully-deadly new series by Heather Day Gilbert.” —Elizabeth Spann Craig, author of the bestselling Myrtle Clover Mysteries “Smart and fresh, with a compelling mystery at its heart, Belinda Blake and the Snake in the Grass is an enchanting cozy that will hook you from page one. As will amateur sleuth Belinda Blake, a delightfully original heroine you’ll want to meet again and again.” —Karin Kaufman, author of the bestselling Juniper Grove Cozy Mystery Series “Snakes rank only slightly more favorably with me than spiders, leeches, and ticks. So you can imagine my surprise when, by the end of this book, the snake was my second favorite character after Belinda herself. On top of being a great book for animal-lovers (trust me, you’ll love even the snake), this was a fun read with a smart sleuth. I can’t wait to see what Belinda does next, where both pets and perps are concerned.” —Emily James, award-winning and bestselling cozy mystery author
