In Istanbul, crime journalist Garry Morello is executed in cold blood. Moments before his death, he meets with old friend Paul Tallis, hinting that he has uncovered a link between international terrorism and organized crime back home. On the run from the Turkish authorities, Tallis makes his way back to London and passes the intel to his MI5 handler. When he's sent undercover to Birmingham to investigate the threat, Tallis's mission is to infiltrate the inner circle of crime boss Johnny Kennedy. Once inside, Tallis must determine if the charismatic gangster is involved in planning the biggest terrorist attack on Britain—or if his MI5 paymasters are the ones he should be watching.

Such a pretty girl. Four years old; well-loved by her young mother, Grace. But there’s something… off about the child. Her deathly fear of water; her night terrors; most of all, her fixation with a photo of an Irish fishing village called Coldharbour. “Sylvie, tell me about your picture. Why’s it so special, sweetheart?” My heart is racing, but I try to make my voice quite calm. “That’s my seaside, Grace.” Very matter-of-fact, as though this should be obvious. “I lived there, Grace. Before.” I sit very still for a long slow moment. Cold moves over my skin. “I don’t know about it,” I say. “Don’t you, Grace?” She seems surprised.

Content with her humdrum country life, Miss Dorothea Darent had no intention of marrying. She knew that her unfashionable curves and her outspoken ways made her a disastrous match for any gentleman of the ton. But one kiss from a dashing stranger changed everything.

Miranda Shaw's world shattered the instant her star pitcher father was accused of cheating--and her family was destroyed forever. Decades later, the last thing she needed was some sportswriter digging into their business. No matter how handsome and charming he was...Mike Marlowe knew there was more to the story--and to the beautiful, elusive woman who stirred him even more than sniffing out a scoop. But Miranda was as fiercely protective of her heart as she was of her family name. Mike's relentless pursuit of the truth could rob him of the real headline：true love!

Mills & Boon Blush series brings you moving, true-to-life romancesColleen Delaney would never forget the night she and Eric Nelson went from law school sparring partners to lovers. Now, after years apart, the irresistible attorney was back in her life in a major way as they went head-to-head in a high-stakes case. With the future of the Taka-Hanson hotel empire at stake, Eric couldn't afford to lose. But he was up against a gorgeous, take-no prisoners lawyer just as determined to win. If only their attraction would stop getting in the way. That was when Eric decided to give Colleen a special gift for the holidays one that came straight from the heart.

She had all her baby plans mapped out....Sam Barclay would father her child, and Corrie Edwards would get the baby she always wanted. It sounded like a good plan...until sperm donor Sam decided he wanted to be the daddy fate had once denied him.It was supposed to be strictly a business arrangement. Romance wasn't on Corrie's radar.But the closer they came to conception, the more Sam wanted to make things personal. Could he convince Corrie that, together, they had what it took to create the home and family they both craved?

Christmas was tough for widow Jenna Wheeler and her four children. But even though she'd sold part of her family's land to make ends meet, she was determined to spin the holiday into the stuff of magic--no matter what it took. Now if she could only find a job....Maybe her new landlord could oblige--gorgeous, child-averse Carson McRaven. He needed a chef, and he knew the lovely Jenna could do a bang-up job--if only she could keep her brood out of his hair. But as he found himself catapulted into the cheerful chaos of her family...not to mention Jenna's arms... he learned more about the spirit of Christmas than he'd ever dreamed.

Did You Hear About Matt and Jane? The rumor at their law firm claims that Jane Prentice is the reason for Matthew Gray's divorce. Matt only wishes it were true. Ever since his marriage ended, he's put his social life on hold to become a better father to his kids. Now he's ready for more, but Jane wants nothing to do with him. Yet as they work together on a tough case, it becomes harder and harder for her to keep her distance. When she finds herself falling for him, Jane realizes she has to tell Matt the truth. And their relationship could be over before it truly begins once he learns her secret...

You can get through to him. I know you can.Though he heard her words, Trent Marlowe knew he had to be dreaming. What were the odds that Laurel would just reappear after vanishing seven years before? She'd turned his heart to stone and he wanted to keep it that way. Then he learned the real reason for her visit....Laurel would regret leaving Trent until the day she died. She'd disappeared with a litany of secrets too shameful to confide in a man she'd never stopped loving. But now she desperately needed him to help her troubled young son. Yet how could she fight the desire Trent was reigniting? And the bittersweet yearning for a second chance?

Successful executive Samantha Bradford never underestimates the opposition. So when her ex-fiance and business rival, Michael Lewis, comes back to town, she thinks she's ready for all his tricks. The confident swagger. The devastating smile. The irresistible sex appeal. And the uncompromising determination that had pulled them together--and then pushed them apart.Now they're both bidding to land the same huge account. The stakes are high...and the buzz of working together is intoxicating. But the real merger on the table is more than strictly business....

When Zack Morgan discovers he's a father, and that his little boy was given up for adoption, he decides to find him. He has to know his son is okay.Life is a struggle for single mom Susan Johnson, but she loves being Danny's mother. When Zack unexpectedly comes into their lives, he lights up their world.Zack intended to keep his distance, but he's found the family of his dreams. Only, Susan has no idea who he really is....

Playboy tycoon Cole doesn't expect to be confronted with a frumpy nanny and a howling baby in his expensively furnished office. But the child is his nephew, so he steps in to help!Dannie Springer has been hiding behind her staid nanny uniform since she got her heart broken. Yet over the weeks with , she starts to see the man beneath the designer suits--and she is secretly wishing he could see the real her....

When Lia Costa discovers overnight that she's a princess and is betrothed to a royal duke, it turns her world upside down! Because regal duty means she can never tell her best friend, Toby, how she really feels....Firefighter Toby Winder has always secretly loved Lia. But, watching her swap her apartment for a palace, he realizes he must now compete with an entire kingdom for her attention!

Achieve scalability and high availability without compromising on performance About This Book See how to get 100 percent uptime with your Cassandra applications using this easy-follow guide Learn how to avoid common and not-so-common mistakes while working with Cassandra using this highly practical guide Get familiar with the intricacies of working with Cassandra for high availability in your work environment with this go-to-guide Who This Book Is For If you are a developer or DevOps engineer who has basic familiarity with Cassandra and you want to become an expert at creating highly available, fault tolerant systems using Cassandra, this book is for you. What You Will Learn Understand how the core architecture of Cassandra enables highly available applications Use replication and tunable consistency levels to balance consistency, availability, and performance Set up multiple data centers to enable failover, load balancing, and geographic distribution Add capacity to your cluster with zero downtime Take advantage of high availability features in the native driver Create data models that scale well and maximize availability Understand common anti-patterns so you can avoid them Keep your system working well even during failure scenarios In Detail Apache Cassandra is a massively scalable, peer-to-peer database designed for 100 percent uptime, with deployments in the tens of thousands of nodes, all supporting petabytes of data. This book offers a practical insight into building highly available, real-world applications using Apache Cassandra. The book starts with the fundamentals, helping you to understand how Apache Cassandra’s architecture allows it to achieve 100 percent uptime when other systems struggle to do so. You’ll get an excellent understanding of data distribution, replication, and Cassandra’s highly tunable consistency model. Then we take an in-depth look at Cassandra's robust support for multiple data centers, and you’ll see how to scale out a cluster. Next, the book explores the domain of application design, with chapters discussing the native driver and data modeling. Lastly, you’ll find out how to steer clear of common anti-patterns and take advantage of Cassandra’s ability to fail gracefully. Style and approach This practical guide will get you implementing Cassandra right from the design to creating highly available systems. Through a systematic, step-by-step approach, you will learn different aspects of building highly available Cassandra applications and all this with the help of easy-to-follow examples, tips, and tricks.

Master the art of testing and automating your SOA using SoapUI About This Book Design real-time test automation frameworks for Enterprise applications using SoapUI Learn how to solve test automation issues for complex systems A complete guide to understanding SOA automation from quality assurance to business assurance Who This Book Is For The book is intended for test architects, SOA test specialists, automation testers, test managers, and software developers who have a good understanding of SOA, web services, Groovy Scripting, and the SOAP UI tool. What You Will Learn Familiarize yourself with Test Web services from functional, nonfunctional, and security aspects Learn to test real-time service orchestrations Design test automation solutions for SOA-based Enterprise applications Learn multilayer test automation Selenium plus SoapUI under a single umbrella Integrate your SoapUI framework with Jenkins In Detail SoapUI is an open-source cross-platform testing application that provides complete test coverage and supports all the standard protocols and technologies. This book includes real-time examples of implementing SoapUI to achieve quality and business assurance. Starting with the features and functionalities of SoapUI, the book will then focus on functional testing, load testing, and security testing of web services. Furthermore, you will learn how to automate your services and then design data-driven, keyword-driven, and hybrid-driven frameworks in SoapUI. Then the book will show you how to test UIs and services using SoapUI with the help of Selenium. You will also learn how to integrate SoapUI with Jenkins for CI and SoapUI test with QC with backward- and forward-compatibility. The final part of the book will show you how to virtualize a service response in SoapUI using Service Mocking. You will finish the journey by discovering the best practices for SoapUI test automation and preparing yourself for the online certification of SoapUI. Style and approach Filled with real-time examples, this book will help readers take their knowledge to the next level. This book is a comprehensive guide that will cover the end-to-end life cycle of implementing SoapUI in various phases of software testing and the software development life cycle.

Explore the features of Unity 5 for 2D game development by building three amazing game projects About This Book Explore the 2D architecture of Unity 5, and the tools and techniques for developing 2D games Discover how to use Unity’s 2D tools, including Sprites, physics, and maps, to create different genres of games Practical tutorial on the intermediate and advanced development concepts in Unity 5 to create three interesting and fully functional games Who This Book Is For If you've got the basics of 2D development down, push your skills with the projects in this hands-on guide.Diversify your portfolio and learn the skills needed to build a range of awesome 2D game genres. What You Will Learn Explore and understand the vital role of sprites in 2D games Move, animate, and integrate sprites into a 2D platform game Set up User Interfaces (UIs) to keep track of the progress through the games Apply 2D Physics to improve gameplay believability Learn the foundation of Level Design and how to quickly create 2D Maps Discover NPC design, event triggers, and AI programming Create an epic strategy game, challenging all the skills acquired in the book In Detail Flexible, powerful, and full of rich features, Unity 5 is the engine of choice for AAA 2D and 3D game development. With comprehensive support for over 20 different platforms, Unity boasts a host of great new functions for making 2D games. Learn how to leverage these new options into awesome 2D games by building three complete game projects with the Unity game tutorials in this hands-on book. Get started with a quick overview of the principle concepts and techniques needed for making 2D games with Unity, then dive straight in to practical development. Build your own version of Super Mario Brothers as you learn how to animate sprites, work with physics, and construct brilliant UIs in order to create a platformer game. Go on a quest to create a RPG game discovering NPC design, event triggers, and AI programming. Finally, put your skills to the test against a real challenge - designing and constructing a complex strategy game that will draw on and develop all your previously learned skills. Style and approach This is a practical and easy-to-follow guide that starts with the basics and gradually delves into the process of creating 2D games. With step-by-step instructions on how to build three games, followed by a detailed explanation of each example, you will understand the concepts not just in theory, but also by applying the knowledge you gain in practice.

Combine the power of ASP.NET Core with Bootstrap 4 to build elegant, responsive web apps About This Book Updated for Bootstrap 4 and ASP.Net MVC 6, this book shows how to take advantage of the latest new features introduced in both of these industry-leading frameworks Build responsive, mobile-ready apps by combining the power of ASP.NET MVC with Bootstrap Grasp the intricacies of Bootstrap and how to use it with ASP.NET MVC Build your own tools and helpers to assist you in creating ASP.NET MVC Bootstrap sites easily and quickly Master the use of Bootstrap components and plugins with ASP.NET MVC Who This Book Is For If you are an ASP.NET MVC developer and would like to know how to incorporate Bootstrap into your projects, then this book is invaluable to you. Developers with entry-level experience of ASP.NET MVC development and limited experience with Bootstrap will also benefit from this book. What You Will Learn Create a new ASP.NET MVC project that uses Bootstrap for its styling and learn how to include external libraries using the new package managers Learn to use the various Bootstrap CSS and HTML elements, and how to use the new Bootstrap 4 grid layout system Explore the different input groups and implement alerts, progress bars, and badges Explore JavaScript components by illustrating and walking through the process of using JavaScript/jQuery to add interactivity to Twitter Bootstrap components Build your own ASP.NET MVC helpers and tag helpers to reduce the amount of HTML needed to generate Bootstrap elements Convert a Bootstrap HTML template into a usable ASP.NET MVC project Use the jQuery DataTables plugin with Bootstrap and ASP.NET MVC In Detail One of the leading open source frontend frameworks, Bootstrap has undergone a significant change and introduced several features that make designing compelling, next-generation UIs much simpler. Integrating Bootstrap with ASP.NET's powerful components can further enhance its capabilities. This book guides you through the process of creating an ASP.NET MVC website from scratch using Bootstrap. After a primer on the fundamentals of Bootstrap, you will learn your way around and create a new ASP.NET MVC project in Visual Studio. You will move on to learn about the various Bootstrap components as well as techniques to include them in your own projects. The book includes practical examples to show you how to use open-source plugins with Bootstrap and ASP.NET MVC and guides you through building an ASP.NET MVC website using Bootstrap, utilizing layout and user-interface components. At the end of this book, you will find some valuable tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your Bootstrap-integrated and ASP.NET MVC-integrated website. Style and approach This is a compact, step-by-step guide that focuses on combining the power of Bootstrap with ASP.Net MVC to build next-generation web apps. With clear instructions, this book will show how to build a complete ASP.Net MVC-integrated web app from scratch using Bootstrap. It will also cover several tricks for integrating Bootstrap and ASP.Net MVC, and getting the most out of both frameworks.

Discover how to build your own smart Internet of Things projects and bring a new degree of interconnectivity to your world About This Book Learn how to extract and analyse data from physical devices and build smart IoT projects Master the skills of building enticing projects such as a neural network autonomous car, computer vision through a camera, and cloud-based IoT applications This project-based guide leverages revolutionary computing chips such as Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and so on Who This Book Is For If you are hobbyist who is keen on making smart IoT projects, then this book is for you. You should have a basic knowledge of Python. What You Will Learn Implement data science in your IoT projects and build a smart temperature controller Create a simple machine learning application and implement decision system concepts Develop a vision machine using OpenCV Build a robot car with manual and automatic control Implement speech modules with your own voice commands for IoT projects Connect IoT to a cloud-based server In Detail Internet of Things (IoT) is a groundbreaking technology that involves connecting numerous physical devices to the Internet and controlling them. Creating basic IoT projects is common, but imagine building smart IoT projects that can extract data from physical devices, thereby making decisions by themselves. Our book overcomes the challenge of analyzing data from physical devices and accomplishes all that your imagination can dream up by teaching you how to build smart IoT projects. Basic statistics and various applied algorithms in data science and machine learning are introduced to accelerate your knowledge of how to integrate a decision system into a physical device. This book contains IoT projects such as building a smart temperature controller, creating your own vision machine project, building an autonomous mobile robot car, controlling IoT projects through voice commands, building IoT applications utilizing cloud technology and data science, and many more. We will also leverage a small yet powerful IoT chip, Raspberry Pi with Arduino, in order to integrate a smart decision-making system in the IoT projects. Style and approach The book follows a project-based approach to building smart IoT projects using powerful boards such as the Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and the IoT chip.

Ensure your code is sleek, efficient and elegant by mastering powerful Python design patterns About This Book Learn all about abstract design patterns and how to implement them in Python 3 Understand the structural, creational, and behavioral Python design patterns Get to know the context and application of design patterns to solve real-world problems in software architecture, design, and application development Discover how to simplify Design Pattern implementation using the power of Python 3 Who This Book Is For If you have basic Python skills and wish to learn in depth how to correctly apply appropriate design patterns, this course is tailor made for you. What You Will Learn Discover what design patterns are and how to apply them to writing Python Implement objects in Python by creating classes and defining methods Separate related objects into a taxonomy of classes and describe the properties and behaviors of those objects via the class interface Understand when to use object-oriented features, and more importantly when not to use them Get to know proven solutions to common design issues Explore the design principles that form the basis of software design, such as loose coupling, the Hollywood principle, and the Open Close principle, among others Use Structural Design Patterns and find out how objects and classes interact to build larger applications Improve the productivity and code base of your application using Python design patterns Secure an interface using the Proxy pattern In Detail Python is an object-oriented *ing language that is used in everything from data science to web development. Known for its simplicity, Python increases productivity and minimizes development time. Through applying essential software engineering design patterns to Python, Python code becomes even more efficient and reusable from project to project. This learning path takes you through every traditional and advanced design pattern best applied to Python code, building your skills in writing exceptional Python. Divided into three distinct modules, you’ll go from foundational to advanced concepts by following a series of practical tutorials. Start with the bedrock of Python programming – the object-oriented paradigm. Rethink the way you work with Python as you work through the Python data structures and object-oriented techniques essential to modern Python programming. Build your confidence as you learn Python syntax, and how to use OOP principles with Python tools such as Django and Kivy. In the second module, run through the most common and most useful design patterns from a Python perspective. Progress through Singleton patterns, Factory patterns, Fa?ade patterns and more all with detailed hands-on guidance. Enhance your professional abilities in in software architecture, design, and development. In the final module, run through the more complex and less common design patterns, discovering how to apply them to Python coding with the help of real-world examples. Get to grips with the best practices of writing Python, as well as creating systems architecture and troubleshooting issues. This Learning Path combines some of the best that Packt has to offer in one complete, curated package. It includes content from the following Packt products: Python 3 Object-Oriented Programming - Second Edition by Dusty Phillips Learning Python Design Patterns - Second Edition by Chetan Giridhar Mastering Python Design Patterns by Sakis Kasampalis Style and approach Advance your Python code through three distinct modules that each build on preceding content. Get the complete coverage of Python design patterns you need to write elegant and efficient code that’s reusable and powerful.

Explore the powers of Raspberry Pi and build your very own projects right out of the box About This Book From robotics to gaming, this Learning Path will unlock your creativity! Build your own impressive IoT projects to transform your home Featuring some of Packt’s very best Raspberry Pi content, this Learning Path doesn’t just get you to your destination – it opens up a whole horizon of possibilities! Who This Book Is For Want new ideas for your next Raspberry Pi projectGot one lying around gathering dustThis Learning Path gets you straight into the creative dirty work of programming and playing with your pi. Whether your new to Raspberry Pi, or an experienced maker, we think this Learning Path will inspire you and get your creative juices flowing! What You Will Learn Discover an aweome range of Raspberry Pi projects Bridge the gap between software and hardware through your Pi and find out how to make an operating system interact with cameras and other hardware Find out how to use your Raspberry Pi for gaming Secure your home with this tiny computer! Make science fiction a reality – build a walking robot In Detail Looking for inspiration for your next Raspberry Pi projectNot sure where to beginThis Learning Path is the perfect place to begin, providing you with an accessible yet comprehensive journey through Raspberry Pi. Following three modules, you’ll soon be confident and prepared to get creative with your microcomputer. Raspberry Pi by Example is the first module in this Learning Path – and it does exactly what it says. It doesn’t just teach, it shows you how to go and build some awesome Raspberry Pi projects immediately. Build and play your own games with the Pi, build a complete Internet of Things home automation system that controls your house through Twitter… let your imagination run wild! In the next module we’ll look in more depth at building a home security system. You’ll be using some of the skills you devoped through the first module, but apply them to something more intricate and impressive. Using a Linux based operating system as the foundations, you’ll gradually build up an entire security infrastructure adding cameras, remote controls, and even intrusion alerts! In the final module, we’ll take you into the world of Raspberry Pi robotics. By the end of it, you’ll have built a biped robot that can interact with its environment! This Learning Path combines some of the best that Packt has to offer in one complete, curated package. It includes content from the following Packt products: Raspberry Pi By Example by Ashwin Pajankar and Arush Kakkar Building a Home Security System with Raspberry Pi by Matthew Pole Raspberry Pi Robotics Essentials by Richard Grimmett Style and approach It’s not every day you build a home automation system. It’s not every day you build a walking robot. But with this Learning Path you’ll do just that. So get started and let this tiny computer expand your imagination.

Take Python beyond *ing to build robust, reusable, and efficient applications About This Book Get to grips with Python techniques that address commonly encountered problems in general application development. Develop, package, and deploy efficient applications in a fun way. All-practical coverage of the major areas of application development, including best practices, exception handling, testing, refactoring, design patterns, performance, and GUI application development. Who This Book Is For Do you know the basics of Python and object oriented programmingDo you want to go an extra mile and learn techniques to make your Python application robust, extensible, and efficientThen this book is for you. What You Will Learn Build a robust application by handling exceptions. Modularize, package, and release the source distribution. Document the code and implement coding standards. Create automated tests to catch bugs in the early development stage. Identify and re-factor badly written code to improve application life. Detect recurring problems in the code and apply design patterns. Improve code efficiency by identifying performance bottlenecks and fixing them. Develop simple GUI applications using Python. In Detail Python is one of the most widely used dynamic programming languages, supported by a rich set of libraries and frameworks that enable rapid development. But fast paced development often comes with its own baggage that could bring down the quality, performance, and extensibility of an application. This book will show you ways to handle such problems and write better Python applications. From the basics of simple command-line applications, develop your skills all the way to designing efficient and advanced Python apps. Guided by a light-hearted fantasy learning theme, overcome the real-world problems of complex Python development with practical solutions. Beginning with a focus on robustness, packaging, and releasing application code, you’ll move on to focus on improving application lifetime by making code extensible, reusable, and readable. Get to grips with Python refactoring, design patterns and best practices. Techniques to identify the bottlenecks and improve performance are covered in a series of chapters devoted to performance, before closing with a look at developing Python GUIs. Style and approach The book uses a fantasy game theme as a medium to explain various topics. Specific aspects of application development are explained in different chapters. In each chapter the reader is presented with an interesting problem which is then tackled using hands-on examples with easy-to-follow instructions.