Scotland Yard's Ian Rutledge must contend with two dangerous enemies in this latest complex mystery in the New York Times bestselling seriesLondon, summer 1920. An unidentified body appears to have been run down by a motorcar and Ian Rutledge is leading the investigation to uncover what happened. While the signs point to murder, vital questions remain: Who is the victimAnd where, exactly, was he killed?One small clue leads Rutledge to a firm built by two families, famous for producing and selling the world's best Madeira wine. Lewis French, the current head of the English enterprise, is missing. But is he the dead manAnd does either his fiancée or his jilted former lover have anything to do with his disappearance—or possible deathWhat about his sisterOr the London office clerkIs Matthew Traynor, French's cousin and partner who heads the Madeira office, somehow involved?The experienced Rutledge knows that suspicion and circumstantial evidence are not proof of guilt, and he's going to keep digging for answers. But that perseverance will pit him against his supervisor, the new acting chief superintendent. When Rutledge discovers a link to an incident in the French family's past, the superintendent dismisses it, claiming the information isn't vital. He's determined to place the blame on one of French's women despite Rutledge's objections. Alone in a no-man's-land rife with mystery and danger, Rutledge must tread very carefully, for someone has decided that he, too, must die so that cruel justice can take its course.

"Is it a crime to liveTo create happiness for yourself through your own work?"How do writers and painters get their ideasAnd what are the hard realities of such seemingly glamorous and romantic livesIn her groundbreaking new novel, New York Times bestselling author Sena Jeter Naslund explores the transformative power of art, history, and love in the lives of creative women.It's midnight on St. James Court, at the heart of which is a beautiful fountain sculpture of Venus rising from the sea. Kathryn Callaghan has just finished the first draft of her novel about renowned painter ?lisabeth Vigée-Le Brun, a survivor of the French Revolution who was hated for her sympathetic portraits of Marie Antoinette. Although the manu* is complete, its author remains haunted by ?lisabeth's experiences, which are revealed in Sena Jeter Naslund's ingenious novel-within-a-novel interleaved with the chronicle of a day in the life of Kathryn Callaghan. Despite being separated by time, place, and culture, Kathryn and ?lisabeth possess similar gifts and burdens: uncompromising aesthetic codes, fierce pride in their artistic expression, and unwavering love and sacrifice for their children. And before the next midnight rolls around, Kathryn will have confronted personal danger as frightening as the butchery that ?lisabeth faced during the Reign of Terror. Each woman will be called upon and tested; each will, like Venus, rise triumphantly above the expectations of her world.In this, her compelling and intimate ninth book, Sena Jeter Naslund presents the reader with an eye-opening alternate vision of The Artist: not an angry young man but a woman of age and hard-won experience who has created for herself, against enormous odds, a fulfilling life of thoroughly realized achievement.

It's 1983 in Berkeley, California. Twenty-year-old Allie Dodgson is a straitlaced college student working part-time at a dress shop to make ends meet. But when the shop turns out to be a front for a dangerous drug-dealing business, Allie finds herself on the lam, speeding toward Los Angeles in her best friend's Prelude with a Wonder Bread bag full of cocaine riding shotgun and a hit man named Vice Versa on her tail. You can't find a more thrilling summer read!

Iro and Iona, two little bears who are best friends, live deep in the forest and spend their days playing happily with all the other little animals. But Iro wants some adventure and so she decides to take her friend Iona and set off on a trip to the mysterious Silver Mountain that everyone is so afraid of. This is the story of what happens when two naughty little bears disobey their parents and get themselves into all sorts of sticky situations. The Silver Mountain is an exciting place full of mystery and we follow Iro and Iona on their adventures in a magical world where in the end, goodness and bravery win the day. A great bedtime story with gorgeous illustrations for children aged 4 to 8 years old.

St Claire Bullock - a Professor of Philosophy, no less - in the intervals between pondering the great questions of life, turned his hand to penning light verse in the manner of Hilaire Belloc, Ogden Nash and Edward Lear. In rhyming couplets these wry and witty poems ponder the foibles and vanities of mortals. Some of these are captured in pen and ink drawings which caricature the subject of the poems. Each character is given an amusing name, beginning with Master Cecil Abercorn, through Clarence Castle, Serena Huff, The Marchioness of Mal de Mer, Major Houghton Reid and Thomas Tinkham Tattersall to Roland Washburn White. There are 70 poems in all of which 10 are illustrated. The illustration on the front cover relates to Rupert Ashe: 'The greatest pride of Rupert Ashe was his luxuriant moustache. He took great care to keep it groomed, And even, with restraint, perfumed. He brushed it upward every day, and it made such a grand display, that people who were not the wiser, imagined that he was the Kaiser.'

Arguing that an efficient economic system can be compatible with a fair share for all, this novel centers on a United States president who changes his mind about his policies. A deliberate parable about today’s political wars, the novel illustrates the reforms posed by a real 19th-century figure, the American economist Henry George. Accordingly, this fictional reelection campaign provides a convenient stage for speeches and debates when the incumbent president goes missing—and returns with a platform for social justice that enrages those with vested interests and confounds his party operatives.

Having sailed with Sir Francis Drake, swashbuckling privateer Rodney Hawkhurst yearns for a galleon of his own with which to plunder the Spanish Main in the name of Queen Elizabeth. Seeking investment from Sir Harry Gillingham, he has a fleeting encounter with an elfin, tomboyish golden-red-haired beauty Sir Harry?s youngest daughter Lizbeth and is bewitched by her limpid green eyes. Yet it is fair and golden-haired elder sister Phillida with whom he first falls in love... Granted his finances on the condition that Sir Harry?s weak, possibly even traitorous son sails with him in the hope that the mission will make him a man, Rodney embarks on a voyage of blood, honour and glory in which he gains great riches but loses his heart, not once, but twice. The risks are great but so are the rewards: wealth beyond compare and, as Rodney finally discovers, a greater, deeper, more passionate love than he ever imagined possible.

"?Do you really think you could work as I had to work to keep your mother from starvationMy dear child, you have lived in the lap of luxury all your life. You could no more earn a penny piece than fly over the moon!Kasia?s father laughs scornfully. This is justification for his decision to marry her off to a man she does not love purely to save her from fortune hunters. So Kasia runs away to prove him wrong by working as Governess to the Duke of Dreghorne?s unruly nephew. As Kasia gains the trust of the child, she earns first the respect and then the growing affection of the Lord. But when she and the boy are kidnapped the stakes are irrevocably raised and the Duke?s reputation as a Dare-Devil will be tested one final time... Will Kasia?s father forgive herWill Fate finally unite the hearts of Kasia and the Dare-Devil Duke?"

This book offers a radical revision of modern economic theory. Its starting point is the existing body of both micro and macro economics, as developed in such textbooks as Economics by Begg, Fischer and Dornbusch and Positive Economics by Lipsey and Chrystal. Following a similar framework to these books, it adjusts the whole range of theory by introducing some new concepts and other earlier ones that have been much neglected in the economic thought of the past century. These are related especially to the fundamental part played by land, in it proper sense of all natural resources available on the earth, the significance of credit, especially through the banking system, and the crucial impact of the method of taxation. The resulting analysis yields a thoroughly revised version of the contemporary model of a capitalist economy, so that a genuine ‘third way’ is revealed. This is not a mere modification of the present system of absentee ownership confronting a market for labour, with all the attendant evils of unemployment, monopoly and maldistribution of wealth and income. Rather it is a system based upon natural law, exhibiting economic security for all, fair distribution of output and, above all, the opportunity for self-fulfillment through work. The ‘new model’ draws upon the masters of economic thought from Smith and Ricardo to Marshall, Schumpeter and Keynes, by highlighting concepts often omitted from current studies of their works; such as Ricardo’s analysis of scarcity and differential elements of rent, Schumpeter’s view of the role of banking and Keynes’s hints at a labour theory of value. Indeed this far-reaching revision makes bold advances upon the Marshallian theory of the firm and the Keynesian theory of national income determination, thus providing new insights into both micro and macro theory. It remains faithful, however to the tradition of these latter thinkers in explaining matters fully in words, and resorting to mathematics mainly through the use of diagrams intelligible to anyone with an elementary grasp of the subject. Whilst the book strives to avoid value judgements in the interests of social science, it undoubtedly carries strong implications about economic policy. These are bound up with the central notions of free land and free credit, which have been singularly ignored by policy-makers since a few valiant attempts to introduce them in the early twentieth century. Hence the ‘new model’ is offered to both theorists and practitioners of economics, to politicians and public servants, but particularly to those who, like the author, truly seek a new vision of the subject.

In the two and a half years since the first edition appeared (April 2005), events have unfolded as predicted. Then the consensus among forecasters was that the boom in house prices would cool to an annual 2 or 3% rise over the following years. In fact, in keeping with the ‘winner’s curse’ phase of the cycle described by the author, prices rose by more than 10% per annum in Britain. Harrison’s first book, The Power in the Land, predicted the early 1990s recession. Boom Bust, warned that investing in property is not always a safe bet, because the housing market is subject to a sharp downturn at the end of a remarkably regular 18-year cycle. The crash of 2007/8 occurred exactly as predicted. His forecast was based on a careful study of the evidence from property markets in many countries over the last 200 years. Gordon Brown’s claim, last made in his 2007 Budget speech, that ‘we will never return to the old boom and bust’ has been proved false. The reason for the instability, Harrison explains, is not the housing market itself but the land market on which all buildings stand. Land is in fixed supply ‘ as Mark Twain noted: ‘They’re not making any more of it’. Therefore, as the demand for land for new homes and offices rises with population growth and economic expansion, market forces, which normally increase supply to reduce prices, have the reverse effect: prices rise. This encourages speculation, with banks lending more against escalating asset values and reinforcing the upward spiral. Under existing government policies, the only way land prices can be brought back to affordable levels is a slump, undermining the banking system and causing widespread unemployment and repossessions. This is exactly what happened in America with the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market. The run on Northern Rock showed the UK economy is not immune. The author reveals that the government’s monetary policy only has a marginal impact on land speculation, but as the Bank of England raises interest rates to curb house price inflation, the main victim is the first-time buyer and the productive economy, especially small businesses. The only way to neutralise the boom bust cycle in the housing market is through a reform of taxation, he claims. ‘This book is an important contribution to an overdue debate.’ Martin Ricketts, Chairman of the Academic Advisory Council of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Professor of Economic Organisation, University of Buckingham. Endorsing the thrust of Harrison’s argument, Prof. Ricketts goes on to acknowledge ‘that insufficient attention has been given by policymakers to the rent of land as socially the most efficient source of public revenue’, and that that will ‘have important practical consequences … for the stability of the economic system’. Economic stability is the objective of Gordon Brown and most governments around the world. Harrison explains how this may be achieved.

Destitute after the death of her beloved Papa, Carmela is miserable working as Nanny to the brattish children of the local vicar. So when her closest friend Felicity asks her to take her place in the home of her guardian, the dictatorial Earl of Galeston, she nervously agrees. The subterfuge is necessary to ensure Felicity can marry the love of her life – and possible firstly because none of Felicity’s feuding family have set eyes on her since she was a child... And secondly because both young women are blue-eyed, blonde and beautiful. The Earl’s ancestral home is awe-inspiring – but it is the Earl himself who makes the greatest impression on Carmela. Growing to appreciate the profound kindness behind his steely fa?ade, she falls deeply, utterly in love... But can true love live when it’s based on a lieThe Earl finds the answer in his heart when Carmela’s life – and any hope of love – is at stake...

Tasked by the Prime Minister himself with bringing to justice the smuggling gangs that are rife around the Kent and Sussex coast, esteemed Napoleonic war hero Lord Cheriton is surprised to find a beautiful young girl called Wivina living in his dead and deeply hated father’s supposedly vacant mansion. She has no idea who he is – and when he hears his reputation as a cold-hearted Lord who would turn her out without a qualm, he tells her he is just a passing friend... Nevertheless Wivina seems terrified by his presence – but whyRealising the entire village is at the mercy of a cut-throat gang and Wivina’s prey to its murderous leader, Lord Cheriton endeavours to save the young beauty who’s stolen his heart while accomplishing his mission to stop the smugglers once and for all. For the first time, he is fighting not for his country but for the love of his life – and the life of his love.

In the loveless household of General Sir Frederick and Lady Emily Osmund and their empty-headed twin daughters, begrudgingly adopted niece Azalea is little more than a wallflower. And all because her kind, heroic and beloved father died in a manner they wrongly consider scandalous – and because her mother was Russian! ‘You must pay the price of your father’s sins and what happened in India you will take to your grave with sealed lips’, her uncle says, as if to seal her fate. When the General is posted to Hong Kong, Azalea is thrilled but there, as always, she is cast aside and abused. Only the handsome, dashing but imperious Lord Sheldon shows any interest in her – until to her aunt and uncle’s disgust she’s befriended by a kind Chinese family. But her joy at learning of their culture and customs is short-lived. Kidnapped by pirates, she faces death and worse. Is there any hope now that she’ll find true love and a life of her own ?

The death of her beloved father, has left artistic and idealistic Tempera and her stunning, scatterbrained stepmother Lady Rothley bereft not only of love but also of money. So when Lady Rothley?s womanly wiles attract an invitation from none other than the Duke of Chevingham to join him in the South of France, it?s a Godsend. At last the prospect of a handsome, aristocratic suitor for Tempera?s Belle-m?re who would keep them both in the style to which they would dearly love to be re-acquainted! To arrive without a lady?s maid is inconceivable to afford one impossible. So Tempera escorts her Belle-m?re in the guise of a servant and attempts to coach her in fine art, the Duke?s consuming passion. While her stepmother flirts with C?te D?Azur society Tempera contents herself with capturing the local flora?s beauty on canvas. And when the flair she inherited from her father captivates and mystifies the magnificent Duke, something stirs in Tempera that she has never felt before. Is it loveOr is it betrayal?

Anastasia is about to be married, which should be the most exciting day of any young girl?s life. Pretty, impulsive and wise beyond her years it seems that the young Princess will make an ideal bride for one lucky man. There is only one flaw in the wedding plans she is not in love with her bridegroom. Commanded to marry by Queen Victoria, Anastasia is horror struck at the thought of an arranged marriage. Having dreamt of true love since childhood, she despairs that a marriage based on political allegiance can ever be a happy one. Especially when her bridegroom, the handsome King of Maurona, is reputed to have a preference for anything French, including the seductive wife of Maurona's French ambassador. Determined to do her duty, Anastasia prepares to meet her future husband just days before their wedding. The roar of the assembled crowd tells her that she has won the love and approval of the people, but will she ever have the love of their KingAs passions and political intrigue simmer amidst the idyllic palaces and sun-kissed olive groves of Maurona, Anastasia decides that this is a challenge she must rise to. As well as ensuring British protection for the tiny Principality from the greedy hands of neighbouring France, she determines to make her marriage a success. But can an innocent English rose compete with the dark smoldering beauty of the sensual Comtesse le GranmontTwo women, one man and only one winner but as danger grows ever closer will the King realise who his real friends are, and which woman should be at his side, in time to save his country?

Have you ever been so desperate that you would do literally anything for moneyThis is the tragic situation Giselda finds herself in, with no money for an operation her younger brother desperately needs to save his life, and no one to turn to. Ground down by poverty she plucks up her courage to offer the only thing she has of value her purity. Choking back her pride and knowing that she is about to forfeit his respect, she approaches her wealthy employer, the handsome Earl of Lyndhurst, who is recovering from his injuries sustained in the Battle of Waterloo. Appalled that this frail and innocent young girl should be faced with such a terrible decision, he vows to find a way to help her without offending her dignity. He knows she would never accept his charity, and she refuses to confide in him the reasons for her family's poverty. Intrigued by the air of mystery about a girl of obvious quality reduced to the role of maidservant, the Earl decides to discover why a beautiful young woman of strong principles has been reduced to such extreme measures. Discovering her to have gentle hands and wonderful nursing skills he employs her as his private nurse and turns his sharp mind to uncovering her secrets and learns his own lessons in love in the process.

Bereaved of her beloved father at sixteen, and now her mother, Belinda Wyncombe?s only comfort is that she still has the family?s home. Until she finds her irresponsible stepfather, Captain D?Arcy Rowland, has squandered their money and fraudulently mortgaged the house. This means he faces jail while Belinda faces penury, unless she complies with her stepfather?s shameful scheme to gain and ruthlessly exploit the trust of the famed adventurer ?LuckyLogan, who has made a fortune with his legendary ability to find diamonds, gold and other precious metals wherever he travels. Every fibre of Belinda?s being recoils from such deceit more so when she finds that Marcus ?LuckyLogan is not the greedy fortune hunter of her imagining but a generous, handsome and heroic man. When murderous thugs come for Marcus in the dead of night, it is Belinda who raises the alarm and saves his life. And when he kisses her,Belinda is suddenly, utterly, in love but surely her love is doomed by her deceit?

Following the sudden death of his rakish father, Seldon Burn unexpectedly inherits the title of Duke of Otterburn. Returning to the family estate, he swiftly discovers that the title is the only thing he has inherited – along with a mountain of his father’s debts and nothing to pay them with. A brave and proud soldier, nothing has prepared the new Duke for the devastation to the family coffers caused by his late father’s love of lavish entertainment, Gaiety Girls and good living. Meeting with the family Solicitor, the Duke is horrified to discover the Ducal properties are crumbling, everything of value is entailed and even the racehorses have not been schooled properly. Desperately seeking to rebuild the family fortune and honourably fulfil his duty of care to the old and infirm of the village, his cousin Edith, a sophisticated Socialite, offers a solution. She suggests that he follows in the footsteps of many an impoverished English aristocrat and marries a wealthy American heiress – she even has a fitting bride in mind from her recent visit to New York. With no viable alternative and a pressing demand for money, a wedding is hastily arranged – but will the English traditions of generations of the Burn’s family be overshadowed by the razzle-dazzle of the Duke’s mother-in-law to be, Mrs. Vandevilt, the renowned New York hostessHorrified at being married for his title and not love, the Duke is so angry that he barely considers the feelings of his young and vulnerable bride. Meanwhile, the lovely Magnolia Vandevilt, one of the richest heiresses in America, is equally disgusted and contemptuous of a man who is marrying her only for her money. Joined together in holy matrimony, can this marriage of convenience ever be more than a disappointment and battleground as both parties dream of the love they might have had?

Betrayal wounds.Revenge destroys.Over three decades, Hamlin's practice devolved into just another racket: intimidating witnesses, suborning perjury, destroying evidence, laundering money. But is he the victim of murder—or of a dangerous sexual encounter gone wrongAnd when law enforcement believes justice has already been done, who can be trusted to find outOnce again in the city where his career came to a shattering end, former detective Harlan Donnally resolved it wouldn't be him. He had no desire to immerse himself in the deceit that was Hamlin's career . . . nor entangle himself in the corrupted loyalties that turned the dead lawyer's associates into both co-conspirators and suspects . . . nor make himself the proxy for the hatreds and betrayals Hamlin left behind. But the presiding judge demanded otherwise—and that might cost Donnally his life.

Adam Mansbach, the acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author of Go the F**k to Sleep and Rage Is Back, turns to a new tale of suspense, horror, and supernatural actionWrongfully imprisoned in a Mexican jail, outlaw-with-a-conscience Jess Galvan accepts a devil's bargain: transport a sinister package across the border in twenty-four hours for the jail's mythical—and terrifying—bogeyman El Cucuy. If Jess can make it across alive and give the iron box to cult leader Aaron Seth, he will be free and able to regain custody of his estranged daughter.But as Jess navigates a blighted desert full of deadly surprises, girls go missing on both sides of the border and bodies begin to surface. It's a deadly epidemic of crime that plunges small-town sheriff Bob Nichols into a monster of an investigation he's not equipped to handle, especially when sixteen-year-old Sherry disappears.An ancient evil has awoken in the empty wastelands along the border and now everyone—the innocent and the guilty alike—must face their deepest fears as epic myth and human malice combine to bring forth the end of the world as we know it.With The Dead Run, acclaimed author Adam Mansbach mixes horror, the supernatural, and suspense to deliver a chilling, high-octane adventure.

From Adam Mansbach, the acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author of Go the F**k to Sleep, comes an electrifying and horrifying action-adventure tale set in the dangerous terrain of the Tex-Mex borderlandIn The Dead Run, outlaw with a conscience Jess Galvan made a devil's bargain with El Cucuy, a fearsome, five-hundred-year-old Aztec priest and major crime kingpin determined to bring about hell on earth. Now, months later, Galvan is trapped in his own personal hell, his mind infested with the soul of this ancient monster. No longer able to trust his own judgment, he is estranged from his daughter, Sherry—and from his own body. His every moment is a battle to keep the evil priest at bay. But there is a silver lining—Cucuy's presence has endowed Galvan with superhuman strength and endurance.Meanwhile, separated from Galvan and shell-shocked by her confrontation with Cucuy, Sherry is living with Sheriff Bob Nichols and his now girlfriend, psychologist Ruth Cantwell. The only bright spot in her life is her dashing new-to-town boyfriend. And in the bowels of Ojos Negros prison, a territory once controlled by the ancient priest, the drug cartels are at war with one another and on the hunt for Galvan—who must find a way to exorcise his inner demon in time to save the world from annihilation.In this chilling sequel to The Dead Run, #1 New York Times bestselling author Adam Mansbach mixes horror, the supernatural, and gritty suspense to create a high-concept adventure filled with nasty bad guys, fearsome magic, and an unlikely hero who is caught between worlds but determined to save this one.