Née à Londres en 1930, journaliste, RuthRendell a publié en 1964 la première enquête de l’inspecteurWexford. En quarante ans, elle a écrit plus de soixante livres,traduits en un vingtaine de langues et couronnés par les plusgrands prix de littérature policière (Edgar et Gold Dagger Award àdeux reprises ; pour l’ensemble de son ?uvre, le Cartier DiamondDagger et le grand Master Award des Mystery Writers of America).Elle est aujourd’hui considérée comme l’une des ? reines du crime?. Nommée baronne de l’Empire britannique par Tony Blair, ellesiège depuis 1997 à la chambre des Lords.

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) The three classic novelspublished here in one volume are rich with the crisp prose, subtlecharacters, and intricate plots that made Dashiell Hammett one ofthe most admired writers of the twentieth century. A one-timedetective and a master of deft understatement, Hammett virtuallyinvented the hard-boiled crime novel. In "The Maltese Falcon," SamSpade, a private eye with his own solitary code of ethics, tangleswith a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at thedrop of a dime. "The Thin Man" introduces Hammett's wittiestcreations, Nick and Nora Charles, who solve homicides in betweenwisecracks and martinis. And in "Red Harvest," Hammett's anonymoustough-guy detective, the Continental Op, takes on the entire townof Poisonville in a deadly war against corruption. "DashiellHammett is a master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hellof a writer."--"Boston Globe" "Hammett was spare, hard-boiled, buthe did over and over what only the best writers can ever do.

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Raymond Chandler's first threenovels, published here in one volume, established his reputation asan unsurpassed master of hard-boiled detective fiction. "The BigSleep," Chandler's first novel, introduces Philip Marlowe, aprivate detective inhabiting the seamy side of Los Angeles in the1930s, as he takes on a case involving a paralyzed Californiamillionaire, two psychotic daughters, blackmail, and murder. In"Farewell, My Lovely," Marlowe deals with the gambling circuit, amurder he stumbles upon, and three very beautiful but potentiallydeadly women. In "The High Window," Marlowe searches the Californiaunderworld for a priceless gold coin and finds himself deep in thetangled affairs of a dead coin collector. In all three novels,Chandler's hard-edged prose, colorful characters, vivid vernacular,and, above all, his enigmatic loner of a hero, enduringly establishhis claim not only to the heights of his chosen genre but to thepantheon of literary art.

Stories of famously eccentric Princetonians abound--such as that of chemist Hubert Alyea, the model for The Absent-Minded Professor, or Ralph Nader, said to have had his own key to the library as an undergraduate. Or the "Phantom of Fine Hall," a figure many students had seen shuffling around the corridors of the math and physics building wearing purple sneakers and writing numerology treatises on the blackboards. The Phantom was John Nash, one of the most brilliant mathematicians of his generation, who had spiraled into schizophrenia in the 1950s. His most important work had been in game theory, which by the 1980s was underpinning a large part of economics. When the Nobel Prize committee began debating a prize for game theory, Nash's name inevitably came up--only to be dismissed, since the prize clearly could not go to a madman. But in 1994 Nash, in remission from schizophrenia, shared the Nobel Prize in economics for work done some 45 years previously. Economist and journalist Sylvia Nasar has written

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) The only complete edition ofstories by the undisputed master of detective literature, collectedhere for the first time in one volume, including some stories thathave been unavailable for decades. When Raymond Chandler turned towriting at the age of forty-five, he began by publishing stories inpulp magazines such as "Black Mask" before later writing his famousnovels. These stories are where Chandler honed his art anddeveloped his uniquely vivid underworld, peopled with good cops andbad cops, informers and extortionists, lethally predatory blondesand redheads, and crime, sex, gambling, and alcohol in abundance.In addition to his classic hard-boiled stories-in which hissignature atmosphere of depravity and violence swirls around thecool, intuitive loners whose type culminated in the famousdetective Philip Marlowe-Chandler also turned his hand to fantasyand even a gothic romance. This rich treasury of twenty-fivestories shows Chandler developing the terse, laconic, understatedstyle

Three-volume paperback boxed set of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic masterpiece, packaged in the classic black covers designed by Tolkien himself. Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power -- the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring -- the ring that rules them all -- which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose. Since it was first published in 1954, 'The Lord of the Rings' has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy has touched the hearts of young and old alike.

Here, collected in one volume, are all four full-length novelsand 56 short stories chronicling the colorful adventures ofSherlock Holmes--every word Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ever wrote aboutBaker Street's most famous resident.

Chine, juillet 1405. La plus grande armada del'histoire, une escadre colossale de jonques géantes, quitte lesrivages de l'empire du Milieu sous le commandement du titanesqueeunuque Zheng He. Son ma?tre, Yong Lo, troisième empereur de ladynastie des Ming, a décidé que l'univers entier le reconna?traitcomme Fils du Ciel et lui ferait allégeance. Cette gigantesqueflotte aux trésors doit y contribuer. A bord, le truculent Li Ying:grande gueule, ripailleur goulu, soiffard impénitent, féru d'artsmartiaux et familier du monde des courtisanes. Mais ce colosse,plus fin qu'il n'y para?t, est fidèle en amitié. De petitboutiquier il se retrouve mandarin et croise sur sa route unemultitude de personnages: aigrefins, entremetteurs véreux, héta?resredoutables...

In a sublime story cycle, Kazuo Ishiguro explores ideas of love, music and the passing of time. From the piazzas of Italy to the Malvern Hills, a London flat to the 'hush-hush floor' of an exclusive Hollywood hotel, the characters we encounter range from young dreamers to cafe musicians to faded stars, all of them at some moment of reckoning. Gentle, intimate and witty, this quintet is marked by a haunting theme: the struggle to keep alive a sense of life's romance, even as one gets older, relationships flounder and youthful hopes recede.

With the same wicked humor and delicious charm that have won her millions of devoted fans, Sophie Kinsella, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Shopaholic & Baby, returns with an irresistible new novel and a fresh new heroine who finds herself in a life-changing and utterly hilarious predicament…. When twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she’s in for a big surprise. Her teeth are perfect. Her body is toned. Her handbag is Vuitton. Having survived a car accident—in a Mercedes no less—Lexi has lost a big chunk of her memory, three years to be exact, and she’s about to find out just how much things have changed. Somehow Lexi went from a twenty-five-year-old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek new loft, a personal assistant, a carb-free diet, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husband—who also happens to be a multimillionaire? With her mind still stuck three years in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determ

After having lost her family and the luxurious life she livedin beautiful Napa, California, Ava Winters finds herself on RebunIsland, Japan, the site of Satoshi Takeda's Revenge School. There,Ava meets Reena, Jon, Cruz, and Jane. At Revenge School, Ava alsomeets Emily Thorne who has recently returned to her training withTakeda. Emily shares her wisdom about Revenge and the importance oflooking for justice in a world where their enemies have thrived.Jon finds a file in Takeda's office detailing the connective tissuelinking the group currently at Revenge School. He presents Ava andthe others with the information, highlighting the looming May 1stdate of an annual gala in Napa where they will all have theopportunity to address their respective "revengendas." Althoughtheir training is not finished, the group feels the time is rightto set out on their mission. Assuming the delicious melodramatictone of the show, the book will reveal twists, turns, murder,collusion and deception. SCHOOLED IN REVENGE will also

The text of this edition is based on the Wessex Edition of 1912, which was revised and corrected by the author. It has been collated with the Mellstock Edition of 1920, for which Hardy submitted final corrections. "Backgrounds and Contexts" provides new and invaluable source material on Victorian Dorset and, in particular, Dorchester, Hardy’s native home and the town upon which Casterbridge is based. Included are six of Hardy’s nonfiction writings, notably excerpts from his essay "The Dorsetshire Laboure" (1883), in which he frankly comments on the social changes he has witnessed in the county. Hardy’s Wessex is further examined in an essay by Michael Millgate, by maps of Casterbridge and Wessex, and by a key to local place names. Christine Winfield discusses the novel’s manu* and its complicated history. "Criticism" collects seventeen wide-ranging assessments of the novel-six new to the Second Edition-from both contemporary and modern critics, including Virginia Woolf, Albert J. Guerard,

Deux jumeaux, Jean et Paul, forment un couple fraternel si uniqu'on l'appelle Jean-Paul. Mais Jean veut briser cette cha?ne etessaie de se marier. Paul fait échouer ce projet. Désespéré, Jeanpart seul en voyage de noces à Venise. Paul se lance à sa poursuiteet accomplit un long voyage initiatique autour du monde. A traversdes aventures multiples et de nombreux personnages, comme lescandaleux oncle Alexandre, surnommé le dandy des gadoues, ce romanillustre le grand thème du couple humain.

Eddie is a grizzled war veteran who feels trapped in a meaningless life of fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. His days are a dull routine of work, loneliness, and regret. Then, on his 83rd birthday, Eddie dies in a tragic accident, trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden, but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people. These people may have been loved ones or distant strangers. Yet each of them changed your path forever. One by one, Eddie's five people illuminate the unseen connections of his earthly life. As the story builds to its stunning conclusion, Eddie desperately seeks redemption in the still-unknown last act of his life: Was it a heroic success or a devastating failure? The answer, which comes from the most unlikely of sources, is as inspirational as a glimpse of heaven itself. In The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom gives us an astoundingly original story that wil

Et si pour une fois, la tribu Malaussène s'agrandissait par lefils, et non par la mère ? Et si Malaussène, rescapé, recousu,réanimé d'un précédent épisode (La Petite Marchande de prose)décidait de sauter le pas avec sa Julie d'amour, revenue elle aussid'encore plus loin (La Fée carabine) ? C'est vrai que d'habitude,dans la tribu, on fête une naissance à chaque fois que la mère estamoureuse : elle part vivre son amour loin des yeux mais jamaisloin du coeur, et puis elle "réappara?t", enceinte, pour repartirsit?t le petit nouveau bien arrivé. Mais cette fois, elle estrevenue toute seule, désemparée et muette. Alors, c'est au tour deBen de prendre la relève. Sauf qu'évidemment, à Belleville, ?a nepeut pas se passer aussi simplement : sinon on ne serait pas chezles Malaussène... Pour la quatrième fois, Pennac nous fait la gr?ce de redonner vie àson héros, et comme les enfants quand Ben leur raconte deshistoires, on se surprend presque à crier "la suite, la suite !". --Karla Manuele

In Blindness, a city is overcome by an epidemic ofblindness that spares only one woman. She becomes a guide for agroup of seven strangers and serves as the eyes and ears for thereader in this profound parable of loss and disorientation. Wereturn to the city years later in Saramago’s Seeing, asatirical commentary on government in general and democracy inparticular. Together here for the first time, this beautifuledition will be a welcome addition to the library of any Saramagofan.

Robert Langdon, professeur en symbologie, estconvoqué d'urgence par son ami Peter Solomon, philanthrope et ma?onde haut grade, pour une conférence à donner le soir même. Enrejoignant la rotonde du Capitole, il fait une macabre découverte.Ce sera le premier indice d'une quête haletante, des sous-sols dela Bibliothèque du Congrès aux temples ma?onniques, à la recherchedu secret le mieux gardé de la franc-ma?onnerie. Une aventure oùs'affrontent les traditions ésotériques et la formidableintelligence de Robert Langdon.

In this stunning follow-up to the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown demonstrates once again why he is the world’s most popular thriller writer. The Lost Symbol is a masterstroke of storytelling--a deadly race through a real-world labyrinth of codes, secrets, and unseen truths . . . all under the watchful eye of Brown’s most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol accelerates through a startling landscape toward an unthinkable finale. As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols--is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation . . . one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom. When Langdon’s beloved mentor, P

The Second Edition of this Norton Critical Edition of Fielding’s great novel reprints the definitive fourth edition text (1749, dated 1750), "Carefully revis’d and corrected/By Henry Fielding, Esq;", the last in his lifetime. The novel is fully annotated for undergraduate readers and is accompanied by a Textual Appendix and a map depicting Tom’s route to London. As in the previous edition, "Contemporary Reactions" by such noteworthy commentators as Samuel Richardson, Samuel Johnson, and the Hill sisters provide rich historical context. "Criticism" is a collection of fourteen interpretations of the novel spanning the years 1826–1990 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Forsyth, Kenneth Rexroth, R. S. Crane, John Preston, William Empson, Wayne C. Booth, Martin Battestin, Maaja A. Stewart, Eleanor N. Hutchens, Sean Shesgreen, Frederick W. Hilles, and Sheridan Baker.

This revised Norton Critical Edition represents a complete recasting of the 1968 edition. In accordance with recent scholarship, the preferred first English edition (William Blackwood & Sons, 1900) is now the copy-text. The novel is accompanied by expanded annotations, textual notes (including all variants in the heavily revised magazine version of Lord Jim as well as the book editions published in Conrad's lifetime), and "A Lord Jim Gazetteer and Glossary of Eastern and Nautical Terms." A wealth of background and source material is included: Conrad's correspondence; a previously unavailable account of Lord Jim's several endings; richly detailed accounts of the novel's historical and literary sources; geographical and topographical studies; six illustrations; and two maps. The best critical writing on Lord Jim is presented in twelve essays by Hugh Clifford, Albert J. Guerard, lan Watt, Fredric Jameson, J. Hillis Miller, Edward Said, Philip M. Weinstein, Paul B. Armstrong, Marianne DeKoven, and Dap

A bumper omnibus gathering together 35 classic Agatha Christie stories of murder and suspense. Comprising stories from five different individual volumes, this edition contains masterpieces of short story writing, including Philomel Cottage, The Hound of Death, While the Light Lasts and Witness for the Prosecution.