After the Berlin Wall came down and opened up new changes ineastern Europe, John le Carre's stunning novel, The Secret Pilgrim,takes us behind the scenes into the former Cold War world. Nothing is as it was. Old enemies embrace.The dark staging grounds of the Cold War, whose shadows barelyobscured the endless games of espionage, are flooded with light;the rules are rewritten, the stakes changed, the futureunfathomable. John le Carre has seized this momentous turning pointin history to give us the most disturbing experience we have yethad of the frail and brutal world of spydom. The man called Ned speaks to us. All hisadult life he has been in British Intelligence--the Circus--aloyal, shrewd, wily officer of the Cold War. Now, approaching theend of his career, he revisits his own past. He invites us on atour of his three decades in the Circus, burrowing deep into thetwilight world where he ran spies--'joes'--from Poland, Estonia,Hungary.

Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty,earlymorning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? Fornearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberatedthroughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks andshaded squares. John Berendt's sharply observed, suspenseful, andwitty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yetit is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugelyentertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnantof the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of alandmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkablecharacters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman'sCard Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless reclusewho owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man,woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern bellewho is the "soul of pampered self-absorption"; the uproariouslyfunny black drag queen; the acerbic and ar

Sorry. The single word was written on a mirror. In front of ithung the Minneapolis Internal Affairs cop. Was it suicide? Or akinky act turned tragic? Either way, it wasn't murder. At least notaccording to the powers that be. But veteran homicide detective SamKovac and his wisecracking, ambitious partner Nikki Liska thinkdifferently. Together they begin to dig at the too-neat edges ofthe young cop's death, uncovering one motive and one suspect afteranother. The shadows of suspicion fall not only on the city'selite, but into the very heart of the police department. Someonewants the case closed- quickly and forever. But neither Kovac norLiska will give up. Now both their careers and their lives are onthe line. From a murder case two months old to another case closedfor twenty years, Kovac and Liska must unearth a connection thekiller wants dead and buried. A killer who will stop at absolutelynothing to keep a dark and shattering secret . . .

West From Singapore is a second collection of two-fistedadventure stores set in the Pacific at the outbreak of World WarII, by the author of the recent New York Times bestseller NightOver The Solomons and the #1 bestselling Last Of The Breed.

"Good riddance", is the response of every Pecan Springsresident to the murder of local real estate shark Edgar Coleman. itdoesn't take long for China to learn that Coleman was havingnumerous affairs -- and was blackmailing City Council members fortheir votes on a bad land development deal. With her fianceimmersed in the murder investigation -- and the suspect listgrowing longer by the minute -- China can forget about a honeymoon,unless she can find the killer...

In 1975, the now defunct Laser Books issued Invasion byAaron Wolfe, aka Koontz (who later expanded that novel into Winter Moon , 1994), a breakneck tale of alien invasioncentered on an isolated farm. Koontz's new novel also concernsalien invasion, and a comparison of the two books offers insightinto the evolution of this megaselling author's work. Invasion was mostly speed and suspense—a brilliant ifsuperficial exercise in terror. The new novel also featuresabundant suspense, as a couple in an isolated California homeendure a phosphorescent rain and learn that, around the world, something is attacking humans and laying waste tocommunications. It's only when they drive to a nearby town thatthey learn of a global alien invasion; the tension ratchets as aweird fog descends and the aliens not only manifest physically butanimate the dead. For years, however, Koontz has aimed at more thanjust thrills; today he is a novelist of metaphysics and moralreflection. His aliens are inherently evil as well as scary;s

He saw her across the Piazza San Marco and fell in love fromafar. When he sees her again in a Venice café a year later, heknows it is fate. He knows little English; and she, a divorcedAmerican chef, speaks only food-based Italian. Marlena thinks sheis incapable of intimacy, that her heart has lost its capacity forromantic love. But within months of their first meeting, she haspacked up her house in St. Louis to marry Fernando—“the stranger,”as she calls him—and live in that achingly lovely city in whichthey met. Vibrant but vaguely baffled by this bold move, Marlena isoverwhelmed by the sheer foreignness of her new home, its ritualsand customs. But there are delicious moments when Venice opens upits arms to Marlena. She cooks an American feast of Mississippicaviar, cornbread, and fried onions for the locals . . . and takesthe tango she learned in the Poughkeepsie middle school gym to acandlelit trattoría near the Rialto Bridge. All the while, she andFernando, two disparate souls, build

Originally subtitled "An Adventurous Education, 1935-1946",this book is a key volume in Kerouac's lifework, the series ofautobiographical novels he referred to as The Legend of Duluoz. Awonderfully unassuming look back at the origins of his career--aprehistory of the Beat era, written from the perspective of thepsychedelic '60s.

After his haystack was torched, Mr. Harmsworth barricaded acommon path through his orchard. But witnesses-both human andanimal-claim a ghost perpetrated the deed. And the ghost has amessage that Miss Potter hopes to figure out.

Undeniably powerful, an enormously affecting and intenselyhuman story. --The Washington Post Book World "A GUT-WRENCHING PIECE OF WORK. . . Carcaterra's graphic narrativegrips like gunfire in a dark alley." --The Atlanta Journal Constitution "In his controversial memoir SLEEPERS, Carcaterra remembersharrowing months in the Wilkinson Home for Boys and the elaboratevengeance he and his friends exacted against the guards. He tellsit all in spare, stylish prose . . . [with] relentless momentum andsheer drama. . . . SLEEPERS is a thriller, to be sure, but it isequally a wistful hymn to another age." --The Washington Post Book World "A TERRIFYING ACCOUNT OF BRUTALITY AND RETRIBUTION, searing in itsemotional truth, peopled with murderers, sadists, and thugs, butbiblical in its passion and scope." --People "SLEEPERS is so many things: a Dickensian portrait of coming of agein Hell's Kitchen, a terrifying and heartbreaking account of thebrutalization of youth, a shocking--and disturbinglysatisfying--climax worthy of

The bestselling author of "When The Bough Breaks," "BloodTest," and "Over The Edge" delivers the most stunning novel yet andfeaturing psychologist-detective Dr. Alex Delaware. At a party fora controversial Los Angeles sex therapist, Alex encounters a facefrom his own past--Sharon Ransom, an exquisite, alluring lover wholeft him abruptly more than a decade earlier. Sharon now hints thathe desperately needs help, but Alex evades her. The next day she isdead, an apparent suicide. Driven by guilt and sadness, Alexplunges into the maze of Sharon's life--a journey that will takehim through the pleasure palaces of California's ultra-rich, intothe dark closets of a family's disturbing past, and finally intothe alleyways of the mind, where childhood terrors still hold sway.Also available on BDD Audio Cassette.

The true story of one of America's greatestphilanthropists This is Jane Addams's graphic account of her famed settlementhouse in Chicago's West Side slums. Covering the years 1889 to1909, a time when America was fired with fear of subversives andsuspicion of foreigners, this book stands as the immortal testamentof a woman who lived and worked among the immigrant settlers, thesweatshop toilers, the unwed mothers, the hungry, the aged, thesick, to show them the true concept of American Democracy. * Jane Addams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition ofher philanthropic work * This new edition features an afterword by Manhattan BoroughPresident Ruth Messinger which examines the current state ofsettlement houses in America

Who will be with you in the darkesthour? Amy Redwing has devoted her life to rescuing dogs. But the uniquebond she shares with Nickie, a golden retriever she saves in themost dangerous encounter of her life, is deeper than any she hasever known. In one night, their loyalty will be put to the test,and each will prove to the other how far they will go – when thestakes turn deadly serious.

Loop me in, odd one. The words, spoken in the deep of night bya sleeping child, chill the young man watching over her. For thiswas a favorite phrase of Stormy Llewellyn, his lost love, andStormy is dead, gone forever from this world. In the haunted hallsof the isolated monastery where he had sought peace, Odd Thomas isstalking spirits of an infinitely darker nature. . . .BrotherOdd. Through two New York Times bestselling novels, Odd Thomas hasestablished himself as one of the most beloved and unique fictionalheroes of our time. Now, wielding all the power and magic of amaster storyteller at the pinnacle of his craft, Dean Koontzfollows Odd into a singular new world where he hopes to make afresh beginning—but where he will meet an adversary as old andinexorable as time itself.

From universally beloved author Alexander McCall Smith, comesthis seventh installment in the bestselling No. 1 Ladies' DetectiveAgency series featuring Botswana's best-loved detective. Life isgood for Mma Ramotswe as she sets out with her usual resolve tosolve people's problems, heal their misfortunes, and untangle themysteries that make life interesting. And life is never dull onTlokweng Road. A new and rather too brusque advice columnist isappearing in the local paper. Then, a cobra is found in the officesof the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Recently, the Mokolodi GamePreserve manager feels an infectious fear spreading among hisworkers, and a local doctor may be falsifying blood pressurereadings. To further complicate matters, Grace Makutsi may havescared off her own fiance. Mma Ramotswe, however, is always up tothe challenge. And "Blue Shoes and Happiness" will not fail toentertain Alexander McCall Smith's oldest fans and newest convertswith its great wit, charm, and great good will.

A magician's daughter has inherited her father's talents-andhis penchant for jewel thievery. Then she meets an escape artistwho captures her heart and has secrets that could shatter herillusions...

Revolution is in the air. The king's court sorcerer is beingeyed with suspicion. Not for dabbling in the black arts...not forconsorting with a demon...not for having a dragon as a pet...noteven for being mobbed up. But for the greatest crime of all:raising taxes. Who is this terrible tyrant? None other than Skeevethe Great. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

Mining crimes of the past and politics, Truman ( Murder at thePentagon ) scants the basic plotting requirements of her 11thCapital Crimes case, which is marred by superfluous unsolvedmurders and an unconvincing conclusion. When the body of PaulineJuris, personal secretary of wealthy developer Wendell Tierney, isfound in the Potomac River, Tierney calls former attorney, now lawprofessor, Mackenzie Smith for advice. Mac, whose beloved wifeAnnabel wants him to stop dabbling in detection, agrees to seeWendell, but he refuses to ferret out the police line on the case,even though a former student of his heads the investigation team.Tierney, becoming chief suspect when love letters, purportedly fromhim, are found in the dead woman's apartment, again begs for Mac'shelp. Both Mac and Annabel are drawn into the case, which takes onanother twist when the suspect's adopted son, Sun Ben Cheong, isarrested for money laundering. Truman plumps up Mac's low-keysleuthing with the goings on of the fictitious Scarlet Sin

In this 21st novel by one of the premier chroniclers of Americanlife, a man recalls a lifetime spent in New England communities ofwomen. Owen Mackenzie, now in his 70s and living in the smallvillage of Haskell's Crossing, Conn., with his second wife, Julia,spends his days immersed in the daily routines of retirement whilereminiscing about his childhood town of Willow, Pa., and thevillage where he spent his adulthood, Middle Falls, Conn. ThoughOwen studied at MIT and founded an early computer startup that madehim moderately rich, his story is primarily defined by his romanticrelationships. He marries his first wife, Phyllis, a classmate atMIT, for her cool beauty, but later decides that he needs a broaderrange of sexual experience. After a fraught first affair, he learnscaution and is able to clandestinely indulge his love of women,until Julia, a minister's wife, comes along and convinces him toembark on a messy divorce and remarriage that indirectly results inPhyllis's accidental death. Owen's obsession with

One minute, down and out actor Lorenzo Smythe was -- as usual-- in a bar, drinking away his troubles as he watched his career godown the tubes. Then a space pilot bought him a drink, and the nextthing Smythe knew, he was shanghaied to Mars. Suddenly he foundhimself agreeing to the most difficult role of his career:impersonating an important politician who had been kidnapped. Peacewith the Martians was at stake -- failure to pull off the act couldresult in interplanetary war. And Smythe's own life was on the line-- for if he wasn't assassinated, there was always the possibilitythat he might be trapped in his new role forever!