The book transported my imagination where I was right inside a courtroom drama…. Fantastic, thoroughly recommend this book!” “Both educational and entertaining …I thought the author did an excellent job of introducing Americans to the British legal system (which bemuses many of us as much as cricket). I always love good summations, and these were of high calibre… The author demonstrated a mastery of providing meaningful snippets of personal life essentially in textual asides.”“Author John Burton, Q.C. knows of whereof he writes, and his book, as well as being a well plotted, well written and highly enjoyable murder trial novel, is an education in the English criminal justice system, warts and all… There is also a fascinating subplot about the business of English criminal lawyers and the intrigues of the “Chambers” in which Brant practices.”“…..the skills of both the Prosecution, Joanna Glass QC and the Defence are on display. The reader is made to feel part of the Defence team.”David Brant QC is a newly appointed Queen’s Counsel, a “Silk”, a Criminal Barrister struggling against ever-dwindling legal aid funds and a lack of work. His Chambers is also suffering internal and external pressures and his Senior Clerk seems to only serve a select few. Life at the Bar is more challenging than ever before. His personal life is not much better. Having faced an acrimonious divorce after an inadvisable liaison with a female Solicitor, his life has become a mixture of enforced rest and ever increasing consumption of Claret and Rioja Reserva. However, after a night out with his Senior Clerk, he is instructed to defend in a Murder trial, leading one of the instructing solicitor’s firm’s In-House Barristers.The client is a Mr Damien Clarke, a cocaine addict charged with killing a known associate, Usman Hussain, after a night of smoking crack together in Hussain’s flat. The evidence against Damien appears almost overwhelming and as the case progresses towards trial it is strengthened by further forensic scientific evidence.David Brant QC must use all his forensic skill to combat the array of damning evidence against Damien and to pit his wits against a highly competent Prosecutor and a Judge who has a personal dislike for him. The Silk Brief takes us from before David Brant QC is instructed, through his early preparation of the case and conferences with the client in the High Security Belmarsh prison, through to the trial and verdict. It provides the day by day record of a murder trial including the examination and cross-examination of lay and expert witnesses, Counsel’s speeches, the Judges summing up and finally the jury’s deliberations and verdict. Although a work of fiction, the author draws extensively on his knowledge of the Criminal Bar of England and Wales, having practiced as a Criminal Barrister for over thirty years, latterly as Queen’s Counsel, conducting many trials, including murder trials in the Central Criminal Court, known colloquially and fondly as “The Old Bailey”.

     Navy SEAL Jack Coltraine wants nothing to do with a covert operation involving a female. The last time he attempted to rescue a woman in the line of fire she lost her life, and Coltraine can’t forgive himself for her death. Can Andy and Coltraine find a way to work together to save the princess…and fall in love along the way? Longshot Jamie English has sworn off men because she was left by her teenage sweetheart to raise their daughter on her own. Agent Austin Varner is still shaken after the death of his last partner who died at the hands of a Mexican drug cartel. However intrigued he is by the sexy, blonde sheriff, the agent keeps his feelings strictly professional, unwilling to ever love another woman who puts herself in the line of fire. Dangerous Destiny Kidnapped by her ex-husband, Isabella Califano, must rely on her wits to keep her alive in a dangerous search through the Colorado Rockies for stolen money he stashed there. U.S. Deputy Marshal Shane Catlin is sent to bring in armored car robber, Reuben Gonzalez. Already bitter over losing his wife to a convict like Gonzalez the marshal vows to bring the man to justice and protect Isabella. Black Mountain Justice As the daughter of a convicted felon, Mesa McCurdy is used to the cold shoulder. Despite her troubles, she’s built a thriving bed and breakfast. When two convicts break out of a transport van and head straight for Mesa’s farm, she must put her trust in a U.S. Deputy Marshal sent to protect her. U.S. Deputy Marshal Kade Cahill is sent to Black Mountain, Colorado, to corral a convict on the loose and protect a witness. Brought up in an abusive family, Kade has no interest in a wife or children. Wild Horses When two Bureau of Land Management agents turn up murdered after a wild horse roundup, Castaña Castillo fears her brother Martin might be the killer. The Arizona Bureau of Investigations sends Jake Breton after Martin Castillo to bring him in for questioning. Jake has to redeem himself after he slept with a witness in a murder investigation, and nearly got killed for following his heart. A mistake he won’t make twice. When Jake and Castaña literally collide on the road, he hides his identity; she hides her mission. Only after a close encounter with a rifleman, a pregnant woman giving birth to Martin’s baby and a young Navajo woman who comes forward with the truth can Jake and Castaña admit they have fallen in love.

    Fly, beautiful, and quick-witted Storm doesn't chase money-money chases her; But it wasn't always that way. Born into poverty then later abandoned by her mother Storm was raised by her mentally abusive drug-addicted aunt. After partaking in acts that no child should even have to witness; Storm survives her turbulent childhood and stands stronger than ever. Soon Storm begins to feel that her life is complete; she has the money, the life, and a wonderful man who gave up his womanizing ways just t be with her...

    One phone call from his past turns his life inside out, setting him on a path of death and destruction. Assets are being eliminated by an assassin with a special skill, a skill John thought only he possessed-the ability to blur. The life he thought he left behind threatens to destroy him and everything he holds dear. He is given one last mission-find the assassin, eliminate him, or be eliminated.

    

    They aren’t a match between two men both lowered into crouches, each jabbing tentatively at the other.In an actual confrontation, people get cut. There was no way to avoid it. A war of attrition predicated on trading shots. Calculated real-time risk assessment.A maxim I learned many times over the years, bearing more than a few scars to prove as much. One I was all too happy to embrace again now.For the past year, Hawk Tate lived in a perpetual state of dread over when the phone might ring. A call stemming from his actions just north of the border many months before, resulting in a marker owed to a certain government agency. An organization that will not be refused, and always comes to collect their debts.A message from an unknown sender arrives on his work answering machine one Sunday morning. An individual with shared history needing help of a vastly different nature, and Hawk can’t say no.Not to Lake Pawlak, someone he first met when he was tasked with protecting her from an international cartel three years prior. Certainly not to Savanah Vinson, Lake’s friend and neighbor, and the reason Lake comes to seek Hawk’s help. Savanah, while fighting to provide for her and her young sister after the death of their parents, went missing two nights prior with nothing but a fraudulent text message to explain her sudden disappearance.Despite a litany of concerns, Hawk agrees to return to Los Angeles with his friend, embarking on a hunt that plunges him into a world he barely knew existed. Full immersion into social media influencing and launch parties. Southern California nightlife, online message boards, and international politics.A growing web far surpassing anything he understands, forcing him to rely on contacts and acquaintances new and old—including the very people he fought to avoid for so long...

    

    With practical guidelines and insights from his own experience, author Travis Lowdermilk shows you how usability and user-centered design will dramatically change the way your application interacts with people.You’ll learn valuable strategies for conducting each stage of the design process, from interviewing likely users and discovering your application’s purpose to creating a rich user experience with sound design principles. User-Centered Design is invaluable no matter what platform you use or audience you target.- Explore usability and how it relates to user-centered design- Learn how to deal with users and their unique personalities- Clarify your application’s purpose, using a simple narrative to describe its use- Plan your project’s development with a software development life cycle- Be creative within the context of your user experience goals- Use visibility, consistency, and other design principles to enhance user experience- Gain user feedback of your prototype with surveys, interviews, and usability studies

    

    Plato isn’t an ordinary cat. He’s a magical lynx with extraordinary powers.When a series of dangerous activities break out in a small city in Mexico, is it by design that the magical creature is present? Is Plato really coordinating everything?Plato isn’t the only one staying in this Mexican city or at the boutique hotel. Other magical creatures are working to stop the bad guys.That’s what Beaufonts and their sidekicks do.Can Plato, a dragon, and a talking squirrel save this coastal city?Scroll up and grab your copy of The Mysterious Plato, the first short story in this Beaufont collection, to find out.

    If something satisfies, it fulfills. It meets expectations. Whether we consciously know it or not, we're all looking to be gratified, to feel fulfilled. You live in a generation with easy access to mind-blowing experiences, endless entertainment, and all the worldly pleasures a heart could desire. But I still want to ask the question: With everything that's available to you in this world, will you find satisfaction? Most don't. I know I couldn't.

    Love a man who is Cowboy Strong.... The Cowboy’s Secret by Allison Merritt Can an all-around cowboy make peace with his past and find love with a spunky cowgirl who steals his family’s heart? Not the End, Cowboy by Autumn Piper Hitting humanity with a pandemic isn’t enough for Fate—she’ll make you survive it with the one person you never want to see again. Bidding for the Cowboy's Heart by Melissa Keir Going once, going twice, sold. Can a New York socialite find love with a Colorado bull rider she won at auction? Saving Cowboy by Leslie Garcia Betrayal embittered them both—can love heal their hurt and help them save a horse named Cowboy? Welcome Home, Cowboy by Sara Walter Ellwood Who says you can’t ever go home? Lorelei Kent fears she’ll never find love again. Back on her ranch isn’t where playboy bull rider Tucker O’Connell wants to be. Will she welcome him home? Or will his secret promise to her ex destroy any chance they might have had? Her Taylor Made Cowboy by D’Ann Lindun As a successful model, Taylor Griffin hated being judged for her looks unless Waylon Wainwright can prove he sees the woman, and not just her beauty.

    For Alex Troutt, a trip back home for a much-needed summer vacation proves only one thing: greed rules. But how it takes root could destroy her world. Fueled by the lust of power and money, the shadow of death envelopes her seaside hometown, including those closest to Alex. But as disconnected investigations converge into one focal point, Alex will stop at nothing to blow the entire crime ring straight to hell—even if she has to make the ultimate sacrifice…her life. AT Dusk (Book 5) Eyes are the window to the soul…unless there isn't a soul to be found.  A little boy makes his first kill—and he likes it. He is cunning, charming, and without remorse.      He is a sociopath.     As boy turns to man, what lies inside takes root. He will make a mark on Boston unlike any other, and FBI Special Agent Alex Troutt must figure out how to stop him.     But when she and her close-knit team move in closer, the stakes become much higher as the case takes on a more personal tone. It’s a frantic race to stop a manipulative killer before his web of deceit and destruction escalates into a blood bath of haunting proportions.  AT Last (Book 6) Thirty years after losing a parent to a hit-and-run drunk driver, FBI agent Alex Troutt finally confronts the killer--the same man who just murdered the Boston police chief. And what Alex pulls from him shatters her core. Armed with little more than hope and a shred of decades-old evidence, Alex chases a memory from her past, hoping that she'll find the mother she never really had. With her old buddy Archie on board --as much as ever can be -- the hunt takes her deep into the foothills of West Virginia. A fanatical religious cult has created its own society. Clinging to a whisper of hope, Alex must out-think and out-duel everyone in her path to right a thirty-year wrong. Will Alex’s quest to find the truth destroy her life all over again?