But centuries of exploitation and ivory hunting have taken their toll: now, as wars and poachers continue to ravage its habitat, as disease and political strife deflect attention from its plight, the African elephant faces imminent extinction. What will become of these magnificent beasts? As the elephant's future looms ever darker, Martin Meredith's concise and richly illustrated biography traces the elephant's history from the first ivory expeditions of the Egyptian pharaohs 2500 years ago to today, exploring along the way the indelible imprint the African elephant has made in art, literature, culture, and society. He shares recent extraordinary discoveries about the elephant's sophisticated family and community structure and reveals the remarkable ways in which elephants show compassion and loyalty to each other. Elegant, illuminating, and urgent, Elephant Destiny offers a beautiful and important tribute to one of earth's most magisterial creatures at the very moment it threatens to vanish from being.

    On the run from blue eyed, demonic creatures who will stop at nothing to find her, she turns to a family of hunters for help. Irresistibly drawn to each other, she brings with her the handsome doctor who cared for her in the hospital. But they soon discover this isn't the first time their paths have crossed. In a life neither of them remembers, they were once tangled in a web of betrayal that drove them apart and a war began in the ashes of their love. Is it too late to salvage what they once had?

    Malik has been secretly in love with Rose Mbikwa, a woman who leads the weekly bird walks sponsored by the East African Ornithological Society. Just as Malik is getting up the nerve to invite Rose to the Nairobi Hunt Club Ball (the premier social occasion of the Kenyan calendar), Harry Khan, a nemesis from his school days, arrives in town.Khan has also become enraptured with Rose and announces his intent to invite her to the Ball. Rather than force Rose to choose between the two men, a clever solution is proposed. Whoever can identify the most species of birds in one week’s time gets the privilege of asking Ms. Mbikwa to the ball.

    

    She hopes to earn it by working as a chef on a cruise to Antarctica. But she’s slept with her boss, which throws her off-balance even more than the rough seas and warnings of pirates in the area. And he’s determined to have a repeat performance… Bad boy former snowboarder Marcus Devlin is running from his reputation, sent to learn the family business after decking a senator’s son and making the papers. So maybe he indulged in a last-minute fling before boarding his family’s cruise ship to Antarctica. Perhaps Fate is showing him that wasn’t so bad—the gorgeous redhead who snuck out of his bed is on the cruise. She’ll be a lovely distraction during his exile. But when modern-day pirates take over the ship, his instinct is to protect her and the other passengers. But what does a spoiled rich boy know about saving people’s lives?

    She inherited a legacy. It’s Danger Cove’s only bookstore, and her grandmother had made sure that it's a warm and friendly places for readers of all ages. Determined to get off on the right foot, Meri has organized a series of author readings, starting off with Cal Montague, a Danger Cove native who grew up to become a solid B-list actor, and his tell-all his memoirs, Tales I Shouldn’t Tell. Only the actor turns out to be a difficult diva, and before the inaugural event can even start, Meri finds the guest of honor in the alley—shot dead. Turns out someone else thought Cal shouldn't be telling tales, too. With motive and opportunity, the police have Meri in their sights. To save her business and her own skin, Meri turns to her small staff of part-time employees for help. Along with some assistance from Danger Cove’s hot new veterinarian, Meri, sets out to help the Danger Cove police—whether they appreciate it or not—before the murderer returns for a sequel. The Danger Cove books: Secret of the Painted Lady (a Danger Cove Renovation Mystery) Murder and Mai Tais (a Danger Cove Cocktail Mystery) Death by Scones (a Danger Cove Bakery Mystery) Four-Patch of Trouble (a Danger Cove Quilting Mystery) Deadly Dye and a Soy Chai (a Danger Cove Hair Salon Mystery) Killer Closet Case (a Danger Cove B&B Mystery) Tree of Life and Death (a Danger Cove Quilting Mystery) A Killing in the Market (a Danger Cove Farmers' Market short story in the "Killer Beach Reads" collection) Killer Colada (a Danger Cove Cocktail Mystery) Passion, Poison & Puppy Dogs (a Danger Cove Pet Sitter Mystery) A Novel Death (a Danger Cove Bookshop Mystery) Robbing Peter to Kill Paul (a Danger Cove Quilting Mystery) About Danger Cove: Danger Cove is a sleepy little town in the Pacific Northwest and home to renowned mystery novelist, Elizabeth Ashby. While Elizabeth swears the stories she writes are fiction, you can find the inspiration for her murderous tales all over Danger Cove...from the intriguing cast of local characters to the places to eat, play, and explore in Danger Cove. Don't let our name fool you—we're the friendliest (even if deadliest) town in the Pacific Northwest! Visit us at dangercovemysteries.com

    The heat was unbearable, malaria would be a constant danger, her husband would have to be away for long stretches, there were no schools or nearby doctors for their three daughters, and of course the area teemed with wild animals. Yet for Kobie and her family, the seventeen years at South Africa's Kruger National Park were the most magical of their lives. Now, in The Wilderness Family, Kobie recounts the enchanting adventures and extraordinary encounters they experienced in this vast reserve where wildlife has right of way.Kobie and her husband Kobus were overwhelmed by the beauty of the Mahlangeni ranger station when they arrived with their little girls in the autumn of 1980. Golden sunshine glowed in the lush garden where fruit bats hung in the sausage trees; hippos basked in the glittering waters of the Letaba River; storks and herons perched along the shore. Kobie felt she had found heaven on earth--until she awoke that first night to find a python slithering silently across her bedroom floor. It was the perfect introduction to the wonders and terrors that awaited her.As the Krügers settled in, they became accustomed to living in the midst of ravishing splendor and daily surprises. A honey badger they nursed back to health rampaged affectionately through the house. Sneaky hyenas stole blankets and cook pots. Ordinarily placid elephants grew foul-tempered and violent in the summer heat. And one terrible day, the shadow of tragedy fell across the family when a lion attacked Kobus in the bush and nearly killed him.But nothing prepared the Krügers for the adventure of raising an orphaned lion cub. The cub was only a few days old and on the verge of death when they found him alone.  Leo, as the girls promptly named the cub, survived on loads of love and bottles of fat-enriched milk, and soon became an affectionate, rambunctious member of the family. At the heart of the book, Kobie recounts the unique bond that each of the Krügers forged with Leo and their sometimes hilarious endeavor to teach him to become a "real" lion and live with his own kind in the wild.Writing with deep affection and luminous prose, Kobie Krüger captures here the mystery of untamed Africa--its fathomless skies, soulful landscapes, and most of all, its astonishing array of animals. By turns funny and heart-breaking, engaging and suspenseful, The Wilderness Family is an unforgettable memoir of a woman, her family, and the amazing game reserve they called home for seventeen incredible years.

    How hard can it be? All she has to do is:1. Learn to use newly acquired warping skills to bend time to her will.2. Take out a few rogue vampires.3. Join an ancient secret society.4. Figure out who is putting the time stream in jeopardy. 5. Find and maim whoever invented the corset.Sage never asked to be chosen by the Druid Priestess, Amerach, to become a Warper. She also never asked to have the future hanging on her shoulders or to warp a hundred years into the past. She certainly never asked to meet Dr. Aldwin Blake, who would make her question her desire to get back to her own time. But if she fails her mission, people will die, history will change, and the present she wishes to return to will be no more.

    She had just graduated from college and was about to marry the man of her dreams. Then it all went to hell. Dark circumstances led to even darker desires, and there was only one way to bury her pain. Her new motto: Never fall in love. Never give yourself over completely.Life is bleak except for pleasure. And there's only one place that Piper can go to get what she needs to survive. Club Fet, where the men are hot and the acts of lust are unconventional.Being discrete doesn't always work, though, especially when paths cross in all the wrong places. Powerful men lurk in the shadows and one, in particular, is determined to destroy everything that Piper is.

    Again. Kelly is twenty-eight and engaged to an older man who is quite wealthy. She’s happy, and only desires to make the trip back brief, sell her deceased father’s place, and return to her stable life in Los Angeles. However, while taking care of business in Oshkosh, Kelly meets a fishing guide, launching her on an emotional journey she never could have predicted or foreseen. BARBARY POINT is Kelly’s story of what happened that one magical week in May on the shores of Lake Winnebago when the ducklings hatch and the walleye run. Warning: Not your typical HEA! Alan Nayes is the author of the giant cat thriller, SMILODON, and the spellbinding sci-fi apocalyptic series, The Resurrection Trilogy (GARGOYLES, PLAGUE, RESURRECTION). ABOMINABLE is his most recent release.

    Tressa is determined to prove there's more to this cockeyed cowgirl than meets the eye and she’s just been handed the perfect opportunity to get "Ranger Rick" and a skeptical citizenry to finally take her seriously. How? By solving a murder no one else believes happened...No one, that is, except the killer. CALAMITY JAYNE RIDES AGAINTressa’s off to the State Fair to work at her Uncle Frank’s ice cream concession stand. But when a soft-serve saboteur appears at the same time her cousin, Frankie, goes missing, it's another fine, sticky mess she's gotten herself into. With a string of malicious pranks, to scary, psycho dunk-tank clowns, two geriatric Jessica Fletcher wannabes, a dishy state trooper, and a sister who may have her eye on a certain ranger-type, and it's mayhem on the midway time. GHOULS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUNTressa thinks she on to a scoop when eccentric and reclusive bestselling writer, Elizabeth Courtney Howard comes to Grandville to finish her latest book. So, what's stopping Tressa from scoring this journalistic coup? Only the fact that the skeletons to uncover in this little exposé are all in a closet in Haunted Holloway Hall--a house only Norman Bates could love.CALAMITY JAYNE GOES TO COLLEGEAce cub reporter Tressa Jayne Turner is back in college and nothing’s going to stop Tressa from making the grade. Well, except for a wrinkled roommate rekindling an old flame, maid of honor madness run amok, a botched betrothal that’s more than just schoolyard gossip and a campus criminal out to teach the student body a lesson—one one crime at a time. Failure is so not an option.CALAMITY JAYNE HEADS WESTTressa Jayne Turner’s off to Arizona to see her gammy hitched. Her cousin’s keeping secrets, Ranger Rick Townsend is sending signals—more of the smokin’ than smoke variety—and it seems Tressa’s not the only person with an attachment to “Kookamunga”, the fertility figurine she picked up at a roadside stand. Throw in a washed-up actress out to kick-start her career, a suspect spiritual advisor, locals with a cause, and a ten-year-old who’s a chip off a certain ranger’s blockhead and it’ll be a vision quest to make Thelma and Louise’s southwestern spree seem like amateur night at the OK Corral. May the best spirit guide win.ANCHORS AWEIGHTressa Jayne is off on a post-wedding cruise. Good food. Warm beaches. Romantic sunsets. Nothing can take the wind out of Tressa’s sails this time. Nothing that is except this particular Love Boat has Iceberg ahead! written all over it. Why? It’s a lo-cal “biggest loser” cruise, Tressa’s bad-boy faux fiancé and his marriage-minded aunt Mo are stowaways, and Tressa’s barely got her sea les before a dastardly murder plot bobs to the surface and Tressa Jayne knows just how Capt. Jack Sparrow feels when the rum is gone. Yo ho ho and a bottle of V-8!

    After all, she’s barely had time to relax since she’s solved her mother's cold case.When Christie heads out to visit Griselda, her bestie, hankering for a delicious Bacon Burger, she walks into a crime scene instead. The newest restaurateur in town is dead… poisoned, and he just so happens to be Griselda’s biggest burger competition.Chris’ best friend is the prime suspect. She has to solve the mystery or see Grizzy take the fall for a crime she didn’t commit. Not on her watch!Sleepy Creek’s favorite characters return in this follow-up series to the Burger Bar Mysteries. Grab your copy today.

    Parents buy designer babies and those with genetic faults are labelled Blemished and shunned from society. Elena Darcey is just as perfect as the other clones, but there is something different about Elena, because she’s in trouble. After helping Area 14’s most famous criminals escape, Elena has to get out before her teacher-- the formidable Margaret Murgatroyd --finds out that she is a sympathiser for the Blemished. The perfect opportunity arises as a beauty pageant promises the winner a trip to London. Will Elena cope with the cut-throat world of a beauty pageant filled with sabotage, violence and betrayal? If she makes it to London, will she find the safe haven she craves? Does she discover more than she'd expected after meeting the mysterious Jake Bloom?The Fractured is the first part of a spin off series based on The Blemished, which will focus on some of the secondary characters and their stories. Part one follows the life of Elena as she experiences a life changing event.

    The system is under attack by a gang of pirates called the Guild of the Cowry Catchers who prey on Temple treasure ships. The Temple Police charged with eradicating this menace keep disappearing. Enter Gerard, a young prince, exiled from his small kingdom for rashly marrying the court minstrel. He has been chosen by the High Priestess as the new captain of Police. Gerard is smart, honorable, and a little naive. To break the pirate ring, he must cooperate with a wily, amoral colleague, who has already tried to kill him twice. As Gerard struggles to protect his talented wife, obey his seductive employer, and forge a complicated friendship with his dangerous co-worker, he becomes increasingly aware that the pirates have a legitimate quarrel with the wyverns. Dark secrets lurk in the Temple dungeons, and solving them will cost Gerard far more than his honor.

    Unfortunately her father refuses to foot the bill until she agrees to do a stint in shopaholic rehab. Surely she can survive a few weeks without Dior, right? But part of Marisol's anti-retail remedy entails getting a real job as a nanny/housekeeper in Podunkville, Arizona. Suddenly she's knee-deep in PB&Js and dirty laundry, surprised to find herself just a teensy bit smitten with her three sticky-fingered charges--and their deliciously distracting Dad (even if he does wear discount denim).Quarterback Cash Connelly has one last shot at being re-signed to the pros, which means he needs a nanny who runs a tight ship. Marisol seems to know way more about Tiffany's than T-ball, and she has more miniskirted sex appeal than is strictly necessary for laundering jockey shorts. But his kids seem positively smitten. Well, who wouldn't love a woman who serves up ice cream for breakfast? Now if only Cash can find a way to stick to his strict hands-off-the-nanny policy...* named one of Booklist magazine's Top 10 Romances* awarded 4½ stars Top Pick! from Romantic Times magazine* selected as a finalist for the Booksellers Best Award in the single title/mainstream category