Betsy brings along her husband, Ted Winton, an easterner and Yale graduate to whom she is constantly explaining Texas. Ted will run Ben Throckmorton’s radio station, KVAT, where Booty and Them Others sing in rivalry with the better known WBAP Light Crust Doughboys. In Texas, it’s the middle of the Depression and the Drought. And Prohibition is barely over, liquor still a controversy. Every city has its hobo camp, and Claybelle has the Star of Hope Mission. But it is also the time of new oil money, high living, infidelity, and tangled love triangles. Betsy and Ted chain-smoke and drink often and long, they wouldn’t miss a Paschal High School or TCU football game, they party at the Casino on Jacksboro Highway, and dine at Claybelle’s Shadylawn Country Club.Betsy is a serious journalist though, and she sets out to change the paper, clashing with the managing editor when she claims international not state news belongs on page one. She clashes with the columnists when she tries to sharpen their leads.The Texas Murder Machine becomes her big story, when she suspects that Texas Rangers may be killing innocent young men to collect rewards offered by the Texas Bankers Association. Betsy’s journalistic determination leads to a personal tragedy that changes her life forever—and makes her a determined, relentless newswoman.Fast Copy is a page-turner that combines romantic comedy with the best of the thriller genre. But it’s much more. Dan Jenkins captures Texas in the mid-1930s with a clarity that brings it alive, and his affection for Texas, Fort Worth, and TCU are revealed on every page. Only a native like Jenkins would include the minute details of a TCU-SMU game, the new zephyr stainless steel railroad train, the T&P railroad station, the Fort Worth Cats, and LeGrave Field. His portrait of Claybelle and its leading society folks is tongue-in-cheek funny and right on the mark. Texans should treasure this book for years to come.

    She thought she could even pinpoint the exact moment at which Iris had made up her mind to go, leaving her only child behind. Neither of them could have guessed then that they would never live together again.Spanning the second half of the last century, ‘My Former Heart’, Cressida Connolly’s mesmerising first novel, charts the lives of three generations of Iris’s family. Ruth will be deserted again, many years later, by a husband she loves, but not before she has had two children by him. She leaves London to live with her uncle, where she creates a new life for herself with another woman. And we follow the lives of her two children, trying to make a place for themselves in the world in the shadow of the family that precedes them.With its large cast of fascinating characters, this is an outstanding novel about families and their ability to adapt. It surely marks the beginning of a long career as a novelist for Cressida Connolly.

     Selling the restaurant they ran together in London, Lexie heads to Port Kara on the Cornish Coast to spend the summer working out her next move. In a cottage cut off by the sea at high tide, and with only her beloved Labrador for company, it should be the perfect place to start again. Except life in Port Kara becomes far more complicated when she agrees to help out local man, Elliott Dorton, at his adventure centre, and soon she barely has time to think. Lexie is content to bury herself in work and rediscovers the passion she used to have for creating unique dishes. Working with Elliott to make the adventure centre a success, they have the opportunity to cater for a showbiz superstar who has just set up home in Port Kara. Discovering they have more in common than she could ever have dreamt, despite the secrets she’s keeping about her past, Lexie realises her feelings for Elliott are in danger of taking her somewhere she never wants to go again. Having already lost her husband because of his attraction to high-adrenaline adventure, the last thing she wants to do is to fall for another man with the same addiction. Especially someone who’s a member of the local lifeboat crew, and whose own safety always comes bottom of the list. When Elliott puts his life on the line twice within a matter of weeks, Lexie realises that she has to leave Port Kara in order to protect herself from getting in any deeper. But when she’s caught in a life and death situation of her own, she understands for the first time what drives Elliott to do the things he does. Can she save the little boy whose life depends on her and, even if she does, can Elliott find them both in time for Lexie to have the fresh start she so badly wants? Fabrian Feel-Good Romance Novels are guaranteed to have a happy ending and leave you with a smile on your face.

    Her birth mother, Audrey Stirling, has been arrested for killing her husband! Richard Stirling had no shortage of enemies, all with viable motives, but the evidence points directly at Audrey. To make matters worse, the judge puts Audrey, whose relationship with Susan has been volatile, on house arrest while awaiting trial. She will be living 24/7 with Susan, making Susan extra motivated to find the real killer and send her mother back to Florida. Along the way, Susan backslides on her promise to her family by once again putting herself in danger. Surrounded by her detective daughter, her lawyer father who agrees to come out of retirement to represent Audrey, and her mysterious half-brother, Susan must do her homework to maintain family relationships while searching for Richard's killer.

    In this superb trilogy, Fiona McIntosh weaves a gripping story of action and intrigue.

    Includes: As the Water * Becoming a Geisha * The Chairman's Waltz * Going to School * Sayuri's Theme * Sayuri's Theme and End Credits.

    The laughter continues to flow in Gina Kirkham's brilliant sequel to the hilarious Handcuffs, Truncheon and a Polyester Thong.Our hapless heroine, Constable Mavis Upton, is preparing to walk down the aisle with her fianc� Joe, but has to deal with her temperamental teen daughter, as well as investigate a serial flasher on a push bike.Throw a diva drag queen into the mix and you can expect more marvellous Mavis mishaps...Revel in Gina Kirkham's humorous, poignant, and moving stories of an everyday girl who one day followed a dream.

    What could possibly go wrong? For fans of Nick Hornby, David Nicholls and Jonathan Tropper.Jaded music journalist Rick McLennan knows his life is going south when he loses his job, his apartment and his long-term girlfriend all on the same day. But then he is thrown a lifeline - a commission to write the story of his ex-rock-star brother, Stevie, and drive him from Austin, Texas, to New York to play one final gig. One small problem: the brothers haven't spoken in thirty years.Rick knows it's a bad idea. But he's out of choices. So he gets behind the wheel of a beaten-up 1985 Nissan Stanza and drives towards his destiny. He's about to find everything he didn't know he was missing. It's September 2001.From award-winning journalist and author Barry Divola comes a glorious, music-infused, rollicking road-trip novel - think High Fidelity meets The Big Lebowski meets The Darjeeling Limited. A smart, funny and wholly endearing story about how, though we may at times lose ourselves along the way, the road always leads back to family and the things that bring us joy.'Of course this road trip comes with a top-quality mix-tape - it's by Barry Divola - but it's the layers to this story, and its humour and its heart, that make this journey irresistible.' - Nick Earls'This book is the super f∗∗∗ing gnarly lead break of rock-lit novels.' - John Birmingham'Driving Stevie Fracasso reads as great as the fifth Replacements album sounds. It's a New York-centric, music-obsessive tale of humour and poignancy, the literary equivalent of hanging with folks who think going to church is finding a record fair. A+' - Stuart CoupeAn interpreter of the listening experience forced to listen to experience? This novel will be read in between flippin' records. Go for the ride. You'll be spent, you'll be grateful.' - Tim Rogers'If I could go back in time and take a different fork in the road, I would have lived like Barry Divola. But poor choices can't be unmade, and if Driving Stevie Fracasso is the only ride available I'll take it. Damn you, Barry Divola, you've been having everyone else's fun.' - Malcolm Knox

    But by the time midnight strikes and fireworks light up the night skies, the Edevane family will have suffered a loss so great that they leave Loeanneth forever.A missing child...Seventy years later, after a particularly troubling case, Detective Sadie Sparrow retreats to her beloved grandfather's cottage in Cornwall. Once there, she stumbles upon an abandoned house, and learns the story of a baby boy who disappeared without a trace.An unsolved mystery...Meanwhile, in her elegant Hampstead home, the formidable Alice Edevane, now an old lady, leads a life as neatly plotted as the bestselling detective novels she writes. Until a young police detective starts asking questions about her family's past, seeking to resurrect the complex tangle of secrets Alice has spent her life trying to escape...

    Blocked writer, accidental scholar, inattentive husband, all J. J. Quinn wants is peace, and he has gone to buy his wife an expensive handbag to accomplish it. As the bag in question walks out the door under the arm of a beautiful, aristocratic shoplifter, though, Quinn's curiosity leads him deep into mystery and danger. The shoplifter is Sarah Slade, a Boston Brahmin attempting to ditch a past as bloody as Medea's. Compared to Quinn's hypercompetent, Euripides-scholar wife, Claire, the unhinged Sarah is an alluring breath of fresh air -- but, of course, Quinn has no idea of the Pandora's box he's opened. Acclaimed by Newsweek as "witty and literate . . . Grand Guignol for grown-ups," A Woman Run Mad is an unsettling, deeply satisfying novel. "Remind[s] one of Iris Murdoch, or Muriel Spark, or E. M. Forster. Yet A Woman Run Mad is unlike any novel I know . . . unusual intelligence and personality are alive throughout the book." -- Richard P. Brickner, The New York Times Book Review; "Unless you have no interest in passions, the edge of madness, forbidden obsessions, runaway libidos and dangerous desires, A Woman Run Mad will fascinate you, from its title to its perfect final sentence. . . . A thinking man's Fatal Attraction." -- Chicago Sun-Times; "Normality -- as our time understands the word -- and monstrosity are L'Heureux's poles, and he joins them with extraordinary dexterity. . . . The ending is not to be revealed." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review; "A superior suspense story . . . It is the kind of story that might well have appealed to a writer like Patricia Highsmith, a drama of interlocking obsessions." -- The New York Times.

    Working a series of heinous crimes, Zach uncovers a dark, treacherous secret – a conspiracy that could alter America’s future and result in the secession of Texas. Co-authored by P.A. Troit and bestselling writer Joe Nobody, Secession explores a world where a hopelessly gridlocked government fuels an ever-deepening divide between right and left. The public’s frustration with the country’s direction forces desperate leaders on both sides of the political spectrum to consider splitting the union.Based on actual historic events, current economic realities, and a growing global trend, Secession immerses the reader in a lifelike scenario that could be America’s future.

    

    Can civilization survive ... and escape from the Edge of Humanity?3 books & nearly 800 pages of non-stop zombie action that readers are calling "fresh" with "dollops of violence" to satisfy even the most discriminating post-apocalyptic fan. From an Amazon bestselling author.BOOK 1: Turn -- A town on the run ... The Crazed that wants their flesh. Will they make it out alive?When a meteorite crashes to earth it catapults a small Utopian town into an archaic nightmare. It's up to one man to protect them, not only from the flesh-eating monsters but also from the maniacal colonel who storms in, barking orders for immediate evacuation. Clay Dobbs is the small town sheriff about to, unknowingly, take on the end of the world. When the Crazed come for your flesh, how will you survive?BOOK 2: Detour -- Their escape was certain ... or so they thought. Their survival is, and forever will be, in question.With the nanite epidemic out of control, Clay leads his skeleton crew head first into the aftermath. The nightmare continues as he battles both the Crazed and the rouge, as well as his own inner demons. The once small town sheriff must find order where there is no law until he encounters his near equal at the end of the world. But, is she all that she seems? Will Clay unravel all the clues before it's too late?The road is a dark and chilling place. There is no time to rest if you want to survive.BOOK 3: Reversion -- At the end of the world ... never dismiss the unexpected. A surprise reunion. A forgotten friend. Long odds and determination reward Sheriff Clay Dobbs with a bit of what he wants most. But, he won't rest—he can't rest—not until he's dead. And he has no plans for that until he defeats the insane military General that has caused so much hardship. But, it's not as easy as he thinks, not when there's an even more neurotic psychopath standing in his way. Can Clay learn to control himself, and the undead around him?When the Crazed come for you, where will you hide?

    Hank Murphy discovers an alien artifact on the Moon, corporate interests are quick to get involved.A discovery like this could change everything, but more importantly, someone stands to make a fortune.But Murphy just wants to understand what this thing is and how it works. After months of research, he finally manages to locate the power source.The gate is soon activated...And Murphy is pulled through.Moments later, he finds himself in a war-torn corner of the galaxy where strangers like him are called Orphans...and they are considered extremely dangerous.Somehow altered by the experience, the archeologist now has enhanced strength, speed, and agility. He is more than human. He is an Orphan. And he must survive a deadly new reality unlike anything he can imagine.Worse still, Murphy is not the only so-called Orphan in this region of the galaxy. There are many others.And not all of them are created equal.