Happy are the happy. —Jorge Luis BorgesSchnitzler’s La Ronde gives these twenty short chapters their shape while Borges’s poem gives them their content. As we move from story to story, thrilled to reconnect with an old acquaintance from an earlier scene, we can’t help but admit that we are very much at home in this human comedy that understands all too well the passing thoughts, desires, actions, fears, and mistakes that we have and make day after day, but that we would be incapable of rendering with such acuity and compassion.

    What she does like are clean houses, and dirty martinis. She recently traded in her housecleaning business for a P.I. license. Her timing seems perfect, when she cleans a former client's freezer and finds a severed hand inside, wearing an expensive ring. The client, Benny Needles, is a Dean Martin fanatic who swears he's innocent. But where there's a hand, there's a body, waiting to be found.It's a brand new world for Peri, and she has a lot to learn. Her boyfriend, Skip, a detective in the Placentia Police Department warns Peri that this case could be dangerous, but she can't stop sticking her nose into the middle of things. Her first lesson is that investigating murder can have bad consequences. In the middle of trying to solve the case, Peri takes on a surveillance job. The philandering husband is unhappy with her, and she discovers that even surveillance isn't always low risk. As the two cases collide, will Peri learn the truth behind both of them? And more important, will she ever get that dirty martini?

    The second is the reason I'm here. When Alexandra discovers that her husband Philippe is having an affair, she can’t believe he’d risk losing the love that has transformed both their lives.Still in shock, Alexandra finds herself powerfully attracted to a much younger man. Jean-Luc Malavoine is twenty-three, intense and magnetic. He’s also the son of Philippe’s best friend.With every increasingly passionate liaison, Alexandra is pulled deeper into a situation that threatens everyone she holds dear.Beautifully told through the boulevards and arrondissements of the City of Light, Paris Mon Amour is a sensual novel about inescapable desire and devastating betrayals. It is the story of one woman and two men, and what happens when there is no way out.‘A truly emotional ride. A story of lust, love and loss with a beautifully described Paris as its backdrop. I galloped through it in a couple of days’ Claire Fuller, author of Our Endless Numbered DaysIsabel Costello is the host of the Literary Sofa blog, which features authors from new talent to New York Times bestselling novelists. Guest writers on the blog have included Patrick Gale, Linda Grant, Tracy Chevalier and Karen Joy Fowler. She read Modern Languages (French and German) at Oxford, before pursuing a career in marketing and communications. She is now a full-time writer, and lives in London.

    It is Christmas Day in York. A woman is found dead in her bed. A suicide note is found on her chest. It reads ‘I am so sorry Martin’. Hours later the police are called to a house a few miles away. A mother and her daughter have been brutally attacked; the mother is dead and the daughter is barely alive. The father is found shaking uncontrollably in the corner of the room. He is covered in blood but he is unharmed. His name is Martin Willow. Detective Sergeant Jason Smith is put in charge of the investigation. After reaching dead end after dead end, Smith starts to put the pieces together and figures out that Martin Willow is innocent and the killer is still out there. The little girl who was attacked on Christmas Day wakes from her coma and gives Smith a clue about the attacker; a piece of a song she heard directly before the attack. Smith then finds himself in a race against time to find this maniac before he kills again.

    His womanising and frank admissions of doping appalled 1960s French society, even as his five Tour de France wins enthralled it. Paul Fournel was besotted with him from the start ("Too young to understand, I was nevertheless old enough to admire") and followed Anquetil's career with the passion of a fan and the eye of a poet. In this stunningly original biography of a complex and divisive character, Fournel - author of the seminal Vélo (or Need for the Bike) blends the story of Anquetil's life with scenes from his own, to create a classic of cycling literature.

    His son, Rowan, will follow in his footsteps, just like Matthew followed in the footsteps of his father before him. Soon, Matthew will have to share with Rowan the dark secret that their family keeps. The lighthouses must always shine at night because their light does much more than guide ships safely in…it also keeps a terrible evil out. When the storm of the century puts the lighthouses in danger, Rowan finds himself following in his father’s footsteps sooner than he thought, where he’ll come face to face with the greatest fear he’s ever known. The Witch of the Water.

    Anonymous letters addressed to him personally have begun to arrive, highlighting the fates of two women, invisible victims whose deaths were never explained. Just two more blurred faces among the ranks of the lost and the damned.Olivier Norek's first novel draws on all his experience as a police officer in one of France's toughest suburbs - the same experience he drew on as a writer for the hit TV series Spiral.Translated from the French by Nick Caistor

    gorgeous glitter with a high price tag. On a winter’s day it is beautiful, but on a spring day after bud burst it spells devastation. For Sean and Caro Feely, a couple whose love affair with wine and France has taken them through financial and physical struggle to create their organic vineyard, it could spell the end. Until they receive an unexpected call that could save their skins… This book is about life, love and taking risks, while transforming a piece of land into a flourishing vineyard and making a new life in France.

    

    An astounding scientific discovery. A coded message hidden inside human DNA. In his new action thriller, bestselling author Christopher Forrest delves into the secrets of a lost civilization encrypted inside human DNA. When a secret research facility is invaded by hostile forces, Hawkeye and the Titan Six covert ops team are called into action. Thwarted at every turn by a mysterious enemy, Titan Six races against time to unlock the secrets of an ancient message encrypted in our DNA and rescue the daughter of Catherine Caine, the billionaire CEO of Titan Global. SAVAGE BAY is a pulse-pounding, non-stop adventure that will leave you breathless. Praise for Christopher Forrest's thrillers: From New York Times bestselling author JAMES ROLLINS: "Be prepared! THE GENESIS CODE will make you question the fundamentals of mankind's past. Cutting edge science and lost history collide in a thrilling tour de force. A debut not to be missed." From BOOKLIST: "[Will] keep thriller fans panting." From New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston: "Launches the reader into a story of science and ancient mystery that will blow your mind." Each book in the Titan Six series can be read as a "stand-alone" novel with no prior knowledge needed. For maximum enjoyment, readers may want to read the books in the order they were published: SAVAGE BAY, BONES OF ANGELS, TEMPLE OF FIRE, and TITAN SIX. For background on the mythology of the Titan Six universe, readers will also enjoy THE GENESIS CODE, Christopher Forrest's first published novel. Christopher Forrest has lived on a sailboat, explored Mayan ruins in the jungles of Central America, been struck by lightning, free-dived the barrier reefs off the coast of Belize, and solo-hiked through the Everglades. Forrest is an internationally published author. He is also a practicing attorney in Florida where he lives with his wife Amy.

    Mallard Cove Marina was ripe for the picking, and it fell right in their laps. But a mysterious bomber saw it as a great deal, too. He wants to kill their deal, and them along with it. With the help of several friends including Murph's old boss and best friend Casey Shaw and his fiancée Dawn McAlister, they just might live long enough to close this deal. But Murph and Lindsay will also need the help of a funny group of charter boat crews and marina liveaboards if they are going to dodge all the bullets and shrapnel. Find out what happens in this fun and suspenseful nautical adventure!

    Joe is the first of a three-part series that will leave you wanting more!“I’m not running. I’m not hiding. I’m just going. There’s a difference.”Compelled to retire from the only life he’s ever known, retired Navy Chief Petty Officer Nigel Logan discovers his only option is to disappear from a violent past and a murder, he knows will one day catch up to him.In the dead silence of night, he slips out of Norfolk, Virginia on MisChief, his 32-foot Pearson Vanguard sailboat. He set sail for destinations unknown and is ultimately drawn to Port St. Joe on Florida’s beautiful Forgotten Coast. There, he stumbles into the lap of some of the craziest and lovable people which help him to forget his past as he tries to start a new life. And while a new home and friends help distract him from his dark past, Nigel Logan will never get to completely erase it from his mind.If you like Randy Wayne White, John D. MacDonald, and Carl Hiaasen, welcome to the Dark and Crazy World of Nigel Logan!Reviewers say:“A Great Read”“Masterful Storyteller”“Wonderful Characters”“Intriguing and Interesting”“I enjoyed every bit of this book”“PLEASE WRITE MORE!”

    It’s the mid-1980s. Crime in Los Angeles is running rampant. When the law can’t help you, there is one man who can: Alexander L’Hiboux, whose ability to sleep was destroyed in the ghastly tragedy that cost him his family. Now he’s justice-for-hire, prowling the streets and solving crimes with deadly finality. A desperate, grief-stricken shipping magnate hires The Owl to find the scum who brutalized his daughter…a quest that uncovers a shocking conspiracy that will rock the city.

    Searchers find no signs of life. Three missing, all presumed dead. Three families begin the difficult process of grieving. But one of the missing is alive. Alone, injured, and terrified, she struggles to survive, hoping against all odds that someone will find her … before time runs out. Emotionally charged and engrossing, Rockfall is a novel that plumbs the depths of tragedy and celebrates the resiliency of the human spirit.

    The grew in a small town in occidental Honduras called Imalatepeque. After serving in Morazan's army, they go back to their birthtown, where neighboors believe they are wizards and will bring curse to their lives.