The Empress will do whatever it takes to get it back. Jiayi has a gift – she can travel through time just by touching historical artifacts. More than anything, she wants to escape the clutches of the Empress and run away to a foreign land. Finding the Emperor’s Seal could be her only chance at freedom, but is she willing to risk the wrath of the Empress? Historian and wannabe archaeologist Zhihao has no love for the Empress or the Qing Dynasty, but when the Empress orders him to find the Emperor’s Seal in exchange for funding China’s first history museum, he cannot refuse. It is only after he accepts the assignment that he realizes the key to finding the seal lies in the hands of a palace slave. Civil unrest and encroaching foreign powers threaten Jiayi and Zhihao's mission and lives as they hunt for The Emperor's Seal.

    Four physicians have failed to bring the young lad back to health, and his nurses seem unable to bring him comfort. Sir Robert decides that he and Elizabeth Lady Carey should have the keeping of the child – despite the disgrace that will come to them if he dies in their care. It’s not long before Sir Robert begins to suspect that foul play lies behind the young Duke’s condition. Is there a poisoner at Court? If so, will Sir Robert find the miscreant in time to save the Duke? Patricia Finney is the author of six novels featuring Sir Robert Carey, all of them written under the pseudonym P F Chisholm and all available on Kindle. Patricia Finney’s latest Elizabethan crime novel, Do We Not Bleed?, features the ambiguous James Enys, his elusive sister, and a young playwright, Will Shakespeare. Do We Not Bleed? is also available on Kindle.

    Rumors of ghosts are bad enough, but when expensive jewelry disappears, the owner's livelihood is at stake. A woman's touch is needed. Pen's boss, William Pinkerton, thinks he has given her the perfect cover. She is to play the part of an eccentric spirit medium, eager to experience the purported ghostly manifestations. Unfortunately, her cover will not remain intact for long, and there are those behind the scenes who are desperate to keep the secrets of Schroon Lake Inn from coming to light. Will Pen's discoveries prove fatal? She would have to be truly clairvoyant to know....

    Turns. Disappointments. Unexpected Christmas joy. For beautiful, blonde-haired Hazel Ellis, the trip west as a mail-order bride is fraught with uncertainty. She and her sisters have decided that they must leave Boston, where their father’s financial downfall has left them with no marriage prospects in elite Beacon Hill society. Their husbands await them in Colorado so they must go there. Wealthy rancher Harley Wyatt is a man whose cattle and acres mark him as someone of importance in the growing town of Newton. Aloof and used to getting his own way, Harley has secrets he’s unwilling to share with a woman he doesn’t even know. It doesn’t matter she’ll be his wife, she’ll have to earn his trust. He expects her to fulfill her role as Mrs. Wyatt, the wife of the area’s most prosperous rancher. But he offers little insight into what that position entails and timid Hazel is reluctant to ask him. She is equally reluctant to ask him about the identity of the ten-year old girl named Oakley who lives at the ranch. Colorado will prove to be a challenge of the heart for sweet and naïve Hazel. Will the bonds of her new life be powerful enough to overcome the beloved memories of her home back East, particularly as the Christmas season arrives? _____ Home for Christmas… a sweet, romantic journey spanning decades - even centuries - of holiday cheer. There’s no better season than Christmas to look back with gratitude for all the family blessings and forward with anticipation to all the joy to come. A holiday romance or a surprise Christmas wedding that leads to a lifetime of happiness is an irresistible story for a true romantic. Add some snow, hot chocolate, and carols at the piano and you’ll fall in love again and again. Second chances, mail order brides, marriages of convenience – this clean and wholesome series brings all this and so much more. Join our heroes and heroines from proper Regency England to the majestic Rocky Mountains as they find peace, true love, and inspiring Christmas spirit. This multi-author Christmas series is brought to you by these best-selling authors: Joyce Alec Rose Pearson Natalie Dean Bethany Rose Annie Boone Hanna Hart Sophie Mays

    that these people which knew each other well in the old days, Mrs. Tretheroe and the two gentlemen, Mr. Guy and Mr. Harborough, should all turn up again—here—about the same time?" After seven years of silence, Guy Markenmore returns to his family seat at Markenmore Court. Knowing his father Sir Anthony to be close to death, he is anxious to reassure his younger siblings that he will not make any claim to the family money even if he can't help inheriting the old man's title. Sir Anthony dies later that evening, but the question of the inheritance becomes academic when Guy is murdered whilst crossing the downs. The nearby town of Selcaster is alive with gossip, and suspicion falls heavily on John Harborough, Guy's love rival, who also coincidentally returned to the area on that fateful night. But D.S. Blick of Scotland Yard is determined to leave no-one unsuspected in his quest to solve the Markenmore mystery... First published in 1922, this is a vintage British murder mystery from the golden age of crime fiction.

    Seeking to restore her reputation, she sets off from Seattle in search of a temple believed to house the lost history of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer civilization. But she soon discovers that her quest to make the greatest archaeological discovery of the century is also a quest for the secrets of her family's own past. And as she travels through Shanghai's lawless back streets and Saigon’s opium-filled lanes to reach the Cambodian jungle, she does not know who to trust. A drug-addled temple robber, Simone Merlin seems to take pleasure in complicating the expedition, while jaded nightclub owner Marc Rafferty reveals a troublesome childhood mysteriously entwined with Irene’s. Even her own mentor, a notorious collector of stolen art, becomes suspect when Irene uncovers his connection to her companions. Set against a backdrop of colonialism, revolutionary politics and the ruthless art world of the early 1900s, The Map of Lost Memories takes readers on a seductive journey into a forgotten era where nothing is as it seems. As Irene and her fellow adventurers travel into the humidity-soaked jungle, little do they know that what they eventually bring to light will do more than change history … It will ultimately solve the mysteries of their own lives.

    After the courtship, she took the money and left. When we meet again, he is a big business emperor, and she is a small manager at a five-star hotel. With a single command, she was forced to become his personal housekeeper, managing his meals, drinking, drinking, scattering, sleeping … "Butler Luo, the CEO's appetite is not good. Go and accompany him to eat something." "The assistant informed her." "Butler Luo, the CEO is not in a good mood. Go and play with him." Butler Luo, the CEO doesn't sleep well, go accompany him … " Luo Qingyun could not bear it any longer, "I am just a housekeeper, not a companion!" The assistant had an innocent look, "The CEO said that if Butler Luo is unwilling, then let her see a little bit more powerful. Does Butler Luo want to test the CEO's power?" I'll give it a try, who's afraid of who!

    What threw me, though, was the urgency of the diplomats in Beijing. They live it, they get it. And they wanted me out.'Bill Birtles was rushed out of China in September 2020, forced to seek refuge in the Australian Embassy in Beijing while diplomats delicately negotiated his departure in an unprecedented standoff with China's government. Five days later he was on a flight back to Sydney, leaving China without any Australian foreign correspondents on the ground for the first time in decades.A journalist's perspective on this rising global power has never been more important, as Australia's relationship with China undergoes an extraordinary change that's seen the detention of a journalist Cheng Lei, Canberra's criticism of Beijing's efforts to crush Hong Kong's freedoms, as well as China's military activity in the South China Sea and its human rights violations targeting the mostly Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang province. Chronicling his five-year stint in China as he criss-crossed the country, Birtles reveals why the historic unravelling of China's relations with the West is perceived very differently inside the country.The Truth About China is a compelling and candid examination of China, one that takes a magnifying glass to recent events, and looks through a telescope at what is yet to come.

    Length: ~100 pages Tang Dynasty China, 849 A.D. Lady Bai, called Wei-wei by her aristocratic family, has always been the perfectly obedient daughter--but only on the outside. Inwardly she dreams of freedom. When she dares to pay a forbidden visit to a public tea garden in men's clothing, only Gao looks close enough to notice her borrowed robes. Alas, looking closely at the enigmatic Gao tells Wei-wei only one thing: he's a scoundrel. When the pair witness a fatal stabbing, Gao surprises her by staying at her side as she investigates the brutal crime. Together they uncover more secrets, somehow tied to her brother and the seedy gambling dens he's been visiting on the sly. Gao seems to know far too much about the brutal ways of the street, but Wei-wei is drawn to him and his habit of seeing through all her disguises. Wei-wei revels in her newfound independence and her growing feelings for her mysterious companion, but all too soon she's faced with a cruel choice -- discover the truth and bring the killer to justice, or protect her family at all costs.

    The day she finds herself at the mercy of a peculiar Marquess, she realizes that trying to steal from a nobleman, was a very bad idea.When Percival Dandridge, Marquess of Northbury, apprehends a suspiciously feminine thief in his house, he decides to offer her a position in his kitchen. He never intended to fall in love with her.But when an attempt against his life is made, all clues point to her.Realizing she is being framed, she becomes a ghost, working to prove her innocence. A dagger, an old gold pouch, and a diligent constable are all she has to solve this mystery and uncover a string of old ones…

    But when another tragedy strikes, he’s forced to run and also deemed a fugitive. Dishonored, he has no choice but to accept work as a lowly gravedigger, a position that allows him to sharpen his corpse-reading skills. Soon, he can deduce whether a person killed himself—or was murdered.His prowess earns him notoriety, and Cí receives orders to unearth the perpetrator of a horrific series of mutilations and deaths at the Imperial Court. Cí’s gruesome investigation quickly grows complicated thanks to old loyalties and the presence of an alluring, enigmatic woman. But he remains driven by his passion for truth—especially once the killings threaten to take down the Emperor himself.Inspired by Song Cí, considered to be the founding father of CSI-style forensic science, this harrowing novel set during the thirteenth-century Tsong Dynasty draws readers into a multilayered, ingenious plot as disturbing as it is fascinating. In 2012, The Corpse Reader received the Zaragoza International Prize for best historical novel published in Spain (Premio Internacional de Novela Histórica Ciudad de Zaragoza).

    Fearful that his opponent is dying from his injuries, Lawrence seeks sanctuary in a church nearby. When Ducket is found hanging from the rafters, people assume it's suicide. Yet, Sebastian Foxley is unconvinced. Why is his young apprentice, Jack Tabor, so terrified that he takes to his bed?Amidst feasting and merriment, Seb is determined to solve the mystery of his friend’s death and to ease Jack’s fears.

    Granddaughter of a local hero, Mercy Bennington moves out of the shadow of her elder brother to become a leader of the protestors, finding the strength to confront the enemies who endanger the survival of her village and her own life. Yet the violence wreaked upon the fragile fenlands unleashes a force no one can control – flood.

    In August 2014 State Security agents grabbed them, accusing them of espionage. In shock, they were unaware of a Chinese spy arrest in Canada, giving the US “some leverage over China to bring a stop to more than a decade of rampant cybertheft” or that they’d become “bargaining chips in China’s desperate countermove”. (Graff, Garrett M. “How the US Forced China to Quit Stealing—Using a China Spy”. Wired Magazine. October 11, 2018) This compelling story of a Canadian Christian couple who spent 30 years working and raising their family in China, involved in aid, education and social enterprise is a unique parallel journey. From the early days teaching English in a decade of ration coupons and collective work units, Kevin and Julia watched with admiration as China catapulted into the modern age with unprecedented speed. Well-loved in China, the Garratt’s had always been thanked for their work in education, social welfare, social enterprises and community service. In 2007, along with two of their children, they moved to the China/North Korea border, opened a popular coffee shop and provided aid and assistance for marginalized communities in Dandong, China and North Korea. Their sudden disappearance plunged them into a journey where survival took every breath. Through their harrowing ordeal and intense suffering comes life-changing insight. They find themselves part of new community of those who’ve tasted yet overcome the pain of injustice. Courage and kindness, friendship and faith, resonates through the ordeal with the heartbeat of a love journey. Artfully written, Two Tears in the Window combines Kevin’s gifted story-telling and humour with Julia’s ability to let you see through their eyes and draw readers into deeply painful yet profoundly life-changing experiences. For more information or to contact the authors, visit www.twotearsonthewindow.com

    It is a rough hewn place, an exploding trading post that has dreams of becoming a metropolis.  Horace Stratton, one of Portland's wealthiest heirs, has decided to come home for good after amassing yet another fortune in Shanghai. With him comes his wife Emily, a shy daughter of missionaries, and their teenaged son. On the brink of that happy return, Horace suddenly falls ill and dies in San Francisco. Emily and her son bring her husband home to Portland and they try to settle into this new culture.While they look as if they should belong, Portland is a strange and unsettling place for them.  Emily is guilt-ridden, but sorrow is one of the few emotions she didn’t feel when told of her husband's passing. For Emily had learned more about her husband’s past than anyone would believe. And she discovers that all of his schemes did not die with him. His partners very much want Emily and her son to go away... by whatever means necessary. Emily will have to delve into her husband's seedy and painful past and set things right so that she can make a life for herself and her son in this strange land.