Nicholson has a wonderful ear for the unintentionally funny cliches of modern speech and manners.” –Sunday Telegraph

    His teenage son, Matt, fills a Squirtmaster 9000 for his turn at a high school game called Killer. Matt's intended victim, Jenny Herk, sits down in front of the TV with her mom for what she hopes will be a peaceful evening for once. Jenny's alcoholic and secretly embezzling stepfather, Arthur, emerges from the maid's room, angry at being rebuffed. Henry and Leonard, two hit men from New Jersey, pull up to the Herks' house for a real game of Killer, Arthur's embezzlement apparently not having been quite so secret to his employers after all. And a homeless man named Puggy settles down for the night in a treehouse just inside the Herks' yard.In a few minutes, a chain of events that will change the lives of each and every one of them will begin, and will leave some of them wiser, some of them deader, and some of them definitely looking for a new line of work. With a wicked wit, razor-sharp observations, rich characters, and a plot with more twists than the Inland Waterway, Dave Barry makes his debut a complete and utter triumph.

    The gig – as prey in leprechaun hunt for a bunch of Wallstreet jerks – goes as badly as it sounds. He could leave it there and write it off as a harsh lesson learned, but fourteen months later when Smithy comes up with a plan to take his revenge on the man behind it all, it is too good to resist.What is it they say about best-laid plans? Instead of teaching his nemesis, Louis, a valuable lesson, Smithy ends up saving him from an assassin. From there, Smith and his friend Diller are dragged into his opponent’s messed-up world. Louis is part of ‘the Collectors’ a group with way more money than sense dedicated to the competitive acquisition of truly one-of-a-kind items that define the secret history of the world.When one of the group’s members loses his marbles, Smithy and Diller find themselves shanghaied to Nowhere. A well-named location in the middle of the desert, where a madman is trying to build an army from the worst of mankind.Welcome to Nowhere is a wild ride from the author renowned for the darkly comic thrills of The Dublin Trilogy series and the McGarry Stateside books. It is a standalone novel that is a perfect introduction to McDonnell’s blend of comedy and compelling story that is earning him a growing legion of loyal fans.

    So when he chases a deadbeat client out to Hollywood, Chili figures he might like to stay. This town, with its dream-makers, glitter, hucksters, and liars—plus gorgeous, partially clad would-be starlets everywhere you look—seems ideal for an enterprising criminal with a taste for the cinematic. Besides, Chili’s got an idea for a killer movie, though it could very possibly kill him to get it made.

    This too was a fixture on bestseller lists and earned her a wider audience.With Point Dume she has produced her most remarkable novel to dateA fast moving page- turner, with insights that Arnoldi has gleaned from years of on-the-ground research, this is a timely novel that seems timeless.

    Instead, he lands in the middle of a bungled fraud case, defending the disreputable and downright nasty Bevo Rasmussen, who's accused of torching the stables housing his over-insured thoroughbreds." Immediately confronted with corrupt officials, crazed survivalists, an incompetent hit man, an emu, and a naked county clerk, along with an assortment of vengeful wives and great barbecue, Clay discovers that nothing - and no one - is quite what they seem to be.

    Since he first started breaking into houses when he was fourteen years old, he’s never once been caught. But now, after twenty-two years of an exemplary career, Junior has been blackmailed by Trey Annunziato, one of the most powerful crime bosses in LA, into acting as a private investigator on the set of Trey’s porn movie venture, which someone keeps sabotaging.The star Trey has lined up to do all that’s unwholesome on camera is Thistle Downing, America’s beloved child star, who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. Her starring role will be the scandalous fall-from-grace gossip of rubber-neckers across the country. No wonder Trey needs help keeping the production on track.Junior knows what that he should do — get Thistle out and find her help — but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of LA’s scariest mob boss. With the help of his precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Rina, and his criminal sidekick, Louie the Lost (an ex-getaway driver), Junior has to figure out a miracle solution.

    After getting fired from her job at a calendar company for botching Daylight Savings, she is informally hired by a wealthy acquaintance to track down his girlfriend, a stripper named Trigger Happy. But Queenie's seemingly good luck turns hard when she finds Trigger dead in her apartment.Now Queenie's daily routine of being a drunk smart-ass is put on hold as she becomes both a suspect for the murder and the target for an unknown predator. Hopping from bar to bar, from Coney Island clam stands to the Waldorf-Astoria, she inadvertently lands on the trail of Trigger's killer and puts herself in the line of fire.Along the way she meets Rey, a private eye with a soft spot for tough-talking ladies; Detective Olds, the stuttering cop who thinks Queenie's the culprit; and a dozen New York denizens, among them a cult recruiter, a hit man, a thief, and even Rip Torn -- some strange, some sad, some sweet, and some deadly, every one dropping in and out of Queenie's life as she searches for each fragile piece of the puzzle that may eventually lead her to the truth.With danger closing in on her, Queenie can't help but realize the precariousness of her own mortality. As she stares out of the window at an old lady on the corner, she thinks, "There is nothing separating you from that old lady right now -- maybe something, maybe time is all, but that's really nothing when you think about it." After all, thinks Queenie, it's just days. But unless she can find the killer before the killer finds her, Queenie's days are seriously numbered.

    Her heart is in the right place. The guy who shows up wearing nothing but tighty-whities doesn't know Lucy - or understand why she won't let him buy back his lucky suit. Instead she insists he earn it back through volunteer work.

    A wounded man hides in the house. A suitcase stuffed with money sits at the bottom of the well. Apparitions haunt the nights. God knows what will happen next.

    Postal Service. In a world where his three true, bitter pleasures are women, booze, and racetrack betting, he somehow drags his hangover out of bed every dawn to lug waterlogged mailbags up mud-soaked mountains, outsmart vicious guard dogs, and pray to survive the day-to-day trials of sadistic bosses and certifiable coworkers.This classic 1971 novel--the one that catapulted its author to national fame--is the perfect introduction to the grimly hysterical world of legendary writer, poet, and Dirty Old Man Charles Bukowski and his fictional alter ego, Chinaski.

    From Africa to the Middle East, and from London to Beijing, Archer takes us to places we've never seen and introduces us to people we'll never forget.Meet the philandering husband who thinks he's committed the perfect murder; the self-assured chess champion who plays a beautiful woman for stakes far higher than cash; and the finance minister who needs to crack the secrets of a Swiss bank. Jeffrey Archer's collection of twelve spellbinding stories will sweep you on a journey of thwarted ambition, undying passion, and unswerving honor that you'll never forget.

    This 50th Anniversary edition contains a new foreword by his publisher and friend, Jay Shore, and an introduction by his sister, Diane Craddock, as well as a selection of photos, drawings and other writings by Craddock."Superb in the tradition of Kerouac’s On The Road, with overtones of Ken Kesey and Hunter Thompson’s Hell’s Angels, but Craddock’s style is all his own." — Robert Kirsch, Los Angeles Times"The definitive book of the acid-freak movement. A psychedelic pilgrim’s progress of beauty, intelligence, sensitivity." — Joseph Haas, Chicago Daily News"An astounding book, so good it defies praise. The writing is superb. Craddock is a born writer with an iceberg of talent." — Shane Stevens, Chicago Sun Times"Willam J. Craddock’s masterpiece, legendary to those in the know, is as exhilarating now as ever." — Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen, long listed for the 2016 National Book AwardMostly autobiographical, Be Not Content begins with the 16-year-old Craddock riding his beloved Harley Davidson with the Hells Angels, the outlaw motorcycle club, and getting into brawls and being chased by the cops. It’s an unexpected anomaly for this bright, middle-class kid from Los Gatos, California. Craddock then takes us through his college days publishing an underground newspaper, attending poetry readings with Alan Ginsberg, tripping at one of the first acid tests, and taking for days on end the strongest, most pure doses LSD. All of it done for the purpose of Craddock discovering the meaning of life.Barely 21 when he finished writing it, Doubleday bought the book in 1968 but held up publication until 1970. The first edition sold out with collectors prizing the few copies available, and copies going for as much as $950 on the Internet. Be Not Content is a powerful literary coming of age narrative that millions of Americans can personally identify with – an unforgettable time in the cultural and sociological history of America.

    Handsome, ambitious Jamal-a street-savvy crack dealer-is the son of North Philly's most notorious drug kingpin. A history of violence and betrayal lies between their fathers, who are now bitter enemies. After one of his church members is gunned down-with a bullet he is sure is meant for him-Pastor Anderson goes after Frank Nichols, determined to drive him from the neighborhood for good. There's just one problem: Keisha and Jamal are in love.When the families face off on opposite sides of an anti-drug demonstration, a high-ranking police official is killed in the crossfire, and Jamal becomes the prime suspect in the murder. Keisha is left with a choice. Will she stay with her father, in the confines of the sheltered world she's known, or will she venture into the unknown in order to help Jamal clear his name? She chooses Jamal, and in a whirlwind flight across the seamy underside of Philadelphia, Keisha will risk everything for love. Even her life.

    Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is inadvertently shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working at an island resort on the California coastline. It's the biggest job yet for the family wedding business—"Don't leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!"—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie's perfect buttercream flowers.But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy's great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?