Higgins's final novel, was completed in the fall of 1999, just weeks before the author's death at the age of 59. It seems unlikely that the coming year will bring us a novel with a sadder, more appropriate title. Like Higgins's famous first novel, iThe Friends of Eddie Coyle/i, iAt End of Day/i is an authoritative and decidedly unromantic portrait of life as it is really lived in the criminal underworld of Boston. Like iEddie Coyle/i, it is the clear product of a genuine American master.pTwo figures dominate the crowded narrative: Arthur McKeach and Nick Cistaro, career criminals who have clawed their way to the top of the food chain by ruthlessly eliminating all competitors and who have remained at the top -- unchallenged and unindicted -- for an unnaturally long time. Together, McKeach and Cistaro have successfully opposed the traditional center of organized crime -- the Cosa Nostra -- and have established an empire based on extortion, gambling, drug dealing, loan sharking, and the rigorous application of terrorist tactics. They rule by fear and will do whatever is necessary to preserve what they have built.piAt End of Day/i is the story of the violent world of McKeach and Cistaro, and of the secret "arrangement" that has kept them in power -- and out of jail -- for decades. More than 30 years before the primary narrative begins, McKeach and his partner established a symbiotic relationship with the FBI's resident expert on organized crime. In exchange for information to be used against their common enemy -- the Boston Mafia -- the two received a degree of protection from the inconvenient investigations of local law enforcement agencies. This immensely profitable arrangement, which was passed along like a family legacy from one FBI agent to the next, has persisted into the present day and has contributed enormously to the durability of the McKeach/Cistaro empire.pThis devious, mutually corrupting relationship stands at the heart of this painstaking portrait of the Boston criminal milieu. As always, Higgins fleshes out the portrait with a varied, credible gallery of characters on both sides of the law. As always, he brings these characters to immediate life through his uncanny ear for dialogue and his matchless ability to create the sustained, rambling dramatic monologues that are so much a part of his narrative technique. In iAt End of Day/i, as in all of Higgins's novels, a succession of characters step into the spotlight and proceed to talk, gradually revealing their histories and circumstances, their essential natures, and the shape and direction of their circumscribed lives. pMonologue follows monologue, each one amplifying, illuminating -- sometimes even contradicting -- the ones that have come before. Together, they create a coherent picture of the predatory universe that most of Higgins's characters call home.pThe inhabitants of this universe include FBI agents Jack Farrier and Darren Stoat, the latest inheritors of the McKeach/Cistaro relationship; Jim Dowd and Emmett Naughton, Boston policemen who are ignorant of the relationship and have their own independent agendas to pursue; Todd Naughton, Emmett's son, who is drawn simultaneously to the world of the cop and the world of the criminal; Tim Sexton, a paraplegic Vietnam vet who conceives an astonishing plan for accumulating and distributing prescription medications; and Max Rascob, a former public accountant who is forced -- as a result of a single, irrevocable mistake -- to throw in his lot with Arthur McKeach and Nick Cistaro. These and other equally vital characters -- all of them bound together by blood, circumstances, or a sense of common cause -- light up the novel, and are as effortlessly, seamlessly real as an overheard conversation in a corner bar.piAt End of Day/i is George V. Higgins at the top of his form and may be his most successful novel since his 1987 masterpiece, iOutlaws/i. No one understood the world of modern urban hoodlums better than Higgins. No one reproduced the scatological rhythms of their everyday speech with the same reportorial accuracy. George V. Higgins died much too soon, and he will be greatly missed. Fortunately for all of us, he left behind a varied, voluminous body of work that includes two dozen novels, a collection of short stories, and several volumes of cogent nonfiction. These 30 books, though not all uniformly excellent, constitute a large and singular accomplishment. The best of them -- such as iOutlaws/i, iThe Friends of Eddie Coyle/i, iCogan's Trade/i, iThe Digger's Game/i, and, of course, his swan song, iAt End of Day/i -- will be read, admired, and remembered for a very long time to come.P#151;Bill Sheehan

    Nick Martin has just started graduate school when he’s dragooned into serving as the driver, guide and confidant of a blind poet by the name of Jorge Luis Borges. Together they must address an extraordinary series of crimes and the equally baffling conundrums of literature and philosophy, including Zeno’s paradoxes, the mind/body problem, and the mysteries of destiny, personal identity and artistic creation. Nick plays the parts of Watson, Sancho Panza, Dante and Stephen Daedalus, and before the story ends he hears the last tale of Scheherazade and finds the love of his life. Forty-five years later, struggling with pain and grief, he looks back with wonder at the magical year when he wandered into the labyrinth and took his first steps to self-understanding.Lighthearted but deeply serious, The Philosophical Detective is a unique journey into the visionary world of a genius.Kirkus Reviews called The Philosophical Detective “...a suspenseful, pitch-perfect novel with an unlikely lead detective: a fictionalized version of iconic Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)..... An intelligent, original detective novel.”Note: With my apologies, at this time the book is available only in the United States.

    Nobody except his former physician's assistant who hasassumed his identity.Serenity was to be a fresh start and the fulfillment of a vowmade years ago. Being a doctor there is supposed to be a quiet, non-descript job. But it is in this touristy, seaside town wheredrugs flow, insurance is defrauded and people are dying.As the mystery around these suspicious activities and deathsunfolds, so does the new doctor's false identity. If the pretendercan survive the allegations and keep the unconditional love he'sdiscovered, he just may find the serenity he was seeking.

    When his on-again, off-again, love is kidnapped, Jesse risks his life to discover the startling truth behind her disappearance. Battling the chaos of guns and violence, Jesse finds new strength and purpose.

    As a child Blake is taken in by neighbours after the death of his grandparents and works for his keep on their farm. As a young man he falls in love with his employer's daughter, Annie. To build a life together, away from the farm, Blake is determined to make his name and leaves the farm to seek work in the shipyards of Sunderland. He swears one day he will come back for Annie—but can he be sure she will wait for him?

    In this first book in a new series, Mrs Montgomery is retained by an archaic well heeled family when its patriarch fails to arrive home at the expected hour. As with all of her writing, Thurbin demonstrates that a book need not contain gratuitous violence, graphic sex or coarse language in order to keep the reader entertained. Set in London and the Home Counties, Thurbin's attention to detail and meticulous research, coupled with an interesting conundrum and a sprinking of quirky characters, are bound to please even the most discerning of readers.

    His books include the bestselling Young Country Doctor series and Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War (which has been turned into an award winning movie). Mr Henry Mulligan is a poignant and uplifting romantic mystery about the disappearance of an elderly couple from an English hospital. Where have they gone? And why? A newly qualified doctor working in the hospital tries to find them. Moving and revealing and based on a true story. Vernon Coleman, a Sunday Times bestselling author, is a qualified doctor who has been a professional author for over 30 years. He has written over 100 books. His medical books include Bodypower, How to Stop Your Doctor Killing You and many others. (His hard hitting books defending patients rights have brought him many enemies and have resulted in numerous attempts to ban his books.) There is a list of books available on his Amazon author page. Kindle books can of course be sampled before being bought. What the papers say: Vernon Coleman writes brilliant books - The Good Book Guide Superstar - Independent on Sunday No thinking person can ignore him - The Ecologist Compulsive reading - The Guardian Britain's leading health care campaigner - The Sun Revered guru of medicine - Nursing Times Dr Coleman made me think again - BBC World Service Probably one of the most brilliant men alive today - Irish Times The man is a national treasure - What Doctors Don't Tell You The patients' champion - Birmingham Post etc etc

    *********************************************************************************************** February 1952 and the country is in mourning following the death of King George V1. On a train leaving London is Ned Stanley, bound for Cornwall to convalesce after an energy sapping bout of glandular fever. He has a room booked at the Ringing Bells Inn located on the Lizard Peninsula in the small fishing village of Trengillion on Cornwall’s beautiful south coast. Ned assumes his stay at the Ringing Bells Inn will be soothingly tranquil and a complete contrast to London where he teaches history at a secondary modern school. But the old Cornish village has a guilty secret and he will rapidly find himself committed to resolve an intriguing mystery regarding the sinister disappearance of Jane Hunt, a local girl who worked at the Inn but has not been seen since she vanished the previous summer. The Ringing Bells Inn is the first in a series of seven books covering village life over a period of sixty years.

    At 11, he looks big and strong for his age. His kind mother, Geeta is a rural Indian archetype: the overworked, stressed-out, barely-keeping-it- together single mother. His father is in prison for multiple robbery cases. The villagers are cold and overbearing, and his schooldays are made hellish by bullies. If this wasn’t enough, he has nightmares and uncanny callings from the age-old monstrous Peepal tree that lays on his way to school. The legend is a monster called Brahma Rakshas, living under this tree, for years unknown to people, lures kids with the black devil fruits and then makes them wrestle until one dies.And, one stormy night, the legend comes true when Brahma Rakshas meets Sarja. Set in a fictional village of Deogiri; a small haven of human civilization, away from the din of city life, this story is an adventure ride filled with riddles and monster wrestling.

    

    Page has certain operant conditioning and vaguely remembered instructionsthat will kick in at certain points as you get to know each other.Here is what you need to know at this point:I am the ‘Old Page’; she is the ‘New Page’.

    The Bishop is hiding a horrible secret that could expose his sins if he defends his son's sinful acts. For Eva, getting shunned for their sins could be the answer to her prayers.Lily can't forget what she saw; the community thinks she's making things up. When she suffers a breakdown after witnessing her mother's death from what is being called a freak accident, the Bishop says he has no choice but to shun her and her father, claiming it's for the good of the community, but what Lily knows could cause her to become the murderer's next target.

    Falling in love with him while saving the world is . . . complicated.An eighteen-year-old covert agent is pulled out of training before graduation by Black X, a espionage group so secret even the President of the United States doesn't know it exists.For her first mission, she must go undercover as the long-lost daughter of a recently deceased billionaire, infiltrate high society, and protect the Prince of Montrovia from assassination.But Prince Lorenzo is known as the Playboy Prince for a reason and his sensuality and charisma add a whole other level of complication to her mission.She knows that her every move is being watched, but what she doesn't know is that the Prince is just a chess piece in a bigger game that will have world-wide ramifications. And that Blackwood Academy, the place she has called home for the past six years has secrets of its own.

    Where chivalrous rouges, daring lords, and smart spirited ladies overcome the dastardly schemes that stand in the way of true love! 3 Full Length Regency Romance Novels now in a captivating Boxset. Join the Ladies of Bath as they struggle with love and loss in their search for happily ever after. The Duke’s Daughter A High Society Lady and a Navy Commander… Joined by a tragic accident, a secret cypher, and a clandestine engagement. Two people have never been so mismatched, but when Amelia’s father dies under mysterious circumstances, and Samuel’s elder brother is poisoned within a mere day of the Duke’s death, both Lady Amelia and Commander Beresford find themselves forced to work together in a desperate search for the culprit. Neither could imagine falling in love … now it seems they cannot imagine loving anyone else. The Baron in Bath Surrounded by Rumor…Betrothed to a Rake…Miss Julia Bellevue has been made an object of ridicule amongst the Ton for years and would wish to be left out of their cruel games. But Julia’s late father has secretly betrothed her to Godwin Gruger, the devilishly handsome Baron Fawkland, a scandalous gentleman with a terrible reputation. She would much prefer his equally dashing younger brother, but if Julia refuses to marry the Baron she is to lose her inheritance! Caught in a whirlwind of rumors, picnics, parties and balls where no one is who they pretend to be Julia must decide what she really wants… The Baron or his brother… and if she can truly trust either man with her heart? The Deceptive Earl Lady Charity is the last of her friends to marry, and this summer holiday, she finds Bath lonely…That is until she matches wits with the dashing Earl of Wentwell. Lady Charity thinks Neville is a rogue and a scoundrel who has ruined more than one lady. She wants nothing but to give him the cut. Lord Wentwell thinks Lady Charity is outrageous; a woman on the prowl for a husband, and he will have none of it. He has been hurt before and he will not play by her rules, or the Ton's. Can love flourish amidst the problems of Neville's war shaken brother and Charity's elderly ailing father? Once Charity has seen the gentleman behind Lord Wentwell's devil may care exterior, nothing can keep her from him, not war, nor disease, not even her overbearing mother or his! 3 Full Length Sweet and Wholesome Clean Read Regency Romances Don't miss the glamor and excitement of Regency Romance by Isabella Thorne Follow Isabella Thorne on Amazon, Facebook and Bookbub. SIGN UP for her newsletter to be notified of the debut of Isabella Thorne's next novel.