When underwater archaeologist Sam McGowan is asked to help salvage a sunken Confederate blockade runner, he's eager for the opportunity to investigate his own family history -- especially since the project is being handled by Gordon Chandler, a notable authority in underwater salvaging. When he finds Gordon's daughter Rachel in charge, Sam is not pleased. She can't possibly be her father's match. But not only has Sam wildly underestimated Rachel's professional abilities, he has yet to discover the many other facets of this complex woman. All her life, Rachel Chandler has dreamed of finding sunken treasure. While grateful to run her first solo operation, she resents having been assigned to run the salvage operation of a sunken blockade runner while her father is investigating a pirate ship. Most definitely, she does not want to work with a man who will question her every move. But when she and Sam stumble onto an unexpected cache of gems aboard the sunken wreck, they're drawn into something that fast becomes far more than just a working partnership. As Rachel and Sam start to dream of a future together, they also begin to realize that the fabulous treasure they have discovered holds more danger than they ever suspected.

    One by one his companions died, but he carried on alone, eventually reaching the fabled city of gold, Timbuktu. His five-and-a-half-year, 10,000-mile adventure ranks among the greatest journeys in the annals of exploration, and his discoveries are considered indispensable by modern scholars of Africa.Yet because of shifting politics, European preconceptions about Africa, and his own thorny personality, Barth has been almost forgotten. The general public has never heard of him, his epic journey, or his still-pertinent observations about Africa and Islam; and his monumental five-volume Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa is rare even in libraries. Though he made his journey for the British government, he has never had a biography in English. Barth and his achievements have fallen through a crack in history.

      Meet Miss Maud Silver, a retired governess and “little old lady who nobody notices, but who in turn notices everything” (Paula Gosling, author of the Jack Stryker mystery series).  The Clock Strikes Twelve: A wealthy British family convenes in their manor house for New Year’s Eve. But when their industrialist patriarch dies, it’s up to prim Miss Silver to determine who rang in the new year with murder . . .  The Key: A German Jewish scientist working for the British war effort is murdered, and his new formula has been stolen. Now Miss Silver must find the killer or risk an explosive disaster . . .  She Came Back: Three years after everyone thought she died in France, Lady Anne Jocelyn returns to England. The lady may be who she claims to be, or perhaps she’s a fraud—or even a Nazi spy. Only Miss Silver will be able to divine the truth.

    And then the accident happened. The Present Day: Left blind and without her family, Amy feels she needs to get away. On a trip along the Camino, she is accompanied by the mysterious and troubled Luke. Having been set up to help Amy by a mutual friend, Luke finds he is also running from his past…1314: A Templar Knight, Luc, is also running. He meets the wife of a former comrade, now blinded in a terrifying attack: Aimee. Taking her under his wing, they must journey together through a dangerous world. As they travel through the stunning scenery of Northern Spain, this couple, so very like Luke and Amy, emerge from the shadows of time carrying a treasure of inestimable value. Chasing Shadows is an enchanting novel about the search for happiness, fulfilment… and love. Praise for T. A. Williams ‘T. A. Williams has that gorgeous way of writing a feel good story and something which will easily make you smile… he’s absolutely backed up that men can write chick-lit.’ Reviewed The Book‘Fantastic story by an entertaining author!’ Gilbster‘A superbly crafted, heartwarming tale’ Splashes into Books‘I had my doubts as to whether a ‘bloke’ would get it! To get beneath the skin of a woman and process how she'd feel in various scenarios. Let's just say I don't have any longer – you nailed it.’ Crooksonbooks

    He’s pulled into a search for a missing young woman, and thus begins investigating crime, using his status as a gentleman--albeit a poor one--to cross the boundaries between the top of society and the working class of the back streets.In The Hanover Square Affair, a missing girl and horrific corpse plunge Captain Lacey into the dark underworld of Regency London.In A Regimental Murder, Captain Lacey is on hand to save the life of a beautiful widow, then investigates the death of her husband, a colonel who had been accused of murdering a cavalry officer during the Peninsular War.In The Glass House, Lacey investigates the death of a barrister’s young wife, and links her to a notorious brothel where the haut ton play.Two short stories finish off the collection. In “The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald,” Lacey is asked to locate a man’s missing daughter, though he senses that the family would be just as happy for her to remain missing. In “The Gentleman’s Walking Stick,” Lacey untangles a web of deceit involving a respectable society man, his only clue being a missing walking stick.

    Born in Prussia to assimilated Jewish parents, she escaped from Hitler’s Germany in 1933 and became best known for her critique of the world’s response to the evils of World War II.A woman of many contradictions, Arendt learned to write in English only at the age of thirty-six, and yet her first book, The Origins of Totalitarianism, single-handedly altered the way generations of Americans and Europeans viewed fascism and genocide. Her most famous—and most divisive—work, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, brought fierce controversy that continues to this day, exacerbated by the posthumous discovery that she had been the lover of the great romantic philosopher and Nazi sympathizer Martin Heidegger.In this fast-paced, comprehensive biography, Anne Heller tracks the source of Arendt’s apparent contradictions and her greatest achievements, from a tumultuous childhood to her arrival as what she called a “conscious pariah”—one of those few people in every time and place who don’t “lose confidence in ourselves if society does not approve us” and will not “pay any price” to win acceptance.

    It is an idyllic land of rolling hills and wide horizons, swathed with vineyards, sunflowers and pastures. In the tiny hamlet of Pcguilhan, Martin Calder is introduced to the Gascon way of life, working the fields and shepherding sheep. It is in Pcguilhan that Calder discovers a unique and fiercely independent people. Full of colorful characters and sun-drenched landscapes, this is a tale of two love affairs: a summer romance with Calder's fellow stagiere, Anja, and the beginning of a lifelong love affair with Gascony. Along the way you will meet the charismatic and convivial Jacques-Henri, the hardworking farmer whose family takes Calder into their home and hearts; Pattes, the mischievous and lovable stray dog who leaves havoc in his wake; Madame "Parle-Beaucoup," the town gossip with a secret of her own; and the memorable Monsieur Fustignac, whose pride in his Gascon heritage is unforgettable. A Summer in Gascony is an adventure you don’t want to miss.

    Saw too many of them in my dreams. That's why I live where I do, still in their shadow but outside their walls. The conditions, of course, are that I have to move every five years, check in now and then and never, ever, talk about them to anyone.It was time to move.* * *Cloud Dust is a secret, government program, in which ninety-five per cent of the volunteers are dead.Meet the one who didn't volunteer.

    Willingly, he lets himself become intoxicated by the surreal beauty of a fairy-woman who offers to take him to a far away, forbidden land where all his desires will be fulfilled. He welcomes the opportunity to be away from the gruesome war that has consumed his life for so long, but what price will the warrior pay to be in a land void of death, loss and pain? Does the pleasure of the company of the stunning stranger outweigh the price he must pay to remain in The Isles of the Blest?

    

    Pat of Silver Bush (1933) is a novel written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, noted for her Anne of Green Gables series. It portrays a girl named Patricia Gardiner, who hates changes of any kind and loves her home, Silver Bush, more than anything else in the world. She is very devoted to her family: her father and mother, her brothers Joe and Sid, and her sisters Winnie and Rachel. The book begins when Pat is 7 years old and ends when she is 18.This book has a sequel, Mistress Pat (1935), which describes Patricia Gardiner's life in her twenties and early thirties, during which she remained single and took care of her beloved home, Silver Bush. Pat hated changes as much as ever, and found in Silver Bush a refuge where she was shielded from them, but changes happened nevertheless. In the course of eleven years, new servants, new neighbors and new lovers came and went, her brothers and sisters all got married, and life at Silver Bush was no longer as pleasant as before, but Pat clung to her love of it desperately. It was only in the face of horrible disasters that Pat found where her heart belonged for the rest of her life. Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 – 1942), was a Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with Anne of Green Gables. Montgomery went on to publish 20 novels as well as 530 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays.

    Burriesci shows how the great books can enrich our lives as individuals, as citizens, and in our careers. Extending the argument first made by Anna Quindlen on the act of reading itself, How Reading Changed My Life, ("It is like the rubbing of two sticks together to make a fire, the act of reading, an improbable pedestrian task that leads to heat and light,) Burriesci reminds us all of the enormous impact reading has on our lives. After his daughter was born prematurely in 2010, Burriesci set out to write a book about 26 Great Books, from Plato to Karl Marx, and how their lessons have applied to his life. As someone who has spent a long and successful career advocating for great literature, Burriesci defends the great books in this series of tender and candid letters, rich in personal experience and full of humor.

    For years, Blanche de Castille, the White Queen of France, has lived by this maxim—passed on by her grandmother, Eléonore d'Aquitaine, as she took the girl to marry King Louis VIII. When her husband dies unexpectedly, however, Blanche finds that beauty is not enough to hold, and command, a kingdom against usurpers eager to wrest the Crown from her woman's grasp. Faced with an English invasion, barons' uprisings, and slanderous rumors, Blanche must look within herself for the strength she needs to guard the throne for her young son. Her bold response shocks the kingdom and shapes her into the formidable, seemingly heartless mother-in-law to Marguerite of Provence, wife of King Louis IX (Saint Louis) and the eldest of the "Four Sisters, All Queens" in Sherry Jones's forthcoming novel.Includes an excerpt to the upcoming Four Sisters, All Queens, to be published by Gallery Books, May 8, 2012.

    No Sparkles. Serious Snark.REVIEW: "Honestly, this is one of the best books that I've read this year and certainly a new series that I will be following." —Black Lagoon ReviewsBOOK ONE: HARD DAY’S KNIGHTChildren are missing. The police are stumped. Halloween is coming, and an ancient evil is on the horizon. The vampires are the good guys. This is not your ordinary fall weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. Vampire private detectives Jimmy Black and Greg Knightwood have been hired to save a client from being cursed for all eternity, but end up in a bigger mess than they ever imagined. Suddenly trapped in the middle of a serial kidnapping case, Jimmy and Greg uncover a plot to bring forth an ancient evil. Soon, they’ve enlisted the help of a police detective, a priest, a witch, a fallen angel and a strip club proprietor to save the world. This unlikely band of heroes battles zombies, witches, neuroses and sunburn while cracking jokes and looking for the perfect bag of O-negative.BOOK TWO: BACK IN BLACKVampire detectives Jimmy Black and Greg Knightwood investigate a series of assaults plaguing the alleys of Charlotte, North Carolina. The string of hate crimes becomes personal when Jimmy’s just-maybe-main-squeeze Detective Sabrina Law’s cousin is attacked. Helping a lady out could get the boys killed when they end up in Faerie. Before long, they’re up to their butts in trolls, dark fae and a grand battle royale. The odds are against them, but to the boys, this is just another day on the night shift—if the night shift included a steel cage match of supernaturals.BOOK THREE: KNIGHT MOVESEt tu, Vampire? The boys discover they may be tied to a string of serial killings at the college and that they suddenly aren’t the only vampire game in town.The vampire count in Charlotte is at least three. Or more. As far as the unhappy boys are concerned, anything more than two is a crowd not to be tolerated. While tracking down the killer and the competition, they encounter coeds, booby traps (not related to the coeds) and a hirsute bounty hunter with a moon fetish and a bad attitude. To catch the killer, Jimmy will have to survive a dive headfirst into the great unwashed horde of Dorkdom (game night at the local comic shop).What’s a red-blood-drinking vampire to do? His job. Again. Praise for the Black Knight Chronicles—"This is another great book in what will hopefully be a large and successful series. I know I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment." — Indie Book Blog"I love this book. It makes me happy in a way that hasn't happened in a long, long time." —Keryl Raist, Author of Sylvianna

    Now she turns to the topic of home. As our country reels from the subprime mortgage meltdown and the resulting devastation of so many families and communities, Hill takes us inside this “crisis of home” and exposes its deep roots in race and gender inequities, which continue to imperil every American’s ability to achieve the American Dream.  In this period of recovery and its aftermath, what is at stake is the inclusive democracy the Constitution promises. The achievement of that ideal, Hill argues, depends on each American’s ability to secure a place that provides access to every opportunity our country offers. Building on the great strides of the women’s and civil rights movements, Hill presents concrete proposals that encourage us to broaden our thinking about home and to reimagine equality for America’s future.