Out of the Dawn Light


Alys Clare - 2009
    On her sister's wedding day, Lassair meets an attractive and enigmatic stranger who brings a breath of the fascinating outside world to her backwater Fenland village. When he asks Lassair to use her unique talents to help locate a mysterious treasure she accepts, despite the dangers. But this is no ordinary treasure hunt; the object of the perilous search is five hundred years old and has a terrifying power of its own . . .

Tragedy at Piddleton Hotel


Emily Organ - 2019
    Together with her quirky sidekick, Doris Pemberley, she's determined to solve mysteries and chase down criminals in the sleepy English village of Compton Poppleford. *** A new cozy mystery series from the author of the Penny Green Series, Emily Organ. *** 1932. Growing bored in the autumn of her years, Londoner Annabel Churchill decides to buy a private detective agency in a Dorset village. The purchase brings with it the eccentric Doris Pemberley and it’s not long before the two old ladies have their first case. No one has made more enemies than the local busybody, Mrs Furzgate, but when she suffers a fatal fall at Piddleton Hotel everyone assumes it was an accident. The detective duo, Churchill and Pemberley, suspect murder and are soon on the case. But is it possible they’ll upset even more people than Mrs Furzgate managed to? With the subtlety of two bulls in a china shop, Churchill and Pemberley employ unconventional sleuthing techniques. What appears to be a shortcoming is actually a skill: being consistently underestimated enables them to spring a clever surprise. For fans of light-hearted mysteries and sharp-witted elderly sleuths. Tragedy at Piddleton Hotel is the first book in the Churchill & Pemberley cozy mystery series. Book 1: Tragedy at Piddleton Hotel Book 2: Murder in Cold Mud

The Scourge of the Swastika: A History of Nazi War Crimes During World War II


Edward Frederick Langley Russell - 1954
    While the Final Solution was a unique and unparalleled horror, German atrocities did not end there. The Nazis terrorized their own citizens, tortured and murdered POWs, and carried out countless executions throughout occupied Europe. Lord Russell of Liverpool was part of the legal team that brought Nazi war criminals to justice, and from this first-hand position, he published the sensational, bestselling The Scourge of the Swastika in 1954. Liverpool shows that the actions of the Third Reich, including the Holocaust, were illegal, not merely immoral.

Conquest of Granada


Washington Irving - 1829
    The story is based on the fragmentary remains of Fray Antonio Agapida's contemporary chronicles and other historical documents.

Rosy Is My Relative


Gerald Durrell - 1968
    To Adrian she represented the chance to get away froma City shop and a suburban lodging by exploiting her theatrical talent and experience. To Rosy their progress towards the gayer South Coast resorts offered undreamed-of opportunities for drink and destruction. So the Monkspepper Hunt is driven to delirium and Lady Fenneltree's stately home reduced to a shambles. In due course the always efficient local constabulary caught up with the pair, whose ensuing trial was a like a triumph of the law and of the author's comic genius. The verdict was--but the story has to be read to be believed, if then. Even though the author does maintain that it is entirely credible, indeed that this, his first novel, is 'an almost true story'.

How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems


Randall Munroe - 2019
    How To is a guide to the third kind of approach. It's full of highly impractical advice for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole. Bestselling author and cartoonist Randall Munroe explains how to predict the weather by analyzing the pixels of your Facebook photos. He teaches you how to tell if you're a baby boomer or a 90's kid by measuring the radioactivity of your teeth. He offers tips for taking a selfie with a telescope, crossing a river by boiling it, and getting to your appointments on time by destroying the Moon. And if you want to get rid of the book once you're done with it, he walks you through your options for proper disposal, including dissolving it in the ocean, converting it to a vapor, using tectonic plates to subduct it into the Earth's mantle, or launching it into the Sun.By exploring the most complicated ways to do simple tasks, Munroe doesn't just make things difficult for himself and his readers. As he did so brilliantly in What If?, Munroe invites us to explore the most absurd reaches of the possible. Full of clever infographics and amusing illustrations, How To is a delightfully mind-bending way to better understand the science and technology underlying the things we do every day.

Blood on the Rising Sun (Annotated): The Japanese Invasion of the Philippines


Adalia Marquez - 2014
    Following his escape, suspicion falls upon Adalia and she is detained in his place, along with her two children, and imprisoned in Fort Santiago. Facing torture and starvation, Adalia contacts the Filipino underground and agrees to help them from inside the prison in return for much-needed food and medicine. With a talent for manipulating her captors, Adalia is able to evade detection long enough to provide for herself and her children, as well as other detainees in urgent need of sustenance, until the deliverance of V-J Day.

Venice: A History


John Hagy Davis - 1973
    But they provided the city's founders with a refuge from the barbarians who had invaded their mainland homes. With energy and ingenuity, these displaced people created a maritime empire of unequaled splendor. At its height, the Republic of Venice was said to encompass "one quarter and one half of one quarter" of the known world. During those years, its merchant princess lived more lavishly than many kings. With the discovery of the New World, however, Venice's trading monopolies were broken. The long, slow decline that followed was protracted and infinitely poignant. Today, the decaying buildings adjoining the Rialto Bridge serve as haunting reminders of the bygone age of La Serenissima, the Most Serene Republic. Here is the dramatic story of the city that was once known as the most beautiful in the world - the bride of the Adriatic and the unchallenged mistress of the Mediterranean.

The Unexplainable Fairy Godmother


Sarah Noffke - 2021
    Something new, to keep true love alive.They need Paris Beaufont.However, this fairy loses her lunch if she watches a romantic comedy. Love songs give her hives. She punched the last guy who tried to flirt with her.Needless to say, Paris Beaufont isn’t the romantic type.But she’s going to have to learn how to create budding love for others or she’s going to jail.When a series of criminal offenses forces Paris to attend fairy godmother college, she has to learn not to just stomach romance, but to master it.What this fairy godmother in-training learns isn’t just about love. And what she does for the college might change the planet forever— It is love that makes the world go round, after all.

Every Earl Has a Silver Lining


Anna Markland - 2021
    He faces a second hurdle—he is slowly being poisoned with arsenic. A double mystery unfolds when it comes to light Lady Emma’s deceased husband was also suffering from arsenic poisoning. Is there a curse on the Earls of Farnworth or are there other forces at work that will rob Gabe and Emma of their chance to find true love?

The Far Country


Nevil Shute - 1952
    When she meets Carl, she has every reason to stay. But the two come from different worlds, and need work to build a life together in a pioneer country.

I Wish


Elizabeth Langston - 2014
    What she gets is a genie with rules. Lacey Linden has gotten good at hiding the truth of her life—a depressed mom, a crumbling house, and bills too big to pay. In school, she's a girl with a ready smile and good grades, but at night, Lacey spends her time dreaming up ways to save her family. On a get-cash-quick trip to the flea market, she stumbles over a music box that seemingly begs her to take it home. She does, only to find it is inhabited by a gorgeous "genie." He offers her a month of wishes, one per day, but there's a catch. Each wish must be humanly possible. Grant belongs to a league of supernatural beings, dedicated to serving humans in need. After two years of fulfilling conventional wishes, he's one assignment away from promotion to a new job with more challenging cases. His month with Lacey is exactly what he expects and nothing like he imagines. Lacey and Grant soon discover that the hardest task of all might be saying goodbye. "Langston wisely limits the power of wishes, so there can be no easy fixes to complex problems...putting the focus on the compelling and sympathetic characters." --School Library Journal

Kingscastle


Sophia Holloway - 2021
    Especially when he learns that he must marry within a year or be forever dealing with trustees.As the new Marquis of Athelney, the captain takes command of Kingscastle and discovers much to be done to set it in order. He must also contend with his aunt, Lady Willoughby Hawksmoor, who is determined that her daughter will be his wife. When she discovers he is far more interested in Eleanor Burgess, her underpaid and much put-upon companion, Lady Willoughby shows she will stop at nothing to keep them apart.

The Secret of Chimneys


Agatha Christie - 1925
    Little did Anthony Cade suspect that an errand for a friend would place him at the center of a deadly conspiracy. Drawn into a web of intrigue, he begins to realize that the simple favor has placed him in serious danger. As events unfold, the combined forces of Scotland Yard and the French Sûreté gradually converge on Chimneys, the great country estate that hides an amazing secret.

The Lodger


Marie Belloc Lowndes - 1913
    And then one night there came a knock at the door of a quiet lodging house in the Marylebone Road. . . . This novel, based on the Jack the Ripper murders, was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock.