Hell With the Lid Blown Off


Book Description

In the summer of 1916, a big twister cuts a swath of destruction through Boynton, Oklahoma. Alafair Tucker's family and neighbors are not spared the ruin and grief spread by the storm. But no one will mourn for dead Jubal Beldon, who'd made it his business to know everyone's ugly secrets. It never mattered if Jubal's insinuations were true or not since in a small town like Boynton, rumor could be as ruinous as fact. Then Mr. Lee, the undertaker, discovers that Jubal was already dead when the tornado swept his body away. Had he died in an accident or had he been murdered by someone whose secret he had threatened to expose? Dozens of people would have been happy to do the deed, some of them members of Jubal's own family. As Sheriff Scott Tucker and his deputy Trenton Calder look into Jubal's demise, it begins to look like the prime suspect may be someone very dear to the widow Beckie MacKenzie, mentor of Alafair's daughter Ruth. Ruth fears that the secrets exposed by the investigation are going to cause more damage to Beckie's life than the tornado. Alafair, coping with injuries to her own, still has time for suspicions about how Jubal Beldon came to die. What if the truth of it hits very close to home?




The Return of the Raven Mocker


Book Description

"Vividly rendered and psychologically astute, this somewhat transparent puzzler provides an unusually immersive perspective on familiar historical territory." —Booklist World War I is raging in Europe, but as the deadly influenza pandemic of 1918 sweeps like a wildfire through Boynton, Oklahoma, Alafair Tucker is fighting her own war. Her daughter, Alice, and son-in-law, Walter Kelley, have both come down with the flu, and Alafair has moved into town to care for them after quarantining her young children at their sister's farm. Boynton as a whole isolates itself like an old English plague village, discouraging anyone from coming into town and the residents from traveling outside. A new doctor applies science to treating the stricken, but Alafair applies all she knows about hygiene, nutrition, and old and trusted country remedies. Unable to aid her sons and sons-in-law fighting overseas, this is danger she can combat. One autumn afternoon, screams coming from next door alert Alafair that Alice's neighbor, Nola Thomason, and her son Lewis have suddenly and unexpectedly succumbed. Yet there is something about the way the pair died that causes Alafair to suspect their deaths were due to poison rather than to influenza. The epidemic is so overwhelming that it is many days before the only doctor left in town can confirm Alafair's suspicions; neither Nola nor Lewis died of the flu. The only witness to their deaths, twelve-year-old Dorothy Thomason, a special friend of Alafair's daughter, Sophronia, is so traumatized that she is rendered mute. Were Nola and her son murdered, and if so, why? The usual motives for murder are greed, or jealousy, or hatred. Or could it be, as Alafair fears, that the Raven Mocker, the most dreaded of the Cherokee wizards or witches, the evil spirit who takes to the air in a fiery shape to rob the old, the sick, and the dying of their lives, is hunting victims and bringing misery to the innocent?







The Wrong Girl


Book Description

From critically acclaimed author Donis Casey comes the first in a vintage Hollywood mystery series! When a string of baffling clues leads to 1920s film star Bianca LaBelle, it looks like her dark secrets have finally come back to haunt her. Because the only thing worth more than wealth and fame is revenge... Blanche Tucker longs to escape her drop-dead dull life in tiny Boynton, Oklahoma. Then a suave film producer roars into town. Graham Peyton is Blanche's ticket out of town—he can offer her a life of stardom in Beverly Hills. But the sleezy producer's offer is too good to be true, and once they get to California Blanche finds herself sold to a dangerous man. But she's determined to make a new life for herself, whatever the cost... Six years later, Blanche has transformed into Bianca LaBelle, the reclusive and beloved film star. But when a private detective visits Bianca's mansion to ask her about remains found on a Santa Monica beach, it seems her shiny new life is going up in smoke. Peyton was murdered, and as this movie star mystery heats up, suspicion falls on the enigmatic Bianca. Did she make him pay for her private wrongs? With all of the twists and turns of a 1920s film, The Wrong Girl follows the daring exploits of a girl who chases her dream from the farm to old Hollywood, while showing just how risky—and rewarding—it can be to go off script.




The Ones Who Hit the Hardest


Book Description

A stirring portrait of the decade when the Steelers became the greatest team in NFL history, even as Pittsburgh was crumbling around them. In the 1970s, the city of Pittsburgh was in need of heroes. In that decade the steel industry, long the lifeblood of the city, went into massive decline, putting 150,000 steelworkers out of work. And then the unthinkable happened: The Pittsburgh Steelers, perennial also-rans in the NFL, rose up to become the most feared team in the league, dominating opponents with their famed "Steel Curtain" defense, winning four Super Bowls in six years, and lifting the spirits of a city on the brink. In The Ones Who Hit the Hardest, Chad Millman and Shawn Coyne trace the rise of the Steelers amidst the backdrop of the fading city they fought for, bringing to life characters such as: Art Rooney, the owner of the team so beloved by Pittsburgh that he was known simply as "The Chief"; Chuck Noll, the headstrong coach who used the ethos of steelworkers to motivate his players; Terry Bradshaw, the strong-armed and underestimated QB; Joe Green, the defensive tackle whose fighting nature lifted the franchise; and Jack Lambert, the linebacker whose snarling, toothless grin embodied the Pittsburgh defense. Every story needs a villain, and in this one it's played by the Dallas Cowboys. As Pittsburgh rusted, the new and glittering metropolis of Dallas, rich from the capital infusion of oil revenue, signaled the future of America. Indeed, the town brimmed with such confidence that the Cowboys felt comfortable nicknaming themselves "America's Team." Throughout the 1970s, the teams jostled for control of the NFL-the Cowboys doing it with finesse and the Steelers doing it with brawn-culminating in Super Bowl XIII in 1979, when the aging Steelers attempted to hold off the Cowboys one last time. Thoroughly researched and grippingly written, The Ones Who Hit the Hardest is a stirring tribute to a city, a team, and an era.




The Pastor’S Diary


Book Description

For many years, people have asked me to write about my theology, and I have consistently said that I could tell them what I thought at that particular day but that it would be different tomorrow, which is to say that I strongly believe that theology is a growing thing, constantly changing within the context of a changing society. The book became much more autobiographical than I intended. I discovered that my theology changed because of any experiences I had. I have described my story chronologically, beginning with my early years and how the myth of Christianity was implanted in my mind. I go on to show how I got involved in the church during high school and college and discovered others had different myths than I did. This expanding awareness gave me the stimulus to take a hard look at my own myth. Several professors at both college and seminary helped me through the changes in my understanding of the Christian faith, and I describe via some of my writings what those were. In my first congregation, a new church development, and in subsequent ones, I realized that we understate our laity, and their desire to learn about new concepts has come with further study of scholars. I came to trust that desire and began to preach and teach not only the churchs dogmatics but also the results of creative imagination and the discovery of many scholars throughout the world and from many religious perspectives. My final chapter is entitled So What Do You Believe? In this, I make an attempt to pull together the various and growing concepts of my thought throughout my fifty-plus years in the ordained ministry of the Presbyterian Church. From experience, I know laypersons would be interested in this book. In addition, pastors and other religious professionals, I think, would find it helpful as they go through their own theological pilgrimage.




The Washington Square Ensemble


Book Description

Seven men tell their stories of survival on the streets of 1980s New York City in this gritty debut novel by the National Book Award–finalist. Like most New Yorkers, Johnny B. Goode hustles to make a living. His beat happens to be pharmaceutical distribution. His place of business, Washington Square Park. Over the course of one weekend, he and his crew of “retailers” sell their product to students, businessmen, tourists, drifters, and lowlifes, while evading the law and outmaneuvering the competition. It’s a fragile balance that avant-garde saxophonist and all-around nuisance Porco Miserio threatens to upend with his big mouth. As Johnny B. and his crew scramble to maintain their embattled existence, each relates their personal story of life on the fringes of Greenwich Village. Among them are Yusuf Ali, the NBA-sized Muslim whose profession is at odds with his faith; Holy Mother, Johnny B.’s boyhood friend and former Mafia hitman; and Santa Barbara, the Puerto Rican Santeria practitioner who has been deeply spooked. Authentic and original, the chorus of voices captures the streets of New York in all its widescreen splendor and punishing blight. An “atmospherically electric . . . Winning debut,” The Washington Square Ensemble introduced a prodigiously gifted new novelist to American readers (Kirkus Reviews). “The most exotic bunch of sweet characters since some of Jack Kerouac’s ‘holy angels’ first came alive in print.” —Los AngelesHerald Examiner




Insanity - My Mad Life


Book Description

Charles Bronson is the most feared and the most notorious convict in the prison system. Renowned for serial hostage taking and his rooftop sieges, he is a legend in his own lifetime. Yet behind the crime and the craziness, there is a great deal more to Charlie. He is a man of great warmth and humour; a man of great artistic talent who exhibits his drawings around the country; and a man with an overpowering urge not to let the system get him down. "Insanity" is a look into the mind of a true individual - a wild, inspired, single-minded, fascinating man, oppressed not only by the workings of his singular mind, but also by the system that confines him.




Yurei Attack!


Book Description

Yurei Attack! is a nightmare-inducing one-stop guide to Japan's traditional ghosts and spirits. Surviving encounters with angry ghosts and sexy spectres. Haunted places. Dangerous games and how to play them. And more importantly, a guided tour of what awaits in the world of the dead. Yurei is the Japanese word for "ghost." It's as simple as that. They are the souls of dead people, unable--or unwilling--to shuffle off this mortal coil. Yurei are many things, but "friendly" isn't the first word that comes to mind. Not every yurei is dangerous, but they are all driven by emotions so uncontrollably powerful that they have taken on a life of their own: rage, sadness, devotion, a desire for revenge, or even the firm belief that they are still alive. This book, the third in the authors' bestselling Attack! series, after Yokai Attack! and Ninja Attack! gives detailed information on 39 of the creepiest yurei stalking Japan, along with detailed histories and defensive tactics should you have the misfortune to encounter one. Japanese ghosts include: Oiwa, The Horror of Yotsuya Otsuyu, The Tale of the Peony Lantern The Lady Rokujo, The Tale of Genji Isora, Tales of Moonlight and Rain Orui, The Depths of Kasane Book 3 of 3 in the Yokai Attack! series. Others include Ninja Attack! and Yokai Attack!.




Hell and Gone


Book Description

The second of three high-energy thrillers arriving back-to-back from cult crime fiction sensation Duane Swierczynski. Left for dead after an epic shootout that blew the lid off a billion-dollar conspiracy, ex-cop Charlie Hardie quickly realizes that when you're dealing with The Accident People, things can get worse. Drugged, bound and transported by strange operatives of unknown origin, Hardie awakens to find himself captive in a secret prison that houses the most dangerous criminals on earth. And then things get really bad. Because this isn't just any prison. It's a Kafkaesque nightmare that comes springloaded with a brutal catch-22: Hardie's the warden. And any attempt to escape triggers a "death mechanism" that will kill everyone down here -- including a group of innocent guards. Faced with an unworkable paradox, and knowing that his wife and son could be next on the Accident People's hit list, Hardie has only one choice: fight his way to the heart of this hell hole and make a deal with the Devil himself.