Pignon Scorbion & the Barbershop Detectives


Book Description

For fans of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, author Rick Bleiweiss’s quirky new detective and ensemble cast of characters set against the backdrop of small-town England in the 1910s will feel both comfortingly familiar and thrillingly new. The year is 1910, and in the small and seemingly sleepy English market town of Haxford, there’s a new police Chief Inspector. At first, the dapper and unflappable Pignon Scorbion strikes something of an odd figure among the locals, who don’t see a need for such an exacting investigator. But it isn’t long before Haxford finds itself very much in need of a detective. Luckily, Scorbion and the local barber are old acquaintances, and the barbershop employs a cast of memorable characters who—together with an aspiring young ace reporter for the local Morning News—are nothing less than enthralled by the enigmatic new police Chief Inspector. Investigating a trio of crimes whose origins span three continents and half a century, Pignon Scorbion and his “tonsorial sleuths” interview a parade of interested parties, but with every apparent clue, new surprises come to light. And just as it seems nothing can derail Scorbion’s cool head and almost unerring nose for deduction, in walks Thelma Smith—dazzling, whip-smart, and newly single. Has Pignon Scorbion finally met his match?




The Sassy Belles


Book Description

Meet the Sassy Belles. They're strong as a mint julep, sweet as peach cobbler, and no matter what, they stick together. There are only two seasons in Tuscaloosa—football and waiting-for-football. When Lewis Heart, football announcer and voice of the Crimson Tide, vanishes after an impromptu romp with Vivi Anne McFadden at the Fountain Mist Motel, Vivi does what any Southern woman would do: calls her best friend, Blake O'Hara Heart, attorney-at-law. With the town gossip swirling around them, Vivi and Blake are determined to find out what happened to Lewis and clear Vivi's reputation. Because after all, men may come and go, but the Sassy Belles are forever. Not since Steel Magnolias have we fallen in love with such sexy, strong and hilarious Southern women. So grab your best girlfriends and join these Belles on the first of many joyrides through the Deep South…. Sexy Southern fun…with a hint of magnolia!




The Fiancée


Book Description

“A tense, simmering, fast-paced mystery.”—Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author of The Last House Guest and The Girl from Widow Hills The New York Times bestselling author returns with an unsettling but riveting psychological thriller about a captivating woman who joins a family and threatens to upend their picture-perfect lives. They had everything they needed for a perfect family vacation: close-knit relatives, a bucolic setting . . . and a murderer in their midst? Summer’s looking forward to a break from hustling for acting work in Manhattan when she, her husband Gabe, and Gabe’s nine-year-old son arrive at the annual family get-together at her in-laws’ sprawling estate. On the agenda are leisurely gourmet meals, tennis matches, and plenty of relaxation by the pool. But this year, Gabe’s brother Nick has invited his new flame Hannah, whom Summer immediately recognizes from a few years before. Oddly, her brother-in-law’s girlfriend claims not to know her. Yet she charms the other family members, and after Nick announces that he’s proposed to Hannah, Summer doesn’t have much choice but to grin and bear it. Then the reunion is rocked by tragedy when a family member is found dead. Though the doctors attribute the loss to natural causes, a grieving Summer fears that the too-good-to-be-true Hannah is involved, even as Gabe dismisses her suspicions. How far will Summer go to expose the truth? As she investigates just what Nick’s fiancée might have done to keep her perfect image intact, she begins to fear that the first death might only be the beginning . . .




What You Break


Book Description

Former Suffolk County cop Gus Murphy returns to prowl the meaner streets of Long Island's darkest precincts, with a Russian mercenary at his back, in the stunning second installment of Reed Farrel Coleman's critically acclaimed series, now in paperback. Gus Murphy and his girlfriend Magdalena are put in harm's way when Gus is caught up in the distant aftershocks of heinous crimes committed decades ago in Vietnam and Russia. Gus's ex-priest pal, Bill Kilkenny, introduces him to a wealthy businessman anxious to have someone look more deeply into the brutal murder of his granddaughter. Though the police already have the girl's murderer in custody, they have been unable to provide a reason for the killing. The businessman, Spears, offers big incentives if Gus can supply him with what the cops cannot—a motive. Later that same day, Gus witnesses the execution of a man who has just met with his friend Slava. As Gus looks into the girl's murder and tries to protect Slava from the executioner's bullet, he must navigate a mine field populated by hostile cops, street gangs, and a Russian mercenary who will stop at nothing to do his master's bidding. But in trying to solve the girl's murder and save his friend, Gus may be opening a door into a past that was best left forgotten. Can he fix the damage done, or is it true that what you break you own...forever?




Homophones and Homographs


Book Description

This expanded fourth edition defines and cross-references 9,040 homophones and 2,133 homographs (up from 7,870 and 1,554 in the 3rd ed.). As the most comprehensive compilation of American homophones (words that sound alike) and homographs (look-alikes), this latest edition serves well where even the most modern spell-checkers and word processors fail--although rain, reign, and rein may be spelled correctly, the context in which these words may appropriately be used is not obvious to a computer.




Miners' Moon


Book Description

Crime photographer Nellie Burns and Basque Sheriff Charlie Asteguigoiri travel from central to northern Idaho to investigate bootlegging-and the town officials who might be involved. While there, a suspicious mine explosion pulls them into a second investigation, so they send a wire to retired miner Rosy Kipling, asking him to join them. He brings Nell's black Lab, Moonshine, and the team is then complete. While Charlie roams the backcountry in search of illegal stills, Nell questions survivors of the explosion. Rosy descends into the principal mine to listen and pry. The two investigations lead all three to discover secrets and lies-from "soda drink" parlors, local brothels, and worker hints whispered deep in the mine shafts-that have deadly consequences. All four of them long for their high desert home but cannot return until they expose the criminals and lay bare the truth before their luck runs out.




River, Sing Out


Book Description

Attempting to escape his abusive father and generations of cyclical poverty, young Jonah Hargrove joins the mysterious River—a teenage girl carrying thousands of dollars in stolen meth—and embarks on a southern gothic odyssey through the East Texas river bottoms. They are pursued by local drug kingpin John Curtis and his murderous enforcer, Dakota Cade, with whom River was romantically involved. But Cade and Curtis have their own enemies, as their relationship with the cartel controlling their meth supply begins to sour. Keeping tabs on everyone is the Thin Man, a silent assassin who values consequence over mercy. Each person is keeping secrets from the others—deadly secrets that will be exposed in savage fashion as their final paths collide and all are forced to come to terms with their choices, their circumstances, and their own definition of God. With a colorful cast of supporting characters and an unflinching violence juxtaposed against lyrical prose, River, Sing Out dives deep into a sinister and sanguinary world, where oppressive poverty is pitted against the need to believe in something greater than the self.




Broken French


Book Description

Take a decadent and sizzling armchair vacation to the South of France this summer … Josie thought she was getting a promotion at her architectural firm, but instead her career implodes. She impulsively takes up her roommates' offer to nanny for a little girl on a mega yacht in the South of France. Even though she can't stand boats, this seems like fate giving her an opportunity to lick her wounds in a bucket list paradise while she figures out how to get her life back. But this little girl she's arrived to look after has a daddy. A widowed, hot, billionaire of a daddy. And if there's anything that Josie needs less than having to be stuck on a yacht, no matter how luxurious, it's an inconvenient and highly-combustible attraction to her new boss. A man who, for all his wealth, is grumpy, conceited, and utterly closed off. Xavier Pascale is on an emotional island of his own making. It's just him and his daughter and he likes it that way. He works hard, his shareholders are happy, his best friends are his bodyguard, and the people who work for him. What's wrong with that? But then he meets Josephine Marin. Her arrival in his life is like an earth tremor along a catastrophic emotional fault line. And now... well, now, he's very, very aware of his isolation and his very human need. But he can't be distracted. When he gets distracted terrible things happen. He should send her home. He really should. But what if he just takes what he wants, just this one time ...




Words to Rhyme with


Book Description

An easy-to-use dictionary of over 80,000 rhyming words.




Sideways


Book Description

A raucous and surprising novel filled with wonderful details about wine, Rex Pickett's Sideways is also a thought-provoking and funny book about men, women, and human relationships. The basis for the 2004 comedy-drama road movie of the same name starring Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church. Sideways is the story of two friends-Miles and Jack-going away together for the last time to steep themselves in everything that makes it good to be young and single: pinot, putting, and prowling bars. In the week before Jack plans to marry, the pair heads out from Los Angeles to the Santa Ynez wine country. For Jack, the tasting tour is Seven Days to D-Day, his final stretch of freedom. For Miles--who has divorced his wife, is facing an uncertain career and has lost his passion for living-the trip is a week long opportunity to evaluate his past, his future and himself.