Children, Violence, and Murder


Book Description

-- Focuses on popular subjects that are bound to capture the reader's imagination -- Provides a window into American culture -- Encourages moral reasoning and fundamental thinking A social scientist searches for answers in these disturbing cases.




The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place


Book Description

There's a murderer on the loose—but that doesn't stop the girls of St. Etheldreda's from attempting to hide the death of their headmistress in this rollicking farce. The students of St. Etheldreda's School for Girls face a bothersome dilemma. Their irascible headmistress, Mrs. Plackett, and her surly brother, Mr. Godding, have been most inconveniently poisoned at Sunday dinner. Now the school will almost certainly be closed and the girls sent home—unless these seven very proper young ladies can hide the murders and convince their neighbors that nothing is wrong. Julie Berry's The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place is a smart, hilarious Victorian romp, full of outrageous plot twists, mistaken identities, and mysterious happenings.




Poison Woman


Book Description

"Portions of chapter 4 were previously published in slightly different form in "So bad she's good: the masochist's heroine in Japan, Abe Sada," in Bad girls of Japan, edited by Laura Miller and Jan Bardsley (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 141-67"--T.p. verso.




Midlife Psychic


Book Description

Hot flashes in my forties? Expected. Waking up psychic? Not in my wildest dreams. My name is Erin Stone. I’m forty-three with a daughter away at college and a successful career as a communications officer with the 911 dispatch center for the Toronto Police Service. My life had just returned to a new normal after my divorce and everything was going along smoothly. Then BOOM! Turns out the universe had other plans for me. I dreamed of a plane crash—only it wasn’t just a dream. The crash happened in real life. Eighty-three dead. A vision, plain and simple. Not exactly. My family certainly wouldn’t understand. And me…psychic? I’d dabbled in new-age spirituality in the past but never plunged into the deep end. Now I’m in over my head. Why was I given this vision, and does it hold clues as to what caused the crash? My best friend, Trish, is convinced it does, and a handsome stranger with the National Transportation Safety Board is willing to partner with me to solve the mystery. But if I’m going to embrace the vision as telling of newfound psychic abilities, I will need to keep my paranormal gift a secret from my daughter, brother, and aunt. Little good that might do them though. Someone out there has their own secrets and is willing to go to great lengths to protect them. Now the very gift I was given has put the lives of my loved ones at risk. Will my psychic abilities be strong enough to save them? This work of paranormal women’s fiction features a strong-willed heroine in her forties with enough baggage to check some, along with a heavy dose of magic and a splash of romance. Readers love Midlife Psychic: “What a heart-pounding good story. I was totally drawn in and couldn’t put the book down.” ~ Goodreads Review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Had me on the edge of my seat with mystery, giggling with a hint of romance, and completely invested and engulfed in the storyline.” ~ Leels Loves Books, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Your attention is grabbed right from the outset, and you won’t want to stop turning the pages.” ~ The Faerie Review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A wonderful suspense-filled thriller with a little paranormal twist.” ~ Goodreads Review, ⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I did like the paranormal story line, especially the tense, wild climax.” ~ The Reading Café, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐




Translating Maternal Violence


Book Description

This book provides the first full-length, English-language investigation of the multiple and often contradictory ways in which mothers who kill their children were portrayed in 1970s Japan. It offers a snapshot of a historical and social moment when motherhood was being renegotiated, and maternal violence was disrupting norms of acceptable maternal behaviour. Drawing on a wide range of original archival materials, it explores three discursive sites where the image of the murderous mother assumed a distinctive visibility: media coverage of cases of maternal filicide; the rhetoric of a newly emerging women’s liberation movement known as ūman ribu; and fictional works by the Japanese writer Takahashi Takako. Using translation as a theoretical tool to decentre the West as the origin of (feminist) theorizations of the maternal, it enables a transnational dialogue for imagining mothers' potential for violence. This thought-provoking work will appeal to scholars of feminist theory, cultural studies and Japanese studies.




Pushing Ice


Book Description

Pushing Ice is the brilliant tale of extraordinary aliens, glittering technologies, and sweeping space opera from award-winning science fiction author Alastair Reynolds. 2057. Humanity has raised exploiting the solar system to an art form. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. And they're good at it. The Rockhopper is nearing the end of its current mission cycle, and everyone is desperate for some much-needed R & R, when startling news arrives from Saturn: Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, has inexplicably left its natural orbit and is now heading out of the solar system at high speed. As layers of camouflage fall away, it becomes clear that Janus was never a moon in the first place. It's some kind of machine -- and it is now headed toward a fuzzily glimpsed artifact 260 light-years away. The Rockhopper is the only ship anywhere near Janus, and Bella Lind is ordered to shadow it for the few vital days before it falls forever out of reach. In accepting this mission, she sets her ship and her crew on a collision course with destiny -- for Janus has more surprises in store, and not all of them are welcome.




Long Life


Book Description

"The gift of Oliver's poetry is that she communicates the beauty she finds in the world and makes it unforgettable" ( Miami Herald ). This has never been truer than in Long Life, a luminous collection of seventeen essays and ten poems. With the grace and precision that are the hallmarks of her work, Oliver shows us how writing "is a way of offering praise to the world" and suggests we see her poems as "little alleluias." Whether describing a goosefish stranded at low tide, the feeling of being baptized by the mist from a whale's blowhole, or the "connection between soul and landscape," Oliver invites readers to find themselves and their experiences at the center of her world. In Long Life she also speaks of poets and writers: Wordsworth's "whirlwind" of "beauty and strangeness"; Hawthorne's "sweet-tempered" side; and Emerson's belief that "a man's inclination, once awakened to it, would be to turn all the heavy sails of his life to a moral purpose." With consummate craftsmanship, Mary Oliver has created a breathtaking volume sure to add to her reputation as "one of our very best poets" (New York Times Book Review ).




Know Your Style


Book Description

The biggest fashion conundrum is 'what goes with what?' What kind of jewellery to wear with certain outfits, what are the best colours to coordinate, and the combinations to be avoided, what shoes to wear with different trouser styles, what's in fashion and does it really matter? And how do you maximise your looks without blowing your budget -- and your wardrobe space? Often this comes down to gut instinct but individual style can be learned. In Know Your Style, Alyson Walsh speaks to fashion experts and creative women from around the globe, to gather ideas and information and reveal how to dress with confidence and lead a stylish life. Author of the popular blog That's Not My Age and with over 30 years of experience in the fashion industry, including 10 years as fashion editor for a leading lifestyle magazine, Alyson has the answer to any fashion dilemma. Alyson explains that with a little bit of practice, any woman can be stylish. With advice on how to liven up a work wardrobe, how to match and mismatch pattern and colour, pick or mix accessories and score serious style points with flat footwear; looking good is not about buying loads of new stuff but spending time figuring out what makes you feel chic and comfortable. Beautifully illustrated, this stylish guide is for women of all ages.




Black Identities


Book Description

The story of West Indian immigrants to the United States is generally considered to be a great success. Mary Waters, however, tells a very different story. She finds that the values that gain first-generation immigrants initial success--a willingness to work hard, a lack of attention to racism, a desire for education, an incentive to save--are undermined by the realities of life and race relations in the United States. Contrary to long-held beliefs, Waters finds, those who resist Americanization are most likely to succeed economically, especially in the second generation.




Girl, Erased (An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 6)


Book Description

FBI Special Agent Ella Dark has studied serial killers from the time she could read, devastated by the murder of her own father, and has gained an encyclopedic knowledge of murderers. When doctors are found murdered in brutal ways, their bodies crammed into tubes and left on display, Ella struggles to see the connection. Has her knowledge reached its match? “A MASTERPIECE OF THRILLER AND MYSTERY. Blake Pierce did a magnificent job developing characters with a psychological side so well described that we feel inside their minds, follow their fears and cheer for their success. Full of twists, this book will keep you awake until the turn of the last page.” --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) GIRL, ERASED (An Ella Dark FBI Suspense Thriller) is book #6 in a long-anticipated new series by #1 bestseller and USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose bestseller Once Gone (a free download) has received over 1,000 five star reviews. FBI Agent Ella Dark, 29, is given her big chance to achieve her life’s dream: to join the Behavioral Crimes Unit. Ella’s hidden obsession of gaining an encyclopedic knowledge of serial killers has led to her being singled out for her brilliant mind, and invited to join the big leagues. But what is the common thread between these latest murders? And can Ella figure it out and save the next victim’s life? A page-turning and harrowing crime thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured FBI agent, the ELLA DARK series is a riveting mystery, packed with suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night. Future books in the series are also available!