City of Saints & Thieves


Book Description

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Gone Girl in this enthralling murder mystery set in Kenya. In the shadows of Sangui City, there lives a girl who doesn't exist. After fleeing the Congo as refugees, Tina and her mother arrived in Kenya looking for the chance to build a new life and home. Her mother quickly found work as a maid for a prominent family, headed by Roland Greyhill, one of the city’s most respected business leaders. But Tina soon learns that the Greyhill fortune was made from a life of corruption and crime. So when her mother is found shot to death in Mr. Greyhill's personal study, she knows exactly who’s behind it. With revenge always on her mind, Tina spends the next four years surviving on the streets alone, working as a master thief for the Goondas, Sangui City’s local gang. It’s a job for the Goondas that finally brings Tina back to the Greyhill estate, giving her the chance for vengeance she’s been waiting for. But as soon as she steps inside the lavish home, she’s overtaken by the pain of old wounds and the pull of past friendships, setting into motion a dangerous cascade of events that could, at any moment, cost Tina her life. But finally uncovering the incredible truth about who killed her mother—and why—keeps her holding on in this fast-paced nail-biting thriller.




The Saint of Thieves


Book Description

St. Nicholas Salvage & Wrecking, a largely illegal bounty hunting operation, tracks down the worst of the worst criminals as they operate under the radar for the presiding judge of the International Criminal Court. In this action-packed international thriller, will the hunters become the hunted? Michael Finnegan might be off the NYPD but he’s still a by-the-book kind of guy. By contrast, Katalin Fiero Dahar—ex-soldier and assassin extraordinaire—makes her own rules. Yet their partnership works magnificently. St. Nicholas Salvage & Wrecking—their high-flying international bounty-hunting business—has nabbed some of the world’s most sought-after and heinous criminals. When Michael gets a panicked call that Sally Blue is in trouble, he and Katalin head to Rome to help. Sally’s a friend, and her outfit of thieves, the Black Harts, had proved themselves invaluable to St. Nicholas on numerous ops in the past. During a daring rescue in a shadowy Roman plaza, Michael recognizes Bobby McCool, a stone-cold killer, aider and abettor of a notorious drug lord. McCool was also once the partner of Michael’s disgraced father, police detective Patrick Finnegan, now under house arrest in New York. Nabbing McCool would not only make the world a safer place, it might help Patrick Finnegan’s legal woes. Saving Sally gets more complicated by the minute, for she’s set her larcenous sights on astronomically valuable goods. The stakes are high, but the crew from St. Nicholas aims higher: seeking justice for these murderous criminals and their genocidal leader. Taking a fast-paced, twisty tour down Europe’s most luxurious streets and terrifying back alleys, The Saint of Thieves delivers nonstop action with stylish wit and razor-sharp smarts.




The Patron Thief of Bread


Book Description

A beautifully crafted middle-grade novel spiced with magic--and gargoyles!--from the acclaimed author of Hour of the Bees and Race to the Bottom of the Sea. Fished from the river as an infant and raised by a roving band of street urchins who call themselves the Crowns, eight-year-old Duck keeps her head down and her mouth shut. It's a rollicking life, always thieving, always on the run--until the ragtag Crowns infiltrate an abandoned cathedral in the city of Odierne and decide to set down roots. It's all part of the bold new plan hatched by the Crowns' fearless leader, Gnat: one of their very own will pose as an apprentice to the local baker, relieving Master Griselde of bread and coin to fill the bellies and line the pockets of all the Crowns. But no sooner is Duck apprenticed to the kindly Griselde than Duck's allegiances start to blur. Who is she really--a Crown or an apprentice baker? And who does she want to be? Meanwhile, high above the streets of Odierne, on the roof of the unfinished cathedral, an old and ugly gargoyle grows weary of waiting to fulfill his own destiny--to watch and protect. Told in alternating viewpoints, this exquisite novel evokes a timeless tale of love, self-discovery, and what it means to be rescued.




The Saint Who Would Be Santa Claus


Book Description

The real story of Santa-and why he became a Saint




The Shadow Saint


Book Description

Thieves, dangerous magic, and a weapon built with the power to destroy a god clash in this second novel of Gareth Hanrahan's acclaimed epic fantasy series, The Black Iron Legacy. "This is genre-defying fantasy at its very best... Insanely inventive and deeply twisted" (Michael R. Fletcher). Enter a city of spires and shadows . . . The Gutter Miracle changed the landscape of Guerdon forever. Six months after it was conjured into being, the labyrinthine New City has become a haven for criminals and refugees. Rumors have spread of a devastating new weapon buried beneath the streets - a weapon with the power to destroy a god. As Guerdon strives to remain neutral, two of the most powerful factions in the godswar send agents into the city to find it. As tensions escalate and armies gather at the borders, how long will Guerdon be able to keep its enemies at bay? "A groundbreaking and extraordinary novel . . . Hanrahan has an astonishing imagination" (Peter McLean). The Shadow Saint continues the gripping tale of dark gods and dangerous magic that began with Hanrahan's acclaimed debut The Gutter Prayer.




Saints Behaving Badly


Book Description

Takes a close-up look at thirty-two holy men and women who took a less than saintly path on their road to sainthood, profiling St. Olga, St. Mary of Egypt, Thomas … Becket, and other sinners-turned-saint. 20,000 first printing.




Rules for Thieves


Book Description

Twelve-year-old Alli Rosco escapes her orphanage only to be hit with a deadly curse by a magic-wielding, law-enforcing Protector, and with nowhere else to turn and days to live, learns to steal from a street thief named Beck and follows him back to the legendary Thieves Guild, where she hopes to find a home and the means to save herself.




St. Nicholas Salvage & Wrecking


Book Description

Michael Patrick Finnigan was a New York City cop and a US Marshal who figured out that following the rules doesn’t always get the job done. Katalin Fiero Dahar was a soldier, spy, and assassin for Spain, who figured out that breaking the rules doesn’t always get the job done. Together, they created St. Nicholas Salvage & Wrecking, a largely illegal bounty hunting operation based in Cyprus and working throughout Europe. Operating under the radar for the presiding judge of the International Criminal Court, they track down the worst of the world’s worst. Someone is kidnapping Middle Eastern refugee children as they flee war-torn countries and selling them into prostitution around the world. Finnigan and Fiero get the assignment to track them down and save the refugees. But when they discover that the perpetrators are a Serbian mobster—with patronage at the highest levels of the United Nations—and a battalion of the Kosovo military, the partners reach out to their “friends” to find justice, including a corrupt banker, a cadre of mercenaries, and a crew of professional thieves. The battle to stop the mass kidnappings ranges from Belgrade and Zagreb, to the Loire Valley and Milan, and to the plains of Kosovo. As Finnigan and Fiero close in, the conspirators realize that the judge of the ICC is the real threat and plan an assassination. Now the partners have to save their patron and the kidnapped refugees from a rogue military force with nothing left to lose.




Sirocco


Book Description

A serial bomber is wreaking havoc throughout Europe. Former New York City cop Michael Finnigan and former Spanish assassin Katalin Fiero—the brains behind St. Nicholas Salvage & Wrecking, a covert bounty-hunting operation based in Cyprus—may be the only ones who can stop the carnage. The partners have a reputation for tracking down the worst of the worst in international crime, all while staying firmly under the radar. But as they draw ever closer to the bombers, and as the terrorism sweeps up Katalin’s own family, Finnigan and Fiero have to decide if they can continue to operate in the shadows. As the partners learn who they can—and can’t—trust, they come face-to-face with shocking secrets at the highest echelons of the world’s intelligence communities. Nonstop action and whip-smart dialogue power this compelling thriller to its final, heart-stopping conclusion.




Devoted to Death


Book Description

R. Andrew Chesnut offers a fascinating portrayal of Santa Muerte, a skeleton saint whose cult has attracted millions of devotees over the past decade. Although condemned by mainstream churches, this folk saint's supernatural powers appeal to millions of Latin Americans and immigrants in the U.S. Devotees believe the Bony Lady (as she is affectionately called) to be the fastest and most effective miracle worker, and as such, her statuettes and paraphernalia now outsell those of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Saint Jude, two other giants of Mexican religiosity. In particular, Chesnut shows Santa Muerte has become the patron saint of drug traffickers, playing an important role as protector of peddlers of crystal meth and marijuana; DEA agents and Mexican police often find her altars in the safe houses of drug smugglers. Yet Saint Death plays other important roles: she is a supernatural healer, love doctor, money-maker, lawyer, and angel of death. She has become without doubt one of the most popular and powerful saints on both the Mexican and American religious landscapes.