Too Bright for Murder


Book Description

When Ruth Finlay accompanies her neighbour Doris Cleaver and the Mahjong club on a long weekend in the picturesque town of Bright, she’s hoping for a relaxing time researching the town for a feature article. Instead, the death of one of the tour party catapults her into an investigation she could surely do without. Who killed Burt Braithwaite and why? Surely not one of the ladies of the Mahjong club? With too many suspects, only one small clue and few leads to follow up on, Ruth grows desperate to find answers. Her desperation grows as she finds herself under suspicion for the murder. When Ruth discovers that a second death connected to the holiday home took place five years before, she is determined to discover a link. And to make things even more complicated, her neighbour and sidekick Doris disappears at the local farmer’s market. A delightful Australian cozy mystery filled with quirky characters and unexpected twists, TOO BRIGHT FOR MURDER is the second book in Isobel Blackthorn's Ruth Finlay Mysteries.




Murder at Mallowan Hall


Book Description

As head of household for none other than Agatha Christie, Phyllida Bright finds her position includes polishing silver, serving luncheons…and drawing inspiration from the crime author’s fictional detectives when mysterious deaths at Mallowan Hall baffle her famous employer… Tucked away among Devon’s rolling green hills, Mallowan Hall combines the best of English tradition with the modern conveniences of 1930. Housekeeper Phyllida Bright manages the large household with an iron fist in her very elegant glove. In one respect, however, Mallowan Hall stands far apart from other picturesque country houses. For the manor is home to archaeologist Max Mallowan and his famous wife—Agatha Christie… Phyllida is both loyal to and protective of the crime writer, who is as much friend as employer. An aficionado of detective fiction, Phyllida has yet to find a gentleman in real life half as fascinating as Mrs. Agatha’s Belgian hero, Hercule Poirot. But though accustomed to murder and its methods as frequent topics of conversation, Phyllida is unprepared for the sight of a very real, very dead body on the library floor… It soon becomes clear that the victim arrived at Mallowan Hall under false pretenses during a weekend party. And when another dead body is discovered—this time, one of her housemaids—Phyllida decides to follow in M. Poirot’s footsteps to determine which of the Mallowans’ guests is the killer. Now only Phyllida’s wits will prevent her own story from coming to an abrupt end…




A Very English Murder


Book Description

Move over Miss Marple, there's a new sleuth in town! Meet Eleanor Swift: distinguished adventurer, dog lover, dignified lady... daring detective? England, 1920. Eleanor Swift has spent the last few years travelling the world: taking tea in China, tasting alligators in Peru, escaping bandits in Persia and she has just arrived in England after a chaotic forty-five-day flight from South Africa. Chipstone is about the sleepiest town you could have the misfortune to meet. And to add to these indignities - she's now a Lady. Lady Eleanor, as she would prefer not to be known, reluctantly returns to her uncle's home, Henley Hall. Now Lord Henley is gone, she is the owner of the cold and musty manor. What's a girl to do? Well, befriend the household dog, Gladstone, for a start, and head straight out for a walk in the English countryside, even though a storm is brewing... But then, from the edge of a quarry, through the driving rain, Eleanor is shocked to see a man shot and killed in the distance. Before she can climb down to the spot, the villain is gone and the body has vanished. With no victim and the local police convinced she's stirring up trouble, Eleanor vows to solve this affair by herself. And when her brakes are mysteriously cut, one thing seems sure: someone in this quiet country town has Lady Eleanor Swift in their murderous sights... If you enjoy witty dialogue, glamorous intrigue and the very best of Golden Age mysteries, then you will adore Verity Bright's unputdownable whodunnit, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Downton Abbey!




A Lite Too Bright


Book Description

For fans of literary classics such as The Catcher in the Rye and The Perks of Being a Wallflower comes a stirring new thought-provoking novel from debut author Sam Miller about a loss shrouded in mystery with twists and turns down every railway. Arthur Louis Pullman the Third is on the verge of a breakdown. He’s been stripped of his college scholarship, is losing his grip on reality, and has been sent away to live with his aunt and uncle. It’s there that Arthur discovers a journal written by his grandfather, the first Arthur Louis Pullman, an iconic Salinger-esque author who went missing the last week of his life and died hundreds of miles away from their family home. What happened in that week—and how much his actions were influenced by his Alzheimer’s—remains a mystery. But now Arthur has his grandfather’s journal—and a final sentence containing a train route and a destination. So Arthur embarks on a cross-country train ride to relive his grandfather’s last week, guided only by the clues left behind in the dementia-fueled journal. As Arthur gets closer to uncovering a sad and terrible truth, his journey is complicated by a shaky alliance with a girl who has secrets of her own and by escalating run-ins with a dangerous Pullman fan base. Arthur’s not the only one chasing a legacy—and some feel there is no cost too high for the truth.




A Bright and Guilty Place


Book Description

Best Book of the Year The Los Angeles Times • The Washington Post Los Angeles was the fastest growing city in the world, mad with oil fever, get-rich-quick schemes, and celebrity scandals. It was also rife with organized crime, with a mayor in the pocket of the syndicates and a DA taking bribes to throw trials. In A Bright and Guilty Place, Richard Rayner narrates the entwined lives of two men, Dave Clark and Leslie White, who were caught up in the crimes, murders, and swindles of the day. Over a few transformative years, as the boom times shaded into the Depression, the adventures of Clark and White would inspire pulp fiction and replace L.A.’s reckless optimism with a new cynicism. Together, theirs is the tale of how the city of sunshine went noir.




A Light Too Bright


Book Description

Questioning the very legitimacy of Western liberalism and the modern secular civilization it has given rise to, Dr. Gregorios critically examines the values of the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the corporate drive of European peoples by which they have dominated the external world. He shows that both Capitalism and Marxism, as well as Modern Science and Technology are creations of the same spirit, he argues. The powerful light of Critical Rationality emitted by the European Enlightenment is like the light of the sun. It is bright and helpful for seeing this world in detail, but too bright to let us see the night sky and the vast expanses of the universe. This "light too bright" eclipses the Transcendent. Dr. Gregorios invites us to appropriate the other Enlightenment of the overall-religious-cultural outlook in a new way and to relate it to the valid insights of the European Enlightenment.




The Interpretation of Murder


Book Description

International Bestseller #1 U.K. Bestseller The Wall Street Journal Bestseller Los Angeles Times Bestseller In the summer of 1909, Sigmund Freud arrived by steamship in New York Harbor for a short visit to America. Though he would live another thirty years, he would never return to this country. Little is known about the week he spent in Manhattan, and Freud's biographers have long speculated as to why, in his later years, he referred to Americans as "savages" and "criminals." In The Interpretation of Murder, Jed Rubenfeld weaves the facts of Freud's visit into a riveting, atmospheric story of corruption and murder set all over turn-of-the-century New York. Drawing on case histories, Shakespeare's Hamlet, and the historical details of a city on the brink of modernity, The Interpretation of Murder introduces a brilliant new storyteller, a novelist who, in the words of The New York Times, "will be no ordinary pop-cultural sensation."




Murder Unleashed


Book Description

The next scintillating novel in this acclaimed author’s delightful series featuring doggedly determined canine sleuths and their intrepid human companions. Settling into ranch life with her wire-haired dachshund, Baxter, former Wall Street trader Mags Rogers doesn’t miss the world of investment banking—because its destructive tentacles have reached Reno, Nevada, where desperate families are squatting in foreclosed homes without water or electricity. Mags and her gregarious great-aunt Jeep Reed want to help, but they’re up against corrupt officials, ruthless politicians—and a merciless murderer. After a former banker is brutally slain, Reno deputy—and Mags’s unofficial significant other—Pete Meadows finds evidence of blackmail, shady real estate ventures, and other cutthroat business practices, but the killer seems to hold all the cards. Luckily, Mags and Jeep still have a few tricks up their sleeves: Baxter; Jeep’s German Shepherd, King; and some other canine detectives are officially off the leash—and on the hunt. “Captivating . . . [Rita Mae Brown] is adept at fashioning a clever and relevant plot and filling it with amiable people—and animals. Murder Unleashed is no exception.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch “From murder to loveable canines, this book has it all.”—Suspense Magazine “A great mystery [with] quirky and incredibly interesting characters.”—Examiner.com




Bright Young Dead


Book Description

"True and glorious indulgence. A dazzling example of a golden age mystery." —Daisy Goodwin, author of Victoria and The American Heiress on The Mitford Murders Set amid the legendary Mitford household, Bright Young Dead is the second in the thrilling, Golden Age-style Mitford Murders series by Jessica Fellowes, author of the New York Times bestselling Downton Abbey books. Meet the Bright Young Things, the rabble-rousing hedonists of the 1920s whose treasure hunts were a media obsession. One such game takes place at the 18th birthday party of Pamela Mitford, but ends in tragedy as cruel, charismatic Adrian Curtis is pushed to his death from the church neighbouring the Mitford home. The police quickly identify the killer as a maid, Dulcie. But Louisa Cannon, chaperone to the Mitford girls and a former criminal herself, believes Dulcie to be innocent, and sets out to clear the girl's name . . . all while the real killer may only be steps away.




Bright's Kill


Book Description

When racehorse trainer Delbert "Shorty" Rogers is found dead in a stall at Caledonia Downs, Homicide Detective Campbell Young is drawn into the investigation. Add to the mix a lottery winner, an Internet mogul, a reclusive land baron, his voluptuous helpmate and twin bodyguards, an eccentric environmentalist, a cast of backstretch characters reminiscent of Damon Runyon, and the murder of a thoroughbred racehorse named Download, and the scene is set. The possibility that the deaths of Rogers and Download are unrelated makes Young's task even more difficult. With the assistance of washed-up racetrack journalist Priam Harvey, Young sets out to solve the mysteries and bring the guilty to justice.