Henry Rios is introduced as a troubled San Francisco public defender, burnt out and battling alcoholism. While investigating the murder of an old friend, he traces clues back to the man's own wealthy family. It is here that we first encounter Rios's disenchantment with a legal system caught between justice and corruption.

The blues were born out of pride, anger, and need. Murder comes from those same dark places. One of Memphis' most seductive and notorious socialites has disappeared. She's either off on another of her drunken escapades or the disappearance is something much more frightening. What begins as an ordinary day's work for Detective Billy Able of the Memphis P.D. quickly grows into a high-level spider's web of tragedy, mystery, suspicion, passion, and sordid secrets--including a few of Billy's own. Along with Mercy Snow, the estranged sister of the missing socialite, Billy follows a twisted path of human frailty and corruption to disturbing truths that undermine everything he thought he knew about himself and the people he loves.

Police discover a headless corpse in glamorous Palm Beach and Louis Kincaid must find the killer to save an innocent man. When the headless corpse of a young man is discovered in glamorous Palm Beach, Louis sets his sights on his most likely suspect—a prominent female U.S. Senator with a history of scandal and a known penchant for sadistic and dangerous sex. Then a second headless body turns up and the trail runs cold, allowing the real killer to slip in dangerously close, intent on making Louis’s best friend the next victim. Beautifully written yet packed with raw power, The Little Death is a suspenseful thriller of the highest order and will satisfy fans of writers such as Ed McBain, James Patterson, and Michael Connolly.

Book 1. Story outline An erotic story of a young woman; June, after finishing college, and starting her first job. At work, she meets an older man; receiving her experience of the little death, (La Petite Mort.) Her deputy manager, Tracy, is a worldly-wise woman, teaches June all about men. June attended a small evangelical church all her life, challenged by her god driven sexual desires.

Ever wondered why there is no female voice as bold, erotic, unflinching, and revealing as Norman Mailer, Henry Miller, or Philip Roth There is. It belongs to Susie Bright.In this stunning and courageous coming-of-age story, Susie Bright opens her heart and her life. From fearful Irish Catholic Girl Scout to gun-toting teenage revolutionary and finally the ''the Avatar of American Erotica''(NYTimes)Bright's life story is shaped as much by America's sexual awakening as the national sexual landscape was altered by Bright herself. In Big Sex Little Death, Bright introduces us to her influences and experiences, including her early involvement with notorious high school radicalsThe Red Tideas well as the magazine she co-founded in the 1980s, On Our Backs the first-ever erotic magazine created by women, which turned the lesbian and bisexual community upside down before it took the ''straight'' world by storm.

Ibn Arabi’s Small Death is a sweeping and inventive work of historical fiction that chronicles the life of the great Sufi master and philosopher Ibn Arabi. Known in the West as “Rumi’s teacher,” he was a poet and mystic who proclaimed that love was his religion. Born in twelfth-century Spain during the Golden Age of Islam, Ibn Arabi traveled thousands of miles from Andalusia to distant Azerbaijan, passing through Morocco, Egypt, the Hijaz, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey on a journey of discovery both physical and spiritual. Witness to the wonders and cruelties of his age, exposed to the political rule of four empires, Ibn Arabi wrote masterworks on mysticism that profoundly influenced the world. Alwan’s fictionalized first-person narrative, written from the perspective of Ibn Arabi himself, breathes vivid life into a celebrated and polarizing figure.

This little book is a repository of intriguing, fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts and trivia about the one certainty in all our lives - death. Within this volume are some horrible, unfortunate and downright ludicrous ends. Find out what body parts of the departed great and famous are still with us (and, in some cases, what they sold for). Learn of odd last requests, burials, epitaphs and death rites from around the world, as well as the strange fates of some cadavers – and a whole host of horrible tales about mummies, vampires, zombies, auto-icons and body-snatchers. Anyone brave enough to read this book will be entertained and enthralled and never short of some frivolous fact to enhance a conversation or quiz! With 50 chilling illustrations, get out of your crypt and buy it whilst you can!

'Denton's funny, self-effacing genuineness will keep readers rooting for him' Kirkus Reviews 'Full belly-laugh funny' Notes From The Underground 'Freaking hilarious' goodreads.com 'Very, very funny . . . fresh, original and an absolute joy to read' thebookbag.co.uk 'This book! Oh my god, this book is brilliant! … It's so exciting and awesome! Who has ever heard of a teen angsty, hilariously funny, fast-paced, exciting dystopian? I love it!' Once Upon a Bookcase The first of two books, Denton Little's Deathdateis an utterly gripping read - with a killer plot twist, hilarious characters, and atruly memorable voice. Imminent death has never been so funny!Denton Little's Deathdatetakes place in a world exactly like our own - except that everyone knows the day on which they will die. For Denton, that's in just two days - the day of his senior prom. Despite his early deathdate, Denton has always wanted to live a normal life - but his final days are filled with dramatic firsts. First hangover. First sex. First love triangle (the first sex seems to have happened not with his adoring girlfriend, but with his best friend's sister. Though he's not totallysure - see, first hangover). His anxiety builds when he discovers a mysterious purple rash making its way up his body. Is this what will kill him? Then a strange man shows up at his funeral, claiming to have known Denton's long-deceased mother, and warning him to beware of suspicious characters . . . Suddenly Denton's life is filled with mysterious questions and precious little time to find the answers. Debut author Lance Rubin takes us on a fast, gripping, and outrageously funny ride through the last hours of a teenager's life as he searches for love, meaning and (just maybe) a way to live on . . .

A series of traumatic accidents and losses is the starting-point for this unique memoir of a woman's journey to spiritual awakening. Confronted by her mortality, and seeking a way to accept both death and living with death, Ona Kiser presents this deep exploration of modern spiritual practices, narrated with equal measures of humor and passion. Re-visiting the lessons of her years as an initiate of Santeria, she discovers and puts to work techniques from Buddhist meditation and Western Magick, enlisting - along the way - the guidance of a maverick guru. The result is a richly detailed map of the joys and pitfalls of the quest for enlightenment. Like a modern-day St. Teresa of Avila, Ona skilfully navigates the waves of agony and ecstasy, the heights of mystical insight and visions, as well as the depths of confusion and despair, always in undaunted pursuit of her goal. "It was an end, but also a beginning, a rebirth into a new world that had always existed, hidden in plain sight."

A Fairy Tale Beginning Six-year-old beauty JonBenet Ramsey was a dream child--smart, talented and blessed. Her mother, a former Miss America contestant, had entered her in every child beauty pageant possible. Wearing lipstick, heavy makeup, and provocative costumes that cost thousands of dollars, with her hair bleached and teased, JonBenet flirtatiously paraded down runways, exuding a sophistication beyond her years. A Nightmare Ending But that dazzling future of crows and titles was brutally cut short the day after Christmas when her mother discovered a random note on the stairs of their luxurious Boulder, Colorado home. Hours later JonBenet's distraught father, millionaire businessman John Ramsey, found his beloved daughter's lifeless body, gagged and strangled in a windowless room in the basement of their million-dollar mansion. An Unspeakable Crime As detectives worked to uncover what happened Christmas night in the darkened mansion, the nation grieved for the innocent little girl whose life was cruelly snuffed out.