Along with her mother and grandmother, Hana Keller has achieved renown serving tea and cakes with a European flair, but when a local professor is killed, she uncovers a serving of suspects instead… Hana Keller is getting ready for a lovely holiday season. When she receives a rare tea set as a birthday gift, she decides to host a tea at her apartment for her closest friends. During the cozy get-together, one of Hana's friends gets word that a murderer is on the loose. Hana soon learns that the victim was Sandor Balog, a professor of Hungarian Studies at the local college. With her growing psychic ability, Hana senses that she is going to be pulled into the investigation of the professor's death somehow. With her sexy boyfriend Erik on the case, Hana finds the Tea House steeped in suspects. She studies the smiling faces celebrating the season, but the real killer is good at hiding the truth and putting Hana in the hot seat….

Two apparently accidental deaths at the Marconi telegraph station. The drowning of a local girl. Two cases that involve Charles, Lord Sheridan, and his wife, Kate, in foreign espionage, malicious intrigue, and inexplicable messages sent out of the blue.

A story by Nobel Prize-winning writer Jose Saramago, gorgeously illustrated in woodcuts by one of Brazil's most famous artists. When a lizard appears in the neighborhood of Chiado, in Lisbon, it surprises passers-by, and mobilizes firefighters and the army. With a clear and precise style, the fable offers a multitude of senses, reaching audiences of all ages. "The Lizard" is a short story included in A Bagagem do Viajante (1973), a volume that brought together the Saramago chronicles for the newspaper A Capital and the weekly Jornal do Fundão between 1971 and 1972. Translated by Nick Caistor and Lucia Caistor, The Lizard, is an illustrated version of the chronicle by J. Borges.

Six short stories by a Japanese woman writer known for her unusual themes. In Blood and Water, a woman abandons the religious commune where she was raised, goes to the big city and finds another idol of worship, a charismatic lover. The story looks at the connection between spiritual and romantic fervor. By the author of Kitchen.

Lord Charles Sheridan and his clever American wife, Kate, have been summoned by the king to clear the name of a prince who's been living secretly at Glamis under an assumed name, while keeping his true identity secret.

Kate Adrleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not--outspoken, free-thinking, American...and a writer of the frowned upon "penny-dreadfuls." Soon after her arrival in Essex, England, a body is unearthed in a nearby archeological dig--and Kate has the chance to not only research her latest story...but to begin her first case with amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan.

Coronation Day, 1902. Charles and Kate Sheridan are pleased to be at the crowning of their king. But when an anarchist accidentally blows himself up with a bomb meant for their monarch, Charles and Kate turn up a number of intriguing--and disturbing--questions. For example, what is mysterious, beautiful Charlotte Conway--editor of the anarchist newspaper where the dead man was employed--doing in the arms of expatriate author Jack London?

Lizards of the World is ultimate book on these fascinating creatures, featuring the all the different types of lizard worldwide. As survivors from the time of the dinosaurs, lizards are scaly, cold-blooded, living fossils—relics from a prehistoric world that remain alive and well in ours. Lizards exert a morbid fascination, in many mythologies they are dark creatures, symbolizing death and misfortune. From chameleons and skinks to geckos and iguanas, Lizards of the World brings these creatures firmly into the light, to reveal their extraordinary diversity Found in almost every type of terrain globally, there are almost 6,500 species of lizard, including lizards with frills, horns, or wings, those that drop their tails, and others that squirt blood from their eyes. Here, the lizard family and subfamily profiles, organized phylogenetically, are illustrated with stunning photography. Each profile includes a population distribution map, a table of essential information, and a fascinating commentary revealing notable characteristics, fresh scientific understanding, and the diversity of species. Written by world-renowned herpetologist Mark O’Shea, Lizards of the World is a magnificent showcase of the natural history and beauty of these remarkable reptiles.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN LIBERATING HUMAN SLAVES IS AGAINST THE LAW? In this prequel to the highly regarded science-fiction novel, The Survivors, Colonel Kendrick Landry and Major Will Adams return as the crew of the starcraft Aurora travels to Alpha Centauri B-III and learns that the descendants of the crew of The Green Horizon, Earths first interstellar starcraft, are living in centuries-old enslavement to a lizard-like race. The lizards manage the humans with the help of renegade effete and decadent human council members that the author describes as wearing flowing robes reminiscent of ancient Roman emperors. The First Intergalactic Alliance does not permit liberation of the human slaves because the planet is not a member of the Alliance and subject to Alliance law. Alliance law, however, would sanction the Auroras defenseincluding even offensive action against the lizard government, permitting its overthrow by human resistance fighters on the planetbut only if the lizard government has first attacked the Aurora. Without knowledge or consent of Colonel Landry, Major Adams devises a scheme to provoke such an attack by the lizard command. The lizards attack the Aurora, in orbit around the planet, with devastating force. Now, the crew of the Aurora will be fortunate to ensure their own survival, let alone assist in the liberation of the lizards human slaves! The events of Lizards Lair occur one solar year earlier than the central story of The Survivors and sets out in full narrative detail the plot of a story briefly summarized early in The Survivors. For those readers who might not take immediate notice, this dandy novel is not just about alien lizards! It is a modern satire on governmentoverreaching and institutionalized slavery, and is a highly relevant moral parable of our time. FROM A JULY 2008 PRESS RELEASE TO THE SACRAMENTO BEE: Lizards Lair is written in the paradigm form of a science-fiction novella--defined to have a word count of between 17,500 and 40,000 by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for Science Fiction. This novella is an original dandy thriller and proves that indeed good things can come in small packages. A worthy complement to Derek Laurens already getting noticed premier science-fiction novel, The Survivors.

"Ryder again takes readers' imaginations into the body of another species....A boy awakens and, touched by the sun, changes into a green anole....With its precise, poetic language and well-composed illustrations, this is another successful picture book in a consciousness-expanding series."--Booklist.