Michelle Williams is young and attractive, she has close family ties as well as a busy social life - but she is far from usual. She is a mortuary technician and her job involves dealing with those things in life that many people do not wish to experience directly. Yet life in the mortuary is neither gruesome nor sad. Told with good humour and common sense, we are introduced to a host of characters - the pathologists, many of them eccentric, some downright mad; the undertakers, the hospital porters and the man from the coroner's office who sings to Michelle every morning. The incidents too ensure that no two days are ever the same. From the tragic to the hilarious they include: The fitness fanatic who was run over as he did pressups in the road on a dark night The decapitated motorcyclist The guide dog who led his owner on to the railway tracks - and left him there The forty stone man for whom an entire refrigerated lorry had to be hired because he wouldn't fit in the mortuary cooler Over the course of her first year Michelle has to deal with situations and emotions that few of us will ever experience, and does so while retaining a sense of humour and a sense of perspective.

In a fort on the edge of civilization, an ancient evil has awoken Ten years after the Demon War, the wounds of the Forest Kingdom are finally beginning to heal. Deep in the Darkwood, on the border between two long-feuding territories, a fort has been erected to keep the peace. But a month ago, the soldiers inside stopped speaking to the outside world. Have they come under attack, or is something more sinister at work? Led by the adventure-hungry warrior Duncan MacNeil, a party of Rangers is sent to investigate. With a witch, a swordsman, and a powerful eight-fingered woman at his side, MacNeil steps into the deserted fort—and discovers a massacre. The gory scene suggests that the soldiers turned on one other, but the witch has an alternate theory. Beneath this newly built fort, she senses an ancient evil, a power older than the Kingdom itself, about to trap them in the dark.

Put yourself at the heart of the story... War is brewing between the kingdoms of Sidonia and Glorianne, a war waged for control of the territories of the New World. Galleons laden with gold ply the seas, and in their wake sail pirates and privateers eager for plunder. Adrift in an open boat, you make your desperate bid to escape from the sadistic Captain Skarvench. The odds are stacked against you. Even if thirst, hunger and storms don't kill you, there are still formidable dangers to overcome in crossing hundreds of miles of uncharted ocean to reach safe harbour. Yet you must make it. Because only you know Skarvench's latest and most wicked plan. You are determined to round up a crew, get yourself a ship, and set sail on a voyage of vengeance and justice. You are destined to face many perils: undead pirates, sea monsters, cursed ships, witches and ancient gods. And the greatest threat of all: the vision you have seen of your own death at the hands of your hated foe. * * * Critical IF books are interactive adventures with a difference. You can be a mutant with the power to warp reality. A buccaneer whose sword and pistol are a match for any foe. A daring rogue leaping between rooftops. A wizard who can command the elements. Be anyone you can imagine. Choose from almost five hundred different character types, each with their own unique skills. Strong stories, vivid settings and compelling characters make Critical IF the game-changers of the interactive fiction genre.

Collects Marvel Knights Spider-Man #1-4. A mysterious villain has discovered Spider-Man's secret identity...and is using the information to slowly destroy everything and everyone that Peter Parker cares about. But how far will Spider-Man go to protect the people he loves? Featuring Spider-Man's most fearsome foes and avenging allies!

A nautical mystery turns Inspector Henry Tibbett’s holiday into a working vacation—from “the author who put the ‘who’ back in whodunit” (Chicago Daily News). Poor Inspector Tibbett! Once again, he is attempting to have a nice vacation. And once again, Crime has a different idea. This time, Tibbett and his cheerful wife, Emmy, are lazing on a friend’s yacht, tacking from one little English sea-town to the next, and it should all be delicious indolence . . . except that Henry can’t stop thinking about death. Well, one death in particular. The death of a local sailor. And he especially can’t stop thinking about it when it starts looking as though the drowned sailor is somehow connected to the robbery at a nearby manor-house. As with so many of the books in this series, much of the pleasure lies in the setting’s timelessness: It’s officially 1961 for The Sunken Sailor, but in Berrybridge Haven, and on England’s peaceful waterways, it is time out of mind. Praise for Patricia Moyes “A new queen of crime . . . her name can be mentioned in the same breath as Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh.” —Daily Herald “An excellent detective novel in the best British tradition. Superbly handled.” —Columbus Dispatch “Intricate plots, ingenious murders, and skillfully drawn, often hilarious, characters distinguish Patricia Moyes’ writing.” —Mystery Scene

The Day of the Dead – El Dia de los Muertos – when Mexico celebrates its lost loved ones. But for disgraced newspaper reporter, Nick Vargas, and attorney, Beth Crawford, it is not an occasion to celebrate. Nick, now a true crime writer, is determined to find the truth behind the slaughter of nuns in a deserted house in the desert and Beth is desperate to find her younger sister, Jen, who disappeared without trace when they were on holiday in Mexico. Their quest for the truth leads them to a small town in Mexico where a mysterious and malevolent cult are known to perform sinister and deadly rituals. Danger lurks as Beth and Nick know they are being watched, and that their enemy is waiting for the right moment to strike . . .

When the necrons rise, a mining planet descends into a cauldron of war and the remorseless foes decimate the human defenders. Salvation comes in an unlikely form – the Death Korps of Kreig, a force as unfeeling as the Necrons themselves. When the two powers go to war, casualties are high and the magnitude of the destruction is unimaginable.

Gunrunner empress Hail Bristol must navigate alien politics and deadly plots to prevent an interspecies war, in this second novel in the Farian War space opera trilogy. In a surprise attack that killed many of her dearest subjects, Hail Bristol, empress of Indrana, has been captured by the Shen -- the most ruthless and fearsome aliens humanity has ever encountered. As she plots her escape, the centuries-long war between her captors and the Farians, their mortal enemies and Indrana's oldest allies, finally comes to a head. When her captors reveal a shocking vision of the future, Hail must make the unexpectedly difficult decision she's been avoiding: whether to back the Shen or the Farians. Staying neutral is no longer an option. Will Hail fight? Or will she fall? Praise for the Farian War trilogy: 'An exciting dose of space opera and political intrigue peppered with hard choices. Highly recommended.' Booklist 'Action and emotion-packed, folding political tension, personal relationships, and trauma into a vivid space opera that does not pull any punches.' Library Journal 'A rare balance of action . . . tension, and quiet moments, keeping pages turning while deepening the portraits of Hail and the friends and foes around her.' Publishers Weekly 'Perfectly executed . . . Science fiction with brains, and a buckload of heart.' The Eloquent Page

Who but Professor Bernice Summerfield, interstellar archaeologist, raconteur, boozer and wit, would get other people to write her autobiography albeit under threat of death from two bounty hunters sent by a publisher far too concerned about little things like deadlines? These stories are an ideal introduction to the life of Bernice Summerfield—falling off cliffs, getting sacrificed to orange pygmies, saving the universe, and trying to buy a new outfit.

Originally published in hardcover in 2008.