From an author described by Kirkus as “lively, surprising” comes Five O’Clock Shadow with its puzzler of a plot tied to colorful New Mexico. As the great balloon bearing the image of a clock swoops across the River Grande, Pauly Caton watches her husband of four days fall from the sky. Who is the naked child who scrambles from the gondola when it strikes a sandbar and flees? Did she just imagine it? Why would he have been up with Randy and the pilot on the honeymoon ride she was too chicken to join? Who, in fact, was meant to die? And meant to die it was — her hastily snapped photos of the scene show a masked sharpshooter stationed high up in a tree. As Pauly tries to put her shattered life together, she discovers the lies. The first in the morgue. How else had Randy deceived her? Had he told her anything that was the truth? Were his partners in their get-rich company any more honest? Pauly knows she hadn’t signed any of the documents the lawyer presents to her. Maybe she’ll insist on becoming an active partner. Pauly’s flamboyant Grams, the much-married carnival queen, offers her only grandchild a place to recover, a retreat on Albuquerque’s west side that’s home to fifty odd folks complete with clowns, a handsome tattoo man — and the snakes. And then Pauly finds out she’s rich — money that she swears could not have been Randy’s. Where did he get it? Who was the son he apparently adopted? A trip to El Paso uncovers more mysterious acts and points her towards the truth. But will she live long enough to find it? Susan Slater reveals the same sharp offbeat plotting skills, the zest for language, and colorful scenes that marked her caper Flash Flood where “troubles buildlike thunderheads over New Mexico skies.” [Publishers Weekly]

Terrific. --Jane Heller

When her campaign for City Council takes a deadly turn, Jessie Adams, an indie-rock DJ and musician with a penchant for bad boys, finds herself under the protection of detective Chuck Jackson who holds her life--and her heart--in his hands.

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER "Transformative ... If Tobia aspires to the ranks of comic memoirists like David Sedaris and Mindy Kaling, Sissy succeeds." --The New York Times Book Review A heart-wrenching, eye-opening, and giggle-inducing memoir about what it's like to grow up not sure if you're (a) a boy, (b) a girl, (c) something in between, or (d) all of the above. "A beautiful book . . . honest and funny."--Trevor Noah, The Daily Show "Sensational."--Tyler Oakley "Jacob Tobia is a force." --Good Morning America "A trans Nora Ephron . . . both honest and didactic." --OUT Magazine "A rallying cry for anyone who's ever felt like they don't belong." --Woman's Day As a young child in North Carolina, Jacob Tobia wasn't the wrong gender, they just had too much of the stuff. Barbies? Yes. Playing with bugs? Absolutely. Getting muddy? Please. Princess dresses? You betcha. Jacob wanted it all, but because they were "a boy," they were told they could only have the masculine half. Acting feminine labelled them "a sissy" and brought social isolation. It took Jacob years to discover that being "a sissy" isn't something to be ashamed of. It's a source of pride. Following Jacob through bullying and beauty contests, from Duke University to the United Nations to the podiums of the Methodist church--not to mention the parlors of the White House--this unforgettable memoir contains multitudes. A deeply personal story of trauma and healing, a powerful reflection on gender and self-acceptance, and a hilarious guidebook for wearing tacky clip-on earrings in today's world, Sissy guarantees you'll never think about gender--both other people's and your own--the same way again.

An intricate novel about how changes in family dynamic can ignite the flame of personal reawakening. Gloria Beaton is a self-made woman of substance. Defined by her trailblazing spirit, she is shunned by the new influences who have overtaken her Ontario establishment family and tainted it with dysfunctionality. Having recently ended a loveless marriage, at forty-nine, she finds herself cultivating a dual career and developing a relationship with a mesmerizing man twelve years her junior, Canadian-born Raj Mukherjee. As her family's once burgeoning business flounders, Gloria is torn by having to make a painful decision: Should she once and for all embrace her own happiness, widening the divide between her and her kin? Or should she continue to protect her family's values and traditions, sacrificing her need to be true to herself? Loyalties are tested, roles shift, and the tables inevitably turn. Facing Up to Change shines a light on how inextricably and, sometimes, painfully family, money, and love are linked.

Every man has the capacity to grow facial hair, but the decision to do so has always come with layers of meaning. Facial hair has traditionally marked a passage into manhood, but its manifestations have been determined by class, religion, history and occupational status. In the end, the act of displaying facial hair is still regarded as a form of ultimate cool. With wit and insight, One Thousand Beards delves into the historical, contemporary and cultural meaning of facial hair in all of its forms, complete with numerous photographs and illustrations.

An extremely dangerous prisoner stumbles across a secret that could leave him financially set for life. He escapes from a maximum security prison and flees across state lines leaving a trail of destruction in his path. He seeks obscurity in the Northern wooded area of Wisconsin, and while shrouded in the deep forested area stumbles across 15-year-old Stella Compton, whom he abducts and holds prisoner. Stella finds herself in the midst of an incomprehensible nightmare, and one she fears there is no escape from. She vows if she survives her nightmarish ordeal and is reunited with her loved ones, she will commit her life to righting the wrongs the only way she knows how. Surprisingly, her journey leads her to the one man who restores faith in her future, and who will ultimately become the center of her world. This is a story that speaks volumes about the importance of our human relationships and the animals we bond with, and how one girl achieves triumph over tragedy.

Doctor Who Short Trips is a series of themed short story anthologies of new Doctor Who fiction, featuring the Doctor in all of his first eight incarnations. They feature stories written by some of the leading names in Doctor Who, past and present, including Paul Cornell, Gareth Roberts, Christopher H. Bidmead, and Paul Magrs. "A Day in the Life" features 16 stories whose total "running time" adds up to a single 24-hour period: a fictional "day in the life of the universe," made up of fragments from throughout time and space. Given the temperamental nature of the TARDIS and the round-the-clock events that go on every single day, it's no wonder that the Doctor often arrives at his destinations at differing times. As we leave one story and join the next, we switch location and era--but not the hands on the clock.

Idioms are expressions that cannot be understood from their individual words alone, and the English language is full of them—and so is this dictionary: 4,800+ English idioms and phrases with example sentences included for you so as to understand them all. This is the essential idioms dictionary if you want to talk like a native speaker—or just find out more about the colorful phrases you hear and say every day.