Tourists exult in Bahia, Brazil, as a tropical paradise infused with the black population's one-of-a-kind vitality. But the alluring images of smiling black faces and dancing black bodies masks an ugly reality of anti-black authoritarian violence. Christen A. Smith argues that the dialectic of glorified representations of black bodies and subsequent state repression reinforces Brazil's racially hierarchal society. Interpreting the violence as both institutional and performative, Smith follows a grassroots movement and social protest theater troupe in their campaigns against racial violence. As Smith reveals, economies of black pain and suffering form the backdrop for the staged, scripted, and choreographed afro-paradise that dazzles visitors. The work of grassroots organizers exposes this relationship, exploding illusions and asking unwelcome questions about the impact of state violence performed against the still-marginalized mass of Afro-Brazilians. Based on years of field work, Afro-Paradise is a passionate account of a long-overlooked struggle for life and dignity in contemporary Brazil.

Horse shows aren’t all fun and glamour. They also require long grueling hours of work. While unloading a trailer after a jam-packed show weekend, amateur sleuth Spencer Reed discovers a stowaway child. Frightened. Mute. Who is the stowaway and why was the child hiding in the Rocking Bear’s horse trailer? At home, her grandfather’s new caregiver gives Spencer the creeps. There’s just something about him that doesn’t jibe. Unfortunately he seems to have found a way to ease her grandfather’s constant pain, so she says nothing. Spencer can’t resist a good mystery, especially when a child needs her help. But when she digs for answers she finds herself in the middle of more than she bargains for. The answers she finds could end up costing Spencer and her grandfather their lives. Book Two in the Spencer Reed Mystery series. A female amateur sleuth cozy mystery.

When powerful technology veiled by the mists of time suddenly reappears, people begin to die. Forced to depart the Malapar, runaway clone Amelia Blueheart hopes to make Theopoline her new home. The city offers much that she finds attractive, but in less than a day she finds herself drawn into the heart of a dangerous situation. People are disappearing from their homes during the night and never seen again. Who were the Four Angels? What did they leave behind? Can Amelia solve the mystery and save the people of Theopoline before more lives are lost? Four Angels delivers another exciting tale in the ongoing saga of runaway clone Amelia Blueheart.

When Bobbie meets Mel he's fourteen, shooting speed, eating pills, and surviving by robbing vending machines, petty burglaries, and stealing car stereos. Mel knows things, like how to crack a safe, and he teaches Bobbie not only how to survive but how to actually thrive.

After three months hiding aboard The Malapar, Amelia Blueheart wants to feel useful again. A garbled distress call from a nearby planet provides the distraction she needs. Trap or legit? Finding out means traveling to the inhospitable planet’s surface. The civilization on Hyppos II reaches back many millennia, but little is known about this particular branch of Greffids, a fierce species with short fuses. Four large guards greet Amelia and her two companions at the walled city gate and escort them deep into the heart of the stone city. Limited by the supply of oxygen in their breathers, they need to find and hopefully help fix the Greffid’s problem as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the Greffids are not cooperating. Will the crew of The Malapar survive the rat’s nest of treachery and deceit within the walls of the Stone City? Book 2 in the Blueheart sci-fi adventure series.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • From the widely acclaimed, bestselling author of American War—a beautifully written, unrelentingly dramatic, and profoundly moving novel that looks at the global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child. "Told from the point of view of two children, on the ground and at sea, the story so astutely unpacks the us-versus-them dynamics of our divided world that it deserves to be an instant classic." —The New York Times Book Review More bodies have washed up on the shores of a small island. Another overfilled, ill-equipped, dilapidated ship has sunk under the weight of its too many passengers: Syrians, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, all of them desperate to escape untenable lives back in their homelands. But miraculously, someone has survived the passage: nine-year-old Amir, a Syrian boy who is soon rescued by Vänna. Vänna is a teenage girl, who, despite being native to the island, experiences her own sense of homelessness in a place and among people she has come to disdain. And though Vänna and Amir are complete strangers, though they don’t speak a common language, Vänna is determined to do whatever it takes to save the boy. In alternating chapters, we learn about Amir’s life and how he came to be on the boat, and we follow him and the girl as they make their way toward safety. What Strange Paradise is the story of two children finding their way through a hostile world. But it is also a story of empathy and indifference, of hope and despair—and about the way each of those things can blind us to reality.

Based on the hit TV series, a murder at exclusive spa resort leaves a small circle of suspects for the British detective inspector on the case. DI Richard Poole has been seconded from London to the beautiful Caribbean island of Saint Marie. More comfortable in woolen suits than short-sleeved shirts, he’s struggling to adapt to his new home. But this paradise is about to get deadly. When self-appointed guru Aslan Kennedy gets murdered in his spiritual retreat for wealthy holidaymakers, it’s down to DI Poole to find the killer. The murder took place in a locked room with five other people inside, and when someone confesses, it seems an open and shut case. But DI Poole knows the facts just don’t add up, and there is more to the mystery than meets the eye. . . . The first installment of the Death in Paradise Mysteries, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Caroline Graham. “I love Robert Thorogood’s writing.” —Peter James, international bestselling author of Picture You Dead

When first published, A Cold Day in Paradise won both the Edgar and Shamus awards for Best First Novel, launching Steve Hamilton into the top ranks of today's crime writers. Now, see for yourself why this extraordinary novel has galvanized the literary and mystery community as no other book before it.... Other than the bullet lodged near his heart, former Detroit cop Alex McKnight thought he had put the nightmare of his partner's death and his own near-fatal injury behind him. After all, the man convicted of the crimes has been locked away for years. But in the small town of Paradise, Michigan, where McKnight has traded his badge for a cabin in the woods, a murderer with the same unmistakable trademarks appears to be back. McKnight can't understand who else would know the intimate details of the old murders. And it seems like it'll be a frozen day in Hell before McKnight can unravel truth from deception in a town that's anything but Paradise.