Having had his retirement snatched from him by malfunctioning technology, Peter 'Mad Max' Maxwell finds himself facing yet another year at Leighford High School. Jacquie's hopes of a dedicated house husband are dashed and she is annoyed further when a family holiday becomes an impromptu school trip, families welcome. Less than a week into their trip to the Isle of Wight the situation takes another turn for the worse when the wife of Tom Medlicott, the new Head of Art, goes missing, forcing Jacquie to play the role of woman policeman. Back in Hampshire, when Medlicott himself is found dead at the bottom of the stairs Henry Hall is also drawn into the investigation, but with the man's entire family lying at the bottom of the morgue, his suspect list is non-existent. Then Maxwell stumbles by accident on the linchpin to the whole case. He knows the reason, all he has to find is the murderer. And to find him - or her - he will have to cross more than the Solent. With the answer lying in a missing piece of paper, divorces and deceit, will Maxwell survive to apply for retirement again?

For the first time ever, a survivor tells the shocking inside story of her time trapped in Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking ring. Sarah Ransome moved to New York at the age of 22 with hopes for a better life, an education, and a career in fashion. Her dreams were destroyed almost overnight when she met Jeffrey Epstein and was invited to an island paradise disguising her personal hell. “By sharing my testimony…I hope to see both minds and laws changed. More than anything, I want to encourage a culture in which women, even if they haven’t led the perfect lives, even if they’re not proud of every one of their choices, still feel the right to stand in their truth.” This story is her day in court.

The Book Washington Doesn't Want You to Read: Book 4 in the "Epstein Series" Her friends--powerful. Her victims--helpless. How did Ghislaine Maxwell, born into a life of luxury, fall so far? This is the question everyone is asking. GHISLAINE MAXWELL: AN UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY Ghislaine Maxwell is the daughter of Robert Maxwell, media baron, fraudster and spy. After her father mysteriously drowned at sea in 1991 she turned to another man: Jeffrey Epstein. Ghislaine went from high society to being accused of sex trafficking. Jeffrey Epstein is now dead having committed suicide in jail. Meanwhile Ghislaine awaits her trial and sits in a New York City prison for charges that include enticing a minor to travel to engage in criminal sexual activity, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, conspiracy to commit both of those offenses, and perjury in connection with a sworn deposition. Ghislaine Maxwell was born into a life of constant luxury in a 53-room Italianate mansion known as Headington Hill Hall in Oxford, England. It was a place where her slightest wish was her command. From the time she could speak she only had to snap her fingers and a small army of servants would appear. The book covers the first half of her life--from birth to her ill-fated meeting with Jeffrey Epstein. GHISLAINE MAXWELL: AN UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY is a riveting tale of wealth, power and the price of corruption. FOREWORD BY GREG OLEAR *This is Book 4 in the "Epstein Series". Books in this series can be read independently of each other. Other books by Kirby Sommers include: 'Jeffrey Epstein: Predator, Spy' 'Jeffrey Epstein, Unsealed (co-authored with Bob Fitrakis) 'Bonnie's Clyde: The True Story of Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell' For these and other books by Kirby Sommers please visit the author's website: https://kirbysommers.com 'Reading Kirby Sommmers' books is like drinking from a fire hose. I cannot believe how deep and wide this story goes." -Katherine H.

Cats and dogs who live together on an island spend a snowy Christmas singing carols.

Who was Jeffrey Epstein? A Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist unearths never-before-reported details in the most comprehensive account yet of the disgraced financier’s life, death, and criminal web, including the role of Ghislaine Maxwell. An ID Book Club Selection • Featured in the Peacock original documentary series Epstein’s Shadow: Ghislaine Maxwell By now, the basic contours of Jeffrey Epstein’s horrendous crimes—his decades-long serial abuse of young women and underage girls—are familiar. But for all that has been written about Epstein since his shocking death in a lower Manhattan jail cell, an astonishing amount remains unknown. A shy Brooklyn kid turned renegade financier, Jeffrey Epstein never wanted to play by the rules of polite society. He was elusive in life and he has remained just as elusive in death. What is known is that he had amassed nearly $600 million by the time of his death. That fortune allowed Epstein to pursue a privileged, secretive life, jetting between his fortress-like homes in Manhattan, New Mexico, and Little St. James, his private island. Behind these closed doors, Epstein socialized with scientists and world leaders and preyed on powerless young women. In The Spider, Barry Levine shines a light into the darkest corners of Epstein’s world, including • Epstein’s young adulthood and earliest accusations of sexual misconduct • the murky sources of Epstein’s fortune and business dealings • Epstein’s circle of confidantes and employees, particularly the nature of his long relationship with socialite Ghislaine Maxwell • his ties to powerful men, including Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Les Wexner, and Donald Trump • Epstein’s last hours as a free man in Paris and the secret operation to arrest him at a New Jersey airport before he could flee • new details on Epstein’s final days in jail and the mystery surrounding his death Featuring rare and never-before-seen photographs, The Spider exposes how Epstein operated and evaded justice for so long—and how he drew so many others into his criminal web.

This volume weaves together the Scottish otter stories from Gavin Maxwell's three non-fiction books, Ring of Bright Water (1960), The Rocks Remain (1963), and Raven Meet Thy Brother (1969). Maxwell was both an extraordinarily evocative writer and a highly unusual man. While touring the Iraqi marshes, he was captivated by an otter and became a devoted advocate of and spokesman for the species. He moved to a remote house in the Scottish highlands, co-habiting there with three otters and living an idyllic and isolated life – at least for a while. Fate, fame, and fire conspired against this paradise, and it, too, came to an end, though the journey was filled with incident and wonder. Maxwell was also talented as an artist, and his sinuous line drawings of these amphibious and engaging creatures, and the homes they occupied, illustrate his story. This book stands as a lasting tribute to a man, his work, and his passion. It was received and has endured as a classic for its portrait not only of otters but also of a man who endured heartaches and disappointments, whose life embodied both greatness and tragedy. He writes with rare eloquence about his birth, his devotion to the beloved Scottish highlands, and the wildlife he loved, while refusing to ignore the darker aspects of his nature and of nature in its larger sense.

The son of a famous writer is caught in a cat-and-mouse game with his late father’s protégé in this “heady postmodern thriller” (Publishers Weekly). Thomas Quinn is having a hard time. A failed novelist, he’s stuck writing short stories and audio scripts for other people’s characters. His wife, Imogen, is working on a remote island halfway around the world, and talking to her over the webcam isn’t the same. The bills are piling up, the dirty dishes are stacking in the sink, and the whole world seems to be hurtling towards entropic collapse. Then he gets a voicemail from his father, who has been dead for seven years. Thomas’s relationship with Stanley Quinn—a world-famous writer and erstwhile absent father—was always shaky, not least because Stanley always seemed to prefer his enigmatic assistant and protégé Andrew Black to his own son. Yet after Black published his first book, Cupid’s Engine, which went on to sell over a million copies, he disappeared completely. Now strange things are happening to Thomas, and he can’t help but wonder if Black is tugging at the seams of his world behind the scenes. Absurdly brilliant, wildly entertaining, and utterly mind-bending, Maxwell’s Demon triumphantly excavates the ways we construct meaning in a world where chaotic collapse looms closer every day. Praise for Maxwell’s Demon Named a Most Anticipated Book by the Guardian “A wonderfully imaginative, splendidly baroque novel that is a combination of the baffling, teasing, and tantalizing. Part fantasy, part mystery, it is altogether delightful and filled with surprises—in a word, exceptional. No, make that two words; the second is fantastic.” —Booklist (starred review) “[A] phantasmagoric novel with shades of Stephen King’s The Dark Half. . . . There’s really nothing like this book—long contemplations of philosophy, personality, religion, and history are all woven into something of a mystery in which no one is truly reliable. With influences that recall Fight Club and Motherless Brooklyn, Hall manages to put a whole world on the page that shifts and changes as weirdly and wildly as the ones in the novel’s fictional books. The modern novel’s version of a Möbius strip, written with verve and a vast appreciation for the power of language.” —Kirkus Reviews “A postmodern literary thriller about a difficult second novel. . . . Anyone who has a taste for postmodern hijinks—fans of Thomas Pynchon or Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves—will be drawn to the menace and profusion, the game-like brilliance and black hilarity of Maxwell’s Demon.” —Australian

A grisly discovery fished out of the River Thames marks the start of an intriguing new case for private detectives Grand & Batchelor. September, 1873. Private enquiry agents Matthew Grand and James Batchelor have been hired by timber merchant Selwyn Byng following the disappearance of his heiress wife. The only clue they have to go on is a badly spelled note demanding the princely sum of £5,000 if Byng is ever to see Emilia again. As the two investigators assess whether Byng has been telling them the whole truth, a second package brings an extremely unwelcome surprise. At the same time, a human torso is found floating in the River Thames. Could there be a connection to Emilia Byng’s disappearance ... ?

Enquiry agents Grand & Batchelor are called upon to investigate the suspicious death of Charles Dickens in this “arch and witty” Victorian mystery novel (Publishers Weekly). June, 1870. The world-famous author Charles Dickens has been found dead in his summer house where he had been hard at work on his final, unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Did he die of natural causes or is there something more sinister behind his sudden demise? George Sala, Dickens’ biographer, is convinced his friend was murdered—and he has hired Matthew Grand and James Batchelor to prove it. The investigative team find themselves chasing a plot as intricate as the fictions penned by the deceased. And questions quickly mount: Did the celebrated author’s unconventional private life lead to his death? Who is the mysterious woman who appears at his funeral? And most urgently, can they bring an end to the mystery before it brings an end to them? “Good fun, gentle humor, historic detail, plenty of twists, and a likable pair of heroes make this a book well worth reading.” —Booklist “A plunge into the delightfully cutthroat publishing scene of Victorian London, where all loudly mourn Dickens while privately saying that the unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood definitely wasn’t his best.” —Publishers Weekly