For My Children And Grandchildren This book is dedicated to my wonderful children and grandchildren, and of course to any new and special additions that may still come our way. I hope through these stories, my grandchildren will be able to share in the magic of their parents childhood, in the same way that their parents are now sharing in theirs. And in the most special way, it is dedicated to Sammy and Bumpers. Two incredible little squirrels that made the stories in this book come to life. It was the magical adventures that Scooter and Buzzy Bear had with Sammy and Bumpers that made these stories possible. I was lucky enough to have witnessed all that follows.

The “Hollywood” where Sammy Santos and Juliana Ríos live is not the West Coast one, the one with all the glitz and glitter. This Hollywood is a tough barrio at the edge of a small town in southern New Mexico. Sammy and this friends—members of the 1969 high school graduating class—face a world of racism, dress codes, war in Vietnam and barrio violence. In the summer before his senior year begins, Sammy falls in love with Juliana, a girl whose tough veneer disguises a world of hurt. By summer’s end, Juliana is dead. Sammy grieves, and in his grief, the memory of Juliana becomes his guide through this difficult year. Sammy is a smart kid, but he’s angry. He’s angry about Juliana’s death, he’s angry about the poverty his father and his sister must endure, he’s angry at his high school and its thinly disguised gringo racism, and he’s angry he might not be able to go to college. Benjamin Alire Sáenz, evoking the bittersweet ambience found in such novels as McMurtry’s The Last Picture Show, captures the essence of what it meant to grow up Chicano in small-town America in the late 1960s. Benjamin Alire Sáenz—novelist, poet, essayist and writer of children’s books—is at the forefront of the emerging Latino literatures. He has received both the Wallace Stegner Fellowship and the Lannan Fellowship, and is a recipient of the American Book Award. Born Mexican-American Catholic in the rural community of Picacho, New Mexico, he now teaches at the University of Texas at El Paso, and considers himself a “fronterizo,” a person of the border.

Addison Schact and his best friend Digger become obsessed with investigating the murder of a classmate as they travel through Washington DC’s underworld in this “thoughtful coming-of-age story and engaging teenage noir” (The New York Times). High school senior Addison Schacht is taking the prompt for his college entry essay to the University of Chicago to heart: What are your best and worst qualities? He begins to look back on his life so far and considers what getting into college, selling some pot to his classmates, his relationship with his best friend—not girlfriend—Digger, Virgil’s Aeneid, and his growing obsession with the murder of a classmate, Kevin Broadus, all mean. The more he digs into his own past, the farther he stumbles into the middle of the murder investigation. Filled with classic adolescent reflection and an intriguing mystery, The November Criminals is “one of the funniest, most heartfelt novels in recent memory—a book every bit as worthy of Mark Twain and J.D. Salinger” (The Chicago Tribune).

From Newbery Honor author Rodman Philbrick comes a delicious, fast-paced whodunit about two socially outcast boys who set out to find jewels hidden for a century--and unwittingly flush out a murderer. In award-winner Philbrick's new page-turning mystery, Arthur "Bash Man" is the school thug, paid with candy to bully and threaten other students. When genius orphan Darius Drake employs Arthur to help him discover the origin of a suspicious threat, written in blood, they uncover a mystery that involves Darius's estranged grandfather, who was imprisoned for forging evidence in a search for a long-lost diamond necklace worth millions. The boys make the dangerous decision to search for the jewels themselves -- and in the process, they discover that the car crash that killed Darius's parents was not an accident at all. Who will be next?Where are the diamonds? And who is stalking the boys? In his first mystery for children, Philbrick delivers yet another suspenseful, unpredictable tale filled with twists and turns that will leave readers breathless.

"A thriller in the best Hammett/Chandler tradition." — The New York Times. Due to an "irregular" case handled by a now-deceased agent, the State of California is hellbent on revoking Dan Kearny's private investigator's license. Includes a bonus DKA short story.

All-ages omnibus featuring classic humour characters from yesteryear brought back with brand new stories from the top humour comics talent of today! Britain's golden age of humour comics returns for the 21st century, with brand new stories by today’s top talents. Featuring characters like Kid Kong, Grimly Feendish, Faceache, and Frankie Stein are given new life in this compendium of hilarity by Neil Googe (The Flash), Cavan Scott (Doctor Who), Tom Paterson (The Beano, The Dandy), Shelli Paroline (Adventure Time) and Hilary Barta (DC Comics Plastic Man)!

Frank 'Bumper' Farrell was the roughest, toughest street cop and leader of a vice squad Australia has ever seen. Strong as a bull, with cauliflowered ears and fists like hams, Bumper's beat from 1938 to 1976 was the most lawless in the land - the mean streets of Kings Cross and inner Sydney. His adversaries were such notorious criminals as Abe Saffron, Lennie McPherson, Tilly Devine and Kate Leigh and their gangs as well as the hooligans, sly groggers, SP bookies, pimps and spivs. Criminals knew just where they stood: he would catch them, he would hurt them, and then he would lock them away. He was a legendary Rugby League player for Newtown, and represented Australia against England and New Zealand. Here's Bumper Farrell in brutal, passionate and hilarious action . . . saving Ita Buttrose from a stalker, sparking a national scandal when accused of biting off a rival player's ear, beating Lennie McPherson so severely the hard man cried, single-handedly fighting a mob of gangsters in Kings Cross and winning, terrorising the hoons who harassed the prostitutes in the brothel lanes by driving over the top of them, commandeering the police launch to take him home to his beach home, diving overboard in full uniform and catching a wave to shore dispensing kindness and charity to the poor. Bumper Farrell: lawman, sportsman, larrikin . . . legend.

Murder is always big news in small town Ontario. When Grace Inglehook’s terminal cancer is in remission, she makes plans for her one or two remaining years. But all her dreams shatter the morning she wakes up bleeding. Upon her death local headlines scream ‘murder’; Grace’s husband is persuaded to plead guilty to the lesser charge of third degree. Two years later, Kit Anne Kotcka, bulldog-determined private investigator, is hired to prove the husband innocent. In the small lakeside town of Fort Erie, what starts out a simple investigation carries Kit into a vortex of deceit, and evidence plays a game of peekaboo. Two murders later, despite Kit’s insistence, the police discount any connection between Grace and the fresh bodies. It’s up to Kit to prove otherwise. Suddenly, not only is Kit at risk but the lives of her friends are in danger.

The Last Dark Place tells a story about reunion, redemption, love and friendship. In this novel Satan decides he want to regain his former place in Heaven. The Morning Star discovers that he must find a suitable replacement for his throne in Hell before he is granted an audience with Yahweh. Satan's search takes him to southern New Jersey in the form of Darius Algernon. He meets a woman named Agnes at The Tide - a less-than-reputable suburban nightclub for the over-forty crowd. Agnes has something Algernon wants - a son named Jimmy Christophe. Jimmy Christophe knows that something about his life isn't quite right. His best friend Mel Talbott thinks Jimmy is going crazy, his girlfriend Joy Felder wants him to open up to her and Christophe's mother Agnes makes no qualms about the day she will be rid of her son forever. Mixed up in Darius Algernon's quest are a myriad of characters including an immortal Roman who made the mistake of pissing off a certain son of God two thousand years ago. Angels, demons and dreams abound in this tale. The reader will meet some familiar faces - Gabriel, Raphael and Metatron. Other angels with less press included are Tarquam, the spirit of autumn, Mihir, the healer of the earth, and the angel of tame beasts who goes by the name of Behemial. Also, see why some clowns with their painted happy faces are really manifestations of pure evil. Don't be left in the dark. Read this literary fantasy and find out what they never taught you in catechism or Sunday school.

It all seemed so routine, the old lady dead in her bed, the grieving nephew and his lovely wife arranging a quick and quiet burial, with the seasoned undertaker and his policeman pal lending sympathetic service to their visitors from out of town. But then Sammy Vanderhove and Chief Earl stir up the whole thing by finding the old Caddy with its trunk full of shiny gold bars in the garage behind the former movie star's house. When Nathan Corso's gorgeous wife finds out about the diamonds, the ones the old lady had secretly stashed, well, she just has to have them. After all, Nathan is the only heir, and they belong to him, and she...er, he, should have them at any cost. Problem is, others feel the same way, and they want the diamonds just as badly. When bodies start turning up it's up to Chief Earl and his counterpart in small town Iowa to begin sorting it all out. They quickly find that nothing is as it appeared, and the chase is on, a chase that will leave one of them risking everything he had thought was dear. Diamonds Aren't... is a tale of greed, lust, murder and mayhem, but most importantly, a tale of begrudged friendship with a heavy dose of wry humor. Chuckle along with Sammy, Earl and Johnny as they ogle and slog through the adventure to arrive at its bizarre and warmly satisfying conclusion.