THE FIRST TIME HAD BEEN HARD… Bailey Flowers should have known a man who'd been to hell and back would break her heart. But now ex-mercenary Terrence Sullivan was the only man who could help her locate her missing sibling—before the police framed her sister for murder! THE SECOND TIME WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE These former lovers thought they could set aside personal feelings to solve an increasingly bizarre—and deadly— investigation. But when their simmering passion exploded in an all-consuming desire,Bailey knew this tortured mercenary needed her help. Because the only key to Sullivan's salvation lay in her ever-loving arms—

John Sullivan is all done running. A hunted, haunted man, the genetically modified fighter takes to the streets in search of his mobster father and answers to some very tough questions. The answers he gets take Sullivan and his allies to the far corners of the continent where he must confront the terrifying consequences of genetic engineering practices unencumbered by morality. For some people, the last war never ended, and for others the next one has already begun. A mysterious woman, a new foe, and the horrifying truth of what has been going on since the end of the great war gnaws at Sullivan's fragile sanity. Will this journey through his own personal heart of darkness finally break Sullivan's tenuous control over his dark side? Even he doesn't know for sure. But one thing is certain. The time for running is over. With the enemy at the gates and time running out, Sullivan is not giving up an inch. Not this time. This time John Sullivan is making a stand.

Major Ernest Pettigrew is perfectly content to lead a quiet life in the sleepy village of Edgecombe St Mary, away from the meddling of the locals and his overbearing son. But when his brother dies, the Major finds himself seeking companionship with the village shopkeeper, Mrs Ali. Drawn together by a love of books and the loss of their partners, they are soon forced to contend with irate relatives and gossiping villagers. The perfect gentleman, but the most unlikely hero, the Major must ask himself what matters most: family obligation, tradition or love? Funny, comforting and heart-warming, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand proves that sometimes, against all odds, life does give you a second chance.

Beautifully designed and carefully curated, a fascinating collection of the things that shaped the way we live and play in America What artifact best captures the spirit of American sports? The bat Babe Ruth used to hit his allegedly called shot, or the ball on which Pete Rose wrote, "I'm sorry I bet on baseball"? Could it be Lance Armstrong's red-white-and-blue bike, now tarnished by doping and hubris? Or perhaps its ancestor, the nineteenth-century safety bicycle that opened an avenue of previously unknown freedom to women? The jerseys of rivals Larry Bird and Magic Johnson? Or the handball that Abraham Lincoln threw against a wall as he waited for news of his presidential nomination? From nearly forgotten heroes like Tad Lucas (rodeo) and Tommy Kono (weightlifting) to celebrities like Amelia Earhart, Muhammad Ali, and Michael Phelps, Cait Murphy tells the stories of the people, events, and things that have forged the epic of American sports, in both its splendor and its squalor. Stories of heroism and triumph rub up against tales of discrimination and cheating. These objects tell much more than just stories about great games-they tell the story of the nation. Eye-opening and exuberant, A History of American Sports in 100 Objects shows how the games Americans play are woven into the gloriously infuriating fabric of America itself.

In 1926, Gertrude Ederle became the first female to swim the English Channel--and broke the existing record time in doing so. Although today she is considered a pioneer in women's swimming, women were swimming competitively 50 years earlier. This historical book details the early period of women's competitive swimming in the United States, from its beginnings in the nineteenth century through Ederle's astonishing accomplishment. Women and girls faced many obstacles to safe swimming opportunities, including restrictive beliefs about physical abilities, access to safe and clean water, bathing suits that impeded movement and became heavy in water, and opposition from official sporting organizations. The stories of these early swimmers plainly show how far female athletes have come.

By analyzing ten examples of buildings that embody the human experience at an extraordinary level, this book clarifies the central importance of the role of function in architecture as a generative force in determining built form. Using familiar twentieth-century buildings as case studies, the authors present these from a new perspective, based on their functional design concepts. Here Grabow and Spreckelmeyer expand the definition of human use to that of an art form by re-evaluating these buildings from an aesthetic and ecological view of function. Each building is described from the point of view of a major functional concept or idea of human use which then spreads out and influences the spatial organization, built form and structure. In doing so each building is presented as an exemplar that reaches beyond the pragmatic concerns of a narrow program and demonstrates how functional concepts can inspire great design, evoke archetypal human experience and help us to understand how architecture embodies the deeper purposes and meanings of everyday life.

South Santa Clara County, situated at the south end of San Francisco Bay, was a cattle-ranching area in the 19th century. With 300 days of sun a year, it became a major agricultural and food-production center. Since the 1960s, the electronics and computer industries have transformed the Valley of the Hearts Delight into a world-class technology center. City dwellers are now taking up residence in an area once steeped in agriculture, with more than 240,000 people making their homes here. Featured in this book are south San Jose, Coyote Valley, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, and unincorporated parts of the south county, such as east Santa Cruz Mountains and Pacheco Pass.

PI Toby Peters comes to the aid of Charlie Chaplin when the Little Tramp becomes a big target in this “ingenious” mystery from the Edgar Award winner (Kirkus Reviews). In 1943, Charlie Chaplin is far from the most popular man in America. His communist sympathies and romantic indiscretions with young women have enraged everyone from right-wing radicals and the Ku Klux Klan to furious fathers. But when a knife-wielding intruder breaks into his house one night, the maniac isn’t talking politics. He demands Chaplin stop making his latest black comedy about a man who murders wealthy women for their money—and specifically tells him to stay away from one Fiona Sullivan. Who? Chaplin turns to the shamus to the stars, Toby Peters, to keep him from harm and apprehend his nocturnal visitor. Peters’s lead on Fiona comes from a most unlikely source—his landlady, Mrs. Irene Plaut, knows the woman. Rallying his crew of diminutive Gunther Wherthman, wrestler Jeremy Butler, and dentist Sheldon Minck, Toby’s determined to catch the midnight madman before Chaplin is silenced forever. In the twenty-first book in his long-running series, the Edgar Award–winning author offers an “ingenious twist on the old serial killer chestnut, with the usual manic Peters ménage obbligato” (Kirkus Reviews).

From the author of the “intense coming-of-age story” (School Library Connection) The Great Unknowable End and the “beyond refreshing…irreverent” (Booklist, starred review) Tash Hearts Tolstoy comes an introspective, atmospheric novel about sisterhood, coming-of-age, and learning that it’s never too late to reconnect with those you love. Time changes things. That painful fact of life couldn’t be truer for the Sullivan sisters. Once, they used to be close, sharing secrets inside homemade blanket castles. Now, life in the Sullivan house means closed doors and secrets left untold. Fourteen-year-old Murphy, an aspiring magician, is shocked by the death of Siegfried, her pet turtle. Seventeen-year-old Claire is bound for better things than her Oregonian hometown—until she receives a crushing rejection from her dream college. And eighteen-year-old Eileen is nursing a growing addiction in the wake of life-altering news. Then, days before Christmas, a letter arrives, informing the sisters of a dead uncle and an inheritance they knew nothing about. The news forces them to band together in the face of a sinister family mystery…and, possibly, murder. The Sullivan Sisters is an unforgettable novel about the ghosts of the past, the power of connection, and the bonds of sisterhood.