Lucifer doesn't have time for romance. He's been ousted as King of Hell. After escaping his chains, he retreats to lick his wounds and plan his revenge. The original sinner takes on the guise of a bakery owner, ready to pass the time until he can retake his throne. Lexi Sutton, a witch with mischief magic, only wants to live a normal life with normal relationships. The problem? Getting through dates without her chaotic magic going haywire has proven impossible. She's ready to give up on ever finding love. When Lexi hears about a job opening at a new bakery, she goes for it. How could she know resisting the charms of the panty-melting owner would be so difficult, or that giving in would kick off a chain of events that destiny had been waiting thousands of years to unleash? Will Hell's number one Devil heal her heart, or will finding out his secret identity shatter it?

'Every new Agatha Raisin escapade is a total joy' ASHLEY JENSEN 'No wonder she's been crowned Queen of Cosy Crime' MAIL ON SUNDAY Agatha and her assistant, Toni, are driving to their friend Bill Wong's wedding, thinking of nothing more than what the beautiful bride will be wearing when a terrified young man comes running down the country lane towards them wearing. . . nothing at all. The encounter leads them to become embroiled with a naturist group, a disappearing corpse, fantasy games, witchcraft, an ice cream empire, intrigue and murder. In the meantime, Agatha's hectic life swirls along at dizzying pace, her private detective agency as busy as ever and her private affairs in turmoil - old loves to contend with and a new suitor on the scene. Then she finds herself in deadly danger when she begins to close in on a suspected murderer and the sinister nature of the ice cream business leads her to a chilling conclusion. 'A Beaton novel is like The Archers on speed' DAILY MAIL 'The detective novels of M C Beaton have reached cult status' THE TIMES Praise for M. C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin mysteries: 'Irresistible, unputdownable, a joy' Anne Robinson 'Full of perfectly pitched interest, intrigue, and charm' Lee Child 'Agatha is like Miss Marple with a drinking problem, a pack-a-day habit and major man lust. In fact, I think she could be living my dream life' Entertainment Weekly 'M. C. Beaton's imperfect heroine is an absolute gem' Publishers Weekly '[Agatha] is a glorious cross between Miss Marple, Auntie Mame, and Lucille Ball . . . She's wonderful' St. Petersburg Times 'Few things in life are more satisfying than to discover a brand-new Agatha Raisin mystery' Tampa Tribune-Times 'Beaton has a winner in the irrepressible, romance-hungry Agatha' Chicago Sun-Times

Eighty delicious, imaginative recipes from the Star Tribune’s beloved annual cookie contest, with mouth-watering pictures and bakers’ stories It’s cold in Minnesota, especially around the holidays, and there’s nothing like baking a batch of cookies to warm the kitchen and the heart. A celebration of the rich traditions, creativity, and taste of the region, The Great Minnesota Cookie Book collects the best-loved recipes and baking lore from fifteen years of the Star Tribune’s popular holiday cookie contest. Drop cookies and cutouts, refrigerator cookies and bars; Swedish shortbread, Viennese wafers, and French–Swiss butter cookies; almond palmiers; chai crescents and taffy treats; snowball clippers, cherry pinwheels, lime coolers, and chocolate-drizzled churros: a dizzying array and all delightful, the recipes in this book recall memories of holidays past and inspire the promise of happy gatherings to come. These are winning cookies in every sense, the best of the best chosen by the contest’s judges, accompanied by beautiful photographs as instructive as they are enticing. A treat for any occasion, whether party, bake sale, or after-school snack, each time- and taste-tested recipe is perfect for starting a tradition of one’s own.

“Dictionary, n: A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work.” Bierce’s groundbreaking Devil’s Dictionary had a complex publication history. Started in the mid-1800s as an irregular column in Californian newspapers under various titles, he gradually refined the new-at-the-time idea of an irreverent set of glossary-like definitions. The final name, as we see it titled in this work, did not appear until an 1881 column published in the periodical The San Francisco Illustrated Wasp. There were no publications of the complete glossary in the 1800s. Not until 1906 did a portion of Bierce’s collection get published by Doubleday, under the name The Cynic’s Word Book—the publisher not wanting to use the word “Devil” in the title, to the great disappointment of the author. The 1906 word book only went from A to L, however, and the remainder was never released under the compromised title. In 1911 the Devil’s Dictionary as we know it was published in complete form as part of Bierce’s collected works (volume 7 of 12), including the remainder of the definitions from M to Z. It has been republished a number of times, including more recent efforts where older definitions from his columns that never made it into the original book were included. Due to the complex nature of copyright, some of those found definitions have unclear public domain status and were not included. This edition of the book includes, however, a set of definitions attributed to his one-and-only “Demon’s Dictionary” column, including Bierce’s classic definition of A: “the first letter in every properly constructed alphabet.” Bierce enjoyed “quoting” his pseudonyms in his work. Most of the poetry, dramatic scenes and stories in this book attributed to others were self-authored and do not exist outside of this work. This includes the prolific Father Gassalasca Jape, whom he thanks in the preface—“jape” of course having the definition: “a practical joke.” This book is a product of its time and must be approached as such. Many of the definitions hold up well today, but some might be considered less palatable by modern readers. Regardless, the book’s humorous style is a valuable snapshot of American culture from past centuries. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • The Washington Post • Publishers Weekly New Hyde Hospital’s psychiatric ward has a new resident. It also has a very, very old one. Pepper is a rambunctious big man, minor-league troublemaker, working-class hero (in his own mind), and, suddenly, the surprised inmate of a budget-strapped mental institution in Queens, New York. He’s not mentally ill, but that doesn’t seem to matter. He is accused of a crime he can’t quite square with his memory. In the darkness of his room on his first night, he’s visited by a terrifying creature with the body of an old man and the head of a bison who nearly kills him before being hustled away by the hospital staff. It’s no delusion: The other patients confirm that a hungry devil roams the hallways when the sun goes down. Pepper rallies three other inmates in a plot to fight back: Dorry, an octogenarian schizophrenic who’s been on the ward for decades and knows all its secrets; Coffee, an African immigrant with severe OCD, who tries desperately to send alarms to the outside world; and Loochie, a bipolar teenage girl who acts as the group’s enforcer. Battling the pill-pushing staff, one another, and their own minds, they try to kill the monster that’s stalking them. But can the Devil die? The Devil in Silver brilliantly brings together the compelling themes that spark all of Victor LaValle’s radiant fiction: faith, race, class, madness, and our relationship with the unseen and the uncanny. More than that, it’s a thrillingly suspenseful work of literary horror about friendship, love, and the courage to slay our own demons. Praise for The Devil in Silver “A fearless exploration of America’s heart of darkness . . . a dizzying high-wire act.”—The Washington Post “LaValle never writes the same book and his recent is a stunner. . . . Fantastical, hellish and hilarious.”—Los Angeles Times “It’s simply too bighearted, too gentle, too kind, too culturally observant and too idiosyncratic to squash into the small cupboard of any one genre, or even two.”—The New York Times Book Review “Embeds a sophisticated critique of contemporary America’s inhumane treatment of madness in a fast-paced story that is by turns horrifying, suspenseful, and comic.”—The Boston Globe “LaValle uses the thrills of horror to draw attention to timely matters. And he does so without sucking the joy out of the genre. . . . A striking and original American novelist.”—The New Republic

FOR SEVENTY YEARS, HE HAS WAITED...In Sharon Vallery, at teen slumber parties and around campfires, the story is told. Seventy years ago, on Halloween night, Nathaniel and Myrantha Ober made a pact sealed by bloody human sacrifice...a pact with the devil himself.THIS HALLOWEEN, EVIL WILL RETURN...Nancy Snell is the most popular girl in high school. She is beautiful and wealthy, and she has discovered the key to unlimited power. The occult force that was summoned to this sleepy town decades ago. She has already chosen the perfect victim needed to perform the ritual: the new girl in town, Lana Bremmers.THE DEVIL'S ENDOnce again the town of Sharon Valley will be the doorway to the legions of darkness. And the devil will have his payment in blood, on an even more terrifying Halloween night.

"Close your eyes and think of your favourite childhood treat. Maybe it's a bowl of crumble, a slab of chocolate cake, a chewy fruit pastille or a melting ice cream. Imagine how it looks and smells, the taste and texture, then let those senses transport you - to Sunday dinners with family and birthday parties with friends or days at the seaside, the air hot and sticky and the sand between your toes. Homemade Memories is a collection of my favourite childhood recipes, packed with enough sugar-dusted memories to savour long after the last crumb has been cleared away." In this, her debut cookbook, Kate Doran brings to life the recipes and stories that have made her blog thelittleloaf.com so popular. From Peanut Butter Jammie Dodgers and Peach Melba Baked Alaska to Peppermint Marshmallows, Triple Chocolate Caterpillar Cake and Pear and Pecan Treacle Tart, this is the ultimate collection of 100 classic childhood treats reinvented with an irresistible homemade twist.

Beloved New York Times bestseller M.C. Beaton's cranky, crafty Agatha Raisin—the star of her own hit T.V. series—is back on the case again in Devil's Delight. Agatha and her assistant, Toni, are driving to their friend Bill Wong’s long-awaited wedding, thinking of nothing more than what the beautiful bride will be wearing when a terrified young man comes running down the country lane towards them wearing...nothing at all. The encounter leads them to become embroiled with a naturist group, a disappearing corpse, fantasy games, witchcraft, an ice cream empire, intrigue and murder. In the meantime, Agatha’s hectic life swirls along at dizzying pace, her private detective agency as busy as ever and her private affairs in turmoil, with old loves to contend with and a new suitor on the scene. But when she begins to close in on a suspected murderer, she finds herself in deadly peril, as the sinister nature of the ice cream business leads her to a chilling conclusion...

Georgette Heyer, bestselling author and the Queen of Regency Romance, delights readers with this charming story of a heroine who learns a valuable lesson about being careful what she wishes for. For her, he would do anything... Plainspoken country gentleman Philip Jettan won't bother with a powdered wig, high heels, and fashionable lace cuffs, until he discovers that his lovely neighbor is enamored with a sophisticated man-about-town... But what is it that she really wants? Cleone Charteris sends her suitor Philip away to get some town polish, and he comes back with powder, patches, and all the manners of a seasoned rake. Does Cleone now have exactly the kind of man she's always wanted, or was her insistence on Philip's remarkable transformation a terrible mistake? What readers say: "Georgette Heyer is unbeatable!"—Sunday Telegraph "Charming, charming, charming. And highly readable!" "Witty dialogue and well-developed storylines—even Jane Austen could do no better." "Scintillating and very human love story by an author of exceptional talents." "Ms Heyer's effervescent wit and obvious ability to tell a good and humorous story is already evident, making Powder and Patch an enjoyable and worthwhile read."