The locals in the southern Italian town where he lives call him Signor Farfalla--Mr. Butterfly: for he is a discreet gentleman who paints rare butterflies. His life is inconspicuous--mornings spent brushing at a canvas, afternoons idling in the cafes, and evening talks with his friend the town priest over a glass of brandy. Yet there are other sides to this gentleman's life: Clara: the young student who moonlights in the town bordello. And another woman who arrives with $100,000 and a commission, but not for a painting of butterflies. With this assignment returns the dark fear that has dogged Signor Farfalla's mysterious life. Almost instantly, he senses a deadly circle closing in on him, one which he may or may not elude. Part thriller, part character study, part drama of deceit and self-betrayal, A Very Private Gentleman shows Martin Booth at the very height of his powers

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Cruel As The Grave" by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

The sinking of the British troop ship, HMT Lancastria, by a German bomber, on 17 June 1940, was the single greatest loss of life in Britain's maritime history. Seventy-three years later, the tragedy of the HMT Lancastria comes back to haunt Gem and Wyatt Grantham when two skeletons are discovered at Grantham Hall in the sleepy English village of Ticking Bottom. While Gem, Wyatt, and their mates try to unravel a mysterious connection between the skeletons and the Lancastria, Wyatt's former lover, the glamorous movie star, Emerald, appears with her own agenda - to throw a spanner into the Grantham's marriage - prompting Gem to question their relationship - and her trust in her husband. Keywords: Mystery, History, Humor, Romance, Lancastria, Skeletons, Nazis, Blitz, WWII, Spies

Death is at once a universal and everyday, but also an extraordinary experience in the lives of those affected. Death and bereavement are thereby intensified at (and frequently contained within) certain sites and regulated spaces, such as the hospital, the cemetery and the mortuary. However, death also affects and unfolds in many other spaces: the home, public spaces and places of worship, sites of accident, tragedy and violence. Such spaces, or Deathscapes, are intensely private and personal places, while often simultaneously being shared, collective, sites of experience and remembrance; each place mediated through the intersections of emotion, body, belief, culture, society and the state. Bringing together geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, cultural studies academics and historians among others, this book focuses on the relationships between space/place and death/ bereavement in 'western' societies. Addressing three broad themes: the place of death; the place of final disposition; and spaces of remembrance and representation, the chapters reflect a variety of scales ranging from the mapping of bereavement on the individual or in private domestic space, through to sites of accident, battle, burial, cremation and remembrance in public space. The book also examines social and cultural changes in death and bereavement practices, including personalisation and secularisation. Other social trends are addressed by chapters on green and garden burial, negotiating emotion in public/ private space, remembrance of violence and disaster, and virtual space. A meshing of material and 'more-than-representational' approaches consider the nature, culture, economy and politics of Deathscapes - what are in effect some of the most significant places in human society.

You leave us alone; we'll leave you alone. When Elaine Mercado and her first husband bought their home in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1982, they had no idea that they and their two young daughters were embarking on a thirteen-year nightmare. thin a few days of moving in, Elaine and her older daughter began to experience the sensation of being watched. Then came scratching noises and weird smells, followed by voices whispering, maniacal laughter, shadowy figures scurrying along baseboards, and small balls of light bouncing along the ceilings. From the beginning of the haunting, "suffocating dreams" were experienced by everyone except the younger daughter. These eventually accelerated to physical aggression directed at Elaine and both the girls. This book is the true story of how one family tried to cope with living in a haunted house. It also describes how, with the help of parapsychologist Dr. Hans Holzer and medium Marisa Anderson, the family discovered the tragic and heartbreaking secrets buried in the house at Grave's End. I struggle to open my eyes, but achieve nothing but frustration and failure. I am not asleep. I am fully conscious, in a state of panic unthinkable during the day intolerable in the dark of night, held prisoner by some tortured, invisible presence, insistent on abruptly invading my slumber. The more I struggle toward freedom, the more I am pushed into the mattress, perspiring, heart palpitating, a scream involuntarily silenced within my throat. Some nights I experience my skin being stroked while I fight to regain control of my body, my sight. Thank God, this was not one of those nights. Tonight it lets me open my eyes, shaken but unviolated, frightened, but not as frightened as I know I can become. First Runner up for the 2001 Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) Award for Best Biographical/Personal Book

Felicity Howard, an American woman studying for the Anglican priesthood in Yorkshire, England, finds the tranquility of the monastery shattered when her mentor, Father Dominic, is found murdered and her church history lecturer, Father Antony, is wanted for questioning by the police.

Emily Carson was an elementary schoolteacher married for ten years to a real estate broker named Sam. One day Sam unexpectedly vanished. She picked up the missing person’s case of her husband when local police were unable to come up with any results and they closed the file. She hired a private investigator to help her find out what happened to Sam and why. What she learned along the way about her husband’s family was disturbing. He never spoke of his past or his childhood. She we

When Inspector Cole moves to a small town in Eastern Ontario, hoping for a quieter posting than his job in the city, the last thing he expects is to get caught up in two 10-year-old missing person cases. Always willing to lend a hand, teenage Alex Rossiter heads to the Brooks’ residence to help with a faulty septic system, but after finding a gun buried by the tank, his whole world is turned upside down. When Inspector Cole and Sergeant Greyrock get involved, they discover something far more sinister: a body in the septic tank—the body of Alex’s missing father. Cole and Greyrock dig through old police records and discover that two men, Ben Rossiter and Trem Alderwood, went missing within days of each other ten years ago. Two men who didn’t know each other, who had no connection, and who had never been found. With no evidence or leads at the time of their disappearances, the cases went cold. Cole and Greyrock plunge headfirst into a new investigation, but the only thing they find is another body buried beneath the streets of their beloved town. They are once again left with no evidence or leads, prompting their investigation to come to a halt. Then young Alex goes missing, leaving behind, unbeknownst to his family, a lover and a child.

A murder mystery featuring Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne. Verity Browne and Lord Edward Corinth are attending a memorial in Westminster when the service is interrupted by a young woman's desperate cry for help. Too late, they find Maude Pitt-Messanger's father slumped in his seat, stabbed to death with an ancient Assyrian dagger. Verity travels to Swifts Hill, Sir Simon Castlewood's Kent estate, to investigate the murder, where she begins to discover more about Maud's father: the old man was selfish and cruel, and had prevented Maude from marrying the man she loved, making his daughter's life miserable. When Maud herself is stabbed to death with a dagger from Sir Castlewood archaeological collection, Edward and Verity join forces to unmask the killer. However, Verity's growing attraction to young German aristocrat Adam von Trott drives a wedge between the two friends - bringing them both unhappiness and endangering the outcome of their investigation... Praise for David Roberts: 'A classic murder mystery [...] and a most engaging pair of amateur sleuths' Charles Osborne, author of The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie 'A really well-crafted and charming mystery story' Daily Mail 'A perfect example of golden-age mystery traditions with the cobwebs swept away' Guardian