The bestselling author of Till the Butchers Cut Him Down presents her latest mystery starring Saron McCone. Investigating a terrorist bombing at the Consulate of an Arab Emirate, Sharon is thinking only of the million-dollar-reward--until she meets the consul general's daughter. When the girl disappears, Sharon risks everything to save her.

"All the wild and lonely places, the mountain springs are called now. They were not lonely or wild places in the past days. They were the homes of my people." --Chief Francisco Patencio, the Cahuilla of Palm Springs The Anza-Borrego Desert on California's southern border is a remote and harsh landscape, what author Lawrence Hogue calls "a land of dreams and nightmares, where the waking world meets the fantastic shapes and bent forms of imagination." In a country so sere and rugged, it's easy to imagine that no one has ever set foot there -- a wilderness waiting to be explored. Yet for thousands of years, the land was home to the Cahuilla and Kumeyaay Indians, who, far from being the "noble savages" of European imagination, served as active caretakers of the land that sustained them, changing it in countless ways and adapting it to their own needs as they adapted to it.In All the Wild and Lonely Places, Lawrence Hogue offers a thoughtful and evocative portrait of Anza-Borrego and of the people who have lived there, both original inhabitants and Spanish and American newcomers -- soldiers, Forty-Niners, cowboys, canal-builders, naturalists, recreationists, and restorationists. We follow along with the author on a series of excursions into the desert, each time learning more about the region's history and why it calls into question deeply held beliefs about "untouched" nature. And we join him in considering the implications of those revelations for how we think about the land that surrounds us, and how we use and care for that land."We could persist in seeing the desert as an emptiness, a place hostile to humans, a pristine wilderness," Hogue writes. "But it's better to see this as a place where ancient peoples tried to make their homes, and succeeded. We can learn from what they did here, and use that knowledge to reinvigorate our concept of wildness. Humans are part of nature; it's still nature, even when we change it."

A fictionalized history of the infamous, if little-known outside Florida, Prohibition-era gangster John Ashley and his moll, Laura Upthegrove.

Dix Steele is back in town, and 'town' is post-war LA. His best friend Brub is on the force of the LAPD, and as the two meet in country clubs and beach bars, they discuss the latest case: a strangler is preying on young women in the dark. Dix listens with interest as Brub describes their top suspect, as yet unnamed. Dix loves the dark and women in equal measure, so he knows enough to watch his step, though when he meets the luscious Laurel Gray, something begins to crack. The American Dream is showing its seamy underside.

Don’t miss this stunning novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Lady of Hay – a gripping tale of secrets, betrayal and revenge...

“The first poetess of romantic fiction.”-Sir Walter Scott ““Mrs. Radcliffe is a mistress of hints, suggestions, minute details, breathless pauses, and the hush of suspense.” —The New York Times “Compared to Udolpho, Montoni’s mountain hideaway, Castle Dracula is a country day school.” —Barbara Walker Ann Radcliff’s Mysteries of Udolpho, one of the most famous English gothic novels ever published, was a significant influence on later authors including Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, and Jane Austen. In combining the supernatural elements of the gothic genre with a deep sensitivity of emotion, this work reveals the height of Radcliffe’s powers as a writer. Living a picturesque life in rural Late-16th Century France, Emily St. Aubert, the novel’s beautiful and sensitive protagonist becomes an orphan when both of her parents die. Adopted by her unaffectionate aunt Madame Cheron, Emily is ultimately imprisoned by Cheron and her cruel husband, the Italian nobleman Signor Montoni. The natural beauty of her life as a young girl in France is contrasted with the seclusion in the eponymous castle where Montoni’s controlling manipulations spin her life into a state of unknowable terror. The hair-raising and strange events that occur within the confines of the dreadful fortress are among the most bone-chilling in all of literature. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Mysteries of Udolpho is both modern and readable.