CLAWS AND EFFECT Winter puts tiny Crozet, Virginia, in a deep freeze and everyone seems to be suffering from the winter blahs, including postmistress Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen. So all are ripe for the juicy gossip coming out of Crozet Hospital–until the main source of that gossip turns up dead. It’s not like Harry to resist a mystery, and she soon finds the hospital a hotbed of ego, jealousy, and illicit love. But it’s tiger cat Mrs. Murphy, roaming the netherworld of Crozet Hospital, who sniffs out a secret that dates back to the Underground Railroad. Then Harry is attacked and a doctor is executed in cold blood. Soon only a quick-witted cat and her animal pals feline Pewter and corgi Tee Tucker stand between Harry and a coldly calculating killer with a prescription for murder.

The Far Woods is threatened by a crime wave in this third chapter of the fanciful Beastly Crimes series. To Chief Badger, all clues point to the Arctic Fox as the culprit — but is it actually The Claws of Rage, a nefarious group of non-pedigreed agitators?

Violet Jordan Rule #2 of being a superhero: Find reliable sidekicks. Dear Diary, Once I took down Haverty, the Primo of the city, I thought life was going to get better. After four assassination attempts, I'm thinking not so much. Haverty's pack needs a new leader, and I've just about run out of reasons why I'm not right for the job. Besides, having loyal followers would definitely help me fight off whoever's out for my blood. Especially sincemy boyfriend is always busy playing White Hat to every wanderer except me. I'm glad he thinks I'm tough enough to handle my own business, but a little extra backup would be nice. So now I just need to figure out how to mentor new shifters, run a pack, keep my "real" job, and have some sort of personal life. All in a day's work for this horror movie writer-turned-shapeshifting panther.

An extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, in the time of a dying sun, when our present culture is no longer even a memory. Severian, a torturer's apprentice, is exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his prisoners. Ordered to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est, Severian must make his way across the perilous, ruined landscape of this far-future Urth. But is his finding of the mystical gem, the Claw of the Conciliator, merely an accident, or does Fate have a grander plans for Severian the torturer . . . ? This edition contains the first two volumes of this four volume novel, The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator.

Recounts how the leopard got his claws and teeth and why he rules the forest with terror.

The third book in the “funny, sexy, and lively” (Publishers Weekly) romance series about a paranormal dating service called Midnight Liaisons. From the supernatural dating capital of the world, it’s the Midnight Liaisons Dating Game! Let’s meet our eligible bachelors… ​“Cold hands, warm heart” applies to Bachelor #1. He believes that nighttime is the right time. Welcome, Bert the vampire! Bachelor #2 is an old soul—four hundred years old, to be exact. If you want someone to spend eternity with, choose Andre the vampire! Dying to snuggle up with a strong, sexy were-cougar? Bachelor #3 is a real cat(ch) who will tail the woman of his dreams until his irresistible charm melts her heart. He’s Joshua Russell! Who’s our lucky bachelorette? Professional matchmaker Marie Bellavance has hooked up hundreds of were-things, harpies, faeries, and vamps. Now it’s her turn. This alluring human’s not afraid to break the rules. But when nature takes over, a forbidden romance could be her only chance to live a full, healthy life. If there’s a trick to getting turned, she needs to find it…fast.

This new collection of short stories from T.C. Boyle finds him at his mercurial best. Inventive, wickedly funny, sometimes disturbing, these are stories about drop-outs, deadbeats and kooks. Take the man who shares his apartment with a wildcat won in a drunken bet; the drive-time shock jock hallucinating from sleep deprivation for a publicity stunt; the suburban woman who joins a pack of dogs, eating rabbits and baying at the moon. With a unique deftness of touch and a keen eye for the telling detail, Boyle has mapped the strange underworld of America.

Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown return to Albemarle County, Virgina, as tangled mysteries past and present converge in the bestselling Mrs. Murphy series. “As feline collaborators go, you couldn’t ask for better than Sneaky Pie Brown.”—The New York Times Book Review With the New Year just around the corner, winter has transformed the cozy Blue Ridge Mountain community of Crozet, Virginia, into a living snow globe. It’s the perfect setting for Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen to build a new work shed designed by her dear friend, local architect Gary Gardner. But the natural serenity is shattered when out of the blue, right in front of Harry and Deputy Cynthia Cooper, and in broad daylight, Gary is shot to death by a masked motorcyclist. Outraged by the brazen murder, Harry begins to burrow into her friend’s past—and unearths a pattern of destructive greed reaching far back into Virginia’s post-Revolutionary history. When Harry finds incriminating evidence, the killer strikes again. Heedless of her own safety, Harry follows a trail of clues to a construction site in Richmond, where the discovery of mysterious remains has recently halted work. Aided as always by her loyal, if opinionated, companions, crime-solving cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and Tee Tucker the Corgi, Harry hunts for a link between the decades-old dead, the recently violently deceased—and ancient secrets that underlie everything. And while other deaths are narrowly averted in a flurry of fur, the killer remains at large—ever more desperate and dangerous. The deep-rooted legacy of corruption that’s been exposed can never be buried again. But if Harry keeps pursuing the terrible truth, she may be digging her own grave. Praise for Probable Claws “Series fans will know exactly what to expect: animals who talk to one another, [Rita Mae] Brown’s personal views on an array of topics, and a healthy dose of Virginia history.”—Publishers Weekly “The animal crew, joined by a surprising new addition, is in rare form. . . . Beautiful illustrations bring the pet personalities to life.”—Kirkus Reviews

Claws of the Panda tells the story of Canada’s failure to construct a workable policy towards the People’s Republic of China. In particular, the book tells of Ottawa’s failure to recognize and confront the efforts by the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate and influence Canadian institutions and to exert control over Canadians of Chinese heritage. It shows how Canadian leaders have constantly misjudged the reality of the relationship while the CCP and its agents have benefited from Canadian naivete. ​ The Expanded and Updated edition of Claws of the Panda arrives at a crucial point as Canada’s delusions abouts its friendly relations with the CCP have fallen apart since the book’s initial publication. This edition sets out to uncover Ottawa’s relationship with Beijing in light of the CCP regime’s increasingly suspicious and belligerent relations with the US and Europe. The age of a distinctly Canadian bilateral relationship with Beijing is over.