The Spenders are Britain's Favourite Family - they are glamorous, rich and very, very famous, everything that their celebrity obsessed culture requires them to be. Their charisma and looks ensure that they are constantly feted, and hounded, by the press. The public adores them. They live what appears to be a charmed and enviable existence. In the claustrophobic confines of their exquisite houses there is a darker reality. Isolated and hemmed in by the paparazzi and their crazed fans, they are trapped in their fame. Constantly surrounded by an army of long-suffering employees: stylists, PAs, personal trainers, drivers, security teams, hair and make-up artists, managers, agents, publicists - they are never alone but always lonely - with nothing else to do but 'drink and fight and screw' they breakfast on prescription drugs, lunch on vodka and dine on anything illegal they can get their hands on. Their privileged, high profile lifestyle is shattered when tragedy strikes - tearing apart the fragile fabric of their existence, and sending them spinning out of control. Dead Rich is a black comedy, a cautionary tale for our times.

'A totally gripping, impeccably crafted thriller that never slackens the tension for a minute. . . Hugely enjoyable' Jane Casey, author of The Killing Kind Super yachts are secretive, like their owners. The bigger the richer. Like castles, they are created to inspire awe. Like castles too, they are defended. They are an entire world, separate from the rest of us. Kai, a carefree once-successful musician is invited by his new Russian girlfriend Zina to join her family's Caribbean holiday. Impulsively accepting he learns that Zina is the daughter of a Russian oligarch, Stepan Pirumov and that the trip is aboard his yacht, the Zinaida, moored in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. The crew consists of Captain Marius Falk, the first mate Erin Wade and a hastily assembled staff, including a chief stewardess Marissa from Miami, a chief engineer from Lagos and a personal trainer from Los Angeles. All know how to behave around the very rich. On arrival Kai discovers that the head of security has been arrested, armed guards are below deck, there's an onboard panic room and a strong sense of all not being quite right beneath the gleaming surfaces of the Pirumov's lives. An unnerving presence punctures the atmosphere: a murderous imposter is on board the Zinaida, but who is it? Kai will find that the only person he can trust will be Erin and that the world of the super-rich will become a prison from which they must escape. Part locked-room suspense, part adventure story, Dead Rich is an unforgettable, edge of the seat thriller set in the blazing heat of the Caribbean

Selected by Nelson DeMille, a collection of mystery/thriller short stories focused on the wealthy upper echelons from some of today's top writers. The truly wealthy live in another world. From their multi-national businesses to their palatial mansions to their exotic vacations at glamorous places all around the world, they do everything in a big way. And sometimes, that even includes crime. In this anthology, you'll read about a wealthy writer who plots murder his hopeless agent, an aging actress who clings to her past of wealth and fame, and a spoiled rich boy who steps into dangerous territory with his mean antics, among others. The Rich and the Dead features mystery and crime stories set among the upper crust of society, going behind the scenes of the lifestyles of the two percent of the world that controls sixty percent of its riches--and just how far they'll go to stay on top.

"The long-awaited first novel from the acclaimed author of Sam the Cat is a provocative and hilarious satire of love, sex, money, and politics in our new gilded age--for readers of The Nix and This Is Where I Leave You"--

Suddenly there was the Oregon State Patrol on all sides with guns pointed at me, telling me to get on my face. I got down, they came up, cuffed me, and when I asked them what they were doing and why, they said it was for kidnapping. I said, “You're kidding. That's my mom.” She said, “I don't know who he is. That's a stranger and he kidnapped me. I have to call my husband to let him know I'm safe.”************************************Cars were parked down below, and I didn't see any place to park, so I parked on the bridge. Suddenly there was a whoosh of helicopter blades getting increasingly louder until the chopper landed on top of the Suburban. It did a slow crash to the right and shattered onto the ground. There was debris and gas everywhere, and the pilot was hollering at me, “You stupid son of a gun, what the hell do you think you're doing?” He pulled out a 44 magnum

The law of succession rests on a single brute fact: you can't take it with you. The stock of wealth that turns over as people die is staggeringly large. In the United States alone, some $41 trillion will pass from the dead to the living in the first half of the 21st century. But the social impact of inheritance is more than a matter of money; it is also a matter of what money buys and brings about. Law and custom allow people many ways to pass on their property. As Friedman's enlightening social history reveals, a decline in formal rules, the ascendancy of will substitutes over classic wills, social changes like the rise of the family of affection, changing ideas of acceptable heirs, and the potential disappearance of the estate tax all play a large role in the balance of wealth. Dead Hands uncovers the tremendous social and legal importance of this rite of passage, and how it reflects changing values and priorities in American families and society.

One of the finest books to emerge from the Vietnam experience, The Living and the Dead presents a brilliant study of Robert McNamara, his decision-making during the war, and the way his decisions affected his own life and the lives of five individuals. A monumental work about power, its abuse, and its victims, this meticulously researched, beautifully written, explosive, and passionate book is often in conflict with McNamara's version of events. First serial in the Washington Post. 8 photos.

No one would ever want to join the Dead Kids Club-the dues are a price too high to pay. Two grieving parents find themselves plumbing the depths of despair when their son is killed by an unrepentant drunk driver who escapes justice for his crimes. He gets to live while their son's life ended all too soon. Can they find solace through their support group, or is revenge their only path to finding peace? The thing is, killing the son of the city's most notorious mobster has consequences. We all have a dark side, and once we set aside our better angels to let loose our inner demons, there's no turning back.

The first time she is blindfolded and kidnapped, star-athlete and posh boarding school newbie Sadie is terrified. She wakes up in a dark room surrounded by hushed whispers, hooded strangers, and a mysterious voice whispering not-so-sweet nothings in her ear. But once the robes come off, she realizes it's just an elaborate prank designed to induct her into the group that's been pulling the strings at Keating Hall for generations. The circle has it all--incredible connections; fabulous parties; and, of course, an in with the brother society's gorgeous pledges. The instant popularity is enough to make Sadie forget about the unexplained marks on her body, the creepy ceremonial rituals, and the incident that befell one of her teammates the year before. So the next time Sadie is kidnapped, she isn't scared, but she should be. The worst of Keating Hall is yet to come.

Before the 99% occupied Wall Street... Before the concept of social justice had impinged on the social conscience... Before the social safety net had even been conceived... By the turn of the 20th Century, the era of the robber barons, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) had already accumulated a staggeringly large fortune; he was one of the wealthiest people on the globe. He guaranteed his position as one of the wealthiest men ever when he sold his steel business to create the United States Steel Corporation. Following that sale, he spent his last 18 years, he gave away nearly 90% of his fortune to charities, foundations, and universities. His charitable efforts actually started far earlier. At the age of 33, he wrote a memo to himself, noting ..".The amassing of wealth is one of the worse species of idolatry. No idol more debasing than the worship of money." In 1881, he gave a library to his hometown of Dunfermline, Scotland. In 1889, he spelled out his belief that the rich should use their wealth to help enrich society, in an article called "The Gospel of Wealth" this book. Carnegie writes that the best way of dealing with wealth inequality is for the wealthy to redistribute their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner, arguing that surplus wealth produces the greatest net benefit to society when it is administered carefully by the wealthy. He also argues against extravagance, irresponsible spending, or self-indulgence, instead promoting the administration of capital during one's lifetime toward the cause of reducing the stratification between the rich and poor. Though written more than a century ago, Carnegie's words still ring true today, urging a better, more equitable world through greater social consciousness.