When the other members of the Pep Squad Mystery Club begin to disappear after a gang of vile criminals escape police custody, sisters Kristen and Kelly Hobbs jump into action. Can they manage to rescue their friends and foil "THE BANK ROBBER'S REVENGE?" Pep Squad Mysteries is a series of mystery chapter book adventures aimed at preteen readers and up.

A series of UFO sightings sends The Pep Squad Mystery Club into danger. Between strange lights in the sky and aliens in a forest, the brave cheerleaders struggle to stop the FLIGHT OF THE FLYING SAUCER. Pep Squad Mysteries is a series of mystery chapter book adventures aimed at preteen readers and up.

When the cheerleaders of Sea City High School, aka the Pep Squad Mystery Club, hit the beach for the city's annual volleyball tournaments, it quickly turns into a treasure hunt for lost gold and jewels. Avoiding deadly perils and with greedy treasure hunter hot on their trail, can the six teen detectives save the day and avoid the PERIL AT PIRATE'S COVE? Pep Squad Mysteries is a series of individual mystery chapter book adventures aimed at preteen readers and up.

The Sea City High School cheerleaders' big costume party decorating plans quickly go awry when a headless ghost interrupts the proceedings. Can the Pep Squad Mystery Club track down the phantom and prevent CHAOS BEFORE THE COSTUME PARTY? Pep Squad Mysteries is a series of individual mystery chapter book adventures aimed at preteen readers and up.

We call it justice—the assassination of Osama bin Laden, the incarceration of corrupt politicians or financiers like Rod Blagojevich and Bernard Madoff, and the climactic slaying of cinema-screen villains by superheroes. But could we not also call it revenge? We are told that revenge is uncivilized and immoral, an impulse that individuals and societies should actively repress and replace with the order and codes of courtroom justice. What, if anything, distinguishes punishment at the hands of the government from a victim’s individual desire for retribution? Are vengeance and justice really so very different? No, answers legal scholar and novelist Thane Rosenbaum in Payback: The Case for Revenge—revenge is, in fact, indistinguishable from justice. Revenge, Rosenbaum argues, is not the problem. It is, in fact, a perfectly healthy emotion. Instead, the problem is the inadequacy of lawful outlets through which to express it. He mounts a case for legal systems to punish the guilty commensurate with their crimes as part of a societal moral duty to satisfy the needs of victims to feel avenged. Indeed, the legal system would better serve the public if it gave victims the sense that vengeance was being done on their behalf. Drawing on a wide range of support, from recent studies in behavioral psychology and neuroeconomics, to stories of vengeance and justice denied, to revenge practices from around the world, to the way in which revenge tales have permeated popular culture—including Hamlet, The Godfather, and Braveheart—Rosenbaum demonstrates that vengeance needs to be more openly and honestly discussed and lawfully practiced. Fiercely argued and highly engaging, Payback is a provocative and eye-opening cultural tour of revenge and its rewards—from Shakespeare to The Sopranos. It liberates revenge from its social stigma and proves that vengeance is indeed ours, a perfectly human and acceptable response to moral injury. Rosenbaum deftly persuades us to reconsider a misunderstood subject and, along the way, reinvigorates the debate on the shape of justice in the modern world.

“Much like Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, M. L. Rio’s sparkling debut is a richly layered story of love, friendship, and obsession...will keep you riveted through its final, electrifying moments.” —Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Nest "Nerdily (and winningly) in love with Shakespeare...Readable, smart.” —New York Times Book Review On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it. A decade ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extras. But in their fourth and final year, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make-believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent. If We Were Villains was named one of Bustle's Best Thriller Novels of the Year, and Mystery Scene says, "A well-written and gripping ode to the stage...A fascinating, unorthodox take on rivalry, friendship, and truth."

Los Angeles magazine is a regional magazine of national stature. Our combination of award-winning feature writing, investigative reporting, service journalism, and design covers the people, lifestyle, culture, entertainment, fashion, art and architecture, and news that define Southern California. Started in the spring of 1961, Los Angeles magazine has been addressing the needs and interests of our region for 48 years. The magazine continues to be the definitive resource for an affluent population that is intensely interested in a lifestyle that is uniquely Southern Californian.

A killer is watching... Thirteen years ago, Winter Black came home early from a sleepover to find her parents brutally murdered and her little brother gone-taken by a serial killer called The Preacher. Now a rookie FBI agent assigned to her first murder case, Winter has returned to the small Virginia town where she grew up. But when bones found by a hunter lead to the discovery of a secret burial ground containing the remains of children, the investigation suddenly hits close to home as the past and future collide with each new shocking discovery. Will they find her brother's bones in the makeshift graveyard next? Only The Preacher knows, and he'll do anything to keep the past-and its secrets-buried until he's ready to make his final move. A masterfully conceived psychological thriller reminiscent of Lisa Jackson, Harlan Coben, and Karin Slaughter, Winter's Mourn will keep readers turning the pages-and watching the window-long past midnight.