Books published by Open Road Media

This complex and lyrical coming-of-age novel portrays the messiness of teenage life as V learns to confront her problems. Virginia ';V' Dunn is alone when a hit-and-run accident leaves her dog, Lucky, bleeding and helpless. Suddenly, the monotony of her suburban life dissolves: Lucky is in a cast, her best friend is avoiding her, her mother's drinking is getting worse, and her father is sick with a mysterious illness. Although V is surrounded by family, she is the loneliest girl in town. In her search for answers to life's difficult questionsabout death, friendship, family and betrayalV is floundering. Until she meets the captivating Jane. But her new love also leads to confusion, until V realizes the only way forward is to dive in, even if it means breaking every rule. Acclaimed author Stacey Donovan's thought-provoking novel, Dive is filled with the poetry, drama, and beauty of young love, and touches on the importance of finding out who you really are.

Ex-government agent Frank Compton must keep an extraordinary little girl safe from the malevolent group intelligence seeking to enslave the universe in the explosive third installment of Hugo Awardwinning author Timothy Zahn's Quadrail series Frank Compton is glad he's finally back on his home planet of Earthgalaxy-hopping aboard the Quadrail on his continuing mission to prevent the Modhri group mind from ruling the universe is exhausting businessbut hadn't expected to find a young woman waiting for him in his New York apartment with a loaded gun in her hand. Ignoring her demands that he rescue her 10-year-old sister, the former Western Alliance Intelligence agent sends his unwelcome guest packingonly to find himself under arrest the following day for her brutal murder. Released on bail and determined to do the right thing, Compton makes tracks for the world of New Tigris. But a captive child is not all that he discovers there: Little Rebekah may also hold the key to the ultimate defeat of the Modhri. Suddenly, keeping one small girl safe is the most importantand dangeroustask Compton has ever undertaken. And with the Modhris' mind-slave ';walkers' everywhere, there may be no safe place for an ';abomination' and her protector to hide.

Former agent Frank Compton races across the galaxy to prevent an evil group mind from acquiring powerful alien artifacts in the action-packed second installment of the Quadrail series from Hugo Awardwinning author Timothy Zahn Frank Compton saved the universe onceand for that he must die. Having temporarily stalled the Modhri, a sinister alien group intelligence, in its evil schemes for universal domination, the former Western Alliance Intelligence operative just wants to relax in first class with his stunning, half-human partner, Bayta, aboard the worlds-linking intra-galactic transportation system, the Quadrail. But when their peace is disturbed by an annoying human passenger spinning wild tales of alien art objects, and the pest is discovered dead soon after, Compton and Bayta realize there can be no rest. The galaxy remains in grave danger. Now on a mission to find ancient sculptures, relics of a long-extinct alien civilization, Compton must elude a relentless special agent who believes him to be a murderer. But that's only the tip of the iceberg, for everything ties into the Modhri's secret war against all the planets along the Quadrail linesand the enemy's unique ability to enslave the minds of every creature it comes into contact with means an assassin could be anywhere... or anyone.

A secret agent aboard a galactic railroad must derail a sinister conspiracy in this ';rip-roaring' thriller by the author of Star Wars: Thrawn (Publishers Weekly). The universe is a dangerous place, a fact violently brought home to Frank Compton for perhaps the thousandth time when a stranger delivering a message dies right in front of him. An operative for Western Alliance Intelligence until his whistle-blowing activities got him fired, Compton is now being sought out by the Spiders, the robotic alien beings responsible for the upkeep and operation of the Quadrail transportation system, which connects the galaxy's twelve inhabited empires. The discovery of a sinister plot to use the Quadrail for ill has brought the Spiders to Comptonfor only someone possessing the former agent's unique skills can stop the scheme for good. But when Compton leaves Earth behindjoining forces with Bayta, the Spiders' beautiful, half-human representative aboard the Quadrailthe terrifying scope of a vast, galaxy-wide conspiracy begins to reveal itself. Targeted on all sides by alien assassins of every shape and species, Compton and his enigmatic new partner are suddenly in a race against a clock ticking down to an irreversible doomsday, one in which the galactic night train will derail, carrying all members of humanity screaming to their deaths. The first in the Quadrail series from the Hugo Awardwinning author of Blackcollar and many New York Timesbestselling Star Wars novels, Night Train to Rigel is an action-packed ';great read' (Booklist).

A Harvard reunion prompts a Boston Brahmin's search for meaningin thiscomedy of manners by the #1 New York Timesbestselling author of Point of No Return. In preparation for the twenty-fifth reunion of his class at Harvard, Harry Pulham is asked to collect and edit the personal histories of his fellow alumni. A glance at the previous year's class book tells him just how tedious the assignment will be: ';I have been very busy all this time practising corporation law and trying to raise a family,' a typical entry reads. ';I still like to go to the football games and cheer for Harvard.' Harry's autobiography is almost indistinguishable from those of his classmates. From his career at a Boston investment firm to his marriage to childhood friend Kay Motford, he has always made the safe, familiar choicewith one exception. For a brief interlude after World War I, Harry joined an advertising agency in Manhattan and fell in love with a beautiful, independent woman unlike anyone he had ever met. A wholly unexpected future opened up for him in those few months, but when family obligations called him back to New England, the relationship came to a sudden end. Now, twenty years later, Harry believes that his story could not have turned out any other way. A clever satire that achieves heartbreaking poignancy,H. M. Pulham, Esquireis a masterpiece from the author declared by theNew York Timesto be ';our foremost fictional chronicler of the well-born.'

The definitive collection from a groundbreaking Native American poet whose work traces the fault lines between past and present, real and surreal, comedy and tragedy to unveil a transcendent new vision of the world Hailed by the Bloomsbury Review as ';the nation's foremost contemporary Native American poet' and by Sherman Alexie as ';the best poet in Indian Country,' Ray Young Bear draws on ancient Meskwaki tradition and modern popular culture to create poems that provoke, astound, and heal. This indispensable volume, which contains three previously published collectionsWinter of the Salamander (1979), The Invisible Musician (1990), and The Rock Island Hiking Club (2001)as well as Manifestation Wolverine, a brilliant series of new pieces inspired by animistic beliefs, a Lazy-Boy recliner, and the word songs Young Bear sang to his children, is a testament to the singularity of the poet's talent and the astonishing range of his voice.

In a new town, Dovi's family befriends a young boy who was abandoned at their restaurant Dovi Chandler collects yearbooks. She has them from all over the country: mementos of every time her parents uprooted her to a new town, and a new crackpot business venture. They've managed apartment houses, tried to save failing bookstores, even sold Tupperware, but all it's ever gotten them is debt and a new yearbook for Dovi to add to the pile. It's not until her parents take over the Pig-Out Inn that Dovi feels ready to put down roots. It's just another truck-stop diner, but to Dovi it's homeand she soon discovers that she and her family aren't the only ones living there. Hiding out in 1 of the cabins is a 9-year-old boy named Tag. He was stashed there by his father, who is negotiating a painful divorce. Tag is an entrepreneurial genius, and his brilliant business schemes will offer Dovi and her mother a chance to make the Pig-Out Inn a successand learn the true meaning of family.

A young girl fleeing Hitler takes refuge in Shanghai, where she learns that she must fight to survive Throughout tomboy Ilse's childhood, her mother has tried to force her to behave like a proper Austrian lady. But when Hitler annexes their country, the family flees, boarding a packed freighter and sailing around the world in search of a safe harbor. The United States refuses to take them, so they proceed to China and make a new home in steamy, mysterious Shanghai. Their lodgings are cramped, money is tight, and Ilse's father cannot find workbut Ilse is enchanted by the city's international flavor. In Shanghai's shadows she finds the adventure of a lifetime. When the Japanese occupy the city, Ilse and her brother begin working in an underground resistance cell. Each day, the city grows more dangerous, and Ilse must lie, cheat, and steal in order for her family to eat. She is a long way from Austria, but she will do whatever it takes to survive.

An angry teenager is sucked into a gang of neo-Nazis Dan shows up on his first day at a new school with long blond hair, John Lennon glasses, and a shy grin that makes every girl in the hallway swoon. But he only has eyes for Laurel, who's in his English class. Laurel stirs feelings in Dan that he never knew existed, and suddenly, he understands love. Soon, he will understand hate as well. When a gang of violent young men invades the annual Halloween party, most of Laurel's friends stay away. The men are white supremacists with shaved heads, steel-toed boots, and a look in their eyes that says they're ready to fight. But something in their attitude draws Dan toward them. He's angry at the world, and these skinheads seem to understand how he feels. As he sinks deeper into their twisted world of hate and rage, Dan risks losing not only Laurel, but also his soul.

A spunky young girl forms an unlikely friendship with a dying Chinese man while living in a group home For Greta, having light and carefree Hackey hanging around her mom is a lot more fun than having an ordinary dad. But Hackey isn't her fatherhe's more like a pimp, and no matter how friendly he is, he still treats Greta's mom like dirt. When the situation at home goes from bad to worse, Greta is moved into a home for at-risk children where she meets some of the most interesting girls she has ever knownand a shy young boy named Wing. Greta's riding a San Francisco cable car when she notices Wing carrying a huge basket of delicious-smelling food. It's for his grandfather, Old Man, who is dying in the Chinese hospital. Although they don't speak the same language, Greta and Old Man will become fast friendstwo survivors, who refuse to give up on life.

A terminally ill teenager is forced to choose between her religion and her life Adam doesn't think much of it when Miriam faints in class. She's an oddball, a student who hardly talks, never makes eye contact, and wears clothes that seem straight out of the 19th century. She says she's fine, and he wants to believe her. But when she passes out while they're working on an English assignment, Adam takes Miriam to the last place she wants to go: the hospital. Miriam has bone cancer. She believes that God will heal her, but if He doesn't, she plans to let herself die. Miriam is a member of a devout religious sect in which women have little power and medicine is strictly forbidden. In order for Miriam to forgo treatment, Adam's father sues the state on her behalfeven as Adam himself tries to convince her to accept the doctors' help. As her illness rages on, Miriam will teach Adam the meaning of love and faithand he will give her a reason to live.

Hailed by the Western Writers of America as one of the top twenty-five Westerns ever written: The harrowing story of an innocent young man pursued across west Texas by a relentless posse A crack shot more skilled with a rifle than are men twice his age, eighteen-year-old Tot Lohman has no intention of using his genius for evil. But when a fight erupts at a schoolhouse dance, Lohman is forced to defend himself, and a young rancher named Shorty Boyd winds up dead. The Boyds are numerous, powerful, and vicious, and they want revenge. With no one else to turn to, Lohman sets out across canyon country to reunite with his ailing father in New Mexico Territory. The journey will be long, hot, and perilous, and to survive it, this mild-mannered boy must become the cold-blooded killer he never wanted to be. Based on real events,The Hell Bent Kidis a tale of pursuit as stark and mesmerizing as the Southwestern landscape in which it is set. Unrelenting from first page to last, it ranks alongsideThe Ox-Bow Incident,True Grit, andThe Searchersas one of the most unique and artful stories of the West ever told. In 1958 it was adapted into the filmFrom Hell to Texas, directed by the famed Henry Hathaway and starring Don Murray, Diane Varsi, Chill Wills, and Dennis Hopper.

In a ';wonderfully crafted' supernatural thriller by the New York Timesbestselling author of The Art Forger, a forensic psychologist fights for her child (Robert B. Parker).Blind Spot is a supernatural thriller set in an upscale suburb of Boston. It opens as forensic psychologist Suki Jacobsa single mother struggling with a big mortgage and an ex-husband in New Zealandreceives a phone call from the police informing her that her seventeen-year-old daughter, Alexa, is at the station, claiming that her ex-boyfriend, Jonah, has been murdered. Upon further investigation, Jonah is found alive, healthy, and playing basketball. But when Jonah is killed in a drive-by shooting the next day, Alexa becomes the prime suspect. Now Suki is plunged into a fight for her daughter's life as well as a struggle over what isand isn'tpossible. This story of a mother-daughter relationship caught in the crossfire of modern life, kids with too much knowledge of the world, and adults with too little, is a vision of all that is possible if we are willing to take off our blinders.

A New England academic uncovers a dangerous world of witches in this ';engrossing' thriller from the New York Timesbestselling author of The Art Forger (Mystery News).See No Evil is a supernatural thriller about witchcraft, reincarnation, and murder in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The story opens as Lauren Freeman touches the worn leather binding of The Chronicle of the Coven. She sees a flash of knives and hears a strange chorus of voices in her head. Lauren is undeterred. A newly divorced single mother, she is a graduate student in history writing a book about American witch trials with her professor Jackie Pappas. Lauren needs the money the book will bring. Its focus is a mysterious event that took place in 1692 when seven convicted ';witches' vanished from their prison cells on the eve of their executions and were never seen again. Lauren and Jackie's research begins to uncover bizarre reports. Then, suddenly, Jackie is dead, and Lauren is left to write their book alone. Lauren knows that Jackie was murdered and that if she is not careful, she will be next. Lauren's battle to avenge Jackie's death and save her own life takes her from Wiccan festivals to ancient cemeteries to the bowels of dark libraries. After her son's kidnapping, multiple murder attempts, and a chase through labyrinthine subway tunnels, Lauren finally confronts the perpetrator of these horrific events and acknowledges that, even in the everyday, things are often not as they seem.

A preCivil War era murder haunts a present-day family in this atmospheric suspense novel by the New York Timesbestselling author of The Art Forger. How long can murder haunt a family? Until the wrong is put right and the victim is able to rest in peace. Set in Lexington, Massachusetts, The Safe Room is a story of such a murder and such a haunting. A psychological thriller, the tale toggles between the eve of the Civil War and present day. It follows the doomed love affair of Silas Person, a runaway slave riding the Underground Railroad, and Sarah Harden, the daughter of a famous abolitionist. Sarah and Silas's story is intertwined with that of Lee Seymour, a modern-day descendant of the Harden family who must suddenly grapple with a world in which murder and ghosts are all too real.The Safe Room is a suspenseful tale that employs love and the paranormal to explore the ugliness of injustice and the beauty of human hope.

When a husband convinces his wife to join him in a tryst with another woman, there are unintended consequences in this sharply observed erotic tale about the challenges of modern marriage As a divorce lawyer for Manhattan's elite, David Greenfield is privy to the intimate, dirty details of failed marriages. He knows he's lucky to be married to Blaira Barnard dean and the mother of their college-age daughter, she is a woman he loves more today than he did when they tied the knot. Then seductive photographer Jean Coin asks David to be her lover for 6 weeks, until she leaves for Timbuktu. Tempted, David reasons that ';it's not cheating if your wife's there.' A 1-night threesome would relieve the pressure of monogamy without wrecking their marriage. What harm could come of fulfilling his longtime sexual fantasy?

A young widow is haunted by the past in this ';fast paced ... hauntingly original' thriller from the New York Timesbestselling author of The Art Forger (Mystery News). After the tragic death of her husband of less than two years, Lindsey sells her house in the suburbs and moves into a renovated townhouse in the city, only to discover that an earlier tenantover one hundred years earlierapparently still lives on the premises. Lindsey wants to start over, but she is haunted by her past, by unfathomable guiltand perhaps by a ghost.Shattered Echoes is a psychological thriller about murder, madness, and the supernatural in Boston's historic Back Bay.

A Boston psychologist fights for her lifeand her unborn childin this ';compelling' thriller from the New York Timesbestselling author of The Art Forger (Boston Herald). In Blameless, a psychological thriller set in Boston's Back Bay, psychologist Diana Marcus must fight to save her good name, career, and marriage when a patient, James Hutchinswho suffers from borderline personality disordercommits suicide, and his family files charges of malpractice, sexual abuse, and wrongful death against her. Although she is far from blameless, Diana clears her name by proving that James did not commit suicidea revelation that throws her into a battle for her life, as well as that of her unborn child, when she becomes the prime suspect in James's murderand perhaps the real murderer's next victim.

In this twisting time-travel thriller, a woman faints on the eve of her weddingand awakens at the turn of the century in her grandmother's body ... The night before she is supposed to get married, Shay Garrett has no idea that a glimpse into her grandmother's antique Chinese mirror will completely transform her seemingly ordinary life. But after a bizarre blackout, she wakes up to find herself in the same housebut in the year 1900. Even stranger, she realizes she is now living in the body of her grandmother, Brandy McCabe, as a young woman. Meanwhile, Brandy, having looked into the same mirror, awakens in Shay's body in the present dayand discovers herself pregnant. As Rachaelthe woman who links these two generations, mother to one and daughter to anotherweaves back and forth between two time periods, this imaginative thriller explores questions of family, identity, and love. Courageous, compassionate Shay finds herself fighting against the confines of a society still decades away from women's liberation, while Brandy struggles to adapt to the modern world she has suddenly been thrust into. The truth behind this inexplicable turn of events is more complex than either woman can imagineand The Mirror is a tribute to the triumph of the female spirit, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. ';What happens will surprise you. In the meantime, settle down for a good read.' The Denver Post

This novel by the New York Timesbestselling ';master of alternate history' explores an America reshaped by a twist in prehistoric evolution (Publishers Weekly). What if mankind's ';missing link,' the apelike Homo erectus, had survived to dominate a North American continent where woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers still prowled, while the more advanced Homo sapiens built their civilizations elsewhere? Now imagine that the Europeans arriving in the New World had chanced on these primitive creatures and seized the opportunity to establish a hierarchy in which the sapiens were masters and the ';sims' were their slaves. This is the premise that drives the incomparable Harry Turtledove'sA Different Flesh. The acclaimed Hugo Award winner creates an alternate America that spans three hundred years of invented history. From the Jamestown colonists' desperate hunt for a human infant kidnapped by a local sim tribe, to a late-eighteenth-century contest between a newfangled steam-engine train and the popular hairy-elephant-pulled model, to the sim-rights activists' daring 1988 rescue of an unfortunate biped named Matt who's being used for animal experimentation, Turtledove turns our world inside out in a remarkable science fiction masterwork that explores what it truly means to be human.

From the New York Timesbestselling ';standard-bearer for alternate history': A spy takes on the enemies of the Byzantine Empire (USA Today). In another, very different timelineone in which Mohammed embraced Christianity and Islam never came to bethe Byzantine Empire still flourishes in the fourteenth century, and wondrous technologies are emerging earlier than they did in our own. Having lost his family to the ravages of smallpox, Basil Argyros has decided to dedicate his life to Byzantium. A stalwart soldier and able secret agent, Basil serves his emperor courageously, going undercover to unearth Persia's dastardly plots and disrupting the dark machinations of his beautiful archenemy, the Persian spy Mirrane, while defusing dire threats emerging from the Western realm of the Franco-Saxons. But the world Basil so staunchly defends is changing rapidly, and he must remain ever vigilant, for in this great game of empires, the player who controls the most advanced tools and weaponrytools like gunpowder, printing, vaccines, and telescopesmust certainly emerge victorious. A collection of interlocking stories that showcase the courage, ingenuity, and breathtaking derring-do of superspy Basil Argyros,Agent of Byzantiumpresents the great Harry Turtledove at his alternate-world-building best. At once intricate, exciting, witty, and wildly inventive, this is a many-faceted gem from a master of the genre.

A dog trainer-turned-PI and her pit bull go after a killerwith a little help from a courageous dachshundin this mystery by a Shamus Award winner. Rachel and Dash have a new client. Well,threenew clients. A trio of transvestite working girls want Rachel to investigate the death of one of their own. Rosalinda's throat was slashed on Halloween right after the Greenwich Village parade. Finding her killer isn't exactly the NYPD's top priorityand LaDonna, Chi Chi, and Jasmine are terrified that they'll be next. With her cash retainer in handand very few leadsRachel starts digging. What is the connection between Rosalinda and a dead butcher? Soon, with the help of Chi Chi's mini-dachshund, Clint, Rachel is breaking into a plant in the Meatpacking District. But her future is suddenly on the line when she sets herself up as bait to catch the killer. As Rachel follows a twisting trail with only Dash for protection, she discovers that her foray into ';the life' could end with her own untimely death. The Long Good Boy is the 6th book in the Rachel Alexander and Dash Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Someone is killing off the great dog trainers of the worldand it's up to PI Rachel Alexander and her pit bull, Dash, to collar the murderer Rachel has just been hired as undercover security at a dog-training symposium at a posh Manhattan hotel. How can the Greenwich Village PI and her pit bull, Dashiell, turn down the hefty fee, plus free room and biscuits at the Ritz? All Rachel has to do is keep the peace among the competitive diva dog trainers who have come with their prize pooches from all corners of the globe. She and Dash have barely infiltrated the festivities when they find out that one of the trainers, the self-proclaimed guru of a controversial obedience technique, has been electrocuted in his bathtub. The cops are calling it an accident. Until another trainer dies... and then another. With suspects including a dog psychic and a behaviorist to the stars, Rachel discovers that it's the humans who need to be housebroken as she and Dash bring a serial killer to heel.A Hell of a Dogis the 3rd book in the Rachel Alexander and Dash Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

The path to enlightenment is fraught with danger when Greenwich Village PI Rachel Alexander and her pit bull, Dash, investigate the death of a tai chi practitioner Did she jump or was she pushed? Devastated by the loss of their only child, David and Marsha Jacobs hire Rachel to find out why Lisa leaped to her death from the fifth-floor window of her martial arts studio. The tai chi instructor, who was studying to be a Zen Buddhist priest, seemed to have it all: beauty, brains, a vocation she adored, a sexy loverand her beautiful, sad-eyed Akita, who may have been the only witness to her death and is still grieving the loss of his mistress. Refusing to believe that Lisa would abandon her beloved petand with only a suspicious suicide note to go onRachel and her canine assistant, Dash, hit the streets of downtown New York, retracing the dead woman's steps to figure out whether she was yin to a killer's yang.The Dog Who Knew Too Muchis the 2nd book in the Rachel Alexander and Dash Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

For a girl who doesn't have much time, every infinitesimal moment counts Brianna is a math whiz. She's almost certain to be admitted to MITthat is, if she survives to see her nineteenth birthday. Brianna has cystic fibrosis, and after her friend Molly died six months ago, it's hard for Brianna to let go of the feeling that she's next. Numbers make sense to Briannathey give her something to think about besides her own crummy odds. To her great surprise, it is in math class that she discovers the infinity that exists between eighteen and nineteen. Poignant and true, this story of one extraordinary teenage life is riveting. WithForever Changes, Brendan Halpin has crafted an unparalleled protagonist who will leave an indelible mark on readers.

Winner of the Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel: In the first book of Carol Lea Benjamin's acclaimed mystery series, Greenwich Village PI Rachel Alexander and her loyal pit bull must find a killer and a missing show dog Divorced dog trainerturnedprivate-eye Rachel Alexander and her canine assistant Dashshort for Dashiellare hired by a man named Dennis Keaton to investigate the hit-and-run death of his friend and neighbor Clifford Cole, whose body was found on an isolated Christopher Street pier. The police are treating the gay painter's suspicious death as a hate crime, but Dennis insists Cliff hadn't cruised the waterfront in months. Plus, Magritte, Cliff's champion basenjia competitor in the upcoming Westminster Dog Showmay have been a witness to the crime and is now missing. The search for answers takes Rachel and Dash from the SoHo art scene to the most famous dog show in America. Now Rachel is in the sights of a killer hunting her across a treacherous urban landscape. There's no one she can trustespecially not of the two-legged variety.This Dog for Hire is the 1st book in the Rachel Alexander and Dash Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

This brilliant crime novel by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson is set in the Caribbean, where a researcher becomes trapped like a rodent in a maze When it comes to his rats, David Foxe is an expert. He decides when they eat, when they exercise, when they take their medicineand when they die. For the sake of the Company, he performs all manner of experiments on his helpless subjects, testing various drugs designed to improve the animals' nature. After a particularly grueling series of tests, he is sent on a working vacation to the Southward Islands. This Caribbean paradise is ruled by the shadowy dictator Dr. Trotter, who is said to possess demonic power and whose mother is rumored to be a witch. Foxe may be a man of science, but he now finds himself in a world governed by the occult. When a dead body is discovered in his island laboratory, Foxe becomes the key suspect and is taken prisoner. The only way to clear his name is to carry out experiments on his fellow inmates. Amid radical insurgents, crazed prisoners, and a crumbling dictatorship, Foxe must now escape this most dangerous experiment of all.

In this evocative tale of suspense from CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson, a British diplomat's wife in Nigeria inadvertently precipitates a senseless tragedy, and six decades later, her son becomes caught up in a maelstrom of violent political corruption Filmmaker Nigel Jackland has come to northern Nigeria to work on a new project: a documentary based on the personal diary entries of his mother. Sixty years have passed since Betty Jackland first accompanied her husband, Ted, to this colonial African backwater, resolving to be a perfect helpmate and wife to Britain's district officer in the emirate of Kiti. But Betty's fascination with the local Kitawa tribe, innate sense of justice, and irrepressibly independent spirit mean she could never turn a blind eye to the suffering of oppressed womenparticularly the abused wives of the ruling emir. She never imagined that her strong words and actions could have violent consequences in the shadow of Tefuga Hillor that the echoes of the tragedy would resound dangerously in the life of her own son many years on. Linking two stories separated by more than half a century and relating them in alternating chapters, Tefuga is an enthralling, evocative, and suspenseful tale of corruption, imperialism, race, and murder. A master of both style and substance, Dickinson brilliantly re-creates times and places in stunning detail, transporting readers to an Africa so remarkably realistic they can almost feel the equatorial winds on their faces.

The twisted circumstances surrounding an unspeakable crime, an old man's fortune, and a production of Shakespeare's The Tempest come to light four decades on in this masterful tale of greed, deception, and murder by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson Behind his practiced facade of cheerful sophistication, the renowned actor Adrian Waring is a haunted man. The ghost that torments him is from an earlier era, when a world war raged and Adrian was still Andrew, the guest and possible heir of his rich uncle, Arnold Wragge. Wragge had returned from the diamond mines of South Africa with a fortune and a loyal servant named Samuel Mkele, and when his own son vanished, presumably in the smoke of combat, the old man looked to his poor relation as a potential replacement. Andrew's true interests lay elsewhere, however, in applause and the attentions of eager young ladies, both of which he realized he could have by starring in his cousin's amateur production of The Tempest. But young Andrew's fledgling theatrics would prove merely to be the opening act of a horrific human tragedy, forcing him to keep a terrible truth locked inside himselfeven four decades after a body was discovered hanging from a perfect dovecote gallows... A master practitioner of the literary art of mystery and murder, author Peter Dickinson stands tall alongside P. D. James, Ruth Rendell, Reginald Hill, and other luminaries of contemporary British crime fiction. A brilliant innovator unafraid to tamper with the rules of genre, he is at the very top of his game with this gripping, twisting, and altogether remarkable psychological thriller.

In this gripping novel by CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Dickinson, the survivor of a manor-house crime delves into the past to solve a mystery At the elegant English manor known as Snailwood, tourists come daily to hear decades-old gossip about the second wife of the sixth earl. Zena was a remarkable young woman whose scandalous reputation has been dimmed neither by time nor by her bizarre death. In the 1930s, Zena was the star of a notorious party set whose members included playwrights, politicians, and Nazi sympathizers. They passed wild weekends at Snailwood, arguing about politics and drinking until dawn. At the center of their parties was the manor's magnificent tower clock. The clock stopped long ago, but the darkness of its legacy continues to spread. When a workman offers to fix the clock for free, the only remaining survivor of the old days is forced to revisit her memories of Zena's last mad party, when death came to Snailwood and Britain changed forever.