Books published by Open Road Media

A copycat crime on Groundhog Day brings out Professor Peter Shandy's inner sleuth in this Edgar Award finalist from the international bestselling author. The rural town of Balaclava greets Groundhog Day as an excuse for one last cold-weather fling. The students and faculty of the local agricultural college drink cocoa, throw snowballs, and when the temperature allows, ice skate. But Oozak's Pond is not quite frozen this year, and as the celebrations reach their peak, the students see someone bobbing through the ice. Long past help, the drowning victim is badly decomposed and dressed in an old-fashioned frock coat with a heavy rock in each pocket. First on the scene is Peter Shandy, horticulturalist and-when the college requires it-detective. But solving this nineteenth-century murder mystery will take more than Shandy's knack for growing rutabagas. Relying on his wife's expertise in local history, the professor dives headfirst into a gilded-age whodunit that cloaks secrets potent enough to kill.

An aging stripper's fresh corpse turns up in an old family tomb at Boston Common in this "first-rate suspense whodunit" (The Cincinnati Post). Like many old New England families, the Kellings live to die. Although their family vault is spacious and comfortable, it will not do for Sarah Kelling's Great-Uncle Frederick. In his will, he demands to be buried inside the ancient family tomb at Boston Common, which hasn't admitted a new member in over a century. But when the Kellings crack the old vault's door, they find a recently built brick wall-and behind it lays a surprisingly fresh corpse, a skeleton with rubies in its teeth. Her name was Ruby Redd, and many years ago she was the toast of Boston's burlesque scene. Her murder case is ice cold, but when Sarah begins investigating it, she finds that the fiery passions behind Ruby's death still burn white hot. With the help of art-fraud investigator Max Bittersohn, Sarah will solve the mystery of the stripper's murder-or take her own place in the family vault.

An exciting figure among the avant-garde of Paris in the 1920s, Caresse Crosby is little known today. She and her husband Harry founded the Black Sun Press, early publishers of such titans as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, D. H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound, and James Joyce. This flamboyant chapter of her life ended when Harry and his lover shot themselves in a sensational suicide pact. Caresse was thirty-six. Ever resilient, Caresse lived and loved another forty years, consorted with some two hundred lovers, married again, and established a refuge in Virginia for uprooted artists like Salvador Dali and Henry Miller. In response to the atom bomb, she declared herself a citizen-of-the-world and organized Women Against War, furthering a worldwide peace movement. In her later years, she bought a feudal castle in Italy—“Castello de Rocca Sinibalda”—to provide a home for artists and pacifists. She died there in 1970.

"The great hurricane that devastated Galveston in 1900 is the centerpiece of [this] tightly knit novel. The writing is powerful. A fine work, integrating nature with character." -The Horn Book, starred review "Nelson's strong sense of place, poetic style and inspired characterization make this far more than just an enthralling adventure." -Kirkus Reviews

Secret Vaults of Time is the acknowledged classic in its field. As described by Publishers Weekly: “Schwartz’s compelling and cogent book is new evidence that the thinking and writing on things psychic has . . . attained a maturity that commands the most serious attention.” It covers 100 years of research around the world involving the use of remote viewing in archaeology.

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of 1984 tells you what you need to know—before or after you read George Orwell’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of 1984 includes:Historical contextChapter-by-chapter overviewsCharacter analysisImportant quotesFascinating triviaGlossary of termsSupporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About 1984 by George Orwell: George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 is a cautionary tale about a dystopian society under the crushing and watchful eye of a tyrannical regime led by Big Brother. The dark story revolves around Winston Smith, an everyman who is tired of the government’s lies and relentless persecution of people who dare think for themselves. He manages to find the strength to stand up to a totalitarian system and, in the process, finds love and affection in a world where both have been deemed obsolete. Originally published in 1949, Orwell’s 1984 is a masterpiece of modern fiction and one of the most enduring and influential books of the twentieth century. The summary and analysis in this book are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of fiction.

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of The Sixth Extinction tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Elizabeth Kolbert’s book.Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert includes:Historical contextChapter-by-chapter overviewsDetailed timeline of key eventsImportant quotesFascinating triviaGlossary of termsSupporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert: Our planet has endured five events of mass extinction, from centuries of catastrophic heating and cooling to the asteroid that fell to earth and ended the Cretaceous Period. We are currently facing the sixth extinction, and this time the human species is to blame. Elizabeth Kolbert travels the world and meets with scientists who are grappling with the ecological outcomes of human activity. Her Pulitzer Prize–winning modern science classic tells the stories of thirteen different species that have already disappeared or are on the brink of extinction as a result of human activity. A captivating blend of research and historical anecdotes enlightens readers about the unintentional consequences of our behaviors, from climate change and global warming to invasive species and overexploitation. The summary and analysis in this book are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.

So much to read, so little time? Get a brief overview of The Innovator’s Dilemma—the bestselling business book about disruption and how companies adapt. Named one of the most important business books ever written by the Economist and the winner of the Global Business Book Award, The Innovator’s Dilemma uses true stories of the successes and failures of prominent companies to analyze why great firms fail when faced with critical market and technological innovation. In this summary of Clayton Christensen’s book for entrepreneurs, managers, CEOs, and business leaders, you’ll learn: Why sometimes “doing the right thing” can be the wrong thing, especially when faced with disruptive technologyWhy most companies, even good ones, struggle to adapt their business practicesWhat executives can do to ensure both the short-term health and long-term survival of their organizations With historical context, chapter-by-chapter overviews, important quotes, definitions of key terms, and other features, this summary and analysis of The Innovator’s Dilemma is intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.

The Eudaemonic Pie is the bizarre true story of how a band of physicists and computer wizards took on Las Vegas.

For Mr. and Mrs. North, there's no vacation from murder In a remote cabin far from New York City, Jerry and Pamela North are getting killed. On the brink of annihilation, they grit their teeth and battle back. In a minute, the fight is finished-and the Norths are named mixed doubles champions. It's a happy moment during a splendid vacation, but off the tennis court, all is not well. Following an afternoon of fun and games, the evening's entertainment will be murder. Mr. and Mrs. North have invited their closest friends-an ex-aviator, a mysterious doctor, and NYPD's own Lt. William Weigand-to join them on this glittering retreat, but the joviality ends when Weigand finds Helen Wilson lying across the path, a knife buried in her neck. A member of the group surely killed her, and unless the Norths act quickly, the murderer will strike again.

Published in 1959, this book is what Vincent Price called his “visual autobiography” — the story of his life through his 48th year as seen through the lens of his greatest passion, the visual arts. Peppered with lively stories about both his art collecting and advocacy as well as his career as an actor, I Like What I Know is written in an approachable and entertaining style, capturing what has drawn fans to Vincent Price throughout his distinguished 65-year-career and in the two decades since his death in 1993.

In his senior year, forced at every track meet to face the hatred of strangers who think he killed a little girl and got away with it, Matt McKendrick is determined to earn the Runner of the Year Award and to prove that no matter what they do, they can''t make him quit. His strongest rival is a black athlete as outstanding as he is. Only one of them can win the award, and only one does. Losers and Winners is the third book in the series.

What is it like today for the woman with a drinking problem? How does she know when she has crossed the fine line between social drinking and addiction? What can she do to help herself, and what can her family do to help her? Through an extensive and intimate series of interviews in halfway houses, women’s groups, and with individuals across the country, Edith Lynn Hornik-Beer has uncovered the social dynamics that create problem-drinking among women. She has also visited with spouses and children who have suffered because of a wife’s and/or a mother’s addiction. She has gathered a list of resources which will help a woman with a drinking problem pick up the pieces. Visit www.answersforthedrinkingwoman.com as well as www.answersforteens.com for more information and to sign up for the blogs.

Winner of the Washington Irving Children’s Choice Award A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year A Selection of the Junior Library Guild Star light, star bright . . . Elvira wishes for a mother and finds instead the father she scarcely knew she had. 

In this reflective and enjoyable India travel memoir, “hooks of fears” claw at author Claire Krulikowski on her first morning’s awakening in India, a land she’d never planned to visit. However, in Rishikesh she hears the call of Ma Ganga, the sacred Ganges River, and accepts its enticing invitation to leave everything she knows behind. Diving into the river of life teeming around her, including meetings with lepers, wounded monkeys, swamis, stalkers, pilgrims, shopkeepers, holy cows, and more, Krulikowski steps outside her beliefs of how things “should be,” trusting life and everything in it! She comes to know happiness and peace moment-by-moment. Presented in exquisite vignettes, enjoy these tales of spirit that are seemingly channeled by the sacred river.

Healing provides readers with the power to utilize the mind’s ability to create physiological changes in their bodies in combination with western medicine to reverse life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, depression, diabetes, AIDS, and more. This book includes numerous transforming images, which enable readers to tap into their mind’s subconscious, of positive emotional states including Hope, Self-love, Happiness, and Courage, and thereby reverse immune suppressive states of anxiety. Healing also contains inspiring quotes from the Dalai Lama, Buddha, and William Wordsworth; suggestions for specific actions including forgiving someone who has hurt them and feeling a sense of peace; and supporting facts, studies, and science, including gene therapy and quantum physics.

Fifty-two years after the pink-headed duck was last seen in the wild, Rory Nugent set off for India in search of this exceptionally rare bird. In Calcutta he prowled the fowl market, where a few of the ducks used to appear during the Raj. Traveling on to Delhi, he was befriended by a Cambridge-educated smuggler, and he learned of remote regions to the north where the duck might be found. In Sikkim, following the trail of a Yeti, he became lost in the Valley of Bliss and nearly imprisoned inside a forest of rhododendrons, each the size of a ranch house. Making his way to Assam, he bought a 13-foot skiff and paddled the Brahmaputra River from Burma to Bangladesh, with stops on an island, considered to be Kali’s left breast, and at a Tantrist temple, where he stumbled on a grisly ritual in a graveyard. In a secluded marsh along the river he may have spotted the world’s rarest duck.

In the heart of the Congo is rumored to live a dinosaur called Mokele-Mbembe, or the god-beast. A handful of scientific expeditions have searched for it over the years with little success, but Nugent relied less on science than a desire to document the obscure. He made his way by dugout canoe and foot to Lake Tele, reputed home of the brontosaurus-like creature. It’s an environment little changed since the age of dinosaurs and he spent weeks paddling and trekking the area. He finally spotted a periscope-shaped object moving through the water. But when he tried to get closer, his guides threatened to shoot him, explaining that the “the god can approach man, but man never approaches the god.” Nugent’s photographs have been reprinted hundreds of times by those who believe in the god-beast. Drums Along the Congo merited inclusion on “Best 50 Books of the Year” list compiled by every major US newspaper.

Josh Pratt is an ex-con turned private investigator. Ginger Munz, a woman dying of cancer hires him to find the son she lost as a baby. The child's father is a sadistic sociopath named Moon who has vowed to kill her, and Josh's girlfriend Cass, for ratting him out. The trail leads to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and west into a no-man's land where Josh learns the monstrous fate of the stolen child.

Vacationing seaside with her parents in Rimini, Italy, young Nicole Steiner falls in love with the charming Italian nobleman, Dario Ventura. Soon after, Ventura frequently visits with the Steiners, now home in Turin. Though he returns her affection, Nicole begins to suspect that he has become her mother’s lover. The relationship is complicated by the strong tie between mother and daughter, and Nicole’s rejection of her stern father. Woven through the tale is the rich atmosphere of pre-war Italy.

Lovers and Fugitives is a spellbinding tale of suspense and love set amidst the backdrop of World War II. An inspiring tribute to the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity. A tender story of real people, locked in a common struggle, who redefine the word love. Saskia and her mother, Helga, cannot comprehend a world gone mad. David is alive only through incredible luck. They're never sure who is a friend and who is an enemy, right down to the breathtaking conclusion.

The Art & Craft of the Short Story explores every key element of short fiction, including story structure and form; creative and believable characters; how to begin and where to end; and the generation of ideas; as well as technical aspects such as point of view; plot; description and imagery; and theme. Examples from the work of a wide variety are used. The author includes five of his own stories to demonstrate these topics.

Solitaire is the groundbreaking memoir of a young woman growing up in the 1970s and her triumph over anorexia nervosa.

“In her inspiring, vividly composed and always faithful book” (Susan Muto), Karen Fredette describes a world where life is rich in being rather than in having. Selected as a Catholic Book of the Month, Where God Begins to Be fulfills Murray Bodo’s observation that “instead of myth fabricated from a few fragments, we have here the details—the nitty-gritty, muddy details—of a hermit’s daily living.” Karen is a “Seer who brings you along with her, joyfully” (Richard Rohr). “In deftly drawn vignettes, Karper’s story, told with simplicity and gentle honesty, is one of faith deepening, beauty awakening, and love discovered” (Gerald May).

Our History in New York covers a single year in the lives of narrator Chloe, her long-time lover, Helen, and their friends. From AIDS to the glory of Greenwich Village to romance and aging, the novel addresses time, art, mortality, and community at a century's end. The New York Times said of this nationally reviewed author: ';Abrams has a superb talent for the specific . . . She [has] her own style-a mixture of introspection, common sense, daydreaming and recollection-and controls it beautifully.' Sojourner called ';each chapter an exquisite short story.... Abrams paints... neighborhoods with the precision of the old Dutch Masters.'

For Teenagers Living With a Parent Who Abuses Alcohol/Drugs by Edith Lynn Hornik-Beer answers questions about alcoholism asked by teenagers. Included are: What causes alcoholism? Where can I get help? What do I do about the abuse? Should I stay at home? Where can I go? How can anyone expect me to concentrate in school? Why do I fight with my parents even when they are sober?

The turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s spawned a spectrum of activist movements. In spirit and action, events ranged from: gentle to violent; from Tree People to Bloody Sunday; from Community Mental Health to Black Power. This rapid stream of social and political change defined the second half of the 20th century, yet had roots in the first half.   The baby boom generation launched many movements. Unlike their Depression/WWII parents, the boomers, a large cohort of unattached, young adults, had no looming familial and social responsibilities. They had the freedom and resources for the consuming task of changing the world.

Clare: Her Light and Her Song is a vivid portrait of a strong woman who scandalizes family and friends to follow her beloved mentor, Francis of Assisi, in a life of joyous poverty. Thoroughly researched, this biography faithfully depicts Clare as seen by her contemporaries, including cardinals and popes. Her story is enriched by accounts of the wars, political intrigues, and towering figures of the tumultuous thirteenth century in which she played a significant role. The first woman to receive Papal approval for her own Rule of Life, Clare continues as a model for women of the twenty-first century.

Ms. magazine called Charting by the Stars ';a memorable account of growing up about the ways we invent and reinvent ourselves reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's Surfacing.' Linsey Abrams' passionate and eloquent first novel chronicles one girl's coming of age, from a 1950s childhood into the '60s world of New York. Her love affair with another woman begins a profound shift of identity and world. The New York Times said of this nationally reviewed novel: ';Abrams has a superb talent for the specific.... She [has] her own stylea mixture of introspection, common sense, daydreaming and recollection-and controls it beautifully.'

Twenty-five hundred years ago, Pythagoras taught that the simple counting numbers are the basic building blocks of reality. A century and a half later, Plato argued that the world we live in is but a poor copy of the world of ideas. Neither realized that their numbers and ideas might also be the most basic components of the human psych: archetypes. This book traces the modern evolution of this idea from the Renaissance to the 20th century, leading up to the archetypal hypothesis of psychologist C. G. Jung, and the mirroring of mathematical ideas of Kurt Gödel.