The Figaro murders

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Niklas Natt och Dag

The year is 1793, Stockholm. King Gustav of Sweden has been assassinated, years of foreign wars have emptied the treasuries and the realm is governed by a self-interested elite, leaving its citizens to suffer. On the streets, malcontent and paranoia abound. A body is found in the city's swamp by a watchman, Mickel Cardell, and the case is handed over to investigator Cecil Winge, who is dying of consumption. Together, Winge and Cardell become embroiled in a brutal world of guttersnipes and thieves, mercenaries and madams, and one death will expose a city rotten with corruption beneath its powdered and painted veneer. The Wolf and the Watchman depicts the capacity for cruelty in the name of survival or greed - but also the capacity for love, friendship, and the desire for a better world.

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Jude Deveraux

What if you learned that your fiance was not who he claimed to be? Engaged to charming, seductive Greg Anders, Sara Shaw is happily anticipating her wedding in Edilean, Virginia. The date has been set, the flowers ordered; even her heirloom dress is ready. But just three weeks before the wedding, Greg gets a call during the night and leaves without explanation. Two days later a strange man turns up at her apartment ... Mike Newland is an undercover detective. His assignment is to use Sara to track down a woman who is one of the most notorious criminals in the country, and who also happens to be the mother of the man Sara plans to marry. Mike thinks the job will be easy - if he can figure out how to make Sara trust him. But Mike has no idea what this mission has in store for him. He has connections to Edilean dating back to his grandmother's time there in 1941, but he's worked hard to keep them private. As Mike and Sara get to know each other, he can't help but share secrets that he's told no one else. And in return, Sara opens up to Mike about things she could never reveal to Greg. As they work together to solve two mysteries, will Mike and Sara's growing love for each other be enough to heal the wounds of the past?

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Tom and Tony Bradman

It is 1918. A British soldier, Bill Sparkes, is carrying an important message for American troops on the frontline. Sparkes is soon caught up in the fighting when the Americans are attacked. With bullets flying all around, Sparkes must find a way to support the Americans and stop the Germans breaking through ...

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John Friedman

The odds of being hit by lightning each year are only about 1 in 750,000 in the U.S. And yet this rare phenomenon has inspired both fear and fascination for thousands of years. In this groundbreaking, brilliantly researched book, journalist John S. Friedman probes lightning's scientific, spiritual, and cultural roots. Blending vibrant history with riveting first-hand accounts of those who have clashed with lightning and lived to tell about it, Out of the Blue charts an extraordinary journey across the ages that explores our awe and dread in the face of one of nature's most fearsome spectacles.Herman Melville called it "God's burning finger." The ancient Romans feared it as the wrath of God. Today we have a more scientific understanding, so why our eternal fascination with lightning? Out of the Blue attempts to understand this towering force of nature, exploring the changing perceptions of lightning from the earliest civilizations through Ben Franklin's revolutionary experiments to the hair-raising adventures of storm chasers like David Hoadley, who's been chronicling extreme weather for half a century. And Friedman describes one of the most treacherous rescues ever attempted in American mountain climbing.Friedman profiles a Virginia ranger who was struck by lightning seven times--and dubbed the human lightning rod--along with scores of others who tell astonishing tales of rescue and survival. And he charts lightning's profound, life-altering effects on the emotional and spiritual lives of its victims.Combining captivating fact with thrilling personal stories, Out of the Blue tells a remarkable true tale of fate and coincidence, discovery and divine retribution, science and superstition. As entertaining as it is informative, it is a book for outdoor adventurers, sports enthusiasts, science and weather buffs, nature lovers, and anyone who has ever been awed or frightened by the sight of lightning.From the Hardcover edition.