Intriguing Additions in Non-Fiction

The Demon of Brownsvile Road by Bob Cranmer

October 1988: Bob Cranmer buys a house in the Pittsburgh suburb he grew up in. He has no idea that his dream home is about to become his worst nightmare…

The Cranmers seemed fated to own the house at 3406 Brownsville Road. As a young boy, Bob had been drawn to the property, and, just when the family decided to move back to Brentwood, it went up for sale. Without a second thought, they purchased the house that Bob had always dreamed of owning.

But soon, the family began experiencing strange phenomena—objects moving on their own, ghostly footsteps, unsettling moaning sounds—that gradually increased in violence, escalating to physical assaults and, most disturbingly, bleeding walls. Bob, Lesa, and their four children were under attack from a malicious demon that was conjuring up terrifying manifestations to destroy their tight-knit household. They had two choices: leave or draw on their unwavering faith to exorcise the malicious fiend who haunted their home.

Now, Bob Cranmer recounts the harrowing true story of the evil presence that tormented his family and the epic spiritual war he fought to save everything he held dear…

Includes photos

For more information on Bob Cranmer and his latest works visit this website.

A Sniper in the Arizona: 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines in the Arizona Territory, 1967 by John J. Culbertson

In 1967, death was the constant companion of the Marines of Hotel Company, 2/5, as they patrolled the paddy dikes, mud, and mountains of the Arizona Territory southwest of Da Nang. But John Culbertson and most of the rest of Hotel Company were the same lean, fighting Marines who had survived the carnage of Operation Tuscaloosa. Hotel's grunts walked over the enemy, not around him. 

In graphic terms, John Culbertson describes the daily, dangerous life of a soldier fighting in a country where the enemy was frequently indistinguishable from the allies, fought tenaciously, and thought nothing of using civilians as a shield. Though he was one of the top marksmen in 1st Marine Division Sniper School in Da Nang in March 1967--a class of just eighteen, chosen from the division's twenty thousand Marines--Culbertson knew that against the VC and the NVA, good training and experience could carry you just so far. But his company's mission was to find and engage the enemy, whatever the price. This riveting, bloody first-person account offers a stark testimony to the stuff U.S. Marines are made of.

For more information on John J. Culbertson and his latest works visit this website.

13 Cent Killers: the 5th Marine Snipers in Vietnam by John J. Culbertson

In 1967, a bullet cost thirteen cents, and no one gave Uncle Sam a bigger bang for his buck than the 5th Marine Regiment Sniper Platoon. So feared were these lethal marksmen that the Viet Cong offered huge rewards for killing them.

Now noted Vietnam author John J. Culbertson, a former 5th Marine sniper himself, presents the riveting true stories of young Americans who fought with bolt rifles and bounties on their heads during the fiercest combat of the war, from 1967 through the desperate Tet battle for Hue in early ’68.

In spotter/shooter pairs, sniper teams accompanied battle-hardened Marine rifle companies like the 2/5 on patrols and combat missions. Whether fighting their way out of a Viet Cong “kill zone” or battling superior numbers of NVA crack troops, the sniper teams were at the cutting edge in the art of jungle warfare, showing the patience, stealth, combat marksmanship, and raw courage that made the unit the most decorated regimental sniper platoon in the Vietnam War.

Harrowing and unforgettable, these accounts pay tribute to the heroes who made the greatest sacrifice of all–and leave no doubt that among 5th Marine snipers uncommon valor was truly a common virtue.

For more information on John J. Culbertson and his latest works visit this website.

A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo

In March 1965, Marine Lieutnant Philip J. Caputo landed in Danang with the first ground combat unit committed to fight in Vietnam. 

Sixteen months later, having served on the line in one of modern history's ugliest wars, he returned home - physically whole, emotionally wasted, his youthful idealism shattered. 

A decade later, Caputo would write in A Rumor of War, 'This is simply a story about war, about the things men do in war and the things war does to them'.

For more information on Philip Caputo and his latest works visit this website.

MARSOC: U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations Command by Fred Pushies

In 2006, the U.S. Marines officially became part of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) with the creation of the Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC). 

Drawn from the ranks of the Force Recon companies, these highly skilled and combat-proven Leathernecks would take the war to al Qaeda and the Taliban in America’s global war on terrorism. MARSOC is steeped in the heritage of the Marine Raiders of World War II, Force Reconnaissance companies of Vietnam, and Detachment-One, which stood up after the attacks on 9/11. 

Their mission is to win wars before they begin, taking the warfare beyond the front line. When America wants to display its might, the Commander in Chief will send in the Marines. With the creation of MARSOC, chances are they are already there.

For more information on Fred Pushies and his latest works visit this website.

Enthralling Biographies Everyone Should Read

Good Call by Jase Robertson

The closer we look at the Robertson family, the more we discover the substance and authenticity below the surface of these well-known TV characters. In this enlightening book, Jase Robertson gives us a deep look behind his funnyman exterior. In addition to stories of life in the Robertson family and epic tales of hunting of all kinds, readers will get an inside look at Jase's personal faith in the Creator of the outdoors he so dearly loves: 

"My first thoughts about God came in a duck blind as I gazed upon the diversity and beauty of creation. There is nothing in nature that can be reproduced or equaled by humans. None of our computers, microchips, or cell phones can duplicate what God has put forth. Viewing the details of this magnificent earth is better than any sermon from any preacher I have heard about the evidence of God."

More than a behind-the-scenes look at this beloved Duck Dynastycharacter, readers will be inspired and encouraged to implement Jase's good call reflections on faith, family, and fowl into their own lives.

For more information on Jase Robertson and his latest works visit this website.

Finding Me: A Decade of  Darkness a Life Reclaimed by Michelle Knight

Michelle was a young single mother when she was kidnapped by a local school bus driver named Ariel Castro. For more than a decade afterward, she endured unimaginable torture at the hand of her abductor. In 2003 Amanda Berry joined her in captivity, followed by Gina DeJesus in 2004. Their escape on May 6, 2013, made headlines around the world. 
 
Barely out of her own tumultuous childhood, Michelle was estranged from her family and fighting for custody of her young son when she disappeared. Local police believed she had run away, so they removed her from the missing persons lists fifteen months after she vanished. Castro tormented her with these facts, reminding her that no one was looking for her, that the outside world had forgotten her. But Michelle would not be broken.
 
In Finding Me, Michelle will reveal the heartbreaking details of her story, including the thoughts and prayers that helped her find courage to endure her unimaginable circumstances and now build a life worth living. By sharing both her past and her efforts to create a future, Michelle becomes a voice for the voiceless and a powerful symbol of hope for the thousands of children and young adults who go missing every year.

For more information on Michelle Knight and her latest works visit this website.

What's New Adult Non-Fiction

The World That Never Was: a True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists, and Secret Agents by Alex Butterworth

A thrilling history of the rise of anarchism, told through the stories of a number of prominent revolutionaries and the agents of the secret police who pursued them.

In the late nineteenth century, nations the world over were mired in economic recession and beset by social unrest, their leaders increasingly threatened by acts of terrorism and assassination from anarchist extremists. In this riveting history of that tumultuous period, Alex Butterworth follows the rise of these revolutionaries from the failed Paris Commune of 1871 to the 1905 Russian Revolution and beyond. Through the interwoven stories of several key anarchists and the secret police who tracked and manipulated them, Butterworth explores how the anarchists were led to increasingly desperate acts of terrorism and murder.

Rich in anecdote and with a fascinating array of supporting characters, The World That Never Was is a masterly exploration of the strange twists and turns of history, taking readers on a journey that spans five continents, from the capitals of Europe to a South Pacific penal colony to the heartland of America. It tells the story of a generation that saw its utopian dreams crumble into dangerous desperation and offers a revelatory portrait of an era with uncanny echoes of our own.

For more information on Alex Butterworth visit this website.  
 

Shakespeare After All by Marjorie Garber

In Shakespeare After All, Marjorie Garber—professor of English and director of the Humanities Center at Harvard University—gives us a magisterial work of criticism, authoritative and engaging, based on her hugely popular lecture courses at Yale and Harvard over the past thirty years. Richly informed by Shakespearean scholarship of the latter half of the twentieth century, this book offers passionate and revealing readings of all thirty-eight of Shakespeare’s plays, in chronological sequence, from The Two Gentlemen of Verona to The Two Noble Kinsmen. With erudition lightly carried, Garber illumines the overarching patterns and lush details of the plays, closely attentive to what matters most in Shakespeare: language, theme, plot, and character.

Here are fresh meditations on plays we have come to know and love, such as Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth,
Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, and The Tempest, and fruitful engagements with others not often read or produced—Henry VI, Parts 1, 2, and 3; The Merry Wives of Windsor; King John; Timon of Athens; Pericles; and Cymbeline. Garber affords us a rare chance to trace Shakespeare’s stylistic development as a writer of verse and prose, an artful designer of dramatic scenarios and revelations, a masterly sketcher of woman and man, and a keen observer of society high and low.

Complete with a comprehensive introduction to Shakespeare’s life and times and an extensive bibliography, Shakespeare After All is a landmark work that enlarges our understanding of the most celebrated writer of all time.

For more information on Tahereh Mafi visit this website.  

The Mental Floss History of the United States by Erik Sass

Smarter than a history teacher, funnier than the Founding Fathers, and more American than Alaska, an almost (but not entirely) comprehensive primer on American history (or at least, the good stuff)

In trademark smart aleck style, this is history according to mental_floss, an insightfully accurate and incisively humorous exploration of little-known truths and widely believed falsehoods, which simultaneously exposes some of America's oddest moments, strangest citizens, most egregious frauds, and much, much more.

Ten meaty chapters, peppered with fun trivia, entertainingly cover the essential timeline of the social, political, and cultural happenings of American history and mythbust all the lies teachers told us along the way. Was Abraham Lincoln really a heroic defender of liberty and freedom? Were the Sixties actually a groovy time of peace and love? Has the U.S. always been dependent on foreign oil? mental_floss sets the record straight and shares the fascinating stories behind politics, literature, fashion, televangelism, serial killers, genetic engineering, Yuppies, SPAM, the original Swine Flu, potato chips, rollerskating, mobsters, rum, communists, beaver wars, the rise and fall of irony, and everything else made in the U.S.A.

For more information on Tahereh Mafi visit this website. 

Latest Additions to Non-Fiction

The Sneeze-Free Cat Owner by Diane Morgan

Are you or someone you love among the over ten million Americans who suffer from some sort of pet-related allergy? Is the dream of bringing a cat into your home met with the fear of allergy symptoms? 

The Sneeze-Free Cat Owner is entirely devoted to helping cat lovers who suffer from pet-related allergies find an appropriate breed for their family. This unique guide features in-depth breed profiles that include grooming needs, personality traits, activity levels, and health issues for cats compatible with allergic owners. It also discusses the controversy over the allergy-free properties of so-called "designer cats" and provides information on the best places to purchase or adopt your hypoallergenic cat. 

Because even homes without pets can have high levels of allergens, this book reveals how to minimize exposure in any home and contains dozens of tips for controlling and managing the home environment, including natural, at-home, and homeopathic treatments for allergy sufferers along with recent medical breakthroughs.

If concern over pet-related allergies has prevented you or someone you love from owning a cat, The Sneeze-Free Cat Owner can help in the management of your allergy symptoms and enable you to find the perfect feline friend.

For more information on Diane Morgan and her latest works visit her Amazon author page.  
 

Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly


A riveting historical narrative of the heart-stopping events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the first work of history from mega-bestselling author Bill O'Reilly.
 
The anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts one of the most dramatic stories in American history—how one gunshot changed the country forever. In the spring of 1865, the bloody saga of America's Civil War finally comes to an end after a series of increasingly harrowing battles.

President Abraham Lincoln's generous terms for Robert E. Lee's surrender are devised to fulfill Lincoln's dream of healing a divided nation, with the former Confederates allowed to reintegrate into American society. But one man and his band of murderous accomplices, perhaps reaching into the highest ranks of the U.S. government, are not appeased.

In the midst of the patriotic celebrations in Washington D.C., John Wilkes Booth—charismatic ladies' man and impenitent racist—murders Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre. A furious manhunt ensues and Booth immediately becomes the country's most wanted fugitive. Lafayette C. Baker, a smart but shifty New York detective and former Union spy, unravels the string of clues leading to Booth, while federal forces track his accomplices.

The thrilling chase ends in a fiery shootout and a series of court-ordered executions—including that of the first woman ever executed by the U.S. government, Mary Surratt. Featuring some of history's most remarkable figures, vivid detail, and page-turning action, Killing Lincoln is history that reads like a thriller. 


For more information on Bill O'Reilly and his latest works visit his website.  
 

Doc Holliday by John Myers Myers

"John Myers Myers has written Doc's story with a skill that matches the sureness of a bullet from Doc's gun."-Dallas Times Herald. "As for the general reader, he'll eat this up and beg for more."-San Francisco Chronicle.

Tales of Old-Time Texas by J. Frank Dobie


It is for good reason that J. Frank Dobie is known as the Southwest's master storyteller. With his eye for color and detail, his ear for the rhythm of language and song, and his heart open to the simple truth of folk wisdom and ways, he movingly and unpretentiously spins the tales of our collective heritages. This he does in Tales of Old-Time Texas, a heartwarming array of twenty-eight stories filled with vivid characters, exciting historical episodes, and traditional themes. As Dobie himself says: "Any tale belongs to whoever can best tell it." Here, then, is a collection of the best Texas tales--by the Texan who can best tell them.

Dobie's recollections include such classics in Lone Star State lore as the tale of Jim Bowie's knife, the legend of the Texas bluebonnet, the story of the Wild Woman of the Navidad, and the account of the headless horseman of the mustangs. Other stories in this outstanding collection regale us with odd and interesting characters and events: the stranger of Sabine Pass, the Apache secret of the Guadalupes, the planter who gambled away his bride, and the Robinhooding of Sam Bass. These stories, and many more, make Tales of Old-Time Texas a beloved classic certain to endure for generations.

For more information on J. Frank Dobie visit this website.  
 

Texas Bad Girls: Hussies, Harlots and Horse Thieves by J. Lee Butts

Sometimes humorous, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes deeply sad and moving, here are the biographies of fifteen Texas bad girls: husband killers, ordinary murderers, whorehouse madams, prostitutes, gamblers, bank robbers, and floozies.

Each contributes to a rowdy, ribald history that dates from the state's earliest settlers to yesterday's biggest news story.

For more information on J. Lee Butts visit this website. 

Intriguing New Titles in Non-Fiction This Week

Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman

A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES

With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years ago. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187-424—one of the millions of women who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system. From her first strip search to her final release, Kerman learns to navigate this strange world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior and arbitrary rules, where the uneasy relationship between prisoner and jailer is constantly and unpredictably recalibrated. She meets women from all walks of life, who surprise her with small tokens of generosity, hard words of wisdom, and simple acts of acceptance. Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Kerman’s story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison—why it is we lock so many away and what happens to them when they’re there.

First Family: Abigail and John Adams by Joseph J. Ellis


The Pulitzer Prize–winning, best-selling author of Founding Brothers and His Excellency brings America’s preeminent first couple to life in a moving and illuminating narrative that sweeps through the American Revolution and the republic’s tenuous early years.

John and Abigail Adams left an indelible and remarkably preserved portrait of their lives together in their personal correspondence: both Adamses were prolific letter writers (although John conceded that Abigail was clearly the more gifted of the two), and over the years they exchanged more than twelve hundred letters. Joseph J. Ellis distills this unprecedented and unsurpassed record to give us an account both intimate and panoramic; part biography, part political history, and part love story.

Ellis describes the first meeting between the two as inauspicious—John was twenty-four, Abigail just fifteen, and each was entirely unimpressed with the other. But they soon began a passionate correspondence that resulted in their marriage five years later.

Over the next decades, the couple were separated nearly as much as they were together. John’s political career took him first to Philadelphia, where he became the boldest advocate for the measures that would lead to the Declaration of Independence. Yet in order to attend the Second Continental Congress, he left his wife and children in the middle of the war zone that had by then engulfed Massachusetts. Later he was sent to Paris, where he served as a minister to the court of France alongside Benjamin Franklin. These years apart stressed the Adamses’ union almost beyond what it could bear: Abigail grew lonely, while the Adams children suffered from their father’s absence.

John was elected the nation’s first vice president, but by the time of his reelection, Abigail’s health prevented her from joining him in Philadelphia, the interim capital. She no doubt had further reservations about moving to the swamp on the Potomac when John became president, although this time he persuaded her. President Adams inherited a weak and bitterly divided country from George Washington. The political situation was perilous at best, and he needed his closest advisor by his side: “I can do nothing,” John told Abigail after his election, “without you.”

In Ellis’s rich and striking new history, John and Abigail’s relationship unfolds in the context of America’s birth as a nation.

Beat Boredom with Educational Activities and Art Projects

Pioneer Days: Discover the Past with Fun Projects, Games, Activities and Recipes by David King

Pioneer Days presents Liz and Sam Butler, two kids living with their parents on the western frontier. Modern children will follow Liz and Sam through the year 1843, and along the way they'll do all the things the Butler kids did. They'll make pioneer "fast food", play games from the 1800s, learn crafts taught to Liz and Sam by their Native American and African-American neighbors, make pioneer toys and holiday decorations, and much more. Also packed with historical information, Pioneer Days lets kids discover for themselves what life was like for the children of the early settlers. 

Includes:

1.  nearly 40 fun, simple, step-by-step projects and activities 
2.  90 illustrations and oodles of interesting historical facts

Ralph Masiello’s Robot Drawing Book by Ralph Masiello

Illustrator Ralph Masiello shares his love of robots in this newest addition to his popular drawing series. Step-by-step diagrams show young artists how to use simple shapes and lines to create basic 'bots. Challenge steps and a visit to the "spare parts warehouse" encourage kids to customize their designs.
 

How to Draw Goosebumps by Ron Zalme

Learn how to draw all of your favorite Goosebumps characters. With easy to follow step-by-step illustrations, even the most novice artist can bring to life Slappy, THe Haunted Mask, The Mummy, and Vampire Breath to life!

Helpful Resources for students and computer users

A Guide to MLA Documentation by Joseph F. Trimmer

Briefer, more affordable, and easier to use than the MLA's own handbook, this popular booklet features current MLA guidelines, a new section on evaluating online sources, and an up-to-date APA appendix. The guide also provides numerous examples, a sample research paper, and helpful hints on such topics as avoiding plagiarism and taking notes.

Windows 8 for Dummies by Andy Rathbone

Windows 8 will offer new interface updates, cloud-based services, and much more. This Windows guide covers all the basics, plus the enhancements unique to Windows 8. Whether you're meeting Windows for the first time or upgrading from an earlier version, this book shows you how to navigate the interface, work with files, browse the Internet, set up e-mail, manage media, and more.
 

Windows 8 for Seniors for Dummies by Mark Justice Hinton

Help seniors get started with Windows 8 with this easy-to-understand guide!In easy-to-follow steps, this fun and friendly guide shows you clearly how to use Windows 8. 

Explains Windows 8 with easy-to-follow steps and tips for senior readers Covers how to use the Internet, send and receive e-mail, upload and download photos, view video, listen to music, play games, use a webcam, and more Uses a senior-friendly larger font for text and includes more than 150 enlarged screen shots Discusses topics important to senior readers, including keeping data and personal information safe and secure .

What's New in Nonfiction?

The Black Banners: the Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda by Ali H. Soufan


On September 11, 2001, FBI Special Agent Ali H. Soufan was handed a secret file. Had he received it months earlier—when it was requested—the attacks on New York and Washington could have been prevented. During his time on the front lines, Soufan helped thwart plots around the world and elicited some of the most important confessions from terrorists in the war against al-Qaeda—without laying so much as a hand on them. Most of these stories have never been reported before, and never by anyone with such intimate firsthand knowledge.
This narrative account of America's successes and failures against al-Qaeda is essential to an understanding of the terrorist group. We are taken into hideouts and interrogation rooms. We have a ringside seat at bin Laden's personal celebration of the 9/11 bombings. Such riveting details show us not only how terrorists think and operate but also how they can be beaten and brought to justice.

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners’ minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Obama called “the audacity of hope.”

The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama’s call for a different brand of politics—a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the “endless clash of armies” we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of “our improbable experiment in democracy.” He explores those forces—from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the media—that can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seeking to balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment.

At the heart of this book is Barack Obama’s vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families, the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and the transnational threats—from terrorism to pandemic—that gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays in a democracy—where it is vital and where it must never intrude. Underlying his stories about family, friends, and members of the Senate is a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus.

A public servant and a lawyer, a professor and a father, a Christian and a skeptic, and above all a student of history and human nature, Barack Obama has written a book of transforming power. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, he says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans. Those Americans are out there, he writes—“waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten

For more than twenty years, Barefoot Contessa, the acclaimed specialty food store, has been cooking and baking extraordinary dishes for enthusiastic customers in the Hamptons. For many of those years, people have tried to get the exuberant owner, Ina Garten, to share the secrets of her store. Finally, the energy and style that make Barefoot Contessa such a special place are shown here, with dozens of recipes and more than 160 breathtaking photographs, in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.
       
Ina's most popular recipes use familiar ingredients, but they taste even better than you would expect. Her Pan-Fried Onion Dip is the real thing, with slowly car-amelized onions and fresh sour cream. Tomato soup is created from oven-roasted tomatoes and fresh basil to intensify the flavors. Meat loaf is as good as your grandmother's, but it's healthier because it's made with ground turkey and fresh herbs. The light and flaky Maple-Oatmeal Scones are baked with rolled oats, whole wheat, and real maple syrup. Now these and other famous Barefoot Contessa recipes can be prepared at home.
       
Ina says that before she owned a specialty food store she often spent a week making dinner for six friends. Her experience at Barefoot Contessa has given her hundreds of ideas for creating wonderful parties in a few hours. And they're all in this book. Crab Cakes with Rémoulade Sauce can be stored overnight in the refrigerator and sautéed just before the guests arrive. Cheddar Corn Chowder can be made days ahead, reheated, and served with a salad and bread for a delicious autumn lunch. The ingredients for Grilled Salmon Salad can all be prepared ahead and tossed together before serving. The batter for the Raspberry Corn Muffins can be mixed a day before and popped into the oven just before breakfast.
       
Ina Garten teaches us how to entertain with style, simplicity, and a relaxed sense of fun. There are notes throughout the book for giving cocktail parties, lunches, and dinner parties where everything is done before the guests arrive. And there are easy instructions for creating gorgeous party platters that don't even require you to cook!

What's New This Week?

Fiction

Private London by James Patterson

For Hannah Shapiro, a beautiful young American student, this particular nightmare began eight years ago in Los Angeles, when Jack Morgan, owner of Private - the world's most exclusive detective agency - saved her from a horrific death. She has fled her country, but can't flee her past. The terror has followed her to London, and now it is down to former Royal Military Police Sergeant Dan Carter, head of Private London, to save her all over again.

In central London, young women are being abducted off the street. When the bodies are found, some days later, they have been mutilated in a particularly mysterious way. Dan Carter's ex-wife, DI Kirsty Webb, is involved in the investigation and it looks likely that the two cases are gruesomely linked.

Dan Carter draws on the whole resources of Private International in a desperate race against the odds. But the clock is ticking... Private may be the largest and most technologically advanced detection agency in the world, but the only thing they don't have is the one thing they need - time.

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by James Patterson

It's Christmas Eve, and Detective Alex Cross is at home celebrating with his family. Nana Mama's famous pecan pie is in the oven, and the kids are hanging their favorite ornaments on the tree. Just as Alex's wife emerges from the kitchen with a bowl of homemade eggnog, his phone rings with news that shatters the night: At a nearby home, a family has been taken hostage- and the situation is spiraling out of control fast.

Alex rushes to the scene and confronts the unthinkable: A father is threatening to murder his children and ex-wife. And just as the insanity peaks, a second horrific situation explodes- one that no one could have foreseen and that puts millions of people at risk. This is a red alert of the darkest kind, and Alex is forced to make a decision that could end as many lives as it saves- including his own.

The Forgotten by David Baldacci

Army Special Agent John Puller is the best there is. A combat veteran, Puller is the man the U.S. Army relies on to investigate the toughest crimes facing the nation. Now he has a new case-but this time, the crime is personal: His aunt has been found dead in Paradise, Florida.

A picture-perfect town on Florida's Gulf Coast, Paradise thrives on the wealthy tourists and retirees drawn to its gorgeous weather and beaches. The local police have ruled his aunt's death an unfortunate, tragic accident. But just before she died, she mailed a letter to Puller's father, telling him that beneath its beautiful veneer, Paradise is not all it seems to be.

What Puller finds convinces him that his aunt's death was no accident . . . and that the palm trees and sandy beaches of Paradise may hide a conspiracy so shocking that some will go to unthinkable lengths to make sure the truth is never revealed.

The Last Man by Vince Flynn

A pulse-pounding thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon Vince Flynn, as Mitch Rapp heads to Afghanistan to track down a missing CIA agent.

The four dead guards didn’t concern Mitch Rapp as much as the absence of the man they’d been paid to protect. Joe Rickman wasn’t just another foot soldier. For the last eight years Rickman had ran the CIA’s clandestine operations in Afghanistan. It was a murky job that involved working with virtually every disreputable figure in the Islamic Republic. More than a quarter billion dollars in cash had passed through Rickman’s hands during his tenure as the master of black ops and no one with a shred of sense wanted to know the details of how that money had been spent.

At first glance it looks as if Rickman has been kidnapped, but Rapp knows certain things about his old friend that cause him to wonder if something more disturbing isn’t afoot. Irene Kennedy, the director of the CIA, has ordered Rapp to find Rickman at all costs. Rapp must navigate the ever-shifting landscape of Afghanistan as the Taliban, Iranians, Pakistanis and Russians all plot to claim their piece of the war torn state.

With Afghanistan crumbling around him, Rapp must be as ruthless as his enemies and as deceitful as people in his own government if he has any hopes of completing his mission.

Poseidon’s Arrow by Clive Cussler

“Dirk Pitt is oceanography’s answer to Indiana Jones,” praises the Associated Press. “Exotic locations, ruthless villains and many narrow escapes—Cussler’s fans come for swashbuckling [and] he delivers.”

And now the Cusslers bring us Pitt’s most dangerous adventure of all.

It is the greatest advance in American defense technology in decades—an attack submarine capable of incredible underwater speeds. Nothing else in any other nation’s naval arsenal even comes close. There is only one problem: A key element of the prototype is missing—and the man who developed it is dead.

At the same time, ships have started vanishing mid-ocean, usually never to be found again, but when they are, sometimes bodies are found aboard . . . burned to a crisp.What is going on? And what does it have to do with an Italian submarine that itself disappeared in 1943, lost at sea? Or was she?

It is up to NUMA director Dirk Pitt and his team, aided by a beautiful NCIS agent and by Pitt’s children, marine engineer Dirk and oceanographer Summer, to go on a desperate international chase to find the truth, from Washington to Mexico, Idaho to Panama. What they discover at the end of it is a much, much greater threat than even they imagined.If they don’t succeed in their mission, the world as they know it might end up a very different place—and not a pleasant one.

The Black Box by Michael Connelly

In a case that spans 20 years, Harry Bosch links the bullet from a recent crime to a file from 1992, the killing of a young female photographer during the L.A. riots. Harry originally investigated the murder, but it was then handed off to the Riot Crimes Task Force and never solved.

Now Bosch's ballistics match indicates that her death was not random violence, but something more personal, and connected to a deeper intrigue. Like an investigator combing through the wreckage after a plane crash, Bosch searches for the "black box," the one piece of evidence that will pull the case together.
 

The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney

Small-time private investigator Ray Lovell veers between paralysis and delirium in a hospital bed. But before the accident that landed him there, he'd been hired to find Rose Janko, the wife of a charismatic son of a traveling Gypsy family, who went missing seven years earlier. Half Romany himself, Ray is well aware that he's been chosen more for his blood than his investigative skills. 

Still, he's surprised by the intense hostility he encounters from the Jankos, who haven't had an easy past. Touched by tragedy, they're either cursed or hiding a terrible secret-whose discovery Ray can't help suspecting is connected to Rose's disappearance. 

The Racketeer by John Grisham

Who is the Racketeer? And what does he have to do with the judge’s untimely demise? His name, for the moment, is Malcolm Bannister. Job status? Former attorney. Current residence? The Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland.

On paper, Malcolm’s situation isn’t looking too good these days, but he’s got an ace up his sleeve. He knows who killed Judge Fawcett, and he knows why. The judge’s body was found in his remote lakeside cabin. There was no forced entry, no struggle, just two dead bodies: Judge Fawcett and his young secretary. And one large, state-of-the-art, extremely secure safe, opened and emptied.

What was in the safe? The FBI would love to know. And Malcolm Bannister would love to tell them. But everything has a price—especially information as explosive as the sequence of events that led to Judge Fawcett’s death. And the Racketeer wasn’t born yesterday . . .

A Season of Angels by Thomas Kinkade

Adele Morgan has made a few mistakes in her life. After a serious medical scare, she realizes that her greatest regret is that she sat idly by while a petty dispute tore her family apart. She has returned to Cape Light determined to mend the relationship between her feuding sons and bring everyone together for the holidays. A daunting challenge even for a mother’s brave and loving heart.

Adele’s arrival elicits little delight. Molly Willoughby is overwhelmed with her catering business, and Sam Morgan is busy helping Reverend Ben with the Christmas festivities. Neither one seems to have time for their Grandma Addie and her plan to make things right. It will take a miracle to unite Adele’s family under one roof this Christmas. Lucky for Adele, miracles can happen at the Inn at Angel Island.

Meanwhile, there’s another visitor and this one’s a skeptic determined to debunk Angel Island’s legend. Grad student Jonathan Butler plans on staying long enough to prove the angel lore is nonsense and leave with a grand “bah humbug!” Stuck on the island for Christmas, he spends his time doing research in the Historical Center where he meets Tess Wyler, a local undergrad who helps him gather information. It’s only a matter of time before he too falls under the island’s spell and realizes that the proof of Angel Island and Cape Light’s magic lies within.

Angels at the Table by Debbie Macomber

In this joyous and whimsical holiday novel, Debbie Macomber rings in the season with the return of Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy, delivering laughs, love, and a charming dose of angelic intervention.

Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy know that an angel’s work is never done, especially during a time as wondrous as New Year’s Eve. With an apprentice angel, Will, under their wings, they descend upon Times Square in New York City eager to join in the festivities. And when Will spies two lonely strangers in the crowd, he decides midnight is the perfect time to lend a heavenly helping hand.      

Lucie Farrara and Aren Fairchild meet after bumping into each other—seemingly by accident—in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. They immediately hit it off and find they have a lot in common: Lucie is a burgeoning chef and Aren is a respected food critic. But just as quickly as they’re brought together, another twist of fate tears them apart, leaving Lucie and Aren with no way to reconnect.

A year later, Lucie is the chef of an acclaimed new restaurant and Aren is a successful columnist for a major New York newspaper. For all the time that’s passed, the two have not forgotten their one serendipitous evening—and neither have Shirley, Goodness, Mercy, and Will. To reunite the young couple, the angels cook up a brilliant plan: mix true love, a second chance, and a generous sprinkle of mischief to create an unforgettable Christmas miracle.

The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts

The Montgomery brothers and their eccentric mother are breathing new life into the town of Boonsboro, Maryland, by restoring its historic hotel. And they’re finding their own lives revamped by love. This is Ryder’s story... Ryder is the hardest Montgomery brother to figure out — with a tough-as-nails outside and possibly nothing too soft underneath. He’s surly and unsociable, but when he straps on a tool belt, no woman can resist his sexy swagger. 

Except apparently Hope Beaumont, the innkeeper of his own Inn BoonsBoro. And though the Inn is running smoothly, thanks to Hope’s experience and unerring instincts, her big-city past is about to make an unwelcome — and embarrassing — appearance. Seeing Hope vulnerable stirs up Ryder’s emotions and makes him realize that while Hope may not be perfect, she just might be perfect for him.

The Innocent by Taylor Stevens

Eight years ago, five-year-old Hannah was spirited out of school and into the closed world of a cult known as The Chosen. Ever since, followers of the cult leader have hidden the child and shielded her from her abductor. Now, childhood survivors of The Chosen who have escaped to make a life for themselves on the outside know where to find Hannah and they have turned to Vanessa Michael Munroe for help.

Munroe reluctantly takes the job, and travels to Buenos Aires to infiltrate the cult and save the girl. Inducted into a world unlike unlike anything she has faced before, Munroe must navigate unpredictable cult members and their dangerous cohorts, the impatient survivors who hired her, and the struggle against her own increasingly violent nature, so she can rescue the child before the window of opportunity closes and Hannah is lost forever.

Stake and Eggs by Laura Childs

Suzanne, Toni, and Petra found a second life after losing their husbands—opening their own successful business, the Cackleberry Club cafè. But the three women never expected sleuthing to be the special of the day…

A KILLER HAS THE TOWN WALKING ON EGG SHELLS

When a snowmobile crashes into the woods behind the Cackleberry Club cafè, Suzanne finds her town’s most-hated banker beheaded by a wire staked in the snow. Now some of her best customers are prime suspects with a bushel of motives, and the murder investigation is snowballing. An elusive young runaway may be the Cackleberry Club’s only way to crack the case…provided Suzanne can keep her head long enough to track down the cold-blooded killer.

Non-fiction

Life After Death by Damien Echols

In 1993, teenagers Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley, Jr.—who have come to be known as the West Memphis Three—were arrested for the murders of three eight-year-old boys in Arkansas. The ensuing trial was marked by tampered evidence, false testimony, and public hysteria. Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison; while eighteen-year-old Echols, deemed the “ringleader,” was sentenced to death. Over the next two decades, the WM3 became known worldwide as a symbol of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, with thousands of supporters and many notable celebrities who called for a new trial. In a shocking turn of events, all three men were released in August 2011.
Now Echols shares his story in full—from abuse by prison guards and wardens, to portraits of fellow inmates and deplorable living conditions, to the incredible reserves of patience, spirituality, and perseverance that kept him alive and sane while incarcerated for nearly two decades.

In these pages, Echols reveals himself a brilliant writer, infusing his narrative with tragedy and irony in equal measure: he describes the terrors he experienced every day and his outrage toward the American justice system, and offers a firsthand account of living on Death Row in heartbreaking, agonizing detail. Life After Death is destined to be a riveting, explosive classic of prison literature.

Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews by Carl Rollyson

Dana Andrews (1909-1992) worked with distinguished directors such as John Ford, Lewis Milestone, Otto Preminger, Fritz Lang, William Wyler, William A. Wellman, Mervyn Le Roy, Jean Renoir, and Elia Kazan. He played romantic leads alongside the great beauties of the modern screen, including Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Greer Garson, Merle Oberon, Linda Darnell, Susan Hayward, Maureen O'Hara, and most important of all, Gene Tierney, with whom he did five films. Retrospectives of his work often elicit high praise for an underrated actor, a master of the minimalist style. His image personified the "male mask" of the 1940s in classic films such as "Laura, Fallen Angel," and "Where the Sidewalk Ends," in which he played the "masculine ideal of steely impassivity." No comprehensive discussion of film noir can neglect his performances. He was an "actor's actor."

Here at last is the complete story of a great actor, his difficult struggle to overcome alcoholism while enjoying the accolades of his contemporaries, a successful term as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and the love of family and friends that never deserted him. Based on diaries, letters, home movies, and other documents, this biography explores the mystery of a poor boy from Texas who made his Hollywood dream come true even as he sought a life apart from the limelight and the backbiting of contemporaries jockeying for prizes and prestige. Called "one of nature's noblemen" by his fellow actor Norman Lloyd, Dana Andrews emerges from "Hollywood Enigma" as an admirable American success story, fighting his inner demons and ultimately winning.

Intriguing New Non-Fiction Title

Tainted Breeze: the Great Hanging at Gainesville, Texas 1862 by Richard B. McCaslin

In the early morning hours of October 1, 1862, state militia arrested more than two hundred alleged Unionists from five northern Texas counties and brought them to Gainesville. In the ensuing days, at least forty-four prisoners were hanged and several others were lynched in neighboring communities. In the first systematic treatment of this grisly climax to a heritage of violence and vigilantism in North Texas, Richard B. McCaslin provides a unique opportunity to study the tensions produced in southern society by the Civil War, the nature of disaffection in the Confederacy, and the American vigilante tradition. 

Winner of the Coral Horton Tullis Memorial Prize

Enthralling New Titles in Paperback

Non-Fiction: 

Predator by Steven Walker

He Stalked His Victims. . .A mother and daughter--brutalized, murdered, and left to rot in the summer heat. A young college student--killed with a .38 handgun at a remote highway rest stop. These were just a few of the victims of Timothy Krajcir, a sexual predator with an unquenchable appetite for violence. . .

From State To State...He would travel to towns where nobody knew him, break into a woman's home, and wait for her. It started when he was still in his teens, when a rape conviction landed Krajcir in jail. After that, he spent much of his adult life behind bars for various sex crimes. By the time he was in his early 30s, he was a free man. Free to stalk, rape, and kill.

Three Decades Of Murder And Blood...But in 2007, new DNA testing finally linked Krajcir to another college girl's murder. Ultimately, Krajcir confessed to killing nine women--five in Missouri and four in Illinois and Pennsylvania. But his three-decade reign of terror has never been forgotten--and the full range of his predatory crimes never revealed--until now.

Date With the Devil by Don Lasseter

On June 16, 2007, in a desert ditch east of Barstow, CA, a stranded motorist and a couple of good Samaritans made a gruesome discovery - the decomposed remains of 38-year-old aspiring actress Kristin Baldwin. For weeks, police and her family had been searching for her. What they learned went beyond their worst fears...

David Mahler, a 43-year-old east coast lawyer, came to Hollywood for the celebrity lifestyle, the movie industry, and the women. At his seven-level home in the Hollywood Hills, Mahler rubbed elbows with the seedy elements of the entertainment world: wannabe rock stars, drug lords, and porn stars - one of whom introduced him to Kristin, a pretty, upbeat blonde. One night, during a violent argument in his bedroom, a vicious, drug-crazed Mahler grabbed a gun. A shot rang out - and Kristin was never seen alive again.

In a trial more riveting than any movie, witnesses testified to Mahler's maniacal behaviour the night he shot Kristin, and his desperate attempts to solicit help in disposing of her body. Mahler was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 40 years to life. But one woman's California dreams were forever ended in a brutal nightmare.

Fiction:

Extreme Danger by Shannon McKenna

Nobody's home at the millionaire's estate on remote Frakes Island. And nobody seems to be watching. Becca Cantrell dives in for an illicit midnight skinnydip--and gets hauled out by a towering, hard-muscled guy with burning dark eyes. He seems to be in charge. Good. The man is the embodiment of her most intense fantasies. And she's up for risky thrills . . .

Nick Ward can't tell her that he's spying on a vicious Russian crime boss. Becca could be his worst enemy: an assassin sent to kill him, a call girl sent to distract him, or the worst scenario of all--a clueless innocent. Anyway he looks at it, she's trouble: beautiful, bare, dripping-wet trouble. The kind he can't resist.

She's not scared. After one taste of his hot mouth, Becca soon discovers just how fearless she can be. She'll need it, too--because things are about to explode on Frakes Island, launching Becca and Nick into danger they could never have imagined--and a passion that could destroy them both.

The Lost Night by Jayne Castle

With the ability to detect the auras of dangerous psychic criminals, Rachel Bonner has found peace and quiet on Rainshadow Island with her dust bunny companion. Then Harry Sebastian, the descendant of a notorious pirate, arrives to investigate strange developments in the privately owned woods known as the Preserve. Rachel can sense the heart of darkness within him— and the stirrings of desire within her own soul...

Justice at Cardwell Ranch and Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch by B.J. Daniels

Cardwell charm was all he'd ever needed… Until now
Six years ago, Dana Cardwell found her mother's will in a cookbook and became sole owner of the Cardwell Ranch in Big Sky, Montana. Now happily married, Dana is surprised when her siblings, Stacy and Jordan, show up on the ranch…and trouble isn't too far behind.

As danger draws closer to the ranch, deputy marshal Liza Turner quickly realizes that Jordan Cardwell isn't the man the town made him out to be.

This special collector's edition includes the story that started it all, Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch!

Westerns:

Scalpdancers by Kerry Newcomb

One man was an outcast among his people.
The other had found his home on the open seas.
They came from halfway around the world to meet.
And their journey had just begun...

In 1814, Lost Eyes is exiled by his small Blackfoot tribe, blamed for the death of a young hunter and doomed to a life of lonely wandering. Halfway around the world, in a harbor in the Portuguese colony of Macao, a seafaring Cornishman watches his own ship go up in flames against the night sky-and then must make a desperate voyage across the Pacific to America. There, Morgan Penmerry will meet a native Blackfoot being led by visions and by dreams. Both men know what it means to love a woman. Both men know what it means to have a mortal enemy-and to stand alone. Now, in a gathering storm of violence and hate, each will trust the other with his life and soul...

Matagorda by Louis L'Amour

Tap Duvarney lost his innocence in the War Between the States and then put his skills to the test as a soldier in the frontier army. Now he has settled on the Texas coast, working a ranch as the partner of his old friend Tom Kittery–and finding himself in the middle of a feud between Kittery and the neighboring Munson family. Around Matagorda Island, most people are either backing the Munsons or remaining silent. But the danger from outside Kittery’s camp is nothing compared to the threat within, as Duvarney begins to suspect that Kittery’s woman isn’t everything she appears to be. 

Now Tap is discovering that he must go to war again. But will it be with the Munsons–or with his closest friend?

Preacher's Peace by William W. Johnstone

Long before there was a mountain man called Preacher, a young adventurer set off with a team of fur traders from St. Louis for the time of his life. On a wild frontier, he sought a fortune. Instead, he found blood, betrayal, and the beginning of a legend.Armed only with a knife, surrounded by a fierce Blackfoot war party, the young man was forced to kill a warrior chief in an act of audacious courage. But when a grizzly bear attack left him half-dead, he could no longer protect himself. By the time the Blackfeet found him again, he had been abandoned and doublecrossed, with only one last trick up his sleeve: the ability to talk himself out of an impossible situation -- and into a battle for his life.

So began William Johnstone's masterful saga of the courageous loner who would become known as Preacher. Because when he was alone and desperate, he drew on a preacher's skills -- and a mountain man's cunning -- to give his enemies hell.