Inspector Ian Rutledge is quickly sent to investigate the sudden deaths of three members of the same eminent Cornwall family, but the World War I veteran soon realizes that nothing about this case is routine. Including the identity of one of the dead, a reclusive spinster unmasked as O. A. Manning, whose war poetry helped Rutledge retain his grasp on sanity in the trenches of France. Guided by the voice of Hamish, the Scot he unwillingly executed on the battlefield, Rutledge is driven to uncover the haunting truths of murder and madness rooted in a family crypt... Amazon.com ReviewWhen A Test of Wills, Charles Todd's first mystery about a shell-shocked World War I veteran, came out, it was such an original and successfully executed concept that readers were torn between wanting more and wondering how he could possibly pull off a sequel. Todd does it very simply: he pushes the gimmick sideways and makes his Scotland Yard detective, Ian Rutledge, much more personally involved in the death of one of the possible murder victims than he was in the first book. While the voice of Hamish, the Scottish soldier he executed for battlefield cowardice, still growls in his mind, Inspector Rutledge also feels very deeply about Olivia Marlowe, a supposed suicide in the Cornwall town of Borcombe. He knew her as O. A. Manning, a poet whose books, especially the love poems collected in Wings of Fire, were "light and warmth and beauty intermingled with such passion that they sang in the heart as you read them. Wings of Fire had touched him in ways that few things had." Olivia's death, along with that of two members of her family, have brought Rutledge from London to investigate. But, as a sharp local clergyman tells him, "Be sure your own ghosts don't infringe on your logical mind--don't rain havoc on Borcombe in search of your own absolution." From Publishers WeeklyIn a brilliant return after his introduction in A Test of Wills (1996), Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge is dispatched to Cornwall to investigate three deaths?seemingly a double-suicide and an accident?that have occurred within weeks in the Trevelyan family. Still recovering from shell shock sustained while serving in France during WWI, Rutledge carries in his head the challenging voice of Hamish MacLeod, a Scottish soldier about whose battlefront death Rutledge experiences profound guilt. In the village of Borcombe, Rutledge learns that one of the apparent suicides, Olivia Marlowe, wrote as O.A. Manning, a poet whose work had uncannily captured both the misery of war and the passion and beauty of love. Olivia Marlowe and her devoted half-brother Nicholas Cheney died of poisoning within hours of each other. Another half-brother, Stephen FitzHugh, the only family member opposed to selling the family estate where Olivia and Nicholas lived, fell down the stairs to his death not long after the funeral. Searching for answers about the deaths and for an understanding of the poet, Rutledge finds himself on a decades-long trail of cleverly disguised murders. Todd's cast is sometimes hard to keep straight, but readers will find it hard to resist following Rutledge on this emotionally intense quest. Memorable characters, subtle plot twists, the evocative seaside setting and descriptions of architecture, the moors and the sea fully reward the attention this novel commands. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

My rule is to never fall in love with a client. His rule? To never fall in love at all.I work at an elite matchmaking company. A failing one, to be honest. We're near bankruptcy when billionaire Anthony Winter invests. It's only business for him—he doesn't believein the company's mission.No, Anthony tells me true love is a lie and our clients are delusional. He's a cynic in a thousand-dollar suit. He's also a challenge I can't resist. We make a bet. I have three dates to prove our service works.Three dates to set him up with the woman he never knew he needed. He has no intention of finding one. I have no intention of being her. But as we spend time together, I realize his cynicism is only a facade.He's a man hiding a painful secret. A man hurting. And most definitely a man worthy of true love.He saved my company. Will he let me save him in return?

Crispin is a master mosaicist, creating beautiful art with colored stones and glass. Summoned to Sarantium by imperial request, he bears a Queen's secret mission, and a talisman from an alchemist. Once in the fabled city, with its taverns and gilded sanctuaries, chariot races and palaces, intrigues and violence, Crispin must find his own source of power in order to survive-and unexpectedly discovers it high on the scaffolding of his own greatest creation.

In the heart of Calcutta lurks a dark mystery. . . . Set in Calcutta in the 1930s, The Midnight Palace begins on a dark night when an English lieutenant fights to save newborn twins Ben and Sheere from an unthinkable threat. Despite monsoon-force rains and terrible danger lurking around every street corner, the young lieutenant manages to get them to safety, but not without losing his own life. . . . Years later, on the eve of Ben and Sheere’s sixteenth birthday, the mysterious threat reenters their lives. This time, it may be impossible to escape. With the help of their brave friends, the twins will have to take a stand against the terror that watches them in the shadows of the night—and face the most frightening creature in the history of the City of Palaces.

The Ghost -- the code name for the secret member of an undercover cop's backup team. It is the Ghost's job to remain hidden, blending into the scenery, maintaining close observation of his assignment's surroundings. In short, he's supposed to keep the undercover cop alive. The Ghost's relationship with his undercover cop is unrivaled in its intensity.But every relationship has unpredictable turns, and in Marc Olden's The Ghost, undercover cop Rosalind "Ross" Magellan's relationship with her Ghost is no different. Magellan, impulsive, seductive, and an expert at the art of deceit and manipulation, is addicted to the rush of leading a double life; she has posed as a prostitute and a junkie to uncover dealers and sleazy players associated with New York City's underground night culture. Roaming desolate streets, abandoned buildings, and after-hours clubs without a police radio, badge, or vest, and often without a gun, her character reveals the true underbelly of New York...

For eighteen years Fran Benedetto kept her secret, hid her bruises. She stayed with Bobby because she wanted her son to have a father, and because, in spite of everything, she loved him. Then one night, when she saw the look on her ten-year-old son’s face, Fran finally made a choice—and ran for both their lives. Now she is starting over in a city far from home, far from Bobby. In this place she uses a name that isn’t hers, watches over her son, and tries to forget. For the woman who now calls herself Beth, every day is a chance to heal, to put together the pieces of her shattered self. And every day she waits for Bobby to catch up to her. Bobby always said he would never let her go, and despite the ingenuity of her escape, Fran Benedetto is certain of one thing: It is only a matter of time. From the Trade Paperback edition.

In this mystery, the police must figure out why Lynn Granville has left her husband Michael. Could it be because he is never at home; because at work Michael has an extremeley attractive new assistant whose marriage has its own problems; or because she herself has created a new life that does not involve him? And why are the police taking such a criminal view on what surely must be a domestic case?

When investigator Leo Friday is sent to unravel the shady goings-on at the Kimball family mansion, he never dreamed his primary suspect would be pretty Lily Rigby, the eccentric family's social secretary. Everyone just loves Lily, and Leo can't help but notice that beneath that oh-so-sensible exterior is a passionate woman longing to break free. Leo finds Lily irresistible, trouble is, she might be filching millions of dollars from the Kimballs' overfilled coffers.Lily Rigby knew from the start that Leo Friday wasn't just another accountant sent to balance the Kimball family books. First, there were all those attractive muscles, a sure sign he did more in his spare time than crunch numbers. Then there were all those pesky questions about her personal life. But when he took her in his arms and gave her the most pulse-pounding kiss of her life, Lily was almost ready to put her suspicions aside. He couldn't be on to her--could he?

Matt Scudder is finally leading a comfortable life. The crime rate's down and the stock market's up. Gentrification's prettying-up the old neighborhood. The New York streets don't look so mean anymore. Then all hell breaks loose. Scudder quickly discovers the spruced-up sidewalks are as mean as ever, dark and gritty and stained with blood. He's living in a world where the past is a minefield, the present is a war zone, and the future's an open question. It's a world where nothing is certain and nobody's safe, a random universe where no one's survival can be taken for granted. Not even his own. A world where everybody dies.

How can a good guy make me want to break all my rules?I have three rules. One I learned as a child, and the others I learned running my lingerie store. But even following my rules, I can't seem to meet the right kinds of guys. I only attract bad boys, and I'm sick of it.When the gorgeous but incredibly shy deputy has me inadvertently breaking rule one, I change my dating strategy.If bad boys seek me out, maybe it's time I set my sights on a good guy. And, yes, the deputy with dazzling green eyes and heart-melting smile qualifies. As for the rule-breaking, it was a one-time thing.Eli barely speaks to me, but I'm up to the challenge.Then I break another rule for him and start to question my assumption about good guys.