FACE-OFF A jealous teammate can lead to danger on the ice.... When it comes to skating, Scott Harrison can't be beat. Still, he can't believe it when he's asked to play for the Golden Bears hockey team. But soon his excitement turns to doubt, then fear, when a resentful teammate ruins his confidence. Scott must confront his nemesis or give up his dream of playing hockey forever.

It's Christmas, and half the Partickhill police squad is down with flu. Not good timing, with a series of cyanide poisonings in the area, plus two small boys reported missing in the space of a few days. And then there's the monumental task of providing concert security for rock legend Rogan O'Neill . . .But for Detective Inspector Colin Anderson, the nightmare is about to get terrifyingly close to home. For a third boy has now gone missing – Colin's own son, Peter.The team race to find the boys before it is too late. But how long will it be before they realize the key is hidden in the lyrics of a rock song – 'Tambourine Girl' by Rogan O'Neill?

1790 and England is on the cusp of war with Revolutionary France. The night-time Channel is the scene of intense smuggling activity and the passage of spies from one coast to another.Lieutenant James Hayter has achieved his heart's desire -- his first independent command, His Majesty's 'Hawk' cutter, 10 guns. She is swift enough to out sail even the fastest of the French contraband runners and she is Hayter's pride and joy. But his happiness is tempered by the knowledge that his former captain and friend, William Rennie, has been left on the beach after the failure of the Rabhet expedition the previous year.But it is not long before spymaster Sir Robert Greer disturbs Rennie's imposed retirement with a sinister and irrefutable offer that will see Rennie hastening to join his former subordinate in Portsmouth. Together they will have to tackle one of the most sensitive and dangerous missions of the phoney war, to intercept a contraband runner, the cutter 'Lark' and capture...

Burqas, car bombs, and Bombay Sapphire – welcome to life in post-Taliban Kabul from the viewpoint of Sally Cooper, an Australian journalist and aid worker who took a job training journalists for a United Nations humanitarian news agency.When she arrived in Afghanistan, Sally knew next to nothing about the country. Once in Kabul, she moved into the Karwan Sara guesthouse – and quickly met a cast of characters that drew her into the strange realities of life in "the Ghan".Some of the many questions posed include: What do you do when you discover your male hotel cleaner wearing your clothes? How do you blend into the background at a Friday night dog fight when you're the only woman there – and you're a blonde Westerner? Under what circumstances do you decide that wearing a burqa is for your own protection? How do you live and work in a place where the car next to yours at the traffic lights could be driven by a suicide bomber?Irreverent, action-packed,...

Plum Pudding MurderThe yuletide season in Lake Eden, Minnesota, guarantees a white Christmas, delectable holiday goodies from Hannah Swensen's bakery, The Cookie Jar—and murder. As a shadow hangs over her friends' Christmas wedding, Hannah's determined to cook a killer's goose before anyone else gets burned. . .The Cookie Jar's busiest time of the year also happens to be the most wonderful time. . .for Christmas cookies, Hannah's own special plum pudding—and romance! She also gets a kick out of "Lunatic Larry Jaeger's Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot," a kitschy carnival taking place smack-dab in the middle of the village green. But then Hannah discovers the man himself dead as a doornail in his own office. . .Now, with so many suspects to investigate and the twelve days of Christmas ticking away, Hannah's running out of time to nab a murderous Scrooge who doesn't want her to see the New Year. . .Includes Hannah's favorite Christmas dinner recipes!...

Erotica/Fantasy. 6851 words long. First published in 2007-07-26, 2007

'Dad was not here. The three of us were now two, but Dad's last adventure did not have to be over. Not as long as there was someone around to keep it going...' Leah travels across China with her mum, in search of long-lost relatives and the answer to an ancient mystery. Grieving for her father, she feels increasingly distanced from her mother. But soon the unfolding terror of Tiananmen Square will draw mother and daughter back together in the most drastic way possible.

Finalist for the Man Booker International Prize 2015 Alain Mabanckou left Congo in 1989, at the age of twenty-two, not to return until a quarter of a century later. When at last he returns home to Pointe-Noire, a bustling port town on Congo's south-eastern coast, he finds a country that in some ways has changed beyond recognition: the cinema where, as a child, Mabanckou gorged on glamorous American culture has become a Pentecostal temple, and his secondary school has been re-named in honour of a previously despised colonial ruler. But many things remain unchanged, not least the swirling mythology of Congolese culture which still informs everyday life in Pointe-Noire. Mabanckou though, now a decorated French-Congolese writer and esteemed professor at UCLA, finds he can only look on as an outsider at the place where he grew up. As Mabanckou delves into his childhood, into the life of his departed mother and into the...

Rousing fantasy adventure with a few butt-kicking heroines.Rupert, a young loner with a dark history, is sent by his parents to the University of Ostuh in hopes of him learning to be less withdrawn. He continues to avoid social contact until an extraordinary encounter with Meg and Patrick, famed monster hunters turned students. Making new friends for the first time in years, he and the duo navigate school life alongside other standouts such as warrior noble Charlene Lyonesse and Peggy "PP" Petunia, a tiny pigtailed girl with a big secret. When a series of brutal murders rocks at the university, the students must come together to stop the deadly threat.A full length novel.

Wild Spirit

SUMMARY:The dead too have hopes...And among the hopeful dead is Alex Resartus: obtuse professor, obscure novelist, schizophrenic...and vampire.As an obtuse professor, he bewilders and frustrates his bored students; as an obscure novelist with a once-promising reputation, he desires to recover his creative powers, but his shattered mind stands in the way. As a schizophrenic, Alex's mind is "broken," and in this most unusual novel, A SELF-MADE MONSTER, Alex plans to reorganize his broken mind with whole blood. For Alex's special quirk - both his blessing and his curse - is that he takes on the traits of his victims in most surprising ways.Alex sees the brilliant and socially backward student, Edward Head, as his savior: Edward's disciplined and powerful mind is just the tonic Alex needs to rejuvenate his creative powers.But Alex is not the only one with hopes. The living among him have their own hopes.Edwards hopes are carnal. He desires both Holly Dish, an amalgam of sweaty undergraduate daydreams, and Claire Sweet, a returning adult coed who is both cool and mysterious. Holly and Claire too have their own hopes, as does the short and cynical Jimmy Stubbs, who hates to study and loves to drink beer and scheme. The hopes of each character intersect and eventually violently knotproducing a twisting climax that leaves some characters dead and others about to savor an astounding financial windfall.

When Dead Detective Seamus is asked to investigate the death of wealthy businessman William Dunbar, he agrees, but there is an additional request. Will he take a detective-in-training along? Reluctantly, Seamus agrees and meets Mildred, who seems charming if a little headstrong.Suspects include Dunbar's family and staff, notably his beloved grandson Bud, who was with him when he fell from a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. There's chemistry between Bud and a member of the household staff, Scarlet. Seamus wonders why they work so hard to keep it hidden. As they try to learn what happened, Mildred decides she must help Dunbar's adopted granddaughter Brodie, a problem child devastated by "Gramps" death. Brodie feels that no one on earth cares about her now, and Mildred becomes determined to convince her otherwise.Disgusted by the fact that Mildred ignores the rules of non-interference with the Living, Seamus works on without her. Events soon spin out of control. A kidnapping...