The world's most exclusive detective agency opens a new office - in Australia! With the best detectives in the business, cutting edge technology and offices around the globe, there is no investigation company quite like Private. Now, at a glittering launch party overlooking the iconic Opera House, Private Sydney throws open its doors . . . Craig Gisto and his newly formed team have barely raised their glasses, however, when a young Asian man, blood-soaked and bullet-ridden, staggers into the party, and what looks like a botched kidnapping turns out to be a whole lot more. Within days the agency's caseload is full. But it is a horrific murder in the wealthy Eastern Suburbs and the desperate search for a motive that stretches the team to the limit. Stacy Friel, friend of the Deputy Commissioner of NSW Police, isn't the killer's first victim - and as the bodies mount up she's clearly not the last . . .

The Flynn brothers have inherited more than a New Orleans plantation. They've inherited a ghostly presence -- and a long-kept secret. Aidan Flynn, a private investigator and eldest of the Flynn brothers, scoffs at the haunted-house rumors -- especially since Kendall Montgomery, a tarot card reader who has been living in the mansion, is the one to tell him the tale of a woman in white. But when he finds a human bone on the grounds and another by the river, Aidan delves into the dark history of the Flynn plantation. Forced together to uncover the truth, Aidan and Kendall realize that a serial killer whose victims seem to vanish into thin air has long been at work -- and that their own fates are about to be sealed forever unless they believe in the unbelievable.

It’s been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce. The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda’s father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda’s complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.

'A single ball came through at deck level, It struck a burst of sparks from the steel hull, like Brocks Fireworks at Crystal palace, brilliant orange even in the strong sunlight, and the hole it tore through Black Joke's plating was fringed with bare jagged tongues of metal like the petals of a silver sunflower.' In search of a father they barely remember, Zouga and Dr Robyn Ballantyne board Mungo St John's magnificent clipper to speed them to Africa. But long before they sight that mighty continent, Robyn knows that she and Mungo will battle with all the fury of natural enemies -- and love with all the desperation of those unable to evade the commands of fate. For if she can bring hope and healing to Africa's fever-ridden shores, he, a lawless trader in human cargo, will possess any man -- or woman -- he chooses...

Panic in Level 4 is a grand tour through the eerie and unforgettable universe of Richard Preston, filled with incredible characters and mysteries that refuse to leave one’s mind. Here are dramatic true stories from this acclaimed and award-winning author, including • the phenomenon of “self-cannibals,” who suffer from a rare genetic condition caused by one wrong letter in their DNA that forces them to compulsively chew their own flesh–and why everyone may have a touch of this disease • the search for the unknown host of Ebola virus, an organism hidden somewhere in African rain forests, where the disease finds its way into the human species, causing outbreaks of unparalleled horror • the brilliant Russian brothers–“one mathematician divided between two bodies”–who built a supercomputer in their apartment from mail-order parts in an attempt to find hidden order in the number pi (π) In exhilarating detail, Preston portrays the frightening forces and constructive discoveries that are currently roiling and reordering our world, once again proving himself a master of the nonfiction narrative.

When Josie Jensen, an awkward 13-year-old musical prodigy crashes headlong into new-comer Samuel Yazzie, an 18-year-old Navajo boy full of anger and confusion, an unlikely friendship blooms. Josie teaches Samuel about words, music and friendship, and along the way finds a kindred spirit. Upon graduation, Samuel abandons the sleepy, small town in search of a future and a life, leaving his young friend behind. Many years go by and Samuel returns, finding Josie in need of the very things she offered him years before. Their roles reversed, Samuel teaches Josie about life, love, and letting go. Deeply romantic and poignant, Running Barefoot is the story of a small town girl and a Native American boy, the ties that bind them to their homes and families, and the love that gives them wings.

Revised and Expanded With the same trademark compassion and erudition he brought to The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human condition. In Musicophilia, he shows us a variety of what he calls “musical misalignments.” Among them: a man struck by lightning who suddenly desires to become a pianist at the age of forty-two; an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; people with “amusia,” to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans; and a man whose memory spans only seven seconds-for everything but music. Illuminating, inspiring, and utterly unforgettable, Musicophilia is Oliver Sacks' latest masterpiece. From the Trade Paperback edition. --penguinrandomhouse.com

The Eight Kingdoms are under threat. Throughout the north, magic is re-emerging after centuries of absence, popping up in family after family-even those with no known mage parentage. Nor is it confined to the privileged classes, but is appearing in rich and poor alike. This is bad enough in lands where such powers are not considered illegal, but now some kingdoms are instituting pogroms, killing everyone in whom the powers emerge, no matter how young or old they might be. And with one very determined traitor at work, intent on undoing any effort at peace no matter how many lives it costs, the future hangs in the balance. It is only the dedication of a few resolute heroes who can turn the tides... if they can survive.

They are seven players in a game of deadly magic— Eltiron, Prince of Sevarin; Crystalorn, Princess of Barinash; Ranlyn, the desert rider; Jermain, the outlaw; Vandaris, the soldier; Carachel, the Wizard-King; and Amberglas, the sorceress. Each of them has a secret, and each fights his or her part in the thrilling battle that has put seven kingdoms on the very edge of destruction. Filled with wit, swordplay, humor, and intrigue, this early novel is one of Patricia C. Wrede’s best.

HOT HONEY KISSES (3:AM KISSES 17) this is a standalone romance What does an obnoxious attorney, a coed gone wild, and a corpse have in common? Shep and Serena are about to find out the hard way. Spending summer in Hollow Brook will be murder. When Serena lets her roommate talk her into going to an exotic nightclub that promises to make all of her wildest dreams come true she’s mortified to find the man behind the mask has an all too familiar obnoxious face. But it turns out Serena and Shep share more than a penchant for soft restraints—they share a propensity for trouble. Finding a corpse places Serena and Shep right at the top of the suspect list and try as they might to unravel the mystery themselves they discover that time has already run out for the two of them. Or has it just begun?

On the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar with her boardinghouse roommate stretching three dollars as far as it will go when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker with royal blue eyes and a tempered smile, happens to sit at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a yearlong journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool toward the upper echelons of New York society and the executive suites of Condé Nast--rarefied environs where she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve. Wooed in turn by a shy, principled multi-millionaire and an irrepressible Upper East Side ne'er-do-well, befriended by a single-minded widow who is ahead of her time, and challenged by an imperious mentor, Katey experiences firsthand the poise secured by wealth and station and the failed aspirations that reside just below the surface. Even as she waits for circumstances to bring Tinker back into her life, she begins to realize how our most promising choices inevitably lay the groundwork for our regrets.

Years ago, Lucas Davenport almost died at the hands of Clara Rinker, a pleasant, soft-spoken, low-key Southerner, and the best hitwoman in the business. Now retired and living in Mexico, she nearly dies herself when a sniper kills her boyfriend, the son of a local druglord, and while the boy's father vows vengeance, Rinker knows something he doesn't: The boy wasn't the target-she was-and now she is going to have to disappear to find the killer herself. The FBI and DEA draft Davenport to help track her down, and with his fiancie deep in wedding preparations, he's really just as happy to go-but he has no idea what he's getting into. For Rinker is as unpredictable as ever, and between her, her old bosses in the St. Louis mob, the Mexican druglord, and the combined, sometimes warring, forces of U.S. law enforcement, this is one case that will get more dangerous as it goes along. And when the crossfire comes, anyone standing in the middle won't stand a chance....Filled with the rich characterization and exceptional drama that are his hallmarks, Mortal Prey proves that John Sandford just keeps getting better.

CROWNED HEADS takes us into the interlocking lives of four film stars. First we meet Fedora, longest-reigning beauty of them all. Sexy Lorna comes next. We find her in a secluded resort trying to heal herself after many jobs, many men, and much trouble. Bobbitt is a former kiddie star now in his thirties and still "adorable." And Willie, for decades a worldwide symbol of elegance and wit, is alone in his Hollywood showplace mourning his past until the future breaks in.

“I tried to play a game. I tried to wield deceit as perfectly as the Hawks. But when I thought I was winning, I wasn’t. Jethro isn’t what he seems—he’s the master of duplicity. However, I refuse to let him annihilate me further.” Nila Weaver has grown from naïve seamstress to full-blown fighter. Every humdrum object is her arsenal, and sex…sex is her greatest weapon of all. She’s paid the First Debt. She’ll probably pay more. But she has no intention of letting the Hawks win. Jethro Hawk has found more than a worthy adversary in Nila—he’s found the woman who could destroy him. There’s a fine line between hatred and love, and an even finer path between fear and respect. The fate of his house rests on his shoulders, but no matter how much ice lives inside his heart, Nila flames too bright to be extinguished.

Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden - waves her hand to tame the most violent weather. Now she races against accusations of corruption and murder. Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful warden known. Because he stole three bottles of Djinn, he is now the most wanted criminal on earth. Can she find him before the bad weather closes in?

Nabokov's fourth novel, The Eye is as much a farcical detective story as it is a profoundly refractive tale about the vicissitudes of identities and appearances. Nabokov's protagonist, Smurov, is a lovelorn, excruciatingly self-conscious Russian émigré living in prewar Berlin, who commits suicide after being humiliated by a jealous husband, only to suffer even greater indignities in the afterlife. From the Trade Paperback edition.

James Norris isn’t going to spend the rest of his life in the royal navy. He’s going to marry Virginia Barrington, and he rides to her family’s home to ask her to be his bride. Stella Barrington, Virginia's sister, was a lame child, but now she barely limps. She’s been in love with James Norris for as long as she can remember, and if she wants to win him, she can be nothing but brash…When Lieutenant James Norris’s closest friend is killed in a horrible accident, he realizes life is far too short to spend it all in the post-Napoleonic navy. He decides it is time to marry, and he knows just the young woman he wants as his wife. Lady Virginia Barrington is charming and beautiful, and James travels to her family’s manor to ask her the most important question of his life. Lady Stella Barrington was lame and sickly for much of her life. Now she walks with barely a limp, and she is ill no more than anyone else. She has been in love with James Norris for as long as her elder brother’s friend has been coming to visit at Barrington Manor. Stella cannot doubt that James has come to see her lovely but shallow sister. But Virginia is away, and if Stella wants to win the man she loves, she can be nothing but brash…A romantic novella. Approximately 10,000 words.

Jack Room 204—Miss Stretchberry February 25 Today the fat black cat up in the tree by the bus stop dropped a nut on my head thunk and when I yelled at it that fat black cat said Murr-mee-urrr in a nasty spiteful way. I hate that cat. This is the story of Jack words sounds silence teacher and cat.

Avast and belay, me hearties - it's lunacy on the high seas! It's the Time Warp Trio to the rescue! Only now they are rescuing their own adventure-loving hides. Blame Fred, or blame the mysterious magic of "The Book" - but whichever way you slice it, Blackbeard's got our accidental time travelers cornered, and he's about to slice them!

Collection of stories written over the course of many years. 183p.

With classic simplicity and a painter's feeling for atmosphere and detail, Isak Dinesen tells of the years she spent from 1914 to 1931 managing a coffee plantation in Kenya.