E-book exclusive extras:1) Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on The Clocks2) "The Poirots": the complete guide to all the cases of the great Belgian detectiveSheila Webb, typist-for-hire, has arrived at 19 Wilbraham Crescent in the seaside town of Crowdean to accept a new job. What she finds is a well-dressed corpse surrounded by five clocks. Mrs. Pebmarsh, the blind owner of No. 19, denies all knowledge of ringing Sheila's secretarial agency and asking for her by name—yet someone did. Nor does she own that many clocks. And neither woman seems to know the victim. Colin Lamb, a young intelligence specialist working a case of his own at the nearby naval yard, happens to be on the scene at the time of Sheila Webb's ghastly discovery. Lamb knows of only one man who can properly investigate a crime as bizarre and baffling as what happened inside No. 19 — his friend and mentor, Hercule Poirot.

They are floating cities with crews of thousands. They are the linchpins of any military strategy, for they provide what has become the key to every battle fought since World War I: air superiority. The mere presence of a U.S. naval carrier in a region is an automatic display of strength that sends a message no potential enemy can ignore. Now, Tom Clancy welcomes you aboard for a detailed look at how these floating behemoths function. With his trademark style and eye for detail, Clancy brings you naval combat strategy like no one else can.Carrier includes: Takeoffs and landings: flying into the danger zone The aircraft onboard: their range, their power, their weaponry The role of the carrier in modern naval warfare Exclusive photographs, illustrations and diagrams Plus: An interview with the U.S. Navy's Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jay Johnson

The New York Times and USA Today bestselling Marked Men series continues with this sizzling, sexy story of love, heartbreak, fate, and second chances. After the only girl he ever loved told him that he would never be enough, Rowdy St. James knocked the Texas dust off his boots and set out to live up to his nickname. A good ol’ boy looking for good times and good friends, Rowdy refuses to take anything too seriously, especially when it comes to the opposite sex. Burned by love once, he isn’t going to let himself trust a woman again. But that’s before his new co-worker arrives, a ghost from the past who’s suddenly making him question every lesson he ever learned. Salem Cruz grew up in house with too many rules and too little fun—a world of unhappiness she couldn’t wait to forget. But one nice thing from childhood has stayed with her; the memory of the sweet, blue-eyed boy next door who’d been head over heels in love with her little sister. Now, fate and an old friend have brought her and Rowdy together, and Salem is determined to show him that once upon a time he picked the wrong sister. A mission that is working perfectly—until the one person that ties them together appears, threatening to tear them apart for good.

Behind closed doors, they're laying down the law. When it comes to the laws of attraction... Payton Kendall and J.D. Jameson are lawyers who know the meaning of objection. A feminist to the bone, Payton has fought hard to succeed in a profession dominated by men. Born wealthy, privileged, and cocky, J.D. has fought hard to ignore her. Face-to-face, they're perfectly civil. They have to be. For eight years they have kept a safe distance and tolerated each other as coworkers for one reason: to make partner at the firm. ...There are no rules. But all bets are off when they're asked to join forces on a major case. Though apprehensive at first, they begin to appreciate each other's dedication to the law—and the sparks between them quickly turn into attraction. But the increasingly hot connection does not last long when they discover that only one of them will be named partner. Now it's an all-out war. And the battle between the sexes is bound to make these lawyers hot under the collar...

Poor, plain spinster Bette is compelled to survive on the condescending patronage of her socially superior relatives in Paris: her beautiful, saintly cousin Adeline, the philandering Baron Hulot and their daughter Hortense. Already deeply resentful of their wealth, when Bette learns that the man she is in love with plans to marry Hortense, she becomes consumed by the desire to exact her revenge and dedicates herself to the destruction of the Hulot family, plotting their ruin with patient, silent malice. Cousin Bette is a gripping tale of violent jealousy, sexual passion and treachery, and a brilliant portrayal of the grasping, bourgeois society of 1840s Paris. The culmination of the Comedie humaine, Balzac's epic chronicle of his times, it is one of his greatest triumphs as a novelist.

Fifteen-year-old Shannon Campbell knew her father had been troubled since he served in the Vietnam War, but his violent suicide still shocks her. Shannon always shared so much with her father--why wasn't her love enough to make him want to live? As Shannon and her mother try to make sense of his death, they courageously renew their commitment to living in the face of their loss. Despite the hardships life may bring, they know they will forgive and love again. From the Paperback edition.

Boleslaw Prus is often compared to Chekhov, and Prus’s masterpiece might be described as an intimate epic, a beautifully detailed, utterly absorbing exploration of life in late-nineteenth-century Warsaw, which is also a prophetic reckoning with some of the social forces—imperialism, nationalism, anti-Semitism among them—that would soon convulse Europe as never before. But The Doll is above all a brilliant novel of character, dramatizing conflicting ideas through the various convictions, ambitions, confusions, and frustrations of an extensive and varied cast. At the center of the book are three men from three different generations. Prus’s fatally flawed hero is Wokulski, a successful businessman who yearns for recognition from Poland’s decadent aristocracy and falls desperately in love with the highborn, glacially beautiful Izabela. Wokulski’s story is intertwined with those of the incorrigibly romantic old clerk Rzecki, nostalgic for the revolutions of 1848, and of the bright young scientist Ochocki, who dreams of a future full of flying machines and other marvels, making for a book of great scope and richness that is, as Stanisław Barańczak writes in his introduction, at once “an old-fashioned yet still fascinating love story . . . , a still topical diagnosis of society’s ills, and a forceful yet subtle portrayal of a tragically doomed man.

SUMMARY: Here is the stunning international bestseller in the tradition ofWatership Downbut with a dark, original twist. Unique, daring, and unforgettable, it tells the story of an ordinary family who accidentally threaten the security of a hidden civilization as intelligent as our own--a colony of ants determined to survive at any cost.... Jonathan Wells and his young family have come to the Paris flat at 3, rue des Sybarites through the bequest of his eccentric late uncle Edmond. Inheriting the dusty apartment, the Wells family are left with only one warning:Never go down into the cellar. But when the family dog disappears down the basement steps, Jonathan follows--and soon his wife, his son, and various would-be rescuers vanish into its mysterious depths. Meanwhile, in a pine stump in a nearby park, a vast civilization is in turmoil. Here a young female from the russet ant nation of Bel-o-kan learns that a strange new weapon has been killing off her comrades. To find out why, she enlists the help of a warrior ant, and the two set off on separate journeys into a harsh and violent world. It is a world where death takes many forms--savage birds and voracious lizards, warlike dwarf ants and rapacious termites, poisonous beetles and, most bizarre of all, the swift, murderous, giant guardians of the edge of the world: cars. Yet the end of the female's desperate quest will be the eerie secret in the cellar at 3, rue des Sybarites--a mystery she must solve in order to fulfill her special destiny as the new queen of her own great empire. But to do so she must first make unthinkable communion with the most barbaric creatures of all. Empire of the Antsis a brilliant evocation of a hidden civilization as complex as our own and far more ancient. It is a fascinating realm where boats are built of leaves and greenflies are domesticated and milked like cows, where citizens lock antennae in "absolute communication" and fight wars with precisely coordinated armies using sprays of glue and acids that can dissolve a snail. Not sinceWatership Downhas a novel so vividly captured the lives and struggles of a fellow species and the valuable lessons they have to teach us.

It is the time of the Reformation. Henry VIII's England moves toward schism; Luther's precepts spread through Europe even as the Inquisition strives to wipe out any hint of heresy. Franzicco Ragoczy di Santo-Germano-the vampire Saint-Germain-is a successful merchant based in Venice. His lavish lifestyle and rumored cache of magnificent jewels have attracted the wrong sort of attention, and without Santo-Germano's noble-and papal-connections, he might be imprisoned, his property confiscated. Also under surveillance is his mistress, the lovely and talented musician Pier-Ariana Salier. In the Spanish Netherlands, Ragoczy's publishing business is being investigated by the Inquisition. Coming to the aid of his employees, Ragoczy becomes tarred with the brush of heresy, as does Erneste van Amsteljaxter, a writer whose intelligence Ragoczy finds attractive. Ragoczy does what he can to help her, but must return to Venice when he learns that his fortune there has been embezzled away and that Pier-Ariana has disappeared. In Venice, things are worse than Santo-Germano expected. Not only has his money disappeared, so has a young man who had been spying on the vampire and his mistress. Santo-Germano is accused of kidnapping and perhaps murder. Another spy has discovered Santo-Germano's true nature and intends to kill him before he can feast on all of Venice!

Nobody's Boy is a work by Hector Malot now brought to you in this new edition of the timeless classic.

A short collection of poems about adventure and fantasy.1.Asgard 2.Beast. 3.Honey Mead. 4.Lorli. 5. Nefelhiem. 6.The Celtic Queen. 7. Kraken. 8.The Midguard Serpent. 9. The Striking of the Gong. 10. Travels End. 11. Valkyie. 12. Wolfen.1.Asgard 2.Beast. 3.Honey Mead. 4.Lorli. 5. Nefelhiem. 6.The Celtic Queen. 7. Kraken. 8.The Midguard Serpent. 9. The Striking of the Gong. 10. Travels End. 11. Valkyie. 12. Wolfen.A short collection of pomes dealing with adventure and fantasy, in it you will find Warriors, Vikings, Wolf men, Monsters, Lost loves, Time and Space, Celtic legend, and more.

Short, sweet snippets of stories which have the ability to tempt the imagination, tantalise a reader and pose questions, this collection of flash fiction each have a sting in the tale.Twisted Tales is an anthology of short, sweet story snippets which have the ability to tempt the imagination, tantalise a reader and pose questions.This collection explores the twisted existence of love, family and relationships as characters seek a sense of self and identity. It is filled with a mixture of stories, some which will make you think, others smile and tales which will have you reaching for your security blanket.

Repeat, repeat, repeat... All Lane's life does is repeat. But, that's about to change when she runs into a super strange kid named Night. She thinks he's an alien. And he just might be. He has this amazing ability. Night can walk through dreams and memories and now he wants Lane to come to. He needs help finding something he lost. But Lane must be careful to never wake the dream.Being a kid is hard work. You have to brush your teeth, go to school, do homework, go to bed and each day you have to hit the repeat button and do it all over again. But one day Lane forgets to hit the repeat button and changes her life. She skips school and runs into a really strange kid named Night. She's pretty sure he's an alien; he's really weird. And he is. Night lives in and out of dreams and now he has ever intention of taking Lane with him to find something really important he lost in a dream. But Lane must be careful to never wake the dream.

Love is a powerful thing, not just between lovers, but also between friends. The desire for vengeance can be even stronger. Draco is about to experience this first hand. When duty compels him to avenge the death of his best friend, it becomes his primary obsession. How will this obsession affect his relationship with his new wife? Will Draco and Julia be ripped apart by his desire for vengeance?Love is a powerful thing, not just between lovers, but also between friends. The desire for vengeance can be even stronger. Draco is about to experience this first hand. When duty compels him to avenge the death of his best friend, it becomes his primary obsession. How will this obsession affect his relationship with his new wife? Will it end well for Draco and Julia, or will they be ripped apart by Draco’s desire for vengeance? About 4700 words.