The shadows in the damp churchyard clutched at the weary little girl, She was so tired of waiting. But she knew she mustn't give up.Few people looked at her now, and when they did, they turned and hurried away."I have to find someone to listen to me, please God," she prayed."Please God, please God..."Coming out of his reverie Olav, with tears in his eyes finally went down the steps to look at his poor misshapen daughter sprawled in a heap at the foot of the steps.He went to the shed and picked up his shovel, paced back and forth in front of the house unmindful of the snow that was falling, covering him and the little house. Finally he went to the water's edge and looked at the river, but there was no comfort there either. At last he went to the small apple tree he planted that fall and started to dig a hole.They found me under the apple tree.I was lying on top of the patch of ground that wouldn't grow any flowers. Even though it was snowing, you could see where I tried to dig a hole with my bare hands.I couldn't remember what happened, especially why I would be trying to dig a hole under the tree in winter.Jim took me off to our new doctor in Delta on the south side of the Fraser River. He recommended bed rest. No Christmas hassle, just sleep.The kids helped but they still needed direction and I couldn't hear from upstairs so I brought my quilt and pillow and settled myself on the living room couch. Everything was still heading towards a wonderful Christmas.The next day dawned bright and sunny, it was a wonderful Christmas day. That was the end of bed rest; I got up and made buttermilk waffles, our special Christmas treat. Jim even made the coffee. The kids laughing and teasing set the breakfast table. The wonderful smell of Christmas coffee seeped into my nostrils as I sat at the kitchen table savoring a steaming cup of coffee when I happened to glance out the kitchen window.There was a man digging under the apple tree. I got up and went out to the porch and called to him, he didn't listen. He just kept digging.The kids found me outside.Under the apple tree.Again!

When a man by mishap is locked into a sensory deprivation chamber for two days, he comes out changed. But what was he changed into? Some believed he was forever delusional. The man and others believed he was taken over by a holy angel to work miracles in the psych ward. Two college students doing a research project find more than they expected...much more. Review and 'favorite author' welcome!When people experience a life-shaking event, whether religious conversion, near death experiences, or other tumults of life, they often come out changed to the point where you wonder if they are the same person. Suppose, in at least some cases, they aren't the same person. Demonic possession has long been studied to either debunk or prove same. Those saying their new selves are higher spirits are treated with less by way of exorcism, but more by way of therapy...often forced.Two university students for a senior thesis are given one of the latter to study. When reports by professionals begin to fall short, they seek out the victim's sister. Through her help, both students are afforded a face to face meeting with the victim himself.

Nancy's cases are more mysterious than ever with exciting three book plot arcs!

An Object of Desire? Or of Fear? It was stolen from a New Orleans grave—the centuries-old bust of an evil man, a demonic man. It's an object desired by collectors and by those with wickedness in their hearts. One day, its current owner shows up at Danni Cafferty's antiques shop on Royal Street, the shop she inherited from her father. But before Danni can buy the statue, it disappears and the owner is found dead…. Michael Quinn, former cop and now private investigator, is determined to find and destroy this object with its long history of evil and even longer trail of death. He and Danni are drawn together in their search for the missing statue, following it through sultry New Orleans nights to hidden places in the French Quarter and secret ceremonies on abandoned plantations. But Cafferty and Quinn know that their story won't end when this case is closed and the dead rest in peace once again.

John Sandford, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Prey novels gives suspense an ingenious twist as he takes readers into the mind games of two irresistible con artists plotting the perfect sting... Kidd is a computer whiz, artist, and professional criminal. LuEllen is his lover, and his favorite partner in crime. Their playing field in on the cutting edge of high-tech corporate warfare. This time they've been hired by a defense industry corporation to destroy its business rival through computer sabotage. If Kidd and LuEllen can pull it off, they'll reap millions. It's the sting of a lifetime. One false move and it's a lifetime sentence. As the takedown unfolds, everything goes according to plan. But their string of successes turns into a noose when the ultimate con artists find themselves on the wrong end of the ultimate con...

Sixteen-year-old Julia Hamilton is restless. Determined not to be left behind again—stuck in the cold house where her mother died ten years earlier, with only her dreams to keep her company—Julia begs her father to take her with him on his next expedition. When he unexpectedly agrees, Julia is intrigued. Will this be her chance at adventure and romance? Traveling across the sands of the ancient world known as the Levant, Julia meets a French antiques collector, a British horticulturist, and a dashing young student—each harboring secrets as elusive as a mirage. As she learns more about her companions and the dangerous world she's in, Julia must decide whom she can trust . . . and what she is willing to fight for.

James Patterson’s BookShots. Short, fast-paced, high-impact entertainment. I know who killed my son. Molly Rourke’s son has been murdered… And she knows who’s responsible. Now she’s taking the law into her own hands. Never underestimate a mother’s love.

Meet Sebastian Grimm; funeral director, private detective, and part time necromancer. He isn't like most funeral directors. When he's not giving peace of mind to the dead, he's out solving murders. One day, Sebastian consoles a woman who recently committed suicide only to find that not all is as it seems, and foul play is most definitely afoot.Meet Sebastian Grimm; funeral director, private detective, and part time necromancer. He gives what most funeral directors don't normally offer. Peace to those who need it most; the dead. One final wish to depart unto those they've left behind. One day, when Sebastian consoles a woman who recently committed suicide, Sebastian finds that not all is as it seems, and foul play is definitely afoot. Adventure and hilarity ensue in the first short story by author Mortimer Jackson.

Sorority girl Rina Charles drowns . . . and Nancy gets in on the investigation. Nancy learns that Rina had been admitted into the exclusive club only because her mother was a member. As Nancy observes and questions the sorority sisters, she discovers that not all the attractive and confident girls are what they seem.

FBI Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine have a new mandate as the government’s Covert Eyes, assembling a handpicked team of top-notch agents to tackle crimes and criminals both international and deadly. But their first case threatens to tear the fledgling team apart when the enigmatic thief known as the Fox reappears with a plea for help. Master thief Kitsune has stolen the staff of Moses from the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, and now that she’s delivered, her clients are trying to kill her. On the run, she asks Nicholas and Mike to help her discover the true identity of her clients and stop the threat against her life. Under strict orders to arrest the Fox and bring her back to New York, the Covert Eyes team heads to Venice, Italy, to meet with Kitsune, and finds nothing is as it seems. Kitsune’s secret clients are the Koaths, a family descended from Moses himself, who will do anything, anything, to find the Ark of the Covenant and wield its power, as their long and bloody history can attest. To execute their plan, they’ve spent years perfecting a machine that can control the weather, manipulating worldwide disasters that spin the entire globe into chaos. From New York to Venice, from Rome to the Bermuda Triangle, Nicholas and Mike and their team are in a race against time, and nature herself, to stop the Koaths and recover the famous Ark of the Covenant. But can they trust Kitsune, their sworn enemy, to help them save the world from a family of madmen?

Dashiell Hammett was a crime writer who elevated the genre to true literature, and The Thin Man was Hammett's last--and most successful--novel. Following the enormous success of "The Thin Man" movie in 1934, Hammett was commissioned to write stories for additional films. He wrote two full-length novellas, for the films that became "After the Thin Man" and "Another Thin Man". Bringing back his classic characters, retired private investigator Nick Charles and his former debutante wife Nora, who return home to find Nora’s family gardener murdered, pulling the couple back into another deadly game of cat and mouse. Hammett has written two fully satisfying "Thin Man" stories, with classic, barbed Hammett dialogue and fully developed characters. Neither of these stories has been previously published (except for a partial in a small magazine 25 years ago). The Return of the Thin Man is a hugely entertaining read that brings back two classic characters from one of the greatest of mystery writers who ever lived. This book is destined to become essential reading for Hammett's millions of fans and a new generation of mystery readers the world over.

They are trapped, frozen. Waiting. Straining against the wood that holds them. The unwary catch a glimpse now and then - feel their desperate hunger, see a glint of red eyes - and scurry out of the shadows of the wood, back to the light. She's coming; it will be soon. They will run free on the moors again. The Hunt will return. And the ground will run with blood. An ancient curse placed on a family of witches foretells that twins will be born - one good, one evil; and one will destroy the other. But who can be trusted when no one is as they seem?

Wikie Collin's "After Dark" is a collection of six short stories. The book is a series of tales told by a poor travelling portrait-painter, William Kerby, who is forced to abandon his profession for six months in order to save his sight. Descriptions of the circumstances under which the tales were told. The tales are stories of adventure, well varied, and often striking in the incidents, or with thrilling situations. The six stories contained in the book are: The Traveller's Story of A Terribly Strange Bed The Lawyer's Story of A Stolen Letter The French Governess's Story of Sister Rose The Angler's Story of The Lady of Glenwith Grange The Nun's Story of Gabriel's Marriage The Professor's Story of The Yellow Mask

Between the evil and the deep blue sea…  A historic cruise ship, a haunted ship, the Celtic American Line's Destiny, sets sail from the Port of New Orleans—with a killer on board. He's known as the Archangel Killer because of the way he displays his victims in churches. And how he places a different saint's medallion on each body. No one knows exactly who he is or why he's doing this.  Jackson Crow—head of the FBI's Krewe of Hunters, a special unit of paranormal investigators—is assigned to the case, along with local agent Jude McCoy. Then Alexi Cromwell, who works in the ship's piano bar, is drawn into the situation when a victim's ghost appears to her—and to Jude. She and Jude share an attraction, and not just because of their mutual talent.  There are many suspects, but one by one they're ruled out… Or are they? In the end, Jude and Alexi have to rely on each other to catch the killer and escape his evil plans for Alexi.

A delightfully fiendish crime thriller from the bestselling author of The House of Silk. Sherlock Holmes is dead. Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty fall to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind who has risen to take his place. Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard, a devoted student of Holmes's methods of investigation and deduction, Frederick Chase must forge a path through the darkest corners of the capital to shine light on this shadowy figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, a man determined to engulf London in a tide of murder and menace.