**From the internationally acclaimed author of *1222* comes the suspenseful tour de force that started it all - the unforgettable debut of Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen in a stunning literary skein of corruption, drugs, and murder.**Norwegian author Anne Holt has become one of the hottest writers of dark, sophisticated mystery fiction in the world today. *Blind Goddess* is the international bestseller that introduced readers to the brilliant and enigmatic Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen, whose fascinating evolution over eight books lies at the heart of the series' success. * Blind Goddess* opens with the discovery of a dead drug dealer on the outskirts of the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Within days Hansa Larsen, a lawyer of the shadiest kind, is found shot to death, and police officers HÅkon Sand and Hanne Wilhelmsen establish a link between the two crimes. The case is soon complicated by seemingly unrelated developments, including a coded message hidden in the murdered lawyer's apartment, ominous rumors from the drug underworld, and a Dutch suspect found wandering confused and bloodied in central Oslo who refuses to talk to anyone but an obscure civil lawyer. As the officers investigate, they uncover a massive network of corruption involving the highest level of government whose exposure may well get them killed.

For Halloween, Anando suggests a new game to Virginia – for a night, they will trade roles and he will play at being human while she will embody a vampire on the hunt. Another game, another night of passion… but Virginia’s curiosity might end things abruptly…

In the early 1960s, uncertainty and menace gripped New York, crystallizing in a poisonous divide between a deeply corrupt, cynical, and racist police force, and an African American community buffeted by economicdistress, brutality, and narcotics. On August 28, 1963—the day Martin Luther King Jr. declared "I have a dream" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial—two young white women were murdered in their Manhattan apartment. Dubbed the Career Girls Murders case, the crime sent ripples of fear throughout the city, as police scrambled fruitlessly for months to find the killer. But it also marked the start of a ten-year saga of fear, racial violence, and turmoil in the city—an era that took in events from the Harlem Riots of the mid-1960s to the Panther Twenty-One trials and Knapp Commission police corruption hearings of the early 1970s.The Savage City explores this pivotal and traumatic decade through the stories of three very different...

You can not stand underneath the masterwork that is the Sistine Chapel without considering the genius and painstaking work that went into its creation. Michelangelo Buonarroti never wanted to paint the Sistine Chapel, though. Appointed by the temperamental Julius II, Michelangelo believed the suspiciously large-scale project to be a plot for failure conspired by his rivals and the "Warrior Pope." After all, Michelangelo was not a painter—he was a sculptor. The noble artist reluctantly took on the daunting task that would damage his neck, back, and eyes (if you have ever strained to admire the real thing, you know). Andrew Graham-Dixon tells the story behind the famous painted ceiling over which the great artist painfully toiled for four long years. Linking Michelangelo's personal life to his work on the Sistine Chapel, Graham-Dixon describes Michelangelo's unique depiction of the Book of Genesis, tackles ambiguities in the work, and details the painstaking work that went...

Darrin's life has been going downhill ever since his girlfriend Bridget walked out on him without a word of explanation six months ago. Soon after losing her, he lost his job, and his car, and eventually his enthusiasm for life. He can't imagine things getting worse—until he sees Bridget again, for the first time since she walked out, just moments before she leaps to her death from a bridge. In his quest to find out why Bridget took her own life, he encounters a depressive (and possibly immortal) cult leader; a man with a car that can drive out of this world and into others; a beautiful psychotic with a chrome shotgun; and a bridge that, maybe, leads to heaven. Darrin's journey leads him into a place called the Briarpatch, which is either the crawlspace of the universe, or a series of ambitious building projects abandoned by god, or a tangle of alternative universes, depending on who you ask. Somewhere in that disorderly snarl of worlds, he hopes to find Bridget again. . .  or at least a reason to live without her. 

Missy is suddenly an unwanted co-owner to Ocean View Stables by Florence, Oregon. Missy wants to start over somewhere new after her old boss burned her. She's jobless and has a wrongly ruined reputation, so this works out perfectly . . . until she meets the cowboy running the place.

By dividing the creation of matter, energy, life, and mind into three big bangs, Holmes Rolston III brings into focus a history of the universe that respects both scientific discovery and the potential presence of an underlying intelligence. Matter-energy appears, initially in simpler forms but with a remarkable capacity for generating heavier elements. The size and expansion rate of the universe, the nature of electromagnetism, gravity, and nuclear forces enable the the explosion of life on Earth. DNA discovers, stores, and transfers information generating billions of species. Cognitive capacities escalate, and with neural sentience this results in human genius.A massive singularity, the human mind gives birth to language and culture, increasing the brain's complexity and promoting the spread of ideas. Ideas generate ideals, which lead life to take on spirit. The nature of matter-energy, genes, and their genesis therefore encourages humans to wonder where they are, who they...

The tiny girl has TWO schools to save in this awfully lovely adventure.Alice-Miranda is thrilled to be back at school, where the girls are preparing a play with the neighbouring boys' school. But it's not all glitter and stage lights: there are rumours of a witch in the woods, and Jacinta and Millie are clashing with a rude new student, Sloane, and her pushy mother, September. September Sykes wants to win her family the fortune she's sure it deserves, but her scheme could end in disaster. When Alice-Miranda learns of the plot, she knows just how to set things right.

A novelization of the inspirational movie about an 11-year-old girl in South Los Angeles named Akeelah and her quest to make it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee—with help from some very unexpected places.