An eighteen-year-old woman named Franca Viola made history in 1966 as one of the first “#metoo” heroines of modern times, when she refused to go along with a centuries-old forcible marriage custom in Sicily. Having endured kidnap and rape, she publicly defied the expectation that she would marry the rapist to “restore her broken honor.” A social uproar occurred throughout the island ― and beyond. In Natalie Galli’s The Girl Who Said No, Viola’s remarkable story unfolds when the author arrives in Palermo to search for this brave heroine, with little more than the memory of a tiny article she had spotted two decades prior. Galli wanted to know: whatever had become of this courageous girl who had overturned an ancient, entrenched tradition? The riveting events after Franca pressed charges with the police form the core of this gripping memoir. Viola was subjected to public taunting whenever she appeared on the streets of her town; Mafia-orchestrated bullying threatened her entire family. Galli traced the dramatic tale to its conclusion, in spite of initial warnings from her own relatives not to break the Sicilian code of silence. Throughout her search for the enigmatic Franca, Galli shares her own poignant and hilarious observations about a vibrant culture steeped in contradictions and paradoxes. Does she succeed in locating the elusive proto-feminist whose case forever changed Italian culture and history? Travel along on Galli’s engaging odyssey to find out.

From the author of the Mike Shayne Mysteries: A man’s obsessive affair with his wife’s teenage sister takes him down a dark and dangerous path. A quiet construction engineer in Denver, Colorado, Charlie Dell doesn’t need any complications in his life. But his wife, Irma, insists they take in her younger sister, Lois, as a matter of duty. Charlie bristles at the thought of having a seventeen-year-old girl around . . . until he gets one look at Lois. She’s a far cry from the buck-toothed kid Dell remembers, and more than willing to indulge in a little sin with her sister’s husband. Insane with passion, Dell starts cutting corners at work in order to find time alone with her. But actions have consequences—deadly, serious ones—and the further Dell goes to cover his tracks, the darker and more dangerous his path gets. “This is a taut, matter-of-fact novel—simply and powerfully written.” —The Nashville Tennessean Praise for Brett Halliday’s Mike Shayne Mysteries “[Mike Shayne is] one of the best of the tough sleuths.” —The New York Times “Unlike anything else in the genre.” —L. J. Washburn, author of For Whom the Funeral Bell Tolls “Raw, ingenious storytelling . . . Pure pleasure.” —Shane Black, creator of Lethal Weapon and writer/director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, on Murder Is My Business

Assuming the false identity of "Terri Ross" to flee her past, Taryn Rutherford becomes a maid at the Pinecrest estate. The delightful Carr family captures her heart, though, and thoughts of escape begin to fade. Dan Carr is runnning, too-from the memory of his own tragedy. Thoughts of his wife's demise plague him constantly, and he believes he has failed everyone. Now, it seems, he'll fail once more: Pinecrest, his grandfather's legacy, is deeply in debt with no hope in sight. Just as Dan allows himself to trust Taryn, her secret strikes a blow to his already wounded heart. Can these two allow the Lord to bring rest after their years of running away?

The story of Dick Greagory, welfare case, star athelete, hit comedian, and front-line participant in the battle for Civil Rights.