There had been six armed robberies in quick succession, carried out by two men in black wearing balaclavas, and they left no clues to their identity. They seemed to leave the bank and disappear into thin air: there was never a getaway car. Detective Chief Inspecto Bland and Sergeant Boyd were being pressured to do something, and do it now! Then one night they robbed the local Dog Stadium, where Bland and his family were having a night out, and things began to change. Hovering in the background was a weird mother and son, she was in a wheelchair and they spent a lot of time in the local charity shop. The mother spent most of her time staring out of the window, watching the bank opposite..............

In these humor-filled stories, the fast-paced, action-packed police procedural genre is translated into a world inhabited exclusively by teddy bears. Inspector Blue Bearolli of the Grunion Beach P.D. Homicide Division and his two detectives, Bernard Bearstein and Billye Bare, combine their considerable talents to solve baffling murders committed by the ruthless and unscrupulous teddy bear criminal element. In The Trial of Emory Board, the inspector unravels the curiously entangled motivations that led to the shooting of a jumper from a high-rise apartment building as he plummeted to his death. Was this a suicide or a murder? In Hit Bear, Billye is befriended by a handsome cowbear who has been hired to eliminate the inspector and very nearly succeeds. In Billye, the beautiful young detective has difficulty maintaining her objectivity as she works on a case that chillingly recalls an episode in her youth when she was accused of murder.

When the ship goes down, the sharks come out.... Stranded in the war torn Pacific, Patrick and his younger brother Teddy are finally homeward-bound. They've stowed away on one of the US Navy's finest ships, and now they just need to stay hidden. But Japanese torpedoes rip their dream apart.And the sinking ship isn't the worst of it. Patrick and Teddy can handle hunger and dehydration as they float in the water and wait to be rescued. If they're smart, they can even deal with the madness that seems to plague their fellow survivors. No, the real danger circles beneath the surface. And it has teeth....Based on the true events of the 1945 sinking of the USS Indianapolis, author Michael P. Spradlin tells a harrowing story of World War II.

Maggie Lee has done some really questionable things, but she’s never stooped so low as to steal a child’s toy. There’s a first time for everything. Maggie’s life is always complicated, but her tenuous balancing act becomes even more dangerous when she’s given the job of stealing a teddy bear from the grandson of the mobster Delveccio. As she struggles to keep the different facets of her life separate, her family faces multiple threats to their safety, and there’s a very real chance she won’t be able to protect everyone she loves. Her best chance at success depends on the help of her pets…and you can bet they all have something to say about that.

Theodor Seuss Geisel Award-winner Geoffrey Hayes delights young readers with these easy-to-read short stories about Patrick Brown, in a collection perfect for emerging readers. Patrick is a puddle-jumping teddy whose biggest challenge is avoiding nap time...until Big Bear shows up!

Will Friedwald’s illuminating, opinionated essays—provocative, funny, and personal—on the lives and careers of more than three hundred singers anatomize the work of the most important jazz and popular performers of the twentieth century. From giants like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Judy Garland to lesser-known artists like Jeri Southern and Joe Mooney, they have created a body of work that continues to please and inspire. Here is the most extensive biographical and critical survey of these singers ever written, as well as an essential guide to the Great American Songbook and those who shaped the way it has been sung. The music crosses from jazz to pop and back again, from the songs of Irving Berlin and W. C. Handy through Stephen Sondheim and beyond, bringing together straightforward jazz and pop singers (Billie Holiday, Perry Como); hybrid artists who moved among genres and combined them (Peggy Lee, Mel Tormé); the leading men and women of Broadway and Hollywood (Ethel Merman, Al Jolson); yesterday’s vaudeville and radio stars (Sophie Tucker, Eddie Cantor); and today’s cabaret artists and hit-makers (Diana Krall, Michael Bublé). Friedwald has also written extended pieces on the most representative artists of five significant genres that lie outside the songbook: Bessie Smith (blues), Mahalia Jackson (gospel), Hank Williams (country and western), Elvis Presley (rock ’n’ roll), and Bob Dylan (folk-rock). Friedwald reconsiders the personal stories and professional successes and failures of all these artists, their songs, and their performances, appraising both the singers and their music by balancing his opinions with those of fellow musicians, listeners, and critics. This magisterial reference book—ten years in the making—will delight and inform anyone with a passion for the iconic music of America, which continues to resonate throughout our popular culture.