South London, 2005, and Nikki Elliot has been spending the best part of a year living on the dole and developing a taste for daytime television. Finding her last boss's dead body had put her off having a job. But the government is cracking down on the unemployed, and Nikki's personal adviser at the Jobcentre has given her an ultimatum: go for the job at Action in Caring, a small charity, or lose your benefits. Things start to go badly wrong from Nikki's first day when her new boss dies at the management committee meeting. Was it an accident, or had someone spiked the sandwiches? And just how true were the rumours that the finance manager had an unhealthy liking for young boys? Or were the only things being fiddled by Gordon Smedley Action in Caring's accounts? Longlisted in the Mslexia First Novel Competition, 2012, this book keeps you turning pages and has you laughing out loud.

The Gory Stories Behind The Murder Ballads Cheerfully vulgar, revelling in gore, and always with an eye on the main chance, murder ballads are tabloid newspapers set to music, carrying word of the latest ‘orrible murders to an insatiable public. Victims are bludgeoned, stabbed or shot in every verse and killers often hanged, but the songs themselves never die. Instead, they mutate – morphing to suit local place names as they criss cross the Atlantic and continue to fascinate each generation’s biggest musical stars. Paul Slade traces this fascinating genre’s history through eight of its greatest songs. Stagger Lee’s “biographers” alone include Duke Ellington, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Dr John, The Clash and Nick Cave. No two tell his story in quite the same way. Covering eight classic murder ballads, including “Knoxville Girl”, “Tom Dooley” and “Frankie & Johnny”, Slade investigates the real-life murder which inspired each song and traces its musical development down the decades. Billy Bragg, The Bad Seeds’ Mick Harvey, Laura Cantrell, Rennie Sparks of The Handsome Family and a host of other leading musicians add their own insights.

A mother recounts her unthinkable experience after her thirteen-year-old son murders his little sister—and her struggle to emerge from devastation. Losing a young daughter to murder is the worst nightmare that a mother could possibly imagine—but what if the killer was her son? Charity Lee was thrust into this unimaginable situation when her thirteen-year-old son, Paris, murdered her beloved four-year-old daughter, Ella. Charity goes through intense grief at the loss of her daughter, while at the same time trying to understand why her son would have done something as horrific as this, and how she could have missed the signs that Paris was a true psychopath. While barely holding herself together throughout her intense grief, Charity is still a mother and feels a need to advocate for her son to receive appropriate treatment while incarcerated, while at the same time trying to ensure he stays in prison so he can never hurt someone again. Charity still loves her son and craves a connection with him despite all he has done. Because of her experiences, she rebuilds her life and starts a non-profit to help other families of victims, as well as offenders. This book is a meditation on grief, loss, and forgiveness unlike any other. It’s also an inspirational story of a true survivor. How Now, Butterfly? is a haunting memoir that no reader will soon forget.

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes Murdered, My Sweet from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon. Jenny Jakes and her mother, a famous mystery writer, travel to San Antonio to see their cousin, Arnold Harmony, who’s made his fortune in the chocolate business. Harmony, an eccentric millionaire, wants his will read publicly before he dies; since everyone wants a piece of the pie, this announcement causes quite a stir. When Harmony’s son is murdered just before the reading, Jenny’s mother decides to spring into action as a real-life detective. But Jenny’s mother doesn’t have a clue about solving a real crime, so it’s up to Jenny to use her wits, not only to save her mother’s reputation, but also to keep herself from being killed. “Lively characters...(and insightful) humor.” –Publishers Weekly “Another solid Nixon mystery without too much violence and lots of suspense.” –Booklist “Jenny’s covering for her mother is funny.” –Kirkus Reviews

Based on case studies from the US, UK and Australia, this book looks at the ways in which female killers are constructed in the media, in law and in feminist discourse almost invariably as victims rather than actors in the crimes they commit.

Provides an introduction to American pulp fiction during the twentieth century with brief author biographies and lists of their works.