A Max Rydal mystery -Head of 26 Section Special Investigation Branch, Max Rydal, and his deputy, Sergeant Major Tom Black, are called to investigate a brutal attack on a young boy at a fancy-dress party. Meanwhile, security must be tightened ahead of a chess convention, and Max is soon caught up in a case which offers little light relief, until he is introduced to one of the competing chess players, the glamorous Livya Cordwell . . .

Czech Mate is a satire, disguised as a crime thriller It is a book about Betrayal, Revenge, and Redemption Dimitri is a man who has everything in life He is a well-respected genetic scientist with a great family He moves to the US to teach at a major university and gets caught in a corrupted political system When his family is murdered, he sets out for revenge and justice, along the way he collects a rather eclectic group of followers Everyone is constantly betraying the others and is getting betrayed by the others in return Dimitri is finally able to learn an important lesson in life and through that lesson he finds a path out of his web of destruction. When he chooses the path of compassion and hope he is ultimately rewarded by finding a new love and a new life. Book One of the Czech Trilogy This book contains - The Gospel of Pantee

I couldn’t say no to spending the holidays in the Czech Republic with my high school friend. I miss her, and it's the opportunity of a lifetime. My life at home is topsy turvy as I finish up college, too. The respite away seems like just the thing, while I make a decision about my future. Until I meet her older brother, Hasya. He does strange things to my insides and sends shivers down my spine. When I’m around him, I have no space to think. Good thing his sister and I will be seeing all the sights. I’ll barely see him. Best laid plans and all that… Hasya has other ideas. He intends to spend every minute of my vacation right beside me. Yay, me. At least, the “sights” are drop-dead gorgeous no matter where we go.

"e;Nobody in our family ever got divorced."e; - In the words of my dad."e;So there is always a first time for everything."e; - Those would be my words.Early in the 1990s, the Czech Republic was changing, desperately trying to enter a western capitalistic lifestyle. But the change was slow motion compared to the turbulent life of a young female journalist trying to do it all - end her first marriage, mother two kids, while drowning in lots of work. One could also say - divorcing chin first, pulling new jobs while juggling old jobs, surrounding herself with loyal friends, and marrying a new man, the love of her life, who was - ooohh my god! - a foreigner ... how scandalous!She is forced to fight with old traditional thinking, the socialistic school system, and a judgemental society. But she is never alone - with the help of her faithful friends, family and a refreshing dose of humour, she finally wins her life game of Czech Mate. And finally, a fresh start. Canada - here they come!If you enjoyed this book, try the prequel: Somersault

A biography of Hecht, a Holocaust survivor, born in 1929 in Brno. In the 1930s the family lived in Bratislava. Describes the Slovak anti-Jewish laws and economic measures in 1939-40. In September 1939 Hecht's family (parents and two children) managed to leave Slovakia for Budapest, and in December - for Paris. When France was occupied by the Germans, the Hechts fled to Lisbon, and from there to Canada, where they arrived in Montreal in January 1942. Pp. 175-188, "Epilogue", contain a first-person account of his life by Tom Hecht.

These reminiscences are an intimate account of Mila Rechcgls saga, his fascinating life, his varied and successful professional career, and his highly visible public life, encompassing some fifty years, since the earliest childhood in a small hamlet in northeastern rural Bohemia to his government career in the Worlds Capital, Washington, DC and spending his retirement years in active scholarship and voluntary work for non-profit organizations. He views his life as a chess game, in which he confronts various challenges head-on, usually ending with a checkmate in his favor. He describes his idyllic youth at family mill, in an area known as Bohemian paradise, talks fondly of his parents and grandparents, the time he spent in a one-class rural school, followed by eight years in gymnasium in Mlada Boleslav, four during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia and four in the post-War era under the communist threat. After successful escape from communist Czechoslovakia, he immigrates to America, spending his greenhorn years in New York City, working in a glass jewelry factory. He gets a scholarship, is accepted by a prestigious Ivy League school (Cornell) and with skimpy English manages getting his bachelors degree in biochemistry in two and half years, followed by Masters and Ph.D. Gets hired by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda where he conducts some pioneering research on enzyme turnover and later is offered training in science policy and administration, leading to his appointment as Special Assistant for Nutrition and Health, and later is put in charge of research at the US State Departments Agency for International Development. Beyond the call of duty, he publishes numerous books and in his spare time, devotes energies to organizing an international Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences into a first-class institution and does premier research on immigration history.

Bailey's Irish Dream by Stephanie Doyle Married by thirty or else! If still single on her birthday, Baily Monohan promised her family she'd return home and marry her boring childhood sweetheart. But fate has other plans when Baily is involved in an accident with a black Mercedes—driven by a man with an even blacker temper! Daniel Blake is headed east, as well—to stop a wedding! Can these two drive cross-country together without crossing swords? Or perhaps they'll be the ones crossing the threshold—together! Czech Mate by Kate Thomas She knew all the right moues… Wendy Marek needs to see green—as in money to finance her studies in fashion design in Paris. But to claim her inheritance she must marry. Visiting Czech Peter Havel also needs to see green—as in green card! What will Wendy do with a Czech math genius with the body of an Olympic gold medalist? Well, marry him, of course. However, what will happen to this marriage of convenience when love enters the equation?