Jolie Gentil Mysteries: Books 12-14 and the Prequel -- Jolie and Scoobie High School Misadventures The Jersey Shore can be fun, but then there's the occasional murder. Ocean Alley's most curious sleuth, Jolie Gentil, stays on top of crime, but has to use careful judgment so she doesn't mess up life with her great husband and four-year old twins. Somehow, trouble still finds her, and from time to time she enlists friends to help her solve a murder before a killer comes after her. Sticky Fingered Books. Generally, parents don't find bodies in their kids' daycare center. Leave it to Jolie to be the exception. Murder isn't funny, but the adults and 4-year-old twins bring chuckles as Jolie gets help from Scoobie and friends George and Ramona as she tries to figure out who wanted the daycare director dead. And what does it have to do with plans for downtown changes. Can development be deadly? New Lease on Death. People don't usually keel over in the Java Jolt Coffee Shop, and Jolie does not (often) find bodies in vacant houses. Jolie didn't think anyone in Ocean Alley's real estate business could be ornerier than cigar-chewing Lester Argrow, but Buck Brock wins the prize. Problem is, the prize is death in a vacant house, with an old friend of Jolie's as a key suspect. Phoning in a Murder. The band director hates cell phones in class or on the football field. But is that a good reason to kill him? Or maybe he's chosen his friends poorly. Either way, Scoobie's much younger brother is the last person seen on security footage before the band teacher dies. Jolie needs to prove he isn't the one who stuck a needle in the man's neck. Jolie and Scoobie High School Misadventures. Sixteen-year-old Jolie is furious to be duped. She gets dropped off at Aunt Madge's Cozy Corner B&B not for a fun weekend, but for her junior year of high school while her parents "work things out" in their marriage.She feels like an outsider, but does make friends with Scoobie, a kid who seems to be always on his own. To make money, she babysits. Who knew taking care of kids could be dangerous? Review: "My favorite part of this series is following the arc of characters whose lives feel authentic: Babies and seniors, recovering alcoholics and vets with PTSD, and everything else we all see in our communities. These topics are treated as the part of life, which they are, and rather than detract from the story, they enrich it." Amazon Review

Jolie Gentil moves to Great Aunt Madge's bed and breakfast at the Jersey shore, taking her cat Jazz, and joining Madge's pair of prune-eating dogs. Jolie does not view this as a retreat from her embezzling ex-husband, just a smart change. She had no idea her life was about to get even more complicated. Jolie finds work as a real estate appraiser, but a low-life named Joe Pedone demands that Jolie repay some of her husband's gambling debts and she runs into Michael Riordan, her high school crush. She's not sure which one is more trouble. Jolie appraises his mother's house and finds his mother dead in bed. Soon the mundane work of appraising real estate and dodging suggestions that she go to the ten-year high school reunion are mixed with calls from reporters, scary suggestions from Pedone, and requests that she help the local busybody with First Presbyterian's social services work. Jolie balances her fear of Pedone, conviction that Michael is innocent, and sometimes uneasy friendship with long-ago friend Scoobie.

Four children have been chosen to compete in a national competition to find the tastiest confection in the country. Who will invent a candy more delicious than the Oozing Crunchorama or the Neon Lightning Chew? Logan, the Candymaker's son, who can detect the color of chocolate by touch alone? Miles, the boy who is allergic to merry-go-rounds and the color pink? Daisy, the cheerful girl who can lift a fifty-pound lump of taffy like it's a feather? Or Philip, the suit-and-tie wearing boy who's always scribbling in a secret notebook? This sweet, charming, and cleverly crafted story, told from each contestant's perspective, is filled with mystery, friendship, and juicy revelations.

'Your rebellion has not gone unnoticed…' Anticipating her wedding vows and then breaking off the engagement has left Kate Montague's social status in tatters. She hides her hurt at her family's disapproval behind a resolutely optimistic façade, but one thing really grates… For a fallen woman, she knows shockingly little about passion! Could Virgil Jackson be the man to teach her? A freed slave turned successful businessman, his striking good looks and lethally restrained power throw normally composed Kate into a tailspin! She's already scandalised society, but succumbing to her craving for Virgil would be the most outrageous thing Kate's done by far…

What can stories of magical engraved rings or prophetic inscriptions on walls tell us about how writing was perceived before print transformed the world? Writing beyond Pen and Parchment introduces readers to a Middle Ages where writing is not confined to manuscripts but is inscribed in the broader material world, in textiles and tombs, on weapons or human skin. Drawing on the work done at the Collaborative Research Centre “Material Text Cultures,” (SFB 933) this volume presents a comparative overview of how and where text-bearing artefacts appear in medieval German, Old Norse, British, French, Italian and Iberian literary traditions, and also traces the paths inscribed objects chart across multiple linguistic and cultural traditions. The volume’s focus on the raw materials and practices that shaped artefacts both mundane or fantastical in medieval narratives offers a fresh perspective on the medieval world that takes seriously the vibrancy of matter as a vital aspect of textual culture often overlooked.

Despite dying in relative obscurity, Jane Austen has become a global force as different readers across time, space and media have responded to her work. This volume examines the ways in which her novels affect individual psychologies and how Janeites experience her work, from visiting her home to public re-enactments to films based on her writings.