A Scottish dancer returns to small town Maine, where a killer keeps her on her toes in this “blithe and bonny” cozy mystery series debut (Nancy Martin, author of the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries). Liss MacCrimmon was a professional Scottish dancer until a knee injury ended her career. Now she’s back in her hometown of Moosetookalook, Maine, helping her aunt run a local Scottish emporium. Nestled in the hills of Northwest New England, Moosetookalook is just as charming as she remembers. But Liss’s nostalgic idyll is cut short when she stumbles on the body of her aunt's nosy neighbor, Amanda Norris, under a bolt of Flower of Scotland fabric. Suddenly, Liss is a prime murder suspect, and it’ll take some fancy foot work to clear her name. As she uncovers the shadowy secrets hiding in her postcard perfect town, Liss knows she’ll have to act fast—before the killer comes back for an encore. "Strong local color and a surprise ending will make this a hit with the cozy crowd."—Publishers Weekly

The Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English is a revised and expanded edition of the Weatherford Award–winning Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English, published in 2005 and known in Appalachian studies circles as the most comprehensive reference work dedicated to Appalachian vernacular and linguistic practice. Editors Michael B. Montgomery and Jennifer K. N. Heinmiller document the variety of English used in parts of eight states, ranging from West Virginia to Georgia—an expansion of the first edition's geography, which was limited primarily to North Carolina and Tennessee—and include over 10,000 entries drawn from over 2,200 sources. The entries include approximately 35,000 citations to provide the reader with historical context, meaning, and usage. Around 1,600 of those examples are from letters written by Civil War soldiers and their family members, and another 4,000 are taken from regional oral history recordings. Decades in the making, the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English surpasses the original by thousands of entries. There is no work of this magnitude available that so completely illustrates the rich language of the Smoky Mountains and Southern Appalachia.

At a summer event in small-town Maine, a shady politician meets his end in this “enchanting” cozy mystery (Publishers Weekly). It’s July in Moosetookalook, Maine, and Scottish Emporium proprietress Liss MacCrimmon Ruskin is prepping her wares for the annual Celtic heritage festival. But as a sinister crime wave washes over the quiet town, this year’s celebration might prove a wee bit more eventful—and deadly—than tartan and bagpipes . . . When a fire ravages the local bookstore late one evening, Liss immediately fears the worst for owner Angie Hogencamp and the two young children who live above the shop. After the terrible blaze dies down, however, the family is nowhere to be found among the ruins. It’s as if the three just vanished into smoke. Or even stranger—like they never existed at all. Disturbed by the disappearance and suspecting arson, Liss counts on the Western Maine Highland Games—complete with parade and fireworks display—to offer a temporary distraction from the questions filling her head. But when the sound of a gunshot leads Liss to a selectman’s dead body on opening day, she’s drawn into a full-blown investigation. Is Moosetookalook suffering from a streak of bad luck, or are the two grim incidents connected? Despite her worried husband’s protests, she’ll need to act swiftly. Because when it comes to this kind of game, somebody has to lose . . .

A series of blizzards have kept tourists away from Moosetookalook, Maine, and shoppers out of Liss MacCrimmon’s Scottish Emporium. But as warmer weather brings promises of tartan sales and new faces, melting snow reveals cold-blooded murder . . . Liss has suddenly found herself in charge of the March Madness Mud Season Sale, a town-wide celebration created to boost the local economy during the slushy weeks of early spring. With businesses ailing after a rough winter, the pressure is on to make this year’s effort the can’t-miss-event of the season. But before Liss can get her hands dirty, her husband makes a horrifying discovery. There’s a dead man on their property, and he didn't die of natural causes . . . Stunned by the murder mystery developing in her own backyard, Liss receives another shock. The victim is identified as Charlie MacCrimmon, an uncle believed to have died eleven years before Liss was born. No one has seen or heard from Charlie since he went off to fight in Vietnam. What secrets could he have been hiding for so many years, and who would want to kill a man long thought to be dead? Enlisting the help of her family, Liss uncovers more questions than answers as she delves into her uncle’s murky past. One thing is clear—before he met his end, Uncle Charlie was desperately trying to warn her about something sinister. And unless Liss can soon track down a maniacal criminal as elusive as the Loch Ness Monster, she just might be the next MacCrimmon to disappear . . .

Angry Scots and a blizzard lead to murder in a small town in Maine in this cozy mystery by the author of A Wee Christmas Homicide. Can there be such a thing as too many men in kilts? Normally Liss MacCrimmon, proprietor of Moosetookalook, Maine's one and only Scottish Emporium, would say no. But that's before one of them turns out to be murderous . . . The bagpipes are blaring at Moosetookalook's finest hotel, reopened just in time to host an annual celebration of Scotland's most beloved poet, Robert Burns. But when the Scottish Heritage Appreciation Society arrives on the scene, they bring more than a hunger for haggis and a passion for plaid. The quarrelsome group harbors their share of long held grudges, and the animosity only grows as the whiskey flows. Then a fierce blizzard hits, trapping everyone—angry Scotsmen, hapless hotel staff, and Liss herself—indoors. It isn't long before a body is discovered face down in a storage room, covered in tartan—and blood. Now Liss will have to work fast to solve this crime before another body goes as cold as the snowstorm keeping her cooped up with a killer. Praise for the Liss MacCrimmon Mysteries “This cozy mystery has it all—a picturesque location, a bit of romance, some suspense, and a cast of appealingly quirky characters.” —Booklist “A blithe and bonny mystery from Kaitlyn Dunnett! Cozy mystery readers should pour a cuppa and settle down to savor the flavor of the Highlands, the wee dram of Scottish folklore and the small town skullduggery that season this clever debut.” —Nancy Martin, author of the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries

A trio of Western stories by Louis L’Amour In “Black Rock,” Jim Gatlin, a Texas trail driver, arrives in the town of Tucker where he finds himself quickly drawn into the middle of an all-out battle for the XY Ranch when, due to a case of mistaken identity, he kills the segundo of Wing Cary’s Flying C Ranch. Gatlin is a dead-ringer for Jim Walker, who, like Cary, wants control of the XY. Gatlin is thrown into a situation in which all he can do but fight for his life. Seventeen-year-old Shandy Gamble in “Gamble of the KT” is in Perigord with plans to buy a new saddle and bridle with the $500 in reward money he had received for catching two horse thieves, but instead he gets conned out of the money. He returns to the KT Ranch never mentioning what happened. But when he learns the con man is back and hanging out with the June gang, he decides it’s time to get his money back and even the score. Always a fighting man, both for the US Army and in battles across the ocean, Tom Kedrick in “Showdown Trail” has been hired to help run off the squatters and outlaws occupying a strip of land claimed to be unusable swamp. When he learns that he is being misled by his new bosses and that the squatters are honest and hardworking settlers, including one of his father’s old friends, he has to determine which side he will fight for. Louis L’Amour is the most decorated author in the history of American letters, and his stories are loved the world over.

We share the experience of others through the stories they tell of the crucial events in their lives. This book provides a rich range of narratives that grip the reader's attention together with an analysis of how it is done. While remaining true to the facts, narrators use linguistic devices to present themselves in the best possible light and change the listener's perception of who is to blame for what has occurred. William Labov extends his widely used framework for narrative analysis to matters of greatest human concern: the danger of death, violence, premonitions and large-scale community conflicts. The book also examines traditional epic and historical texts, from Herodotus and the Old Testament to Macaulay, showing how these literary genres draw upon the techniques of personal narratives. Not only relevant to students of narratology, discourse and sociolinguistics, this book will be rewarding reading for anyone interested in the human condition.