Black private eye Ivan Monk’s search for a connection between three Black men murdered in Los Angeles leads to the unraveling of a white supremacist conspiracy that spans the West Coast. The mystery series that launched Gary Phillips's career. Robert “Scatterboy” Williams is a small-time hustler selling bogus Cartier watches in Pacific Shores, a port city south of Los Angeles. One day, he’s gunned down in the street, seemingly at random. Then drug dealer Ronny Aaron is shot and killed leaving a liquor store. Shortly thereafter, college student Jimmy Henderson is rendered comatose after two bullets to his body. The three victims have nothing in common save the neighborhood where they were shot—and the color of their skin. The police categorize Scatterboy’s murder as business as usual. But his girlfriend convinces private eye Ivan Monk to find the killer. What looks like three unrelated shootings of Black men in Southern California will put Monk on a tortuous trail unraveling a larger nefarious plan: the rise of an extremist demagogue.

Themed crossword puzzles to appeal to every one of USA TODAY's 5.2 million devoted readers What's your pleasure--movies? Celebrities? Sports? Then do we have a puzzle book for you! Every one of these USA Today compilations offers a whopping 72 championship crosswords. Film buffs will enjoy testing their expertise on movie titles, costars, character names, and other trivia. Pop culture mavens can see whether they've got the lowdown on everything from TV shows to authors to the celebrity scene. Sports fans can show what they know about baseball, basketball, football, golf, hockey, tennis, and more.

Los Angeles magazine is a regional magazine of national stature. Our combination of award-winning feature writing, investigative reporting, service journalism, and design covers the people, lifestyle, culture, entertainment, fashion, art and architecture, and news that define Southern California. Started in the spring of 1961, Los Angeles magazine has been addressing the needs and interests of our region for 48 years. The magazine continues to be the definitive resource for an affluent population that is intensely interested in a lifestyle that is uniquely Southern Californian.

Abomination! Caleb Baker is not alive. He's been twisted, damned, and dumped near the remote desert town of Perdition. He struggles for answers to his new undead state while caught between evil agents who want to recruit him, a holy knighthood vowed to destroy those like him, and a town full of very odd residents who don't trust anyone or anything strange. Despite the evil growing within him, Caleb soon finds himself in an unusual alliance with a beautiful knight and her priestly brother-a joint venture to discover the truth about strange happenings in and around Perdition. The three aren't prepared for the depth of malevolence at the root of the truth-truth that brings grave danger to Caleb's soul and the whole of humankind. Caleb stands on the brink of damnation and redemption, hopelessness and hope, and subjection and free will. Which way will he fall?

Will guide readers to works central to the compelling African American experience that match specific reading interests. A brief history of the evolution of African American literature, collection development guidelines, and readers' advisory tips complete this resource.

On a visit to Haiti, Barbara Walker noticed that a penned rooster had a better life than children living on the streets and in some orphanages. Follow this ordinary womans journey as she finds homes for almost two thousand abandoned and orphaned children and builds Ruuska Village for street women who had no means of survival for themselves and their children. Those first days were very hard, Barbara said. The women were used to fighting for everything they needed, and they had very poor self-esteem. I separated many wild catfights among the women. Barbaras no-nonsense requirement of adhering to rules of civility and a Christian moral code, though, eventually shaped Ruuska Village into a unit that functioned as a caring family. Barbara built the womens self-esteem by helping them obtain birth certificates, IDs, and voting cards, which was both expensive and time-consuming. She also provided education, training, and start-up resources for the women so that they could start small businesses or find employment. Barbara Walker had no special plans for her life but lived it day by day, serving those God placed on her path. Her tenacious, never-back-down, never-give-up approach to finding homes for children and hope for Haitian street women has made her more than an ordinary woman.