Their Blood Runs Cold is entertaining, informative reading that not only enhances our understanding of a unique group of animals, but also provides genuine insight into the mind and character of a research scientist. Whit Gibbons possesses the rare talent of conveying the challenge and excitement of scientific inquiry. A research ecologist who specializes in the study of reptiles and amphibians, he gives accounts of work in the field that are as readable as good short stories. From the dangers of being chased by an angry rattlesnake to the exhilaration of discovering a previously undescribed species, Gibbons brings to life the everyday experiences of the herpetologist as he chases down lizards, turtles, snakes, alligators, salamanders, and frogs in their natural habitats. With essays like “Turtles May Be Slow but They’re 200 Million Years Ahead of Us” and “How to Catch an Alligator in One Uneasy Lesson,” Their Blood Runs Cold both entertains and informs. The thirtieth anniversary edition of Their Blood Runs Cold features a new prologue and epilogue, additions that address changes in the taxonomy and study of reptiles and amphibians that have occurred since the publication of the original edition and offer suggestions for further reading that highlight the explosion of interest in the topic.

Dust covered everything. It hadn't rained in a month, and when people talked, the first topic discussed was the heat and drought. Under the shade tree in the backyard, the little boy was contentedly filling his toy dump truck with sand. He felt himself being lifted and smiled in anticipation of seeing his mom, but it wasn't her. When two-year-old Karl Bookman disappears from his own backyard in the small town of Snyder, Mississippi, everyone is mystified as to why someone would kidnap a child from a family that has no money or influence. Sheriff Troy Landers and two investigators with the FBI beat the bushes in Mississippi and Tennessee relentlessly, searching for the boy. The trail stretches from a stately sugar plantation in Brazil to a mansion in Memphis. Then the town is devastated to learn that the child's father, whom they had known all of his life, is involved. Sheriff Landers, still dealing with the death of his own wife and daughter from many years ago, lets his heart as well as his mind get involved with the case. As the case unfolds, he is amazed at the heartless actions of the people involved in the kidnapping, but when the full truth is finally revealed to the community, their Blood Runs Cold.

Still battling each other and the blue wall, NYPD Detectives Chiara Corelli and P.J. Parker catch a new murder case. The victim, a gay man, is posed with a rosary in his hands, the smell of incense in the air and Gregorian chants playing in the background. While Corelli and Parker search for leads, Kate Burke, the lesbian Speaker of the City Council asks for an update on the investigation. Thinking Burke is playing politics, Corelli ignores the request. In the meantime, two more bodies are found, both laid out in the same way. Pressured by the chief, Corelli goes to Kate’s office where a photograph of the speaker with a group of friends catches her eye. Corelli recognizes the three victims and, to her horror, three others. Suddenly the case becomes personal. Fearing a serial killer is picking off the people in the photograph, fearing the next victim will be someone she loves, Corelli races to find the murderer before he kills again.

The essays and stories assembled in this book are good reading and they contribute new insights into the ecology of a little known and much maligned group of animals. Each of the eleven chapters reveals the exciting as well as the endearing qualities of reptiles and amphibians, taking into account not only how they are in real life but how we perceive them.

** WINNER OF THE 2022 WILBUR SMITH ADVENTURE WRITING PRIZE ** THE TIMES' THRILLER OF THE MONTH 'A heart-pounding survival thriller set in the starkly beautiful far north of Norway. Gripping and adrenalin-fuelled, yet also written with a tenderness that warms even the most chilling of chases.' LUCY CLARKE, author of The Castaways Erik Amdahl and his spirited daughter, Sofia, have embarked on a long-promised cross-country ski trip deep into Norway's arctic circle. For Erik, it's the chance to bond properly with his remaining daughter following a tragic accident. For Sofia, it's the proof she needs that her father does care. Then, far from home in this snowbound wilderness, with night falling and the mercury plummeting, an accident sends them in search of help - and shelter. Nearby is the home of a couple - members of Norway's indigenous Sami people - who they've met before, and who welcome them in. Erik is relieved. He believes the worst is over. He thinks that Sofia is now safe. He could not be more wrong. Because he and Sofia are not the old couple's only visitors that night - and soon he and his daughter will be running for their lives . . . And beneath the swirling light show of the Northern Lights, a desperate fight ensues - of man against man, of man against nature - a fight for survival that plays out across the snow and ice. A story of endurance and of the desperate, instinctive will to survive, of a father's love for his child, of knowing when to let go - and of a daughter's determination to prove herself worthy of that love, Where Blood Runs Cold is a pulse-racing thriller from a master storyteller. 'A terrific winter chiller . . . utterly gripping.' AMY McCULLOCH, author of Breathless

A vivid account of “one of the most shocking episodes in organized labor’s blood-soaked history” (Steve Halvonik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette). In the early hours of New Year’s Eve 1969, in the small soft coal mining borough of Clarksville, Pennsylvania, longtime trade union insider Joseph “Jock” Yablonski and his wife and daughter were brutally murdered in their old stone farmhouse. Behind the assassination was the corrupt president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), Tony Boyle, who had long embezzled UMWA funds, silenced intra-union dissent, and served the interests of Big Coal companies—and would do anything to maintain power. The most infamous crimes in the history of American labor unions, the Yablonski murders catalyzed the first successful rank-and-file takeover of a major labor union in modern US history. Blood Runs Coal is an extraordinary portrait of one of the nation’s major unions on the brink of historical change.