In this story told mostly through letters, children's book author, I. B. Grumply, gets more than he bargained for when he rents a quiet place to write for the summer.

An engaging, often humourous, new-kid-at-school story combined with a spooky and suspenseful mystery in a can't-put-down novel guaranteed to delight readers ages 8-12. It was bad enough that Courtney's mom, recently divorced from her latest husband, has moved the family all the way from Vermont to Florida; but when she rented a rattletrap house on Cemetery Street, it was just too much! Fifteen-year-old Courtney is used to being uprooted, to being the practical member of the family, to looking out for her half brother, Bucky. She's smart and sensible and knows how to stay invisible at each new school she attends. But living on Cemetery Street proves to be more of a challenge than even Courtney can handle. It brings her unwanted celebrity at school; attention from Josh, a handsome classmate, who recruits her to do a "how kids decorate their lockers" column for the school paper; and involvement in an escalating mystery. The creepy cemetery and surrounding jungle next to her house are a bit spooky, but Courtney doesn't really believe in ghosts. Then strange things start happening. Lights flicker in the graveyard; tombs are desecrated with satanic markings; an innocent puppy is mysteriously killed. Suspense builds as Courtney and Josh investigate enntombment. Solid detective work leads the young investigative reporters to uncover a diabolical publicity stunt by a celebrated author and his henchman. Fast paced and suspenseful, this perfect-for-Halloween mystery also offers an engaging and affecting story of fragile family bonds and fledgling friendships.

Sometimes the price of justice is a good man’s soul. The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Natchez Burning trilogy returns with an electrifying tale of friendship, betrayal, and shattering secrets that threaten to destroy a small Mississippi town. “An ambitious stand-alone thriller that is both an absorbing crime story and an in-depth exploration of grief, betrayal and corruption… Iles’s latest calls to mind the late, great Southern novelist Pat Conroy. Like Conroy, Iles writes with passion, intensity and absolute commitment.” — Washington Post When Marshall McEwan left his Mississippi hometown at eighteen, he vowed never to return. The trauma that drove him away spurred him to become one of the most successful journalists in Washington, DC. But as the ascendancy of a chaotic administration lifts him from print fame to television stardom, Marshall discovers that his father is terminally ill, and he must return home to face the unfinished business of his past. On arrival, he finds Bienville, Mississippi very much changed. His family’s 150-year-old newspaper is failing; and Jet Talal, the love of his youth, has married into the family of Max Matheson, one of a dozen powerful patriarchs who rule the town through the exclusive Bienville Poker Club. To Marshall’s surprise, the Poker Club has taken a town on the brink of extinction and offered it salvation, in the form of a billion-dollar Chinese paper mill. But on the verge of the deal being consummated, two murders rock Bienville to its core, threatening far more than the city’s economic future. An experienced journalist, Marshall has seen firsthand how the corrosive power of money and politics can sabotage investigations. Joining forces with his former lover—who through her husband has access to the secrets of the Poker Club—Marshall begins digging for the truth behind those murders. But he and Jet soon discover that the soil of Mississippi is a minefield where explosive secrets can destroy far more than injustice. The South is a land where everyone hides truths: of blood and children, of love and shame, of hate and murder—of damnation and redemption. The Poker Club’s secret reaches all the way to Washington, D.C., and could shake the foundations of the U.S. Senate. But by the time Marshall grasps the long-buried truth about his own history, he would give almost anything not to have to face it.

Atop a scenic bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and downtown Dubuque there once lay a graveyard dating to the 1830s, the earliest days of American settlement in Iowa. Though many local residents knew the property had once been a Catholic burial ground, they believed the graves had been moved to a new cemetery in the late nineteenth century in response to overcrowding and changing burial customs. But in 2007, when a developer broke ground for a new condominium complex here, the heavy machinery unearthed human bones. Clearly, some of Dubuque’s early settlers still rested there—in fact, more than anyone expected. For the next four years, staff with the Burials Program of the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist excavated the site so that development could proceed. The excavation fieldwork was just the beginning. Once the digging was done each summer, skeletal biologist Robin M. Lillie and archaeologist Jennifer E. Mack still faced the enormous task of teasing out life histories from fragile bones, disintegrating artifacts, and the decaying wooden coffins the families had chosen for the deceased. Poring over scant documents and sifting through old newspapers, they pieced together the story of the cemetery and its residents, a story often surprising and poignant. Weaving together science, history, and local mythology, the tale of the Third Street Cemetery provides a fascinating glimpse into Dubuque’s early years, the hardships its settlers endured, and the difficulties they did not survive. While they worked, Lillie and Mack also grappled with the legal and ethical obligations of the living to the dead. These issues are increasingly urgent as more and more of America’s unmarked (and marked) cemeteries are removed in the name of progress. Fans of forensic crime shows and novels will find here a real-world example of what can be learned from the fragments left in time’s wake.

Tolomato Cemetery is the oldest remaining cemetery in St. Augustine, Florida. It was founded in an era when the grim and grey church graveyard was the cultural norm in the North American colonies. In an act of compassion for a group of unfortunate Catholic refugees in British East Florida, the cemetery was established on the site of an abandoned Franciscan mission, where it remained active through the end of the 19th century. After a century of neglect, it now faces complex material conservation issues and a lack of public involvement in its care and interpretation. It sits silently locked within its gates, unable to share its own stories of St. Augustine's rich history. This book explores how the site evolved over the centuries into its present state and what can be done to ensure its survival and return to a place of prominence among the cultural resources of one of America's oldest cities. "In Reverence" was written as a graduate thesis at Cornell University in 2009 and has been revised for publication.

*From the creator of SLOW HORSES and soon to be a major TV series starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson* 'If you haven't read Zoë Boehm yet, welcome to your next fiction addiction' Val McDermid, author of Past Lying 'Good characterisation, dialogue and a well-paced narrative make this confident first novel frighteningly plausible' Daily Telegraph It's an evening like any other when an explosion rips through the leafy Oxford suburb Sarah Tucker calls home. In the aftermath, a house now stands devastated, with two adults dead and a young girl missing. With the police more interested in keeping the neighbours from rubbernecking than in searching for the missing child, Sarah becomes obsessed with finding her. She enlists the help of Zoë Boehm's investigation agency, but Sarah's and Zoë's search reveals more secrets than answers, taking them from Oxford's cobbled streets to the rugged outer reaches of the British Isles. As Zoë and Sarah draw closer to the truth, they are caught in a web of conspiracy and come up against government forces, cold-blooded mercenaries and vengeful loners. Down Cemetery Road is Mick Herron's debut novel and the first book in the Zoë Boehm series.