A mother will do anything to obtain justice for her child. After crashing a holiday party, Samantha Wycoff slips away to the restroom where she stares at her reflection and wonders, "How the hell did I get here?" Six months earlier, her son, Thomas, was beaten so severely he did not recover. Samantha knows his girlfriend, Velvet Flores, is guilty, but with no witnesses and what Samantha knows is a fake alibi, the police and courts can do nothing. Micah Kerrick, Thomas's childhood best friend, offers to help her, but only if she'll join his team of government troubleshooters. A retired schoolteacher slash church lady slash professional volunteer would be the perfect cover for any mission - except one. Will Samantha agree to a career change and join Micah's Misfits? Will Micah's handler allow such an unusual agreement to stand? Or will Samantha find herself facing certain termination?

"Ripper Notes: Madmen, Myths and Magic" is a collection of essays about the notorious Whitechapel serial killer Jack the Ripper and other topics that shed new light on the case. Jan Bondeson discusses "Serial Sadistic Stabbers" throughout history, including the interesting case of the London Monster, a man who stabbed women in London in the 18th century and who is in some ways a precursor to Jack the Ripper. Amanda Howard gives a short overview of serial killers who predate the Whitechapel murders of 1888. Wolf Vanderlinden follows with "The Supernatural Connection," a detailed study of the various psychics past and present who claimed to have otherworldly knowledge of the Ripper killings. Famed expert Paul Begg in "On The Matter of Milk" examines witness Mrs. Malcolm's testimony that she saw victim Mary Jane Kelly on the morning of her murder (after the time the doctors later told the police that Kelly must have already been killed) as she went to buy milk. Bernard Brown investigates the site of the murder of Jack the Ripper's first canonical victim, Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, and uncovers a history of persecution of women in "The Witches of Whitechapel." Tom Wescott then explores a possible link between the Ripper murders, magic rituals desecrating Christian symbols, and the Lindbergh baby kidnapping tragedy. Dan Norder's "Connecting the Dots" explores the various theories that the Ripper crime scenes were chosen in advance in order to form a symbol, describing the various patterns that have been suggested and looking into the statistics to try to determine if they were a result of forethought or blind chance. Antonio Sironi then asks if the murder of the Elizabeth Stride, usually named by experts as the third victim, in Dutfield's Yard was a change in the Ripper's normal methodology. The essays are concluded with Roger Peterson's "Did Jack the Ripper Visit Leadville?" which chronicles an example of Ripper hysteria that reached all the way to a booming Colorado mining community in the United States not long after the Whitechapel murders. All of the articles are extensively illustrated with woodcuts, photos, diagrams and other illustrations. In addition, the back cover features a color map of the East End of London in the 19th century with the locations of the five generally accepted Jack the Ripper killings marked for easy reference. Ripper Notes is a nonfiction anthology series covering all aspects of the Jack the Ripper murder case.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Widow returns with a brand new novel of twisting psychological suspense about every parent’s worst nightmare... When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft, and frantic with worry. What were the girls up to before they disappeared? Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth—and this time is no exception. But she can’t help but think of her own son, whom she hasn’t seen in two years, since he left home to go travelling. As the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even this far away, danger can lie closer to home than you might think...

Publisher Description

Suspect Citizens offers the most comprehensive look to date at the most common form of police-citizen interactions, the routine traffic stop. Throughout the war on crime, police agencies have used traffic stops to search drivers suspected of carrying contraband. From the beginning, police agencies made it clear that very large numbers of police stops would have to occur before an officer might interdict a significant drug shipment. Unstated in that calculation was that many Americans would be subjected to police investigations so that a small number of high-level offenders might be found. The key element in this strategy, which kept it hidden from widespread public scrutiny, was that middle-class white Americans were largely exempt from its consequences. Tracking these police practices down to the officer level, Suspect Citizens documents the extreme rarity of drug busts and reveals sustained and troubling disparities in how racial groups are treated.

Leaving the Office of International Operations seemed like a great way to avoid bureaucratic hassles, red-tape, and murderous psychopaths. Unfortunately, things don't always work out the way they should. Meet Alexis Parker, former OIO operative, currently trying to make a name for herself in the private sector. With a limited job history, the state of the economy, and her own internal struggle concerning her competence as an investigator, Alex is forced to take the only job she is offered. Enter eccentric, playboy, CEO James Martin. Martin Technologies is a multi-million dollar corporation that James Martin has nurtured from the ground up with his workaholic tendencies. But now that Mr. Martin's life is being threatened, what's a guy to do besides hire an attractive, feisty, former federal agent to be his new security consultant and personal bodyguard. As Alex attempts to navigate the minefield of potential suspects, she gradually begins to uncover an underlying conspiracy that has been brewing at Martin Technologies for almost half a decade. Anyone could be involved, making all of Martin's closest friends, acquaintances, and employees possible suspects. What starts out as a single death threat quickly morphs into a plot to overtake his entire company. Once the pieces start to fall into place, things begin to explode, both literally and figuratively for Alex, as the physical danger looms ever more menacingly overhead. This outwardly simple case quickly becomes something neither Alex nor Martin ever imagined as the situation continues to escalate rapidly out of control. It will take all of Alex's training and instincts to be able to track down the criminal mastermind and stop the assassination plot before it's too late. Likely Suspects is a witty page-turner, containing sharp dialogue, three-dimensional characters, and nonstop action that will keep readers intrigued until the very end.