An extraordinary novel about the ubiquitous mysteries of family, memory and music. London, 2010: Icelandic volcanoes have the city in gridlock, banks topple like dominoes and Brandon Kussgarten has been shot dead by gunmen in Donald Duck masks. His death draws his twin brother -- shy, bookish Adam -- into Brandon's underworld of deceit and desire. A miniature kingdom sprouts in a Notting Hill tower-block, LA mansions burn in week-long parties, and in a Baroque hotel suite a record is being made that could redeem its maker even as it destroys him. As Adam begins to fall for his brother's shattered family he finds that to win them for himself he'll have to lose everything that he holds dear. This intelligent, intriguing and emotionally-searing tale of fractured identities, narcissism and ambition questions how being loved for what others think we are differs from who we are to ourselves. With echoes of Performance, The Talented Mr Ripley and Mulholland Drive, The Ruins delves into the dark heart of fame: magic, music and murder.

It is in the silent spaces between the facts that the truth often hides When his most celebrated case is suddenly reopened, Detective Chief Inspector Jejeune's long-buried secrets threaten to come to light. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, Lindy, faces an unseen threat of her own, one which Jejeune may not be able to protect her from. Between fending off inquiries from the internal review and an open murder case to solve, more than ever Jejeune will have to rely on the help of the stalwart Sergeant Danny Maik. But Maik is learning things on his own that have caused him to question his DCI‘s actions, both past and present. In the current case, and in the former one, the facts seem clear enough. But often the most insidious lies hide behind the most honest-seeming truths.

Danielle Cadena Deulen's debut collection, Lovely Asunder, is filled with beautiful dangers. These poems, sharp and graceful, brutal and vulnerable, create from language a kind of chiaroscuro-both light and dark made more vivid by their juxtaposition. Throughout the collection, the poet appraises ancient myths through a feminine and feminist perspective, evincing the ways in which narratives transform personal experience and vice versa. The figure of the fruit, in all its implied and literal lushness, recurs like a chorus, and the speakers of these poems are haunted by the Fall-confined by the body, the mind, and the irrevocable past.

The crime scene showed that a cunning mind and a passionate hatred lay behind the killing of Lisa Stillwell. But New Scotland Yard would not have been called to this remote Hampshire village if the baby-sitter's employer hadn't been Gale Grayson, a self-exiled American with a suspicious past. Three years before, Chief Inspector Daniel Halford had watched helplessly as Gale's husband put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger -- seconds before Halford could arrest him for terrorism. Halford has never forgotten the scene or the pregnant young widow whose life was shattered -- and as he questions her now, he finds past and present emotions blurring his judgment. Yet piece by piece he is discovering some unsettling truths about the life of Lisa Stillwell... and a chilling picture is forming of a village that is not quite as sleepy as it seems.

"Thief!" "Murderer!" "Rascal!" Though not a well-loved bird, biologists say they are among the most intelligent birds. Some magpies have been trained to count. In captivity a magpie will use a twig to sweep food within reach. READ...about their huge nests, made with two doorways and a roof! LEARN...how they gang up against predators!