A collection of mystery poems by entrants from all over the world who responded to Cozy Cat Press' first mystery poetry contest.

Fans of Carole Matthews, Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Milly Johnson will love this uplifting and upbeat comic novel from bestselling author Judy Astley. The perfect dose of escapism! 'As irresistible as triple choc fudge cake - with extra cream' -- Mail on Sunday 'A witty take on a modern dilemma' -- Woman and Home 'You'll love this funny novel' -- Sun 'Real wit...The story is so entertaining' -- Scottish Daily Record 'A refreshingly good read' -- ***** Reader review 'Good fun' -- ***** Reader review 'I couldn't put the book down. Great read!' -- ***** Reader review **************************************************************************************** Does losing weight make you a happier person? Jay has always envied her cousin Delphine. While Jay was brought up in a large, noisy and chaotic family, Delphine was indulged, perfectly dressed with a co-ordinated bedroom, an immaculate wardrobe, dancing lessons and monogrammed silver-backed hairbrushes. Now Jay lives happily with her architect husband and their three teenage children, running a successful cleaning company and trying to keep some kind of order on her disorderly household, while Delphine has long since disappeared to Australia with her second husband. But Jay does sometimes wonder whether she should be more like her cousin - utterly well-organised and with a seemingly perfect body. So Jay decides to diet. But what should it be? She tries a range, with a variety of successes and failures. But then Delphine reappears, with a third husband in prospect and the same old air of apparently effortless superiority. But Jay never considers that perhaps Delphine is the envious one...

New York Times Bestseller • From a former White House speechwriter comes a deliciously candid memoir about official Washington—a laugh-out-loud cri de coeur that shows what can happen to idealism in a town driven by self-interest. “[An] entertaining book about what goes on—or doesn’t—in Washington.” —American Spectator Despite being raised by reliably liberal parents, Matt Latimer is lured by the upbeat themes of the Reagan Revolution and, in the tradition of Mary Tyler Moore, sets off from the Midwest for the big city. Determined to “make it after all,” Matt daydreams of eradicating do-nothing boondoggleism and leading America to new heights of greatness. But first he has to find a job. Like an inside-the-Beltway Dante, Matt descends into Washington, D.C., hell, and snares a series of increasingly lofty—but unsatisfying—jobs with powerful figures on Capitol Hill. When Fate offers Matt a job as chief speechwriter for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Matt finds he actually admires the man (causing his liberal friends to shake their heads in dismay), his youthful passion is renewed. But Rummy soon becomes a piñata for the press, and the Department of Defense is revealed as alarmingly dysfunctional. Eventually, Matt lands at the White House, his heart aflutter with the hope that, here at last, he can fulfill his dream of penning words that will become part of history—and maybe pick up some cool souvenirs. But reality intrudes once again. More like The Office than The West Wing, the nation’s most storied office building is run by staffers who are in way over their heads, and almost everything the public has been told about the major players—Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Rove—is wrong. Both a rare behind-the-scenes account that boldly names the fools and scoundrels, and a poignant lament for the principled conservatism that disappeared during the Bush presidency, Speech-less will forever change the public’s view of our nation’s capital and the people who joust daily for its power. Praise for Speech-less “Deft, surprising, darned entertaining.” —Christopher Buckley "It's a good read… quite frankly, the stories are funny!" —Pat Buchanan

Make Old Bones By: Leslie S. Talley Fifteen-year-old Connie Kittredge disappears in 1953, presumed drowned, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Almost forty years later, her skeleton is discovered in the disused dumbwaiter of historic Belgrath House, situated on an island in the tidal Halifax River. The discovery coincides with the thirty-five year reunion of Connie's Class of '57. Clarice and Otis Campion function as caretakers of Belgrath, newly restored and opened as a B & B. Clarice, along with their permanent guest Miss Letty, ninety-year-old star of the silent screen, decides to investigate the mystery. Could the murderer be one of Connie's classmates, now respectable citizens? A rejected boy friend? A jealous girl? Connie, a sneaky child, loved the power of finding out secrets; perhaps she found one just too dangerous for her to live. At a wake for Connie held at Belgrath House, someone collapses from iced tea laced with cherry laurel, proving that the murderer is still around - and dangerous. Complications cloud the picture in the form of suspicious bed and breakfasters, restoration society members, University of Florida freshmen...and a certain pelican. Clarice and Miss Letty re-double their efforts at sleuthing. The death of Connie Kittredge is tied directly to the history of the house, they learn. The house will ultimately reveal its secrets, but not before exposing Clarice to danger. Inadvertently left behind during a forced evacuation due to Category Four Hurricane Aphrodite, Clarice finds herself confronting a killer - and a rising tidal surge.