A massmarket edition of Marele Day's wryly humorous, witty and fast-paced Claudia Valentine mystery.

This guide contains comprehensive summary and discussion of all 44 prescribed texts in the HSC Standard English course, plus a list of key issues to consider in each chapter related to the relevant syllabus area, helpful advice on how to read different types of texts, plot outlines, character discussion and interpretations.

Curiosity just might be the death of Mrs. Murphy--and her human companion, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen. Small towns are like families: Everyone lives very close together. . .and everyone keeps secrets. Crozet, Virginia, is a typical small town-until its secrets explode into murder. Crozet's thirty-something post-mistress, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen, has a tiger cat (Mrs. Murphy) and a Welsh Corgi (Tucker), a pending divorce, and a bad habit of reading postcards not addressed to her. When Crozet's citizens start turning up murdered, Harry remembers that each received a card with a tombstone on the front and the message "Wish you were here" on the back. Intent on protecting their human friend, Mrs. Murphy and Tucker begin to scent out clues. Meanwhile, Harry is conducting her own investigation, unaware her pets are one step ahead of her. If only Mrs. Murphy could alert her somehow, Harry could uncover the culprit before the murder occurs--and before Harry finds herself on the killer's mailing list.

From the author of the bestselling Lambs of God. A novel of desire, duty and secrets, The Sea Bed follows the journey of a Buddhist monk who leaves the safe predictability of his mountain monastery and ventures into the world to carry out a fellow monk's dying request. When he encounters abalone diving women in a remote coastal village he is torn between dedication to his task and surrendering to desire. While the monk skirts around the edges of the sea women community, at its heart is Chicken, a young diver witnessing the extinction of a way of life that has been her family's for generations. If only her sister Lilli returned, perhaps somehow that would bring renewal. But the past and its secrets weigh heavily on Lilli and she had her own reasons for disappearing all those years ago. Each of these characters is locked in their own isolation, yet their stories are connected in deep and sometimes surprising ways. A beautifully observed, lucid and evocative novel, The Sea Bed is an illuminating story of love, family and change. Utterly captivating.

'Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go.' When the Knight Bus crashes through the darkness and screeches to a halt in front of him, it's the start of another far from ordinary year at Hogwarts for Harry Potter. Sirius Black, escaped mass-murderer and follower of Lord Voldemort, is on the run - and they say he is coming after Harry. In his first ever Divination class, Professor Trelawney sees an omen of death in Harry's tea leaves... But perhaps most terrifying of all are the Dementors patrolling the school grounds, with their soul-sucking kiss... Having become classics of our time, the Harry Potter eBooks never fail to bring comfort and escapism. With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new readers.

Bizarre messages, found carved into the flesh of two corpses in Mobile, Alabama, have launched a special unit devoted to solving psychotic crimes. They’re also launching Detective Carson Ryder into a nightmare. Ryder’s secret investigative weapon is his own family’s terrifying past—and the shadowy counsel of his own brother, a brutal and taunting killer who knows all too well how madmen think. And as the body count continues, so too does Ryder’s inescapable fear that the killer is as intimate—and as close—as the next victim.

Claudia Valentine embarks on a hunt for the elaborate golden dragon key, which winds her through a circuit of ancient treasures; modern Triad killings; disturbing kidnappings; and sleazy back alleys, pubs, and exotic temples.