The Mysterious Plus opens with a situation recently in the news: the murder of an American embassy official in a North African country. The aim of the novel, however, is broader than an individual act of violence. Its murder becomes a symbol of the fanatic-inflamed divisions between Muslim Middle East and Judeo-Christian West, which are fraying the ties that bond humanity. The hero of The Mysterious Plus straddles both worlds. To save his sister, Omar Naaman, nineteen, betrayed comrades and country during Algeria’s fight for independence from colonial rule. At the war’s end, the defeated French, grateful for his double-dealing service, whisked him to France, bestowing a new identity, Remy Montpellier. Years later, Remy is coerced by the French DGSE (their intelligence service) to return incognito to Algeria, where as Omar he is still branded as a traitor, in fact, as the last of the “Seven Devils,” the first six “great collaborators” having been tracked down and killed by Algerian agents. Sent to investigate the gay-bashing murder of an American embassy attaché, who (DGSE suspected) was trafficking classified documents, Remy gradually moves from pursuer to pursued. Will he fulfill the true purpose of his returning to Algiers, or will his treasonous past overtake him? How does the “Mysterious Plus” control the answers to these two questions and hence the resolution to the novel? In his previous book, The Saint of Sodomy (GLB, 1999), William Tarvin, who lived in the Middle East for two decades, satirized Muslim sexual hypocrisies. Though the same barbed wit infuses The Mysterious Plus, it is counterpoised by a darker strain, that materialistic/spiritual differences between West and Middle East threaten to sever the cords bonding humanity. Addendum: Since the novel incorporates ideas from around one thousand philosophical, religious, literary, social, psychological, historical, and political works, Tarvin has provided some commentary and definitions in end-of-chapter footnotes.

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author’s “astonishing” debut novel, about a son’s struggle to find his own identity and integrity (The New York Times). Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Moonglow, and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, is one of the most acclaimed talents in contemporary fiction. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, published when Chabon was just twenty-five, is the beautifully crafted debut that propelled him into the literary stratosphere. Art Bechstein may be too young to know what he wants to do with his life, but he knows what he doesn’t want: the life of his father, a man who laundered money for the mob. He spends the summer after graduation finding his own way, experimenting with a group of brilliant and seductive new friends: erudite Arthur Lecomte, who opens up new horizons for Art; mercurial Phlox, who confounds him at every turn; and Cleveland, a poetry-reciting biker who pulls him inevitably back into his father’s mobbed-up world. A New York Times bestseller, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh was called “astonishing” by Alice McDermott, and heralded the arrival of one of our era’s great voices. This ebook features a biography of the author.

When Cal finds an undelivered love letter written forty years earlier, he and his friends uncover the details of a crime, a coverup, and a romance.

Concerns a collection of maps and associated documents claimed to be from Marco Polo's time or that of his daughters (as many of the maps have the name or one or another of the three daughters on them). Discusses provenance, authenticity, and history of the documents, known to scholars as "the Marco Polo Maps" since 1948, here discussed fully for the first time.

Can you crack the case with six clues or less?Welcome to Moon Hollow, where mystery lurks around every corner--and four kids have come together to solve crimes and puzzles big and small.Whether they're debunking sea monsters, thwarting bullies, or revealing who threw out mom's asparagus, Viola, Sylvester, Rosie, and Woodrow will figure out the truth in six clues or less. And readers are invited to guess alongside them each step of the way.Each book comes with an exclusive code so that readers can download a FREE copy of the e-book . . . which includes an extra mystery unavailable anywhere else!

Four American mystery writers have contributed new dimensions to the mystery form. Tony Hillerman's Navajos and their customs, Amanda Cross's (Carolyn Heilbrun's) academics and their feminist credentials (or lack thereof), James Lee Burke's Southern Louisiana Cajuns and his own fiercely moral take on Southern gothic fiction, and Walter Mosley's urban blacks and their culture have challenged the conventional mystery's focus. Using feminist and black critical theory, mythic and historical patterns, and literary genre theory, Samuel Coale examines these writers' works and investigates the compromises that each is forced to make when working within a recognizably popular literary form.