After successfully thwarting a dastardly plan to steal rare marine animals from the sea around the Scottish island of Mull, Ben & Fee Mac Tavish feel they can relax & continue learning all about nautical life on board School Ship Tobermory. But it`s not long before their everyday routine is interrupted by an extraordinary event. Ben, Fee, their fellow students & the crew of the Tobermory find themselves embroiled in another adventure that leads them thousands of miles from Mull to a small island in the Caribbean, where they learn extraordinary details about Captain Macbeth`s past & come face to face with modern-day pirates. ...

Publication of early development at Huntsham Crag & Near Hearkening Rock in the 1999 Symonds Yat guide led promptly to an explosion of exploration of the numerous sandstone outcrops & boulders throughout the northern sector of the Forest of Dean. This new 2006 guide describes the many hundreds of short climbs & bouldering routes of between 5 & 12 metres on natural sandstone that in places attains top gritstone quality. The guide is the first to appear in the Climbers` Club`s new design & is printed in full colour throughout. ...

Aunt Mildred declared that no good could come of the Melbury family Christmas gatherings at their country residence Flaxmere. So when Sir Osmond Melbury, the family patriarch, is discovered
- by a guest dressed as Santa Klaus
- with a bullet in his head on Christmas Day, the festivities are plunged into chaos. Nearly every member of the party stands to reap some sort of benefit from Sir Osmond`s death, but Santa Klaus, the one person who seems to have every opportunity to fire the shot, has no apparent motive. Various members of the family have their private suspicions about the identity of the murderer, & the Chief Constable of Haulmshire, who begins his investigations by saying that he knows the family too well & that is his difficulty, wishes before long that he understood them better. In the midst of mistrust, suspicion & hatred, it emerges that there was not one Santa Klaus, but two. The Santa Klaus Murder is a classic country-house mystery that is now being made available to readers for the first time since its original publication in 1936.

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From the earliest solstice festivals to the jolly fellow's film career, The Santa Map: A Cultural Geography of the World's Most Beloved Man surveys the abiding magic of the eternal winter visitor. So follow the bootprints of a Christmas legend with this delightful panoramic map unravelling the mystery
- & the history
- of jolly old St Nick. Designed for both children & adults, this double-sided map tracks the Santa Claus myth from its beginnings to today; speculates on the itinerary followed on Christmas Eve; & highlights places around the world where Santa's figure & personality are linked to particular local traditions. Also included is a dissection of a Christmas stocking with an explanation of the meaning of every object it carries! You & your family will love tracing Santa's travels across time & continents with this giant fold-out map. Designed to warm hearts & open minds...

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” Whenever I was asked: ` Why did you go to Santiago?`, I had a hard time answering. How could I explain to those who had not done it that the way has the effect
- if not the virtue
- to make you forget all reasons that led you to become involved in it in the first place.” Each year, tens of thousands of backpackers (Christian pilgrims & many others) set out from either their front doorstep or from popular starting points across Europe, to Santiago de Compostela. Most travel by foot, others ride a bicycle, & a few of them travel as did some of their medieval counterparts, on horseback or with a donkey. In addition to those who undertake a religious pilgrimage, the majority are hikers who walk the way for non-religious reasons: travel, sport, or simply the challenge of spending weeks walking in a foreign l&. Also, many consider the experience as a spiritual adventure, with a view to removing themselves from the bustle of modern life. Jean-Christophe Rufin followed this ” Northern Way” to Santiago de Compostela by foot, on over eight hundred kilometers. Much less crowded than the usual pilgrimage route, this one runs along the Basque & Cantabrian coasts in Spain & through the wild mountains of Asturias & Galicia. Translated from the French by Malcolm Imrie & Martina Dervis

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A sweeping, breath-taking story of love & betrayal from the Number One Sunday Times bestselling author of The Tea Planter`s Wife Ceylon, 1935. Louisa Reeve, the daughter of a successful British gem trader, & her husband Elliot, a charming, thrill-seeking businessman, seem like the couple who have it all. Except what they long for more than anything: a child. While Louisa struggles with miscarriages, Elliot is increasingly absent, spending much of his time at a nearby cinnamon plantation, overlooking the Indian ocean. After his sudden death, Louisa is left alone to solve the mystery he left behind. Revisiting the plantation at Cinnamon Hills, she finds herself unexpectedly drawn towards the owner Leo, a rugged outdoors man with a chequered past. The plantation casts a spell, but all is not as it seems. & when Elliot`s shocking betrayal is revealed, Louisa has only Leo to turn to...`A sweeping tale, beautifully written in a wonderful setting, heartrending yet ultimately uplifting. Gorgeous.` Katie Fforde` The sights, smells & atmosphere of Ceylon are beautifully depicted. This is Dinah Jefferies at her best` Lucinda Riley` Dinah Jefferies has a remarkable gift for conjuring up another time & place with lush descriptions, full of power & intensity` Kate Furnivall ...

The Sat-Nag is the in-car gadget that gets you nowhere fast! This mock-up Sat Nav is crammed with totally unhelpful & embarrassingly familiar offerings from a patronising voice such as In 100 metres turn left. No right, err, no left. Sorry, I never can tell my left from my right. Using a lenticular imaging, the Sat Nag has the appearance of a holographic screen highlighting roads such as Earache Avenue. Recommended suitability for ages 16 years & above due to strong language. ...

As the countdown to Mma Makutsi`s wedding begins, all is not as it should be at the No.1 Ladies` Detective Agency. While investigating unpleasant occurrences on a southern cattle-post, Mma Ramotswe, always on the side of the weak against the strong, has reason to reflect on Rule No.3 of The Principles of Private Detection: never lie to the client. Apprentice mechanic Charlie seems to be avoiding certain important responsibilities. & as Mma Makutsi`s big day approaches, her nemesis violet Sephotho is casting her net wider: by standing for election which could spell trouble for the entire nation. But as friends & family gather under starry African night skies, it turns out that even the most perplexing of apparitions
- & the most shocking of crimes
- may yield to rational explanation. &, of course, to Mma Ramotswe`s inimitable way with love, intuition & redbush tea.

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Before Stieg Larsson, there was Asa Larsson...” The Savage Altar” is a truly absorbing, atmospheric & fast-paced thriller featuring lawyer Rebecka Martinsson, a fantastic character in the mould of ” The Silence of the Lambs”` Clarice Starling. A church in the glittering frozen wastes of northern Sweden. Inside, a sacrifice: the body of a man
- slashed to pieces, hands severed, eyes gouged out. The victim`s sister, Sanna, is first to discover the body & immediately finds herself the police`s only suspect. Terrified & confused, she calls on a friend: got-shot city lawyer Rebecka Martinsson. Rebecka hardly wants to return to Kiruna
- the small town she fled in disgrace years ago. But Sanna is frightened & she needs a loyal friend to clear her name. Someone not scared to dig deep & find the true killer. Yet Rebecka is not especially welcomed into the closed-lipped community. She might know the town, the people & how suspicious they can be of strangers but she has still to find out how dark the town`s secrets have become in her absence. ”A chilling plot knee-deep in blood-spattered snow”. (Jim Kelly). ”A labyrinthine conspiracy, superlative storytelling”. (” Independent”).”A nail biting, suspense-filled mystery”. (” Sunday Telegraph”). Asa Larsson was born in 1966 & lives in Sweden. Her second novel, ” The Blood Spilt”, is available from Penguin now & she is the winner of Sweden`s best first crime novel award.

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