Personal tragedy has left Dave Robicheaux close to the edge. Battling against his old addiction to alcohol & haunted nightly by vivid dreams & visitations Dave finds his only tranquillity at home with his young ward Alafair. But even this fragile peace is shattered by the arrival of Dixie Lee Pugh who brings with him a brutal trail of murder & violence. Robicheaux reluctantly agrees to help out his old friend but becomes more involved than he bargained for when he finds himself suspect Number One in the series of bloody killings. Forced to leave his home Robicheaux's precarious existence reaches breaking point when Alafair's life is threatened. ...

Incoming! Amy & Dan have been found unharmed! But perhaps not for long
- the ruthless Irina Spasky is right on their tail. & what
...

A full-length Hercule Poirot novel adapted from Agatha Christies stage play by Charles Osborne Sir Claud Amorys revolutionary new formula for a powerful explosive is stolen. Locking his house-guests in the library Sir Claud switches off the lights to allow the thief to replace the formula no questions asked. When the lights come on he is dead & Hercule Poirot & Captain Hastings have to unravel a tangle of family feuds old flames & suspicious foreigners to find the killer & prevent a global catastrophe. BLACK COFFEE was Agatha Christies first playscript originally performed in 1930 & made into a now rarely-seen film the following year. Combining her typically beguiling plot & sparkling dialogue with his own faithful narrative Charles Osbornes novelisation is A worthy addition to the Christie canon (The Spectator) ...

Read by John Moffat this is a dark tale of family intrigue & murder. Available on CD for the first time. Sir Claud Amory has discovered the formula for a new powerful explosive which is stolen by one of the large household of relatives & friends. Locking everyone in the library Sir Claud switches off the lights to allow the thief to replace the formula on the table no questions asked. When the lights come on however he is dead & Hercule Poirot
- with assistance from Hastings & Inspector Japp
- has to unravel a tangle of family feuds old flames & suspicious foreigners to find the killer & prevent a global catastrophe.

...

If I lose the light of the sun I will write by candlelight moonlight no light If I lose paper & ink I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world & bring them to you. Henry Rollins renowned spoken-word performer musician actor & author of several books has a unique hard-edged view of the world. This collection of writings from 1989
- 1991 is the classic Rollins book. From dramatic fiction shorts detailing stark disturbing realities to gut-wrenching tour journals destroying all misconceptions of the glamour of fame & the music industry; from the challenging poetry to revealing dream sequences Rollins writing is unflinching in its honesty uncompromising in its truth & irresistibly addictive.
...

Who was the real Count of Monte Cristo? In this extraordinary biography Tom Reiss traces the almost unbelievable life of the man who inspired not only Monte Cristo but all three of the Musketeers: the novelists own father. Born in St Dominigue in 1762 the son of a French nobleman & a sugar plantation slave General Alexandre Dumas did not have an auspicious start in life. Things got worse when his father sold him into slavery to pay his passage back to Normandy. But six months later Dumas fortunes changed. His father bought him out of slavery & raised him in France where Dumas went to the nations finest schools & fencing academies & having enrolled in the army became known as Frances most handsome & strongest soldier. By the time Napoleon invaded Egypt Dumas was his top cavalry commander. But Napoleon was threatened by the physical prowess & popularity of this black nobleman. He engineered his disgrace & imprisonment & to please the sugar growers reintroduced slavery. A brief flowering of freedom & equality was over & forgotten but Dumas legacy would live on in the novels of the son who adored him. Reiss tells this tale with magisterial authority. Long years of research have led him across Europe the Caribbean & the Middle East in search of forgotten documents. He has journeyed through the Alps where Dumas scaled unscalable ice cliffs. He has walked the streets of Cairo where Dumas intrepid cavalry charge is still remembered. The result is an enthralling book that entertains astounds & triumphantly resurrects a lost hero from the worlds first multiracial society. ...

Completely absorbing". (Amanda Foreman). " Enthralling". (Guardian). " The Three Musketeers! The Count of Monte Cristo! The stories of course are fiction. But here a prize-winning author shows us that the inspiration for the swashbuckling stories was in fact Dumas' own father Alex
- the son of a marquis & a black slave... He achieved a giddy ascent from private in the Dragoons to the rank of general; an outsider who had grown up among slaves he was all for Liberty & Equality. Alex Dumas was the stuff of legend". (Daily Mail). So how did such this extraordinary man get erased by history? Why are there no statues of ' Monsieur Humanity' as his troops called him? The Black Count uncovers what happened & the role Napoleon played in Dumas' downfall. By walking the same ground as Dumas
- from Haiti to the Pyramids Paris to the prison cell at Taranto
- Reiss like the novelist before him triumphantly resurrects this forgotten hero. " Entrances from first to last. Dumas the novelist would be proud". (Independent). " Brilliant". (Glasgow Herald)."


...

The photographs in this book capture the reality of life in the Black Country since the 1950s. Among the subjects covered by Graham Goughs stunning photographs are the gritty poverty poor housing & social unrest while the lighter side of life is not forgotten. From historic events to riots & extreme weather & from changing high streets to celebrity snaps all Black Country" life is here." ...

Based on his popular Rail Around Birmingham website this series incorporates a wealth of information & many new pictures of the areas railways in a handy portable book format allowing the reader to explore the extensive network past & present on the ground. Covering every station in the region line by line location by location the book provides a unique record of the development decline & rebirth of the greater Birminghams railway network. Rail Around Birmingham" provides a contemporary photographic survey of the sites of all past & present stations & locations within the area covered as well as many previously unpublished historical photographs & items of ephemera together with maps & location details." ...

Black Country Chronicles" is a fascinating & multi-faceted narrative of twentieth-century life in the Black Country. Tom Larkin & other members of the Black Country Memories Club have long been determined that the way of life sacrifices & hardships & daily activities should not be allowed to be forgotten & this book achieves their aim. Tom Larkin looks at the Black Country from the working-class point of view & records the significant contribution which these people made to the economic stability of the country as a whole. He neither romanticises nor exaggerates working-class life at this time but faithfully brings to the fore the harsh living conditions bad housing polluted environment low standards of hygiene & tough discipline which dominated peoples lives. This will provide a fascinating insight into the Black Country of yesteryear & a valuable record of the reality of life for generations to come." ...