Planet Earth is a paradox
- a lush fertile world three-quarters-covered by water yet in danger of running dry. Fresh water is disappearing
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At the close of Wilbur Smiths bestselling Monsoon" Tom Courtney & his brother Dorian battled on the high seas & finally reached the Cape of Good Hope to start life afresh. In this spellbinding new novel the next generation of Courtneys are out to stake their claim in Southern Africa travelling along the infamous Robbers Road. It is a journey both exciting & hazardous that takes them through the untouched wilderness of a beautiful land filled with warring tribes & wild animals. At heart a story of love & hatred vengeance & greed " Blue Horizon" is an utterly compelling adventure from one of the worlds most celebrated novelists. " Wilbur Smith is one of those benchmarks against whom others are compared"
- " The Times". "A masterstory teller"
- " Sunday Times"."

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Blue Lightning is the fourth book in Ann Cleeves' Shetland series -- which is now the major BBC1 drama starring Douglas Henshall SHETL&. With the autumn storms raging Fair Isle feels cut off from the rest of the world. Trapped tension is high & tempers become frayed. Enough to drive someone to murder.. .A woman's body is discovered at the renowned Fair Isles bird observatory with feathers threaded through her hair. The islanders react with fear & anger. Detective Jimmy Perez has no support from the mainland & must investigate the old-fashioned way. He soon realizes that this is no crime of passion -- but a murder of cold & calculated intention. There's no way off the island until the storms abate -- & so the killer is also trapped just waiting for the opportunity to strike again. Also available in the Shetland series are Raven Black White Nights Red Bones & Dead Water. Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope series (ITV television drama VERA) contains five titles of which The Glass Room is the most recent. ...

The world's most famous travelling reporter is on the trail of the Blue Lotus. In India Tintin gets drawn into a dangerous mystery revolving around a madness-inducing poison. He traces its origins to Shanghai & a nefarious web of opium traffickers. But can he outwit the crooks? Join the most iconic character in comics as he embark on an extraordinary adventure spanning historical & political events & thrilling mysteries. Still selling over 100 000 copies every year in the UK & having been adapted for the silver screen by Steven Spielberg & Peter Jackson in 2011 The Adventures of Tintin continue to charm more than 80 years after they first found their way into publication. Since then an estimated 230 million copies have been sold proving that comic books have the same power to entertain children & adults in the 21st century as they did in the early 20th. ...

In September 1939 World War Two is declared. For RAF fighter pilots patrolling the Franco-German border it is a bizarre time: one moment they are chasing an elusive Luftwaffe the next ordering champagne in Paris. Then in May 1940 Hitler launches Blitzkrieg & the Hurricane squadrons find themselves engulfed in battle. Blue Man Falling follows the fortunes of two RAF pilots; Englishman Kit Curtis & American Ossie Wolf who clash not only with the Germans but also with each other fighting for different reasons & employing different methods as France collapses & the Allies face humiliation & defeat. They also encounter the insidious Fifth Column the enemy within & those intent on profiting from chaos... ...

It is the most singular of sounds yet among the most ubiquitous. It is the sound of isolation that has sold itself to millions. Miles Davis Kind of Blue" is the best selling piece of music in the history of jazz & for many listeners among the most haunting in all of twentieth-century music. It is also notoriously the only jazz album many people own. Recorded in 1959 (in nine miraculous hours) there has been nothing like it since. Its atmosphere
- slow dark meditative luminous
- became all-pervasive for a generation & has remained the epitome of melancholy coolness ever since. Richard Williams has written a history of the album which for once does not rip it out of its wider cultural context. He evokes the essence of the music
- identifying the qualities that make it so uniquely appealing
- while making effortless connections to painting literature philosophy & poetry. This makes for an elegant graceful & beautifully-written narrative."



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Monday: five-year-old Matthew Faraday is abducted. His face is splashed across newspaper front pages. His parents & the police are desperate. Can anyone help find their little boy before it is too late? Psychotherapist Frieda Klein just might know something. One of her patients describes dreams of seizing a boy who is the spitting image of Matthew. Convinced at first the police will dismiss her fears out of hand Frieda reluctantly finds herself drawn into the heart of the case. A previous abduction from twenty years ago suggests a new lead
- one that only Frieda an expert on the minds of disturbed individuals can uncover. Struggling to make sense of this terrifying investigation Frieda will face her darkest fears in the hunt for a clever & brutal killer...
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Blue Monday" is the thrilling first novel in Nicci French's top-ten bestselling new series introducing psychotherapist Frieda Klein & is perfect for all fans of the crime novels of Peter James. " Blue Monday"
- A day for murder... Monday: five-year-old Matthew Faraday is abducted. His face is splashed across newspaper front pages. His parents & the police are desperate. Can anyone help find their little boy before it is too late? Psychotherapist Frieda Klein just might know something. One of her patients describes dreams of seizing a boy who is the spitting image of Matthew. Convinced at first the police will dismiss her fears out of hand Frieda reluctantly finds herself drawn into the heart of the case. A previous abduction from twenty years ago suggests a new lead
- one that only Frieda an expert on the minds of disturbed individuals can uncover. Struggling to make sense of this terrifying investigation Frieda will face her darkest fears in the hunt for a clever & brutal killer... Nicci French has sold over eight million copies worldwide & the Frieda Klein series will make you long for more psychological suspense featuring this amazing new character with every title released. "A brilliantly crafted new crime series". (" Daily Mirror"). " Terrific. The writing is pacy the jaw-dropping twists are plentiful". (Short List). " One of French's hardest-to-put-down novels". (Sunday Express). Nicci French is the pseudonym for Nicci Gerrard & Sean French. The couple live in Suffolk & have written thirteen other bestselling novels: " Complicit" " What to Do When Someone Dies" " Until It's Over" " Losing You" " Catch Me When I Fall" " The Memory Game" " Beneath the Skin" " The Safe House" " The Red Room" " Land of the Living" " Killing Me Softly" " Secret Smile" & " Tuesday's Gone" the second instalment in the " Frieda Klein" series."

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Put a nickel in the jukebox assuming you can locate a jukebox & that you remember what a nickel is. Heres legendary Beach Boy Brian Wilson singing lead & 10-part harmonies on Speed Turtle." The incomparable Neil Sedaka crooning " Your Nose." B. B. King brings you a wistful " One Shoe Blues " Gerry & the Pacemakers offer " Mersey Lullaby " & relative newcomer (in this seasoned company) Patti Lu Pone of " Evita" fame sings
- what else
- the " Rabbit Tango." & then theres the hit single from Boyntons Your Personal Penguin sung by the impossibly cute Davy Jones of The Monkees. I mean jeepers even Sha Na Na is here. So roll over Beethoven
- & Lieber & Stoller. Boynton & Ford once again bring great words great music great performers to children & vintage children alike. & oh! The book! Boynton has filled it with all things 50s & 60s. & well golly its so happy & colourful & just terrific Mister! Grab your saddle shoes plunk two straws into that swell chocolate malt & lets twist again like we did last century."


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An Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novel ' Richard was an alpha werewolf. It was his only serious flaw. We'd broken up after I'd seen him eat somebody.' You never forget your ex-fiance. & when the call came at three in the morning I thought for a moment it was him. It wasn't. It was his brother. & it wasn't good news. Apparently the former love of my life had got himself thrown into jail for assaulting a woman. Since I make my living as a preternatural expert I tend to believe almost anything's possible. But though he may be one of the monsters Richard would never harm a woman. So it's Anita Blake to the rescue. I've got just a few days to spring Richard & find out who framed him
- & why. There's a full moon coming & if my werewolf love is still behind bars when it rises he'll be facing a lot worse than an assault charge...
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