Grasshopper" is an enthralling chilling novel by the bestselling queen of crime Barbara Vine. They have sent me here because of what happened on the pylon. When Clodagh Brown writes these words at the age of nineteen she believes that she is leaving behind the traumatic events of her youth. But Clodagh soon learns that you can never entirely escape your past. In the aftermath of the incident on the pylon
- a gargantuan electrified grasshopper
- Clodagh goes off to university moves into a basement flat arranged by her unsympathetic family & finds freedom trekking across Londons rooftops with a gang of neighborhood misfits. As she begins a thrilling relationship with a fellow climber however both Clodagh & the reader are haunted by the memory of the pylon & of the terrible thing that happened there
- & by the eerie sense that another tragedy is just a footfall away. " Grasshopper" is a modern crime masterpiece that will have you gripped from the first page to the last. If you enjoy the novels of P.D. James Ian Rankin & Scott Turow you will love this book. " The Rendell/ Vine partnership has for years been producing consistently better work than most Booker winners put together". (Ian Rankin). "A superb & original writer". (Amanda Craig " Express"). Barbara Vine is the pen-name of Ruth Rendell. She has written fifteen novels using this pseudonym including "A Fatal Inversion" & " King Solomons Carpet" which both won the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger Award. Her other books include: "A Dark Adapted Eye"; " The House of Stairs"; " Gallowglass"; " Astas Book"; " No Night Is Too Long"; " In the Time of His Prosperity"; " The Brimstone Wedding"; " The Chimney Sweepers Boy"; " Grasshopper"; " The Blood Doctor"; " The Minotaur"; " The Birthday Present" & " The Childs Child"."


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For the first time ever a DVD featuring exclusive video & audio material accompanies the latest New Naturalist volume a multimedia first for the series. Ted Benton offers a comprehensive account of the appearance variations behaviour habitat life-cycles & distribution of all the native British species of bush-crickets crickets groundhoppers & grasshoppers. Many details from direct field observation are included which are published here for the first time. With up-to-date information on newly arrived & recently established species as well as long-established non-native species
- such as the house cricket & greenhouse camel cricket
- Benton pays special attention to a key area of evolutionary thought that has stimulated an international research focus on grasshoppers & crickets. Recent approaches to mating & reproduction emphasise differences & even conflicts of interest between males & females. The sexually selected adaptations & counter-adaptations to such conflicts of reproductive interest are used to explain the astonishing diversity of reproductive behaviour exhibited by grasshoppers & crickets: male territorial behaviour coercive mating complex songs elaborate courtship performances the donation of edible nuptial gifts the reversal of sex-roles mate-guarding keeping of harems & in a few species parental care of the offspring. These chapters provide an introduction to the theoretical issues & an overview of many case studies drawn from research on orthopterans from across the world (but including British species where relevant). A unique DVD features many aspects of the behaviour of nearly all British species including song conflict courtship behaviour sex-role reversal & egg laying. The book is lavishly illustrated with colour photographs & line drawings covering all the British species (including immature stages in most cases) key habitats & many aspects of behaviour.

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Grating Spectroscopes & How to Use Them is written for amateur astronomers who are just getting into this field of astronomy. Transmission grating spectroscopes look like simple filters & are designed to screw into place on the eyepiece of a telescope for visual use or into the camera adapter for digicam or CCD imaging. Using the most popular commercially made filter gratings
- Rainbow Optics (US) & Star Analyzer (UK)
- as examples this book provides the reader with information on how to set up & use the grating one needs to obtain stellar spectrograms. It also discusses several methods on analyzing the results. This book is written in an easy to read style perfect for getting started on the first night using the spectroscope & specifically showing how the simple transmission filter is used on the camera or telescope. No heavy mathematics or formulas are involved & there are many practical hints & tips
- something that is almost essential to success when starting out. This book helps readers to achieve quick results & by following the worked examples they can successfully carry out basic analysis of the spectra.


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A gratin is any dish that has a crispy topping such as cheese or breadcrumbs & in this handy book you'll find recipes for classic gratins such as macaroni cheese as well as new & inventive ideas. Bakes are another timelessly popular method of cooking producing delicious results such as lasagne pastitsio & moussaka. Both gratins & bakes are perfect both for entertaining & feeding a hungry family. ...

In this book Louise has gathered together the insights & wisdom of some of the most inspirational teachers & authors she knows people who have demonstrated the power of gratitude in their own lives. Renowned contributors include Wayne Dyer Bernie Siegel Doreen Virtue Shakti Gawain Alan Cohen & Dan Millman. All profits from this book will benefit Louises non-profit organization The Hay Foundation. ...

Memories hid in every cell of the body. Memories that my grave magic could unlock & give shape as a shade. Of course that depended on having enough of the body at my disposal for my magic to fill in the gaps". After a month spent recovering from a vicious fight with a sorcerer Grave Witch Alex Craft is ready to get back to solving murders by raising the dead. With her love life in turmoil thanks to the disappearance of FBI agent Falin Andrews & Deaths shocking L word confession Alex is eager for the distractions of work. But her new case turns out to be more of a challenge than she was expecting. The police hire Alex to consult on a particularly strange investigation in a nature preserve. The strange part? There are no bodies just leftover pieces. With a probable serial killer on the loose & no way to raise a shade without a body Alex will have to rely solely on her ability to sense the grave to lead her to the dead. But with the strain of overusing her magic this might be the last case Alex ever solves..." ...

Thea Osborne & her loyal spaniel Hepzie are still pursuing their occupation as house-sitters despite the disastrous incidents of the past. At the moment they are staying in the late Greta Simmonds' house which is currently between ownership. But when a body is discovered in a nearby field Thea finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation once again. After befriending undertaker Drew Slocombe she soon finds she's aligned herself with the police's only suspect. Believing him to be innocent Thea works together with Drew to clear his name although it slowly dawns on them that in a village simmering with secrets a means & a motive could be laid at anybody's door. ...

This is a murder mystery featuring Lord Edward Corinth & Verity Browne. Verity Browne & Lord Edward Corinth are attending the memorial service in Westminster Abbey for Lord Benyon killed a few months before when the Hindenburg airship burst into flames as it docked in New Jersey. As the congregation begins to disperse after the service Edward hears Miss Pitt-Messanger cry for help. Her father is slumped in his seat stabbed to death with an ancient Assyrian dagger. Edward has no wish to investigate the murder but Verity gets herself invited to Swifts Hill the ultra-modern house in Kent belonging to the millionaire Sir Simon Castlewood. His wife Virginia is one of Veritys school friends & she is looking after Maud Pitt-Messanger who is still grieving for her father. Verity quickly discovers that the old man was a selfish bully who had made his daughters life a misery & prevented her from marrying the man she loved. By coincidence Mr Churchill then asks Edward to investigate the Castlewood Foundation which Sir Simon has set up to fund medical research among other worthy projects. Churchill has received information that Sir Simons protege the eminent surgeon Dominic Montillo is using the Foundation to fund his own research into racial types
- the so-called science of eugenics. Then Maud Pitt-Messanger is herself stabbed to death with a dagger from Sir Simons archaeological museum & Edward & Verity join forces to find her killer
- but Veritys distrust of Winston Churchill & her growing attraction to the young German aristocrat Adam von Trott drives a wedge between them which brings them both unhappiness & endangers the outcome of the investigation.

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For fans of the contemporary urban fantasy series of Charlaine Harris Patricia Briggs Chloe Neill & Karen Chance Kalayna Price brings us Grave Memory" the third novel in the " Alex Craft" series about a kick-ass grave witch who can communicate with the dead. When the dead need to talk Alex Craft is always ready to listen... As a Grave Witch Alex solves murders by raising the dead
- an ability that comes at a cost & after her last few cases that cost is compounding. But her magic isnt the only thing causing havoc in her life. While shes always been on friendly terms with Death himself things have recently become a whole lot more close & personal. Then theres her sometime partner agent Falin Andrews who is under the glamour of the Winter Queen. To top everything off her best friend has been forever changed by her time spent captive in Faerie. But the personal takes a backseat to the professional when a string of suicides occur in Nekros City & Alex is hired to investigate. The shades have no memory of the days leading up to their brutal endings so despite the very public apparent suicides this is murder. But what kind of magic can overcome the human will to survive[unk] & why do the shades lack the memory of their deaths? Searching for the answer might mean Alex wont have a life to remember at all..." Grave Memory" is the devilishly brilliant sequel to " Grave Witch" & " Grave Dance" & not to be missed. Praise for Kalayna Price: " Yum. A rare treat intriguing & original. Dont miss this one". (" Patricia Briggs"). " Fascinating magic a delicious heart-throb & a fresh inventive world". (Chloe Neill). Kalayna Price is a writer a painter & a hula hoop dancer residing in the Carolinas USA. She draws ideas from the world around her her studies into ancient mythologies & her readings of classic folklore. Her previous books in the " Alex Craft" series " Grave Witch" & " Grave Dance" are also published by Penguin."
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Young beautiful & deadly. Trained as an assassin by the god of Death Ismae is sent to the court of Brittany where she finds herself under prepared
- not only for the games of intrigue & treason but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Deaths vengeance upon a target who against her will has stolen her heart? This is a dangerous romance full of intrigue poison & ultimately finding ones way.
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