Even the most organised & skillful cook can find themselves pressed for time. The secret lies in clever pre-preparation. This might mean having a bake or a stuffed roast ready assembled in the fridge ready to be popped into the oven or having an impressive sauce or topping prepared to provide a flourish to an otherwise straightforward dish. In One Step Ahead best-selling author Mary Berry provides the solution for the time-poor cook with 100 recipes devised either to be worked through in the usual way or taken to a holding point
- a stage that will give you a head start when putting together a meal in limited time. Shortcuts are given wherever possible & Mary helps the reader through any tricky techniques in her usual inimitable crystal-clear manner. The recipes are divided into Party Nibbles & First Courses Main Courses including meat poultry & game fish & pasta & rice Vegetable Dishes Puddings & Desserts & Baking. This truly is the essential guide to inspire confident cooking in a way that makes entertaining fun.
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It is Midsummers Eve. Three young friends meet in a wood to act out an elaborate masque. But unknown to them they are being watched. Each is killed by a single bullet. Soon afterwards one of Inspector Wallanders colleagues is found murdered. Is it the same killer & what could the connection be? In this investigation Wallander is always tantalisingly one step behind. ...

It is Midsummers Eve. Three young friends meet in a wood to act out an elaborate masque. But unknown to them they are being watched. Each is killed by a single bullet. Soon afterwards one of Inspector Wallanders colleagues is found murdered. Is it the same killer & what could the connection be? In this investigation Wallander is always tantalisingly one step behind. ...

It is Midsummers Eve. Three young friends meet in a wood to act out an elaborate masque. But unknown to them they are being watched. Each is killed by a single bullet. Soon afterwards one of Inspector Wallanders colleagues is found murdered. Is this the same killer & what could the connection be? In this investigation Wallander is always tantalisingly one step behind. ...

An apparently happy marriage. A beautiful son. A lovely home. So what makes Emily Coleman get up one morning & walk out of her life? She's serious about not being found
- changing her name holing up in a grotty house in North London taking a dead-end job where no-one will notice her. But just why did she leave? Has she had a breakdown? Was it to escape her dysfunctional family
- especially her malevolent twin Caroline who always seemed to hate her? & what is the date that looms threatening to force her to confront her past? No-one has ever guessed her secret. Will you?

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When thirty-four-year-old ex-war veteran Jack Armstrong is told he has only weeks to live his first concern is for his beloved wife Lizzie & their children: baby Jackie twelve-year-old would-be actor Cory & rebellious teenage daughter Mikki. It seems so cruel that an apparently fatal illness should claim him a survivor of Afghanistan & Iraq when he still ha so much left to live for. On Christmas Eve as Jack prepares to say goodbye to his family unthinkable tragedy strikes again & Lizzie is killed in a car accident. Just when Jack thought living was far harder than dying & the children's future looked so bleak something remarkable happens which gives Jack the valuable second chance he'd only dreamed of. Unexpectedly the family inherits Lizzie's beautiful childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. During one unforgettable summer Jack & the children struggle to rebuild their lives. They learn to live again -- & to love again. & they learn the biggest lesson of all -- the importance of family. ...

When Ted falls out of bed three tearaway mice whisk him off on a breathtaking adventure. They zoom around in fast cars go on a balloon ride & climb a building-block mountain. Its all very exciting but will it get Ted back to bed? This books counting theme is perfectly woven into a magical rhythmic text. It is a future classic from the award-winning author of The Gruffalo" & " The Gruffalos Child"." ...

When Ted falls out of bed three tearaway mice whisk him off on a breathtaking adventure. They zoom around in fast cars go on a balloon ride & climb a building-block mountain. Its all very exciting but will Ted ever get back to his bed? This books counting theme is woven perfectly into a magical rhythmic text by Childrens Laureate Julia Donaldson. ...

The SAS mission conducted behind Iraqi lines is one of the most famous stories of courage & survival in modern warfare. Of the eight members of the SAS regiment who set off only one escaped capture. This is his story. Late on the evening of 24 January 1991 the patrol was compromised deep behind enemy lines in Iraq. A fierce fire-fight left the eight men miraculously unscathed but they were forced to run for their lives. Their aim was to reach the Syrian border 120 kilometres to the north-west but during the first night the patrol accidentally broke into two groups five & three. Chris Ryan found himself left with two companions. Nothing had prepared them for the vicious cold of the desert winter & they began to suffer from hypothermia. During the night one of the men was to disappear in a blinding blizzard. The next day a goat-herd came across the two survivors. Chris's remaining partner went with him in search of food & was never to return. Left on his own Chris Ryan beat off an Iraqi attack & set out alone. His greatest adventure was only just beginning. This is the story of courage under fire of hairbreadth escapes of the best trained soldiers in the world fighting against adverse conditions & of one man's courageous refusal to lie down & die. ...

Would you risk your future for a night with your past? Molly Greene loves being married. Exciting adventures lie ahead for her & husband Dan that will change their lives for ever but Mollys not sure theyre making the right choices. While teetering on the brink of the biggest decision shes ever faced she sends an impulsive message to the very last person she ought to contact someone who should have stayed forgotten & is now coming looking for her. When he finds her there is no turning back. One night is all it takes to threaten everything she holds dear ? for good. ...