1820s Britain: after the wars with France when unemployment was high & soldiers could be paid off when the government was desperately afraid of social unrest any crime was drastically punished & thousands were hung. But one could petition the King & an investigation might ensue! The man in the dark cell in Newgate Prison was due to hang in a week. He had been found guilty of murdering the aristocrat whose portrait he was painting. He claimed to be innocent -- but then the hangman had never hung a guilty man he said. But even in 1820 the Home Secretary could occasionally use his powers to grant mercy if his investigator found cause & Rider Sandman once of the First Foot Guards is given the job. Rider Sandman a hero of Waterloo has family debts to repay but when his first steps in the investigations produce a sizeable bribe to look the other way this only arouses his smouldering anger over the condition of England a country which he & others in Wellingtons army had fought to preserve. Stepping between gentlemens clubs & taverns talking to aristocrats fashionable painters their models & their mistresses dodging professional cut-throats & deceptive swordsmen Sandman uncovers a conspiracy of silence a group whose proudest boast was that they would do anything for any one of them. Sandman is a wonderful character as yet undaunted by the sleazy streets dank jails or the looming scaffold & uncorrupted by politicians sneering gentlemen or frightening bruisers an investigator in the making & a brilliant but very different hero for all Bernard Cornwell fans. ...

A Peeping Tom is frightening the women of Eastvale; two glue-sniffing young thugs are breaking into homes & robbing people; & an old woman may or may not have been murdered. Investigating these cases is Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks a perceptive curious & compassionate policeman recently moved to the Yorkshire Dales from London to escape the stress of city life. In addition to all this Banks has to deal with the local feminists & his attraction to a young psychologist Jenny Fuller. As the tension mounts both Jenny & Banks wife Sandra are drawn deeper into the events. The cases weave together as the story reaches a tense & surprising climax. The novels of Peter Robinson are chilling evocative deeply nuanced works of art."
- Dennis Lehane. " If you havent encountered Chief Inspector Alan Banks before prepare for a crash course in taut clean writing & subtle psychology. & watch for those twists
- theyll get you every time."
- Ian Rankin."


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Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks has recently moved to the Yorkshire Dales from London to escape the stress of the metropolis. But he soon finds that life in the country is not quite as idyllic as he had imagined.. .A peeping Tom is frightening the women of Eastvale. Two glue-sniffing thugs are breaking into homes. An old woman may or may not have been murdered. In addition Banks has to deal with his attraction to a young psychologist Jenny Fuller. As the tension mounts both Jenny & Banks's wife are drawn deeper into events. & Banks realizes that his cases are weaving closer & closer together.. .' The novels of Peter Robinson are chilling evocative deeply nuanced works of art' Dennis Lehane ' If you haven't encountered Chief Inspector Alan Banks before prepare for a crash course in taut clean writing & subtle psychology. & watch for those twists
- they'll get you every time' Ian Rankin ' An expert plotter with an eye for telling detail' New York Times
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Ian Stewarts Galois Theory has been in print for 30 years. Resoundingly popular it still serves its purpose exceedingly well. Yet mathematics education has changed considerably since 1973 when theory took precedence over examples & the time has come to bring this presentation in line with more modern approaches. To this end the story now begins with polynomials over the complex numbers & the central quest is to understand when such polynomials have solutions that can be expressed by radicals. Reorganization of the material places the concrete before the abstract thus motivating the general theory but the substance of the book remains the same. ...

Twenty years ago Anthony Galton vanished along with his streetwise bride & several thousand dollars of the Galton fortune. Now his dying mother wants him found & Lew Archer is on the case: is Anthony hiding somewhere happy & eager not to be discovered? But what Archer finds
- a headless skeleton a clever con & a terrified blonde
- reveals a game whose stakes are so high that someone is willing to kill. The Galton Case" is a wonderfully devious & poetic look at poverty greed murder & identity. Ross Macdonald's " Lew Archer" mysteries rewrote the conventions of the detective novel with their credible humane hero & with Macdonald's insight & moral complexity won new literary respectability for the hardboiled genre previously pioneered by Dashiell Hammett & Raymond Chandler. They have also received praise from such celebrated writers as William Goldman Jonathan Kellerman Eudora Welty & Elmore Leonard."

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Lonely Planet's 4th edition of The Gambia & Senegal" will take you from the arid desert lands of the north to the lush tropical forests in the south & from the capital cities of Dakar & Banjul to the more remote Bassari country. Go lion spotting in the Parc National de Niokolo-Koba or hike around the beautifully conserved Abuko Nature Reserve. Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit. This fully updated edition is packed with accurate practical & honest advice designed to give you the information you need to make the most of your trip. In This Guide: Dedicated chapters on birdwatching & music Customised itineraries take you up the coast or down the river Unique Green Index highlights the best ecofriendly options" ...

Gamble" is the latest Dick Francis novel & the first solo novel by Felix Francis. Nick Foxton once won the Grand National but a terrible accident cut his racing career short. Years later he is returning to Aintree
- as a spectator
- when he once more finds himself the centre of attention. Minutes before the big race Nick's colleague financial adviser Herb Kovak is shot dead & the gunman vanishes into the crowd. The police want answers but Nick can't explain why anyone would want Herb dead. Yet when he finds a threatening message crumpled in Herb's coat Nick begins questioning all he knows about his friend. & on learning that he is the benefactor of Herb's will Nick is certain that something is not right. A fact confirmed when Nick discovers he's next in the killer's firing line. From Felix Francis the bestselling co-author (with Dick Francis) of " Dead Heat" & " Even Money" comes " Gamble" the latest Dick Francis novel. Set in the cut-throat world of horse racing " Gamble" is an enthralling thriller packed full of suspense mystery & intrigue. Packed with all the hair-raising suspense & excitement readers know & love from Dick Francis " Gamble" is Felix Francis's most heart-pounding thriller yet. Praise for the Dick Francis novels: " The Francis flair is clear for all to see". (" Daily Mail"). " Spare efficient & unflashy.. .inexorably draws you in". (" Daily Telegraph"). " The master of suspense & intrigue". (" Country Life"). " Still the master". (" Racing Post"). Felix Francis is the younger son of thriller-writing legend Dick Francis with whom he co-wrote the four most recent Dick Francis Novels " Dead Heat" " Silks" " Even Money' & " Crossfire" with Felix taking an increasingly greater role in the writing Sadly Dick died in February 2010 but his work will live on through Felix. " Gamble" is Felix's first solo Dick Francis Novel. Felix trained as a physicist & spent seventeen years teaching A level physics before taking on the role as manager to his father & then as author. He lives in Oxfordshire."

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The Gambler & Other Stories" is Fyodor Dostoyevskys collection of one novella & six short stories reflecting his own life
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The funniest book I have read this year." Tony Parson's " The Game" recounts the incredible adventures of an everyday man who transforms himself from a shy awkward writer into the quick-witted smooth-talking Style a character irresistible to women. But just when life is better than he could have ever dreamed (he uses his techniques on Britney Spears receives life coaching from Tom Cruise moves into a mansion with Courtney Love & is officially voted the World's Number One Pickup Artist) he falls head over heels for a woman who can beat him at his own game." ...

New Year 1924. Mary Russell is drawn into a new intrigue when she & her husband Sherlock Holmes pay a visit to Holmes gravely ill brother Mycroft. Mycroft has received a strange package that contains the papers of a missing English spy named Kimball OHara the hero of Rudyard Kiplings Kim who is feared to have been taken hostage
- or even killed. Mary & Sherlock embark on a search for the missing operative which takes them on a perilous journey through sun-drenched India. But when a twist of fate forces the couple to part ways Russell learns that in this faraway place its often impossible to tell friend from foe & that some games must be played out until their deadly end.
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