In Paul Dohertys new novel Amerotke Chief Judge of the Hall of Two Truths is once again summoned to the Imperial Palaceo: Tekreth Guardian of the Door of Sobeck has fallen to his death from the roof of his stately mansion. According to all evidence it was an accident but Pharaoh Queen Hatusu is not convinced. Increasingly worried about reports of mysterious disappearances along the Sobeck Road the imperial highway stretching south she believes that Tekreths death could be part of a far greater problem. Amerotke aware of the reports from the Sobeck Road has also heard rumours about the Shemai a cult devoted to death based along its borders. Before Amerotke can start to consider either of these matters though a gruesome mass murder occurs at the Necropolis. The funeral party for revered scribe Ptulimis has been poisoned & Amerotke must immediately investigate the abomination. As Amerotke probes further he suspects that all these events may be connected & that dangerous forces are at work in Pharaoh Hatusus realm. Will Amerotke be able to uncover the truth before Egypt is overrun by its sinister & dangerous underworld? ...

Salonika 1940. To the bustle of tavernas & the smell of hashish a secret war is taking shape. In the backrooms of barbers envelopes change hands & in the Club de Salonique the air is thick with whispers. Costa Zannis is the city's dashing chief detective
- a man with contacts high & low in the Balkans & beyond. & as unknown ships & British 'travel writers' trickle through the port he is a man very much in dem&. Having helped defeat Italy in the highlands of Macedonia Zannis returns to a city holding its breath. Mussolini's forces have retreated
- for now
- but German sights are fixed firmly on the region. & as the situation in Germany worsens Zannis becomes involved in an audacious plot
- smuggling Jews to Istanbul through the back door of Europe. The British hear he can penetrate the continent's closed borders & soon Zannis is embroiled in the resistance & in a reckless love affair that could jeopardise everything. With a remarkable cast of operatives SPIES OF THE BALKANS is a brilliant new espionage novel from Alan Furst.



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An Autumn evening in 1937. A German engineer arrives at the Warsaw railway station. Tonight he will be with his Polish mistress; tomorrow at a workers bar in the citys factory district he will meet with the military attache from the French embassy. Information will be exchanged for money. So begins THE SPIES OF WARSAW with war coming to Europe & French & German operatives locked in a life-&-death struggle on the espionage battlefield. At the French embassy the new military attache Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier a decorated hero of the 1914 war is drawn in to a world of abduction betrayal & intrigue in the diplomatic salons & back alleys of Warsaw. At the same time the handsome aristocrat finds himself in a passionate love affair with a Parisian woman of Polish heritage a lawyer for the League of Nations. Colonel Mercier must work in the shadows amidst an extraordinary cast of venal & dangerous characters
- Colonel Anton Vyborg of Polish military intelligence last seen in Fursts THE POLISH OFFICER; the mysterious & sophisticated Doctor Lapp senior German Abwehr officer in Warsaw; Malka & Viktor Rozen at work for the Russian secret service; & Merciers brutal & vindictive opponent Major August Voss of SS counterintelligence. & there are many more some known to Mercier as spies some never to be revealed.
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On a cool October evening in 1937 German engineer & secret agent Herr Edvard Uhl arrives in Warsaw. He suppresses a chill of fear. Tonight he will be with his mistress; tomorrow he will be at a bar where he will meet with a French military attache. Information will be exchanged for money. War is coming to Europe. & although bombs & bullets have yet to fly French & German operatives are already caught in a deadly espionage battle. In a war of intelligence & subterfuge no spy can help being drawn into the murky world of abduction betrayal & intrigue. ...

Spike is out on his own away from Angels watchful eye & in charge of his own destiny. Old flames & new challenges arise as Spike faces a crazed killer Wolfram & Hart & the consequences of having a soul. This title collects the complete 8-issue series of Spike" by Brian Lynch that connects the " After The Fall" storyline to the subsequent " Buffy: Season 8" series." ...

Great for boys with a huge collectability factor bolstered by the collectors' cards in the back of the books & links to an excellent interactive website. Malvel has created another deadly Beast to stop Tom from saving the realm of Seraph! Spikefin is a vicious sea creature who drags his victims to a watery grave. Is this the end for Tom & his perilous Quest? ...

On a March night outside the river town of Barron Minnesota three teenage girls gather in a ghost town to play a terrifying game of Russian roulette. By morning one girl will be dead & another in jail. Olivia Hawk claims she didnt pull the trigger on Ashlynn Steele but no one believes her. Olivias best hope is her estranged father an attorney from the city who she barely knows any more. & if hes going to prove Olivias innocence hes going to have to learn everything about her public
- & private
- life however much she might like to keep hidden.

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When her husband dies Lu Si-yan's mother is encouraged to sell her young daughter into domestic service. Lu Si-yan is just eleven when sold by her uncle. Nearly two years will pass before she can get back home to her mother & brother. In this powerful & compelling novel Sally Grindley portrays the life of a young girl in China a young girl whose life is said to be like 'spilled water'. With a brilliant first-person narrative & a powerful description of time & place this novel is gripping heart-wrenching & utterly mesmerising. ...

Clarissa was born into wealth & privilege as a child shooting & hunting were the norm & pigeons were flown in from Cairo for supper. Her mother was an Australian heiress her father was a brilliant surgeon to the Royal family. But he was also a tyrannical & violent drunk who used to beat her & force her to eat carrots with slugs still clinging to them. Clarissa was determined & clever though & her ambition led her to a career in the law. At the age of 21 she was the youngest ever woman to be called to the Bar. Disaster struck when her adored mother died suddenly. It was to lead to a mind-numbing decade of wild over-indulgence. Rich from her inheritance in the end Clarissa partied away her entire fortune. It was a long hard road to recovery along which Clarissa finally faced her demons & turned to the one thing that had always brought her joy
- cooking. Now at last she has found success sobriety & peace. With the stark honesty & the brilliant wit we love her for Clarissa recounts the tale of a life lived to extremes. A vivid & funny story it is as moving as it is a cracking good read.
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How on earth did 'with bells on' come to express enthusiasm? What do chips on shoulders have to do with inferiority complexes? & who is the face that launched a thousand ships? Did you know that 'the rule of thumb' refers to the use of the thumb to make measurements as the first joint of the average adult thumb measures one inch? Spilling the Beans on the Cat's Pyjamas" provides us with the meanings of these well-worn & much-loved phrases by putting these linguistic quirks in context & explaining how & why they were first used. Absorbing diverting & fascinating
- as far as gift books go " Spilling the Beans" really is the bee's knees!"
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