A civilized game of Duplicate Bridge ends in a double murder in which both victims were strangled with picture wire. The crimes seem identical, but were they carried out by the same hand? The odds of solving this crime are stacked up against Inspector Hemingway. Fortunately, the first-rate detective doesn’t miss a trick.

Two centuries after an atomic war on earth, a silver-haired mutant sets out on a dangerous search for a lost city of the ruined civilization. Review Submitted by Ralph Couey It is almost 200 years since the global destruction wrought by nuclear war. The tools of man’s technology lie rusting alongside the roads between ruined cities. In the mountains, the descendants of people who were training to colonize other worlds when war broke out, struggle to survive. But in their zeal to maintain the purity of the human race in the face of radiation-caused genetic mutations, the Tribe of the Eyrie have isolated and even killed those with characteristics that drift from the norm of humanity. Onto this stage steps a young man named Fors. The son of an honored explorer, a Star Man, has been denied the honor of becoming what his father had been, the courageous explorers who went into the lowlands searching the moldering cities for technology and devices to help their people survive, and more importantly, knowledge of what happened and why. Bitter and angry at the tribe’s rejection, Fors leaves the mountain stronghold of his people and sets out alone on a trail that will change the history of not only his tribe, but all that remains of the human race. Andre Norton’s book, originally titled “Star Man’s Son,” foretells a cautionary tale of the future, one in which humans still have not learned the lessons of the past. The journey of Fors is a fascinating depiction of what the world would be like after the last great war of technology. In this world, the survivors of the human race have separated into tribes, each jealously guarding a swath of territory. Relationships between the tribes are bound in suspicion and conflict, but the real hatred is shared by all for the dwellers of the urban ruins, a human-rat hybrid known as the Beast Things. Although all of the human tribes strive to turn their backs on those characteristics which drove their ancestors, known universally as The Old Ones, to war and destruction. But as the situation has developed, Norton makes it clear that conflict is an irrefutable part of the human make-up and despite the naive desire for “world peace,” it would seem that humans will always reach first for the spear. The climax of the book, when the tribes gather for one last great battle against each other, becomes the moment when Fors steps forward and restores peace. He reminds all present that everyone faces a common enemy in the Beast Things and if humanity is to survive, that they must all band together in mutual support, or by choosing to exterminate each other, leave the planet to the Beast Things. Norton has crafted a tale that is part Star Wars , Terminator 3 , and part Lord of the Rings , although its publishing date, 1952, predates all three. In the ruined cities, we are forced to come to grips with the truth that even in the face of a terrible lesson, we still run the risk of destroying our each other. In the conflict between the tribes, we are challenged to rise above our primitive instincts and choose survival. In the travels of Fors, we find our own restless desires to go beyond the horizon; to seek knowledge of distant lands and unknown peoples. And through Fors’ eyes, we discover that we can choose friendship; we can choose life; we can choose peace. There few problems with this story, the most pronounced being that it would be virtually impossible for a genetic mutation such as the Beast Things to rise to such an advanced level in less than 200 years. Perhaps 2000 years, but then there would be precious little evidence of the Old Ones left for exploration. The dialogue is pure Tolkien, and at times almost descends into Iambic Pentameter. Despite the stilted language, however, the story is clearly and descriptively told. The descriptions of the landscape and the cities, as well as the countryside between, tantalizes the reader to consult a road atlas to identify the land where Fors traveled. Sometimes, the reader is convinced that Fors is in Illinois, in fact the description of the big city that Fors discovers sounds suspiciously like Chicago. Other times, it seems he travels through New England. At 191 pages, it is a short read, but an intense one. The book moves along rapidly from start to finish and Norton has taken the reader along for the breathless journey. If you enjoyed Tolkien and Lucas, and you have a desire to view the remains of an apocalyptic future, then this book is for you.

A satirical science fiction novel that criticises both Soviet bureaucracy and somewhat the Soviet scientific environment. Although the novel itself is not directed against state per se and a number of points underlined are true of modern day bureaucracy and science, it met with a cold reaction during Soviet times and was quite difficult to obtain, therefore achieving a “forbidden fruit” status.

Harry Banner turned up in London one November evening. He had just got back from Venezuela and he wanted to see Robert Cade. He'd known Cade six years earlier in Buenos Aires and now Banner wanted a small favour, just to keep a parcel until he called back for it. The trouble was that Banner never did call back, because the next morning he was found dead in his hotel room with a stab wound to the chest. Other people came looking for the parcel at his flat, but by that time Cade had decided a trip to Venezuela might throw some light on the reasons for Harry's murder. However, in San Borja, the climate could be very unhealthy for someone who went round asking too many questions.

A ten-year chronicle of domestic violence and crises, the book recreates the pathology of one Flatbush family in the mid-1940s and early 1950s told in the voice of the girl child. From Publishers WeeklyIn this brutally candid, semiautobiographical novel, Gerber again (as in King of the World ) corrosively delineates the heinous abuses inflicted in the name of love, and a victim's ambivalence toward her abuser. Issa grows up in the WW II era in a claustrophobic household consisting of her parents, Grandma and her adored aunt Gilda, who runs a beauty shop upstairs, "where real life is." Issa's gentle father, wreathed in the caramel smoke of his pipe, struggles as an antiques dealer, carting home intriguing junk (and coveted books) to furnish the house. Her piano-playing mother, pampered and stingy, dishes out savage verbal/emotional cruelty: she ignores dying Grandma's plight, mocks the lonely, acne-scarred Gilda, humbles her husband and inflicts Issa with fears of death. Food is a main issue. Her mother harries Issa to eat to the point of nausea; she herself disobeys Jewish dietary laws. Though consuming forbidden foods may provoke thunderbolts of holy retribution, Issa and her friends--Jewish girls "without a Jewish worry"--gobble ham in a luncheonette. As the family dynamic emerges, Issa hates her baby sister, while her father and Gilda love each other with aching despair. Far from sovereign Brooklyn with its tragedies and "treasured provinces" lies the deadly limbo of Florida, to which Issa's mother wants to uproot the family. Yet her mother's verbal power invades Issa's desires, and Issa cannot deny emulating her. Gerber aptly conveys the visceral travail of the child (the grinding gut, the swinging heart). Her wry purity of style packs psychological dynamite. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalGerber, winner of the Pushcart Editor's Book Award for King of the World ( LJ 1/90) and frequent contributor to Redbook magazine, explores the tensions and angers that bind families. The story is told from the perspective of a young girl, Issa, from age three through high school. An astute observer, Issa learns unintended lessons, especially from her self-centered mother. While her mother verges on being a caricature of evil and anger, the strength of this work is in the clarity of Issa's vision. Her thoughts and perceptions reveal the bitterness hovering at the edges of life. With dark humor and compassion, Issa struggles with the need to belong and to be loved. From the descriptions of neighborhood girls to the death of her grandmother, Issa's voice captures the essence of growing up. Recommended for most fiction collections.- Jan Blodgett, St. Mary's Cty. Records Ctr. & Archives, Leonardtown, Md.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

No writer captured the urban blight that befell postwar America in all its grime and commotion as well as noir legend John D. MacDonald. The Neon Jungle depicts a world in which the bright lights belie the turbulent lives of a lost generation. Introduction by Dean KoontzThe smell of warm gin hovers over a whole section of town. The threat of violence hangs in the air. And the neighborhood kids know all about drugs, knives, and back-alley beatings long before they're pushed into high school by weary truant officers.This is simply reality for the family that runs Varaki Quality Market. Its patriarch, Gus Varaki, is doing all he can to keep his business afloat after his beloved middle child, Henry, is killed in action. But his oldest son is at a crossroads, his teenage daughter has been seduced by a rough crowd, and one of his employees is running a racket of his own. Only Henry's despondent widow, Bonny, sees the awful truth - and the deadly plot hanging over all of their heads.Praise for John D. MacDonald"John D. MacDonald was the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller." - Stephen King"My favorite novelist of all time . . . No price could be placed on the enormous pleasure that his books have given me." - Dean Koontz "John D. MacDonald is a shining example for all of us in the field. Talk about thebest*." - Mary Higgins Clark*

Lady Pamela was the paid companion of the Countess St. Just, a difficult woman. But on the wild Cornish coast where violent storms raged, Pamela sensed great danger at the Tremaire estate. One danger was her attraction to St. Just, but almost as strong was her fear that someone in the secluded mansion was marked for death. Regency Gothic by Roberta Gellis (author of The Roselynde Chronicles); originally published by Bantam

From The Inside FlapRiver of gold, river of blood...Callaghen's business is soldiering. For twenty years he's fought all over the world--from China to California--now he's a private in the U.S. cavalry, poorly paid, his enlistment about to run out. He's ready to move on. Until he saves the lives of his patrol in a brutal encounter in the harsh Mohave Desert and comes across a startling discovery: a treasure map belonging to a dead lieutenant who may not have been all he seemed. The map points the way to an underground river of gold...or does it? To find out, Callaghen will have to fight the toughest war of his life: against a fierce Indian warrior, a vindictive commanding officer, and a ruthless gang of outlaws who'll turn what may be a river of gold into a river of blood. About the AuthorLouis L’Amour is undoubtedly the bestselling frontier novelist of all time. He is the only American-born author in history to receive both the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal in honor of his life's work. He has published ninety novels; twenty-seven short-story collections; two works of nonfiction; a memoir, Education of a Wandering Man; and a volume of poetry, Smoke from This Altar. There are more than 300 million copies of his books in print worldwide.From the Hardcover edition.

Book DescriptionVal Durrant was just a child when he began his education at the side of a gambler named Will Reilly. From Colorado boomtowns to seedy Texas saloons to the streets of Europe and back, it was a school of cards, poetry, violence, honor, and luck. But outside a fancy Colorado hotel, Reillys luck ran out in a blazing roar of gunfire. Val will have to heed every lesson the gambler ever taught him if hes to bring in the ruthless gunmen who brought Will Reilly down.

Bartleby, the Scrivener is the short story by Herman Melville now brought to you in this new edition of the timeless classic.Review''Herman Melville is one of American literature's greatest figures.'' --The Cambridge Guide to Literature in EnglishAbout the AuthorHERMAN MELVILLE (1819-1891) was born in New York City. Family hardships forced him to leave school for various occupations, including shipping as a cabin boy to Liverpool in 1839--a voyage that sparked his love for the sea. A shrewd social critic and philosopher in his fiction, he is considered an outstanding writer of the sea and a great stylist who mastered both realistic narrative and a rich, rhythmical prose. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumously published novella Billy Budd.

School for Assassins! The hot and arid island of Sicily is infamous as the birthplace of the Mafia. From this Mediterranean spawning ground the deadly forces of evil and corruption have spread to all points of the globe. In the U.S. the Mafias influence has become as sophisticated as it is powerful. . . virtually no city is free of the mobs grip, hardly an industry is untouched by their sinister operations. Now, after a long and bloody wipeout trail across our country, Mack Bolan must lash out at the very root of the Mafia monster. Sicily has seemingly been quite remote from the underworld activities on our shores in recent years, but Bolan has discovered that a top Mafia family in the U.S. has masterminded the formation of a small army of killers in Sicily. They are undergoing intensive training in a small village practically in the shadow of Mount Etna. The purpose of their mission is secret. Bolans initial reconnaissance indicates that they are well into final preparations for what could be a major crime campaign. To strike where? And for whom? There is no time to learn more, or even to warn U.S. authorities. Bolan must go it alone, and face an army of assassins!