Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  El Verdugo - A story set during...

  Honoré de Balzac

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  Honoré de Balzac was born on the 20th May, 1799 in the French city of Tours into an upper middle class family.  
   
  At birth Balzac was wet-nursed and often then schooled away from home by parents who seemed remote.  So difficult was life that at 15 he attempted suicide. The family’s intention was for him to have a career in law but Balzac preferred literature.  An avid reader, he began writing but his early attempts showed little promise.  
   
  He thereafter settled in Paris and began to publish anonymously across political, philosophical, and historical novels. 
   
  In 1825, Balzac purchased a printing house.  He was soon bankrupt and forced to return to writing in order to reduce his debts.  But his literary fortunes had changed, and his writing was now to achieve considerable success.  He was accepted among the city’s literary élites and its salons and would play an important role in establishing the copyright law in France.  
   
  Balzac often worked on more than one project at a time and in his magnus opus ‘The Human Comedy’ all types of texts were collected to offer a rare narrative of different classes and social stereotypes of society.  For many Balzac is considered the father of French realism, yet his works also cover philosophical and psychological questions.  His writing was a fundamental source of inspiration for many distinguished and later writers such as Flaubert, Zola and Proust.  
   
  Balzac also tried his hand at magazine publication with ‘La Chronique de Paris’ and ‘La Revue Parisienne.’  Although he was partnered with others such as Victor Hugo, it was another complete financial failure.  
   
  As a committed Catholic, Balzac’s stories also dealt with themes of mysticism, esotericism and spirituality, as well as universality and humanism.  
   
  In politics, he was a staunch defender of the French Crown but unlike his contemporaries he was not an implacable enemy of the republicans.  He often presented disagreements between royalists and republicans as a tolerable difference in political opinion.  
   
  Despite many relationships Balzac married only towards the end of his life and it was in 1833 that he met the Polish Countess Hanska, who only became his wife 17 years later after an extensive relationship by correspondence and, by then, his health was ruinously bad.  
   
  Honoré de Balzac died on 18th August 1850 in Paris.  He was 51.

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  The Cry of Cicadas - A Byrns on...

  J. Sydney Jones

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  Autumn, 1941—Max Byrns was once a high-flying NYPD detective, but his career ended the night he took a bullet intended for another officer. The shooting left scars both physical and emotional. Now his wife Elizabeth has given up her own successful career at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art so that Max can recover in the peaceful town on the California coast where she and the rest of her wealthy Schuyler family once summered. 
   
   
   
  In San Ignacio, they buy a house from a local Japanese strawberry farmer, Tadeo Suzuki. Elizabeth freelances in art restoration while Max and Tadeo become fast friends. But as the clouds of war gather, Max and Elizabeth worry about their son, Philip, serving in the Army Air Corps, and about the growing anti-Japanese sentiment in San Ignacio. When war finally comes, their simple, happy life is turned upside down along with the rest of the world. 
   
   
   
  Soon, Max, aided by Elizabeth, is drawn back into detective work to solve a murder that hits close to home, as well as deadly espionage activities on the coast of California. In doing so, Max must also finally deal with his own demons.

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  Essence of Foul Play

  Daryl Wood Gerber

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  Emma Brennan may have her head in a cloud of eucalyptus, but her feet are firmly planted on the ground in breathtaking Carmel, California, as she prepares to open her new spa business, Aroma Wellness. But all the reiki, shiatsu, and massage in the world can’t help her relax when she’s accused of murder … 
    
  Everything is going smoothly as Emma prepares for the grand opening of the spa. The therapy rooms are painted. The sales shop and café are stocked with meditative and delicious goodies, from essential oils to avocado masks and prickly pear massages. The fountain in the Courtyard of Peace is burbling with good vibrations. In fact, there isn’t a whiff of trouble until that morning when Emma is shocked to learn that a rival spa owner has been bludgeoned … with an item from the goodwill basket Emma gave her. Worse, a witness is pointing the finger at Emma …  
    
  With the police treating Emma like she’s the only suspect, and the town’s anti New Age anything posse badmouthing her every step of the way, she’s left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Incensed by the accusations but empowered by her cousin, her nana, and her trusted Birman cat, Vivi, Emma reviews the potpourri of possible suspects, determined to uncover the essence of foul play—before she’s cold-pressed for murder …

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  No Way in Hell - A Trident...

  Samantha Cole, JB Havens

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  Welcome to the world of black-ops… 
  Steel Corps—an elite, covert US military team led by Staff Sergeant Bea “Mic” Michaels, based out of a secure location in Pennsylvania. 
  Trident Security—a private security agency located in Tampa, Florida, comprised of retired Navy SEALs. 
  T. Carter—US spy and assassin. 
  What do they all have in common? They do Uncle Sam’s dirty work. 
  How did they get started and how did their paths cross? Find out as they join forces to take down a domestic terrorist organization with one goal in mind—destroy what these men and one woman will fight to the death to protect—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
  ***This is NOT a romance novel, though it does have steamy scenes. No Way in Hell is a crossover novel uniting J.B. Haven’s Steel Corps series and Samantha Cole’s Trident Security series. It takes place between books 8 and 9 of the Trident Security series. While reading both series is not necessary prior to reading No Way in Hell, it is recommended for optimum enjoyment.

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  New Adventures of Sherlock...

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Nora Godwin

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  The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Volume 8:
  Throughout many years, Dr. John H. Watson accompanied his friend and companion Sherlock Holmes in solving countless mysteries and crimes. Beginning in the 1880s and into the 20th century, Holmes consistently held his status as the world’s most brilliant and successful detective. His accomplishments were painstakingly chronicled by Watson in notes that relate the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Many of his accounts have been published and are well-known to a broad readership.
  There were times, however, when Watson would refrain from publishing his writings during his lifetime. He would do so for various reasons: At times, he would find himself forced to keep actual events and background information secret for moral, criminal, or financial reasons. Other times, he would want to either avoid potential political, legal, or social scandals or even damage to his own—or Holmes’s—reputation. Some of Watson’s accounts, however, were simply not published at the time because he was occupied with more important or urgent matters.
  The New Adventures brings to the public for the very first time some of Watson’s accounts of Sherlock Holmes cases previously kept under lock and key.

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  Cozy Up To Trouble (Cozy Up...

  Colin Conway

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  A man in a new city. A murderer on the loose. This is no time for embroidery. Skeeter Dursky is the latest hire at the Lake Michigan Tower—a seventeen-story retirement community. It’s only his third day, and he’s determined to make a good impression.  Unfortunately, his supervisor doesn’t believe he’s skilled enough to handle the simplest tasks. When a figure from Skeeter’s past arrives, his world turns upside-down. For Skeeter has a secret to protect—it’s one the government has gone to a lot of expense to hide. After a famous resident is murdered, members of Chicago’s finest swarm the tower and lock it down. Word of the crime brings the media and a ragtag group of mourning fans. With nosy cops at every exit and the press gathered outside the lobby, Skeeter Dursky has nowhere to run.  If he ever hopes to see freedom again, he must take matters into his own hands. Can Skeeter find the murderer and slip away before anyone realizes his true identity?

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