This is the remarkable debut mystery from the winner of the 2003 St. Martin's Press/Private Eye Writers of America Prize for Best First Private Eye Novel. Investigator Wayne Weston is found dead of an apparent suicide in his home in an upscale Cleveland suburb, and his wife and six-year-old daughter are missing. Weston's father insists that private investigators Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard take the case to exonerate his son and find his granddaughter and daughter-in-law.
A hurricane hinders a kidnapping and Spenser goes on a search for the man responsible - the infamous Gray Man, who has both helped and hunted Spenser in the past. Heidi Bradshaw is wealthy, beautiful, and well connected - and she needs Spenser's help. In a most unlikely request, Heidi, a notorious gold digger recently separated from her latest husband, recruits the Boston P.I. to accompany her to her private island, Tashtego. The reason? To attend her daughter's wedding as a sort of stand-in husband and protector. Spenser consents, but only after it is established that his beloved Susan Silverman will also be in attendance.
Novels for Students contains easily accessible and content-rich discussions of the literary and historical background of 12 to 15 works from various cultures and time periods. Each novel included in this new resource was specially chosen by an advisory panel of teachers and librarians, experts who have helped us define the information needs of students ..
Added by: arcadius | Karma: 2802.10 | Fiction literature | 19 August 2010
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The Rose and the Ring
The Rose and The Ring is a satirical work of fiction written by William Makepeace Thackeray, originally published at Christmas 1854 (though dated 1855). It criticises, to some extent, the attitudes of the monarchy and those at the top of society and challenges their ideals of beauty and marriage. The plot opens on the royal family of Paflagonia eating breakfast together, consisting of King Valoroso, his wife, the Queen, and their daughter, Princess Angelica.
Parker is still mourning his murdered wife and child while attempting devotion to his new wife, Rachel, and their baby daughter, Sam. At Sam's christening, his partner receives an uninvited guest: his aunt, distraught at the disappearance of her daughter. It doesn't take much to draw Parker back into the game, and soon he's stumbling onto clues regarding the Black Angel, a statue associated with a Czech ossuary and sought by various evildoers for centuries—or perhaps a living, bloodthirsty spirit.
