Judge Dee (also, Judge Di) is the titular protagonist of Robert van Gulik's series of detective novels. The series is set in Tang Dynasty China and deals with various criminal cases solved by the upright Judge Dee (judges often play the investigator role in ancient Chinese crime stories). Authentic 18th-century Chinese detective novels. Dee and associates solve 3 interlocked cases: The Case of the Double Murder at Dawn, The Case of the Strange Corpse, and The Case of the Poisoned Bride.
The Arsenic Century - How Victorian Britain was Poisoned at Home, Work and Play
Arsenic is rightly infamous as the poison of choice for Victorian murderers. Yet the great majority of fatalities from arsenic in the nineteenth century came not from intentional poisoning, but from accident. Kept in many homes for the purpose of poisoning rats, the white powder was easily mistaken for sugar or flour and often incorporated into the family dinner. It was also widely present in green dyes, used to tint everything from candles and candies to curtains, wallpaper, and clothing (it was arsenic in old lace that was the danger).
The story is told by an eleven year old boy who, after the death of his father, was left with his grandmother in the small east Texas town of Job's Crossing, when his mother went off to Las Vegas. There's murder and mayhem of course, but Biggie, with the help of J.R. Wooten, our 11 year old hero, solves the mystery. Great characters and superb narration!
When Oz Blackstone is offered a major role in a cop movie shooting in Edinburgh, he cannot resist taking centre stage. Oz has had a brief liaison with Susie Gantry, a beautiful and self-possessed business woman, and is now pregnant with his child, so will Oz finally silence the call of the wild and settle down to a cosy family life?
Fog, Smog, and Poisoned Rain deals with air pollution and its consequences. Beginning with a definition of the problem, it then examines the causes of particular types of pollution and the way the pollution is disseminated; the geographic distribution of the phenomenon; and historical records. The book closes with a look into the future and a discussion of the ways in which air pollution can be reduced. In addition to pollution resulting from human activities the book also describes "natural pollution" from volcanic eruptions, lake beds, and gaseous emissions from plants and trees.
