The fountain was not working. Nothing unusual in that... Marcus Didius Falco and his laddish friend Petronius find their local fountain has been blocked — by a gruesomely severed human hand. Soon other body parts are being found in the aqueducts and sewers. Public panic overcomes official indifference, and the Aventine partners are commissioned to investigate. Women are bing abducted during festivals, with the next Games only days away. As the heat rises in the Circus Maximus, they face a race against time and a strong test of their friendship. They know the sadistic killer lurks somewhere on the festive streets of Rome — preparing to strike again.

Based on the award-winning formula of his hugely popular nightly show on CNBC, Donny Deutsch's The Big Idea is a step-by-step guide for anyone who has ever dreamt of following through on creating their own business. From the 'Aha! Moment' to taking that all-important first leap, Deutsch cheers aspiring entrepreneurs along every step of the way. Starting with how to look for opportunities, through to keeping what you've created going and growing, each stage of the process is illustrated by an invaluable lesson learned by a leading entrepreneur. With the author's irrepressible energy, enthusiasm and expertise providing the engine that drives this incredibly upbeat book, The Big Idea will provide the tools to tackle issues head on, and is the ideal how-to for entrepreneurs — from inventors to artists, marketers to producers, teenagers to retirees. Timely, and hitting just the right note given the economic challenges so many face today as they struggle to pursue their dreams and control their destinies, The Big Idea is an inspirational road map to achieving your dreams.

What does Jade Goody tell us about Athenian democracy? What does Achilles say about the death of Ayrton Senna? Why does anyone want to be famous? Why do we want them to be? Everybody wants their fifteen minutes of fame. But just what is it that elevates mere mortals to the status of gods, and why has celebrity become an increasing preoccupation in the modern world? It once was ability, intelligence, power or beauty that established fame: military or sporting achievement, artistic, literary or musical genius, political prowess, blue blood or, occassionally, criminal depravity. Attributes of the men and women who rose above the common stock. Throughout history we have defined ourselves with reference to famous people, and allowed them to exercise a strange power over us, and us, a strange power over them. Fame though, has changed. The cult of celebrity has become a global obsession. Reality television dramatises the lives of the famous as though they were people just like us, and people just like us can become famous on reality TV. Are we more preoccupied with fame than before? Or have we always been a little too interested? In A History of Fame Tom Payne expertly answers these puzzling questions and many more. From deities to divas, masterpieces to magazines, it is a book about the heroes, losers, loners and glamour-pusses of all times. It is also a book about the rest of us, about what our hunger for celebrity says about ourselves, and about the value of fame, both good and bad.

She lived only for pleasure... until war forced her to find courage she did not know she had, and love where she least expected it. It is 1941, and while Britain is in the grip of war, life in the Far East is one of wealth and privilege. In Singapore Susan Roper, secure in the supremacy of the British Empire, enjoys dancing, clothes and fast cars, tennis and light flirtations with visiting naval officers — her life is devoted solely to pleasure. When she meets an Australian doctor who warns her of the danger that they all face she dismisses him as an ignorant colonial. Singapore goes on partying, oblivious to the threat of invasion. The British flag will, they believe, protect them from all enemies. But when Japan invades, Susan finds herself in grave danger. She become an ambulance driver and is taken prisoner by the Japanese. Gradually and reluctantly she realizes that she has fallen in love with the tough, arrogant and totally unsuitable doctor, but she has to face many hardships and witness terrible events before she can acknowledge the truth.

Palm Island may be the most beautiful tropical island in Australia, but its name is synonymous with violence. It is home to one of the country's largest Aboriginal communities, descendants of people torn from their own lands, their clans and their families in the era of the Stolen Generation. In 2004 Cameron Doomadgee, a 36-year-old resident of the island, was arrested for swearing at a white police officer and locked in the cells. Within forty-five minutes he was dead. The police claimed he'd tripped on a step, but the Government pathologist later said that his injuries were consistent with a car or plane crash. The community rioted and burnt down the police station. The main suspect was Senior Sergeant Christopher Hurley, a tall, handsome, charismatic cop with long experience in Aboriginal communities and decorations for his work. Chloe Hooper's The Tall Man: Life and Death on Palm Island recounts this story with the pace of a thriller. Following Hurley's trail to some of the wildest and most remote parts of Australia, she explores Aboriginal myths and history and uncovers buried secrets of white mischief. Atmospheric, gritty and original, The Tall Man is an absorbing and moving account of the lives of people of Palm Island, of the Doomadgee family as they struggle to understand what happened to their brother, and of the complex, enigmatic figure, Hurley. Hooper combines reportage with a novelist's command of character to tell a story that takes readers not only inside the courtroom and the notorious Queensland police force, but into Australia's indigenous communities — and to the heart of a struggle for power, revenge and justice.

Itas Christmastime, and Max and Ruby are decorating the tree. Max wants to help by hanging his toys on the branches, but Ruby says they donat belong. For every ornament that Ruby hangs, Max hangs a toy. Then Ruby realizes she forgot to add the tree topper! Will one of Maxas toys be just what she needs?

Terry Brooks won instant acclaim with his phenomenal New York Times bestseller The Sword of Shannara. Its sequels earned Brooks legendary status. Then his darkly enthralling The Word and the Void trilogy revealed new depths and vistas to his mastery of epic fantasy. Armageddon's Children and The Elves of Cintra took Brooks's remarkable mythos to a breathtaking new level by delving deep into the history of Shannara. And now, The Gypsy Morph rounds out-with an adventure of unforgettably imaginative scope-the first phase of a new chapter in this classic series. Eighty years into the future, the United States is a no-man's-land: its landscape blighted by chemical warfare, pollution, and plague; its government collapsed; its citizens adrift, desperate, fighting to stay alive. In fortified compounds, survivors hold the line against wandering predators, rogue militias, and hideous mutations spawned from the toxic environment, while against them all stands an enemy neither mortal nor merciful: demons and their minions bent on slaughtering and subjugating the last of humankind. But from around the country, allies of good unite to challenge the rampaging evil. Logan Tom, wielding the magic staff of a Knight of the Word, has a promise to keep-protecting the world's only hope of salvation-and a score to settle with the demon that massacred his family. Angel Perez, Logan's fellow Knight, has risked her life to aid the elvish race, whose peaceful, hidden realm is marked for extermination by the forces of the Void. Kirisin Belloruus, a young elf entrusted with an ancient magic, must deliver his entire civilization from a monstrous army. And Hawk, the rootless boy who is nothing less thandestiny's instrument, must lead the last of humanity to a latter-day promised land before the final darkness falls. The Gypsy Morph is an epic saga of a world in flux as the mortal realm yields to a magical one; as the champions of the Word and the Void clash for the last time to decide what will be and what must cease; and as, from the remnants of a doomed age, something altogether extraordinary rises.

Cat jagt im Auftrag der Regierung Untote. Ihren ebenso verführerischen wie gefährlichen Exfreund Bones hat sie schon lange nicht mehr gesehen – schließlich ist Bones ein Vampir und damit eigentlich ihre Beute. Doch als ein Unbekannter ein Kopfgeld auf Cat aussetzt, ist Bones ihre einzige Chance, lebend aus der Sache herauszukommen. Aber kaum steht sie ihm gegenüber, lodert das Verlangen wieder in ihr auf – und so wird Cat beinahe zu spät klar, dass Bones ganz eigene Pläne für sie hat...

Gemma and Alice, born on the same day, have been devoted best friends ever since. Despite Gemma's larger-than-life personality and Alice's quieter, calmer character, the two are inseparable — until that is Alice has to move house, all the way to Scotland. Gemma is utterly distraught, particularly at the thought that Alice might find a new best friend. Is there anything Gem's brothers, or perhaps her grandad, can do to help? Established fans, especially male readers, will be delighted to re-encounter the flamboyant Biscuits, co-star of Buried Alive! and Cliffhanger. A charming, funny and touching story will be adored by all Wilson fans from 7 upwards.

«The Captain's Daughter» was the only work of Pushkin's that had a powerful influence on the next age — it contains all the essence of what Russian realism was to become — through it is still a story told in the orthodox manner, as a story should be.»

Once a proud Senator in Imperial Rome, Marius is kidnapped and forced into that dark realm of blood, where he is made a protector of the Queen and King of the vampires-in whom the core of the supernatural race resides. Through his eyes we see the fall of pagan Rome to the Emperor Constantine, the horrific sack of the Eternal City at the hands of the Visigoths, and the vile aftermath of the Black Death. Ultimately restored by the beauty of the Renaissance, Marius becomes a painter, living dangerously yet happily among mortals, and giving his heart to the great master Botticelli, to the bewitching courtesan Bianca, and to the mysterious young apprentice Armand. But it is in the present day, deep in the jungle, when Marius will meet his fate seeking justice from the oldest vampires in the world...

«Jason Bourne. He has no past. And he may have no future. His memory is blank. He only knows that he was flushed out of the Mediterranean Sea, his body riddled with bullets. There are a few clues. A frame of microfilm surgically implanted beneath the flesh of his hip. Evidence that plastic surgery has altered his face. Strange things that he says in his delirium — maybe code words. Initial: «J.B.». And a number on the film negative that leads to a Swiss bank account, a fortune of four million dollars, and, at last, a name: Jason Bourne. But now he is marked for death, caught in a maddening puzzle, racing for survival through the deep layers of his buried past into a bizarre world of murderous conspirators — led by Carlos, the world's most dangerous assassin. And no one can help Jason Bourne but the woman who once wanted to escape him.»

In a Kowloon Cabaret, scrawled in a pool of blood, is a name the world wanted to forget: Jason Bourne. The Chinese vice-premier has been brutally slain by a legendary assassin. World leaders ask the same fearful questions: Why has Jason Bourne come back? Who is paying him? Who is the next to die? But U.S. officials know the shocking truth: there is no Jason Bourne. The name was created as cover for David Webb on his search for the notorious killer Carlos. Someone else has taken the Bourne identity — and unless he is stopped, the world will pay a devastating price. So Jason Bourne must live again. Once again, Webb must utilize his lethal skills — because once again, like a nightmare relived, the woman he loves is suddenly torn from his life. To find her, trap his own impostor, and uncover an explosive secret plan, Webb must lauch a desperate oddyssey into the espionage killing fields. But this time, survival will not be enough. This time Bourne must reign supreme.

Janzen's sexy Special Forces series continues with an adventure to South America where murder, revenge, and a little romance combine in this sizzling new thriller.

«Koontz returns to the unique world of Pico Mundo, and to his unforgettable hero who lives «always between two doors, between a life with the living and a life with the dead, between transcendence and terror». Evil is coming to Pico Mundo, and there can be no innocent bystanders.»

Trying to determine why his last two clients were ruthlessly murdered, Nero Wolfe wonders if the answer is linked to a young boy who turns up at his brownstone apartment and finds clues in a gray Cadillac, a mysterious woman, and spider-shaped earrings.