Curtain Call

On a sultry afternoon in the summer of 1936 a woman accidentally interrupts an attempted murder in a London hotel room. Nina Land, a West End actress, faces a dilemma: she's not supposed to be at the hotel in the first place, and certainly not with a married man. But once it becomes apparent that she may have seen the face of the man the newspapers have dubbed 'the Tie-Pin Killer' she realises that another woman's life could be at stake. Jimmy Erskine is the raffish doyen of theatre critics who fears that his star is fading: age and drink are catching up with him, and in his late-night escapades with young men he walks a tightrope that may snap at any moment. He has depended for years on his loyal and longsuffering secretary Tom, who has a secret of his own to protect. Tom's chance encounter with Madeleine Farewell, a lost young woman haunted by premonitions of catastrophe, closes the circle: it was Madeleine who narrowly escaped the killer's stranglehold that afternoon, and now walks the streets in terror of his finding her again. Curtain Call is a comedy of manners, and a tragedy of mistaken intentions. From the glittering murk of Soho's demi-monde to the grease paint and ghost-lights of theatreland, the story plunges on through smoky clubrooms, tawdry hotels and drag balls towards a denouement in which two women are stalked by the same killer. As bracing as a cold Martini and as bright as a new tie-pin, it is a poignant and gripping story about love and death and a society dancing towards the abyss.

Watch out, Broadway! Babymouse tries out for the school play in the next book in the Babymousetastic, highly illustrated Babymouse: Tales from the Locker series. All of middle school's a play--at least, it seems that way to Babymouse. So when she hears about auditions for the school play, she jumps at the chance. She knows she's destined to be the lead! Or the lead's best friend. Or...Clown #2? Babymouse scrambles to memorize her one line, work on set design, and try to wrap her head around stage directions. But when the big show has a major glitch, it will take all of Babymouse's newfound skills to save the play. Le exhausted sigh.

When we sit back and reflect on significant events, evoke memories of people in our past, assess important aspects of our current lives, and how one man could have played such a transformative role in the journey of so many through life, it is not surprising, in this moment of calm reflection, that we find ourselves inspired to memorialize his remarkable achievements born of a compelling yearning, an insatiable appetite, an incurable drive to live his dreams. Such was a man named Franklyn Vincent Ellison Seales, the natural born son of Francis Seales, a merchant seaman and government employee of Portuguese, English, Scottish and African ancestry and Olive Seales, nee Allen, a homemaker of Portuguese and native Carib Indian stock. He was the youngest of that family of five: three girls and two boys born on 15 July 1952 in the small village of Calliaqua, St Vincent and the Grenadines. We celebrate that he was the first native of the island to graduate from the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City that led him to appear on the Silver screen in Hollywood.

In the performing arts, curtain calls transpire when performers return to the stage to be recognized by the audience for their performance. It may seem somewhat strange to speak of “nature’s curtain call,” but I am thinking of those amazing moments when with the passing of seasons Mother Nature presents a stunning performance, so to speak, for which we, the observers, are amazed: the appearance of spring’s flowers, the budding trees of spring, snow-white winter snow, huge flocks of Canadian geese flying south, the filling of dry waterbeds with late spring’s melting snow, the stunning colors of autumn’s leaves, the glorious colors of desert flowers, newborn animals of diverse species, and changing climates across the earth. There are cycles of nature that enable these wonders. The poems in this book address some of the wonders of nature: the seasons, weather, flowers, creatures, and beautiful scenes of nature. In the final section, however, the question is raised as to whether these wonders will survive the devastating effects of climate change, global warming, and other threats to nature. Will humankind awaken to the need of caring for nature?

Part-time GED instructor Kendra Clayton's spring break is proving to be anything but relaxing. First her best friend, Lynette, suffers a major panic attack days before her wedding and vanishes. Then her sister, Allegra, who craves attention the way Kendra craves chocolate brownies, arrives in town determined to land an interview with screen legend Vivianne DeArmond for the TV show Hollywood Vibe. But Allegra's interview plans hit a glitch when she discovers the diva's lifeless body in her dressing room, stabbed in the back with a letter opener. The police peg Allegra as the prime suspect, but Kendra knows her sister is no murderer, even if she is guilty of acting a little too friendly around Kendra's man lately. As Kendra starts to investigate and whittle down the list of Vivianne's enemies, she uncovers some surprising Hollywood secrets. But she'll need to act fast. Because every step toward the truth puts her in danger of becoming the victim of a ruthless killer's encore performance….

A new ghoulish mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of A Ghostly Light featuring Mel Turner, a ghost-whispering contractor. Mel Turner can’t resist the chance to bring the Crockett Theatre, a decrepit San Francisco Art Deco movie palace, back to life. But there’s a catch for Turner Construction: Several artists are currently squatting in the building, and they aren’t the only ones haunting the once-grand halls of the historic theater.… When one of the squatters is found dead, the police department has a long list of suspects to investigate. Meanwhile, Mel and her fiancé, Landon, are remodeling an old house for themselves, and Mel finds being on the other side of a home renovation project more challenging than she expected. When Mel discovers that the former owner of the Crockett Theatre died under mysterious circumstances, and that there just might be a connection to the ghost haunting her own attic, the case takes a new turn—one that could bring down the curtain for the last time.