Downright Dead

When Louisiana's most haunted B&B opens its doors to a debunker, a mysterious murderer settled the dispute in this paranormal cozy mystery. When Holly Davis converted a historic plantation house into a charming bed and breakfast, she had no idea that its most popular feature would be the resident ghost. But after the TV show Inquiring Minds airs its indisputably haunting footage, the reservation line is ringing off the hook. There's only one small problem: the ghost of her not-so-dearly-departed husband Burl appears to have . . . departed. Holly is willing to keep up a spooky pretense for the sake of business, but after an outspoken debunker challenges the show's credibility, Holly is sure she'll be exposed as a charlatan. Surprisingly, the debunker suddenly becomes a believer—after he's pushed off the widow's walk to his death and rises as a ghost. Now his inquiring mind wants to know who murdered him. When he asks for Holly's help, she can't say no. But this time it's her turn to watch her step, because if the killer gets spooked, the next ghost haunting the B&B may be its owner . . .

When this volume of Shakespeare's poems first appeared in 1609, he had already written most of the great plays that made him famous. The 154 sonnets - all but two of which are addressed to a beautiful young man or a treacherous 'dark lady' - contain some of the most exquisite and haunting poetry ever written, and deal with eternal subjects such as love and infidelity, memory and mortality, and the destruction wreaked by Time. Also included is A Lover's Complaint, originally published with the sonnets, in which a young woman is overheard lamenting her betrayal by a heartless seducer.

Standing Next to History presents the extraordinary account of Ronald Reagan's Secret Service bodyguard with stories that will make even a diehard "West Wing" fan go speechless. Joseph Petro served for 23 years as a special agent in the United States Secret Service; eleven of them with presidents and vice presidents. For four of those years he stood by the side of Ronald Reagan. Following his career as a Navy Lieutenant, during which he patrolled the rivers and canals along the Vietnamese-Cambodian border, he worked his way up through the Secret Service to become one of the key men in charge of protecting the President. That journey through the Secret Service provides an individual look inside the most discreet law enforcement agency in the world, and a uniquely intimate account of the Reagan presidency. Engagingly, Joseph Petro tells "first hand" stories of: riding horses with the Reagans; eluding the press and sneaking the President and Mrs. Reagan out of the White House; rehearsing assassination attempts and working, then re-working every detail of the president's trips around the world; negotiating the president's protection with the KGB; diverting a 26 car presidential motorcade in downtown Tokyo; protecting Vice-President Dan Quayle at Rajiv Gandhi's funeral where he was surrounded by Yassir Arafat's heavily armed bodyguards; taking charge of the single largest protective effort in the history of the Secret Service-Pope John Paul II's 1987 visit to the United States; and being only one of three witnesses at the private meeting between President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev that ushered in the end of the Cold War. Joseph Petro provides an original and fascinating perspective of the Secret Service, the inner workings of the White House and a little seen view of world leaders, as a man who stood next to history.