Jack O Knaves

A sequel to Jack O' Beans that happily stands alone. Jack's adventures continue as he becomes both outlaw and lover. It is thirteen years since Jack was taken to live in Dudley Castle in the English Midlands. Now a strapping young man, he's enrolled as a guard in the service of the Baron. But once again a chain of events leads him as his long-suffering grandmother into the new and unexpected dangers. Join him on this entertaining and sometimes reflective romp through a vibrant period of history. With a likeable young protagonist firmly planted at its centre, this is an enjoyable and lively read. Partly serialised by the 'Black Country Bugle' under the titles: Jack in the Stocks, and Jack in the Citadel of the Giants

“An intricate puzzle cleverly constructed and neatly solved” introducing Los Angeles private eye Fergus O’Breen, by the author of Nine Times Nine (The New York Times). Anthony Boucher was a literary renaissance man: an Edgar Award–winning mystery reviewer, an esteemed editor of the Hugo Award–winning Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, a prolific scriptwriter of radio mystery programs, and an accomplished writer of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With a particular fondness for the locked room mystery, Boucher created such iconic sleuths as Los Angeles PI Fergus O’Breen, amateur sleuth Sister Ursula, and alcoholic ex-cop Nick Noble. In this “entertaining yarn,” the first to feature Fergus O’Breen, Col. Theodore Rand has received a strange telegram from his friend Humphrey Garnett (Kirkus Reviews). “You may be invaluable witness at inquest on my body,” it reads. A retired man of leisure, Rand opts to indulge what he thinks is his friend’s whim, flying from New York to Garnett’s home in Los Angeles—only to find Garnett dead upon his arrival. After the police arrest the wrong man, Garnett’s family friend, rookie PI Fergus O’Breen, is called in to help. An eccentric and unorthodox Irishman, O’Breen is eager to take on his first murder case. But with a house full of suspects and a mystery steeped in playing card lore, the deck may be stacked against him. Now O’Breen must quickly shuffle through the clues if he hopes to solve this one before the real killer deals another deadly hand . . .

In this welcome addition to his Crime History Series, Gregory Durston points to the lack of design and short-term expediency that typified Tudor law and order. But he also detects an emergent criminal justice system amidst royal patronage, protection, and the influence of wealthy magnates. Students of English history will have heard how benefit of clergy and the ‘neck verse’ might avoid a hanging, but what of other stratagems such as down-valuing stolen goods, cruentation, chance medley, pious perjury or John at Death (a non-existent culprit blamed by the accused and treated by juries as real); all devices used to mitigate the all-pervading death-for-felony rule. Together with other artifices deployed by courts to circumvent black-letter law the author also describes how poor, marginalised and illiterate citizens were those most likely to suffer unfairness, injustice and draconian punishment. He also describes the political intrigue and widescale corruption that were symptomatic of the era, alongside such diverse aspects as forfeiture of property, evidential ploys, the rise of the highwayman, religious persecution, witchcraft and infanticide crazes. At a time of shifting allegiances?—?and as Crown, church, judges, magistrates and officials wrestled over jurisdiction, central or local control, ‘ungodly customs’, laws of convenience or malleable definitions?—?never perhaps were facts or law so expertly engineered to justify or defend often curious outcomes. Part of Durston’s Crime History Series. Covers the entire Tudor era. Based on first-hand historical research. Fully referenced to hundreds of sources.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A thrilling and emotionally powerful novel from the author of the Jane Hawk series “A literary miracle . . . a tapestry of intrigue and suspense.”—The Boston Globe His birth was marked by wonder and tragedy. He sees beauty and terror beyond our deepest dreams. His story will change the way you see the world. Bartholomew Lampion is born on a day of tragedy and terror that will mark his family forever. All agree that his unusual eyes are the most beautiful they have ever seen. On this same day, a thousand miles away, a ruthless man learns that he has a mortal enemy named Bartholomew. He embarks on a relentless search to find this enemy, a search that will consume his life. And a girl is born from a brutal rape, her destiny mysteriously linked to Barty and the man who stalks him. At the age of three, Barty Lampion is blinded when surgeons remove his eyes to save him from a fast-spreading cancer. As he copes with his blindness and proves to be a prodigy, his mother counsels him that all things happen for a reason and that every person’s life has an effect on every other person’s, in often unknowable ways. At thirteen, Bartholomew regains his sight. How he regains it, why he regains it, and what happens as his amazing life unfolds and entwines with others results in a breathtaking journey of courage, heart-stopping suspense, and high adventure.