Presumption Of Death

In this stunning novel, premonitions or gut feelings-the inherent knowing without rational basis-play a starring role. Lynn Conley, a litigation paralegal, experiences this phenomenon recurrently. Visions of accidents and murders invade her mind far too often, creating chaos in her life. Sheri Noland, a young lawyer waiting for the results of her bar exam, is shaken by her husband's recent behavior. Terrified by a conversation overheard at a party, she seeks the advice of a psychic. The old woman warns Sheri not to go home. But disbelieving, Sheri signs her own death warrant when she opens her front door. When Lynn's computer monitor goes blank, she thinks it is malfunctioning. On the screen she sees a young woman bound and gagged. She watches with apprehension hoping the vision will go away. The hopelessness Lynn sees in the woman's eyes stirs a feeling deep within her soul that she does not understand. A week later, Lynn sees the woman's face on the evening news. Sheri Noland has been abducted from her home in a small town northeast of Atlanta. Lynn's prophetic visions continue, as horrifying pieces of the puzzle converge with Sheri's voice guiding her. Lynn's home is ransacked and she receives threatening telephone calls, but she cannot quit.

Sixty years after Dorothy L. Sayers began her unfinished Lord Peter Wimsey novel, Thrones Dominations, Booker Prize finalist Jill Paton Walsh took on the challenge of completing the manuscript---with extraordinary success. "The transition is seamless," said the San Francisco Chronicle; "you cannot tell where Sayers leaves off and Walsh begins." "Will Paton Walsh do it again?" wondered Ruth Rendell in London's Sunday Times. "We must hope so." Jill Paton Walsh fulfills those hopes in A Presumption of Death. Although Sayers never began another Wimsey novel, she did leave clues. Drawing on "The Wimsey Papers," in which Sayers showed various members of the family coping with wartime conditions, Walsh has devised an irresistible story set in 1940, at the start of the Blitz in London. Lord Peter is abroad on secret business for the Foreign Office, while Harriet Vane, now Lady Peter Wimsey, has taken their children to safety in the country. But war has followed them there---glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalize the villagers, and the blackout makes the nighttime lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London. Daily life reminds them of the war so constantly that, when the village's first air-raid practice ends with a real body on the ground, it's almost a shock to hear the doctor declare that it was not enemy action, but plain, old-fashioned murder. Or was it? At the request of the overstretched local police, Harriet reluctantly agrees to investigate. The mystery that unfolds is every bit as literate, ingenious, and compelling as the best of original Lord Peter Wimsey novels.

On cover: Legal instruments

New York Times bestselling author Perri O’Shaughnessy has garnered impressive acclaim for her tough, passionate thrillers set against the lush Lake Tahoe landscape and the world of one remarkable character: Attorney Nina Reilly. In this spellbinding new novel, O’Shaughnessy delves deeper into the heart and psyche of her popular heroine as Nina journeys back to her hometown to heal old wounds, and instead discovers that old secrets can be the deadliest kind.... Nina Reilly needs a fresh start. In three years, she’s taken on some of Lake Tahoe’s most controversial cases and has turned her struggling one-woman law firm into a thriving practice. Now she’s ready to sort out her complex relationship with her boyfriend, Monterey P.I. Paul van Wagoner. So she’s heading to the Carmel Valley, the place where she began her career and where her estranged father lives. It’s also a place of dramatic contradictions and hidden tensions, of new wealth and old families. And, within days of her arrival, Nina is already feeling the heat, as a case of arson exposes some of the darkest secrets of her hometown. Two suspicious fires have already raged through the valley this summer, igniting suspicions of arson. When a third blaze ends in a fatality, police zero in on a suspect: Wish, the son of Sandy Whitefeather, Nina’s ex-assistant. The dead man is identified as Wish’s childhood friend, a troubled local auto mechanic who hated the changes wealthy newcomers had brought to the valley. Nina and Paul are certain that there is more to this strange case than meets the eye. As they work together to clear Wish, new, more frightening questions are raised, and another fire is set. And out of the flames a terrifying picture emerges: a community steeped in secrets and rage, a tangled history between two men, and a killer whose motives are dark and wrenching. With the relentless page-turning suspense that has become her trademark, Perri O’Shaughnessy once again demonstrates her talent to enthrall. A haunting tale of crime and punishment, old grudges and second chances, Presumption of Death is suspense fiction at its finest--instantly compelling and utterly impossible to put down.

When a person goes missing their family can suffer serious financial repercussions, as well as inevitable pain and distress. Having examined the law and processes the Committee have found that such suffering is exacerbated by: a legislative patchwork of bewildering complexity; the inability to administer the financial situation of their missing relatives; a lack of information about the actions they are able to take; and ignorance of the correct procedures to be followed by police, lawyers, banks, insurers and others. This report puts forward a threefold recommended approach. Firstly, the introduction of a presumption of death act to clarify the legal position. Such an act should be modelled on the legislation in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Presumption of death orders, however, can only solve some of the problems families face. It will only be appropriate to declare a missing person dead several years after their disappearance. In that time, their financial affairs can be devastated beyond hope of recovery. The Committee also therefore recommends that legislation be introduced to allow for a system of guardianship orders, similar to those in Australia. These will allow for the administration of the missing person's property in his or her best interests if they have not returned after three months, as well as support for dependents. Finally, they call on the Government and industry to provide effective guidance for families in very difficult and distressing circumstances, as well as those who provide services for them.

This is the first historical study to examine changing perceptions of sexual murder and the treatment of sex killers while the death penalty was in effect in Canada.