The Fourth Postman

For a Windy City attorney, the clues to a triple murder lie somewhere between the sinking of the Titanic and the dead letter office. Rodney Fairfaxx is influential and wealthy enough for his family to ignore the Chicago magnate’s one little quirk: Ever since his sweetheart sank with the Titanic three decades ago, he’s been anxiously awaiting her letter assuring him she’s dry, on the mend, and coming home soon. Now, attorney John J. Malone is defending the harmless eccentric against a charge of murder. The victims: three postmen, clubbed to death. The alleged motive: failure to deliver. Malone’s good friend, socialite Helene Justus, has been close to the Fairfaxx family for years and she’s not buying it. However, her intuition may be as unreliable as the mail. The respectable clan yields a cluster of certified suspects—from Rodney’s crafty niece and nephew to the tight-lipped housekeeper to Rodney himself, who may not be as off the beam as everyone thinks. But as tensions rise and secrets are revealed, another murder sends Malone on an entirely different route. With The Fourth Postman, author Craig Rice delivers “plot and people as wacky as ever, with . . . plenty of comedy and, surprisingly, much intriguing sleuthing. Verdict: Fun” (The Saturday Review of Literature). The Fourth Postman is the 5th book in the John J. Malone Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

The Fourth Postman by Craig Rice, the first mystery writer to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. “Plot and people as wacky as ever, with busted Malone and chicken-poxed Justuses supplying plenty of comedy and, surprisingly, much intriguing sleuthing. Verdict: Fun.”—The Saturday Review “Why can’t all murders be as funny as those concocted by Craig Rice?”—The New York Times 1 Postman! 2 Postmen! 3 Postmen! All murdered! John J. Malone sticks his nose into the case of the dead postmen and picks up a crack on the head, an Australian beer hound, and six redheaded twins. It all begins when he takes on a new client, Rodney Fairfaxx. Rodney was tabbed for the postmen murders because he hadn’t received a letter from a dead girl for more than 30 years. Malone doesn’t think that this is enough reason to kill, but he can’t prove it. … “A1.”—Kirkus Reviews

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • “A moving experience . . . a powerful cautionary tale.”—Whitley Strieber He was a survivor—a wanderer who traded tales for food and shelter in the dark and savage aftermath of a devastating war. Fate touches him one chill winter’s day when he borrows the jacket of a long-dead postal worker to protect himself from the cold. The old, worn uniform still has power as a symbol of hope, and with it he begins to weave his greatest tale, of a nation on the road to recovery. This is the story of a lie that became the most powerful kind of truth. A timeless novel as urgently compelling as War Day or Alas, Babylon, David Brin’s The Postman is the dramatically moving saga of a man who rekindled the spirit of America through the power of a dream, from a modern master of science fiction. “The Postman will keep you engrossed until you’ve finished the last page.”—Chicago Tribune

What do men really want? Andrew isn't sure. But as Jake, the pseudonymous author of the Man's View column in a woman's magazine, is supposed to provide the answer to millions of readers every month. So far, Andrew has managed to fake his way through, as he tries desperately to puzzle out the eternal riddles of love, sex, and relationships.

The Watts Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice in Postman's Park, London, is a Victorian monument containing fifty-four ceramic plaques commemorating sixty-two individuals, each of whom lost their own life while attempting to save another. Every plaque tells a tragic and moving story, but the short narratives do little more than whet the appetite and stimulate the imagination about the lives and deaths of these brave characters. Based upon extensive historical research, this book will, for the first time, provide a full and engaging account of the dramatic circumstances behind each of the incidents, and reveal the vibrant and colourful lives led by those who tragically died.

Is image everything? For many people in our culture, image and images are everything. Americans spend hours watching television but rarely finish a good book. Words are quickly losing their appeal. Arthur Hunt sees this trend as a direct assault on Christianity. He warns that by exalting imagery we risk becoming mindless pagans. Our thirst for images has dulled our minds so that we lack the biblical and mental defenses we need to resist pagan influences. What about paganism? Hunt contends that it never died in modern Western culture; image-based media just brought it to the surface again. Sex, violence, and celebrity worship abound in our culture, driving a mass media frenzy reminiscent of pagan idolatry. This book is a clear warning that the church is being cut off from its word-based heritage, and that we are open to abuse by those who exploit the image but neglect the Word. Thoughtful readers will find this a challenging call to be critical about the images bombarding our sense and to affirm that the Word is everything.