There S A Body In The Window Seat

There’s a Body in the Window Seat! is a detailed history of one of the most beloved American murder-mysteries and comedies, Arsenic and Old Lace. Actor, director, and playwright Charles Dennis investigates the mystery behind the play: how did a true-life crime in Connecticut turn into a comedy? And who are the real writers that deserve credit for its long-lasting success? Dennis brings an insider’s view to Joseph Kesselring’s attempts to write Arsenic and Old Lace and how producers had to step in to save the play from his heavy hand. He also follows the actors, both on the stage and on the screen, as they handle the demands of the roles and behind-the-scenes relationships. Why didn’t Boris Karloff recreate his stage role, even though Jean Adair and John Alexander did? Why did Cary Grant hate his performance in Arsenic—was it because Frank Capra deceived him or because of costume designer Orry Kelly? And why did the movie never receive Academy Award consideration? Learn the answers to these intriguing questions and more in There’s a Body in the Window Seat!

A midwife’s memoir of living free and naturally against all odds In her first, highly praised memoir, Patricia Harman told us the stories patients brought into her exam room, and her own story of struggling to help women as a nurse-midwife in medical practice with her husband, an OB/GYN, in Appalachia. In this new book, Patsy reaches back to tell us how she first learned to deliver babies, and digs even deeper down to tell us of her youthful experiments with living a fully sustainable and natural life. Drawing heavily on her journals, Arms Wide Open goes back to a time of counter-culture idealism that the boomer generation remembers well. Patsy opens with stories of living in the wilds of Minnesota in a log cabin she and her lover build with their own hands, the only running water being the nearby streams. They set up beehives and give chase to a bear competing for the honey. Patsy gives birth and learns to help her friends deliver as naturally as possible. Weary of the cold and isolation, Patsy moves to a commune in West Virginia, where she becomes a self-taught midwife delivering babies in cabins and homes. Her stories sparkle with drama and intensity, but she wants to help more women than healthy hippie homesteaders. After a ten-year sojourn for professional training, Patsy and her husband, Tom, return to Appalachia, as a nurse-midwife and physician, where they set up a women's-health practice. They deliver babies together, this time in hospitals; care for a wide variety of gyn patients; and live in a lakeside contemporary home--but their hearts are still firmly implanted in nature. The obstetrical climate is changing. The Harmans' family is changing. The earth is changing, but Patsy's arms remain wide open to life and all it offers. Her memoir of living free and sustainably against all odds will be especially embraced by anyone who lived through the Vietnam War and commune era, and all those involved in the back-to-nature and natural-childbirth movements.

The Puzzle Lady embarks on another adventure involving one classic movie and featuring new puzzles by Will Shortz When an elderly boarder at a Bakerhaven bed-and-breakfast drops dead during afternoon tea, there's nothing particularly suspicious about it—except for the Sudoku in his jacket pocket. But when a second body turns up in the window seat and an autopsy shows both men were poisoned with elderberry wine, the Puzzle Lady suspects she's dealing with a cold-blooded killer who for some reason is copying the Cary Grant movie Arsenic and Old Lace, in which two old ladies who run a boarding house poison elderly widowers and bury them in the basement. More murders, more puzzles, and a grave dug in the cellar seem to cement the theory. Ordinarily, Cora would eat a case like this for breakfast, but for once she can't figure it out. And she's not sure if the clues don't add up, or if the much-married Puzzle Lady is just distracted by being involved in her first romantic entanglement in years. Arsenic and Old Puzzles is filled with laughs, mayhem, and fun new puzzles by Will Shortz. Mystery and puzzle fans will find much to enjoy in this latest treat from Parnell Hall.

When a proper lady attends a rakish lord's holiday party, the fun and games lead to a gamble for love in a “charming Christmas Regency confection” (Publishers Weekly). Alexander Edgware, Lord Xavier, has quite a reputation for daring, wagering, and delightful wickedness. But the wager before him is hardly his preferred sport: Xavier must persuade a proper young lady to attend his famously naughty Christmas extravaganza—and stay the full, ruinous two weeks. Worse, the lady is Louisa Oliver, a doe-eyed bookworm Xavier finds quite charming. Unable to refuse the challenge, he will simply have to act as Miss Oliver's protector . . . Louisa knows her chance for a husband has passed. But she refuses to retire into spinsterhood without enjoying a few grand adventures. When Lord Xavier's invitation arrives, Louisa is more intrigued than insulted. And once inside the rogues' gallery, she just may teach her gentlemen friends a thing or two about daring . . .

Mosey Frye, real estate agent and amateur sleuth, comes upon a corpse in the garage at Sunny Banks, the home of local towboat magnate Martin Eldridge. Hembree police chief Lieutenant Gus Olivera tracks a lead on a man who tried to extort money from the Captain Jack crew, claiming they were intoxicated on the night of a fatal collision. But Mosey, ever inquisitive, sets her sights on the Eldridges’ distant past and ultimately reveals a more devious plot to destroy the elderly riverman’s legacy and take control of his company.