Romance. 19284 words long.

### Amazon.com Review Veteran mystery writer, editor, and anthologist Ed Gorman plays all the right notes in his latest book--hopefully the first of a promising period series. It's 1959 (the book says 1958, but that must be a mistake, because everyone knows Buddy Holly died in a plane crash on February 3, 1959), and Sam McCain--"a young lawyer in a town that already had too many lawyers"--is working as an investigator in Black River Falls, Iowa, for Judge Esme Anne Whitney, a wealthy and eccentric old woman who smokes Gauloises in Chesterfield country and takes pleasure in shooting McCain with rubberbands while they confer. The day after a long drive to and from what turns out to be Buddy Holly's last concert before his fatal plane crash, McCain finds the murdered wife of Judge Whitney's rotten nephew, Kenny, and then is unable to stop Kenny from killing himself. Everybody, including the town's loutish police chief, is sure that Kenny killed his wife--only McCain has his doubts. Complicating things are the troubles of a local black former football star now crippled by booze, and those of McCain's teenage sister who is trying to abort her baby. The period details about race and sex seem dead right; the people of Black River Falls, especially McCain's family and various girlfriends, are all sharply-sketched; and even the very late appearance of a possible villain can't spoil the considerable fun. Previous examples of Gorman's craft, or sullen art, include *Daughter of Darkness*, *Black River Falls*, *Dark Trail*, *The First Lady*, *Hawk Moon*, *The Marilyn Tapes*, *Senatorial Privilege*, *Trouble Man*, and *Cage of Night*. *--Dick Adler* ### From Publishers Weekly There's a dead-on sense of time and place?February 1958 in small-town Iowa?in Gorman's latest, which, despite minor problems with plot resolution, makes an enjoyable start to a new series. Narrator Sam McCain, "a young lawyer in a town that already had too many lawyers," earns most of his income by working as an investigator in Black River Falls for the wealthy and eccentric Judge Esme Anne Whitney, who smokes Gauloises in Chesterfield country and takes pleasure in shooting McCain with rubber bands. The day after a long drive to what turns out to be Buddy Holly's last concert before his fatal plane crash, McCain discovers the body of the wife of Whitney's rotten nephew, Kenny, and then is unable to stop Kenny from killing himself. Everybody, including the loutish local police chief, is sure that Kenny murdered his wife, but McCain has his doubts. Complicating matters are the troubles of a local former football star now crippled by booze and of McCain's teenage sister, who is trying to get an abortion. Gorman sketches the people of Black River Falls, especially McCain's family and various girlfriends, with a sharp eye, and even the very late appearance of a possible villain doesn't spoil the fun: despite the title, Gorman, as usual, rocks. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A riveting novel that tells the story of Sydney and the people who shaped its character, its skyline and its heart.In 1788, Thomas Kendall, a naïve nineteen-year-old sentenced to transportation for burglary, finds himself bound for Sydney Town and a new life in the wild and lawless land beneath the Southern Cross. Thomas fathers a dynasty that will last more than two hundred years. His descendants play their part in the forging of a nation, but greed and prejudice see an irreparable rift in the family which will echo through the generations. It is only at the dawn of the new Millennium - as an old journal lays bear a terrible secret - that the family can finally reclaim its honour... Beneath the Southern Cross is as much a story of a city as it is a family chronicle. Bringing history to life, Judy Nunn traces the fortunes of Kendall's descendants through good times and bad, wars and social revolutions to the present day, vividly drawing the events, characters and...

Eldred Henstare is a not so powerful witch who’s been left in charge of helping the city’s lingering spirits to move on. He usually handles it pretty well, but something’s wrong with the spirit leading him to the abounded lighthouse. It's by the lighthouse me meets Mo Vin and it's also there a dead body appears - there is something strange about that body...

More Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science FictionA stellar collection of Jewish science fiction and fantasy. Trouble with mothers; invading aliens and demons; the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah ... all these phenomena and more are tackled in these tales from a creative group of extraordinary writers. We go to the edges of the universe, finding humor, pain and humanity in the unlikeliest of places and situations. Filled with wit, vigor and sharp insight, this is a fantastic feast for the imagination that will intrigue and delight everyone who picks it up.Contents ISAAC ASIMOVIntroduction The Hebrew SourcePHYLLIS GOTLIEBTauf AlephBARRY N. MALZBERGLeviticus: In the ArkHORACE L. GOLDWarm, Dark PlacesMEL GILDENA Lamed WufnikBARRY N. MALZBERGIsaiahHARVEY JACOBSDress RehearsalHUGH NISSENSONForcing the EndISAAC BASHEVIS SINGERThe Last DemonJOE W. HALDEMANThe Mazel Tov RevolutionHOWARD SCHWARTZThe Celestial OrchestraJACK DANNCampsHARLAN ELLISONMomGARDNER DOZOISDisciples A stellar collection of Jewish science fiction and fantasy. Trouble with mothers; invading aliens and demons; the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah ... all these phenomena and more are tackled in these tales from a creative group of extraordinary writers. We go to the edges of the universe, finding humor, pain and humanity in the unlikeliest of places and situations. Filled with wit, vigor and sharp insight, this is a fantastic feast for the imagination that will intrigue and delight everyone who picks it up.

CAN OPEN EROTICISM between more than two consenting adults be considered natural sexual behaviour? Is it possible to experience sex with other partners while happily ensconced in an emotionally monogamous marriage? Didn't this type of sexual "swinging" disappear with the 1960s and '70s? What are millions of middle-class couples getting up to on the weekend? These are the questions that arose as award-winning investigative journalist Terry Gould embarked upon a journey through a thriving subculture known as "the lifestyle."Ignored, dismissed or denigrated by the mainstream media, ordinary, married couples in the lifestyle are now getting together to openly express their erotic fantasies. Acting within strict rules of etiquette, everyday people -- social workers, physicians, school teachers -- participate in everything from sexual costume parties to multipartner sex as a form of social recreation within marriage.Is swinging merely an invention of sexually...

In a small New York town, a deranged young man holds over one hundred school children hostage. and he blames the school for what he's about to do. After a tense, thirty-six-hour police standoff, the gymnasium suddenly explodes into flames. Fortunately, all the students have escaped. All, that is, save ten-year-old Noah Corbin. Noah's mother, Haley, is frantic. Was her boy killed in the explosion? Did he somehow wander away from the scene, hurt and confused? Did someone take him? Haley hires ex-FBI agent Randall Shane because she needs the truth, however devastating the answers may be. But as Randall investigates, Haley is forced to admit a dark family secret.one that leads to a desolate area of the Rocky Mountains, where an entire county is owned by a cult that controls the leaders of the community: businessmen, government officials, even the police. Men who have grown rich and powerful in their secrecy. A secrecy they are sworn to protect. No matter what.