The long-awaited biography of John Kennedy Toole, whose fascinating life and tragic death is one of the most amazing publishing stories in American literature.

Mainstream/Romance. 67477 words long. First published in 2008, 2008

Sheikh Abu Hasif died on the third floor of the Wellington Clinic in London on Monday 12th April, 1976. His assassin emptied a whole clip from an M38 submachine gun into the man. It took off most of his head and right shoulder and left the bed headboard and part of the floor and walls reworked in technicolour. Detective Inspector Jack Regan of the Flying Squad begins his investigation with a search for a group of mysterious murderers among the rich of Belgravia and the richer inhabitants of the high life of the French Riviera At first sight it appears that leading Arab oil sheikhs and entrepreneurs have been murdered to warn others of their kind to pay over multi-million dollar blackmail sums in order to stay alive. But with Jack Regan digging deeper, the truth turns out to be something else again... This is the third of the three Sweeney novels published at the time of the original series. The others are: ‘The Sweeney: Regan’, and ‘The Sweeney 2: The Manhattan File’. Ian Kennedy Martin is the creator of Thames Television’s enormously popular TV series. www.iankennedymartin.com

On the top floor of a small hospital, an unlikely piano prodigy lies in a coma, attended to by his gruff, helpless father. Outside the clinic, a motley vigil assembles beneath a reluctant New Mexico winter—strangers in search of answers, a brush with the mystical, or just an escape. To some the boy is a novelty, to others a religion. Just beyond this ragtag circle roams a disconsolate wolf on his nightly rounds, protecting and threatening, learning too much. And above them all, a would-be angel sits captive in a holding cell of the afterlife, finishing the work he began on earth, writing the songs that could free him. This unlikely assortment—a small-town mayor, a vengeful guitarist, all the unseen desert lives—unites to weave a persistently hopeful story of improbable communion.Upon the release of John Brandon's last novel, Citrus County, the New York Times declared that he "joins the ranks of writers like Denis Johnson, Joy Williams, Mary Robison and Tom Drury." Now, with A Million Heavens, Brandon brings his deadpan humor and hard-won empathy to a new realm of gritty surrealism—a surprising and exciting turn from one of the best young novelists of our time.Review"Wondrous… More than once I handed A Million Heavens to a friend and watched the rhythms compel him or her into the thickness of a paragraph, then onto the next page…. I had to stop reading to actually pace, marveling at what one writer can imagine, what a novel is capable of holding."—Charles Bock, The New York Times Book Review“John Brandon’s novels are choral compositions in the voice of marginal Americans…Mr. Brandon channels many influences while always sounding like himself. At his best, which he’s at with some frequency here, he writes in a crackling way about small hopes and larger despair. He gravitates to the kind of regional misfits who drew Flannery O’Connor’s eye, and his dialogue is snappy and eccentric, like a combination of two masters of the craft, Elmore Leonard and Charles Portis. [His] strengths — assured prose, well-timed wisecracks and a convincing crew of pilgrims just waiting for directions — are quickly becoming Mr. Brandon’s trademarks."—The New York Times"[John Brandon] deftly renders a desert wilderness where human hearts are compelled to seek isolation from the pains of the world, but tend to find connectedness despite themselves."—Publisher's Weekly"A surreal exploration of the origin of inspiration, of what connects humans to each other and to their surroundings. ...Brandon’s gift for conjuring a powerful sense of place has never been stronger as the high-desert sands invade every nook and cranny of the lives of his characters." —Booklist“Brandon deftly orients his readers to the level of his characters by perfectly evoking the everyday emotions, urges, and annoyances that are relatable despite the uncommon situations they are born of.”—ZYZZYVA"'A Million Heavens,’ a book that practically shouts from the rooftops its refusal to put on airs, its desire to strip down the prose and get out of its own way. Brandon's unadorned style and disdain for anything ‘fancy’ belie what a good (and sometimes fancy) writer he is, as well as how much he loves playing with the reader's expectations, interrupting and upending traditional elements of the novel even as he claims to want to be the deliverer rather than the composer."—Atlanta Journal-Constitution"John Brandon is a great young writer who can — and probably will — do just about anything."— San Francisco ChronicleAbout the AuthorJohn Brandon was raised on the Gulf Coast of Florida. His favorite recreational activity is watching college football. This is his third novel.

Love is one experiment this scientist hasn't tested... Miss Harriet Burton, a horrendously rich American heiress, laughs too loud, states her opinion directly, and even conducts science experiments. Her uncle is desperate to get her off his hands and is offering a king's ransom to anyone able to arrange a suitable marriage that comes with a title. To avoid marriage, Harriet swears off all men, until she meets Duncan Maclachlan, Earl of Thornton. But when Thornton is falsely accused of being a traitor, Harriet must use her knowledge of chemistry to find the real culprit and spark true romance.

In the first ever short story by Retired Delta Force officer Brad Taylor, the stakes couldn't be higher as operator Pike Logan goes after the first Taskforce target leading a team he can't fully trust.Includes an exclusive preview of Brad Taylor's hotly anticipated third Pike Logan novel, Enemy of Mine, coming January 15, 2013. Commissioned at the highest level of the U.S. government, and designed to operate outside the bounds of U.S. law, a new counter-terrorist unit known as the Taskforce has just been formed, but not fully tested. Until now. Pike Logan has been given a team of operators drawn from the CIA's National Clandestine Service and the military's Special Operations Forces without any say in selecting the men on which he must depend. While executing a full mission profile exercise on U.S. soil, a target of opportunity appears before the Taskforce is deemed mission capable. Forced to execute, Pike and his team are sent to Yemen to track their first real target. The future of the Taskforce depends on their success, but when Pike is challenged by one of his own, their clear-cut mission teeters on the brink of disaster. The price of failure will reverberate much deeper than the loss of the target - straight into the presidency itself.Propulsive, compelling, and told with unparalleled realism, The Callsign brings readers new insight into the origins of the Taskforce as they execute the first Omega operation in a relentless and action-packed short story.

He was her late husband's best friend, the man she'd been warned to avoid--the man she'd always found irresistible. Now he was back, unavoidable and attractive as ever.Renae Sanchez, after years of grieving what was not to be, had finally put her life back together again. She had her adorable little twins, her job, her friends. It was enough--it had to be. And then Evan Daugherty walked into her office and into her life once more...making her believe that when it came to love, once-in-a-lifetime might strike twice....

Can you give one guy your heart and another your soul? The last thing eighteen-year-old Breena Cross needs in her life is more complications. It's all she can do to balance studying, working, trying to keep her foster-sister safe and drooling over the new guy at work. But things go from complicated to crazy when a fit of rage ignites the dark magic inside her and she the supernatural underworld. Myles, Breena's drool-worthy coworker and vampire convict, is carrying a load of secrets—one of which is that he's fang-over-lip in love with Breena and in danger of violating the terms of his sentence. Orin is a soul-hungry assassin sent to kill Breena. However, he takes one look into her eyes and sees his own lost humanity. For once thinking of someone other than himself, he chooses not to end her life, even though it means risking his own. Despite a convict and an assassin fighting over her, all Breena wants is custody of her sister. But to do this, she will need help from both...

A tax investigator races against time to save the love of his life—and the man who stole her from himEvery tax cheat needs a lawyer, and every lawyer needs an investigator like Max Smoller. Max knows the tax code's intricacies better than Uncle Sam himself, and lawyers pay handsomely for him to dig up their clients' dirt, ensuring that no nasty surprises come out during trial. After years in the business, Smoller knows that every crook tells the same story—a tale forged by self-pity and unwavering greed. But he never thought he would hear that story from his former business partner Joe Dempsey.Even at the start of their once-promising partnership, Smoller knew Dempsey's brilliance would eventually catapult his friend toward success beyond their shabby office on San Francisco's Telegraph Hill. But Smoller never expected his lover, Christina Lawson, to follow Dempsey out the door. Years after the betrayal, Lawson and Dempsey are separated, and the IRS is nipping...