Forensic science is booming. TV dramas, books and movies have made morgues cool. Complex technology and intricate research can take curdled blood, bone shards, and flakes of skin and turn them into justice. And Vincent Di Maio, MD, son of a famous New York City medical examiner, is one of the lions of forensic science in his own right. In this clear, gritty, and enthralling narrative, Di Maio himself guides us into the inner sanctum, through the cases that have made him famous, from the exhumation of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald and the racially charged shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, to the unmasking of a serial baby-killer and the mysterious death of troubled genius Vincent van Gogh. Along the way, one of the country's most methodical and intuitive criminal pathologists will dissect himself, maintaining a nearly continuous flow of suspenseful stories, revealing anecdotes, and enough macabre insider details to rivet the most fervent crime fans.
In the early 1800's, on a Hebridean beach in Scotland, the sea exposed an ancient treasure cache: 93 chessmen carved from walrus ivory. Norse netsuke, each face individual, each full of quirks, the Lewis Chessmen are probably the most famous chess pieces in the world.
Harry played Wizard's Chess with them in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Housed at the British Museum, they are among its most visited and beloved objects. Questions abounded: Who carved them? Where? Ivory Vikings explores these mysteries by connecting medieval Icelandic sagas with modern archaeology, art history, forensics, and the history of board games. In the process, Ivory Vikings presents a vivid history of the 400 years when the Vikings ruled the North Atlantic, and the sea-road connected countries and islands we think of as far apart and culturally distinct: Norway and Scotland, Ireland and Iceland, and Greenland and North America.
The story of the Lewis chessmen explains the economic lure behind the Viking voyages to the west in the 800s and 900s. And finally, it brings from the shadows an extraordinarily talented woman artist of the twelfth century: Margret the Adroit of Iceland. NANCY MARIE BROWN is the author of highly praised books of nonfiction, including Song of the Vikings. She is fluent in Icelandic, and spends her summers in Iceland. She has deep ties to the Scandinavian cultural institutions in the U.S. Brown lives in East Burke,VT.
Retired Marine sniper Jack Coughlin and John Bruning pull back the curtain of secrecy to take an insider's look at the dark and misunderstood world of America's sniper force. Long considered the redheaded stepchildren of the infantry, snipers have been loathed by their fellow warriors, called "ten cent killers" by our media, and portrayed as unbalanced psychopaths by Hollywood. Coughlin and Bruning explore the lives and careers of some of America's most effective snipers during key missions, moments, and campaigns in the War on Terror.
Part page-turning thriller, part deeply human drama, SHOCK FACTOR takes you from the streets of the modern day ""Stalingrad"" of Ramadi to the skyscrapers of Baghdad as America's one-shot warriors fight desperate battles against all odds, find themselves at the heart of tense international incidents, stalk key enemy leaders, and discover horrific human rights abuses perpetrated by our own Allies. Based on extensive interviews with snipers currently on active duty, SHOCK FACTOR'S gripping accounts of harrowing combat, buried truths and secrets revealed could only be told by snipers to a trusted member of their own elite and cloistered brotherhood.
Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin is the New York Times bestselling author of the autobiography, Shooter (with Donald A. Davis). He served with the Marines during the drive to Baghdad and has operated on a wide range of assignments in hot spots around the world.
John R. Bruning is the author or coauthor of fifteen nonfiction books. He received the Thomas Jefferson Award for Journalism for an article he wrote while embedded with the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade in Afghanistan.
A former actress, Allison Rocca knows her husband, Tony, a screenwriter, has been extra busy lately. And news reporter Katy knows her ex, Chief Detective Sam Ladera, is desperately hunting the Video Killer. Still, each woman senses something unusual about the men's behaviour. But as they attempt to find the truth, they unwittingly draw closer to the lens of a calculating madman searching for his next leading lady.
What's the worst thing you've ever done?
"There are some truths so terrible that they should not be spoken aloud, so appalling that even to acknowledge them is to risk sacrificing a crucial part of one's humanity, to exist in a colder, crueler world than before."
Randall Haight has a secret: He is a convicted murderer, a man with the blood of a young girl on his hands. He has built a new life for himself in the small Maine town of Pastor's Bay, but someone has discovered the truth about him. He is being tormented by anonymously sent reminders of his crime. He wants private detective Charlie Parker to make them go away.
But another girl has gone missing, this time from Pastor's Bay itself, and her family has its own secrets to protect. Now, in a town built on blood and shadowed by old ghosts, Parker must unravel a twisted history of violence and deceit involving the police and the FBI, a doomed mobster and his enemies, and Randall Haight himself.
Publishers Weekly calls this moving novel by acclaimed author Will Allison "a tight drama, part psychological thriller, part tragedy." Taking his daughter Sara home from school one day, New Jersey accountant Glen drives his car into another vehicle, killing its driver. Since no one else saw the accident, Glen lies about it to the police-a decision that sends his life spiraling out of control.
"Critically acclaimed author Keith Lee Morris'who has drawn favorable comparisons to Richard Russo and Richard Ford'delivers a stunning collection of stories. In these unforgettable tales of deep humanity, the flaws and strengths of young men are explored with remarkable clarity.
'Morris's prose is polished to transparency and proves surprisingly flexible in terms of tone ' marked by quiet authority and beautifully observed moments.''Publishers Weekly"
Read By: Kevin Orton, Jeffrey Brick, Tony Ward, Jodi Dick, Anthony Crep, Ken Marks
As Heather Gudenkauf ’s spellbinding debut novel unfolds, the disappearance of two seven-year-old girls dredges up unsettling suspicions and painful secrets in a small Iowa town. Dragged into the dark woods, Calli wants to scream. But she can’t. She hasn’t spoken since being traumatized as a toddler. Soon, her best friend Petra—
Calli’s voice for the last three years—is lured into the same woods.
Freelance writer Bryan Christy's The Lizard King "is a wild, woolly, finny, feathery and scaly account of animal smuggling on a grand scale" (New York Times). For one U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent, stopping the dealings of a notorious snake trader became a personal crusade.
