Showing titles in Literature & Fiction

Morgan used to be a pretty chill dude, until he got hit by a car, died, and then got sent to another world by a god-not-god. A world where the only way to survive was to level and grow strong enough to survive all the monsters that wanted to eat your face. If he was being completely honest with himself, Morgan quite liked this world, even with all the monsters and the lack of electricity. Sure, there were people that were technically gods, running around and interfering with his life, but who didn't have problems?

For a time, Jimmy spent his expat days in Mexico unearthing pre-Columbian artifacts. Now he makes a living doing small trucking jobs and helping out with the occasional missing-person situation. But Jimmy’s laid-back lifestyle is being seriously imposed upon by a ninety-pound stalker named Louise. Add to this a sudden wave of hippies led by a murderous ex-con guru in search of psychic happenings, archaeologists unearthing (illegally) the Mayan tombs, and Louise and her weirdo husband’s quest for UFO sites, and Jimmy’s south-of-the-border existence is in danger.

Andrew Yancy—late of the Miami Police and soon-to-be-late of the Monroe County sheriff’s office—has a human arm in his freezer. There’s a logical (Hiaasenian) explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its shadowy owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig (it’s not called the roach patrol for nothing).

Thelonious "Monk" Ellison's writing career has bottomed out: his latest manuscript has been rejected by seventeen publishers, which stings all the more because his previous novels have been "critically acclaimed." He seethes on the sidelines of the literary establishment as he watches the meteoric success of We's Lives in Da Ghetto, a first novel by a woman who once visited "some relatives in Harlem for a couple of days."

Becca and Charlie have known each other since university. Becca and Charlies have also hated each other since university. Until now. Until Ally’s bucket list. The death of their loved one should mean they can go their separate ways and not look back. But completing the list is something neither of them can walk away from. And sometimes, those who bring out the worst in you, also bring out the very best. Over the course of ten years, Becca and Charlie’s paths collide as they deal with grief, love and life after Ally.

Scientist Maryse Robicheaux thought that a lot of her problems had gone away with her mother-in-law's death. The woman was rude, pushy, manipulative and used her considerable wealth to run herd over the entire town of Mudbug, Louisiana. Unfortunately, death doesn't slow down Helena one bit. DEA Agent Luc LeJeune is wondering what his undercover assignment investigating the sexy scientist has gotten him into - especially as it seems someone wants her dead.

Precocious six-year-old Bertie joins the scouts to escape his mother, Matthew learns to handle the challenges of marriage, and Domenica deals with loneliness. Even four-legged Cyril gets in on the action, finding himself a bit of canine romance.

My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong. So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.

She's old enough to be his mother. Alice has always looked young for her age, even with her graying hair and her dowdy New Jersey housewife style. Make that ex-housewife: Now that her husband's gone and her daughter is grown, Alice is in desperate need of a whole new life. So she lets her best friend Maggie, a hip New York City artist, transform her on New Year's Eve. Soon, thanks to the wonders of hair dye and tight jeans, Alice looks really young, as one night in a Manhattan bar confirms.

Everywhere Katie Brenner looks, someone else is living the life she longs for, particularly her boss, Demeter Farlowe. Demeter is brilliant and creative, lives with her perfect family in a posh townhouse, and wears the coolest clothes. Katie’s life, meanwhile, is a daily struggle—from her dismal rental to her oddball flatmates to the tense office politics she’s trying to negotiate. No wonder Katie takes refuge in not-quite-true Instagram posts, especially as she's desperate to make her dad proud.

Opal has two months to live. Terrified of dying alone, she makes a shocking request of her three cheeky friends: to help her die. Her plea is met with disbelief and denial. The shameless exhibitionist, the mouthy pill popper, and the lovesick beauty, each haunted by their pasts, dismiss Opal’s wish as a desperate bid for attention. Sure, friendships are easy when the champagne and money are flowing, but when helping a quirky friend could get you fifteen years behind bars, things can get prickly.

Meet Frankie: fifty, divorced and getting back on the horse. After leaving Twatface – her husband of twenty years – she's starting again from scratch. And when her son also flees the nest for university, Frankie decides it’s time to throw herself back into the dating game with a vengeance. On best friend Bel's recommendation, Frankie signs up to two dating apps: one for love, another for casual hook-ups. However, as she navigates this new frontier of catfishing, kittenfishing, DILFs, GILFs and everything in between, she realises the whole dating thing has changed quite a bit.

This is the tale of the happy but ill-fated Candide and his progressive disillusionment with the idea that we live in the best of all possible worlds. His tutor, Dr. Pangloss, embodies this philosophy of good cheer, even in the face of ever more absurd misfortunes. Luckily, Candide's other companions provide an over-supply of good sense.

Are You Being Served? was a comedy juggernaut, running for 10 series between 1973 and 1985 and often attracting audiences of over 20 million. A family favourite, it was a fun-packed mix of double entendres, slapstick and larger-than-life characters – including cat-loving Mrs Slocombe and camp menswear assistant Mr Humphries, with his famous catchphrase, ‘I’m free’!

Mitford's most enduringly popular novel, The Pursuit of Love, is a classic comedy about growing up and falling in love among the privileged and eccentric. Mitford modeled her characters on her own famously unconventional family. We are introduced to the Radletts through the eyes of their cousin, Fanny, who stays with them at Alconleigh, their Gloucestershire estate. Uncle Matthew is the blustering patriarch; Aunt Sadie is the vague but doting mother; and the seven Radlett children, despite the delights of their unusual childhood, are recklessly eager to grow up.

Noel Savino has no problems attracting women. After several failed relationships, she's more than happy to keep it casual. Sunny Chase is willing to be another notch on Noel's bedpost after a tragedy of her own. Despite their playful intentions, they find themselves poised to fall, especially if Noel's old-school Italian mother and Sunny's cross-dressing uncle have anything to say about it. The only thing standing in their way is Noel's niece, Harper, who is also captivated by one of the Chase women.

Domestic bliss seems in short supply at 44 Scotland Street. Over at the Pollocks', dad, Stuart, is harbouring a secret about a secret society and Bertie is feeling kind of blue. Having had enough of his neurotic hot-housing mother, he puts himself up for adoption on eBay. Will he go to the highest bidder or will he have to take matters into his own hands? Will the lovelorn Big Lou find true love on the Internet? And will Angus Lordie and Domenica make it up the aisle? Catch up with all your favorite faces down in 44 Scotland Street as we follow their daily pursuit of a little happiness.

In 1994, Christopher Buckley published one of the most acclaimed and successful comic novels of the decade, Thank You for Smoking. Now, Buckley returns to the strange land of Washington, DC, in Little Green Men, a millennial comedy of manners about aliens and pundits...and how much they have in common. The reluctant hero of this hilarious novel is John Oliver Banion, a stuffy Washington talk-show host, whose privileged life is thrown into upheaval when aliens abduct him from his exclusive country-club golf course.

Between 1980 and 1988 on BBC television and radio, the exploits of the Rt Hon Jim Hacker MP (Paul Eddington) - later Prime Minister - kept the British nation enthralled. Helped - and hampered - by his diligent Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne) and his Principle Private Secretary Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds), Hacker and his department became synonymous with government bureaucracy and administrative double dealing.

Jill Grinager is holding her life together with one hand—literally. As the one-armed owner of the only funeral home in the fading small town of Rockdale, Minnesota, Jill’s days are already grim. Add in her responsibilities as the guardian of her Elvis-obsessed nephew, Randall, and her life feels like a tragic comedy. When Jill learns that a bully from her past, Vicky Veitch, is returning to town, things take a sharp turn for the worse.