DescriptionDetective Inspector John Rebus is buried under a pile of paperwork generated by his investigations into a suspected war criminal. But an escalating dispute between the upstart Tommy Telford and Big Ger Cafferty's gang gives Rebus an escape. Telford is known to have close links with a Newcastle gangster nicknamed Mr Pink Eyes - a Chechen bringing refugees into Britain as prostitutes. When Rebus takes under his wing a distraught Bosnian call girl, it gives him a personal reason to make sure Telford takes the high road back to Paisley. Within days, Rebus' daughter is the victim of an all too professional hit and run, and Rebus knows that now there is nothing he wouldn't do to bring down prime suspect Tommy Telford, even if it means cutting a deal with the devil.
DescriptionA headless male torso found in the sweating heat of an Alabama night is assumed to be that of a murdered prostitute, killed in a moment of passion. The head of Mobile's police department would have it so, but Detective Carson Ryder sees something else: th…
DescriptionIt starts with a prostitute, stripped naked and beaten to death down by the docks, in the heart of Aberdeen's red light district. For DS Logan MacRae it's a bad start to another bad day. Only a few short months ago, he was the golden boy of Grampian polic…
DescriptionChristy Award finalist Deeanne Gist's compelling best seller portrays Rachel Van Buren's efforts to escape the gold-rush quagmire of 1849 San Francisco - with her high moral principles intact. Rachel is shocked by this mud-infested boomtown, where the only females are of ill repute. When saloon owner Johnnie Parker, a widower and former missionary, allows her to stay in his unoccupied shanty, she agrees to cook and clean for him. But Rachel soon struggles with their growing attraction.
DescriptionIn 12th century London, Magdalene la Batarde is the madam of the Old Priory Guesthouse in Southwark. She is not in the least bit sorry to learn that Bertrild, the unpleasant wife of Master Mainard, is dead. Bertrild was insulting to most people. She made threats, using terrible revelations as a weapon against those who would not bow down to her demanding ways. However, when it seems that Mainard will be charged with Bertrild's murder, because no one accepts the oath of a whore that he is innocent, Magdalene, with her handsome friend, Sir Bellamy, decides to investigate.
DescriptionEmile Zola, along with fellow novelists Honore de Balzac and Gustave Flaubert, was an early realist in French literature. In novels such as Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Zola's Nana, sex and violence were examined with vivid clarity. These realists soon adopted the word naturalism to describe their writings. Zola's novels were attacked and even banned for their frankness and sordid detail, causing quite a bit of controversy in their day, with their strong emphasis on the unpleasant and unglamorous side of life. The underbelly of 19th century life was a theme for several of its authors, notably Dickens in English. Because of its film versions (which are considerably toned down) and its controversial subject matter, Nana is Zola's best known novel. It is the story of a prostitute in Paris just before the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
