The Worcester Whisperers

The Worcester Whisperers
Author: Kerry Tombs
Publisher:
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2008
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

"A few weeks before the outbreak of the infamous 'Ripper' murders in 1888 Inspector Samuel Ravenscroft of the Whitechapel Constabulary is sent to the peaceful county town of Worcester to investigate the unexpected disappearance of the cathedral librarian and the priceless medieval manuscript known as the Whisperie. Aided by his former colleague, Constable Tom Crabb, Ravenscroft soon encounters a dark world of murder, lies and deceit within the walls of the ancient cathedral, and gradually uncovers an unsolved mystery dating back nearly forty years." "Meanwhile in London, events are nearing a dramatic climax as the mysterious woman in black attempts to gain her revenge in the darkened alleyways of Whitechapel." "It is not long before the two contrasting worlds of Worcester and Whitechapel become intertwined in unsettling and frightening ways."--BOOK JACKET.

The Worcester Whisperers

The Worcester Whisperers
Author: Kerry Tombs
Publisher:
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2020
Genre: Cathedrals
ISBN: 9781789312904

"Worchester, 1888, Nicholas Evelyn, the elderly cathedral librarian, has disappeared. A priceless medieval manuscript has been stolen. Its glass case smashed with a candlestick. Ravenscroft is sent from the grimy streets of Whitechapel to investigate. Murder in the cathedral. Aided by his trusty companion Constable Tom Crabb, Ravenscroft soon discovers that behind the cathedral's facade lurks a dark world of death and deceit. Could the murder relate to an unsolved mystery dating back nearly forty years? Meanwhile, in London, a mysterious woman in black is wreaking revenge in the dark alleyways of Whitechapel. In a spectacular climax, the two worlds of Worcester and Whitechapel meet." --

Via Negativa

Via Negativa
Author: Daniel Hornsby
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2021-07-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0593081005

A heartfelt, daring, divinely hilarious debut novel about a priest who embarks on a fateful journey with a pistol in his pocket and an injured coyote in his backseat. "A beautiful and meditative exploration of shattered faith." —Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half Father Dan is homeless. Dismissed by his conservative diocese for eccentricity and insubordination, he’s made his exile into a kind of pilgrimage, transforming his Toyota Camry into a mobile monk’s cell. Then he sees a minivan sideswipe a coyote. Unable to suppress his Franciscan impulses, he takes the injured animal in. With his unexpected canine companion in the backseat, Dan makes his way west, encountering other offbeat travelers and stopping to take in the occasional roadside novelty (MARTIN'S HOLE TO HELL, WORLD-FAMOUS BOTTOMLESS PIT NEXT EXIT!). But the coyote is far from the only oddity fate has delivered into this churchless priest’s care: it has also given him a bone-handled pistol, a box of bullets, and a letter from an estranged friend. By the time Dan gets to where he’s going, he’ll be forced to reckon once and for all with the great mistakes of his past, and he will have to decide: is penance better paid with revenge, or with redemption?

THE MALVERN MURDERS a Captivating Victorian Historical Murder Mystery

THE MALVERN MURDERS a Captivating Victorian Historical Murder Mystery
Author: Kerry Tombs
Publisher: Inspector Ravenscroft Detectiv
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2019-12-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781789312898

A CAPTIVATING HISTORICAL MURDER MYSTERY SET IN VICTORIAN ENGLAND This is a revised and updated edition of THE MALVERN MURDERS. Before Jack the Ripper terrorized London, Police Inspector Samuel Ravenscroft patrolled the grimy streets of Whitechapel - but he's no Inspector Abberline. Malvern, 1887. Clever and hard-working, Ravenscroft nonetheless has the worst record in the force. He lets a murderer escape during a chase and is banished to the spa town of Malvern for a water treatment to cure his asthma. MURDER FOLLOWS THE INSPECTOR Ravenscroft accepts a dinner invitation from a new acquaintance, Jabez Pitzer. Before the dinner gong can sound, the maid finds Pitzer slumped over his desk - dead. Ravenscroft sees two glasses on a small side table. One has a powdery residue at the bottom and the faint smell of bitter almonds. A BODY IN THE LIBRARY Ravenscroft immediately recognizes the signs - Pitzer has been poisoned. But the local authorities are reluctant to believe there is a murderer in Malvern. He may be recovering his strength, but Ravenscroft has all his wits intact. He finds himself pulled into the investigation. Hungry to prove himself, Ravenscroft is determined to solve the case. But the bodies mount up. Someone is killing local luminaries. WHO WILL BE NEXT? A mysterious woman in black was witnessed speaking to each of the victims. Who is she and why does death seem to follow her? And does a local cartel of businessmen have anything to do with it? RAVENSCROFT IS OUT OF THE SMOKE BUT MALVERN HAS ITS OWN DEADLY FIRES THE MALVERN MURDERS is packed with delicious dialogue, sly humour and Victorian atmosphere. Perfect for fans of M.R.C. Kasasian, E.S. Thomson, Oscar De Muriel and Karen Charlton. MEET THE DETECTIVE Inspector Samuel Ravenscroft, unmarried and over forty, is a detective in the Whitechapel branch of the Metropolitan Police. Painfully asthmatic, he is often overlooked by his superiors in favour of his pushier colleagues. But Ravenscroft is keen to prove himself and strives to overcome his physical limitations. His tools are forthright questioning, close examination of the evidence and personal intuition. He often finds that the solution to many crimes is buried deep in the past. With his trusty Bradshaw, Ravenscroft and his colleague Constable Tom Crabb, travel around the Three Counties, overlooked by the Malvern Hills, bringing criminals to justice. KERRY TOMBS was born near Birmingham, but grew up in various locations in north Worcestershire. After a career teaching in both England and Australia, he moved to Malvern in 1982, where he became a local genealogist, lecturer and bookseller. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT KERRY TOMBS "I found this story very absorbing and hard to put down." Berys "Kerry Tombs knows how to keep your interest until the very end." Delin "Another great book in the series. The author kept you guessing the entire time." Jerry INSPECTOR RAVENSCROFT DETECTIVE MYSTERIES SERIES Book 1: The Malvern Murders Book 2: The Worcester Whisperers Book 3: The Ledbury Lamplighters Book 4: The Tewkesbury Tomb* Book 5: The Droitwich Deceivers* Book 6: The Pershore Poisoners* Book 7: The Upton Undertakers* Book 8: The Herefordshire Hangman* Book 9: The Bromsgrove Bookseller* * Coming soon

Some Go Hungry

Some Go Hungry
Author: J. Patrick Redmond
Publisher: Akashic Books
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2016-05-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1617754927

A gay man returns to his conservative hometown in a tale of memory and murder inspired by true events: “An emotionally resonant, page-turning story.”—Booklist Some Go Hungry is a fictional account drawn from the author’s own experiences working in his family’s provincial Indiana restaurant, and wrestling with his sexual orientation, in a town that was rocked by the scandalous murder of his gay high school classmate in the 1980s. Now a young man who has embraced his sexuality, Grey Daniels returns from Miami Beach, Florida, to Fort Sackville, Indiana, to run Daniels’ Family Buffet for his ailing father. Understanding that knowledge of his sexuality may reap disastrous results on his family's half-century-old restaurant legacy—a popular Sunday dinner spot for the after-church crowd—Grey struggles to live his authentic, openly gay life. But he is truly put to the test when his former high school lover—and fellow classmate of the murdered student—returns to town as the youth pastor and choir director of the local fundamentalist Christian church. Some Go Hungry is the story of a man forced to choose between the happiness of others and his own joy, all the while realizing that compromising oneself—sacrificing your soul for the sake of others—is not living, but death. “This literary mystery follows Grey Daniels on a return trip to his hometown of Fort Sackville, Indiana where, decades earlier, one of his gay classmates was brutally murdered. While visiting, Grey must confront a painful past riddled in homophobia, secrets, religious hypocrisy and fear.”—Queerty “Some Go Hungry is at its best when confronting religious prejudice, and is even pulse-quickening when the narrator sits through one of his friend's sermons aimed directly at him....Only someone who has grown up in rural America could write so convincingly of the pressures there. It's also refreshing to find a book that relates the experience of being gay somewhere other than in a large city.”—Gay & Lesbian Review “Tells an important tale that in some ways is timeless, and in other ways could have been ripped from today's headlines.”—Mark Childress, author of Crazy in Alabama

Two Truths and a Lie

Two Truths and a Lie
Author: Ellen McGarrahan
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2022-08-16
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 0812988051

EDGAR AWARD FINALIST • A private investigator revisits the case that has haunted her for decades and sets out on a deeply personal quest to sort truth from lies. CLUE AWARD FINALIST • “[A] haunting memoir, which also unfolds as a gripping true-crime narrative . . . This is a powerful, unsettling story, told with bracing honesty and skill.”—The Washington Post A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • One of Marie Claire’s Ten Best True Crime Books of the Year Ellen McGarrahan was a young journalist for The Miami Herald in 1990 when she witnessed the botched execution of convicted killer Jesse Tafero: flames and smoke and three jolts of the electric chair. When evidence later emerged casting doubt on Tafero’s guilt, McGarrahan found herself haunted by his fiery death. Had she witnessed the execution of an innocent man? Decades later, McGarrahan, now a successful private investigator, is still gripped by the mystery and infamy of the Tafero case, and decides she must investigate it herself. Her quest will take her around the world and deep into the harrowing heart of obsession, and as questions of guilt and innocence become more complex, McGarrahan discovers she is not alone in her need for closure. For whenever a human life is taken by violence, the reckoning is long and difficult for all. A rare and vivid account of a private investigator’s real life and a classic true-crime tale, Two Truths and a Lie is ultimately a profound meditation on truth, grief, complicity, and justice.

The Outcasts

The Outcasts
Author: Chuck Abdella
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2015-06-17
Genre:
ISBN: 9781514303146

The only ones who can fix a broken world are those who have been broken by that world. A shadowy threat has emerged in a realm populated by serious wizards, pious elves, passionate humans, and hedonistic morphs. Several outcasts have been brought together-by fate or by design?-for what they believe to be an epic struggle against that shadowy threat. Yet if they are expecting a straightforward quest to slay some Dark Lord and bring peace to the world, the outcasts are disabused of that notion when a wise voice warns them, "It's not that kind of story." But what kind of story is it? Are these broken beings on an epic quest, or is someone guiding their mission under the aegis of a tired and traditional story? And is this "someone" benevolent or sinister? As the outcasts seek to mend their broken pasts, navigate the perils of love, and perhaps save the known world, we are left to wonder how much of the story is a lie and how much truth has been baked in to make the meal palatable. While "The Outcasts" pays homage to traditional fantasy archetypes, it also seeks to undermine most of them. In a story laced with ancient and medieval scenery, you will find yourself dizzy with the plot twists of this exciting debut fantasy novel. Book I, "The Lies of Autumn" introduces the half-Wizard Marcus and his dear friend Quintus, who find themselves unexpectedly in the company of enslaved Elf siblings Griffin and Gwendolyn, the disgraced Human soldier Octavia, and a Morph named Alexia who possesses abilities which have not been seen in 1,000 years or more. These disparate creatures must navigate love and jealousy, friendship and selfishness, as well as the unspeakable tragedies which haunt each one of their pasts in a quest to save an indifferent world. As Octavia notes, "It sounds like one of those epic tales of old, but it sure doesn't feel like one." Expect fantasy with a twist, as well as equal helpings of romance and action.

Beholding Bee

Beholding Bee
Author: Kimberly Newton Fusco
Publisher: Yearling
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2015-07-28
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0375868089

“Fans of Kate DiCamillo, Jennifer Holm, and Polly Horvath will find this an enjoyable and engrossing read.” —School Library Journal Bee is an orphan who lives with a carnival and sleeps in the back of a truck. Every day she endures taunts for the birthmark on her face, though she prefers to think of it as a precious diamond. Then one day a scruffy dog shows up, as unwanted as she, and Bee realizes she must find a home for them both. She discovers a cozy house with gingerbread trim that reminds her of frosting, where two mysterious women, Mrs. Swift and Mrs. Potter, take her in. Whoever these women are, they matter. They matter to Bee. And they are helping Bee realize that she, too, matters to the world—if only she will let herself be a part of it.

Every Night the Trees Disappear

Every Night the Trees Disappear
Author: Alan Greenberg
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2012-05-01
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1613743521

"You know from seeing it that Herzog was up to something strange in filming Heart of Glass. Now the mystery is clarified. Alan Greenberg peers into the heart of darkness of the great artist." —Roger Ebert&“Mesmerizing . . . as poetic and mysterious as the film itself.&”—Jim JarmuschThis intimate chronicle of the visionary filmmaker Werner Herzog directing a masterwork is interwoven with Herzog's original screenplay to create a unique vision of its own. Alan Greenberg was, according to the director, the first &“outsider&” to seek him out and recognize his greatness. At the end of their first evening together Herzog urged Greenberg to work with him on his new film--and everything thereafter. In this film, Heart of Glass, Herzog exercised control over his actors by hypnotizing them before shooting their scenes. The result was one of the most haunting movies ever made. Not since Lillian Ross's classic 1950 book Picture has an American writer given such a close, first-hand, book-length account of how a director makes a movie. But this is not a conventional, journalistic account. Instead it presents a unique vision with the feel of a novel--intimate, penetrating, and filled with mystery. Alan Greenberg is a writer, film director, film producer, and photographer. He is also the author of Love in Vain: A Vision of Robert Johnson. Werner Herzog is considered one of the world's greatest filmmakers. His books include Conquest of the Useless and Of Walking in Ice.

A Golden Haze of Memory

A Golden Haze of Memory
Author: Stephanie E. Yuhl
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2006-03-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807876542

Charleston, South Carolina, today enjoys a reputation as a destination city for cultural and heritage tourism. In A Golden Haze of Memory, Stephanie E. Yuhl looks back to the crucial period between 1920 and 1940, when local leaders developed Charleston's trademark image as "America's Most Historic City." Eager to assert the national value of their regional cultural traditions and to situate Charleston as a bulwark against the chaos of modern America, these descendants of old-line families downplayed Confederate associations and emphasized the city's colonial and early national prominence. They created a vibrant network of individual artists, literary figures, and organizations--such as the all-white Society for the Preservation of Negro Spirituals--that nurtured architectural preservation, art, literature, and tourism while appropriating African American folk culture. In the process, they translated their selective and idiosyncratic personal, familial, and class memories into a collective identity for the city. The Charleston this group built, Yuhl argues, presented a sanitized yet highly marketable version of the American past. Their efforts invited attention and praise from outsiders while protecting social hierarchies and preserving the political and economic power of whites. Through the example of this colorful southern city, Yuhl posits a larger critique about the use of heritage and demonstrates how something as intangible as the recalled past can be transformed into real political, economic, and social power.