Detective Inspector Alec McKay is drawn into a chilling hunt for a serial killer. But first he must face the demons of his own past…Still grieving the tragic loss of his daughter, McKay becomes obsessed with a seemingly cold missing persons case—until bodies start turning up across the Black Isle. Each victim is surrounded by roses and candles, leaving McKay and his team to untangle the disturbing ritual behind the murders. As they struggle to crack the killer’s cryptic pattern, Mc...

A series of brutal murders dredges up dark secrets from the past, and DI Alec McKay finds himself caught in the crossfire in this pulse-pounding Scottish Highlands thriller.As the winter chill grips the Highlands, a body is discovered burned alive in a solstice bonfire, kicking off a harrowing Christmas season. When a retired businessman is found hanging from a tree and another associate is savagely murdered in his isolated home, the team is stretched to the limit. With DCI Helena ...

A horrific massacre in the Scottish Highlands reveals far more sinister secrets than a simple family tragedy in this tense and riveting police procedural.When the Dawson family is found slaughtered in what appears to be a tragic murder-suicide, it seems like another heartbreaking case of a man pushed to the edge, taking his wife and children with him before ending his own life. But DI Alec McKay has doubts. Why was a mysterious BMW spotted at the Dawsons’ holiday home that day, and...

Step into the shadows of the Scottish Highlands, where no one is as innocent as they seem, and the path to the truth could be the most dangerous journey yet…When a string of fatal accidents on the notorious A9 road catches the attention of DI Alec McKay, he uncovers something far more sinister than just bad luck. As the body count rises, McKay stumbles onto a decades-old conspiracy involving corruption and a murder case that should’ve been buried a long time ago.But the dee...

More than 40,000 species of mites have been described, and up to 1 million may exist on earth. These tiny arachnids play many ecological roles including acting as vectors of disease, vital players in soil formation, and important agents of biological control. But despite the grand diversity of mites, even trained biologists are often unaware of their significance. Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour (2nd edition) aims to fill the gaps in our understanding of these intriguing creatures....

This thesis describes two groundbreaking measurements in the precision frontier at the LHC: the first ever differential measurement of the Z-associated single top quark (tZq) production, and the luminosity measurement using Z boson production rate for the first time in CMS. Observed only in 2018, the tZq process is of great importance in probing top quark electroweak couplings. These couplings are natural places for new phenomena to happen in the top quark sector of the standard model. Yet...

DI Alec McKay is back. Twenty years ago, Jackie Galloway was a senior cop with a bad reputation. Then, he ended up on the wrong side of the wrong people, and his career was ruined. Sacked and with no pension, he ends up eking out his last days on Scotland's Black Isle, his mind lost to dementia, supported only by his wife, Bridie... until Galloway is found dead. The police assume the death to be accidental until Bridie reveals that her husband has been receiving threatening letters contain...

The DI Alec McKay Series are atmospheric and gripping crime novels set in the Scottish Highlands. They will appeal to fans of authors like Ann Cleeves, Peter May and Helen Fields.A family day out turns sour for DI McKay when he stumbles across an unidentified corpse. The day becomes darker still when his brother-in-law goes missing and is eventually found dead, the result of a seemingly accidental fall. Meanwhile, DCI Helena Grant has a disastrous on-line date with a pompous senior...

Joseph Campbell's Final Completed BookDeveloped from a memorable series of lectures delivered in San Francisco, which included a legendary symposium at the Palace of Fine Arts with astronaut Rusty Schweickart, Joseph Campbell’s last book explores the space age. Campbell posits that the newly discovered laws of outer space are actually at work within human beings as well and that a new mythology is implicit in this realization. He examines the new mythology...

Nine-year-old Skye has always had a fascination with flying. She’d love to be a pilot someday, like both of her parents, but deep down she really wishes she could be a bird.When Skye’s parents take her to Costa Rica, she is thrilled about all of the beautiful exotic birds she’ll get to see. What she doesn’t realize is that her parents have three big surprises planned, and each will offer her a different opportunity to feel what it’s like to fly. From snorkeling wit...

Dave Hickock never pulled the trigger of a gun or held a knife to murder another person, but he was sentenced to a lifetime of shame, ostracism, guilt, and psychological anguish because of the actions of one manhis brother. On November 15, 1959, Richard Hickock drove to a bus station in Kansas City and picked up Perry Smith, a prison buddy. Together, they drove to Emporia, Kansas, and purchased rubber gloves, nylon cord, and black stockings. Before days end, four innocent members of the Cl...

Introduction to Security has been the leading text on private security for over thirty years. Celebrated for its balanced and professional approach, this new edition gives future security professionals a broad, solid base that prepares them to serve in a variety of positions. Security is a diverse and rapidly growing field that is immune to outsourcing. The author team as well as an outstanding group of subject-matter experts combine their knowledge and experience with a full package of ma...