Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.Inspector Ian McFergus had not been satisfied; not in the least satisfied. He had inspected Marley's body using all the due processes and checklists upon which the polic...

The first story starts, "Hubby?" she said. "I'm sliding off the mattress again. And something's biting me on the neck."The second beginsIt was getting on past midnight, the wind had picked up, shaking the tent, and I knew I'd have to kill the guy in the next sleeping bag.If you've ever shared a pup tent with your wife or a friend, you'll recognize the situations in these two camping stories.

Win Szczedziwoj, a man known for photographing subjects in the rain, is on a vacation. Just him, his camera, his canoe, and a small, dark lake well away from civilization.That solitude comes to an end when his fishing line drags up a body from the lake. It looks like the usual canoeing accident, but the police suspect murder, and Win is suspect number one (I mean, what are the chances of actually snagging a body with a fishing line?)But Win wants to know why the dead guy was ...

The songs are brand-new, and include titles like "Grandma's Chicken Soup", "The T-Rex Song", and "Play in the Garbage". They are designed to be sung to folk tunes such as "Home on the Range." Basic guitar chords are provided.

Ted figures there are three things you must not being on a canoe trip: electronic devices, pet anacondas, or people who will die on the trip. Just as well nobody brought an anaconda….Hughie apparently left the campsite in the middle of the night while everybody else was asleep. That wasn't surprising, considering how poorly he got along with the rest of the group the night before.What is surprising is his canoe, lying in a very large mud hole on the portage - with Hughie's bo...

You'd think if a guy wanted to die in peace on the shores of some isolated lake, people would just let him do it. No such luck.The poor schnook is followed by a student looking for an interview, a reporter looking for a really good story, and the local nut case.

Did you ever want to write a novel, or even a novella, but the generation of a viable plot and the creation of characters and motives seem like an insurmountable task? Well, this little set of instructions can be an invaluable start. It analyzes the basics of Agatha Christie's novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (her first Hercule Poirot novel, which now in public domain), and shows how you and amend, tweak, or change her characters, her overall plot, and the basic plot twist to create ...

"Could have been worse," Gabe commented as they sat beside a heatless phantom campfire one day, "We coulda gone to Hell.""And just how would that be worse?" Louis asked darkly, in his one hundred and sixteenth year of ghosthood. As a practicing Catholic, he had a good idea of how much worse it could have been, but he didn't always like to admit it."I think," said Gabe. "that in Hell I'd have been forced to listen to your story of what you should have done at Batoche, over and...

For those people who are tired of singing "dip, dip, and swing", and would prefer canoeing songs with a little more originality to them, Lenny Everson offers 13 songs adapted from his famous canoeing poems.What you get are the lyrics with guitar chords. The songs use traditional tunes, so you can hear how they'd sound by checking the source music on YouTube, and usually you can find the sheet music somewhere.

There are a lot of wonderful songs to which the happy couple can dance at their wedding reception, but sometimes a wedding party will want something less overused, or an additional song or two for an additional dance or two. This little book of lyrics provides some new songs, sung to traditional tunes such as "Green Grow the Lilacs".The book contains the lyrics, and gives you information on how to get the music.

The apartments above small old block of shops contains an odd assortment of characters, each with his or her own quixotic goals. In a week in March, their paths cross in unpredictable ways.There's the Anglican priest, for one. He moved out of his parish in confusion after being told by God, in no uncertain terms, that He (God) did not exist. Now the priest is trying to break all the commandments, then work on all the cardinal sins.There's the poet who has given up on high art...

For people who have read the novel, Marley Was Dead, and have questions, this is a short, helpful guide.Marley Was Dead is linked to Dickens's A Christmas Carol, but the descriptions of mid-Victorian London are more fascinating than the mystery, This guide answers some questions about the sociology of the book, including the mud larks, markets, and daily mayhem of the city. For example, being a mud lark, sifting through the mud of the Thames with bare feet for lost items, was indeed...