“Joan of Arc, a village girl from the Vosges, was born about 1412—burnt for heresy, witchcraft, and sorcery in 1431—rehabilitated after a fashion in 1456—designated Venerable in 1904—declared Blessed in 1908—and finally canonized in 1920. She is the most notable Warrior-Saint in the Christian calendar, and the queerest fish among the eccentric worthies of the Middle Ages.”—George Bernard ShawWith Saint Joan, Shaw reached the height of his fame as a dramatist. Fascinated by the stor...

From the acclaimed author of The Wild Places comes an engrossing exploration of walking and thinking.In this exquisitely written book, Robert Macfarlane sets off from his Cambridge, England, home to follow the ancient tracks, holloways, drove roads, and sea paths that crisscross both the British landscape and its waters and territories beyond. The result is an immersive, enthralling exploration of the ghosts and voices that haunt old paths, of the stories our tracks keep a...

With the premiere of two new film versions of the Snow White tale, Blackstone enters the fray with its own adult, edgy, and not altogether serious full-cast exposé of fairy-taledom. At last it can be told! Was Snow White really as pure as the driven snow? Did her allegedly wicked stepmother get a bum rap from the Grimm brothers? What went on behind the closed Dutch doors of the dwarves’ cottage? How many handsome princes does it take to screw in a light bulb? These and other burning questi...

The novel that reintroduced the Napoleon of crime to the Victorian underworldOnce again, the game is afoot …What really happened in Switzerland between Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes in 1891? And why is Holmes, now in London at 221B Baker Street, curiously uncooperative with Scotland Yard's inquiries? Furthermore, why has Moriarty planned a grand meeting with the international crime syndicate? These are the questions that make up the larger mystery of the sinister Pr...

With riches accumulated from an American crime spree, Professor Moriarty proceeds to annihilate his enemies. He murders the leaders of Europe's underworld one by one, then prepares his most hideous revenge for his arch-enemy, Sherlock Holmes. Will he succeed in this most terrible plan? In this vivid, suspenseful novel of London-underworld crime, John Gardner has created another brilliant novel in his acclaimed series pitting the Napoleon of Crime, James Moriarty, against mystery fiction's ...

Acquired Tastes, originally published as Expensive Habits, is a celebration of life’s extravagances. It explores an aspect of human nature that, although dormant in hard economic times, is capable of erupting with the hint of good fortune and the drop of a credit card. It samples the luxuries of Havana cigars, Parisian hotels, bespoke London tailoring, and hand-made shoes; discusses the proper color for a stretch limousine; and weighs the cost versus the pleasure of keepi...

Three young women have been brutally assaulted and murdered in the city of Philadelphia. Lieutenant William Fogarty, a time-toughened cop hardened by personal tragedy, is shocked by the brutality of the crimes. His only lead comes from medical examiner Josef Tanaka. Half Japanese and half American, Tanaka, a skilled practitioner of the martial arts, claims to recognize the method used in the attacks: a karate strike known as nukite, or spear hand. Fogarty has nowhere else to turn....

Throughout the Second World War, Lisbon was at the very center of the world’s attention and was the only European city in which both the Allies and the Axis powers openly operated. Portugal was frantically trying to hold on to its self-proclaimed wartime neutrality but in reality was increasingly caught in the middle of the economic, and naval, wars between the Allies and the Nazis. The story is not, however, a conventional tale of World War II in that barely a shot was fired or a bomb dro...

Lightspeed: Year One compiles fiction published by the online science fiction magazine Lightspeed in its first year. Produced by Skyboat Media, and under the direction of Grammy and Audie Award–winning narrator and producer Stefan Rudnicki, the Lightspeed podcast features audiobook-style recordings of the stories published each month in Lightspeed.“The Cassandra Project” by Jack McDevitt, read by Stefan Rudnicki“Amaryllis” by Carrie Vaughn, read ...

A gritty Scottish crime thriller featuring a very different kind of serial killerThey suffer for his art… When a number of women are reported missing in Glasgow, the specter of a previous spate of unsolved disappearances in the city rears its head. Journalist Ray Bissett is drawn into the case when his daughter joins the ranks of the missing. Ambitious police detective Tom Kendrick won’t let Ray forget a terrible incident from his past that resulted in the death of a young boy. Dam...

Malta, April 1942. Max Chadwick is the military officer charged with managing information and maintaining morale on the tiny Mediterranean island, a strategic lynchpin in the war. Bombs rain from the sky at all hours of the day and night, as the Maltese and their British protectors fiercely cling to the rocky outcropping that is all that stands between the Axis and total dominance of the Mediterranean theater.When a Maltese woman is murdered and evidence links her death to a Britis...

**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Drawing on exhaustive research, this “masterful narrative history” (Booklist) details how World War I reduced Europe’s mightiest empires to rubble, killed twenty million people, and cracked the foundations of our modern world.“Thundering, magnificent . . . [A World Undone] is a book of true greatness that prompts moments of sheer joy and pleasure. . . . It will earn generations of admirers.”—The Washington Times**