The Book Cove

New Release January 25th, 2018 Christopher Sherlock Webster always blamed his Holmes-obsessed father for burdening him with an embarrassing middle name. He spent his school days desperately trying to live it down. But after his old man prematurely dies, Christopher finds that he has somehow inherited the very same obsession... Teaming up with Mo Rennie, a marketing-conscious pal, he starts up an agency called Baskerville's, which specialises in the application of rigorous Holmesian method. Here are five bizarre adventures from the files - a sumptuous feast upon which the gastronome of crime may gorge. - A young beautician is stalked by a haunting stranger through the narrow streets of Cambridge. Yet he possesses love letters from the girl, ostensibly in her handwriting. How come? - A science journalist disappears while investigating UFO sightings in Wiltshire. But is the explanation earthly or supernatural? - When a pornographer receives death threats online he arra...

“This excellent book demands the attention of anyone concerned about civil liberties in the United Kingdom ...a catalogue of cynicism, lies, harassment, torture and murder that makes the Cold War duplicity a la Deighton and Le Carre seem positively endearing.” The Guardian A gripping thriller based on a true sequence of events in which two young Belfast Catholics are recruited as informers and find themselves at the heart of a ‘sting’ involving the IRA, the SAS and MI5. The Serpent’s Tail is the first work of fiction by the man Conor Cruise O’Brien has described as ‘The greatist living authority on Irish terrorism.’ The true story of an SAS inspired sting against the Provisional IRA which almost destroyed the organisation. The IRA later admitted that the operation was a brilliant piece of planning by the SAS and the British Intelligence Agency, MI5. Its success was, however, short-lived leading to the sacrifice of many agents and the emergence of a more determined and ruthless IRA le...

Patrick Lane's obsession with drugs began in his early teens. Nineteenth-century French literature introduced him to a world of hashish, opium and absinthe, which he saw as a way of escaping his boring suburban English existence. Unable to find any hashish as a schoolboy in north London, he went to Morocco for supplies. Between school and university, he hitched around America in the mid-1960s, taking LSD with Timothy Leary. After teaming up with Howard Marks, they smuggled suitcases of hashish out of Afghanistan and Pakistan into Europe and VW campers filled with hashish from Lebanon into California. During the course of his extraordinary career, he witnessed revolution in Afghanistan, an unsuccessful coup in Greece, the preservation of the monarchy in Nepal and illicit arms deals with Saddam Hussein. Along the way, he befriended Wall Street bankers, Mafia dons (and Oxford dons), hashish-eating goats, dissolute English lords and French peasants. Recollections of a Racketeer is a ...

“Will appeal to Francophiles as well as those wanting to learn more about France in a fun, informal manner.” Library Journal “A delightful summer read… the colourful and offbeat facts and figures will delight anyone with an interest in French culture.” eat.live.travel.write In this follow-up to her award-winning and critically acclaimed myth-buster They Eat Horses, Don't They? Piu Eatwell presents a delightful exploration of France's quirky, literary, and culinary heritage. From absinthe and catacombs to former French soccer player Zinedine Zidane, Eatwell leaves no stone unturned, taking readers off the beaten path to explore the kind of information that gets missed in the guidebooks. Who could imagine, for example, that there is a village in France where UFOs are banned from landing? Or that there is a verifiable population of wild kangaroos in the forests surrounding Paris? These, and many other offbeat delights, are just some of the curiosities awaiting readers in this jo...

A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts Bestseller! "the glowing ghosts of the radium girls haunt us still."―NPR Books The incredible true story of the women who fought America's Undark danger The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War. Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive ― until they begin to fall mysteriously ill. But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corr...