Kakaku：1023 saved$10.23
Headline Book Publishing
Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks IPhone 3G used's review (Murder and mayhem in ancient Rome) 『Rome in August 314 AD.
While the rich and powerful are dealing with the violent abductions of their children - accompanied by requests for ransom, veterans of Constantine's Army are being barbarously murdered. At the same time, Christianity and older beliefs and cults are jostling for attention.
Is there a relationship?
Enter Claudia, secret agent to the Empress Helena. Claudia, with some able assistance, manages to uncover the mysteries and interpret the mayhem. While some readers will work out who did what well before the last page, this should not detract from the enjoyment. Some of the 'how' and 'why' questions won't be explained until the final pages.
A good escapist read for those who like an ancient Roman flavour to tales of murder.
Recommended.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith』
(A Very Enjoyable Read) 『Paul Doherty really is the master storyteller. It seem to matter not to Mr. Doherty whether the background to the book is Medieval England, Ancient Egypt, or in the case the eternal city of Rome in the 4th century AD.
I don't think it could possibly be Ancient Rome without the murder and mayhem that almost always seem to accompany any book that uses the city as its background.
The children of the rich and famous are being abducted and held for ransom. At the same time veteran legionaries who have served in Britannia with Constantine, particularly along Great Wall, in the more northern reaches of the island are being brutally murdered. There bodies are mutilated, a practice that was prevalent among the Picts, the people they were fighting against, so many years ago.
The Empress employs her secret agent Claudia to try to resolve these terrible happenings. However Claudia has her own problems. Her uncles garden has recently had the body of a young girl disinterred and she has the task of trying to solve both mysteries at the same time. The young girl was a Christian and her corpse was perfectly preserved.
Claudia must claw her way through a mist of politics, religion and violence. One false move could cost her much more than her job as a spy . . .』 『Rome: August 314 AD, and as the sun's insidious heat beats down, murderous forces lurk in the underbelly of the city. The normally cosseted world of Rome's rich and powerful is rocked by a series of violent abductions, as children of the elite are kidnapped and held for ransom. Meanwhile, veteran soldiers, men who served Constantine along the Great Wall in northern Britain are being barbarously murdered; the indignities inflicted on their corpses reminiscent of the gruesome practices of the Picts whom they fought so many years ago. The Empress Helena summons her secret agent, Claudia, in a bid to resolve these macabre occurrences. But Claudia has problems of her own. The perfectly preserved corpse of a young Christian woman has been disinterred in her uncle's garden and it falls to her to investigate this mystery too. Now she must track her way through a murky tangle of politics, religion and murderous violence, ever aware that the slightest mistake could cost her life.』
Kakaku：899 saved$8.99
Journey Forth
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (Delightful reading) 『Delightful Christian biography of the blind, gospel hymn writer, Fanny Crosby. Well-written, with large print and illustrations make this book very suitable for the younger reader, as well as the older reader who can read it through in one sitting. Good wholesome reading for the entire family with tender, poignant sections that will speak to the heart of both reader and hearer.』 『A biography of the nineteenth-century blind woman who wrote more than 9,000 hymns.』
Kakaku：1395 saved$13.95
Back Bay Books
Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks IPhone 3G used's review (So-So) 『Dairy Queen Days is the southern tale of Joe Pike Mosley and his son Trout who both are struggling to find themselves. Joe Pike Mosley comes from Mosley, Georgia, named after his family. As an adult he became a minister and fled the ways of Mosley Georgia and had a life with his wife Irene and son Trout. When the novel begins, Irene has been sent of to an institution in Atlanta, and Joe Pike and Trout are fending for themselves.
Circumstances arise, causing Joe Pike and Trout to return to Mosley, where they both begin a search for truth in life. The novel is a coming of age story for both father and son, and their small town life. The book did have me craving Dairy Queen and there are a lot of funny, laugh out loud moments. The ending did leave me somewhat unsatisfied, with some abrubt endings and loose ends. I would have liked to understand the characters and why they did certain things a bit better.』
(classic eccentric south) 『Robert Inman combines two classic genres in his delightful novel, "Dairy Queen Days": the coming of age story [young Tout Mosely, 16 years old in 1979 Georgia], and southern storytelling [a las Eudora Welty, Carson McCullers, etc.].
There is a saying that "In the southern we are proud of our eccentrics. We don't ask, 'Is anyone in your family crazy?" We ask, 'Which side are they on?'" This novel has enough eccentrics [Trout's father, Joe Pike, for one] to keep you chuckling. But you will recognize these people, and the dilemmas they face:growing up; facing mid-life crises; coping with change in society, loss of jobs; death and loss of loved ones; asking "What is my place in my world?"
Robert Inman, a columnist for the Charlotte Observer, has the talent for observation and detail which makes the mill community of Moseley and its inhabitants come alive. You will be entertained and provoked; you will laugh, and you will contemplate these same questions.』
(This is how it feels to read a good book) 『I was both surprised and impressed by this little book. In the tradition of the greatest Southern writers, Inman achieves great impact from the smallest of small town life. Moreover, this little tome has a great story. It made me laugh out loud. It made me sad. I wanted to turn the pages』
(Dairy Queen Days) 『The summer of 1979 for Trout Mosley is full of many questions and like life not full of all the answers. His father is sent back home after walking off on his parishoners one sunday morning during church. This wouldn't have been so strange if he wasn't the pastor. Trout and his father are in a place neither one of them really wants to be. Trout is treated at his school as the new kid without alot of open arms. His father is remebered as the highschool football hero who dropped the ball in the last game of the season and he has been trying to find himself ever since. Trout's mother is in a mental instittution in Atlanta because of a nervous breakdown. Trout's only friend is Keat's, an angry young girl crippled by a horrible accident when she was very young. The summer these 3 spend trying to find answers to many questions is an enjoyable fast-paced read. And as in real life by the end many of the questions are unresolved but, that is the way life is. I enjoyed this book alot. It took me back to the small town I grew up in and the many afternoons where the only entertainment was the long walk to the dairy queen. I too, am still looking for answers.』
(Dairy Queen Days is delicious!) 『What a delightful read! Being from the South, I love all things Southern and this book was no exception. I grew up in a small southern town with a Dairy Queen and spent many happy hours there. The characters in the book are eccentric and engaging. If you want a taste of the south, "Dairy Queen Days" is delicious!』 『Over the course of the summer of 1970, 16-year-old Trout Moseley wrestles with powerful ancestral traditions as he struggles to forge his own identity in the Georgia town than bears his family name.』 『In the summer of 1979, 16-year-old Trout Mosley finds his life turned upside down. His mother has been hospitalized in Atlanta for depression; his preacher father has been scandalizing his parishioners with strange comparisons of Jesus and Elvis Presley, and Trout himself has been packed off to the small Georgia town that bears his family's name. Here, he becomes reacquainted with a number of eccentric relatives, gets involved with a strong-minded girl named Keats Dubarry, and lands a job at the local Dairy Queen.
But Trout's summer is hardly idyllic. Keats's father is involved in trying to unionize local mill workers, and his efforts will pit the Dubarrys against the Mosleys in a final confrontation that will change everything. Alternately sweet and sad,Dairy Queen Daysis, as Trout's father says of a spoonful of ice cream, "good for the soul."』
『Russian language edition of the most famous fairytale by Andersen. Great illustrations, high quality paper. We also have English and Ukrainian versions of this title.』 fetish『 THE SCARLET LETTER. 』
Ellery. Queen
Kakaku：435 saved$4.35
Gollancz
IPhone 3G used's review (An Ellery Queen Mystery) 『The Scarlet Letters are an alphabetical puzzle which lead Ellery on a trail all over the jungle of New York City.
Dirk and Martha Lawrence are apparently not the happiest couple in New York, despite her millions of dollars and his fairly successful mystery-writing career. Martha asks for a secretive meeting to get Ellery Queen's advice because Dirk's violent jealousy is causing problems in her life -- but Dirk shows up suspecting the worst and punches Ellery into unconsciousness. Dirk apologizes the next day, telling the story of how his father had killed his mother's lover, thereby causing his over-reaction. Ellery's secretary and inamorata Nikki Porter urges him to stay involved in the situation and Nikki moves in with the Lawrences to keep an eye on things (and act as Dirk's secretary on a stalled book). Nikki soon reports that Martha actually is having a series of clandestine meetings with romantic actor Van Harrison. The meetings are arranged with innocuous envelopes that look like advertising, but with Martha's name and address written in scarlet typewriter ink. Also, the envelopes contain only a day, time and a sequential letter of the alphabet -- a code that is soon linked to a New York Guidebook. By the time the meetings have progressed from "A" through to "W", Dirk has found out about the affair and followed Martha to Van's home in the suburb of Darien....』 fetish『 Ariana: The Making of a Queen 』
Rachel Ann Nunes
Kakaku：999 saved$9.99
Covenant Communications, Inc.
Kakaku：99 saved$0.99
LeClue22
Usually ships in 24 hours 『Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 ? 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from 1 May 1876, until her death on 22 January 1901. Her reign as Queen lasted 63 years and seven months, longer than that of any other British monarch. The period centred on her reign is known as the Victorian era.』
Kakaku：1875 saved$18.75
Schiffer Publishing
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (Excellent Aid for Production of Period Works) 『I was excited from the time I opened the package. The volume has high quality photographs printed on gloss pages. The photographs represent a broad spectrum of works by superior funrniture makers. The comprehensive text explained the obvious and not so obvious distingtions in form, format, style, constrution approach, and a host of like details.
I took the volume with me to Marc Adams School of Woodworking for a Philidephia Lowboy class with Allen Breed. The pictures aided in layout and construction of the item. Class members were impressed with the quality and quanity of the photographs. This book is well worth the price.』 『From among the world-renowned treasures at the Winterthur Museum, the author selected 400 outstanding examples of American furniture from the Queen Anne and Chippendale periods, representing the era when the cabinetmakers of New England, New York, Philadelphia, and the South were at the height of their achievement. Each illustration is accompanied by information about the pieces place of origin, date of construction, dimensions, special features and qualities, and the maker and original owner when known. A special section presents the furniture in its proper environment, including ten rooms in full color. There is technical information for the serious collector and a highly readable history for those interested in the early-American way of life.』
IPhone 3G used's review (A Gem - Superbly Crafted - An Ellery Queen Classic) 『The Ellery Queen stories will remain among the most remarkable American classic mysteries ever written. And this superbly constructed story, The Greek Coffin Mystery, is among the best of Ellery Queen.
Ellery Queen first appeared in June, 1929 in The Roman Hat Mystery, followed by The French Powder Mystery (1931), and The Dutch Shoe Mystery (1932). The plot in the fourth story, The Greek Coffin Mystery (1932), actually pre-dates The Roman Hat Mystery and reveals a younger, less-experienced Ellery Queen. We readers see an overly confident Ellery Queen stumble in his deductions and are led through not one, but a several flawed solutions.
Not only is this "younger and cockier" Ellery Queen misled and chastised, but it will be a rare reader indeed that does not likewise become ensnared in faulty deductions and erroneous conclusions. Ellery Queen regains any lost prestige in his final, remarkable deductions that lead unerringly to the actual solution.
The New York City setting is an old, drooping brownstone at 11 East Fifty-Fourth Street. Adjacent to the Georg Khalkis residence is one of the oldest private cemeteries in the city. Georg Khalkis had died, apparently of heart failure. His burial is in an old brick-lined subterranean crypt.
I am hesitant to say anything more about the plot itself for fear that I might unwittingly say too much. Just be prepared to be surprised.
The reader acquainted with Ellery may notice that his penchant for quoting literature (and thereby exercising his ivy league education) is more marked in The Greek Coffin Mystery than in his later stories. We encounter literary and philosophical observations in English, French, German and Latin. Ellery is even able to roughly translate a note in modern Greek from his knowledge of the classical Greek language. Who but Ellery Queen would quote Byron, Goethe, Terence, La Fontaine, Chaucer, Rousseau, and Schopenhauer while solving a muder?
Like Nero Wolfe, another famous master of deduction, Ellery also enjoys an occasional vocabulary excess, treating the reader to expressions like `eremitic in its furnishings', `caparisoning his cousin', `greatest animus', and `the charming amanuensis'.
The Greek Coffin Mystery is classic Ellery Queen. The plot is intriguing, the characters are memorable, and Ellery Queen's exercise in deduction is simply dazzling. The Greek Coffin Mystery is no longer in print, but used copies, especially in paperback, are still available. Make the effort to find a copy. This is definitely a five star Ellery Queen masterpiece.』
(The most complex detective story I have ever read) 『I have read al lot of detective stories, but I have never found one with a more complex plot than this one. This is not like an Elizabeth George detective or something like that. This book focuses on the mystery. Even more special: the reader gets all the clues the detective finds (not like Sherlock Holmes, who keeps everything to himself), so you can find a solution yourself,........ but than you have to be brilliant!! Read it!』
(superb) 『This is one of the first Ellery Queen's books that I read. Before I used to read books by 'Agatha Christie'. Being introduced to EQ character and his method of deduction for the first time had me hungry for more. As with the other reviews regarding this book I agree with them totally. The grand finale is mind boggleling.』
(Quite possibly one of the greatest mysteries ever written) 『Not even Agatha Christie in her prime could construct a detective story plot of this complexity, with so many delicious twists and turns. Ellery Queen investigates the murder of a man who was found mysteriously buried in another man's coffin. There are many suspects, and as the story progresses the plot just gets more and more complex (for most mysteries it's the reverse).
What's notable about THE GREEK COFFIN MYSTERY is the number of solutions. There are no less than four solutions to the mystery, but only one of them--the last one--is the true one. The final solution comes as a genuine shock--when I found out who the murderer was, I was momentarily tempted to throw down the book in disbelief. But Ellery Queen's careful deductive processes show that only (blank) could possibly have committed the crimes. This is an absolute tour de force, a must-read for mystery readers like myself who have, until this point, lived under the illusion that only English writers can construct ingenious plots. Ellery Queen has more than proven that the quality can be an American one as well.』
Kakaku：2927 saved$29.27
Quercus Publishing Plc
Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks IPhone 3G used's review (Extaordinary Women) 『This book takes a look at fifty of the most remarkable women rulers throughout history. From the dawn of civilization in Egypt to the most controversial women of the 20th century, I really enjoyed reading about familiar rulers and more obscure women who shaped world history. I was surprised to see a few notorious figures left out, like Anne Boleyn and Alexandra Romanov, but I suppose Gold had to limit her choices or this book could have easily been twice as long.』 『The number of women who have ruled as queens or empresses, or governed as presidents or prime ministers, remains but a small subset of the total of those who have attained ultimate political power. But this elite group of women, who - through dynastic succession, democratic election or other means - have reached the heights of political and ceremonial leadership, includes some of the most influential and charismatic figures of world history. "Queen, Empress, Concubine" paints vivid portraits of the lives of 50 extraordinary women who have held positions of executive or ceremonial power throughout history, from the Queen of Sheba to Margaret Thatcher. Each biographical profile sets its subject clearly in the culture and context of its time, enabling author Claudia Gold not only to tell the stories of 50 courageous and fiercely independent women, but also to provide a fascinating and informative alternative social history of the last 3500 years.』
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