1976 — a more liberal time for gay men and women than the mid-eighties. That doesn’t mean an easy ride, however, for the central characters of The Colour Of His Hair, Mark, aged eighteen, and Donald, aged seventeen, who fall in love and begin a relationship. When their so-called friends at school find out what is going on, the persecution begins. Donald nearly breaks down under the strain, despite help from an unexpected quarter — his English teacher, who is also gay. But the relationship survives into early adulthood, and ten years on it undergoes some surprising twists and turns in less liberal, AIDS-conscious 1986. The Colour Of His Hair is a return by David Rees to a novel about gay teenagers with whom, according to most critics, he deals more sympathetically and with more insight and understanding than any living novelist.

Private investigator Alan Swansea is back in action as he tracks down a cold-blooded serial killer who has suddenly resurfaced from obscurity. It's been a year since eight-year-old Chloe McPherson was abducted from the school playground and later found dead in the bottom of a ravine. Despite the efforts of the Columbus police to find her murderer, the case goes cold.Now it's up to Swansea to piece together the mystery surrounding Chloe's death and determine if a recent murder is somehow connected. Above all else, he wants to find out what kind of monster murders an innocent child for what appears to be no apparent reason.

In The Music Teacher, a penetrating and richly entertaining look into the heart and mind of a woman who has failed both as an artist and as a wife, Barbara Hall, award-winning creator and writer of such hit television series as Judging Amy and Joan of Arcadia, tells the story of a violinist who has accepted the limitations of her talent and looks for the casual satisfaction of trying to instill her passion for music in others. She gets more than she bargains for, however, when a young girl named Hallie enters her life. For here at last is the real thing: someone with the talent and potential to be truly great. In her drive to shape this young girl into the artist the teacher could never be, she makes one terrible mistake. As a result she is forced to reevaluate her whole life and come to terms with her future.Hall has crafted a thoroughly engrossing novel that examines the pitfalls of failure and holds up a mirror to the face of a culture that places...

The shocking murder of a wounded veteran challenges the investigative skills of ex-chief Samuel Craddock.      Just before the outbreak of the Gulf War, two eighteen-year-old football stars and best friends from Jarrett Creek, Texas, signed up for the army. But Woody Patterson was rejected and stayed home to marry the girl they both loved, while Jack Harbin came back from the war badly damaged. The men haven't spoken since. Just as they are about to reconcile, Jack is brutally murdered. With the chief of police out of commission, it's up to trusted ex-chief Samuel Craddock to investigate. Against the backdrop of small-town loyalties and betrayals, Craddock discovers dark secrets of the past and present to solve the mystery of Jack's death. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Kokopu Dreams

Number 2 in the series. Mars continues to turn green and the population is growing like topsy. Stella Wayward finds information on the Varlindran's ship's computer, which is bad news for all of them. It becomes top priority to prepare for all out war, but with resources stretched to the limit, life becomes hard just to survive. Humans have to be at their inventive best to be ready to defend their new home at all cost. Craggy is in high demand with his logical problem solving skills, but there are surprises ahead even he wasn't prepared for. And the big question is, just how many enemies do the Humans have?

While assembling a new exhibit featuring Art Brut or "Outsider Art," Dulcie encounters an enormously talented and equally troubled young man, Xander Bellamy. An autistic savant, Xander has not communicated with anyone for several months, since his father was sent to prison for the murder of Xander's domineering grandfather. Detective Nicholas Black thought the case was closed until Dulcie came to him with compelling evidence that the real killer was still at large. When evidence had originally pointed to Xander as the murderer, Xander's father had quickly confessed. Did he do this to save his son from being committed to a mental institution for the criminally insane? Xander's battle-axe aunt has come to live with him and, along with long-time family housekeeper Giselle, they see to his needs. But is there more to them than meets the eye? Meanwhile Dulcie seeks to see inside Xander's mind with the help of psychologist Dr. Raymond Armand. However, the ambitious Armand has other...

First discovered in 1900, on clay tablets among the ruins of the Palace of Minos at Knossos, Crete, Linear B script remained a mystery for over fifty years until 1952, when Michael Ventris discovered that its signs did not represent an unknown language as previously believed, but an archaic dialect of Greek, more than 500 years older than the Greek of Homer. This book tells the life story of Michael Ventris, an intriguing and contradictory man, a gifted linguist but a divided soul, together with that of his remarkable decipherment of Linear B. Dubbed the Everest of archaeology, the decipherment was all the more remarkable because Ventris was not a trained classical scholar but an architect who had first heard of Linear B as a schoolboy. An initial fascination became a lifelong obsession.

Emily Hoffman, Ashland Falls' beautiful and reclusive antique shop owner, has been haunted for years by horrifying nightmares that won't go away. These all too real dreams involve a cast of Emily's long deceased family members including her recently departed and abusive father, Charles Hoffman. Emily's plight becomes a hellish ordeal that has all but consumed her when she suddenly meets Lenny Williams, a struggling New York freelance photographer. The mystery surrounding her family's scandalous past begins to unravel as Emily and Lenny join forces but eventually discover that the couple's chance meeting was anything but mere coincidence!