Daedalus Books

The Bin Ladens rose from poverty to privilege as official building contractors of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina; they loyally served generations of kings and princes in the Saudi royal family — until one of their number changed history. Steve Coll is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, and author of the best-seller GHOST WARS.

The first complete book by Tolkien in three decades, this book, edited by Tolkien's son Christopher, reunites fans of «The Hobbit» and «The Lord of the Rings» with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves. This paperback edition includes eight color paintings by Alan Lee and a black-and-white map.

The post-war worlds longest-serving and most storied head of state presents a compelling chronicle of his life. Drawing on more than 100 hours of interviews and including never-before-seen photographs, this work is the definitive record of an extraordinary life lived in turbulent times.

These are the complete wartime correspondence between the leaders of the Allied Forces. Released with the cooperation of the Russian government, these revealing and often starkly frank communiques between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin add to our understanding of the course of World War II an indispensable horde of information. Through them, the reader is afforded a wonderfully intimate insight into the thinking of the three men who led the Allies to victory.

Murder doesn't get more peculiar than this. A lonely hearts killer is targeting middle-aged women at some of England's most well-known pubs. What's even more peculiar, Arthur Bryant happened to see the latest victim only moments before her death — at a pub torn down eighty years ago! It's only the beginning of a case littered with clues that defy everything the veteran detectives know about the profiles of serial killers and the methodology of crime. What do the Knights Templars, the secret history of English pubs, and the discovery of an astounding religious relic have to do with this recent crime spree? More important, do the Peculiar Crimes Units two living legends have enough life left in them to stop a murderous conspiracy...and a deadly cupid targeting one of their own?

This year's collection promises to deliver the same stellar caliber of mystery stories that readers have come to expect from this series. Contributors include James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly, Joyce Carol Oates, and Alice Munro.

An hilarious and sinister tale of dark secrets and secret forces in suburban England from the critically-acclaimed author of 'Giving Up the Ghost'. Alison Hart is a medium by trade: dead people talk to her, and she talks back. With her flat-eyed, flint-hearted sidekick, Colette, she tours the dormitory towns of London's orbital road, passing on messages from dead ancestors: 'Granny says she likes your new kitchen units.' Alison's ability to communicate with spirits is a torment rather than a gift. Behind her plump, smiling and bland public persona is a desperate woman. She knows that the next life holds terrors that she must conceal from her clients. Her days and nights are haunted by the men she knew in her childhood, the thugs and petty criminals who preyed upon her hopeless, addled mother, Emmie. They infiltrate her house, her body and her soul; the more she tries to be rid of them, the stronger and nastier they become. This tenth novel by Hilary Mantel is a witty and deeply sinister story of dark secrets and forces, set in an England that jumps at its own shadow, a country whose banal self-absorption is shot through by fear of the engulfing dark.

In this delightful excursion through the English language, Crystal combines personal reflections, historical allusions, and a traveler's observations to create a mesmerizing and entertaining narrative account with the language and its speakers.

Israel Armstrong, one of literature's most unlikely detectives, returns for more crime solving adventure in this hilarious third novel from the Mobile Library series. Israel has been invited to attend the Mobile Meet in London, the annual mobile library convention, with his irascible companion Ted Carson. Back in the UK, Israel is reunited with his family, and there is much eating of paprika chicken, baklava and the drinking of good coffee. But within only twenty-four hours of their arrival, the mobile library has been nicked. Who on earth would want to steal a thirty-year old rust-bucket of a van, and who can the two men turn to for assistance? Can Mr and Mrs Krimholz, the parents of Israel's childhood rival Adam Krimholz, help them out? Amidst all this mayhem, will Israel and Ted, one of literature's oddest oddball couples, ever make it to the Mobile Meet? In this, his most puzzling, personal and problematic case yet, Israel has never had it so bad! neither has his library.

In a deserted artist's studio in the heart of Rome, detectives stumble upon a scene of shocking brutality: two bodies, freshly killed. Looming over them is a painting that bears all the hallmarks of a Caravaggio: a brilliantly colored canvas depicting a violent tableau of beauty and depravity... In David Hewson's bold new novel of suspense, this grisly discovery sends Detective Nic Costa on a desperate chase through the streets of his city. The consequences are devastating. And for Nic, the case has only just begun. At the crime scene, detectives find a treasure trove of evidence — from fresh blood to lurid photos of dead prostitutes. For Costa, finding the killer who escaped him is intensely personal. But his prime suspect arrogantly hides in plain sight behind a fortress of money, power, and the law. Teaming with an art expert, Costa follows clues hidden in the mysterious Caravaggio canvas. As he moves through a maze of history, he begins to make stunning connections to the present case. And each discovery brings him closer and closer to a secret buried in a priceless work of art, a conspiracy dating back four hundred years — and men who will stop at nothing to protect their own private garden of evil. From modern forensics to the realm of the Medicis, from the force of faith to the corruption of power, The Garden of Evil is a novel steeped in Roman history — and an unforgettable experience in richly atmospheric, modern-day suspense.

Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Now these evocative stories are being re-issued in paperback by Harper Perennial with stunning new jackets. H.M.S. Surprise follows the variable fortunes of Captain Jack Aubrey's career in Nelson's navy as he attempts to hold his ground against admirals, colleagues and the enemy, accepting a mission to convey a British ambassador to the East Indies. The voyage takes him and his friend Stephen Maturin to the strange sights and smells of the Indian sub-continent, and through the archipelago of spice islands where the French have a near-overwhelming superiority. Rarely has a novel managed to convey more vividly the fragility of a sailing ship in a wild sea. Rarely has a historical novelist combined action and lyricism of style in the way that O' Brian does. His superb sense of place, brilliant characterisation, and a vigour and joy of writing lift O'Brian above any but the most exalted of comparisons.

Thank you for the music... It's 1939 and the war in Europe casts a long, all-encompassing shadow. In a sleepy town in Suffolk, the generous and determined widow, La, forms an amateur orchestra to entertain the locals and soothe her own broken heart. She recruits Felix, a refugee from Poland, to play the flute, and a touching friendship emerges. When the war is over and the orchestra disbands, La is left pondering her next move. What role can she play in her community now the war is over? And can she let herself love again? La's Orchestra is another delightful story celebrating friendship and the healing power of music, told with the warmth and charm we've come to love from one of the nation's favourite storytellers.

The reactionary Adjutant General Khrapov, newly appointed governor-general of Siberia and soon-to-be minister of the interior, is murdered in his official saloon carriage on his way from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The killer, disguised as Fandorin, boards the train at Klin, where it has been delayed by snowdrifts on the line. He leaves a knife bearing the initials «CG» (Combat Group) thrust up to the hilt in his victim's chest and escapes through the window of the carriage. Fandorin is first arrested for the crime, but quickly released when the train pulls into Moscow and the General's staff realise their blunder. The murder threatens the career of Prince Dolgorukoi, Moscow's elderly governor-general, and Fandorin's greatest fan. He asks Fandorin to investigate, even though someone new, Prince Pozharsky, has been sent from St. Petersburg to head the investigation. The head of the CG is a man named Mr. Green, the son of a Jewish pharmacist whose family suffered very badly from the pogroms. He bears a grudge and, together with his fellow revolutionaries, seeks vengeance. He is a man of steele, who has toughened himself so much that he is a worthy, and daunting, adversary. However, this is a battle between good and evil and, Fandorin reminds us that two wrongs never make a right, and he battles against Green in a test of will and good versus evil. The mystery surrounds the mole: who is the leak? And what motivates them? This is what Fandorin must find out, even if it means that he places his own lover, the fiery Esfir, unders suspician. In the end, Fandorin becomes so disillusioned that he walks away from promotion, and to the life of a civilian, at last.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian's eagerly awaited second volume of a landmark new history of the U.S. presents the story of America from a compelling and delightfully fresh new perspective.

Donald Westlake turns the world of crime and criminals upside down and has the last laugh in What's So Funny?, his latest comic caper novel. His perennially depressed master thief, John Dortmunder, finds himself involved an impossible crime, one he doesn't want and doesn't believe in and which he'd rather avoid if possible... but a little blackmail goes a long way. All it takes is a few underhanded moves by a tough ex-cop named Eppick to pull Dortmunder into a game he never wanted to play. With no choice, he musters his always-game gang and they set out on a perilous treasure hunt for a long-lost gold and jewel-studded chess set once intended as a birthday gift for the last Romanov czar. Unfortunately for everyone, then and now, he became the last Romanov czar without making it to his own birthday party. From the moment Dortmunder reaches for his first pawn, he faces insurmountable odds...

Our close bond with Great Britain seems inevitable, given our shared language and heritage. But as distinguished historian Kathleen Burk shows in this groundbreaking history, the close international relationship was forged only recently, preceded by several centuries of hostility and conflict that began soon after the first English colony was established on the newly discovered continent. Burk, a fourth-generation Californian and a professor of history in London, draws on her unrivaled knowledge of both countries to explore the totality of the relationship — the politics, economics, culture, and society — that both connected the two peoples and drove them apart. She tells the story from each side, beginning with the English exploration of the New World and taking us up to the present alliance in Iraq. She reveals the real motivations for settling North America, the factors that led to Britain's losing the colonies, and the reasons why hawks in Congress took the two countries to war again in 1812. Indeed, war between Britain and the United States loomed again later in the nineteenth century, and it took common enemies to bring them together in the twentieth. But the anchor of the alliance was human. Nineteenth-century British writers celebrated American energy while scorning its vulgarity; American writers appreciated the British sense of tradition while criticizing its aristocracy. Yet social reformers on both sides of the ocean worked together to end slavery and achieve female suffrage. Since 1945, the world has watched and wondered at the close bonds of the leaders — Kennedy and Macmillan, Reagan and Thatcher, and Bush and Blair. The first joint history of its kind, Old World, New Worldis a vivid, absorbing, and surprising story of one of the longest international love-hate relationships in modern history.

Have the drive, but need the know how to start and run a business? This book is for you! Named a Top 10 Career Book of 2005 by Joyce Lain Kennedy, syndicated careers columnist. If your pastime and passion has started bringing in money, you may be wondering, Am I in business — and if so, how do I run it?. Feeling nervous? Don't! Thousands of people who knew absolutely nothing about business are now reaping the benefits of their hard work — and experiencing the satisfaction of succeeding on their own. You can, too — and Whoops! I'm in Business will show you how. Let it guide you through the entire business lifecycle. You'll find answers to the unknowns that may be holding you back, such as: Is this the right business for me? Should I quit my day job? What do I really need to know about bookkeeping? Do I need licenses and permits? Where do I get them? Can I borrow money? How? What do I need to know about contracts? What should I know about income taxes? and many more... Whoops! I'm in Business is packed with practical tips, resources and the stories of people who made the transition from business newbie to successful entrepreneur. Don't wonder about what to do with your idea any longer — find answers in this book!

Dispatches from the new Britain: a slyly funny and compulsively readable portrait of a nation finally refurbished for the twenty-first century. Sarah Lyall, a reporter for the New York Times, moved to London in the mid-1990s and soon became known for her amusing and incisive dispatches on her adopted country. As she came to terms with its eccentric inhabitants (the English husband who never turned on the lights, the legislators who behaved like drunken frat boys, the hedgehog lovers, the people who extracted their own teeth), she found that she had a ringside seat at a singular transitional era in British life. The roller-coaster decade of Tony Blair's New Labor government was an increasingly materialistic time when old-world symbols of aristocratic privilege and stiff-upper-lip sensibility collided with modern consumerism, overwrought emotion, and a new (but still unsuccessful) effort to make the trains run on time. Appearing a half-century after Nancy Mitford's classic Noblesse Oblige, Lyall's book is a brilliantly witty account of twenty-first-century Britain that will be recognized as a contemporary classic.

The famous inventor of Gonzo journalism portrayed as never before, both his charisma and his adventurous work. Hunter S. Thompson detonated a two-ton bomb under the staid field of journalism with his early magazine pieces and revelatory Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing campaign coverage in Rolling Stone, When Thompson was on, there was no one better at capturing who Americans were and what America was, be it in politics, at the Kentucky Derby, or in the Hells Angels' lair. William McKeen became friends with Thompson after writing a monograph on his journalism. McKeen now has interviewed many of Thompson's associates who wouldn't speak before, from childhood friends to colleagues, to assistants who sat around the Woody Creek, Colorado, kitchen control room late at night when Thompson did most of his work. McKeen gets behind the drinking and drugs to show the man and the writer — one who was happy to be considered an outlaw but took the calling of journalism as his life. 16 pages of photographs.

From a master military historian comes a riveting, impeccably informed chronicle of the last year of the Pacific war — an illumination addition to the annals of World War II. of photos

As the creator of Sherlock Holmes, the world's most famous man who never was, Arthur Conan Doyle remains one of our favorite writers; his work is read with affection--and sometimes obsession — the world over. Doctor, writer, spiritualist: his life was no less fascinating than his fiction. Conan Doyle grew up in relative poverty in Edinburgh, with the mental illness of his artistically gifted but alcoholic father casting a shadow over his early life. He struggled both as a young doctor and in his early attempts to sell short stories, having only limited success until Sherlock Holmes became a publishing phenomenon and propelled him to worldwide fame. While he enjoyed the celebrity Holmes brought him, he also felt that the stories damaged his literary reputation. Beyond his writing, Conan Doyle led a full life, participating in the Boer War, falling in love with another woman while his wife was dying of tuberculosis, campaigning against injustice, and converting to Spiritualism, a move that would bewilder his friends and fans. During his lifetime Conan Doyle wrote more than fifteen hundred letters to members of his family, most notably his mother, revealing his innermost thoughts, fears and hopes; and Russell Miller is the first biographer to have been granted unlimited access to Conan Doyle's private correspondence. The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle also makes use of the writer's personal papers, unseen for many years, and is the first book to draw fully on the Richard Lancelyn Green archive, the world's most comprehensive collection of Conan Doyle material. Told with panache, The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle is an unprecedentedly full portrait of anenduringly popular figure.

An international cabal drives Volk back to blood-soaked Chechnya, where he confronts an old nemesis and reunites with his lost love in this gripping sequel to the acclaimed series debut. The headquarters of an American oil company hemorrhages chemical-pink smoke into the Moscow night, the aftermath of an apparent terrorist attack. A Russian army captain carrying a priceless Faberge egg and digital evidence of horrific wartime atrocities is murdered and relieved of both these prizes. And in the snowy mountains of southern Russia, a terrorist named Abreg — who once held Volk captive in a Chechen mud pit — hatches a plan to lure him back into his grasp. Volk's Shadow finds Colonel Alexei Volkovoy — covert agent of the Russian army and major player in the Moscow underworld — once again struggling to stay afloat in the swirling currents of Russian political and economic intrigue. This time, however, he is without his sidekick and lover, the ethereal Valya Novaskaya. Aching for the soul mate he pushed away, Volk begins to doubt himself, becoming even more detached from the brutality of his actions. When he takes out his inner pain on the wrong man, he gains a powerful enemy in the highest reaches of the Kremlin, and only after he travels back to Chechnya to eliminate his old nemesis, Abreg, is Volk's debt finally repaid.

From the reign of Tsar Nicholas II to the brutal cult of Stalin to the ebullient, uncertain days of perestroika, nowhere has the inextricable relationship between politics and culture been more starkly illustrated than in twentieth-century Russia. In the first book to fully examine the intricate and often deadly interconnection between Russian rulers and Russian artists, cultural historian Solomon Volkov (who experienced firsthand many of the events he describes) brings to life the human stories behind some of the greatest masterpieces of our time. Here is Tolstoy, who used his godlike place among the Russian people to rail against the autocracy, even as he eschewed violence; Gorky, the first native writer to openly welcome the revolution and who would go on to become Stalin's closest cultural advisor; Solzhenitsyn, who famously brought the horrors of the Soviet regime to light. Here. too, are Nabokov, Pasternak, Mayakovsky, Akhmatova. In each case, Volkov analyzes the alternate determination and despair, hope and terror borne by writers in a country where, in Solzhenitsyn's maxim, a great writer is like a second government. This is also the story of the nation's leading lights in painting, music, dance, theater, and cinema — Kandinsky and Malevich, Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky, Diaghilev and Nijinsky, Stanislavsky and Meyerhold, and Eisenstein and Tarkovsky — and the ways in which their triumphs influenced, and were influenced by, the leadership of the time. With an insider's insight, Volkov describes what it was like to work under constant threat of arrest, exile, or execution. He reminds us of the many artists who were compelled to live as emigres, and explores not only their complicated relationships with their adopted countries but Russia's love-hate relationship with Western culture as a whole — a relationship that has grown increasingly charged in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. Epic in scope and intimate in detail, The Magical Chorus is the definitive account of a remarkable era in Russia's complex cultural life.

Tolstoy's tumultuous tale of passion and self-discovery marks a turning point in the author's career. His compelling, emotional saga recounts the effects of nonconformist behavior — a society woman's adulterous affair and a landowner's unconventional quest for a meaningful existence — against a backdrop of late 19th-century Russia.