Hodder&Stoughton

Dogs are disappearing from the village, but the Seven are so busy arguing and falling out with each other that they don't even notice. Then poor Scamper becomes the latest victim and it's all systems go for the Secret Seven!

What on earth would the Secret Seven do without Scamper the spaniel? First he discovers an unwanted visitor — then he protects them as they spy on a thief late at night in Bramley Woods!

The Seven are very fond of Tolly and his horse, Brownie, so they're determined to help out when Brownie is sick. But they need to find Tolly and Brownie somewhere to hide out — somewhere that dangerous horse thieves will never find. But where?

Ranging across the whole spectrum of horror in popular culture from the seminal classics of «Count Dracula» and «Frankenstein», Stephen King describes his ideas on how horror works on many levels and how he brings it to bear on his own inimitable novels. Told in the chatty, intelligent style of the course for which this was originally devised, this is a charming book replete with pertinent anecdote and observation.

New wicked humour from the author of the bestselling Bunny Suicide books This Christmas you can finally let your bunnies out of their padded hutches, because Andy Riley doesn't want them anymore. He wants your children! From the creator of the bestselling Bunny books comes more wicked humour — GREAT LIES TO TELL SMALL KIDS. They range from merely bogus to truly cruel: 'Every ant you meet must be named' 'It takes the beaks of seven penguins to make a Penguin biscuit' 'All wind is made by wind farms' 'Wine makes mummy clever' 'Ronald McDonald is dead!' Each hilarious cartoon tells a tall tale to bamboozle kids and entertain wicked adults everywhere.

The scent is unmistakable: the perfume that his beautiful first wife, Jennifer, always wore. Opening his eyes in the hospital room, New Orleans detective Rick Bentz sees her standing in the doorway. But Jennifer died twelve years ago. Once out of the hospital, Bentz begins to see Jennifer everywhere, haunting and taunting him, then vanishing without a trace. Could she still be alive? But it was Bentz who identified her body after the horrible car wreck. He's never doubted it until now. When a copy of Jennifer's death certificate arrives emblazoned with a red question mark, Bentz follows the postmark trail to Los Angeles, straight into a killer's web. Each new discovery only serves as a chilling reminder of how little he really knew about his first wife. Then the murders begin, each victim a part of Jennifer's past, each grisly corpse pointing to Bentz as the prime suspect. A diabolical killer has been waiting patiently, silently. Soon it will be Bentz's turn to suffer for his sins. But he won't be the only one: now his new wife is the killer's prime target.

A hilarious tale from Sunday Times Number 1 bestselling author Wendy HoldenZeb's the darling of Brit Art; the rock n' roll bad boy artist whose works go for bazillions. But can he keep his end up — in every sense — now that his powerful female patron is losing interest? Beth loves art and the traditional gallery she works in and loves her boyfriend, doctor David. But the hospital hours he keeps are putting a strain on the relationship. Marie's pop-star husband was big in the Nineties; he's relaunching his boy band with a vengeance. But where does this leave Marie and her dreams of being a painter? Ben's a brilliant portrait artist but no-one wants his stuff. Why have a picture that actually looks like you when you could have a gold-sprayed prosthetic limb? Disillusioned Ben's reduced to living in the country and holding adult education life classes. But what happened to his life?Then Beth finds herself catapulted into the crazed world of contemporary art. Marie walks into Ben's life class. And the picture changes completely.

At first handsome, freewheeling Clive Cavendish does not appear to be an ideal catch for Julie. But when a whirlwind seduction leads to love and marriage and Clive's ambitious schemes begin to pay off Julie is more than happy to be the wife of an up-and-coming painter and the mother of his children. Anna's suitor, Howard Buskin, is rich, moody and reclusive. He prefers painting Dartmoor's brooding landscapes to courting the beautiful young woman his mother has chosen to be his bride and from the first their uneasy, loveless marriage totters on the brink of crisis. Only when American art collector Teddy Norris enters their lives with a proposal that Howard cannot ignore, and an easy-going charm that sweeps Anna into a tempestous affair, do the sisters begin to question their loyalty to their husbands and to each other. A loyalty that will be tested to the limit on the first, and last, Atlantic crossing of the White Star's new super-liner, the unsinkable Titanic — a voyage not all of them will survive.

At the end of his sorry life, Teddy Everett, reluctant heir to the Everett fortune realises that he may have been at his best when he was 14, the night Kebreth made him a communist by rubbing coffee bean oil on his face. Then he was with Lucy, who gave him Chinese burns and taught him how to smoke. As he remembers his family, his wives (and their lovers) he tries to understand what happened to that boy. Fuelled by caffeine and full of vituperation, this is a riotously original debut of honour, cowardice and bravery.

1859. Unrest is brewing in the South as Emily, an actress from England, arrives in Georgia to begin life with her new husband Charles. On arriving, Emily realises that Charles has been keeping a terrible secret from her — he is a slave-owner. On the surface, Emily appears to reconcile herself to his way of life, whereas in reality she finds herself irrevocably caught up in the lives of the slaves — befriending them, and helping them in secret. But as civil war threatens, Emily's world becomes increasingly divided — and dangerous — and she realises her secret could cost her everything. Set against the brilliantly realised backdrop of the months leading up to the American Civil War, Sugar Island is a story of freedom and of loyalty in a time of chaos.

James Frey isn't like other writers. He's been called a liar. A cheat. A con man. He's been called a saviour. A revolutionary. A genius. He's been sued by readers. Dropped by publishers because of his controversies. Berated by TV talk-show hosts and condemned by the media. He's been exiled from America, and driven into hiding. He's also a bestselling phenomenon. Published in 38 languages, and beloved by readers around the world. What scares people about Frey is that he plays with truth; that fine line between fact and fiction. Now he has written his greatest work, his most revolutionary, his most controversial. The Final Testament of the Holy Bible. What would you do if you discovered the Messiah were alive today? Living in New York. Sleeping with men. Impregnating young women. Euthanizing the dying, and healing the sick. Defying the government, and condemning the holy. What would you do if you met him? And he changed your life. Would you believe? Would you? The Final Testament of the Holy Bible. It will change you. Hurt you. Scare you. Make you think differently. Live differently. Enrage you. Offend you. Open your eyes to the world in which we live. We've waited 2,000 years for the Messiah to arrive. We've waited 2,000 years for this book to be written. He was here. The Final Testament of the Holy Bible is the story of his life.

Everybody knows that governments engage in activities that are top secret and not always carried out by-the-book. They are knows as 'black ops'. But perhaps less well known is that there is a level beyond this, when the very existence of the state is threatened and the situation needs fixing instantly and utterly secretly and probably violently. Sometimes, it's necessary to go 'full black'. And when the USA is in that position, the man most likely to lead the mission is former Navy SEAL Scot Harvath. FULL BLACK finds Harvath in Sweden, executing in an audacious plan to prevent a massive attack on the Unites States by leading a team to capture a suspected terrorist and infiltrate his cell with a double agent.At the same time, Larry Solomon, one of the most famous film producers in Hollywood, is attacked in his home by a special forces-style group of assassins and only escapes with the help of his friend and former Delta Force operative Luke Ralston.In making a documentary film, Solomon has unknowingly exposed one of the world's wealthiest and highly connected power-brokers as a man determined to plunge the West into deadly chaos. Now, both Solomon and Ralston are living on borrowed time.As the plots rocket to their pulse-pounding conclusions, Harvath will be left with only one means to save his country. Unable to trust anyone, he will be forced to go FULL BLACK.

From the very first day that they move to the Oddlode Valley, it's inevitable that young teacher Mo Stillitoe, recently separated socialite Diana Lampeter and cool, retired dressage diva Anke Brakespear will find their lives entangled. Despite their differing generations and backgrounds, the women are on a relocation collision course. As inept removal men deliver furniture — and even horses — to the wrong houses, other moves are being made... Mo's bad boy lover takes Diana's eye, Anke's flirtatious husband immediately suggests Mo hop into bed with him — and Diana's local heart-throb brother comes joyfully face to face with the Danish ice-maiden he posted on his wall as a teenager. As a long, hot Indian summer burns its embers into winter, the newcomers settle into their beautiful frost-hugged surroundings, generating enough heat to melt every heart in Oddlode. New passions ignite and old flames are fanned amid the honeyed villages, enchanted gardens, haunted parkland and raucous country social life. The heat is on, and sparks fly — but is this just a flash in the pan or is somebody fuelling the fire?

A Deputy DA specialising in high-profile cases, Rachel Knight is addicted to her work and fiercely loyal to her friends. But when her colleague Jake is found dead in a seedy Los Angeles hotel room next to the body of a teenage male prostitute, Rachel realises she might not know those around her as well as she thinks. The police want to write off Jake's death as a straightforward murder/suicide. Rachel doesn't believe it's that simple. Warned off the case but determined to track down her friend's killer, the investigation takes her through the dark and tangled city from its wealthy suburbs to its seamy downtown heart. And a truth so dangerous it could kill her.

An ambitious new work investigating Russia's dramatic history. Through the centuries, Russia has swung between successful expansionism, catastrophic collapse and spectacular recovery. This illuminating and accessible history traces these cycles from the late Neolithic age to Ivan the Terrible, and from the height of Communism to the truncated Russian Federation of today. Philip Longworth explores the patterns of Russia's past, from the nameless adventures who first penetrated it to dynamic characters including Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great and Stalin. His narrative takes in the magnificient cities of Kiev, Moscow and St Petersburg; it stretches to Alaska in the east, to the Black Sea and the Ottoman Empire in the south, to the Baltic in the west and to the Arctic Ocean in the north. What is the source of Russia's imperialistic culture? Why was Russia so driven to colonize and conquer? From Klevan Rus' — the first Russian state — to ruthless Muscovy, the Russian Empire of the eighteenth century and finally the Soviet period, this groundbreaking study analyses the growth and dissolution of each empire, and asks what the future holds for Russia and her neighbours.

The first official book by international superstar Lady GagaIn this book of original, behind-the-scenes photographs, acclaimed photographer Terry Richardson follows superstar Lady Gaga during one year of her life, from Lollapalooza through the final show of her Monster Ball tour. During the time period he followed Gaga, Richardson took over 100,000 images and attended more than 30 Monster Ball dates around the world. From the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal rally in Portland, Maine, to the Thierry Mugler show at Maxime, Paris, Richardson captures Lady Gaga as you've never seen her before. A year-long global odyssey — all access, nothing off limits — this is the book Lady Gaga fans have been waiting for.

Calico Joe tells the story of Paul Tracey, a 13-year-old boy from a dysfunctional family, caught in a conflict of loyalties when his troubled baseball-playing father comes face to face with the greatest young player of his age, Joe Castle, and the terrible consequences that follow. Decades later, with his father dying, Paul decides that the tragedy of his youth must be reconciled and attempts to bring the two men together for a final meeting.

England is close to war. Within days the axe could fall on the neck of Mary Queen of Scots, and Spain is already gathering a battle fleet to avenge her. Tensions in Elizabeth I's government are at breaking point. At the eye of the storm is John Shakespeare, chief intelligencer in the secret service of Sir Francis Walsingham. When an intercept reveals a plot to assassinate England's 'sea dragon', Francis Drake, Shakespeare is ordered to protect him. With Drake on land fitting out his ships, he is frighteningly vulnerable. If he dies, England will be open to invasion. In a London rife with rumour, Shakespeare must decide which leads to follow, which to ignore. When a high-born young woman is found mutilated and murdered at an illicit printing house, it is political gunpowder — and he has no option but to investigate. But why is Shakespeare shadowed at every turn by the brutal Richard Topcliffe, the blood-drenched priest-hunter who claims intimacy with Queen Elizabeth herself? What is Topcliffe's interest in a housemaid, whose baby has been stolen? And where do two fugitive Jesuit priests fit into the puzzle, one happy to die for God, the other to kill for Him? From the splendour and intrigue of the royal court, to the sleek warships of Her Majesty's Navy and the teeming brothels of Southwark, Shakespeare soon learns that nothing is as it seems...

It's a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen knew more about marriage than anyone else. Never mind that she never got married herself. It's in the midst of the recession when Kate, a freelance journalist and self-professed Jane Austen addict, finds herself single, unemployed and soon-to-be homeless (not to mention about to turn 40). In desperation she accepts a writing assignment to prove a theory that in the toughest economic times a wealthy man is the only must-have accessory. So, with just Jane Austen's advice for company, she sets off to see if Mr Rich can ever become Mr Right. Her mission takes her to Palm Beach, St Moritz and London. Where, in keeping company with the elite, she meets billionaires, oil tycoons, and generally men who make Mr Darcy look like an amateur. But will rubbing shoulders with men of good fortune ever actually lead her to love?

PI Felix Strange is working his last case. The woman he loves has been taken by Fisher Partners — America's for-profit secret police — and, though he suspects he won't find her, he's going to do the next best thing: kill everyone involved. As he works his way down the list, Strange is offered a secret deal, which could lead him straight to Iris. Across the American South, the militant Sons of David are on the rise. Their leader, the prophet Joshua, promises a new world to replace the sinful old. To free Iris, all Strange has to do is assassinate this new messiah. The problem? He's twelve years old.

From a №1 New York Times bestselling author comes an edge-of-your-seat romantic thriller, in which New Orleans detectives Rick Bentz and Reuben Montoya investigate the murder of a young nun and uncover a serial killer as devious and depraved as they come.

From the Family — pushy mother, long suffering father and sensitive daughter to the nervous adult learner, the yard know it all and dressage diva it pays to know and understand your owner. Only this way can true one maintain a well trained and maintained human. This guide includes all a horse will ever need to know about its owner, it can also be invaluable to any human who is unsure which 'breed' they belong to.

Randall Haight has a secret: when he was a teenager, he and his friend killed a 14-year-old girl. Randall did his time and built a new life in the small Maine town of Pastor's Bay, but somebody has discovered the truth about Randall. He is being tormented by anonymous messages, haunting reminders of his past crime, and he wants private detective Charlie Parker to make it stop. But another 14-year-old girl has gone missing, this time from Pastor's Bay, and the missing girl's family has its own secrets to protect. Now Parker must unravel a web of deceit involving the police, the FBI, a doomed mobster named Tommy Morris, and Randall Haight himself. Because Randall Haight is telling lies...

Theodore Boone is the thirteen year old who knows more about the law than most adult lawyers. He certainly never expected to be the victim of crime himself. But then his bike is vandalised, he's attacked while doing his homework and, worst of all, framed for a robbery. When stolen computer equipment turns up in Theo's school locker, the police start leaning on him hard. And he is the only suspect. What if he is found guilty? What about his dreams of becoming a lawyer? In a race against time, aided by his renegade uncle, Ike, Theo must find the real felon and reveal the true motivation behind the crimes of which he stands accused.