The Paragon, as the first story written, shows only some of the features and interests that underlie the style of writing. As the stories progress what is revealed about the various characters changes and they become increasingly more complex and interesting in their motives. This interest becomes increasingly apparent after the first dozen stories. While the mystery is intriguing, ultimately character is paramount. Each story contains either some history or science that is accurate for th...

Book 4, The Circle Game. Maigret, newly arrived in England, is given an appointment as a detective by his mentor, Lord Belmont, much to the disgust of those he has to work with. Being thrown a 'bone' (a seemingly hysterical nurse in training thinks her friends, university students, are being murdered) intended to make a mockery of him, results in the unraveling of a gruesome series of cold-blooded murders and though the perpetrators are caught they cannot be prosecuted. By the time Maigret...

The second book in the series: Maigret, while visiting New York at the height of Carter's discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamen, is asked to investigate the death of a lovely socialite at a private party held at the Metropolitan Museum to celebrate the final acquisition of the Three Princesses' jewelry. During the investigation Maigret has several conversations with the principle curator of Egyptian antiquities, Doctor Winlock, perhaps making a contribution of his own to the study of Egypt....

Book 3: After the First World War Maigret returns to France and goes to work for the French Police. He loaths the new director of the S. N., Nardon, since he is one of the asses from the First War that led to the French army mutiny. Over a million men died because there was no adjustment made for the machine gun and other improvements made in the technology of war. As a 'new' recruit Maigret gets the morgue duty, calculated to sicken. That however is not its effect on Maigret. On his first...

After decades, former lovers come face to face in a novel filled with a "suspenseful dread that makes you want to turn every page at locomotive pace" ( St. Louis Post-Dispatch).Cécile, a stylish forty-seven-year-old, has spent the weekend visiting her parents in a provincial town southeast of Paris. By early Monday morning, she's exhausted. These trips back home are always stressful, and she settles into a train compartment with an empty seat beside her. B...

A pair of murders, a romance, and rivals in pursuit of a long-lost vintage car make for another mystery for Bruno, Chief of Police, in this installment in the delightful, internationally acclaimed series featuring Chief of Police Bruno.It’s the start of summer, and Bruno’s found himself the last-minute replacement navigator in a car rally race. The event has attracted a spate of outsiders with deep pockets, big egos and, in the case of one young Englishman, an intr...

Christopher Kruse has moved to the south of France with his wife and daughter to become a better man—to escape his past as a high-priced security agent and his guilt over old wrongs. But after a harrowing accident, he finds himself drawn into a web of political gamesmanship and murder. When his wife disappears, Kruse must draw on his old instincts to find her, ahead of the police and two sinister members of a Corsican crime family. His desperate search leads him closer to his wife, and dee...

Because of his unique heritage, Prince Michael has the opportunity to find out what's happening in the silent European Heavens. He discovers wonder, beauty and a love he thought was lost forever - as well as a threat that could lead to the fall of his home in Asia.

Sam and Bud were ordinary first-time homebuyers in their early thirties. Their intention, in moving to France, was to create a simple life in a place where they could spend time with their children. The home they actually bought was a 17th century chateau in the Loire valley with over thirty rooms.Chateau Du Bonchamps had been the seat of noble families as far back as 1507. With only modest savings, Sam and Bud launched the exciting project of restoring this extraordinary building ...

From the acclaimed writer of the beloved Clara Callan comes a memorable new novel about first loves, love-after-love, and the end of things, set during summer in Quebec City.James Hillyer, a retired university professor whose life was evocatively described in Wright's novel October, is now barely existing after the death of his beloved daughter in her forties. On a whim, he tries to locate the woman he fell in love with so many years ago on a summer trip to Quebec...

One of the hallmarks of French author Patrick Modiano’s writing is a singular ability to revisit particular motifs and episodes, infusing each telling with new detail and emotional nuance. In this evocative novel the internationally acclaimed author takes up one of his most compelling themes: a love affair with a woman who disappears, and a narrator grappling with the mystery of a relationship stopped short. Set in mid-sixties Paris, After the Circus traces the relat...

Helena Rubinstein revolutionised the beauty industry. Her mission was to teach women the importance of skincare and the empowering effect of looking your best. Rubinstein's company was the first to use science in the development of cosmetics, and with her unerring instinct for what customers wanted, she built a beauty empire that spanned the world. A legend in her own lifetime, this is her amazing story.