This practical introduction to second-order and growth mixture models using Mplus introduces simple and complex techniques through incremental steps.The authors extend latent growth curves to second-order growth curve and mixture models and then combine the two using normal and non-normal (e.g., categorical) data. To maximize understanding, each model is presented with basic structural equations, figures with associated syntax that highlight what the statistics mean, M...

Alcuin of York (735 804 A.D.) was an English scholar, and member of Charlemagnes court. He and other scholars in service of Charlemagne helped lead the Carolingian Renaissance. Lorenzs Life of Alcuin is a fascinating biography of Alcuin, tracing his life chronologically, and assessing his impact.A table of contents is included for easier navigation.

Follow the suspenseful and high-seas adventure of Dixon, a down-and-out boat captain in south Florida. Having lost his own ship gambling, Dixon spends his days drowning his sorrows in drink. It’s a tough way to survive, though, so desperation forces Dixon to make a choice—return to the sea or drown in a tidal wave of decadence and despair. Against his better judgment, he signs on as captain of the Almacor—a ship and crew about which he knows nothing--and learns first-hand about danger and ...

A "whimsical, intricately plotted . . . clever" mystery with the Skeleton Detective in Tahiti from the Edgar Award–winning author ( Entertainment Weekly ).The dead man is the manager of Tahiti's Paradise Coffee Plantation, producer of the most expensive coffee bean in the world, the winey, luscious Blue Devil. Nothing tangible points to foul play behind his fall from a cliff, but FBI agent John Lau, a relative of the coffe...

Maria van Buren, a beautiful, high-class prostitute, is found dead with a knife in her back in her houseboat on an Amsterdam canal. Grijpstra and de Gier must solve the murder. Her tony clients all have sound alibis. Before the murderer is caught, the detectives and their commissaris will investigate allegations of black magic, travel to Curacao, and pursue clues to a chilly island off the coast of Holland.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “One of contemporary literature’s most revered essayists revives her raw records from a 1970s road trip across the American southwest ... her acute observations of the country’s culture and history feel particularly resonant today.” —Harper’s BazaarJoan Didion, the bestselling, award-winning author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Let Me Tell You What I Mean, has always kept notebooks—of overheard dialogue, interv...

Anastasia's tenth year has some good things, like falling in love and really getting to know her grandmother, and some bad things, like finding out about an impending baby brother.

In Deadfall Bill Pronzini's popular "Nameless Detective" returns in his most baffling—and harrowing—case to date. While staked out on a routine car repossession, Nameless all but witnesses the shooting of a San Francisco lawyer, Leonard Purcell. He arrives on the scene in time to hear Purcell's dying words, one of which is "deadfall." But Purcell dies in Nameless's arms before the cryptic word can be explained.The mystery deepens when Nameless discovers that Leonard's brother, Kenn...

The Fine Art of LovingSuave graphic designer Rashad Brown has always held out for what he wants. He likes his women polished and accommodating, because he values his freedom above all else. Then he meets a woman far from his idea of perfect – she has an ex, she has a kid, she defies his expectations. And he can’t get enough of her.From the moment she meets Rashad in art class, coffee shop manager Michelle Johns knows she is in trouble. She came to Washingto...

No more Ms. Nice Girl.Thanks to Nicole Howard's accommodating ways, her life has delivered a whole lot of disappointment. Armed with a pirate queen's autobiography–aka a girl's guide to seduction and sexual empowerment–Nicole heads to the Caribbean determined to unleash her inner diva for a steamy adventure.Hottie Ian Marshall and an almost-deserted island are the perfect ingredients for a little no-strings action. In fact, this fling is giving her everythi...

A memorial.A relic.The greatest ocean liner to sail the Atlantic.The true treasures of the RMS Titanic: her passengers and crew, victims and survivors, trapped in that brief moment when the world's tallest building, its most luxurious hotel, and its grandest expression of wealth could walk on water.In 100 years, the RMS Titanic has only gotten bigger.But there is a forgotten treasure of the Titanic, a spirit, a precious memory that was ignored, and t...

THE TEST OF A MARRIAGEEva Carmichael was talented, beautiful…the girl everyone believed most likely to succeed. When she left her hometown for a new life, she never expected to one day find herself alone and pregnant, her world in ashes.But the Lord never closes a door without opening a window…. For years the young minister Howard Blake have loved Eva from afar. Now he offered to marry her. But Eva had never imagined herself as a minister's wife. And even i...