This eBook is the fourth in a series and serves as a companion and guide to the pioneering book, Understanding Laughter and Humor: Why We Laugh, Why We Don't, and Why It Matters, published by Palgrave Macmillan. Inside, readers will learn how to use the Mutual Vulnerability Theory of Laughter to comprehend and appreciate cognitive humor—instances when memory, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities fall short of that which might be considered "normal." Such shortcomings oft...

This eBook is the first of a series that will serve as companions and guides to the groundbreaking book, Understanding Laughter and Humor: Why We Laugh, Why We Don't, and Why It Matters, published by Palgrave Macmillan. Inside, readers will discover how to use the Mutual Vulnerability Theory of Laughter to comprehend and appreciate a wide range of amusing stimuli, from the simplest of puns to the most elaborate practical jokes, and everything in between. Laughter and humor are cor...

Late on a spring night in 1920, five boys cross the Yorkshire dales to the ruins of Fountains Abbey, intent on raising the devil. Instead, they stumble over the devil himself, sitting there watching them. Terrified, they run for their lives, leaving behind a book on alchemy stolen from their schoolmaster. The next morning, a body is discovered in the cloisters of the abbey—a man swathed in a hooded cloak and wearing a gas mask.Scotland Yard dispatches Inspector Rutledge to find out...

Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge seeks a killer who has eluded Scotland Yard for years in this next installment of the acclaimed New York Times bestselling series.An astonishing tip from a grateful ex-convict seems implausible—but Inspector Ian Rutledge is intrigued and brings it to his superior at Scotland Yard. Alan Barrington, who has evaded capture for ten years, is the suspect in an appalling murder during Black Ascot, the famous 1910 royal horserace honoring the late Kin...

David Copperfield is the quintessential novel by England's most beloved novelist. Based in part on Dickens's own life, it is the story of a young man's journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist. Among its gloriously vivid cast of characters, he encounters his tyrannical stepfather, Mr. Murdstone; his formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood; the eternally humble yet treacherous Uriah Heep; the frivolous, enchanting Dora; a...

Three men have been murdered in a Sussex village, and Scotland Yard has been called in. It's a baffling case. The victims are soldiers who survived the horrors of the Great War only to meet a ghastly end in the quiet English countryside two years later. Each had been garroted, with small ID disks left in their mouths. But even Scotland Yard's presence doesn't deter this vicious and clever killer. Shortly after Inspector Ian Rutledge arrives, a fourth soldier is found dead. With few clues t...

In this absorbing new entry in the acclaimed New York Times bestselling series, Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge is caught up in a twisted web of vengeance and murder.On the north coast of Cornwall, an apparent act of mercy is repaid by an arrest for murder. Four young women have been accused of the crime. A shocked father calls in a favor at the Home Office. Scotland Yard is asked to review the case.However, Inspector Ian Rutledge is not the first Inspector to reach t...

*This is what they told me a long time ago.Only make contact in the event of an emergency.Only telephone if you believe that your position has been fatally compromised.Under no circumstances are you to approach us unless it is absolutely necessary in order topreserve the security of the operation.This is the number.*Alec Milius is young, smart, and ambitious. He also has a talent for deception. He is working in a dead-end job when a chance enc...

In the 1840s Charles Dickens wrote 5 short stories with strong social and moral messages. The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home, is the third of these stories. Following the home life of John Peerybingle, the story introduces the many people in John's family and life along with a cricket that acts as the guardian angel of the family. Like its predecessors, this story also contains heavy social and moral implications. However it differs from A Christmas Carol and The Chimes, in th...

The Chimes, the second of Charles Dickens' five Christmas books, first appeared in 1844, a year after the tremendous success of A Christmas Carol. Like its predecessor, this novella blends the magical with the moral, crafting a tale that is both an enchanting fable and a searing critique of Victorian society. Set on New Year’s Eve, The Chimes takes readers on a journey through themes of poverty, injustice, and the redeeming power of hope and human kindness.

Dickens' first historical novel is set in 1780s England at the time of the Gordon Riots. In a case of mistaken identity, Barnaby Rudge—a pale half-wit with long red hair who dresses all in green and carries a large raven on his back—is arrested as the leader of a mob of anti-Catholic rioters. He is condemned to death on the gallows, but an upright locksmith named Gabriel Varden comes to his aid.Set beneath the cloud of an unsolved murder, this classic tale of treachery and forbidde...

Charles Dickens wrote The Cricket on the Hearth in 1845, at a time when the warmth of hearth and home was a cherished ideal, providing comfort amidst the rapid changes of Victorian England. Unlike Dickens’ earlier social critiques, this novella is a quieter, more introspective work—a celebration of domestic life, love, and the enduring power of hope. Through the tale of the Peerybingle family and their trials, Dickens invites readers into a cozy household where even the smallest, ...