From New York Times bestselling author Thomas Perry comes a whip-smart and lethally paced standalone novel, Forty Thieves. Sid and Ronnie Abel are a husband-and-wife detective team, both ex-LAPD. Ed and Nicole Hoyt are assassins-for-hire living in the San Fernando Valley. Except for deadly aim with a handgun, the two couples have little in common--until both are hired to do damage control on the same murder case. The previous spring, a body was recovered from a storm sewer after two days of torrential rain. The corpse was identified as James Ballantine, a middle-aged African American who worked as a research scientist and was killed by two bullets to the back of the head. With the murder case turning cold, Ballantine's former employers bring in the Abels to succeed where the police have failed, while the Hoyts' mysterious contractors want to make sure that the facts about Ballantine's death stay hidden. Dramatic car chases, illicit affairs, and a notorious ring of Eastern European diamond thieves all play into the plot as the book races toward its high-octane climax, and the Abels circle ever closer to the dangerous truth.

A private security agent finds that being branded as the City of Angels’ latest hero could also make her its next victim.…

Justine Poole provides security for wealthy and high-profile Hollywood stars, but that all changes when a job puts her in the limelight. When she prevents a brazen robbery at the Beverly Hills home of two of her clients―killing two of the five armed robbers in the process―she is initially lauded in the media as a local hero. But the spotlight soon puts her in the crosshairs of the crime kingpin behind the burglaries.

Unable to stand the embarrassment of his lackeys having been defeated by a lone woman, Mr. Conger puts in a call to the one man who can make his problems disappear. Known for his swiftness and subtlety, Leo Sealy will kill anyone for a price. All he needs is a name and a face, any starting point to pick up his victim’s trail. Luckily for him, the local news is as eager as he is for any information about the heroic bodyguard―and quick to broadcast their findings, regardless of what it might mean for her safety. But Sealy isn’t prepared for just how quick and resourceful Justine can be...

So begins a cat and mouse game that only Thomas Perry―“master of nail-biting suspense” (Los Angeles Times)―could devise, featuring two characters who know more about deadly pursuit than anyone else in the business. As the hardened killer stalks her, Justine learns that the fickle media landscape can turn its celebration into condemnation at a moment’s notice, and soon finds that public opinion can be every bit as fatal as organized crime.

This book is about research- and evidence-informed educational improvement. It synthesises and reframes the distinct schools of thought within the Educational Effectiveness and Improvement (EEI) fields for a renewed research and professional education agenda. At the book's heart is a problem: that educational improvement is often short-lived, rarely achieved at scale and, as some prominent researchers have argued, mostly illusory. The chapters describe and critique this divided field and reviews, synthesises and reframes the combined knowledge base. Building on this acknowledge of division, the book looks with scepticism, pragmatism and optimism towards the future for solutions in evidence-informed improvement.

Rescue artist Jane Whitefield leads a deadly crime syndicate on a frantic chase with only one winner in this gripping thriller. Jane Whitefield helps people disappear. Fleeing desperate situations, Jane's clients come to her for new identities, new lives where they won't be found. And when people need Jane's services, they come to the old house in rural New York where she was raised. It's there Jane finds Sara, a young woman in serious trouble. Sara's boyfriend found out she had a lover, then made Sara watch as he murdered the man. Acquitted despite Sara's testimony, now he's trying to find her and kill her. Jane can easily outsmart the boyfriend, but he has new friends: a Russian organised crime brotherhood. On learning Sara is with a tall, dark-haired woman who disappears people, the Russians become incredibly interested. They believe Jane's knowledge of past clients could be worth millions. So begins a bloodthirsty chase through the northeastern US, ending up in Maine's Hundred Mile Wilderness. Only one thing is certain: just one party – Jane or her pursuers – will emerge alive. Reviewers on The Left-Handed Twin: 'Another stunner from a modern master' Booklist 'A brooding, peripatetic stunner' Crimereads 'Perry is the best suspense writer in the business' Boston Globe

When a sudden crime wave hits several small midwestern towns, the U.S. Attorney for the region calls on Harry Duncan to investigate. An ex-cop known for his unorthodox methods, Duncan is reluctant to go up against a widespread criminal organization - but the attorney in question is Ellen Leicester, the wife who left him fifteen years earlier, and to her, he can't say no. Initially brought in as a consultant to determine if the racketeering is severe enough to require an all-out investigation by the FBI, Duncan quickly finds himself in conflict with a syndicate far more violent than first suspected. As the investigation develops, he begins compiling a 'murder book,' the notebook in which a detective keeps records, interviews, photos - everything he needs to build his case. But his scrutiny of the gang soon makes Duncan a target. And Ellen, too. A thrilling and suspenseful tour of crime-addled midwestern towns, Murder Book is signature Thomas Perry, with characters you won't soon forget, crisply-described action sequences and breathlessly tense plotting that will keep you racing through the pages.

Rescue artist Jane Whitefield leads a deadly crime syndicate on a frantic chase with only one winner in this gripping thriller. Jane Whitefield helps people disappear. Now the bad guys want to do the same to her. Jane's clients come to her for new identities when they’re fleeing desperate situations. It’s how she meets Sara, a young woman in serious danger who needs to escape. Sara's violent boyfriend found out about her lover, and murdered him in front of her. The killer was acquitted despite Sara's testimony, and now he’s trying to find her to silence her permanently. Jane can easily outsmart him, but he has supporters: a Russian organised crime brotherhood. On learning Sara is travelling with a tall, dark-haired woman who ‘disappears’ people, the Russians become incredibly interested, for Jane's knowledge of past clients could be worth millions. In a bloodthirsty chase ending up in Maine's Hundred Mile Wilderness, one thing is certain: only one group will survive this. Reviews for The Left-Handed Twin: 'Another stunner from a modern master' Booklist 'A brooding, peripatetic stunner' Crimereads 'Perry is the best suspense writer in the business' Boston Globe

A revealing look at the changing role of churches in the decades after the American Revolution. Most Americans today would not think of their local church as a site for arbitration and would probably be hesitant to bring their property disputes, moral failings, or personal squabbles to their kin and neighbors for judgment. But from the Revolutionary Era through the mid-nineteenth century, many Protestants imbued local churches with immense authority. Through their ritual practice of discipline, churches insisted that brethren refrain from suing each other before "infidels" at local courts and claimed jurisdiction over a range of disputes: not only moral issues such as swearing, drunkenness, and adultery but also matters more typically considered to be under the purview of common law and courts of equity, including disputes over trespass, land, probate, slave warranty, and theft. In Law in American Meetinghouses, Jeffrey Thomas Perry explores the ways that ordinary Americans-Black and white, enslaved and free-understood and created law in their local communities, uncovering a vibrant marketplace of authority in which church meetinghouses played a central role in maintaining their neighborhoods' social peace. Churches were once prominent sites for the creation of local law and in this period were a primary arena in which civil and religious authority collided and shaped one another. When church discipline failed, the wronged parties often pushed back, and their responses highlight the various forces that ultimately hindered that venue's ability to effectively arbitrate disputes between members. Relying primarily on a deep reading of church records and civil case files, Perry examines how legal transformations, an expanding market economy, and religious controversy led churchgoers to reimagine their congregations' authority. By the 1830s, unable to resolve doctrinal quibbles within the fellowship, church factions turned to state courts to secure control over their meetinghouses, often demanding that judges wade into messy ecclesiastical disputes. Tracking changes in disciplinary rigor in Kentucky Baptist churches from that state's frontier period through 1845, and looking beyond statutes and court decrees, Law in American Meetinghouses is a fresh take on church-state relations. Ultimately, it highlights an oft-forgotten way that Americans subtly repositioned religious institutions alongside state authority.

Rescue artist Jane Whitefield leads a deadly crime syndicate on a frantic chase with only one winner in this gripping thriller. Jane Whitefield helps people disappear. Fleeing desperate situations, Jane's clients come to her for new identities, new lives where they won't be found. And when people need Jane's services, they come to the old house in rural New York where she was raised. It's there Jane finds Sara, a young woman in serious trouble. Sara's boyfriend found out she had a lover, then made Sara watch as he murdered the man. Acquitted despite Sara's testimony, now he's trying to find her and kill her. Jane can easily outsmart the boyfriend, but he has new friends: a Russian organised crime brotherhood. On learning Sara is with a tall, dark-haired woman who disappears people, the Russians become incredibly interested. They believe Jane's knowledge of past clients could be worth millions. So begins a bloodthirsty chase through the northeastern US, ending up in Maine's Hundred Mile Wilderness. Only one thing is certain: just one party - Jane or her pursuers - will emerge alive. Reviewers on The Left-Handed Twin: 'Another stunner from a modern master' Booklist 'A brooding, peripatetic stunner' Crimereads 'Perry is the best suspense writer in the business' Boston Globe

NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES A finalist for the Barry Award for Best Thriller To all appearances, Dan Chase is a harmless retiree in Vermont with two big dogs and a grown daughter with a life of her own. But most sixty-year-old widowers don't have multiple drivers' licenses, savings stockpiled in banks across the country and two Beretta nanos stashed in the spare bedroom closet. Most have not spent decades on the run. Now, the toppling of a Middle Eastern government suddenly makes Dan Chase, and the stunt he pulled thirty-five years ago as a young hotshot in army intelligence, a priority again. Racing across the country and beyond, Chase must reawaken his survival instincts to contend with the history he has spent his adult life trying to escape, coming face to face with an army veteran-turned-agent who plays the game just as he once did. Edgar Award-winning author Thomas Perry writes thrillers that move 'almost faster than a speeding bullet' (Wall Street Journal) and The Old Man is no exception.

"Irresistible."--"New York Daily News" "Inspired."--"The New York Times Book Review" """Ingenious."--George Pelecanos "Surprising."--"The New York Times" "Brilliant."--Robert B. Parker "Catnip for true fans of the mystery/suspense genre."-- Nelson DeMille Six years ago, Jack Till helped Wendy Harper disappear. Now Till must find her before tango-dancing assassins Paul and Sylvie Turner do.

"As good as [Perry] gets . . . "Silence" entertains until the very last page."--"New York Daily News"

"[Perry]'s at the top of his cat-and-mouse game in "Silence,""--Marilyn Stasio, "New York Times Book Review"THOMAS PERRY is the author of the Jane Whitefield series as well as the bestselling novels "Nightlife," "Death Benefits," and "Pursuit," the first recipient of the Gumshoe Award for Best Novel. He won an Edgar Award for "The Butcher's Boy," and "Metzger's Dog" was a "New York Times" Notable Book of the Year. He lives in Southern California.

In A Small Town, twelve conspirators meticulously plan to throw open all the gates to the prison that contains them, so that more than a thousand convicts may escape and pour into the nearby small town. The newly freed prisoners rape, murder, and destroy the town--burning down homes and businesses. An immense search ensues, but the twelve who plotted it all get away. After two years, all efforts by the local and federal police agencies have been in vain. The mayor and city attorney meet, and Leah Hawkins, a six-foot, two-inch former star basketball player and resident good cop, is placed on sabbatical so that she can tour the country learning advanced police procedures. The sabbatical is merely a ruse, however, as her real job is to track the infamous twelve. And kill them. Leah's mission takes her across the country, from Florida to New York, from California to an anti-government settlement deep in the Ozarks. Soon, the surviving fugitives realize what she is up to, and a race to kill or be killed ensues. Full of exhilarating twists and surprisingly resonant, A Small Town will sweep readers along on Leah's quest for vengeance.

A year after getting shot on a job that took a dangerous turn, Jane Whitefield has settled into the quiet life of a suburban housewife - or so she thinks. One morning, returning from a long run, she's met by an unusual sight: the female leaders of the eight Seneca clans waiting in her driveway. Jane's childhood friend from the reservation is wanted by the police for murder, and the clan mothers believe she is the only one who can find him. So Jane sets out to retrace a journey she took with Jimmy when they were fourteen years old, and soon discovers that the police aren't the only ones after her childhood friend. As the chase intensifies, the number of people caught up in the deadly plot grows, and Jane is the only one who can protect those in danger...

Michael Shaeffer is a retired American businessman, living peacefully in England with his aristocratic wife. But her annual summer party brings strangers to their house, and with them, an attempt on Michael's life. He is immediately thrust into action, luring his lethal pursuers to Australia before venturing into the lion's den - the States - to figure out why the mafia is after him again, and how to stop them. Eddie's Boy jumps between Michael's current predicament and the past, as we glimpse the days before he became the Butcher's Boy, the highly skilled hit man who exacted revenge on some double-crossing clients and started a mob war. He's meticulous in his approach as he attempts to pit two prominent mafia families against each other to eliminate his enemies one by one. But will he be able to escape this new wave of young contract killers, or will the years finally catch up to him?

When Phil Kramer is shot dead on a deserted suburban street in the middle of the night, his wife, Emily, is left with an emptied bank account and a lot of questions. How could Phil leave her penniless? What was he going to do with the money? And, most of all, who was he if he wasn't the man she thought she married?

Jerry Hobart has some questions of his own. It's none of his business why he was hired to kill Phil Kramer. But now that he's been ordered to take out Kramer's widow, he figures there's a bigger secret at work--and maybe a bigger payoff.

As they race to find the secret that Phil Kramer so masterfully hid, both Hobart and Emily must question where their true loyalties lie and how much they owe those who have been unfaithful to them. In "Fidelity, "Thomas Perry delivers another riveting thriller.

A threat is called into the LAPD Bomb Squad and when tragedy ensues, the fragmented unit turns to Dick Stahl, a former Bomb Squad commander who now operates his own private security company. Just returned from a tough job in Mexico, Stahl is at first reluctant to accept the offer, but his sense of duty to the technicians he trained is too strong to turn it down. On his first day back at the head of the squad, Stahl's three-person team is dispatched to a suspected car bomb. And it quickly becomes clear to him that they are dealing with an unusual mastermind - one whose intended target seems to be the Bomb Squad itself. As the shadowy organization sponsoring this campaign of violence puts increasing pressure on the bomb maker and Stahl becomes dangerously entangled with a member of his own team, the fuse on this high-stakes plot only burns faster. The Bomb Maker is Thomas Perry's biggest, most unstoppable thriller yet.

Murder has always been easy for the Butcher's Boy - it's what he was raised to do. But when he kills the senior senator from Colorado and arrives in Las Vegas to pick up his fee, he learns that he has become a liability to his shadowy employers. His actions attract the attention of police specialists who watch the world of organized crime, but though everyone knows that something big is going on, only Elizabeth Waring, a bright young analyst in the Justice Department, can work her way closer to the truth, and to the frightening man behind it. Includes a new Introduction by bestselling author Michael Connelly.

A bomb is more than a weapon. A bomb is an expression of the bomber's predictions of human behavior--a performance designed to fool you into making one fatally wrong move. In The Bomb Maker, Thomas Perry introduces us to the dark corners of a mind intent on transforming a simple machine into an act of murder--and to those committed to preventing that outcome at any cost. A threat is called into the LAPD Bomb Squad and when tragedy ensues, the fragmented unit turns to Dick Stahl, a former Bomb Squad commander who now operates his own private security company. Just returned from a tough job in Mexico, Stahl is at first reluctant to accept the offer, but his sense of duty to the technicians he trained is too strong to turn it down. On his first day back at the head of the squad, Stahl's three-person team is dispatched to a suspected car bomb. And it quickly becomes clear to him that they are dealing with an unusual mastermind--one whose intended target seems to be the Bomb Squad itself. As the shadowy organization sponsoring this campaign of violence puts increasing pressure on the bomb maker, and Stahl becomes dangerously entangled with a member of his own team, the fuse on this high-stakes plot only burns faster. The Bomb Maker is Thomas Perry's biggest, most unstoppable thriller yet.

From the New York Times bestselling author Thomas Perry, "who can be depended upon to deliver high-voltage shocks" (Stephen King), comes a new thriller about an unlikely burglar--a young woman in her 20s--who realizes she must solve a string of murders, or else become the next victim Elle Stowell is a young woman with an unconventional profession: burglary. But Elle is no petty thief--with just the right combination of smarts, looks, and skills, she can easily stroll through ritzy Bel Air neighborhoods and pick out the perfect home for plucking the most valuable items. This is how Elle has always gotten by--she is good at it, and she thrives on the thrill. But after stumbling upon a grisly triple homicide while stealing from the home of a wealthy art dealer, Elle discovers that she is no longer the only one sneaking around. Somebody is searching for her. As Elle realizes that her knowledge of the high-profile murder has made her a target, she races to solve the case before becoming the next casualty, using her breaking-and-entering skills to uncover the truth about exactly who the victims were and why someone might have wanted them dead. With high-stakes action and shocking revelations, The Burglar will keep readers on the edge of their seats as they barrel towards the heart-racing conclusion.

The Third World in Soviet Perspective consists of translations of a representative selection of essays on numerous aspects of the developing areas by prominent and promising Soviet scholars. They deal with Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and range over such subjects as economic development, class relationships, political forces, and agrarian reform, with some discussion of more general problems of Soviet research. Originally published in 1964. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

After two decades protecting innocent victims on the run, and a year after getting shot on a job that took a dangerous turn for the worse, Jane McKinnon, nee Whitefield, has settled into the quiet life of a suburban housewife in Amherst, New York--or so she thinks. One morning as she comes back from a long run, Jane is met by an unusual sight: all eight clan mothers, the female leaders of the Seneca clans, parked in her driveway in two black cars. A childhood friend of Jane's from the reservation, Jimmy, is wanted by the police for the murder of a local white man. But instead of turning himself in, he's fled, and no one knows where he is hiding out. At the clan mothers' request, Jane retraces a walking trip she and Jimmy took together when they were fourteen in hopes that he has gone the same way again. But it soon becomes clear that the police aren't the only ones after him. As the chase intensifies, the number of people caught up in this twisted plot multiplies, and Jane is the only one who can protect those endangered by it. A String of Beads is an addictive, fast-paced thriller about how abandoning the past can sometimes be the hardest thing to do, even when your life--and the life of those you love--depends on it.

The Tombs is the thrilling fourth Fargo adventure by Clive Cussler. It's a prize beyond imagination. When an archaeologist excavating a top secret historical site realizes the magnitude of his discovery he requests help from treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo. And in rushing to join him, the husband and wife team are thrown into their most daring quest to date. The clues point to the hidden tomb of Attila the Hun, the High King who was reportedly buried with a vast fortune of gold and jewels and plunder, a bounty that has never been found. But as Sam and Remi piece together the puzzle, the trail takes them through Hungary, Italy, France, Russia, and Kazakhstan and not to a single tomb, but five. And into the path of deadly danger. They are not the only ones hunting for the High King's riches. The Fargos will find themselves pitted against a thieving group of amateur treasure hunters, a cunning Russian businessman, and a ruthless Hungarian who claims direct descent from Attila himself . . . and will stop at nothing to claim the tombs'riches as his own. Packed with heart-pounding action and boundless invention, The Tombs is an exceptional thriller from the grand master of adventure. The Tombs is the fourth of Clive Cussler's Fargo Adventures, and follows Lost Empire and The Kingdom. Praise for Clive Cussler: 'The guy I read' Tom Clancy

The Mayan Secrets is the exceptional fifth Fargo Adventure novel by Clive Cussler. Mexico, present day: a revelation of precious knowledge from the past has the power to change the course of humanity's future. Treasure-hunting husband and wife team Sam and Remi Fargo are in Central America when they come upon a remarkable discovery - the skeleton of a man clutching an ancient sealed pot. Inside the pot is a well-preserved Mayan book, larger than any previously found by archaeologists. The book contains astonishing information about the Mayans, about their cities, and about mankind itself. The secrets are so powerful that some people would do anything to possess them - as the Fargos are about to find out. Before their adventure is done, men and women will die for the riches contained in the ancient book - and it's just possible that Sam and Remi may be among them . . . With all the breakneck pace, wild imagination and high stakes thrills that Clive Cussler has made his own, The Mayan Secrets proves once again that the World's No.1 Adventure Writer is in a league of his own. It is the latest in the gripping Fargo Adventure series, following the bestselling titles Spartan Gold, Lost Empire, The Kingdom and The Tombs. Praise for Clive Cussler: 'Clive Cussler is hard to beat' Daily Mail 'The guy I read' Tom Clancy 'The adventure king' Daily Express