Showing results by author "M. C" in All Categories

Simon never asked to become the new dungeon master of the Barrow, but a millennia-old teenager stuck in the skull of a dead lich has few life options. After bonding with the Barrow’s dungeon core, he learns they are near death from hunger and only by consuming the life energy and experiences of sentient beings can they survive. Lucky for Simon a party of murderous adventurers invades the Barrow in search of treasure and glory.

She was a bewitching young girl, that pretty Polly Marsh, and she knew it. She also knew that beauty could be her passport into the castles where she had always known she belonged. So she set her sights on a duke and joined the firm of Westerman’s as a stenographer. Surely one of that noble family would notice her, and then all her dreams would come true! The trouble with pretty Polly Marsh was that she just didn’t know her place.

Grab your partner and join the spirits on the dance floor. Scare Street’s latest collection of supernatural horror is a grand ball of fear and nightmares. This sinister collection is bursting with 14 tales of terror - more than enough to keep you dancing with demons all night long.

Grace has a job she loves, a community she adores, and plenty of friends . . . but her lack of bedroom action has left this event planner too horny to think. When one ill-advised night at the bar leads to her giving an exhibitionistic show to an unknown presence outside her bedroom window, she thinks she's hit a new low. When her voyeur turns out to be a nebbishly charming mothman, Grace needs to decide if she can trust her body—and her heart—with this garnet-eyed stranger before he flies out of her life for good.

After years of bullying and cajoling others as a high-flying public relations boss, Agatha Raisin’s early retirement to the picture-postcard village of Carsley in the Cotswolds is a dream come true. And how better to begin making herself a local leading light than by entering the village quiche-making competition? Unburdened by old-fashioned ideas of fair play, the ruthless Agatha decides to ensure she wins by buying her entry from a London delicatessen.

A woman of independent means with a healthy dose of cynicism about those of the male persuasion, Harriet Tremayne is content with her circle of spinster friends and their devotion to literature, women's rights, and intellectual interests. When she determines to undertake the London season for her beautiful but featherbrained niece, however, she concedes she must appear less a bluestocking and more fashionable to successfully sponsor this impossible young lady whose only real desire, is chocolate.

Though Frederica chafed at the restricted life she lived as the adopted daughter of an infamous bluestocking, she did agree with the philosophy. Until men learned to appreciate intellectual equals, Frederica was better off without them. But her sister’s elopement has sparked fires of romance in Frederica’s well-educated head, making her ripe for the considerable charms of Lord Harry Danger, who has saved her from a pack of drunken thugs. Now if he would only treat her as an equal and stop the silly flirting.

Agatha Raisin, retired PR supremo, has been spurned at the alter by the man of her dreams - her attractive neighbor James Lacey. So temporarily deserting the sleepy Cotswold village of Carsely, she pursues her fleeing fiancé to north Cyprus where, instead of enjoying a romantic honeymoon, they witness the killing of an obnoxious tourist in a disco. Can the duo forget their differences and resume their strangely successful sleuthing partnership?

Harper Hollingsworth wasn't looking for a friend. She wanted peace and quiet. Someplace to lose herself in a book and not think about being a misfit; not think about her coven or her disconnect from the craft as her mother taught it. She didn't want to think about her lack of magical ambition, as she was regularly told by her mother's poison-tongued familiar, and more than that—she didn't want to feel. Anything.

Handsome, dashing Henry Wright, the Duke of Westerland, needed a wife in a desperately short period of time. If he could not find a wife, he would lose the legacy he so desperately desired. Young, lovely, but sheltered Miss Frederica Sayers needed a husband just as much as Henry Wright needed a wife, only she needed a husband to save her from the life of shame that almost certainly awaited her when shefled the callous cruelty of her family.

Isabella Beverley is blessed with unparalleled beauty but, unfortunately, has been raised in the most snobbish and haughtiest of families. When her father gambles away their fortune - including Mannerling, the exquisite family mansion - Isabella discovers there is very little sympathy for her plight. As the eldest, Isabella is chosen to court Mr. Judd, the roguish bachelor who won Mannerling. Surely no sacrifice is too great to regain Mannerling? But tempting her away from Mr. Judd is Lord Fitzpatrick, an Irish rake who fears Isabella can never love a man as she does her home.

Lochdubh, a remote village reached only by a one-track lane, nestles serenely amid Scotland's hills … until well-known TV reporter Crystal French races into town in her bright BMW. And Constable Hamish Macbeth, dourly wed to duty instead of the fiancée who dumped him, promptly gives her a summons for reckless driving. Outraged, Crystal makes Macbeth's life a misery with a TV report on policing in the Highlands.

Certainly the two should never have met. The handsome, wealthy Marquess of Rockingham was the most notorious man in London, as infamous for his violent temper as he was for his intemperate ways. Miss Lucinda Westerville was a country vicar's daughter, as innocent as she was lovely and as proper as a young lady could possibly be. Yet when this improbably matched pair met at a glittering social ball, they had struck the dubious bargain to become man and wife.

Annabelle Carruthers can only dream of being kissed by a man as dashing as Lord Darkwood. She remains locked in misery - married to a rakish drunk who gambles their lives into financial and social ruin. His sudden death - and rumors of spies and treachery - only make matters worse. Burdened with gambling debts, Annabelle fears she is on her way to the poorhouse. The only solution she can see is to offer herself up as mistress to the mysterious Lord Darkwood!

Agatha has fallen head over heels in love - again. This time, she has her eye on the local gardener, George Marston, but so do other women in their little Cotswold village. Shamelessly determined, Agatha will do anything to get her man - including footing the bill for a charity ball just for the chance to dance with him. And then George doesn't even show up. Only partly deterred, Agatha goes looking for him, and finds his dead body in a compost heap. Murder is definitely afoot, but this killer chose no ordinary weapon: A poisonous snake delivered the fatal strike.

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death: Putting all her eggs in one basket, Agatha Raisin gives up her successful PR firm, sells her London flat, and samples a taste of early retirement in the quiet village of Carsely and enters a local baking contest. But her recipe for social advancement sours when the judge not only snubs her entry―but falls over dead! Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet: Agatha Raisin hasn't quite adjusted to the slow pace of village life, or to the failure of her overtures to her handsome neighbor, James Lacey.

This volume is the definitive collection of the best science fiction novellas published between 1929 and 1964, containing 11 great classics. No anthology better captures the birth of science fiction as a literary field. Published in 1973 to honor stories that had appeared before the institution of the Nebula Awards, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame introduced tens of thousands to the wonders of science fiction and was a favorite of libraries across the country.

Mrs. Gillespie is famous for being the best maid in the northwest of Sutherland. But to Hamish Macbeth, she is a malicious gossip who bangs around the furniture and clanks pots. When Hamish wins Mrs. Gillespie's services in a church raffle, he spends most of the day trying to avoid her. He doesn't understand how she managed to gain such a fine reputation. Then she is found dead, struck down violently by a metal bucket of water.