Presiding Over the Damned

Presiding Over the Damned PDF Author: Liam Sweeny
Publisher: Down & Out Books
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
An arson in New Rhodes reveals the body of Julia Mae Jefferson, an eight-year-old African American girl in the city’s North Central District. Jack LeClere, the top homicide detective in the New Rhodes Police Department, is paired with a new partner for the case, Clyde Burris, a former New York City homicide-turned-New Rhodes PD Internal Affairs detective. Jack and Burris have a mutual distrust of each other, but that’s the least of their worries. In the heat of the ashes of that row-house, the search for a brutal killer awaits. New Rhodes is a city on the edge. An influx of new police recruits aren’t adjusting to the community they serve. A fight during a protest at a defunded community center begins a back-and-forth struggle between the New Rhodes Police and the North Central community that threatens the relationships that Jack and Burris need to find leads in Julia Mae’s case, including the already fractured relationship with the community’s lead activist, Marcus Ellison. A well-intentioned move by Jack to help with her funeral backfires as Ellison discovers the true nature of her murder that same day. Julia Mae’s world was one of neglect—of a child, and in fact, many of the North Central children—falling through the cracks. Jack and Burris follow her through those cracks and discover an underbelly of abuse and an industry of exploitation in the guise of a daycare center called Mount Vision. Jack and Burris, through their own struggle to build trust in a city where little can be found, find something that even the most cynical activists could never have imagined—a true wolf in sheep’s clothing, and a monster with an SS tattoo and a rebel flag in his window. To give Julia Mae justice, Jack, Burris and Marcus Ellison must make a temporary peace, and the city must come face-to-face with the fruits of its indifference. Praise for PRESIDING OVER THE DAMNED: “Presiding Over the Damned is a journey into the heart of darkness. Lucky for us Detective Jack LeClere is our fearless guide through the shadows.” —S. A. Cosby, author of My Darkest Prayer “Holy Moley! I was just going to read the first chapter of Liam Sweeny’s new novel, Presiding Over the Damned, and seven hours later, I finished it. What a page turner! Not since Peter Benchley’s Jaws have I had a novel pull me into the story with such voracity that I was afraid to stop reading, lest I miss what was coming next! The characters are crafted so skillfully that I felt I knew them, maybe I’ve even worked with them. Even the criminals seemed familiar. The story is so skillfully written, it almost seemed like Liam had worked with me at some point. On a scale from one to ten stars, I give this novel ten stars and highly recommend it to everyone.” —Michael G. Edwards, author of the Mike J. Rock, NYPD Homicide series “Take a deep breath before cracking the spine of Liam Sweeny's latest Jack LeClere novel, Presiding Over the Damned. It will be a while before you draw another one. Jack LeClere returns, hits the ground running, and races the reader through a deliciously twisted plot peppered with whip-crack dialogue amid breakneck pacing. If you have to pick one detective novel for 2018, make it Liam Sweeny's Presiding Over the Damned. Sweeny continues to deliver and should be on everyone's Must Read list.” —Eryk Pruitt, Anthony-nominated author of What We Reckon “Jack LeClere is a cop you want on your side. Liam Sweeny is a writer you want on your bookshelf. Presiding Over the Damned, more than a great addition to the LeClere series: a book that will not only gut you, but one you can't help but cheer on.” —Beau Johnson, author of The Big Machine Eats “Presiding Over the Damned is more than just a flash-bang police procedural; it’s also unafraid to plunge into some of the roughest, toughest issues of our time. If you’re a fan of Michael Connelly or George Pelecanos, you’re going to dig the heck out of this.” —Nick Kolakowski, author of Boise Longpig Hunting Club “Fast and violent like a fire, strong like Jack LeClere’s knuckles, and as brutal as a kid in a body bag, Liam Sweeny’s prose is a pleasure to read. Here’s an author doing the thing instead of talking about it, and he does it in a commanding manner and with an undeniable touch of swag. This is solid crime fiction done right.” —Gabino Iglesias, author of Zero Saints “Sweeney’s Presiding Over the Damned is a finely tuned crime fiction piece of powerful and provocative writing. The dialogue roars with authenticity, the tension is thick and the story is marinated in reality. If you are a fan of hard boiled crime fiction moving at the speed of a bullet, you’ll want to read this book. Sweeney’s books will certainly occupy a prominent place on my bookshelf.” —Pam Stack, host, Authors on the Air

Presiding Over the Damned

Presiding Over the Damned PDF Author: Liam Sweeny
Publisher: Down & Out Books
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
An arson in New Rhodes reveals the body of Julia Mae Jefferson, an eight-year-old African American girl in the city’s North Central District. Jack LeClere, the top homicide detective in the New Rhodes Police Department, is paired with a new partner for the case, Clyde Burris, a former New York City homicide-turned-New Rhodes PD Internal Affairs detective. Jack and Burris have a mutual distrust of each other, but that’s the least of their worries. In the heat of the ashes of that row-house, the search for a brutal killer awaits. New Rhodes is a city on the edge. An influx of new police recruits aren’t adjusting to the community they serve. A fight during a protest at a defunded community center begins a back-and-forth struggle between the New Rhodes Police and the North Central community that threatens the relationships that Jack and Burris need to find leads in Julia Mae’s case, including the already fractured relationship with the community’s lead activist, Marcus Ellison. A well-intentioned move by Jack to help with her funeral backfires as Ellison discovers the true nature of her murder that same day. Julia Mae’s world was one of neglect—of a child, and in fact, many of the North Central children—falling through the cracks. Jack and Burris follow her through those cracks and discover an underbelly of abuse and an industry of exploitation in the guise of a daycare center called Mount Vision. Jack and Burris, through their own struggle to build trust in a city where little can be found, find something that even the most cynical activists could never have imagined—a true wolf in sheep’s clothing, and a monster with an SS tattoo and a rebel flag in his window. To give Julia Mae justice, Jack, Burris and Marcus Ellison must make a temporary peace, and the city must come face-to-face with the fruits of its indifference. Praise for PRESIDING OVER THE DAMNED: “Presiding Over the Damned is a journey into the heart of darkness. Lucky for us Detective Jack LeClere is our fearless guide through the shadows.” —S. A. Cosby, author of My Darkest Prayer “Holy Moley! I was just going to read the first chapter of Liam Sweeny’s new novel, Presiding Over the Damned, and seven hours later, I finished it. What a page turner! Not since Peter Benchley’s Jaws have I had a novel pull me into the story with such voracity that I was afraid to stop reading, lest I miss what was coming next! The characters are crafted so skillfully that I felt I knew them, maybe I’ve even worked with them. Even the criminals seemed familiar. The story is so skillfully written, it almost seemed like Liam had worked with me at some point. On a scale from one to ten stars, I give this novel ten stars and highly recommend it to everyone.” —Michael G. Edwards, author of the Mike J. Rock, NYPD Homicide series “Take a deep breath before cracking the spine of Liam Sweeny's latest Jack LeClere novel, Presiding Over the Damned. It will be a while before you draw another one. Jack LeClere returns, hits the ground running, and races the reader through a deliciously twisted plot peppered with whip-crack dialogue amid breakneck pacing. If you have to pick one detective novel for 2018, make it Liam Sweeny's Presiding Over the Damned. Sweeny continues to deliver and should be on everyone's Must Read list.” —Eryk Pruitt, Anthony-nominated author of What We Reckon “Jack LeClere is a cop you want on your side. Liam Sweeny is a writer you want on your bookshelf. Presiding Over the Damned, more than a great addition to the LeClere series: a book that will not only gut you, but one you can't help but cheer on.” —Beau Johnson, author of The Big Machine Eats “Presiding Over the Damned is more than just a flash-bang police procedural; it’s also unafraid to plunge into some of the roughest, toughest issues of our time. If you’re a fan of Michael Connelly or George Pelecanos, you’re going to dig the heck out of this.” —Nick Kolakowski, author of Boise Longpig Hunting Club “Fast and violent like a fire, strong like Jack LeClere’s knuckles, and as brutal as a kid in a body bag, Liam Sweeny’s prose is a pleasure to read. Here’s an author doing the thing instead of talking about it, and he does it in a commanding manner and with an undeniable touch of swag. This is solid crime fiction done right.” —Gabino Iglesias, author of Zero Saints “Sweeney’s Presiding Over the Damned is a finely tuned crime fiction piece of powerful and provocative writing. The dialogue roars with authenticity, the tension is thick and the story is marinated in reality. If you are a fan of hard boiled crime fiction moving at the speed of a bullet, you’ll want to read this book. Sweeney’s books will certainly occupy a prominent place on my bookshelf.” —Pam Stack, host, Authors on the Air

Presiding Over the Damned

Presiding Over the Damned PDF Author: Liam Sweeny
Publisher: Jack LeClere
ISBN: 9781948235150
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
PRESIDING OVER THE DAMNED, a Jack LeClere Crime Novel by Liam Sweeny. 2nd in series.

The Book of the Damned

The Book of the Damned PDF Author: Charles Fort
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
ISBN: 1613106424
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
"Time travel, UFOs, mysterious planets, stigmata, rock-throwing poltergeists, huge footprints, bizarre rains of fish and frogs-nearly a century after Charles Fort's Book of the Damned was originally published, the strange phenomenon presented in this book remains largely unexplained by modern science. Through painstaking research and a witty, sarcastic style, Fort captures the imagination while exposing the flaws of popular scientific explanations. Virtually all of his material was compiled and documented from reports published in reputable journals, newspapers and periodicals because he was an avid collector. Charles Fort was somewhat of a recluse who spent most of his spare time researching these strange events and collected these reports from publications sent to him from around the globe. This was the first of a series of books he created on unusual and unexplained events and to this day it remains the most popular. If you agree that truth is often stranger than fiction, then this book is for you"--Taken from Good Reads website.

The "Summa Theologica" of St. Thomas Aquinas ...

The Author: Saint Thomas (Aquinas)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Theology
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description


The Army of the Undead: Alternate Reality

The Army of the Undead: Alternate Reality PDF Author: Ronald Wintrick
Publisher: Ronald Wintrick
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 509

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Book Description
Favel's lower half fell away, kicking and thrashing, rolling across the cobblestones, then somehow managed its feet. A black gush of blood poured out of Favel's upper half, which still clung to the soldier, still feasting on the soldier's face. The man still screamed. His knife still plunged into Favel impotently. The soldier who had chopped Favel in half stepped back in horrific incomprehension. The look on his face would have taken tomes to describe. Then he spewed his guts in an explosive convulsion that sprayed over the two struggling men, but neither seemed to notice. At the last moment the soldier's head turned in time to notice the approach of the pair of legs. He swung his sword and chopped down through the hips and separated the two legs, which fell away from one another but continued to struggle on. When he came upon the first combatants, the Necromancers were nowhere to be seen. There was heavy fighting but the men seemed to be slowly overwhelming the Ignacian, fighting in a Line Formation where they could more easily bring their swords and axes into service. The men were steadily falling back, but that was only so that they did not have to walk among the fallen body parts of the enemy, which continued to fight even when cleaved to individual pieces. A legless torso would clamber forward and attempt to climb a man, and would have to be chopped away. When one of their own fell, the men turned and chopped their own comrade to pieces, even if he was not completely dead. The merest scratch by one of the Ignacian was a death sentence that arrived only minutes later, and as gruesome as it might seem to chop apart your own comrades, it was a duty that had to be done. The men continued to fall back, but the Ignacian were taking a heavy toll. The now tireless team pulling the woman's wagon followed them like lost dogs, but the woman and her children leaped out onto the first unwary humans they encountered. It was an amusing game to watch the Ignacian tear into the helpless people. There were many variations of the game. Kill one among a family and watch as the others rush to see what is wrong. Kill the child in the mother's arms and watch laughing as it rips off the breast it was feeding on. They rode into the city, killing and killing as they went, the chain reaction now unstoppable. Moruv nodded uncertainly. Since when did the Warlord make inspections of his land? Since when did he go anywhere without an armed escort? A sizable one at that! Who was the tall stranger with him? Moruv had the strangest sensation while looking at him that his face had wavered and rippled! Ridiculous of course, but after yesterday's events, Moruv was looking at the world with an entirely new viewpoint, one in which previously impossible things had just become the possible. He was sure that nothing could now surprise him, but he was wrong. The Ignacian poured forward over the lip of the trench, the front rows just falling in as their uncoordinated movements tumbled them forward. Some tried to step in, or jump down, but they could not accomplish anything so complicated. They continued to march forward into the opening until they had filled the trench and then their comrades walked over their bodies, into the bristling pikes. When he reached their point of origin, the westernmost end of the Big Wood's Road, and found that the Ignacian element had not yet reached the fortifications which had been erected there, he floated over the unknowing Army and the Sisters arrayed there to defend their breastworks and watched the Ignacian finish closing the short distance to the waiting Army. Lives would certainly be lost this day but Lester needed to see what kind of a defense the flesh and blood soldiers would be able to pose against their undead adversaries. His timing had been nearly perfect and he did not have to wait long. Daghula and the rest of the Necromancers were all alike in that regard- they thought they were too good to bow and grovel before their true Master! Malton was not impeded by such arrogant shortcomings. He knew and understood Sheitan's superiority. When that eventual day came he would grovel happily, in blissful acceptance of his fate, at the Master's feet. The Master would be pleased with him. He would pet him and croon to him as Malton groveled. No. Malton did not fear that eventual day. Not in the least. She was on the field of battle. All around her raged unceasing combat, men and women, even children, battling the undead Ignacian, and every time one of the living fell, mortally wounded, he rose immediately as one of the enemy, to strike down those he had just stood with, his loved ones, his own family. Jana was fighting with her short sword and Casting Wizard's Fire but there was little room in the melee for the use of it without fear of hitting the living. For as far as she could see, in every direction, there was nothing but the heaving bodies of those engaged in mortal combat, then the old woman's eyes seemed to withdraw and Jana reeled away. Cloudless and as bright as any night could hope to be under the brilliance of the billions of stars above, Daghula cast an illusion which made him invisible then drew the great Black Sword which Sheitan himself had given him, buried within the heart of a great volcanic rock which even his spells had been unable to dislodge; he had chipped the rock away by hand to expose the hungry blade, this direct Channel to the Lower Plane and Sheitan himself. He drew it now and felt it quiver in his hand, as if it were a thing alive unto itself, but it was not, it merely conveyed the hunger of its Master. For those who it consumed there could be no salvation, their souls sent directly to the Lower Plane, no matter what life they lived while here. "It was the Wizard Timan! He attacked me in Specter Form!" Nimian snarled. Everything unknown in life became clear after death when the soul's unlimited ability to comprehend was released from its limiting physical bonds. It would also make the torments of Hell that much more acute. "It be." Old Woman said. She had been called Old Woman for so long that she had completely forgotten her given name. She had bounced Hirren, their hot tempered King, on her knees when he was but a babe as she had bounced Hirren's father before him, and his father before him, and even beyond that, though her memory no longer served her well enough to remember just exactly how long she had been alive. The days just continued to pass and she continued to move through them. She was Old Woman. "The Balance," Marea emphasized, "is contingent upon toil and struggle. The future depends on Right and Justice, but Righteousness must come to its own as must Discord and Rebellion. The day will come, eventually, when Discord and Rebellion must finally cease to exist, but that cessation must be brought about by the hand of man. This is our world, and if we wish to keep the Good which is within it, we will have to fight for it. Excerpts; -"You don’t think the war in Parce will reach us here, do you, mum?" Timan asked, not really knowing what he expected, but in no way expecting the reaction she did have. The smile fell from her lips, the joy left her eyes, and clouds of sorrow seemed to cross her countenance. .......... -"Those who came through here last week claimed to be fleeing an Army of the Undead. An Army of the Undead led by a Necromancer they called Daghula Ichorious." "Not led," Marea corrected, "but forced through Evil spells from their very graves to rise and do the Necromancer’s bidding. They do not follow willingly. No one rises from their grave willingly." "You speak of it as if you know of such things!" Timan said, causing his mother to blanch slightly, as if this were a subject she had not wanted raised. Not ever. "Your mother was not always a farmer’s wife and a mother. She was once a very well-known Sorceress of not inconsiderable Power!" Jarod said, a small smile now twisting his lips, and something else was there, as well. A certain deference Timan had never noticed before but now that he had noticed it, realized it had always been there. He had always thought highly of his parent’s relationship, which was of a much more equal nature than some of the other Prairie folk, and now he seemed to understand why and also to have a new respect for his father. It would take a special man to marry a woman who possessed Power enough to overpower him if they should ever come to arguing. Timan was old enough to understand how difficult that would be for most men, but not, apparently, his father. .......... Timan immediately felt the spell coursing through his veins, throbbing like an additional heartbeat, a heartbeat that thrummed in tune with spoken words that held no conscious meaning, beating at his temples, pounding at his temples, and then he was no longer in his own body. He seemed to leap out of it and into the air, faster than he could have ever moved in his physical body, where such rapid acceleration would have ripped him apart at the seams. As he hurtled away he had just enough time to look back over his shoulder (he still seemed to be in his physical form) and watch . . . himself . . . be left far behind. This might be what it would be like to die, except that he would not be able to return after his brief sojourn. "Absolutely." Kenry said, and before Timan knew what was happening he was snatched from his seat and thrown roughly to the ground. Kenry turned back to Marea as Timan scrambled to his feet. "You understand I will not coddle him. I will do him no favors if I coddle him." Marea began to speak quietly under her breath. Had she spoken aloud Jarod still wouldn’t have understood her. She was speaking the Old Tongue. The language of Power which, if the oral histories were correct, could not be translated into any other language, the ancient meanings of the words so long lost in time that their present counterparts could not be discerned. Marea believed, possibly, with several dozen lifetimes available in which to research and experiment, the task could be completed, but the only way to live much beyond the normal span was to trade away your soul to Sheitan, the evil god of the Lower Realm, and if you did that, Sheitan would have demands that precluded using your time for your own purposes. Such Wizards who gave themselves to Sheitan were called Necromancers and through their unholy union with the God of the Lower Realms were able to perform many spells normal Wizards were not, including the ability to raise the dead. "What have you done!" Jarod exclaimed, running down the steps to challenge the man, who flinched back before the now greenly glowing blade and Jarod’s fury. "I’ve done nothing! What mean you, man?" "It’s not him." Marea interjected, coming down to stand beside her husband. "It’s the residue on the blade." The stranger’s eyes snapped down to the blade hanging from his belt. A look that contained both horror and revulsion and a dawning realization of just what this might mean. "I didn’t know! I swear! I cleaned the blade!" He was now nearly hysterical. Children in both the wagons broke out crying and looks of horror spread across the faces of everyone else not crying but old enough or smart enough to understand what this could mean. "It means you have probably carried the spell of the Necromancer with you!" Marea said. "Hurry and remove your scabbard. It must be purified. Quickly now man!" She added as he stood there a moment longer, stupefied. The child was in its crib, where it had been before the attack and where it had been tossed back into after it made its transformation and was no longer palatable to whatever had been eating it. Its left arm had been ripped raggedly away from the shoulder, the right at the elbow, as if two somethings had been in a tug of war with it to obtain it. Its stomach and inner organs were missing, as well as a ragged chunk from its face. Yet it was on its feet and trying to climb the high walls of its crib as if those wounds were of no more than a passing inconvenience. They were, however, enough of an inconvenience that even with its Evil strength, it could not free itself. It smiled up at Timan angelically.

Treatise on the Gods

Treatise on the Gods PDF Author: H.L. Mencken
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0307830926
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
"I am quite convinced that all religions, at bottom, are pretty much alike. On the surface they may seem to differ greatly, but what appears on the surface is not always religion. Go beneath it, and one finds invariably the same sense of helplessness before the cosmic mysteries, and the same pathetic attempt to resolve it by appealing to higher powers."--from Treatise on the Gods H. L. Mencken is perhaps best known for his scathing political satire. But politicians, as far as Mencken was concerned, had no monopoly on self-righteous chest-thumping, deceit, and thievery. He also found religion to be an adversary worthy of his attention and, in Treatise on the Gods, he offers some of his best shots, a choreographed cannonade. Mencken examines religion everywhere, from India to Peru, from the myths of Egypt to the traditional beliefs of America's Bible Belt. He compares Incas and Greeks, examines doctrines, dogmas, sacred texts, heresies, and ceremonies. He ranges far and wide, but returns at last to the subject that most provokes him: Christianity. He reviews the history of the Church and its founders. "It is Tertullian who is credited with the motto, Credo, quia absurdum est: I believe because it is incredible. Needless to say, he began life as a lawyer." Mencken is no less interested in the dissidents: "The Reformers were men of courage, but not many of them were intelligent." Against the old-time religion of fellow countrymen, Mencken posed as a figure of old-time skepticism, and he reaped the whirlwind. Controversial even before it was published in 1930, Treatise on the Gods remains what its author wished it to be: the plain, clear challenge of honest doubt.

Paranormal Encounters in Iceland 1150–1400

Paranormal Encounters in Iceland 1150–1400 PDF Author: Ármann Jakobsson
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 1501513613
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 511

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Book Description
This anthology of international scholarship offers new critical approaches to the study of the many manifestations of the paranormal in the Middle Ages. The guiding principle of the collection is to depart from symbolic or reductionist readings of the subject matter in favor of focusing on the paranormal as human experience and, essentially, on how these experiences are defined by the sources. The authors work with a variety of medieval Icelandic textual sources, including family sagas, legendary sagas, romances, poetry, hagiography and miracles, exploring the diversity of paranormal activity in the medieval North. This volume questions all previous definitions of the subject matter, most decisively the idea of saga realism, and opens up new avenues in saga research.

The Vortex That Unites Us

The Vortex That Unites Us PDF Author: Jacob Emery
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501769405
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
The Vortex That Unites Us is a study of totality in Russian literature, from the foundation of the modern Russian state to the present day. Considering a diversity of texts that have in common chiefly their prominence in the Russian literary canon, Jacob Emery examines the persistent ambition in Russian literature to gather the whole world into an artwork. Emery reveals how the diversity of totalizing figures in the Russian canon—often in alliance with ideologies like the totalitarian state or enlightenment reason—strive for the frontiers of space and time in order to guarantee the coherence of the globe and the continuity of history. He expores subjects like romantic metaphors of supernatural possession; Tolstoy's conception of art as a vector of emotional contagion; the panoramic ambitions of the avant-garde to grasp the globe in a new poetic medium; efforts of Soviet utopians to harmonize the whole of social life along aesthetic lines; Mandelstam's evocation of writing as a transcendental authority that guarantees a grandiose historical rhythm even when manifested as authoritarian repression; and the mass market of cultural commodities in which the exiled Vladimir Nabokov found success with his novel Lolita. The Vortex That Unites Us reveals a common thread in the disparate works it explores, bringing into a single horizon a variety of typically siloed texts and aesthetic approaches. In all these cases, the medium of totality is the body, inspired by artistic vision and compelled by aesthetic response.

Defending the Damned

Defending the Damned PDF Author: Kevin Davis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743270940
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Award-winning journalist Davis spent a year in Chicago's Cook County Public Defender's office for this look into the American justice system. More than 300,000 cases go through this office--some involving the death penalty--with approximately 600 public defenders to work them.

Death of a Pilgrim

Death of a Pilgrim PDF Author: David Dickinson
Publisher: Soho Press
ISBN: 1569475407
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
When a pilgrim is killed in Le Puy en Velay, France, Lord Francis Powerscourt must investigate.