Author: Zsófia Anna Toth
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443832294
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This book explores the different trends and the various changes in the representational history of femmes fatales within twentieth century American culture. While providing precedents, discussing the Western cultural history of this iconic female figure, as well as presenting the cultural and theoretical debates surrounding ‘her,’ the major focus lies in Maurine Dallas Watkins’s story entitled Chicago and how its diachronic and transmedial revivals contributed to this debate and what kind of an interpretation it provided of the lethal woman. Through a cultural, historical, literary and cinematic excavation this book argues that the story of Chicago produces a unique kind of deathly woman figure: the farcical femme fatale by combining the traditionally tragic aspects with comic modes of discourse and (re)presentation. In addition to the theorization of the femme fatale within Western culture, the discussion of the comic as well as various comic genres and comic strategies of representation, Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the carnival and the carnivalesque is discussed in great detail – with an emphasis on scapegoating – as well as Judith Butler’s concept of gender performativity and Joan Riviere’s womanly masquerade in order to understand how the farcical femmes fatales of Chicago manage to get away with their sins and crimes. Additionally, the Vice of sixteenth century drama as well as the figure of the homme fatale are also taken under scrutiny since it is argued that, in the various versions of Chicago, we encounter farcical femmes fatales who are the minions of a modern(ized) Vice figure, and all their comic-grotesque performances and masquerades take place in the heterotopic space of the carnival. While also examining their historical and cultural contexts, the different versions of Chicago are investigated one by one starting from the original Chicago Tribune articles and ending in the 2002 film adaptation. This book reveals what strategies can be employed to justify the modification of the traditionally tragic scenario of the femme fatale. It is a scholarly work that is informative, thorough as well as entertaining.

Author: Kate Kingsbury
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1984805924
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
It is an Edwardian Christmas, and the Pennyfoot Hotel is all dressed up. But when one of the guests turns up dead, owner Cecily Sinclair Baxter realizes it is not only the Pennyfoot that is back in business—the hotel's Christmas curse is, too... The Pennyfoot halls are decked with boughs of holly, a magnificently decorated tree graces the lobby, and the hotel's bookings are finally looking up. Owner of the Pennyfoot, Cecily Sinclair Baxter is in high holiday spirits until disaster strikes, threatening to ruin yet another Yuletide. Her chief housemaid Gertie McBride has found a man's body in the hotel laundry room—with a woman's scarf wrapped around his neck and a note in his pocket from the hotel's new maid. Cecily is determined to track down the culprit, but with multiple suspects icing her out of crucial clues, she realizes this killer may be more slippery than most. With Christmas right around the corner, it is up to Cecily to prevent this holiday season at the Pennyfoot from turning out more fatal than festive.

Author:
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press Inc
ISBN: 1615953426
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description

Author: Leslie Langtry
Publisher: Gemma Halliday Publishing
ISBN: 1947110756
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
From USA Today bestselling author Leslie Langtry comes the next Merry Wrath mystery about one former CIA agent turned Girl Scout Troop leader who is playing the deadly game of her life! Mrs. Gable in the Conservatory with a noose? It was supposed to be a fun weekend of pretend murder. Girl Scout Troop leader Merry Wrath and four of her scouts play an important role at the Murder Mystery Night Fundraiser on a secluded island in the middle of Dead Otter Lake. The guests, major donors, have all arrived in period costume, are eager to play, and can’t wait for the "killer" to strike! Mr. Blunt in the Ballroom with a lead pipe? Unbeknownst to them, a very real murderer roams the mansion’s halls, and the first victim falls with the first round of cocktails. A violent storm leaves the guests stranded and cut off from the outside world, as our cast of characters, one by one, are dying off in a very real mystery in a very unusual house. Of course, people aren’t who they seem and red herrings abound, throwing a wrench into the investigation. Did the Butler do it? With a nod to a mystery classic, can Merry solve this case and catch a killer before there’s no one else left to play the game? Merry Wrath Mysteries: Merit Badge Murder – book #1 Mint Cookie Murder – book #2 Scout Camp Mystery – short story in the "Killer Beach Reads" collection Marshmallow S'More Murder – book #3 Movie Night Murder – book #4 Mud Run Murder – book #5 Fishing Badge Murder – short story in the "Pushing Up Daisies" collection Motto for Murder – book #6 Map Skills Murder – book #7 Mean Girl Murder – book #8 Marriage Vow Murder – book #9 Mystery Night Murder – book #10 Meerkats and Murder– book #11 What critics are saying about Leslie Langtry's books: "I laughed so hard I cried on multiple occasions while reading MARSHMALLOW S'MORE MURDER! Girl Scouts, the CIA, and the Yakuza... what could possibly go wrong?" ~ Fresh Fiction "Darkly funny and wildly over the top, this mystery answers the burning question, 'Do assassin skills and Girl Scout merit badges mix…" ~ RT BOOKreviews "Mixing a deadly sense of humor and plenty of sexy sizzle, Leslie Langtry creates a brilliantly original, laughter-rich mix of contemporary romance and suspense." ~ Chicago Tribune "Langtry gets the fun started from page one with a myriad of clever details." ~ Publisher's Weekly

Author: Melodie Campbell
Publisher: Cormorant Books
ISBN: 1770866930
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Lucy Revelstoke, unconventional widow of a young British lord and daughter of a Canadian mobster twice removed, is crossing the Atlantic on a state-of-the-art ocean liner in 1928. Rubbing elbows with the era’s elite and reconnecting with her husband’s aristocratic friend Tony should make for a swell trip. But a dead body dumped in Lucy’s stateroom the first night of the voyage threatens to capsize the new life she’s built for herself. Who is this dead man? And how did he get into her room? Together with her pickpocket-turned maid and Tony, Lucy rushes to investigate, just steps ahead of the authorities who will certainly dig too deeply into her dodgy Canadian past.

Author: Tim Kelly
Publisher: Baker's Plays
ISBN: 9780874407143
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description

Author: Paige Shelton
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101627182
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Bailey’s Farmers’ Market is this season’s go-to holiday destination, but not all the vendors are feeling the Christmas spirit... Jam and preserve maker Becca Robins is excited about the extra business that the Ridgeway Christmas Tree Farm is bringing to the market this holiday season. But when a competing tree farmer, Reggie Stuckey, arrives with a truck full of trees, angrily barking that he has exclusive selling rights at the market, Becca finds herself pining for more goodwill toward men. After Reggie is found with a tree stake in his chest, she wonders when the Christmas tree business turned so deadly. Now Becca has to use the only clues she has to the killer’s identity—mysterious ornaments that begin to show up in her stall—to hook a sinister Scrooge who will go to any lengths to drive home a point…

Author: Leslie Langtry
Publisher: Gemma Halliday Publishing
ISBN: 194037149X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Book Description
From USA Today bestselling author, Leslie Langtry comes a mystery series of laugh-out-loud proportions... When CIA agent Merry Wrath is "accidentally" outted, she's forced her into early retirement, changes her appearance, and moves where no one will ever find her—Iowa. Instead of black bag drops in Bangkok, she now spends her time leading a young Girl Scout troop. But Merry's new simple life turns not-so-simple when an enemy agent shows up dead at scout camp. Suddenly Merry is forced to deal with her former life in order to preserve her future one. It doesn't help matters that the CIA sends in her former, sexy handler to investigate…or that the hot new neighbor across the street turns out to be the local detective in charge of her case. And when Merry is forced to take on a roommate in the voluptuous form of a turned KGB agent/bimbo, things become trickier than wet work in Waukegan or cookie sales in the spring. Nothing in the CIA or Girl Scouts' training manuals has prepared her for what comes next… Merry Wrath Mysteries: Merit Badge Murder – book #1 Mint Cookie Murder – book #2 Scout Camp Mystery – short story in the "Killer Beach Reads" collection Marshmallow S'More Murder – book #3 Movie Night Murder – book #4 Mud Run Murder – book #5 Fishing Badge Murder – short story in the "Pushing Up Daisies" collection Motto for Murder – book #6 Map Skills Murder – book #7 Mean Girl Murder – book #8 Marriage Vow Murder – book #9 Mystery Night Murder – book #10 What critics are saying about Leslie Langtry's books: "Darkly funny and wildly over the top, this mystery answers the burning question, 'Do assassin skills and Girl Scout merit badges mix…" ~ RT BOOKreviews "Mixing a deadly sense of humor and plenty of sexy sizzle, Leslie Langtry creates a brilliantly original, laughter-rich mix of contemporary romance and suspense." ~ Chicago Tribune "Langtry gets the fun started from page one with a myriad of clever details." ~ Publisher's Weekly

Author: Merry Jones
Publisher: Merry Jones
ISBN: 145241680X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
In this exhilarating page-turner, divorced single mom zoe hayes works for an institute for the seriously mentally deranged in philadelphia. she lives in queen village, a close-knit but transitional neighborhood where nannies have been disappearing, one by one. outside playing, her daughter molly makes a grisly discovery. a piece of litter turns out to be a human finger. one of her neighbors seems to be a serial killer, but which one? zoe helps mysteriously scarred and intriguing detective nick stiles in his investigation. and before she knows it, she unwittingly becomes prey...

Author: Gordon Burn
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571265065
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 571

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Book Description
An account of two people - Fred and Rose West - who lived together, raised (and killed) children, provided sexual services for anyone interested, and pretended to provide social services for single women. Investigated and told by one of the greatest journalists and writers of the last twenty years, this is the most powerful and upsetting true crime book you will ever read.