This Private Plot

This Private Plot PDF

Author: Alan Beechey

Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published: 2014-05-06

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1464202435

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If a blackmail letter drives a man to suicide, is the sender guilty of murder? "Yes," says Oliver Swithin, author of bestselling Finsbury the Ferret children's stories and amateur sleuth, who is on holiday in an ancient village. A midnight streak with his naked girlfriend—Scotland Yard's Effie Strongitham—abruptly ends in the discovery of a corpse. Retired radiobroadcaster Dennis Breedlove has hanged himself from the old gibbet. Evidence suggests blackmail may have driven this celebrity to suicide. Irresistibly intrigued, Oliver believes discovering the dead man's secret will lead to the identity of the blackmailer. But in Britain today, when shame is a ticket to fame, why suicide? What if it wasn't? When the mystery abruptly turns inside out, black-clad strangers attack Oliver in the night. The Vicar behaves strangely. So do the village's five unmarried Bennet sisters, a mysterious monk, the persistent, self-effacing Underwood Tooth, and Oliver's Uncle Tim, Effie's superior at the Yard and a part-time Shakespearean actor. Plus Oliver's aunt and his mother. Who else might play a role in This Private Plot? Two William Shakespeares? It's time to put the laugh back into slaughter with the long-awaited third chapter in the career of Oliver Swithin. Yet under the clever wordplay and bawdy jokes lies an inventive and, yes, scholarly plot.

The Land We Share

The Land We Share PDF

Author: Eric T. Freyfogle

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2003-08-08

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 9781610912402

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Is private ownership an inviolate right that individuals can wield as they see fit? Or is it better understood in more collective terms, as an institution that communities reshape over time to promote evolving goals? What should it mean to be a private landowner in an age of sprawling growth and declining biological diversity? These provocative questions lie at the heart of this perceptive and wide-ranging new book by legal scholar and conservationist Eric Freyfogle. Bringing together insights from history, law, philosophy, and ecology, Freyfogle undertakes a fascinating inquiry into the ownership of nature, leading us behind publicized and contentious disputes over open-space regulation, wetlands protection, and wildlife habitat to reveal the foundations of and changing ideas about private ownership in America. Drawing upon ideas from Thomas Jefferson, Henry George, and Aldo Leopold and interweaving engaging accounts of actual disputes over land-use issues, Freyfogle develops a powerful vision of what private ownership in America could mean—an ownership system, fair to owners and taxpayers alike, that fosters healthy land and healthy economies.

Nature-Based Flood Risk Management on Private Land

Nature-Based Flood Risk Management on Private Land PDF

Author: Thomas Hartmann

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-08-22

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 3030238423

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This open access book addresses the various disciplinary aspects of nature-based solutions in flood risk management on private land. In recent decades, water management has been moving towards nature-based solutions. These are assumed to be much more multi-purpose than traditional “grey infrastructures” and seem to be regarded as a panacea for many environmental issues. At the same time, such measures require more – and mostly privately owned – land and more diverse stakeholder involvement than traditional (grey) engineering approaches. They also present challenges related to different disciplines. Nature-based solutions for flood risk management not only require technical expertise, but also call for interdisciplinary insights from land-use planning, economics, property rights, sociology, landscape planning, ecology, hydrology, agriculture and other disciplines to address the challenges of implementing them. Ultimately, nature-based flood risk management is a multi-disciplinary endeavor. Featuring numerous case studies of nature-based flood risk management accompanied by commentaries, this book presents brief academic reflections from two different disciplinary perspectives that critically highlight which specific aspects are of significance, and as such, underscore the multi-disciplinary nature of the challenges faced.

Private Vegas

Private Vegas PDF

Author: James Patterson

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2015-01-26

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0316211141

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Private investigator Jack Morgan is on the hunt for a murderer in Las Vegas-and the murder ring he uncovers is unlike anything he's ever seen. Las Vegas is a city of contradictions: seedy and glamorous, secretive and wild, Vegas attracts people of all kinds-especially those with a secret to hide, or a life to leave behind. It's the perfect location for Lester Olsen's lucrative business. He gets to treat gorgeous, young women to five-star restaurants, splashy shows, and limo rides-and then he teaches them how to kill. Private Jack Morgan spends most of his time in Los Angeles, where his top investigation firm has its headquarters. But a hunt for two criminals leads him to the city of sin-and to a murder ring that is more seductively threatening than anything he's witnessed before. Chilling and marvelous, Private Vegas brings James Patterson's Private series to a sensational new level.

The Personal Librarian

The Personal Librarian PDF

Author: Marie Benedict

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2022-06-07

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0593101545

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The Instant New York Times Bestseller! A Good Morning America* Book Club Pick! Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR! Named a Notable Book of the Year by the Washington Post! “Historical fiction at its best!”* A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection. But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American. The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.