english fiction books Audiobooks

Anyone who opts for self-employment quickly learns that succeeding as your own boss is no walk in the park. While professional freedom has many, many joys, it also involves significant risks. If you’re considering self-employment, or you’re already self-employed, The Self-Employment Survival Guide: Proven Strategies to Succeed as Your Own Boss alerts you to the challenges involved and provides proven strategies for surmounting these obstacles and succeeding. You’ll also learn what you need to put in place before taking the leap to being your own boss to help assure your success. Working for yourself offers personal freedoms and rewards, but the road can curve or travel uphill at times. Here, Jeanne Yocum shares eight key behaviors that impede success and provides proven solutions for the various obstacles that might cross your path, including unreasonable client demands, slow payers, unexpected client defections, daily schedules, health and financial planning, and the feelings of isolation that can sometimes accompany working on your own. Unlike many books that provide only a rose-colored view of self-employment, this book gives a full, realistic view of what being your own boss is actually like. By learning about the ups and downs that come with being in charge of your own livelihood, you will be better able to handle the demands of self-employment and succeed on your own terms.

Imagined by one of the world's leading experts on Buddhism, this fictionalised conversation presents the essential biography of its famously wise founder. A relaxed chat with the Buddha tells us what he thought about impermanence, karma, mindfulness, compassion, love, and everything else that leads us toward a true understanding of ourselves and the cosmos. We know him as the Buddha, the "Awakened One". Born Siddhartha Gautama 2,500 years ago in northern India, he became one of the world's greatest spiritual leaders. He suffered as we do, then by his own efforts found the key to liberation from the bonds of desire, hatred and ignorance. As Westerners living in relative prosperity, we can identify with this man who had it all - love, success, money, talent, privilege - but set these things aside to search for something deeper and more enduring. This book presents an account of the Buddha's life followed by a series of plausible and illuminating but imagined conversations, which probe all aspects of his philosophy for living. The insights he conveys here offer us practical wisdom for a better life.

FULL OF TWISTS AND TURNS, A HEARTSTOPPING MYSTERY FROM YOUR NEW CRIME FICTION OBSESSION: BIBA PEARCE. A serial killer who dumps the victims’ bodies in Soho Square. A sleepless detective thwarted by his box-ticking boss. Detective Rob Miller thinks he’s seen it all, but this murder scene takes his breath away. The victim is bound and gagged, with whip marks on his back. The location is one of the busiest squares in London. The cause of death appears to be strangulation. Murder or a game gone wrong? The prime suspect is the victim’s partner. Under pressure from his superiors, Rob makes an arrest despite his doubts. But another body is found: bound, gagged and dumped in the middle of central London. Again, there are no witnesses. Now Rob’s on the hunt for a serial killer with a fetish — and a talent for staying invisible. Then the killer makes it personal . . . AN UNSTOPPABLE CRIME MYSTERY THAT YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO PUT DOWN. This gripping page-turner is perfect for fans of Helen H. Durrant, Mick Herron, Joy Ellis, Angela Marsons, Rachel McLean, Alex Smith and J.M. Dalgliesh. MEET THE DETECTIVE DI ROB MILLER An ambitious young detective gunning for promotion. He will do anything for his job, but can he also keep his personal life under control? His ten-month-old son has yet to learn how to sleep through the night, but at least he has his dog. THE SETTING The Murder Investigation Team is based out of leafy Putney, with its overgrown often-flooded riverbanks. One way the river leads into central London, the other out into the countryside. It’s an idyllic setting that masks a criminal underworld.

Love is the ultimate game changer, and this time it’s winner takes all. Now that Vasily is back in his arms, Belphagor’s in no hurry to say the words they both long to hear: You’re my boy. He’s savoring the sweet torture of driving Vasily into a frenzy of unfulfilled need—and seeing just how much both of them can take. Vasily secretly enjoys their increasingly edgy play, until Belphagor auctions him off for a night to the seductive Silk, setting in motion a chain of events that neither could have anticipated. Tight-lipped about the abrupt end of his relationship with the sweet submissive Phaleg, Silk may be at the heart of a conspiracy against the pregnant queen of Heaven—and Phaleg is the angel investigating it. Though Belphagor couldn’t be less interested in the games angels play, angelic and demonic intrigues soon overlap, drawing him in against his will until he’s forced to break his one inviolable rule: never gamble what you can’t afford to lose.

测试验收使用

FULL OF TWISTS AND TURNS, A HEARTSTOPPING MYSTERY FROM YOUR NEW CRIME FICTION OBSESSION: BIBA PEARCE. Debby Morris, mother of two, goes to a Christmas party at historic Hollyhock Manor in Marlow, and never comes home. A MISSING MOTHER. Her phone, handbag and Santa’s elf hat are found in a park near the River Thames. The police issue a nationwide search, but Debby is nowhere to be found. Three weeks later, Debby’s body, still in her elf costume, is discovered five miles downstream from where she disappeared. A DETECTIVE ON THE BRINK. Detective Rob Miller is pulled from compassionate leave and put in charge. He’s still reeling from his last botched case, and he knows all eyes are on him — waiting to see if he’ll crack. Meanwhile, another body is found with their throat slashed . . . and a link is discovered between the two cases that changes everything. A RACE AGAINST TIME TO STOP A KILLER. Rob and his team will need to pull out all the stops to catch a twisted killer before anyone else dies. AN UNSTOPPABLE CRIME MYSTERY THAT YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO PUT DOWN. This gripping page-turner is perfect for fans of Helen H. Durrant, Mick Herron, Joy Ellis, Angela Marsons, Rachel McLean, Alex Smith and J.M. Dalgliesh. MEET THE DETECTIVE DI ROB MILLER An ambitious young detective gunning for promotion. He will do anything for his job, but can he also keep his personal life under control? His fourteen-month-old son is still keeping him up at night, but at least he has his dog. THE SETTING The Murder Investigation Team is based out of leafy Putney, with its overgrown often-flooded riverbanks. One way the river Thames leads into central London, the other out into the countryside. It’s an idyllic setting that masks a criminal underworld.

At first, horse trainer and Carson Stables owner Annie Carson blames the random losses of local livestock on feral animals stalking Olympic Peninsula county’s farms and ranches. But when one of her own flock is found savagely slaughtered, it gets personal. Then it turns dangerous, when Annie discovers the body of a young woman hanging in her new hay barn. Suddenly, she’s up to her neck in complicated mysteries—one involving her private life. But her sleuthing skills aren’t exactly welcome by the sheriff. And as she uncovers a clue to the killer’s identity, Annie fears she’s leading a deadly trail straight to her door. Praise for Leigh Hearon: "Here's a new heroine after my own heart. Plan to stay up all night with this one because this mystery is a winner right out of the gate!" —Fern Michaels, #1 New York Times bestselling author on Reining in Murder "This strikingly polished first mystery is, quite simply, remarkable. Reining in Murder has it all: rounded characters, likeable protagonist, thrilling, perfectly paced plot and impeccable narrative style . . . Leigh Hearon masterfully maintains the suspense to the very finish line." —Mystery Scene Magazine on Reining in Murder “Leigh Hearon seems destined for high marks with what is shaping up to be a delightful new series in the mystery genre.” —Colorado Daily News on Reining in Murder “This murder mystery will be enjoyed by anyone who likes chewing hay and wearing riding boots.” —Fresh Fiction on Reining in Murder “The action-packed scenes are stellar, as well as the descriptions of the gorgeous and dangerous Washington wilderness. This third in the series presents a unique heroine, one whose devotion to horses is as admirable as her wit and intelligence.” —Kings River Life Magazine on Unbridled Murder

THE CLUE is the first book in the Fleming Stone Mystery series by famed New Jersey mystery writer Carolyn Wells (1862-1942). Librarian, author, poet, journalist Wells wrote a total of 170 books, including poetry, humor, and children’s books, but she is best remembered for her mystery novels, the most successful being her Fleming Stone series. Madeleine Van Norman is found stabbed to death on the night before her wedding. The heiress is found in the library of her sprawling country mansion stabbed with her own Venetian letter-opener. Though a suicide note is found, the list of potential suspects grows. Who would benefit from the rich woman’s death? There is her groom who was having an affair. There are family members who might not want her to marry to save their inheritance. There is the groom’s secret lover. Or could it have been the secretary? Rediscover one of the great American mystery writers and her finest work. THE CLUE is a closed-environment traditional mystery that will remind you of the other greats, including Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen.

The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells is the first biography of one of the “lost ladies” of detective fiction who wrote more than eighty mysteries and hundreds of other works between the 1890s and the 1940s. Carolyn Wells (1862–1942) excelled at writing country house and locked-room mysteries for a decade before Agatha Christie entered the scene. In the 1920s, when she was churning out three or more books annually, she was dubbed “about the biggest thing in mystery novels in the US.” On top of that, Wells wielded her pen in just about every literary genre, producing several immensely popular children’s books and young adult novels; beloved anthologies; and countless stories, prose, and poetry for magazines such as Thrilling Detective, Life, The Saturday Evening Post, Harper’s, and The New Yorker. All told, Wells wrote over 180 books. Some were adapted into silent films, and some became bestsellers. Yet a hundred years later, she has been all but erased from literary history. Why? How? This investigation takes us on a journey to Rahway, New Jersey, where Wells was born and is buried; to New York City’s Upper West Side, where she spent her final twenty-five years; to the Library of Congress, where Carolyn’s world-class collection of rare books now resides; and to many other public and private collections where exciting discoveries unfolded. Part biography and part sleuthing narrative, The Vanishing of Carolyn Wells recovers the life and work of a brilliant writer who was considered one of the funniest, most talented women of her time.