SUMMARY: -- Jerry Capeci's The Complete Idiot's Guide "RM" to the Mafia has already netted close to 12,000 copies since its publication in December 2001, making it one of Alpha's strongest new titles.-- Jerry Capeci is one of America's most respected experts on the Mafia and organized crime. His Web site, Ganglandnews.com, gets more than 5,000 hits per day. He has appeared twice on Fox-TV promoting The Complete Idiot's Guide "RM" to the Mafia and is much in demand on local TV and radio shows. He has been profiled in People magazine, the New York Daily News (for which he was a longtime columnist), and dozens of other magazines and newspapers.-- John Gotti is terminally ill; when he passes on to that great Mafia in the sky, co-author Capeci will be in great demand for interviews and will the plug the book.As he battles terminal cancer in a federal prison in Illinois, John Gotti, still the acting head of the Gambino Mafia family, is constantly in the news. Once Mr. Gotti ascends to Mafia heaven, he will be worldwide news-and Alpha will have the most up-to-date and comprehensive book on the subject.

DAY 5 MONDAY 23 JULY 2001 5.53AM The sun is shining through the bars of my window on what must be a glorious summer day. I've been incarcerated in a cell five paces by three for twelve and a half hours, and will not be let out again until midday; eighteen and a half hours of solitary confinement. There is a child of seventeen in the cell below me who has been charged with shoplifting – his first offence, not even convicted – and he is being locked up for eighteen and a half hours, unable to speak to anyone. This is Great Britain in the twenty-first century, not Turkey, not Nigeria, not Kosovo, but Britain. On Thursday 19 July 2001, after a perjury trial lasting seven weeks, Jeffrey Archer was sentenced to four years in jail. He was to spend the first twenty-two days and fourteen hours in HMP Belmarsh, a double A-Category high-security prison in South London, which houses some of Britain ‘s most violent criminals. This is the author's daily record of the time he spent there.

East London, 1888 - a city apart. A place of shadow and light where thieves, whores, and dreamers mingle, where children play in the cobbled streets by day and a killer stalks at night, where bright hopes meet the darkest truths. Here, by the whispering waters of the Thames, Fiona Finnegan, a worker in a tea factory, hopes to own a shop one day, together with her lifelong love, Joe Bristow, a costermonger's son. With nothing but their faith in each other to spur them on, Fiona and Joe struggle, save, and sacrifice to achieve their dreams. But Fiona's life is shattered when the actions of a dark and brutal man take from her nearly everything-and everyone-she holds dear. Fearing her own death, she is forced to flee London for New York. There, her indomitable spirit propels her rise from a modest West Side shop-front to the top of Manhattan's tea trade. But Fiona's old ghosts do not rest quietly, and to silence them, she must venture back to the London of her childhood, where a deadly confrontation with her past becomes the key to her future.

A beautiful young woman called Marilyn picks up a stranger in a bar and takes him home to her Manhattan apartment. The next morning her housekeeper discovers Marilyn's body. Marilyn's life and death have far-reaching effects on others, even people she has never met: a charismatic former police commissioner on the verge of a breakdown; a struggling writer; a folk art dealer plumbing the depths of her own fierce sexuality; a lawyer who prefers murder trials because there's one witness fewer. And in a city reeling from 9/11, an unlikely mass murderer wages a one-man war against everyone. In this gripping, multi-faceted story, Block not only brings to life in brilliant detail the city of New York, but proves he is one of the most talented, innovative and surprising crime writers in the business.

A mysterious and richly evocative novel, The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque tells the story of portraitist Piero Piambo, who is offered a commission unlike any other. The client is Mrs. Charbuque, a wealthy and elusive woman who asks Piambo to paint her portrait, though with one bizarre twist: he may question her at length on any topic, but he may not, under any circumstances, see her. So begins an astonishing journey into Mrs. Charbuque's world and the world of 1893 New York society in this hypnotically compelling literary thriller.

ReviewJust the right blend of cozy fun and clever plotting. (Susan Wittig Albert) Murder suits [Laura Childs] to a tea. (_St. Paul Pioneer Press_) Engages the audience from the start. (_Midwest Book Review_) Product DescriptionNew Orleans scrapbooking shop owner Carmela Bertrand delights her customers with the sophisticated looks she achieves with their scrapbooks. But among her client's keepsakes she finds a tip of her own-about a murder...

Life has been good for Becky Bloomwood: She’s become the best personal shopper at Barneys, she and her successful entrepreneurial boyfriend, Luke, are living happily in Manhattan’s West Village, and her new next-door neighbor is a fashion designer! But with her best friend, Suze, engaged, how can Becky fail to notice that her own ring finger is bare? Not that she’s been thinking of marriage (or diamonds) or anything . . . Then Luke proposes! Bridal registries dance in Becky’s head. Problem is, two other people are planning her wedding: Becky’s overjoyed mother has been waiting forever to host a backyard wedding, with the bride resplendent in Mum’s frilly old gown. While Luke’s high-society mother is insisting on a glamorous, all-expenses-paid affair at the Plaza. Both weddings for the same day. And Becky can’t seem to turn down either one. Can everyone’s favorite shopaholic tie the knot before everything unravels?

A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and death and the depths of a father's love, Johnny Compton's The Spite House is a stunning debut by a horror master in the making—The Babadook meets A Head Full of Ghosts in Texas Hill Country.Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's desperate for money—it's not easy to find steady, safe work when you can't provide references, you can't stay in one place for long, and you're paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you.When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed...

Acclaimed journalist Randall Sullivan follows Russell Poole, a highly decorated LAPD detective who in 1997 was called to investigate a controversial cop-on-cop shooting, eventually to discover that the officer killed was tied to Marion “Suge” Knight’s notorious gangsta rap label, Death Row Records. During his investigation, Poole came to realize that a growing cadre of black officers were allied not only with Death Row, but with the murderous Bloods street gang. And incredibly, Poole began to uncover evidence that at least some of these “gangsta cops” may have been involved in the murders of rap superstars Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.Igniting a firestorm of controversy in the music industry and the Los Angeles media, the hardcover publication of LAbyrinth helped to prompt two lawsuits against the LAPD (one brought by the widow and mother of Notorious B.I.G., the other brought by Poole himself) that may finally bring this story...

Following hard on the heels of Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey's spectacular debut novel, comes Kushiel's Chosen, the second in the glittering and riveting Kushiel's Legacy Trilogy. Phèdre nó Delaunay has survived much in her short life; she is an anguissette, a courtly spy, and the keeper of a nation's secrets. She has saved a kingdom, kept her people from a barbaric invasion, and thwarted Melisande Shahrizai, a ruthless, Machiavellian villainess. But her gods are not yet finished with Phèdre, for while the young queen who sits upon the throne is well loved by the people, there are those who believe other heads should wear the crown-Melisande was able to escape the royal guard, and is not done scheming for power and revenge. To save all she holds dear, Phèdre will travel from the sun-drenched villas of La Serenissima to the wilds of old Hellas, and will discover a plot so dreadful as to make the earth tremble . . .

From Publishers WeeklyThe characters-and there are plenty of them-in the latest techno-thriller by former submarine officer DiMercurio (Voyage of the Devilfish) share a love of the mechanical, and readers had better, too, if they want to make it through the book's many pages of technical jargon. The USS Snarc is a robotic American combat submarine under siege by an unseen enemy, and only former Navy admiral Michael Pacino, a recurring character in DiMercurio's novels, may be able to save it. While Pacino's son, Anthony, struggles for survival in a sub at the bottom of the ocean, Michael sets out to regain control of the Snarc and bring down an old nemesis. DiMercurio convolutes his story with details that only military personnel and history buffs could appreciate; for example, he spends several pages describing basic military maneuvers and actually enters the mind of a torpedo en route to its target. Yet when it comes to simple narrative details, such as describing a person's appearance, DiMercurio often comes up short. To his credit, however, he populates this offering with several sympathetic protagonists and high-ranking female officers, and augments his many high-tech underwater battles with vivid flashbacks, steamy sex scenes and even flourishes of wit.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product DescriptionTerminal Run: The final stage in the flight of a submarine torpedo as it increases speed to reach attack velocity. Terminal Run: The new techno-thriller featuring the dramatic, final undersea showdown between Admiral Michael Pacino and his most hated nemesis, Alexi Novskoyy.

At Baskerville Hall on the grim moors of Devonshire, a legendary curse has apparently claimed one more victim. Sir Charles Baskerville has been found dead. There are no signs of violence, but his face is hideously distorted with terror. Years earlier, a hound-like beast with blazing eyes and dripping jaws was reported to have torn out the throat of Hugo Baskerville. Has the spectral destroyer struck again? More important, is Sir Henry Baskerville, younger heir to the estate, now in danger?Enter Sherlock Holmes, summoned to protect Sir Henry from the fate that has threatened the Baskerville family. As Holmes and Watson begin to investigate, a blood-chilling howl from the fog-shrouded edges of the great Grimpen Mire signals that the legendary hound of the Baskervilles is poised for yet another murderous attack.The Hound of the Baskervilles first appeared as a serial in The Strand Magazine in 1901. By the time of its publication in book form eight months later, this brilliantly plotted, richly atmospheric detective story had already achieved the status of a classic. It has often been called the best detective story ever written. It remains a thrilling tale of suspense, must reading for every lover of detective fiction.

THE BIG BAD Since her mother's death, Buffy Summers has had a hard time keeping her chin up. Suddenly finding herself alone and in charge of Dawn is certainly daunting, and being responsible, at the same time, for saving the world...well, it's pressure. And lately the Slayer is feeling bogged down by the little things. Buffy has a toothache, but no dental insurance...as if her financial problems weren't overwhelming enough already. And Anya and Xander are being held hostage in their own home by a plague of ants. Everyone is determined not to sweat the small stuff — until Spike discovers economy-sized evil wreaking havoc in Weatherly Park. Mini-monsters are perfectly capable of mega-trouble, and in order to stop them, the Slayer's going to have to think...small!

Sometimes grave, occasionally hilarious, and ultimately persuasive, Small Wonder is a hopeful examination of the people we seem to be, and what we might yet make of ourselves. In her new essay collection, the beloved author of High Tide in Tucson brings to us, out of one of history's darker moments, an extended love song to the world we still have. Whether she is contemplating the Grand Canyon, her vegetable garden, motherhood, genetic engineering, or the future of a nation founded on the best of all human impulses, these essays are grounded in the author's belief that our largest problems have grown from the earth's remotest corners as well as our own backyards, and that answers may lie in both those places. Sometimes grave, occasionally hilarious, and ultimately persuasive, Small Wonder is a hopeful examination of the people we seem to be, and what we might yet make of ourselves.