The Buckled Bag
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Debutante Clare March has disappeared without a trace. Did she elope? Then who was the blond man—not her fiancé—with whom she was last seen? Is she even still alive? And who is the old lady with the buckled bag and what does it contain?
Detective Patton wants to know. So he sends in a young, undercover nurse to care for Clare’s sick mother and find out.
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The Borrowed House
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Set during the British Suffragette Movement, The Borrowed House mixes drama, comedy, and intrigue, as a group of women devoted to The Cause plot to kidnap the prime minister. With a handsome stranger and an art theft lurking in the background and a young American woman caught in the middle, this lively and clever story unfolds into a series of unexpected twists and turns.
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Locked Doors
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
An old mansion with bedroom doors kept locked all night, always from the outside, a staff of servants summarily dismissed, and a family gripped by fear.
Enter a young nurse, sent in to care for the children but really working undercover to reveal the mystery at hand. With a further secret tucked away in the attic, Locked Doors will keep you guessing until the very end.
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Short-term Parking
by Seth Edgarde
Fun Size Fiction
This collection of sixty-five bite-sized stories—none greater than 250 words—gives a window into many different lives, each with its own particular insight into the human experience.
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Twenty-Two
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
A vintage story with a contemporary vibe . . .
A student nurse falls in love with her patient in this romantic drama that takes place on the eve of America’s entry into World War I.
But there’s more than love at stake at the city hospital: A boy’s life, a doctor’s reputation, and the nurse’s career all hang in the balance.
Add in a dangerous contagion and throw the hospital under a quarantine lockdown, and something’s got to give.
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The Man in Lower Ten
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
The year is 1909, and a Washington attorney, fresh from taking a sensitive deposition in Pittsburgh, finds himself enmeshed in a murder, where he is the prime suspect. To top it all off, his train crashes on the way home, and the deposition testimony goes missing. In the meantime, he falls for a young woman who just happens to be the witness’s niece and his law partner’s girlfriend! As the mystery deepens, her own involvement in the case emerges.
From the pen of the great Mary Roberts Rinehart, The Man in Lower Ten offers a authentic window on the world of the upper classes in the United States in the early twentieth century, when there were no airplanes, trains were the preferred method of long-distance travel, and even automobiles and telephones were not that common. And, of course, forensic science hardly existed. A fascinating book which will leave the reader in awe of how far we’ve come and maybe just a little nostalgic for the world that we’ve lost.
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The Story without an End
by Friedrich Wilhelm Carové
Sarah Austin’s classic translation of F. W. Carové’s German Romantic masterpiece, The Story without an End, is a fairytale journey through a magic garden with dew drops and dragonflies, sunbeams and flowers, all telling their part of the tale, the unending story of nature itself, a continuing saga of wonder and fascination. Although it was written for children, the beauty of the story’s images and the depth of its words will find their way into the heart of any aged reader or listener.
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The Operator
by Donald E. Westlake
Winston, New York—a nice town, a quiet town. Sure, there’s corruption, but the streets are clean, everything works, and everyone has what they need. It’s a delicate balance, all held together by private investigator Tim Smith, The Operator. Until it isn’t. That’s when the killing starts.
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See the Light
by Zahara Carmi
This captivating collection is at once perspicacious and playful—the wonder of a child combined with the profound musings of an old soul. From observations about nature to insightful reflections on an eclectic assortment of topics, this splendid volume will charm and delight you.
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Ironbound
by Seth Edgarde
When three friends start a salvage business on the New York waterfront, they aren’t expecting to get caught in the crossfire between a Colombian drug lord, the Mafia, and Iranian terrorists. Enter the FBI and an illicit love affair, and suddenly all hell breaks loose.
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Nine of Harte’s
by Bret Harte
From the master of the Western, a new collection of nine of his best, including:
The Luck of Roaring Camp
The Outcasts Of Poker Flat
Miggles
Tennessee’s Partner
The Idyl of Red Gulch
Brown of Calaveras
The Legend of Monte Del Diablo
Wan Lee, The Pagan
An Ingenue of The Sierras
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Campus Doll
by Edwin West
Clifton College, 1961…
At Clifton College the male students were never frustrated. When a campus cutie teased and ran, there was always Jackie Hayes’ “study rooms” to resort to.
There you could do your “homework” in peace. There you could carry on experiments so dear to the hearts of all eager students, with tutors truly dedicated to their work: Sandy, Laura, Rita, Honey and even Jackie—the campus doll herself.
True, this extra-curricular work led to no degree but it did satisfy a need, with girls on your own mental level—coeds who knew as much about English Lit, Advanced Psychology—and Love—as you did.
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Lady of the Lake
by Seth Edgarde
She was the homecoming queen and a college basketball star, but she’s out of college now, living the California life, with her boyfriend, a bunch of roommates, and that Santa Monica sun.
He’s got no job, no girlfriend, and no prospects.
As their paths cross, they each begin to wonder what direction to take with their lives. Will it be the road less traveled? Or the road not taken?
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Lumina
by Seth Edgarde
The world erupts in an epidemic of mass insanity, and the only person who can stop it is an unstable rogue hacker. A renegade to the core, she can’t do it alone this time—this time she needs the help of a straight-and-narrow but hardened New York cop.
Can they stay alive for long enough to save what’s left of humanity? And what does it all have to do with the freak but spectacular display of northern lights in summertime New York, the set of prime numbers, and a rare genetic disease? The answer may be closer than they think.
Chased through the city as the human race comes apart at the seams, they must solve the greatest puzzle of all—that which is buried in the hidden ciphers of our very own DNA.
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K.
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Part mystery, part hospital soap opera, and part social commentary, Mary Roberts Rinehart’s 1914 novel, K., is a look at a vanished world, a social artifact from the early 20th century, complete with rowdy, old-school roadhouses, forlorn lovers, and themes of revenge, altruism, and pride, not to mention a mysterious stranger known only as K.
Recent dramatic series, like The Knick, Mr. Selfridge, and Downton Abbey, have sought to give us a clear-eyed look at things as they were a century ago, but K. is the real McCoy, a time capsule taking us directly into that period and showing us life as it was before the Great War, before penicillin, before the vast changes in social norms that we now take for granted.
One of the first romantic mysteries, it is also a window in on medicine as it was practiced a hundred years ago, and, as such, provides the perfect backdrop to delve into the mysteries of the human heart as well as the mysteries of our own past.
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For Every Season
by Jeff Bernhardt
The Days of Awe and the month leading up to them in the Hebrew calendar are truly a gift. Each day offers not only the opportunity to reflect back on the past year but also the chance to look forward to the possibilities that lie ahead in the year to come. Many of us are eager for resources to help us bring the greatest possible meaning to these sacred days. For Every Season is just such a resource.
With daily meditations and insights into High Holiday liturgy, this new journal-format book offers each of us the opportunity to reflect not just in thought but in writing on our personal and spiritual path.
For orders of 10+ at $10.95 per book, including shipping and handling, email orders@bbirdbooks.com.
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Tickleton Abbey
by Seth Edgarde, illustrated by Jennifer Nelson
The Lady Tickleworthy is not amused at the arrival of a baby brother. With her butt-ler and maid doing double-duty as footman and cook, she’s already short-staffed! Then, one day, after a severe tickling, she begins to appreciate her new sibling and learns the true meaning of Tickleton Abbey.
With nostalgic watercolor illustrations evocative of childhood, Tickleton Abbey is the perfect book to introduce a new sibling into the family or even just to share with children and adults alike.
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St. Louis Blues
by Seth Edgarde
When a traveling saleswoman begins an affair with her road partner, there’s more at stake than just her marriage. Or his. For anyone who has ever sung the blues, this short romance with a musical twist will pull you in and leave you wanting more.
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Brick City Blues
by Seth Edgarde
The second in a series of noir romance “Blues” novellas, Brick City Blues centers on a chance meeting between two strangers on an airport layover in Newark, New Jersey—the Brick City. She’s shuttling between her teaching job at Cornell and a research project in DC; he’s on his way to deliver a briefcase full of cash from the Cuban mob in Miami to a local capo for the Italian Mafia in Utica, New York. But opposites attract.
Unaware of what he might be mixed up in, she finds herself slowly drawn to the tall, well-dressed stranger with the black briefcase. And he is undeniably attracted to the bookish Ivy League professor. They quickly discover that they have more in common than not. Or so it seems.
Welcome to the Brick City, where anything can happen.
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The Odyssey
by Joanne Keegan
“As a guest gift for the wonderful wine, I will eat you last,” yawns Polyphemus the Cyclops, in Joanne Keegan’s wonderous, phantasmagoric comedy based on Homer’s epic poem, the Odyssey.
Laying down a comedic play for school-age students on a classical substrate may seem ambitious for some, but for others, it is an opportunity to expand the imagination. The result is more than just a clever piece of drama—it is an inspired work of art in its own right, a wild ride to open up students’ dramatic talents and expose them to an age-old classic.
The Odyssey provides age-appropriate and accessible material, parts for over twenty students, and strong roles for both male and female actors, all while retaining the flavor of Homer’s classic in the context of an original and imaginative play, with adventure, humor, and, of course, a cast of colorful characters!
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The Foodie Club
by Dani Shear, illustrated by Holly Weinstein
Syd loves to eat all sorts of different foods and is always eager to try something new. A yellow tomato? No problem! Some slippery seaweed? Bring it on!
But her sister Sunny is the opposite. Nothing too sweet or too salty. Nothing too dark or too bright. No combination that she hasn’t had before. She’s even afraid to try a slice of cheese pizza.
Then one day, during a game of pretend, it all changes. Follow Sunny and Syd, two adventurous kids, as they team up to create the Foodie Club!
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Blood Sunrise
by Seth Edgarde
Dawn breaks, and Emily Williams awakens, hungover and alone in an unfamiliar park. A crazy night with too much to drink and not enough self-control. But, as she soon discovers, she’s not quite alone.
A drunken hookup . . .
A night in the park . . .
And now he’s dead, and she can’t remember.
What’s a girl to do?
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I Prefer Girls
by Jessie Dumont
I Prefer Girls makes its triumphant return! One of the true classics of the golden age of lesbian pulp fiction is back, complete with its captivating Robert Maguire cover and a window in on Greenwich Village, circa 1963. Long out of print, I Prefer Girls has been a favorite of collectors for years and is now available in this new edition from Blackbird Books.
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The Circular Staircase
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
The Circular Staircase, Mary Roberts Rinehart’s classic tale of murder and intrigue in a pre-World War I mansion, is evocative yet strangely modern, a sort of CSI: Downton Abbey, with butlers and maids sprinkled in amongst the bodies and evidence.
With elements of romance, white collar crime, class, race, poverty, and privilege, it’s a story told with such a deft hand that it will keep you guessing right to the end, all the while keeping you entertained with the trappings of the gilded age and a hint of the supernatural.
Sporting its famous 1952 Mapback jacket with original cover painting by Robert Stanley, this new edition from Blackbird Books is a must for all mystery readers.
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Sandy
by John B. Thompson
Hurricane Sandy . . . Meet Hurricane Sandy!
The hurricane may have hit New York City in 2012, but the melodrama is all Southern, straight from the banks of the Mississippi, in John B. Thompson’s 1953 pulp classic, Sandy. Blackbird Books is pleased to reissue Sandy as an eBook-only special, donating all proceeds to hurricane relief.
So get your copy of this classic from the golden age of pulps, and get ready for the storm from the safety of your ereader.
Enjoy the read, and help those in need!
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On Sacred Ground
Edited by Jeff Bernhardt
For as long as the written word has existed, the Five Books of Moses has had the power to summon our unique and diverse voices. Its words have the power to stir our minds, our hearts, and our souls. Thousands of years after it was first recorded, we still find our lives reflected in its words and can be inspired by those words.
In this poignant collection of brief essays, over one hundred clergy from diverse religious traditions share the passages that have brought meaning to their lives. On Sacred Ground compels the reader to ask: What is my relationship to these sacred words?
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Kept
by Sheldon Lord
MY NAME’S MARK TAGGERT . . . I’m a drifter, a bum, a nobody. No job, no money, no future. I’m on the Thruway with a laundry bag over my shoulder and my thumb stuck out in the air.
Then the most beautiful girl in the world picks me up. She falls in love with me. I fall in love with her.
Nice? Yeah, sure.
I’m still Mark Taggert—a drifter, a bum, a nobody. And she’s Elaine Rice—a Park Avenue playgirl with more gold than Fort Knox.
So where do I go from here?
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Shabby Street
by Orrie Hitt
Orrie Hitt’s 1954 pulp classic about a heel and his women is back and better than ever in a brand new acid-free trade paperback still sporting its original Walter Popp cover.
From the original: Johnny Reagan quickly learned the slum’s depraved rules for survival. At six, he was a petty thief. At twelve, he was a procurer. At twenty-one, he was a respectable, lovable, 18-carat heel who never missed a trick—especially if she promised an evening’s cheap thrills. Then rich Mr. Connors befriended Johnny, and Johnny knew there was big money to be made—if he pulled the right strings, told the right lies, and played around with the right women. But Johnny played with Julie . . . Julie who had been brought up in the same slum that had spawned Johnny—and who knew all the cute gutter tricks Johnny thought were his exclusive property . . . plus a few female tricks all her own. A tough and lusty novel that moves with the white-heat of a lightning bolt!
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The Devil Speaks Hungarian
by Seth Edgarde
In a land of unrelenting turmoil, in a city that’s been laid siege by Mongols, Huns, Turks, Tartars, Germans, and Russians, a cop from Brooklyn joins the chase for a notebook with a mathematical formula that could turn the world on its head.
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Fiat Money Inflation in France
by Andrew Dickson White
The definitive account of the hyperinflation that occurred in the wake of the French Revolution of 1789, Fiat Money Inflation in France is a warning on the dangers of government overspending and the oversupply of paper money. A work of brevity and clarity, it is as relevant today as ever.
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Young and Innocent
by Edwin West
New York, 1960…
Take one lesbian editor, well-done, add one sexually curious intern, and one all-man co-editor. Mix thoroughly at a posh Park Avenue women’s magazine, and you have another Donald Westlake classic. Cast in the mold of Mad Men with Madison Avenue advertising swapped out for New York’s “smart publishing set,” this new edition from Blackbird Books sports its original Robert Maguire cover and will take you back to that arousing time and place.
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Man Hungry
by Alan Marshall
Donald Westlake’s nearly forgotten pulp sleaze classic is back in print, complete with lesbians, prostitutes, a swinging college campus, and a washed-up writer-turned-writing professor who’s been unable to reprise the success of his bestselling first novel. And, oh yeah, a certain salacious young college junior who’s hungry for more than just an education.
A fine novel in its own right, Man Hungry gives a fascinating glimpse into the development of one of our most prolific and talented writers. It’s all there—hints of his dark style, flawed and wanton characters, and the old familiar haunts, including the first appearance of the fictional Monequois College in the equally made-up town of Monequois, New York, which subsequently appears in at least a half dozen Westlake novels under at least four of his pen names.
If you’re a Westlake fan, a fan of the genre, or just looking for a great vintage read, this new edition of Man Hungry from Blackbird Books will satisfy your appetite!
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Elizabeth Taylor
by John B. Allan
Back in print for the first time in fifty years, this classic Donald Westlake bio of Elizabeth Taylor (written as John B. Allan) gives a fascinating look at the life of America’s most talented actress on the cusp of her greatest role, as well as a glimpse of a Hollywood long gone.
A fun, nostalgic read from the Hollywood celebrity world of 1961 and a must-read if you’re a fan of either Ms. Taylor or Mr. Westlake.
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The Case of Jennie Brice
by Mary Roberts Rinehart
Jennie Brice was a mediocre young actress, but on a dank and dangerous night with floodwaters rising, she managed a remarkable disappearing act. Her husband said she’d left him, but her landlady suspected something darker.
The police had all the evidence of foul play—blood stains, a knife, Jennie’s own fur coat—but Jennie herself was missing. The question was: Had the lady performed a theatrical miracle? Or had someone else performed a very ingenious murder?
With illustrations by Earl Mayan, this edition from Blackbird Books brings new life to bestselling novelist Mary Roberts Rinehart’s icy tale of romance and suspense.
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Hart Island
by Seth Edgarde
“I remember the first time I saw a dead body. It was the summer before I went to college, and I had gotten a job with the local ambulance service. I could have spent those lazy months on my uncle’s boat, sailing the south shore of Long Island, hanging out with the beautiful people, flirting with blond girls headed to Vassar or Wellesley, but I took the job with the ambulance service instead . . . It’s funny to be thinking about that now, fourteen years later, in the hold of a New York City Department of Corrections ferry boat . . .”
A Wall Street felon serving his sentence at New York’s Rikers Island Prison, Sterling Walsh desperately needs to set his life straight. But he gets more than he bargained for when he accepts an FBI offer to infiltrate a Muslim sleeper cell.
Set in the dark corners of New York City’s five boroughs, Hart Island is a soul-stirring tale of revenge and redemption.