Edinburgh, ‘a mad god’s dream / Fitful and dark’, is about to become the home of the first Scottish parliament in nigh on three hundred years. It’s a momentous time and political passions run high... Detective Inspector John Rebus is charged with liaison, thanks to the new parliament being resident at Queensberry House bang in the middle of his St. Leonard’s patch. Queensberry House is home not just to the new Scotland’s rulers to be, but to the legend of a young man roasted on a spit by a madman. A fate befitting its new inhabitants, some would say. When the fireplace where the youth died is uncovered, another more recent murder victim is brought out into the daylight. Days later, in the gardens outside, Queensberry House’s third body is found. This time the victim is no mummified mystery man, but Roddy Grieve, a prospective MSP, and the powers that be are on Rebus’s back demanding instant answers. Roddy Grieve’s notoriety brings a whole host of problems, including his seductive sister Lorna, one of Rebus’s youthful fantasies made flesh. What’s worse, as the case progresses, the Inspector finds himself face to face with one of Edinburgh’s most notorious criminals — a man he thought safely out of harm’s way for years to come. Someone’s going to make a lot of money out of Scotland’s independence and where there’s big money at stake, darkness gathers

In a southern California town ablaze with sordid secrets, a free-spirited biologist and a straitlaced sheriff join forces to investigate a suspicious killing – and find themselves getting a little too close to the flames. Shay Phillips knows her way around Dark Canyon. She's handy with a gun and can track a wild animal with the best of them. It's humans who usually give her the most trouble. And with a hormonally charged teenage brother to raise – and an admitted weakness for the wrong kind of man – they're giving her plenty of trouble these days. Then there's the matter of murder. As an expert on mountain lions, Shay is skeptical when a local prostitute turns up mauled without a drop of blood near the body. Now, together with the town's newly arrived sheriff, Luke Meza – a Las Vegas city boy with his own dark secrets – Shay must navigate a dangerous valley filled with angry ex-lovers, unfaithful spouses, and poisonous snakes in a desperate search for the killer. But when suspicion falls on her own brother, and her attraction to Luke rages into a full-on erotic affair, can Shay quell the fires inside her long enough to uncover the truth?

Научно-популярное изложение о поиске внеземного разума. Рассказывается о методах поиска внеземных цивилизаций, об экспериментах по поиску сигналов. Рассматриваются астрономические, биологические, философские аспекты проблемы. Книга доступна читателю со средним образованием. Она не требует никаких специальных знаний. Вместе с тем, это не легкое, занимательное чтиво. От читателя требуются определенные усилия. Это попытка серьезного разговора, соразмышления с читателем

Román klasika světové sci-fi nás zavede do roku 2131, kdy lidstvo kolonizovalo už několik planet a setkává se s kosmickou lodí vyspělé mimozemské civilizace