Little Emily Steiner is dead. She left a North Carolina church meeting late one October afternoon and strolled along a lakeside path toward her house two miles away. Who met her on the path? Who followed her home, kidnapped her from her bedroom, and left her body by the lake days later?It's a puzzling and terrifying crime, reminiscent of the work of serial killer Temple Gault, who has long eluded Dr. Kay Scarpetta and the FBI's Investigative Support Unit in Quantico, Virginia, where Scarpetta consults as a forensic pathologist. At the request of the North Carolina authorities, Scarpetta and her colleagues, Benton Wesley and Pete Marino, fly to the mountains near Asheville to assist. They find a mother in mourning and an investigation in disarray.It's particularly frustrating to work a homicide after the fact. An inexperienced pathologist missed or misinterpreted some of the evidence, leaving Scarpetta with inconclusive medical and laboratory reports, and photographs that only raise questions. What, for instance, is the strange mark on the child's body that causes Scarpetta to plead with a reluctant judge for an exhumation? What is the meaning of trace evidence from a plant not indigenous to the Carolinas? And where did the killer obtain the unique blaze-orange duct tape, with which he bound Emily and her mother?Most puzzling of all is the question of when Emily died. She disappeared the night of October 1. Her nude body was found a week later. Scarpetta's obsession with time leads her to The Body Farm, a little-known research facility in Tennessee where, with the help of some grisly experiments, she might discover the answer. It is Scarpetta alone who can interpret the forensic hieroglyphics that eventually reveal a solution to the case as staggering as it is horrifying.Scarpetta not only must search for a killer, she must endeavor to help her niece Lucy, who is accused of espionage while interning at the FBI's highly classified Engineering and Research Facility in Quantico. And she must reach out to Marino, who retreats deeply into a strange relationship that may wreck his career and ruin his life. Scarpetta, too, is vulnerable, as she opens herself to the first physical and emotional bond she has felt in far too long a time.This is Scarpetta even more realized and poignant than we've seen her before, tenacious and brilliant, tender and gentle. The Body Farm is a stunning achievement from a bestselling author at the peak of her powers.

It is the week before Christmas. A tanking economy has prompted Dr. Kay Scarpetta - despite her busy schedule and her continuing work as the senior forensic analyst for CNN - to offer her services pro bono to New York Cityís Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. In no time at all, her increased visibility seems to precipitate a string of unexpected and unsettling events. She is asked live on the air about the sensational case of Hannah Starr, who has vanished and is presumed dead. Moments later during the same telecast she receives a startling call-in from a former psychiatrist patient of Benton Wesleyís. When she returns after the show to the apartment where she and Benton live, she finds an ominous package - possibly a bomb - waiting for her at the front desk. Soon the apparent threat on Scarpetta's life finds her embroiled in a surreal plot that includes a famous actor accused of an unthinkable sex crime and the disappearance of a beautiful millionairess with whom Lucy seems to have shared a secret past. Scarpetta's CNN producer wants her to launch a TV show called The Scarpetta Factor. Given the bizarre events already in play, she fears that her growing fame will generate the illusion that she has a 'special factor,' a mythical ability to solve all her cases. She wonders if she will end up like other TV personalities - her own stereotype.

A psychopath with an intimate knowledge of death has an even more intimate knowledge of Kay Scarpetta-and many different plans to kill her.

These are the tales of the last days be­fore the great dark­ness de­scend­ed. These are the tales of the Lost Lands, the coun­try that was once ours but which our en­emies now call Eng­land. These are the tales of Arthur, the War­lord'; the King that Nev­er Was, the En­emy of God and, may the liv­ing Christ for­give me, the best man I ev­er knew. How I have wept for Arthur... Fifth ‹cen­tu­ry Britain lies on the edge of dark­ness. Mem­ories of Ro­man civ­iliza­tion! are fad­ing; the pa­gan Gods are re­treat­ing be­fore the spread of Chris­tian­ity; the Sax­ons are snap­ping and snarling at the bor­ders. On­ly frag­ile bonds unite the un­ruly king­doms of Britain against the in­vaders, bonds ce­ment­ed by the vigour of the High King, Uther Pen­drag­on. But the Pen­drag­on is fail­ing, and his heir is no strong lead­er but a child, born on a bit­ter win­ter night. On­ly one man could keep Uther's throne safe,-on­ly he could hold the war­ring king­doms to­geth­er to face their true en­emy, the Sax­ons. That man is Arthur: sol­dier, states­man, Mer­lin's pro­tege, Uther's il­le­git­imate son. But he has been ban­ished, ex­iled by his own fa­ther to Brit­tany. Der­fel, one of his spear­men, nar­rates the sto­ry of Arthur's re­turn and of his quest for peace: em­bat­tled, bloody and, fi­nal­ly, tri­umphant. The Win­ter King is a mag­nif­icent tale of the Dark Ages and the re­al­ity of war and po­lit­ical strife in a land where re­li­gion vied with mag­ic for the souls of the peo­ple. It por­trays Arthur the man rather than the leg­end, a mil­itary ge­nius who, with a small band of war­riors bound to him by loy­al­ty and love, strug­gled to keep alive a flick­er of civ­iliza­tion.

Ene­my of God is the sec­ond nov­el of the War­lord se­ries, and im­me­di­ate­ly fol­lows the events de­scribed in The Win­ter King. In that book the King of Dum­non­ia and High King of Britain, Uther, dies and is suc­ceed­ed by his lamed ba­by grand­son, Mor­dred. Arthur, a bas­tard son of Uther's, is ap­point­ed one of Mor­dred's guardians and in time be­comes the most im­por­tant of those guardians. Arthur is de­ter­mined to ful­fil the oath he swore to Uther that Mor­dred, when he comes of age, will oc­cu­py Dum­non­ia's throne.Arthur is al­so de­ter­mined to bring peace to the war­ring British king­doms. The ma­jor con­flict is be­tween Dum­non­ia and Powys, but when Arthur is in­vit­ed to mar­ry Cein­wyn, a Princess of Powys, it seems that war can be avoid­ed. In­stead Arthur elopes with the pen­ni­less Princess Guin­evere and that in­sult to Cein­wyn brings on years of war that are end­ed on­ly when Arthur de­feats King Gorfy­ddyd of Powys at the Bat­tle of Lugg Vale. Powys's throne then pass­es to Cune­glas, Cein­wyn's broth­er, who, like Arthur, wants peace be­tween the Britons so that they can con­cen­trate their spears against the com­mon en­emy, the Sax­ons (the Sais).The Win­ter King, like the present book, was nar­rat­ed by Der­fel (pro­nounced Dervel), a Sax­on slave boy who grew up in Mer­lin's house­hold and be­came one of Arthur's war­riors. Arthur sent Der­fel to Ar­mor­ica (to­day's Brit­tany) where he fought in the doomed cam­paign to pre­serve the British king­dom of Benoic against Frank­ish in­vaders. Among Benoic's refugees who re­turn to Britain is Lancelot, King of Benoic, whom Arthur now wants to mar­ry to Cein­wyn and place on the throne of Sil­uria. Der­fel has fall­en in love with Cein­wyn.Der­fel's oth­er love is Nimue, his child­hood friend who has be­come Mer­lin's help­mate and lover. Mer­lin is a Druid and the lead­er of the fac­tion in Britain that wants to re­store the is­land to its old Gods, to which end he is pur­su­ing a Caul­dron, one of the Thir­teen Trea­sures of Britain, a quest which for Mer­lin and Nimue far out­ranks any bat­tle against oth­er king­doms or in­vaders. Op­pos­ing Mer­lin are the Chris­tians of Britain, one of whose lead­ers is Bish­op San­sum who lost much of his pow­er when he de­fied Guin­evere. San­sum is now in dis­grace and serv­ing as Ab­bot of the Monastery of the Holy Thorn at Ynys Wydryn (Glas­ton­bury).The Win­ter King end­ed with Arthur win­ning the great bat­tle at Lugg Vale. Mor­dred's throne is safe, the south­ern British king­doms are al­lied and Arthur, though not a king him­self, is their undis­put­ed lead­er.

From T. H. White's The Once And Future King to Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists Of Avalon, the legend of King Arthur has haunted and inspired generations of writers to reinvent the ancient story. In The Winter King and Enemy Of God, Bernard Cornwell demonstrated his astonishing ability to make the oft-told legend of King Arthur fresh and new for our time. Now, in this riveting final volume of the Warlord Chronicles, Cornwell tells the story of Arthur's desperate attempt to triumph over a ruined marriage and the Saxons' determination to destroy him. Set against the backdrop of the Dark Ages, this brilliant saga continues as seen through the eyes of Derfel, an orphan brought up by Merlin and one of Arthur's warriors. In this book, the aging Arthur has been betrayed by, among others, his beloved Guinevere; but although he is alone and deeply saddened, he still embraces his dreams of a world in which civilization triumphs over brute force. Arthur and his warriors must face the dreaded Saxons -- now allied with Arthur's betrayer Lancelot -- for the throne of Britain. This is the tale not only of a broken love remade but also of enemies more subtle than any Saxon spearman -- of forces both earthly and unearthly that threaten everything Arthur stands for. When Merlin and Nimue embark on a dangerous quest to summon the Gods back to Britain, they unleash forces that will lead to a last desperate battle on the sands of Camlann, where it seems that Arthur must fail unless Merlin's final enchantment can avert the horror. Peopled by princesses and bards, warriors and magicians, Excalibur is a story of love, war, loyalty, and betrayal, the unforgettable conclusion to a brilliant retelling of one of the most powerful legends of all time.

History

History

History

History

Mit den Drachenboot kommt der Tod. Nordengland, im Jahre 866: Mit zehn jahren erlebt der Fürstensohn Uhtred den Einfall der Winkinger. Sein ungestümer Mut in der Schlacht beeindruckt den Anführer der Dänen so sehr das er Uthred verschont und als Ziehkind aufnimmt. Mit den Jahren wird der Junge fast einer von Ihnen. Nach Raub- und Eroberungszügen voller Blut und gewalt droht auch Wessex, das letzte der fünf angelsächsischen Königreiche an die Dänen zu fallen. Doch da wechselt Uhtred die Seiten...