Charles Reade

Gerard, the hero of The Cloister and The Hearth, is modelled on all that is known of the father of Erasmus. His tragic love for Margaret Brandt takes him on adventures through Holland, Germany, France and Italy; always frustrated, by chance or by the design of his and Margaret’s enemies, in his desire for the domestic Hearth rather than the religious Cloister. Charles Reade wrote with passion against enforced chastity because, as an Oxford don, he was not able to marry: but what gives his romance magnificence is his exhaustive knowledge of life in the Middle Ages and the skill with which this is combined with a thrilling story.

The Three Investigators look into mysterious accidents plaguing the star of a new musical.

Relationships are challenging enough for most single over-thirty women. For level-ten parasensitive Clare Lancaster, they're a minefield. The elite few who know her secret call her a human lie detector, and any falsehood, no matter how subtle or well hidden, sets her blood racing. Over the years, Clare has come to accept that someone with her extraordinary talents is unlikely to find a suitable mate. And she's even resigned herself to the fact that everyone, to one degree or another, hides behind a facade. Including her recently deceased brother-in-law. When Clare finds the body of Brad McAllister, the golden child of Stone Canyon, Arizona, the posh residents turn a suspicious eye in her direction. As Archer Glazebrook's daughter, Clare is shielded from the law, but not the gossip. It seems that meeting the half sister and family whom she did not know until seven months ago was a mistake. Now her father summons her from California to play a role in his business empire, and Clare doesn't intend on making the same mistake twice. But after meeting Jake Salter, Archer Lancaster’s “business consultant,” she is convinced that things aren’t what they seem. Salter’s careful conversation walks a delicate line between truth and deception, revealing and resisting. Something sparks and sizzles between them—something more than the usual electricity between a man and a woman. Caught in a dizzying storm of secrets, lies, and half-truths, Jake and Clare will plunge into an investigation that demands every bit of their special gifts. Together, they must overcome their mutual distrust in order to unravel a web of conspiracy and murder.

Book digitized by Google from the library of Harvard University and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.