Michael Butterworth – författare

Sport, Rhetoric, and Political Struggle addresses a needed next step for advancing sport as a site of inquiry in rhetorical studies. The book claims that sport is central to contemporary antagonisms over, for example, gender and sexual binarism, queer visibilities, race and labor relations, public health, domestic violence, global institutional corruption, and posthuman body politics. The authors' attention to such antagonisms entails a dual focus: they argue (1) that sport does not function in isolation and that, moreover, relations of power take particular shape within, through, and around sport; and (2) that rhetorical studies of sport are not merely "about sport," but instead are integral to larger theoretical and ethical concerns that animate the discipline. The essays collected in this book contextualize sport and political struggle, examine the mobilization of resistance in sporting contexts, identify ongoing stigmas that present limitations in and around sport, and attend to prevailing ideological features that provoke questions for future research. In short, the authors demonstrate how and why sport is not only important, but how it is productive, how it offers understandings of practices or social formations or economies that scholars cannot get in quite the same way elsewhere.

Sport, Rhetoric, and Political Struggle addresses a needed next step for advancing sport as a site of inquiry in rhetorical studies. The book claims that sport is central to contemporary antagonisms over, for example, gender and sexual binarism, queer visibilities, race and labor relations, public health, domestic violence, global institutional corruption, and posthuman body politics. The authors' attention to such antagonisms entails a dual focus: they argue (1) that sport does not function in isolation and that, moreover, relations of power take particular shape within, through, and around sport; and (2) that rhetorical studies of sport are not merely "about sport," but instead are integral to larger theoretical and ethical concerns that animate the discipline. The essays collected in this book contextualize sport and political struggle, examine the mobilization of resistance in sporting contexts, identify ongoing stigmas that present limitations in and around sport, and attend to prevailing ideological features that provoke questions for future research. In short, the authors demonstrate how and why sport is not only important, but how it is productive, how it offers understandings of practices or social formations or economies that scholars cannot get in quite the same way elsewhere.

The legends and lore of medieval England seep into the present in a gothic mystery that "e;builds splendidly to a terrifying climax: a great witch's brew"e; (Southern Daily Echo). Canadian Polly Lestrange is the sole surviving relative of a woman who lies near death in the village of Denwich on the East Suffolk coast. Summoned to her great-aunt's bedside, Polly is overcome by the gloom of the imposing manor house set atop cliffs that are crumbling into the sea. Polly's unease grows when her great-aunt's housekeeper refuses to let her see the dying woman, keeping her secluded in a locked room. Then there's the portrait in the hallway of an ancestor who was burned as a witch, and looks remarkably like Polly. With secrets and superstitions swirling around the village, Polly's fear becomes all too real when she's nearly strangled to death in the family's mausoleum. When even the police can't penetrate the locals' conspiracy of silence, Polly learns that in a place rife with rumors of witchcraft it's easy to get away with just about anything even murder . . . "e;Snappy whodunit."e; The Sunday Telegraph"e;Gothic plethora of village witchery . . . a thoroughly red-herringed variation of what might have been."e; The Northern Echo"e;Denouement on crumbling cliff-edge, off which an old graveyard is gradually discharging its burden of human bones into the sea. Not at night for this one."e; Yorkshire Evening Press"e;Another excellent tale from Michael Butterworth. Plenty of tension, with grim happenings set on the more desolate part of the Suffolk coastline."e; Morning Star"e;Mr. Butterworth weaves suspense and mystery throughout his book and then completely surprises his readers with a quite unexpected denouement."e; Newmarket Journal

One of the world's most beautiful women is tormented by the ugly secrets in her shattered mind in this "e;really smooth chiller"e; (The Sunday Telegraph). Candida Jeans has a face that has graced the covers of England's top fashion magazines, but she hides herself away from the whirlwind of her glamourous world. Work is work, though, so she can't refuse a Paris photo shoot. It's when she goes through customs that the real nightmare begins, and a man's severed hand is found in her hat-box. Blindsided by the horror, Candida shrinks in upon herself, falling prey to the insecurities that have plagued her since she was a child. With the Paris police following her every move, she struggles to keep her composure while dealing with the demands of the fashion editor and photographer who have accompanied her. The labyrinth of the city's streets and her own memories become a maze she can't escape, while she tries to piece together a past that could either destroy her or set her free . . . "e;Brisk little tour de force."e; The Observer"e;Grips as it goes."e; The Northern Echo "e;A very competently plotted yarn with nightmare moments for its central character and a whodunit I failed to solve."e; Morning Star"e;The effects and surprises are well handled for maximum effect."e; Cambridge Evening News"e;The mystery is neatly sustained."e; Nottingham Guardian Journal

"e;A neatly contrived nightmare, with the sunny islands and the kindly, sensible policeman cleverly contrasted with the menace surrounding the heroine."e; -Oxford MailFor Englishwoman Deborah Tarrant, a vacation in Malta was going to be the perfect way to bond with her mother, but a tragic accident leaves Deborah alone in her grief. Still, the picture-perfect Mediterranean could be just what she needs, especially when a precocious six-year-old boy neglected by his flirtatious nanny takes a liking to Deborah. Spending time with young Alec takes Deborah's mind off her sadness and regret. She even chalks up his tale about a dead body to an overactive imagination. But when Alec and his nanny go missing, Deborah gets drawn into a darker side of the sunlit island one where happy tourists harbor twisted secrets and drugs are smuggled under cover of the night. Nothing is as it seems as Deborah works with the local police to find Alec and expose the unraveling of the perfect crime . . . Also published as Vanishing Act"e;Smooth, nicely characterized holiday murder mystery with detailed Malta hotel setting."e; The Observer"e;A first-class thriller, all complete with an imported red herring which should keep its readers in a quandary up to the final chapter."e; Morning Star"e;A brisk tour of Malta and its customs. The author obviously knows and loves these, and simply in background contrives to draw a more vivid (and far better written) picture than most professional travel writers in a dozen books."e; Irish Press"e;An ideal thriller in its own way; sun and sea and holidays provide the background for a succinct whodunit."e; Books and Bookmen

Hidden memories haunt a woman whose past holds the key to her unstable present, in this twisty, terrifying psychological thriller. Sally Baxter has been a victim of trauma almost as long as she can remember. It's what she can't recall that's the problem. After her parents were killed when she was just a teenager, an uncle enrolled her in a French boarding school. What happened there to get her sent home is lost in the deep recesses of her mind . . . Sally seeks answers while in the care of an unconventional therapist. But when she finds the woman dead apparently pushed from a window she becomes the prime suspect in her doctor's murder. An unexpected reunion with a former classmate gives Sally a chance to get away from it all, at least for a while. The longtime friends embark on a road trip through France. But the excitement of Paris, the peace of the countryside, and the sunny beaches don't stop Sally's ghosts from following her. What should be a relaxing jaunt turns into an ongoing nightmare that drains the last of Sally's sanity, sending her spiraling into the heart of madness. "e;Gruesome . . . chills."e; The Times Picayune"e;An accomplished, original and slightly disturbing first novel about a somewhat hysterical young woman given to blackouts, who did not know whether she had thrown her psychiatrist out of the window in one of them or not. Nor will the reader, until the very end."e; The Guardian

Two partners in crime embark on an art caper among the avant-garde of 1930s Paris in this thriller from the renowned twentieth-century mystery author. Berlin has not been kind to struggling English writer Bernard Fosdyke. He's on his last legs financially, and as Hitler rises to power he's mistaken for a Jewish man and beaten by a pair of storm-troopers. Luckily, Hal Levy comes to his rescue. The big, blond American is known by other names. He has the fake passports to prove it and to get them safely over the border into France. Sensing a kindred criminal spirit in Bernard, Hal offers him a way out of his hapless circumstances. An accomplished art thief and forger, Hal has enough talent to duplicate the masterpieces that he steals, so no one is the wiser. His new target: Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks, hanging in the Louvre. And he wants Bernard to help him with the switch. In a Paris bustling with such famed artists, writers, and intellectuals as Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Picasso, the unlikely duo masterminds an audacious crime. And only dirty cops, evil Nazis, and double-crosses can stop them . . .