DI Christy Kennedy returns in Departing Shadows, a deceit-laden tale of intrigue, which takes him from London to Brighton and back, and into the arms of the West End's most celebrated up-and-coming actress, Nealey Dean. But all's not well in vibrant Camden Town, as Kennedy investigates a death just outside a diplomatic compound, and finds his investigation immediately stymied by the invocation of diplomatic privilege. The deceased, an actress of a different sort, hostess and social media influencer Gabriella Byrne, left behind a world of mystery, where even those who knew her best did not know her well. As Kennedy interviews witnesses and checks alibis, his investigation brings him from London's hallowed palaces of power to seamy gentlemen's clubs, each with smoke and mirrors of their own. Along the way, he discovers just how far some people will go to protect their darkest secrets, in this, the 11th DI Christy Kennedy mystery. About the series: The Christy Kennedy Mysteries are mostly set round and about Camden Town and Primrose Hill. Just as in real police work there is usually more than one crime being investigated in each book. Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy is an Ulsterman living in leafy Primrose Hill and working in vibrant Camden Town. Kennedy loves the art of detection, he's addicted to the puzzle of the crime; it's his only drug. He's a bit of a loner and doesn't socialise a lot. He's clean-cut, dresses well, very well, but he doesn't have a drink problem. Not really a career policeman, he's content to work away while others trip over each other as they leapfrog over him for promotion. He's not bothered about the career ladder at all, as long as the powers that be allow him to get on with solving the crime. Kennedy's around about thirty-eight years old, loves tea and the music of the Beatles, Ray Davies and Jackson Browne and not necessarily in that order. He has recently met Ann Rea whom he considers to be his soul mate. He is desperate for this relationship to work. He has spent his entire life waiting for the someone special to come along and now she has, he feels ill equipped to deal with the politics of love.

In the tenth book of the acclaimed DI Christy Kennedy series, a successful investment banker is found dead under unusual circumstances. While it looks like the case of an autoerotic escapade gone wrong, Kennedy has other suspicions. After working through a battery of interviews, and uncovering a potential political scandal, Kennedy follows the trail to California. There he is intrigued by an attractive police officer investigating her husband's murder. But the redoubtable DI still finds time to get his man. "A bit of luck and an astonishing clue lead Kennedy to San Francisco, where a door opens into an entirely new mystery with engrossing twists of its own. Haunted by a broken romance, bewildered by a new one, the reserved and courtly Kennedy proves irresistible to women, much to his (and the reader's) delight."--Publishers Weekly. "The tenth Christy Kennedy mystery finds the Camden Town detective inspector following the clues to a man's death all the way to California."--Booklist. "An intriguing mystery."--Half Moon Bay Review. "One murder leads to another and DI Kennedy goes trans-Atlantic in his 10th appearance... Charles serves up his usual pleasant concoction at his usual leisurely pace."--Kirkus Reviews. "The characters are handled well, and Charles adds enough flavor to the dialogue to distinguish everyone from each other."--Mystery Scene Magazine.

On March 22, 1963 the album Please, Please Me was released and a phenomenon was sparked. Now, 50 years later, The Beatles remain one of the most successful and recognizable groups on the planet. In this detail-filled book, musicologist Paul Charles looks at the years The Beatles were writing and recording music together. With an open, and certainly opinionated eye, he explores their music, their cronies, and their stories. This is rock `n' roll chronology at its best, from an author who knows a thing or two about the music business. "To share a fan's passion for the music... Single by single, album by album, Charles gushes."-Kirkus Reviews "Very strongly recommended reading for their legions of fans."--The Midwest Book Review, August 2013

In this new series from Paul Charles, formerly retired policeman Brendy McCusker is forced to return to work following his wife's flight to America with their nest-egg. On his first major case in Belfast he partners with DI Lily O'Carroll to locate the two missing sons of a wealthy businessman. But before that case is resolved, an American banker working in Belfast is brutally murdered down on leafy Cyprus Avenue and McCusker and O'Carroll are put on the case. While the list of suspects grows ever longer, McCusker find himself juggling his move to Belfast, O'Carroll's frequent blind dates, his status as a hired-back rent-a-cop, and being a single man while trying hard not to have his head turned by Belfast's beautiful women - one mysterious one in particular. There is no relief when McCusker and O'Carroll eventually find a suspect with an air-tight alibi , which only one of the detectives believes is genuine... "Continuously absorbing, with a nice rapport between the hero and heroine."--Kirkus Reviews "Introducing a new lead character and a new setting gives the book a real sense of freshness. Readers will definitely want to see more of Brendy McCusker."--Booklist "Charles launches his new Brendy McCusker series with this twist-filled tale of betrayal and revenge."--Publishers Weekly "Charles has created an endearing character in his new novel."--NY Journal of Books

A lone building on a small island off Ireland's Donegal coast, St Ernan's is politely known as a "retirement home" for priests. The exiled residents are guilty of such serious offenses as entrepreneurship, criticizing the church, or getting too friendly with the flock. But things take a turn when Fr Matthew McKaye is found dead in the kitchen, a pot of potatoes boiling on the range. Has one of these isolated outcasts committed murder? Starrett soon discovers that ten clergy alone on an island can concoct a great deal of mischief, but what could the young priest have done to get himself murdered? Long-buried grievances are awakened by the ghosts of Starrett's seminarian past, and though Starrett excels at untangling facts from speculation, this investigation is going to require all the procedural discipline he can muster. "Charles makes Starrett's third case leisurely, literate, ingenious. . . and as old-fashioned as the idea that priests are pillars of private morality."-Kirkus Reviews. "In Irish author Charles's atmospheric third Inspector Starrett mystery, Starrett investigates a murder at a home for wayward Catholic priests. They soon find that there are plenty of secrets the inhabitants and surrounding townsfolk would like to keep well buried."--Publisher's Weekly "The reader of St Ernan's Blues will learn a lot about the priests at St Ernan's and a lot about human nature."--Irish American News

This is about the contemporary rock circuit and it takes you to the inside of this lucrative and popular circuit and describes in detail how artists get started on the road. It covers everything the artist needs to know to function professionally right from the stage of putting their band together to finding agents, managers, lawyers, accountants, promoters and road crews. The members of this vital back-up team will be discussed at length; what each does for the act and exactly what they charge for their services. With actual sample expenses sheets, Playing Live will show where the money comes from and where exactly it goes. Everything from the highs and the lows of life on the road; the art of doing the deal and the root of the audience will be investigated. It also goes into detail about all the by-products of playing live (as a career) - that''s everything from songwriting through to radio, television, films, recordings, merchandising, sponsorship, acting and of course politics.

For so many of us, music shapes our world. It becomes part of our DNA. In our hearts we aspire to writing the great song or stepping out on stage in front of a packed arena. But it is part of the mystery of music that we don't know how - or why - a particular song will seem to get right inside our heads, or why one artist will scale the highest heights, while another just can't get beyond the local pub gig. In telling the personal story of a world-leading agent, promoter, manager and songwriter, Adventures in Wonderland answers those questions in a way that no book has ever done before. Paul Charles has lived the life, loved the music, dreamt the dreams, and been manager and confidante to some of the world's biggest - and most artistically credible - artists and songwriters. In Adventures in Wonderland, he writes about his encounters with The Beatles, The Kinks, Robert Plant, Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Carly Simon, The Police, U2, The Waterboys, Shakespeare's Sister and dozens more legendary artists, and his 30-year involvement in the Glastonbury Festival. But at the heart of the wonderful trip described in Adventures in Wonderland is an overpowering love - and a deep understanding - of music and how it excites, obsesses and heals us. And sometimes drives us completely wild, doing and experiencing things we had never, ever imagined. After reading Adventures in Wonderland, you will never feel the same about music - or about life - ever again...

This anthology draws together some of the best new stories of mystery and murder—compiled by the Anthony Award–winning crime fiction editor.This anthology collects the most original stories of murder by some of mystery fiction''s most inventive talents from the United States and United Kingdom. With innovative new takes on locked-room mysteries and impossible crimes, these short stories are full of vexing conundrums and reality-defying puzzles. A murder has been committed—but how could it have happened?Curated by Maxim Jakubowski, one of the crime genre''s most renowned editors, this volume features never-before-seen stories by acclaimed authors—including British Science Fiction Award–winner Eric Brown, Derringer Award–winner O''Neil de Noux, and multiple CWA Dagger Award–winners and nominees.

What seems like a routine job for matchmaker Michael Gilmour in a small 1960s Northern Irish town becomes something very much more when events take an unexpected turn. The brothers Kane have an idea for their matches that will set tongues wagging, light the fires of jealousy in more than one heart and open the door to tragedy. The Lonesome Heart is Angry explores life in a small town and the darker side of the human condition. It doesn''t shy away from the gossip, the fear, the violence and desperation that can build up inside people and behind closed doors. Set in Castlemartin, home of the Playboys who featured in Paul Charles'' The Last Dance, The Lonesome Heart is Angry is a gripping novel that will keep you reading until the last page.

DI Christy Kennedy returns in Departing Shadows, a deceit-laden tale of intrigue, which takes him from London to Brighton and back, and into the arms of the West End's most celebrated up-and-coming actress, Nealey Dean. But all's not well in vibrant Camden Town, as Kennedy investigates a death just outside a diplomatic compound, and finds his investigation immediately stymied by the invocation of diplomatic privilege. The deceased, an actress of a different sort, hostess and social media influencer Gabriella Byrne, left behind a world of mystery, where even those who knew her best did not know her well. As Kennedy interviews witnesses and checks alibis, his investigation brings him from London's hallowed palaces of power to seamy gentlemen's clubs, each with smoke and mirrors of their own. Along the way, he discovers just how far some people will go to protect their darkest secrets, in this, the 11th DI Christy Kennedy mystery. About the series: The Christy Kennedy Mysteries are mostly set round and about Camden Town and Primrose Hill. Just as in real police work there is usually more than one crime being investigated in each book. Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy is an Ulsterman living in leafy Primrose Hill and working in vibrant Camden Town. Kennedy loves the art of detection, he's addicted to the puzzle of the crime; it's his only drug. He's a bit of a loner and doesn't socialise a lot. He's clean-cut, dresses well, very well, but he doesn't have a drink problem. Not really a career policeman, he's content to work away while others trip over each other as they leapfrog over him for promotion. He's not bothered about the career ladder at all, as long as the powers that be allow him to get on with solving the crime. Kennedy's around about thirty-eight years old, loves tea and the music of the Beatles, Ray Davies and Jackson Browne and not necessarily in that order. He has recently met Ann Rea whom he considers to be his soul mate. He is desperate for this relationship to work. He has spent his entire life waiting for the someone special to come along and now she has, he feels ill equipped to deal with the politics of love.

In the tenth book of the acclaimed DI Christy Kennedy series, a successful investment banker is found dead under unusual circumstances. While it looks like the case of an autoerotic escapade gone wrong, Kennedy has other suspicions. After working through a battery of interviews, and uncovering a potential political scandal, Kennedy follows the trail to California. There he is intrigued by an attractive police officer investigating her husband's murder. But the redoubtable DI still finds time to get his man. "A bit of luck and an astonishing clue lead Kennedy to San Francisco, where a door opens into an entirely new mystery with engrossing twists of its own. Haunted by a broken romance, bewildered by a new one, the reserved and courtly Kennedy proves irresistible to women, much to his (and the reader's) delight."--Publishers Weekly. "The tenth Christy Kennedy mystery finds the Camden Town detective inspector following the clues to a man's death all the way to California."--Booklist. "An intriguing mystery."--Half Moon Bay Review. "One murder leads to another and DI Kennedy goes trans-Atlantic in his 10th appearance... Charles serves up his usual pleasant concoction at his usual leisurely pace."--Kirkus Reviews. "The characters are handled well, and Charles adds enough flavor to the dialogue to distinguish everyone from each other."--Mystery Scene Magazine.

On March 22, 1963 the album Please, Please Me was released and a phenomenon was sparked. Now, 50 years later, The Beatles remain one of the most successful and recognizable groups on the planet. In this detail-filled book, musicologist Paul Charles looks at the years The Beatles were writing and recording music together. With an open, and certainly opinionated eye, he explores their music, their cronies, and their stories. This is rock `n' roll chronology at its best, from an author who knows a thing or two about the music business. "To share a fan's passion for the music... Single by single, album by album, Charles gushes."-Kirkus Reviews "Very strongly recommended reading for their legions of fans."--The Midwest Book Review, August 2013

In this new series from Paul Charles, formerly retired policeman Brendy McCusker is forced to return to work following his wife's flight to America with their nest-egg. On his first major case in Belfast he partners with DI Lily O'Carroll to locate the two missing sons of a wealthy businessman. But before that case is resolved, an American banker working in Belfast is brutally murdered down on leafy Cyprus Avenue and McCusker and O'Carroll are put on the case. While the list of suspects grows ever longer, McCusker find himself juggling his move to Belfast, O'Carroll's frequent blind dates, his status as a hired-back rent-a-cop, and being a single man while trying hard not to have his head turned by Belfast's beautiful women - one mysterious one in particular. There is no relief when McCusker and O'Carroll eventually find a suspect with an air-tight alibi , which only one of the detectives believes is genuine... "Continuously absorbing, with a nice rapport between the hero and heroine."--Kirkus Reviews "Introducing a new lead character and a new setting gives the book a real sense of freshness. Readers will definitely want to see more of Brendy McCusker."--Booklist "Charles launches his new Brendy McCusker series with this twist-filled tale of betrayal and revenge."--Publishers Weekly "Charles has created an endearing character in his new novel."--NY Journal of Books

A lone building on a small island off Ireland's Donegal coast, St Ernan's is politely known as a "retirement home" for priests. The exiled residents are guilty of such serious offenses as entrepreneurship, criticizing the church, or getting too friendly with the flock. But things take a turn when Fr Matthew McKaye is found dead in the kitchen, a pot of potatoes boiling on the range. Has one of these isolated outcasts committed murder? Starrett soon discovers that ten clergy alone on an island can concoct a great deal of mischief, but what could the young priest have done to get himself murdered? Long-buried grievances are awakened by the ghosts of Starrett's seminarian past, and though Starrett excels at untangling facts from speculation, this investigation is going to require all the procedural discipline he can muster. "Charles makes Starrett's third case leisurely, literate, ingenious. . . and as old-fashioned as the idea that priests are pillars of private morality."-Kirkus Reviews. "In Irish author Charles's atmospheric third Inspector Starrett mystery, Starrett investigates a murder at a home for wayward Catholic priests. They soon find that there are plenty of secrets the inhabitants and surrounding townsfolk would like to keep well buried."--Publisher's Weekly "The reader of St Ernan's Blues will learn a lot about the priests at St Ernan's and a lot about human nature."--Irish American News

This is about the contemporary rock circuit and it takes you to the inside of this lucrative and popular circuit and describes in detail how artists get started on the road. It covers everything the artist needs to know to function professionally right from the stage of putting their band together to finding agents, managers, lawyers, accountants, promoters and road crews. The members of this vital back-up team will be discussed at length; what each does for the act and exactly what they charge for their services. With actual sample expenses sheets, Playing Live will show where the money comes from and where exactly it goes. Everything from the highs and the lows of life on the road; the art of doing the deal and the root of the audience will be investigated. It also goes into detail about all the by-products of playing live (as a career) - that''s everything from songwriting through to radio, television, films, recordings, merchandising, sponsorship, acting and of course politics.

For so many of us, music shapes our world. It becomes part of our DNA. In our hearts we aspire to writing the great song or stepping out on stage in front of a packed arena. But it is part of the mystery of music that we don't know how - or why - a particular song will seem to get right inside our heads, or why one artist will scale the highest heights, while another just can't get beyond the local pub gig. In telling the personal story of a world-leading agent, promoter, manager and songwriter, Adventures in Wonderland answers those questions in a way that no book has ever done before. Paul Charles has lived the life, loved the music, dreamt the dreams, and been manager and confidante to some of the world's biggest - and most artistically credible - artists and songwriters. In Adventures in Wonderland, he writes about his encounters with The Beatles, The Kinks, Robert Plant, Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Carly Simon, The Police, U2, The Waterboys, Shakespeare's Sister and dozens more legendary artists, and his 30-year involvement in the Glastonbury Festival. But at the heart of the wonderful trip described in Adventures in Wonderland is an overpowering love - and a deep understanding - of music and how it excites, obsesses and heals us. And sometimes drives us completely wild, doing and experiencing things we had never, ever imagined. After reading Adventures in Wonderland, you will never feel the same about music - or about life - ever again...

This anthology draws together some of the best new stories of mystery and murder—compiled by the Anthony Award–winning crime fiction editor.This anthology collects the most original stories of murder by some of mystery fiction''s most inventive talents from the United States and United Kingdom. With innovative new takes on locked-room mysteries and impossible crimes, these short stories are full of vexing conundrums and reality-defying puzzles. A murder has been committed—but how could it have happened?Curated by Maxim Jakubowski, one of the crime genre''s most renowned editors, this volume features never-before-seen stories by acclaimed authors—including British Science Fiction Award–winner Eric Brown, Derringer Award–winner O''Neil de Noux, and multiple CWA Dagger Award–winners and nominees.

What seems like a routine job for matchmaker Michael Gilmour in a small 1960s Northern Irish town becomes something very much more when events take an unexpected turn. The brothers Kane have an idea for their matches that will set tongues wagging, light the fires of jealousy in more than one heart and open the door to tragedy. The Lonesome Heart is Angry explores life in a small town and the darker side of the human condition. It doesn''t shy away from the gossip, the fear, the violence and desperation that can build up inside people and behind closed doors. Set in Castlemartin, home of the Playboys who featured in Paul Charles'' The Last Dance, The Lonesome Heart is Angry is a gripping novel that will keep you reading until the last page.