Propositioning the Iron Wraiths’ money man seemed like a good idea at the time… Diane Donner—recently divorced pillar of polite society—is craving danger. She’s tired of playing it safe and she knows just the sexy criminal motorcycle man to proposition for a good time. Problem is, she doesn’t actually know his name. Jason “Repo” Doe never takes risks. So when the queen of local commerce walks into his club, looking to get risky and frisky, Jason knows the smartest thing to do is save himself a headache while saving the new divorcee from her worst impulses. But then one thing leads to another, and the memory of just-one-night doesn’t feel like enough. Theirs is a story with no future, because how can a dangerous criminal win (and keep) a queen? ‘Beard In Hiding’ is book #4.5 in the Winston Brothers series, is a full length contemporary romantic comedy about two lost souls in their 40s, and is a companion novel to the Winston Brothers and Solving for Pie series. If you want to get the full immersive Green Valley world experience, I recommend reading ‘Truth or Beard,’ ‘Beard Science,’ ‘Engagement and Espionage,’ and ‘Marriage and Murder’ beforehand. ‘Beard In Hiding’ contains spoilers for these four books (in specific).

An important reference work on a practice that is needed more than ever in a VUCA world, this book helps readers understand the importance of responsible and constructive practices and behavior in leadership. The broad approach to inclusive leadership presented in this volume highlights correlations between inclusive leadership and myriad issues, qualities, and circumstances that serve as foundations or impact factors on it. Some contributors review contemporary concepts and challenges such as change, innovation, the bottom line, sustainability, and performance excellence against inclusive leadership. Other contributors reflect on critical practices and qualities, such as trust, passion, ethics, spirituality, and empathy, and their relationships with inclusive leadership. A range of religious and spiritual influences are also evaluated in the context of inclusive leadership, such as (but not limited to) Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Christianity. Postgraduate students, instructors, and coaches will appreciate this comprehensive look at inclusive leadership, which has become an urgent concept to be internalized and practiced by all, regardless of positions, possessions, locations, or generations.

The Secret of Father Brown contains 10 short stories: The Secret of Father Brown; The Mirror of the Magistrate; The Man With Two Beards; The Song of the Flying Fish; The Actor and the Alibi; The Vanishing of Vaudrey; The Worst Crime in the World; The Red Moon of Meru; The Chief Mourner of Marne; and, The Secret of Flambeau.

Father Brown returns in his fourth collection of stories, and his sidekick Flambeau makes a return as well, although only in the two framing stories at the beginning and end of the collection. In the intervening ten stories, Father Brown is alone, and investigating mysteries involving objects as varied as mirrors, literal goldfish (made out of gold), and a suit of armor. As always, his investigations also provide him an opportunity to expound on the nature of evil, the differences between a charlatan’s representation of the supernatural and the real thing, and the opportunities for thieves and murderers to repent of their deeds. This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.

SEATTLE, 204. The Space Needle lies crumpled. Veiled women hurry through the streets. Alcohol is outlawed, replaced by Jihad Cola, and mosques dot the skyline. New York and Washington, D.C., are nuclear wastelands. At the edge of the empire, Islamic and Christian forces fight for control, and rebels plot to regain free will....

A London artist becomes the victim of a stalker in this “creepy” novel “with satisfying fits of the shivers” from the award-winning author of Easy Peasy (The Sunday Times). In London’s prestigious National Portrait Gallery, an exhibition of Connie Benson’s art is set to open. It’s quite an event considering that the reclusive portraitist hasn’t left her home on the North Norfolk coast for the past thirty years—not since her lover Patrick Mount disappeared. Mount, an eccentric guru who claimed to have discovered an elixir of bliss, is just as famous—perhaps even more so after his presumed death. Tonight, Connie’s masterful portrait of him, completed on the night he vanished, will finally be unveiled. But it’s arousing more than a love of art in Mount’s most secretive and devoted disciple. Tony, a violent ex-con, never met Mount, but he’s committed the famous man’s autobiography to memory. He’s collected every known photograph of him, and every word ever written by, or about, him. Except for one prized possession that has been forever out of reach: Mount’s key to bliss. He’s prepared to trap Connie in his secret world to find it. But Tony is soon to discover the consequences of obsession—because he isn’t the only one with things to hide. The recipient of the Somerset Maugham Award, Lesley Glaister is “an author for whom writing and storytelling is an unstoppable passion, as strong as a rush of blood to the head” (The Independent). “Crime writing of the highest order.” —The Sunday Times “Before Gillian Flynn, there was Lesley Glaister.” —Harper’s Bazaar