With high hopes, Daphne Ballinger lands her dream job at The New York Times. But it's not long until writing about weddings becomes a painful reminder of her own failed romance, and her love of the city slowly sours as well. Is it time to give up the Big Apple for her small hometown of Appleton? When her eccentric Aunt Dee passes away and leaves a sizeable estate to Daphne, going back home is an easy choice. What isn’t easy is coming to terms with the downright odd clauses written into the will. Daphne only stands to inherit the estate if she agrees to her aunt's very specific posthumous terms -- personal and professional. And if she fails to comply, the sprawling old Victorian house shall be bequeathed to . . . Aunt Dee’s cats. And if Daphne thinks that’s odd, wait until she finds out an array of secrets about Aunt Dee's life, and how imperfect circumstances can sometimes lead to God's perfect timing.

This provocative book debunks the myth that American gun culture was intentionally created by gun makers and demonstrates that gun ownership and use have been a core part of American society since our colonial origins. Revisionist historians argue that American gun culture and manufacturing are relatively recent developments. They further claim that widespread gun violence was largely absent from early American history because guns of all types, and especially handguns, were rare before 1848. According to these revisionists, American gun culture was the creation of the first mass production gun manufacturers, who used clever marketing to sell guns to people who neither wanted nor needed them. However, as proven in this first scholarly history of "gun culture" in early America, gun ownership and use have in fact been central to American society from its very beginnings. Lock, Stock, and Barrel: The Origins of American Gun Culture shows that gunsmithing and gun manufacturing were important parts of the economies of the colonies and the early republic and explains how the American gun industry helped to create our modern world of precision mass production and high wages for workers.

Publisher Description

The best description ever of the process of making a best grade English gun.

"Led by a young Theodore Roosevelt, a motley crew of soon-to-be American legends must work together to solve a mystery that threatens all of existence."--Publisher's description.

In Key West, ex- investigative reporter Milo Bird looks forward to life in early-retirement in the tropics after quitting his job as a local radio news personality. But before he can enjoy life beyond employment his old boss begs him to cover one last story; to solve the baffling murder of a museum staffer savagely attacked in a gallery after hours at the start of a holiday weekend. Milo calls upon his amiable cadre of bar pals (possessed of disparate backgrounds and skill sets) who from time to time helped Milo in his investigative work. Together, and to Milo's increasing personal danger, they uncover a stunning secret kept hidden for nearly a century. It centers on Thomas Edison's personal connections to Key West and Florida and those links set in motion events leading to the murder committed during the theft of seemingly valueless Edison museum artifacts. Milo's band and the killers race to be the first to find a hidden prize of great value, as his antagonists plot how to use Milo to lead them to a big payday and then to eliminate him.