Inexplicably, Dr Michael Moralis, a scholar of Mycenaean Greece from New York, has just been murdered in his hotel room on the beautiful and crime-free island of Naxos in the Cyclades. Archaeologist Martin Day already had plans for the summer. He owns a house on Naxos where he writes and researches, and is about to start work on a biography of local historian Nikos Elias, who for the last years of his life had a single obsession: to find a Mycenaean tomb which he was convinced still lay undiscovered on Naxos. Day's friend Helen Aitchison arrives to stay with him for a few months to work on her latest novel and avoid thinking about her former disastrous marriage. Neither Day nor Helen anticipates the newspaper article from which they learn of Moralis's death. The local police are relieved when Day offers some insights into the dead scholar, but have little evidence until they are joined by a senior man from the Athens force. The unconventional Inspector Andreas Nomikos believes the murder is linked to some antiquities smugglers he has tracked to the Cyclades, and plans to use Day, with his international contacts in the world of archaeology, to help him prove it. Day has his own ideas. It looks to him like Moralis had other reasons entirely for being on Naxos, involving people whom the police have not yet considered. Day loves a good intellectual challenge, such as Nikos Elias's obscure tomb theories and Michael Moralis's puzzling murder. He loves his platonic friendship with Helen, and all the delightful food and drink that Greece has to offer. He may even be slightly in love with the unobtainable Deppi Kiloziglou. However, when he and Helen find the body of a young man in a stone hut in the hills, Day puts his easy life on hold until he has resolved the mystery in his own maverick way. It turns out he's rather good at it, although his approach is not without risk.

Archaeologist Martin Day thinks he has escaped from real life when he buys a house on the Greek island of Naxos. Events prove him mistaken. He plans to write a book about a local historian called Nikos Elias and quickly realises that Elias had secrets which might lead to an exciting discovery. Then a man is murdered in a Naxos hotel, a mild-mannered American called Michael Moralis whom Day once met. Inspector Andreas Nomikos suspects that Moralis was connected to antiquities smuggling, but Day cannot believe it of the man. Nor can he leave well alone. While trying to get to the bottom of Elias's secret obsession, he also starts making his own investigations into who killed Michael Moralis. Rich local colour, a clever plot and an eccentric archaeologist make this first book in the Naxos Mysteries series an absorbing read.

A piercingly raw debut story collection from a young writer with an explosive voice; a treacherously surreal, and, at times, heartbreakingly satirical look at what it's like to be young and black in America.

Anecdotal, eclectic, and always enthusiastic, The Origins of English Words is a diverting expedition beyond linguistics into literature, history, folklore, anthropology, philosophy, and science.

An ethicist provides an engaging exploration of the meaning of sex and articulates a Christian ethic for addressing a host of sexual issues facing readers today.

This edited volume explores the dynamic relationship between the Friday mosque and the Islamic city, addressing the traditional topics through a fresh new lens and offering a critical examination of each case study in its own spatial, urban, and socio-cultural context. While these two well-known themes--concepts that once defined the field--have been widely studied by historians of Islamic architecture and urbanism, this compilation specifically addresses the functional and spatial ambiguity or liminality between these spaces. Instead of addressing the Friday mosque as the central signifier of the Islamic city, this collection provides evidence that there was (and continues to be) variety in the way architectural borders became fluid in and around Friday mosques across the Islamic world, from Cordoba to Jerusalem and from London to Lahore. By historicizing different cases and exploring the way human agency, through ritual and politics, shaped the physical and social fabric of the city, this volume challenges the generalizing and reductionist tendencies in earlier scholarship.

Experience the joy of God's message and begin each day with a positive outlook with these words of wisdom from Lakewood Church pastor and #1 New York Times bestselling author Joel Osteen. Research that shows people are happiest on Fridays. Now, learn how you can generate this level of contentment and joy every day of the week. As a man who maintains a constant positive outlook in spite of circumstances, Osteen has described this message as a core theme of his ministry. With personal experiences, scriptural insights, and principles for true happiness, he'll show you how to find the same opportunities for pure joy that you experience at five o'clock on Friday.