Surviving a bomb threat that was set up as a test by a terrorist cell that has abducted his father, industrial engineer Tyler Locke is blackmailed into tracking down a legendary treasure that will finance terrorist activities for decades.

Appealing to everyday "rockhounds" and world-class mineral collectors alike, this title is the first guide on the market to include values and lapidary (cutting and polishing rocks and gemstones for jewelry). Unlike the dry and clinical books often found on the subject, author Patti Polk explains with concise, easy-to-understand descriptions with interesting supplementary information (granite is typically used for gravestones and garnet for sandpaper)....

A suspended Harvard Medical School student is kidnapped and left for dead in Rio de Janeiro, while a terminally ill medical genius works on a potentially world-changing cure, and a Chicago detective struggles to identify a mysterious accident victim.

A proud, uncompromising woman, Harriet's great passion is collecting butterflies and pinning them under glass; motherhood comes no easier to her than her role as mistress of her remote Irish estate. When her daughter dies, her community is quick to judge her, and Harriet will not stoop to defend herself. But her journals reveal a more complex truth.