Deadly Crossing

America's relentless search for terrorists coupled with heretofore unknown and covert eavesdropping techniques and other invasions have uncovered a uniquely coded message between Afghanistan and Mexico. The translation, if it is to be believed, is alarming. Arab terrorists are going to smuggle a Russian into the United States. A retired former special ops CIA agent, Zack Sinclair is brought back in to go undercover in Mexico to find the Russian before he arrives in the United States. Zack learns that funding and transportation for the Russian are financed by a Guadalajaran banker for a drug cartel that has corrupted the border and politicians, making Sinclair's task perilous and deadly. A tenuous relationship evolves with a member of the banking family that controls the critical sale of drugs to finance the movement of the Russian to the United States. Their relationship puts them both in mortal danger as the body count rises. When the CIA learns the real reason for the Russian's arrival in the Unites States, Sinclair alone must find him at all costs, or the results will be America's worst nightmare.

When Sophie Skala narrowly escapes indictment for the murder of her abusive husband, she seeks anonymity by moving to a small lake island for the winter. But writer and island resident Joe Wisdom recognizes her-and quickly becomes the victim of foul play. Shaken by this latest crime, Sophie is further distressed to learn that her late husband's mistress also lives in the same town. And even worse, this mistress has had a relationship with Carl Jacobsen, Sophie's new lover. But Carl has an uneasy relationship with the island's inhabitants, and his past remains cloaked in shadows. Winter arrives early, cutting the island off from the mainland. Sophie and Carl find themselves at the center of an investigation for Joe's murder. Sophie is confident in her innocence, but the more she learns of Carl's past, the more she wonders if she can trust him . Crackling with intrigue, this murder mystery reveals the intricate lives of one island's inhabitants-and their dark secrets.

For many inside and outside the legal academy, the right place to look for law is in constitutions, statutes, and judicial opinions. This book looks for law in the “wrong places”—sites and spaces in which no formal law appears. These may be geographic regions beyond the reach of law, everyday practices ungoverned or ungovernable by law, or works of art that have escaped law’s constraints. Looking for Law in All the Wrong Places brings together essays by leading scholars of anthropology, cultural studies, history, law, literature, political science, race and ethnic studies, religion, and rhetoric, to look at law from the standpoint of the humanities. Beyond showing law to be determined by or determinative of distinct cultural phenomena, the contributors show how law is itself interwoven with language, text, image, and culture. Many essays in this volume look for law precisely in the kinds of “wrong places” where there appears to be no law. They find in these places not only reflections and remains of law, but also rules and practices that seem indistinguishable from law and raise challenging questions about the locations of law and about law’s meaning and function. Other essays do the opposite: rather than looking for law in places where law does not obviously appear, they look in statute books and courtrooms from perspectives that are usually presumed to have nothing to say about law. Looking at law sideways, or upside down, or inside out defamiliarizes law. These essays show what legal understanding can gain when law is denied its ostensibly proper domain. Contributors: Kathryn Abrams, Daniel Boyarin, Wendy Brown, Marianne Constable, Samera Esmeir, Daniel Fisher, Sara Ludin, Saba Mahmood, Rebecca McLennan, Ramona Naddaff, Beth Piatote, Sarah Song, Christopher Tomlins, Leti Volpp, Bryan Wagner

The murder of a glamorous DC socialite becomes Alex Cross’s deadliest case since Along Came a Spider. Kay Willingham led a life as glamorous as it was public—she was a gorgeous Georgetown socialite, philanthropist, and the ex-wife of the vice president. So why was she parked in a Bentley convertible idling behind a DC private school, in the middle of the night, with the man who was the head of that school? Who shot them both, point blank, and why? The shocking double homicide is blazed across the internet, TV, newspapers—and across Alex Cross's mind. Kay had been his patient once. And maybe more. While John Sampson of DC Metro Police investigates the last movements of Christopher Randall, the educator killed along with Kay Willingham, detective Alex Cross and FBI special agent Ned Mahoney find unanswered questions from Willingham's past, before she arrived in DC and became known in DC society as someone who could make things happen. They travel to Alabama to investigate Kay's early years. There they find a world of trouble, corruption, and secrets, all of them closed to outsiders like Cross and Mahoney. Kay had many enemies, but all of them seemed to need her alive. The harder the investigators push, the more resistance they find when they leave behind the polite law offices and doctors' quarters of the state capital. Alex Cross will need to use all his skills as a doctor, a detective, and a family man to prevent that resistance from turning lethal . . . again.

In 1928, a group of reporters watched as a young blind man named Morris Frank attempted to cross the busiest street in New York City with only the help of a dog. Cars and trucks zoomed by, horns blaring. Would the guide dog—a German shepherd named Buddy—be able to stay calm and lead Morris to safety? To the surprise of the onlookers, Buddy helped Morris make it across the dangerous road with ease. After their famous walk, Morris traveled with Buddy around the world, working hard to gain rights for all people with disabilities. In this inspiring book, young readers will learn about Buddy, as well as modern-day guide dogs. Students will be amazed at the teamwork between people living with disabilities and their dogs. With dramatic photos, this book is sure to warm the hearts of animal lovers everywhere.

In the current geopolitical climate—in which unaccompanied children cross the border in record numbers, and debates on the topic swing violently from pole to pole—the subject of immigration demands innovative inquiry. In The Rhetorics of US Immigration, some of the most prominent and prolific scholars in immigration studies come together to discuss the many facets of immigration rhetoric in the United States. The Rhetorics of US Immigration provides readers with an integrated sense of the rhetorical multiplicity circulating among and about immigrants. Whereas extant literature on immigration rhetoric tends to focus on the media, this work extends the conversation to the immigrants themselves, among others. A collection whose own eclecticism highlights the complexity of the issue, The Rhetorics of US Immigration is not only a study in the language of immigration but also a frank discussion of who is doing the talking and what it means for the future. From questions of activism, authority, and citizenship to the influence of Hollywood, the LGBTQ community, and the church, The Rhetorics of US Immigration considers the myriad venues in which the American immigration question emerges—and the interpretive framework suited to account for it. Along with the editor, the contributors are Claudia Anguiano, Karma R. Chávez, Terence Check, Jay P. Childers, J. David Cisneros, Lisa M. Corrigan, D. Robert DeChaine, Anne Teresa Demo, Dina Gavrilos, Emily Ironside, Christine Jasken, Yazmin Lazcano-Pry, Michael Lechuga, and Alessandra B. Von Burg.