Murder Under The Fig Tree

Hamas has taken power in Palestine, and the Israeli government is rounding up threats. When Palestinian policewoman Rania Bakara finds herself thrown in prison, though she has never been part of Hamas, her friend Chloe flies in from San Francisco to get her out. Chloe begs an Israeli policeman named Benny for help—and Benny offers Rania a way out: investigate the death of a young man in a village near her own. The young man’s neighbors believe the Israeli army killed him; Benny believes his death might not have been so honorable. Initially, Rania refuses; she has no interest in helping the Israelis. But she is released anyway, and returns home to find herself without a job and suspected of being a traitor. Searching for redemption, she launches an investigation into the young man’s death that draws her into a Palestinian gay scene she never knew existed. With Chloe and her Palestinian Australian lover as guides, Rania explores a Jerusalem gay bar, meets with a lesbian support group, and plunges deep into the victim’s world, forcing her to question her beliefs about love, justice, and cultural identity.

Why was the body put on the line? Chance? Or did someone want to halt the progress of the new electric railway out from Cairo to the city of Pleasure being built in the suburbs?

A murder mystery set at a school in Brisbane Queensland.

This humorous book is full of new insights into ways we’ve been missing the point of so many beloved Bible stories. Approximately 80 percent of Americans admit they haven’t read the Bible. If they did, they’d be pleasantly surprised by its impressive quantity of sex and poop jokes. David danced naked. Noah was basically a moonshining hillbilly. Ezekiel baked poop bread. Herod was eaten by worms. Jesus cursed a fig tree, just to prove he could. Mark went streaking. Hosea married a prostitute. Lot was date-raped by his own daughters. It turns out, there’s a lot of weird stuff in the Bible. Murder-Bears, Moonshine, and Mayhem is a funny look at some of the stranger tales in the Bible. From Elisha, who loosed homicidal bears on some kids because they called him bald (it’s a long story), to the story of Ehud, who gets away with assassinating a tyrannical king because his servants think said king is taking a dump (also a long story), this book examines and casts new light on some of the Bible’s stranger moments. Organized by topic (poop, genitalia, weird violence, prostitution, gratuitous nudity, seemingly pointless miracles, and other fun stuff), Murder-Bears, Moonshine, and Mayhem is a thoroughly researched (really!), reverent, and insightful look at the amazing book at the center of our faith.

Set in the heart of Tuscan wine country, Camilla Trinchieri's new mystery introduces Nico Doyle, a former NYPD homicide detective who's just looking for space to grieve when he finds himself pulled into a local murder investigation. Mourning the loss of his wife, Rita, former NYPD homicide detective Nico Doyle moves to her hometown of Gravigna in the winesoaked region of Chianti. Half Italian and half Irish, Nico finds himself able to get by in the region with the help of Rita’s relatives, but he still feels alone and out of place. He isn’t sure if it’s peace he’s seeking, but it isn’t what he finds. Early one morning, he hears a gunshot and a dog's cries near his new home and walks out to discover a dead body in the woods, flashily dressed in gold tennis shoes. When the police arrive, Nico hastily adopts the fluffy white dog as his own and wants nothing more to do with the murder. But Salvatore Perillo, the local maresciallo, discovers Nico's professional background and enlists him to help with the case. It turns out more than one person in this idyllic corner of Italy knew the victim, and with a very small pool of suspects, including his own in-laws, Nico must dig up Gravigna’s every last painful secret to get to the truth.

At age eleven, Jerry raced the 1949 Soap Box Derby in Des Moines, Iowa. Jerry was disqualified when forced to leave his lane trying to avoid a collision with the driver in the center lanes. This contestants steering cable broke, he lost control crashed into the fence and broke a spectator's leg. At thirteen, Jerry's family moved to Alliance Nebraska; later they moved to La Canada California. Jerry worked summers for his dad. At sixteen he saved money to buy a 1941 Chevy coupe for $350. He joined the Navy at seventeen and during that time, saved enough money to buy a 1956 Chevy and began racing it at the San Fernando Drag Strip. Over his life, he worked in the car business, material handling business, sold advertising and worked as a commercial diver and sailor for both Hawaii, and Washington University. On a skiing trip in Idaho, Jerry met his wife Carol and they married in 1982. The two of them attended Bible school in Ventura CA, thinking they would enter the Missionary field. However, God had other plans! They ended up serving the Lord 2-1/2 miles from their home directing the Oxnard Rescue Mission. Jerry served as President CEO of the Rescue Mission Alliance for 14 yrs. After retiring, Jerry never lost his boyhood passion for racing. "Once a racer always a racer; it's in my blood" Jerry's passion for racing is only exceeded by the burden God has given him to warn Christians of the deception being taught today by false teachers. The world is rapidly changing, as evidence by the unrest in Europe, the middle-east, wars, earthquakes and Tsunami's, we're living in the generation of the fig tree. The sign on Jerry's hotrod reads: Don't be a... Stupidbaker "NOW, LEARN THE PARABLE OF THE "FIG TREE"

The Jesus everybody likes, says Mark Strauss, is not the Jesus found in the Gospels. He preached about hell far more than the apostle Paul. He told his followers to hate their families. Not one of his twelve apostles was a woman. When we unpack these puzzling paradoxes and more, we gain greater insight into Jesus' countercultural message and mission.

When a young woman's body is discovered in the summer of 1910 Vienna, the Inspector's wife is certain the figs found in her stomach during the autopsy are the clue to the identity of the murderer -- for there are no fresh figs in Vienna at this time of year.

Cara Black’s riveting 19th installment in her New York Times bestselling Parisian detective series entangles private investigator Aimée Leduc in a dangerous web of international spycraft, post-colonial Franco-African politics, and neighborhood secrets in Paris’s 12th arrondissement. Parisian private investigator Aimée Leduc is about to go onstage to deliver the keynote address at a tech conference that is sure to secure Leduc Detective some much-needed business contracts when she gets an emergency phone call from her daughter’s playgroup: Aimée’s own mother, who was supposed to pick Chloe up, never showed. Abandoning her hard-won speaking gig, Aimée rushes to get Chloe, annoyed that her mother has let her down yet again. But as Aimée and Chloe are leaving the playground, Aimée witnesses the body of a homeless woman being wheeled away from the neighboring convent, where nuns run a soup kitchen. The last person anyone saw the dead woman talking to was Aimée’s mother, who has vanished. Trying to figure out what happened to Sydney Leduc, Aimée tracks down the dead woman’s possessions, which include a huge amount of cash. What did Sydney stumble into? Is she in trouble?