The Stalker Affair

Stalker recounts the four-week period in late 1982, when six unarmed civilians were shot dead by officers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland. Assigned to investigate the cases, Stalker was suspended just before he was able to reveal the shocking facts.

First published in 1991, The Stalker Affair and the Press documents the media treatment of police constable John Stalker’s removal from his job and argues that this case presents a major difficulty for the standard academic analysis of the press in Britain: namely that it supports the status quo because it is part of the dominant class system. The author argues that the exclusion of non-official and dissident versions of the events can be explained by more direct causes: the ownership of the press and the routine nature of normal news production, which relies on official and established sources. Where such sources do not produce an account of events, as in the case of the Stalker affair, the overwhelming majority of press output questioned the legitimacy of state actions, even to the extent of entertaining the notion that its agents had conspired to commit murder and to pervert the course of justice. David Murphy’s fascinating analysis picks apart the notion of a ‘system’ controlling production to demonstrate the complex interaction between methods of individual journalists, their sources and the ways news is produced. This book will be of great interest to students and teachers of media studies, cultural studies, journalism, and communication studies.

Including an account of British Secret Service operations in Ireland .

Electa Rome Parks paints a powerful portrait of a crazed fan who can't seem to close the book on the affair after a one-night-stand with a famous author—and who will stop at nothing to make him hers. Even if that means killing him. . . Bestselling author Xavier Preston is used to women throwing themselves at him. On top of being a successful writer, he's also tall, dark and sexy as sin. He's always relished the attention, in fact, and is ever-willing to entertain the erotic urges of women wanting to get between more than the covers of his novels. Except once he meets Kendall, he decides it's time to put his womanizing ways behind him and devote himself to her entirely. Well, almost. . . Gorgeous Pilar is the last decadent treat Xavier decides he'll help himself to—thinking they are both on the same "no strings" page. Except behind Pilar's fine façade beats the heart of a raving maniac—a fatally attracted fan addicted to the kind of hot loving only Xavier can give her. And she's not about to let him get away from her so easily. So what starts out as a discreet dalliance soon spirals into a deadly game of obsession and pain—which can only have one winner. . .

Elaine Stalker, newly elected MP, has worked hard for her election to Westminster. But the unequivocally masculine atmosphere of the House of Commons is a hostile environment for an attractive, ambitious woman and Elaine is frustrated when her talents are ignored. Relishing his powerful role as wheeler-dealer, whip Roger Dickson provides a sympathetic ear for Elaine. At first their relationship is strictly professional; but a shared passion for politics proves an aphrodisiac and late-night sittings offer ample opportunities for discussions of a more private nature...

**THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** "An unforgettable—and Hollywood-bound—new thriller... A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy." —Entertainment Weekly The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive. Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....