White Elephant Dead

The Women's Club of Broward's Rock prides itself on the success of its annual White Elephant Sale. But htis year's sale is marred by a bizarre turn. A sly black mailer coerces five of the town's most prominent citizens into donateing valuable artifacts--or some very unflattering information about the individuals might be revealed. When a volunteer fails to reurn the pick-up van, Henny Brwaley, Annie's best customer and chood chum, drives off to find the missing woman, just as a powerful squall hits the island. Hours later, a worried Annie goes off in search of Henny, only to find the corpse of the missing volunteer. The victim turns out to be the blackmailer, and despite Annie's protests, the new police cheif suspects Henny of the murder. Convinced of their friend's innocence, Annie and Max hobnob with the island's smart set to determine who among them has a secret they would go to any length to protect.

Murder is, surprisingly, not all that uncommon on timy Broward's Rock, an idyllic sea island community off the South Carolina coast. Annie Darling's popular mystery bookshop, Death on Demand, is where the locals come to discuss the juicy details of each criminal offense--under the watchful gaze of a pampered feline prima donna named Agatha. But now Annie's dear friend (and best customer) Henny Brawley stands accused of murdering a Women's Club volunteer-cum-blackmailer. So Annie rouses her husband Max into action, and together they dive into the shark pool of dotty eccentrics and imperious belles who constitute the island's smart set. Because only there can the Darlings prove hapless Henny innocent--by detemining who among the well-heeled had the dirtiest little secret...and would kill to protect it.

Annie and Max Darling work to clear their friend of the murder of a woman who had been blackmailing several members of their community.

‘The Stolen White Elephant’ is a funny and satirical short story, following the investigations of Inspector Blunt when a pale pachyderm is stolen. Gifted from a king to a queen, the ship carrying the eponymous elephant stops at a harbour in New Jersey and goes missing. In this tale, Twain expertly parodies police investigative procedures, as forces fail to share information and a horribly expensive manhunt – or should that be ‘elephant-hunt’ – is launched. A laugh-out-loud read from the pen of one of the masters, ‘The Stolen White Elephant’ is sure to delight readers familiar with Twain's body of work. Mark Twain is the pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, (1835-1910). He was an American humourist, lecturer, journalist, and novelist who acquired international fame for his adventure stories of boyhood, especially 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'. Twain transcended the apparent limitations of his origins to become a popular public figure and one of America’s most beloved writers. So many of Mark Twain's stories have been made into films that it is impossible to name them all. The most popular ones are "The Adventures of Huck Finn" (1993), starring Elijah Wood, "Tom Sawyer" (1973), starring Jodie Foster, and "The Prince and the Pauper" (1990), produced by Walt Disney animation.

At 18, Tré Miller-Rodríguez gave her newborn daughter up for adoption. At 19, her only sibling was killed in a car crash. At 34, she lost her husband to a sudden heart attack. Then, at 36, her now-teenaged daughter found her on Facebook—and began to reshape the course of Tré’s life. With sharp, immediate prose, Tré unpacks the experience of being young and widowed in New York City: the “dumb sh*% people say”; the “brave face” she wears to work and social events; the solace she doesn’t find in one-night stands; and how her perspective only begins to shift when she spontaneously brings Alberto’s ashes on a trip and sets into motion the ritual of spreading him in bodies of water around the world. Once she’s begun, Tré discovers that traveling to her bucket list destinations—places like Savannah, Brazil, and Cuba—is a viable strategy for facing her roughest days, and her loss of her husband becomes a lens through which she begins to view her past and embrace her future. By the end of her journey, Tré has quit her corporate job, explored Alberto’s homeland of Cuba, and joyfully reunited with her biological daughter in North Carolina. Equal parts inspiring, irreverent, and heart-rending, Splitting the Difference is written with the “raw-thenticity” of a woman transformed by heartbreak and inspired by love’s legacy.

The White Elephant The Grain of Corn The Timid Little Rabbit Singh Rajah and the Cunning Little Jackals The Kingdom of Mouseland The Alligator and the Jackal The Bold Blackbird The Kid and the Tiger The Brahmin and the Tiger The Bear's Bad Bargain The Man Who Rode a Tiger