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[Daveo]

One Good Deed by David Baldacci. . . .

Newly published & 605 baht from Asia books - our price 180 plus the 50% trade in for credit @ Canterbury Tales Bookshop / Book exchange / Guesthouse / Cafe, Pattaya.

Author David Baldacci introduces an unforgettable new character: Archer, a straight-talking former World War II soldier fresh out of prison for a crime he didn't commit. It's 1949. When war veteran Aloysius Archer is released from Carderock Prison, he is sent to Poca City on parole with a short list of do's and a much longer list of don'ts: do report regularly to his parole officer, don't go to bars, certainly don't drink alcohol, do get a job and don't ever associate with loose women.

The small town quickly proves more complicated and dangerous than Archer's years serving in the war or his time in jail. Within a single night, his search for gainful employment - and a stiff drink - leads him to a local bar, where he is hired for what seems like a simple job: to collect a debt owed to a powerful local businessman, Hank Pittleman. Soon Archer discovers that recovering the debt won't be so easy. The indebted man has a furious grudge against Hank and refuses to pay; Hank's clever mistress has her own designs on Archer; and both Hank and Archer's stern parole officer, Miss Crabtree, are keeping a sharp eye on him. When a murder takes place right under Archer's nose, police suspicions rise against the ex-convict, and Archer realizes that the crime could send him right back to prison . . . if he doesn't use every skill in his arsenal to track down the real killer.

[Daveo]

The Accident Man (Samuel Carver #1) by Tom Cain. . .

 

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If Princess Diana had been murdered, what sort of man would have killed her?

 

Breathlessly paced and featuring one of the most intriguing heroes in recent fiction, Tom Cain's The Accident Man surprises the reader at every turn. For a certain sum of money, Samuel Carver will arrange a death.

 

A ruptured gas line, an automobile crash, a fall from a window; anything can look like an accident. But when Carver is to carry out a job in a tunnel in Paris, and when the job goes wrong for him, and when he is pursued by the very forces that hired him, Carver must execute his most daring feat yet.

 

A thriller of the grandest and most exhilarating sort, The Accident Man races above and below the streets of Paris, across Europe, and through storms at sea. It is also a startling introduction to a hero engaged in acts of moral violence. With the dissolution of world powers, with everything and anything for sale, how does one justify death?

 

Samuel Carver, a clouded man of determined action--will come to understand the prices to be paid. Fans of James Bond, the Jason Bourne films, and Lee Child will thrill at Samuel Carver's violent and uncertain world.

[Daveo]

From The Shadows (Dan Grant Trilogy #1) by Neil White. . .

 

This book UK 12.99 - our price 160 baht + the 50% trade in for credit of your next book/s @ Canterbury Tales Bookshop - Book exchange - Guesthouse - Cafe. .

 

He hides in the shadows, watching, waiting, until the time is right . . .

Mary Kendricks, a smart, pretty, twenty-four-year-old teacher, has been brutally murdered and Robert Carter is accused of killing her.

When defence lawyer, Dan Grant inherits Carter's case only weeks before the trial starts, everyone expects him just to babysit it, but Dan's not that kind of lawyer.

He'll follow the evidence - wherever it takes him.

But as Dan and his investigator Jayne Brett look into the case, they discover that there is more to it than meets the eye.

In order to do their jobs they need to push the limits of the system, even if it means putting themselves in danger.

 

Together they will get to the truth - whatever the cost .

[Daveo]

Ship of Rome (Masters of the Sea #1) by John Stack.....
@ Canterbury Tales Bookshop - Book exchange -
Against a backdrop of the clash of the Roman and Carthaginian empires, the battle for sovereignty takes place on the high seas Atticus, captain of one of the ships of Rome's small, coastal fleet, is from a Greek fishing family. 
Septimus, legionary commander, reluctantly ordered aboard ship, is from Rome, born into a traditionally army family. 
It could never be an easy alliance, but the arrival of a hostile fleet, larger, far more skilful and more powerful than any Atticus has encountered before, forces them to act together. 
So Atticus, one of Rome's few experienced sailors, finds himself propelled into the middle of a political struggle that is completely foreign to him. 
Rome need to build a navy fast but the obstacles are many; political animosities, legions adamant that they will only use their traditional methods. 
Roman prejudice even from friends, that all those not born in Rome are inferior citizens, the enemy are first class, experienced and determined to control the seas. 
Can Atticus, and the fledgling Roman navy, staffed with inexperienced sailors and unwilling legionaries, out-wit and out-fight his opponents? 
SHIP OF ROME, full of magnificent sea-battles, packed with strong characters, torn between two powerful empires, is the first book in a new series, MASTERS OF THE SEA, by a brilliant new author.

[Daveo]

Books to look out for @ Canterbury Tales Bookshop...

[Daveo]

Old Enemies by Michael Dobbs...

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In the Swiss Alps a teenage girl is thrown from a helicopter and her boyfriend is brutally abducted to Trieste, a city filled with undercurrents of past hatreds. 
Ruari, son of Irish media owner J.J. Breslin, is in desperate danger, at the mercy of ruthless kidnappers making impossible demands.

[Daveo]

RACONTEUR'S "Pattaya Tales" by Geoffrey Franklin..

300 baht with free shipping within Thailand (while stocks last) Canterbury Tales Bookshop - Book exchange -

[Daveo]

Sleeping in the Ground (Inspector Banks #24) by Peter Robinson. . . .

 

We have a good selection @ Canterbury Tales Bookshop / Book exchange /

 

MICHAEL CONNELLY calls Peter Robinson "an author with amazing empathy, a snare-trap ear for dialogue, and a clear eye for the telling detail."

 

See why in Sleeping in the Ground, the gripping new novel starring Alan Banks — featuring an opening scene you'll never forget, and a finale you won't see coming.

 

At the doors of a charming country church, an unspeakable act destroys a wedding party. A huge manhunt ensues. The culprit is captured. The story is over.

 

Except it isn't. For Alan Banks, still struggling with a tragic loss of his own, there's something wrong about this case — something unresolved. Reteaming with profiler Jenny Fuller, the relentless detective deeper into the crime... deep enough to unearth long-buried Secrets that reshape everything Banks thought he knew about the events outside that chapel.

 

And when at last the shocking truth becomes clear, it's almost too late.

[Daveo]

The Wrong Girl (Pieter Vos #2) by David Hewson. . . .

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Sinterklaas, a beaming, friendly saint with a white beard, was set to mark his arrival in Amsterdam with a parade so celebrated it would be watched live on television throughout the Netherlands.

Today the crowds would run into three hundred thousand or more, and the police presence top four figures.

The city centre was closed to all traffic as a golden barge bore Sinterklaas down the Amstel river, surrounded by a throng of private boats full of families trying to get close.

Amsterdam is bursting at the seams with children trying to get a glimpse of their hero and families enjoying the occasion.

The police are out in force, struggling to manage the crowds on one of the busiest days of the year.

Brigadier Pieter Vos is on duty with his young assistant, Laura Bakker, when the first grenade hits.

As Sinterklaas prepares to address the crowds, a terrorist outrage grips the heart of the city.

In the chaos a young girl wearing a pink jacket is kidnapped.

But the abducted child isn't the daughter of an Amsterdam aristocrat as the terrorists first thought.

She's the daughter of an impoverished Georgian prostitute, friendless and trapped in the web of vice that is Amsterdam's Red Light District.

As the security forces and the police clash over the ensuing investigation, the perpetrator's horrifying demands become clear.

Vos, trapped in a turf war with state intelligence, tries to unravel a conspiracy that reaches from the brothels of the city to the hierarchy of the security services.

And at its heart lies an eight-year-old girl, snatched from a loving mother then ferried from one criminal lair to the next, her life in the balance as Vos and Laura Bakker struggle to uncover the shocking truth behind her abduction.

What is the life of one immigrant child worth in the greater political game emerging around them?

[Daveo]

Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben. . . .

 

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With unmatched suspense and emotional insight, Harlan Coben explores the big Secrets and little lies that can destroy a relationship, a family, and even a town in this powerful new thriller.

 

Suburban New Jersey Detective Napoleon “Nap” Dumas hasn't been the same since senior year of high school, when his twin brother Leo and Leo’s girlfriend Diana were found dead on the railroad tracks and Maura, the girl Nap considered the love of his life, broke up with him and disappeared without explanation.

For fifteen years, Nap has been searching, both for Maura and for the real reason behind his brother's death.

And now, it looks as though he may finally find what he's been looking for.

 

When Maura's fingerprints turn up in the rental car of a suspected murderer, Nap embarks on a quest for answers that only leads to more questions, about the woman he loved, about the childhood friends he thought he knew, about the abandoned military base near where he grew up, and mostly about Leo and Diana - whose deaths are darker and far more sinister than Nap ever dared imagine

[Daveo]

Sam : The Autobiography of Sam Torrance by Sam Torrance..

 

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Sam Torrance is one of the most popular and charismatic golfers in the world. He has spent the last three decades at the top of the professional game, but it is his exploits in the Ryder Cup that are truly astounding.

As a player, he is famous for his winning putt for Europe on the 18th green at the Belfry in 1985, which secured Europe's first Ryder Cup victory for 28 years.

And it was as captain of the team that Sam was to cap his glorious career, when on the 29th September 2002 Europe regained the Ryder Cup.

Captained by Torrance to devastating effect, the European team defeated the Americans by 3 points with Torrance taking a gamble by putting his best players out first.

In his autobiography, Sam, who turns 50 this year, and his life-long friend and Daily Mail sportswriter Alan Fraser, tell the story of a fascinating life the highlights and the low points of a remarkable 30 years in golf.

[Daveo]

Not Dead Yet: The Autobiography by Phil Collins. . .

@ Canterbury Tales Bookshop - Book exchange - Guesthouse - Cafe. .

Not Dead Yet is Phil Collins’ candid, witty, unvarnished story of the songs and shows, the hits and pans, his marriages and divorces, the ascents to the top of the charts and into the tabloid headlines.

As one of only three musicians to sell over 100 million records both in a group and as a solo artist, Collins breathes rare air, but he has never lost his talent for crafting songs that touch listeners around the globe. This is the story of his epic career, from child actor to one of the most successful songwriters of the pop music era.

A drummer since almost before he could walk, Collins received on-the-job training in the seedy, thrilling bars and clubs of 1960's swinging London before finally landing the drum seat in Genesis.

Later he would step into the spotlight on vocals after the departure of Peter Gabriel, and compose the songs that would rocket him to international solo fame with the release of Face Value and ‘In the Air Tonight’. Whether he’s recalling jamming with Eric Clapton and Robert Plant, pulling together a big band fronted by Tony Bennett, playing twice at Live Aid, or writing the Oscar-winning music for Disney’s smash-hit animated film Tarzan, Collins keeps it intimate and his storytelling gift never wavers.

[Daveo]

Can Anyone Hear Me? by Peter Baxter..

 

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Test Match Special producer Peter Baxter presents tales of commentating capers from the Gabba to Eden Park in New Zealand.

For 34 years from 1973 Peter Baxter was BBC producer of the hugely popular Test Match Special, and during that time he reported on Test matches from around the world. This funny and revealing book takes us behind the scenes as Baxter and his much-loved TMS colleagues do battle with local conditions and sometimes bizarre red tape to bring back home the latest news of England's progress (or otherwise) on the field. It should have been straightforward, but somehow it rarely was...

[Daveo]

Jumbo: The Making of the Boeing 747 by Clive Irving...

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The Jumbo made world travel commonplace and yet it very nearly broke the company that made it. 

This is the inside story of the men who, against all odds, brought the Boeing 747 into being.

[Daveo]

Farang: Thailand through the eyes of an ex-pat by Iain Corness. . .

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Dr. Iain Corness is medical practitioner, racing car driver, restaurateur, photographer, freelance journalist and first rate raconteur. 
The Uk born expat, who fell in love with Thailand, both its people and way of life, while on a holiday, and finally managed to move there permanently 20 years later. 
As a settled `farang' (the Thai term for a westerner) he enjoys a unique perspective on Thai life and all its eccentricities; looking in from the outside while also getting to see the things most foreigners don't. 
His stories and anecdotes are full of the joys of life, and celebrate this exotic and exciting land in all its glory with painfully funny observations. 
From a date with a fortune teller to tales of a reincarnated squid, Corness revels in the chaos and charm of `the only country where you can be run over by a shop.' 
This is a book to be enjoyed by anyone interested in Asian culture.

[Daveo]

Last Grain Race by Eric Newby. . .

 

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At the age of 18, Eric Newby signed on as an apprentice on the four-masted sailing ship Moshulu of the Erikson line for the round trip from Europe to Australia and back, outwards by way of the Cape of Good Hope and round Cape Horn.

This was to be an historic voyage, a dramatic personal adventure.

[Daveo]

1700: Scenes from London Life by Maureen Waller. . . .

@ Canterbury Tales Bookshop - Book exchange - Guesthouse - Cafe. .

Just the sort of book that gives history a good name, 1700: Scenes from London Life presents almost a glut of the kind of daily life (and death) detail which proves utterly engaging, striking chords of familiarity or describing almost unimaginable worlds.

We discover where people lived and worked, how they behaved, what they wore and ate and how horrifically they suffered from illness and injury. A booming London appears modern in its commercialisation and overt materialism.

It was "the most magnificent city in Europe" yet "the streets were open sewers" and life there was so precarious that it might be described as "a mere prelude to death".

In 1700 the late 17th/early 18th-century world is brought vividly to life by imaginative vignettes drawn from the author's research and by excerpts from contemporary diarists, novelists and commentators, whose works are listed in the extensive bibliography. A relatively long book, it can be dipped into, as the chapters are thematically organised.

In fact, open the book at any page and the intriguing detail will leap out and grab you.

Creatively written, the text is so colourful that the slightly disappointing illustrations are not much of a drawback.

This is a truly enticing read, exploring a period of significant development in London and clearly indicating the importance of this point in England's history. .

[Daveo]

Aviation Enthusiasts' Reference Book by Bruce Roberts...

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Glossary of terms, aircraft identification markings, nomenclature, specifications, air forces, ranks, aerobatic terms and styles, engines, history ETC ETC.

[Daveo]

Story of Transatlantic Flight (Airlife Classics) by David Beaty.. . .

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The Atlantic had proved a graveyard for many ships, and when the first butterfly craft began to fly it after the First World War, all the omens warned that it would swallow up planes as well.

Nonetheless, the pioneers - Read, Alcock and Brown, Lindbergh, as well as many who gambled and lost - continued to pit themselves against the odds.

David Beaty involves us not only in the drama of man against the elements but in the increasingly vehement struggle of man against man, the race to be first, the race to beat the ships, the race to run a commercial airline, the race to be fastest.

Opening with a passenger in the mid-70s who is taking off in a jumbo jet, he unfolds the tapestry of what went before: the vision and blindness, the guesses, mistakes and waste, the political interference and technical advances, the personalities, the tragedies, the commitment and the successes.

[Daveo]

Flashman on the March (Flashman Papers #12) by George MacDonald Fraser. . .

Traded in @ Canterbury Tales Bookshop - Book exchange - Guesthouse - Cafe. .

It’s 1868 and Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., arch-cad, amorist, cold-headed soldier, and reluctant hero, is back!

Fleeing a chain of vengeful pursuers that includes Mexican bandits, the French Foreign Legion, and the relatives of an infatuated Austrian beauty, Flashy is desperate for somewhere to take cover.

So desperate, in fact, that he embarks on a perilous secret intelligence-gathering mission to help free a group of Britons being held captive by a tyrannical Abyssinian king. Along the way, of course, are nightmare castles, brigands, massacres, rebellions, orgies, and the loveliest and most lethal women in Africa, all of which will test the limits of the great bounder’s talents for knavery, amorous intrigue, and survival. Flashman on the March, the twelfth book in George MacDonald Fraser’s ever-beloved, always scandalous Flashman Papers series, is Flashman and Fraser at their best.

[Daveo]

Sword of Justice by Christian Cameron

@ Canterbury Tales Bookshop - Book exchange - Guesthouse - Cafe. .

1367: Europe stands on the brink of total war. Political alliances are beginning to rupture.

No state is immune: England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Milan, Genoa, Venice, Constantinople . . .

Every mercenary knight for hundreds of miles must sharpen his sword and prepare for battle. But Sir William Gold has other problems, just to reach Europe, he must capture its most unassailable fortress.

He must also protect his liege-lord, the Green Count, from assassins hell-bent on his demise. The balance of power in the West will change.

William Gold must trust to hope, and his men, that he lands on the winning side . .

[Daveo]

Do' & Don'ts in Thailand - The complete guide to social etiquette & doing what you should?

@ Canterbury Tales Bookshop - Book exchange - Guesthouse - Cafe. .

[Daveo]

Nation by Terry Pratchett....

We have a good selection of Terry's books @ Canterbury Tales Bookshop - Book exchange.

Alone on a desert island - everything and everyone he knows and loves has been washed away in a storm - Mau is the last surviving member of his nation. He’s completely alone, or so he thinks until he finds the ghost girl.

She has no toes, wears strange lacy trousers like the grandfather bird, and gives him a stick that can make fire. Daphne, sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, almost immediately regrets trying to shoot the native boy. Thank goodness the powder was wet and the gun only produced a spark.

She’s certain her father, distant cousin of the Royal family, will come and rescue her but it seems, for now, that all she has for company is the boy and the foul-mouthed ship’s parrot, until other survivors arrive to take refuge on the island.

Together, Mau and Daphne discover some remarkable things (including how to milk a pig, and why spitting in beer is a good thing), and start to forge a new nation. Encompassing themes of death and nationhood, Terry Pratchett’s new novel is, as can be expected, extremely funny, witty and wise.

Mau’s ancestors have something to teach us all. Mau just wishes they would shut up about it and let him get on with saving everyone’s lives!

[Daveo]

The Wicked Wit of Winston Churchill by Winston S. Churchill - Dominique Enright (Editor)

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Sir Winston Churchill was the greatest orator of his day, the greatest statesman of his age, and the greatest Englishman of the 20th century.

This enchanting collection gathers hundreds of his funniest and wickedest quips in tribute to the exhilarating wit of this great-hearted, infuriatingly conceited, wildly funny, and brilliantly talented Englishman.

[Daveo]

Memories of the Great and the Good by Alistair Cooke. .. .

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A biographical essay says as much about the author as about the subject, and Cooke's essays speak not just of "the great and the good," but also of Cooke's insight, wit, and informed optimism about human nature.

Reading these essays is like looking at the work of a master portrait painter, a little bit of paper and ink to display a lot of character.