Mickey Haller, who has become increasingly frustrated in his role as a defense lawyer, agrees to undertake the prosecution role on behalf of the city of Los Angeles, in the retrial of a convicted killer that had been granted as a result of new DNA evidence. His one condition before accepting the task is that he is permitted to choose his own team; he chooses his ex-wife Maggie McPherson as his co-prosecutor, and his half-brother Harry Bosch as his investigator from the LAPD. The prosecution case rests largely on the testimony of Sarah Gleason, the elder sister of the victim, Melissa Landy. The body of 12-year-old Melissa was discovered in 1986, discarded in a dumpster, only a few hours after she was reported missing. Unknown to the killer, her sister Sarah had been hiding in the garden and had witnessed her abduction. On the day of the murder, she identified Jason Jessup, a truck driver, as the man who snatched Melissa from the garden. DNA evidence subsequently showed that semen stains on the dress Melissa was wearing came not from Jessup, but from the girls'' stepfather. However, the evidence against Jessup includes strands of Melissa''s hair, found in the seat of his truck. Jessup''s defense counsel, "clever" Clive Royce, mounts a media campaign in his client''s favour, and it becomes clear that their main motivation is in obtaining a compensation payout from the state. Haller''s response is to allow bail and have Jessup tailed by the police in the hope that he will return to his old ways and provide additional support for the prosecution case. Jessup is soon seen visiting various mountain trails in the Mulholland area, and on one occasion parks his car outside Bosch''s house at night. Bosch and Haller, both concerned for their own teenage daughters, develop a theory that Jessup was a serial killer but are unable to investigate fully for fear of blowing the police''s cover. Legal procedures require that the jury is kept ignorant of Jessup''s history. Testimony given in the original trial, where the witness is no longer available because of death or infirmity, has to be read out by Harry Bosch. After Sarah Gleason admits that the dress Melissa was wearing was hers and that her stepfather was raping her, which accounted for the semen stains, the defense focuses on presenting the stepfather as the real killer and Jessup as the victim of the family''s lies. The focus is to undermine Sarah''s testimony, because of her a history of drug use and prostitution in the years since her sister''s murder, though she has now been rehabilitated. Bosch traces Sarah''s former lover, Eddie Roman, and finds that he has remained a drug addict living off a prostitute''s earnings but has disappeared, presumably to testify falsely against Sarah. Locating Roman''s current prostitute Sonia Reyes, Bosch persuades her to enter the courtroom at a crucial moment in Roman''s testimony, which causes Roman to alter his testimony, effectively destroying the defense case. While anticipating a plea bargain offer from the defense team during a lunch break, Bosch and Haller instead learn that Jessup entered Royce''s offices with a gun and killed Royce, two of his legal team and a policeman who followed him. Jessup is now at large, but the police surround and kill him at a hideout under the Santa Monica pier that had been discovered by Bosch as a result of the police surveillance activities. Jessup''s death ends the search for Melissa Landy''s killer, but leaves the prosecution team with a host of unanswered legal and moral questions.

The Reversal

The book begins with a brief introduction describing the lasting nature of the College of Arms through successive monarchs and governments. Immediately, though, the book shifts its focus to the current set of officers of arms at the College. At the end of the first chapter, Garter Principal King of Arms&ndash;the head of the body of heralds &ndash; announces his intended retirement from the post in six months time. The announcement by Garter throws the entire College of Arms into confusion. Set in the late 1960s, the retiring King of Arms had led the College since the end of World War II. Each of the other, twelve officers of arms in ordinary begins calculating his own chances of promotion to the top spot. Some continue about their own business, knowing that their dutiful service will be rewarded, however, Cecil Gascoigne, who is Chester Herald, decides he will stop only short of murder in obtaining the coveted office. Slowly, but surely, Cecil Gascoigne begins eliminating his competitors. His methods are diverse, and include devising for a colleague to be caught smuggling illegal substances into England; also using blackmail and bankruptcy to his advantage. Over time, Gascoigne begins grasping that unfortunate problems have befallen his fellow officers, and he is not the cause. Thinking that his competition has him on a list for elimination, Gascoigne begins doubling his efforts; by book''s end, four officers of arms have died, and the rest disgraced. As Cecil Gascoigne awaits the inevitable appointment as Garter King of Arms, he is arrested for an arson at the College of Arms that he did not commit. With his staff depleted and the College demoralized, Garter King of Arms decides to shoulder the burden and continue on in his duties.

The Heralds

Two Bad Mice reflects Potter''s deepening happiness in her professional and personal relationship with Norman Warne and her delight in trouncing the rigors and strictures of middle class domesticity. For all the destruction the mice wreak, it is miniaturized and thus more amusing than serious. Potter enjoyed developing a tale that gave her the vicarious thrill of the sort of improper behaviour she would never have entertained in real life. The tale begins with "once upon a time" and a description of a "very beautiful doll''s-house" belonging to a doll called Lucinda and her cook-doll Jane. Jane never cooks because the doll''s-house food is made of plaster and was "bought ready-made, in a box full of shavings". Though the food will not come off the plates, it is "extremely beautiful". One morning the dolls leave the nursery for a drive in their perambulator. No one is in the nursery when Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca, two mice living under the skirting board, peep out and cross the hearthrug to the doll''s-house. They open the door, enter, and "squeak for joy" when they discover the dining table set for dinner. It is "all so convenient!" Tom Thumb discovers the food is plaster and loses his temper. The two smash every dish on the table &ndash; "bang, bang, smash, smash!" &ndash; and even try to burn one in the "red-hot crinkly paper fire" in the kitchen fireplace. Tom Thumb scurries up the sootless chimney while Hunca Munca empties the kitchen canisters of their red and blue beads. Tom Thumb takes the dolls'' dresses from the chest of drawers and tosses them out the window while Hunca Munca pulls the feathers from the dolls'' bolster. In the midst of her mischief, Hunca Munca remembers she needs a bolster and the two take the dolls'' bolster to their mouse-hole. They carry off several small odds and ends from the doll''s-house including a bird cage and a bookcase that will not fit through the mouse-hole. The nursery door suddenly opens and the dolls return in their perambulator. Lucinda and Jane are speechless when they behold the vandalism in their house. The little girl who owns the doll''s-house gets a policeman doll and positions it at the front door, but her nurse is more practical and sets a mouse-trap. The narrator believes the mice are not "so very naughty after all": Tom Thumb pays for his crimes with a crooked sixpence placed in the doll''s stocking on Christmas Eve and Hunca Munca atones for her hand in the destruction by sweeping the doll''s-house every morning with her dust-pan and broom.

The Tale of Two Bad Mice

As the story starts, the reader is introduced to the fictitious community of Treby in the English Midlands in 1832, around the time of the First Reform Act. Harold Transome, a local landowner, has returned home after a fifteen-year trading career in the Far East. Wealthy from trade, he stands for election to Parliament from the county seat of North Loamshire. But contrary to his family''s Tory traditions, he intends to stand as a Radical. This alienates him from his traditional allies and causes despair for his mother, Mrs. Transome. Harold Transome gains the support of his Tory uncle, the Rector of Little Treby, and enlists the help of his family lawyer, Matthew Jermyn, as an electioneering agent. Much of his electioneering is focused in Treby Magna. In this village resides Felix Holt, who has recently returned from extensive travels in Glasgow to live with his mother. He meets with Rev. Rufus Lyon, a Dissenting minister in Treby Magna, and his stepdaughter, Esther. Felix and Mr. Lyon become ready friends, but he appears to treat Esther with condescension. Felix and Rev. Lyon both appear aligned to the Radical cause. Harold Transome learns that Jermyn has been mismanaging the Transome estate and embezzling money for himself. Transome remains silent during the election, yet Jermyn tries to devise a plan to save himself from future prosecution. Meanwhile, Felix witnesses some electioneering for the Radical cause in the nearby mining town of Sproxton. He is upset with the ''treating'' of workers with beer in exchange for their vocal support. Felix relays his concerns to Harold Transome, who chastises John Johnson for his electioneering methods. However, Jermyn convinces Transome not to interfere. Rev. Lyon learns from Maurice Christian, servant of Philip Debarry, about the possible identity of Esther''s biological father. Rev. Lyon decides to tell Esther the truth about her father. Esther''s outlook on life changes upon finding that she is in fact Rev. Lyon''s stepdaughter. Her relationship with her stepfather deepens, while she also desires to emulate the high moral standards impressed upon her by Felix Holt. Seeing the change in Esther''s character, Felix Holt begins to fall in love with her. However, both share the feeling that they are destined never to marry each other. Meanwhile, Rev. Lyon challenges Rev. Augustus Debarry to a theological debate. The debate is initially agreed to, but is cancelled at the last minute. Riots erupt on election day in Treby Magna. Drunken mine workers from Sproxton assault townspeople and wantonly destroy property. Felix Holt is caught up in the riots, and tries foolhardily to direct its hostility away from the town. But in the end, Felix Holt is charged with the manslaughter of a constable who tried to break up the riot. Harold Transome also loses the election to Debarry. Harold Transome begins legal proceedings against Jermyn for the latter''s mismanagement of the Transome estate. Jermyn counters by threatening to publicise the true owner of the Transome estate. However, Maurice Christian informs the Transomes that the true owner of the estate is in fact Esther Lyon. Harold Transome invites her to the Transome estate, hoping to persuade her to marry him. Harold and Esther establish a good rapport, and Esther also becomes more sympathetic with Mrs. Transome, whose despair has continued to deepen. Esther feels torn between Harold Transome and Felix Holt. She compares a life of comfortable wealth with Harold Transome and motherly affection with Mrs. Transome, to a life of personal growth in poverty with Felix Holt. Meanwhile at Felix Holt''s trial, Rev. Lyon, Harold Transome and Esther Lyon all vouch for his character, but he is nevertheless found guilty of manslaughter. However, Harold Transome and the Debarrys manage to have Felix Holt pardoned. Harold Transome proposes to Esther Lyon, with the eager support of Mrs. Transome. But despite Esther''s feelings towards both Harold and Mrs. Transome, she declines the proposal. Esther also surrenders her claim to the Transome estate. The story ends with Felix Holt and Esther Lyon marrying and moving away from Treby, along with Rev. Lyon. Matthew Jermyn is eventually ruined and moves abroad, while John Johnson remains and prospers as a lawyer. The Debarrys remain friends with the Transomes, and the contest to the Transome estate, while widely known, is never discussed.

Felix Holt, the Radical

The story traces the rise and fall of the Peruvattar family, rubber plantation owners based in the Kanyakumari Nanjil district in Tamil Nadu. The story begins in the present and moves back briefly to trace the early life of the family patriarch Ponnu Peruvattar. Ponnu begins life as a forest laborer and slowly grows to acquire the entire forest and converts it into a rubber plantation through hard work and ruthless means. Rubber, which is alien to the Nanjil land, provides wealth, power and social position to the Peruvattar dynasty, but also corrupts it from within. Ponnu''s equally ruthless son Chelliah tries to expand the empire; Chelliah''s wife Thirese exhibits all the trappings of the "nouveau riche" - Chelliah worships her despite her infidelity. The last two of Chelliah and Thirese''s five children are still with the family - Francis, the grandfather''s favourite, is a wastrel; Livy goes to college but lacks morals and compassion. The ailing patriarch Ponnu spends his last days contemplating whether his life was worth anything at all. Chelliah faces financial ruin as he dabbles in exports, and he desperately wants his father to die soon so that he could sell the family home and assets. Dependent on the spiteful family for even minor needs and consumed by guilt and self-pity, Ponnu Peruvattar begs his assistant Kunhi for poison. He is visited by his old friend, the simple and noble Kandan Kaani, a tribal that had roamed the forest land with him in his youth. The novel ends with the passing away of the patriarch and the salvation of family scion Francis.

Rubber

A spacecraft filled with refugees from a cosmic catastrophe crash-lands on an unmapped planet. There the survivors must face the reality of their precarious situation; the ship was lost and little had been salvaged from it. Everything comes to depend on one bright young man accidentally among them, a trainee planet-builder ("polymath"). While it would have been his job to oversee all aspects of establishing a successful colony he faces major difficulties; not only is his education incomplete, he had been studying a vastly different planet. Two ships escaped the catastrophe. One lands in the jungle in a mountainous area. The other, with the polymath, lands on water, allowing the passengers just enough time to escape the sinking ship. With his education incomplete, he is faced with an array of problems he needs to overcome, in order to ensure the survival, of not only the passengers from his ship, but those on the lost ship as well, who are under the control of a despotic captain determined to get back into space.

Polymath

After saving a young woman from her rogue bodyguards, Angel is hired by a big Hollywood studio head, Jack Willitts, to guard the girl in question; his daughter, Karinna. Angel is persuaded when his co-workers point out there is rent to deal with, and Cordelia even convinces Jack to give her a job (Unfortunately, it is as a tour guide rather than an actress). Angel takes Karinna to several popular nightspots, writing her off as a spoiled brat. Cordy believes Angel is getting too close to the case, but the situation soon worsens. Karinna gets into trouble while Angel and company are being tracked by an unknown creature, trying to destroy anything getting in its way. Angel eventually finds himself trapped in a supernatural struggle for power and immortality, as an Irish magician, Mordractus, reveals that he has been tracking Angel. Mordractus is attempting to summon a powerful demon, but the spells are draining his life energy, and he will soon die unless a way of surviving is found. Knowing that Angel is immortal, yet retaining a soul, Mordractus attempts to steal Angel''s ''essence'' to allow him to duplicate that feat, but Angel escapes and Mordractus is banished to Hell.

Close to the Ground

Two nine-year-old girls—rude Lisa Palfy (orig. Luise Palfy) from Vienna, and respectful shy Lottie Horn (orig. Lotte Körner) from Munich—meet on a summer camp in Bohrlaken on Lake Bohren (orig. ''Seebühl am Bühlsee''). Lisa has curly hair; Lottie wears braids. Apart from that, they look alike. They have never seen each other before, but soon find out that they are identical twins. It turns out that their parents divorced, each keeping one of the girls. The two girls decide it is unfair that neither of them has ever been told that she is a twin, or that her other parent is still living. They decide to trade places at the end of the summer so that Lottie will have a chance to get to know her father and Lisa will get to meet her mother. Lottie curls her hair, Lisa braids hers, and both go off to where they have never been before. The adventure begins. While many adults are surprised at the changes in each of the girls after they return from camp ("Lottie" has suddenly forgotten how to cook, gets in a fight at school, and becomes a terrible student, while "Lisa" has begun to keep a close eye on the housekeeper''s bookkeeping, will no longer eat her favorite food, and becomes a model student), no one suspects that the girls are not who they claim to be. When Lottie (pretending to be Lisa) finds out that her father is planning to remarry, she becomes very ill and stops writing to her sister in Munich. Meanwhile, Lottie''s mother comes across a picture of the two girls that was taken while they were at summer camp. She quickly realizes what has happened and Lisa tells her the entire story. The discovery turns out to have come just in time. The girls'' mother calls her ex-husband in Vienna to tell him what has happened and to find out why Lottie has stopped writing. When she hears that her daughter is ill, she and Lisa immediately travel to Vienna to be with her. The four of them (father, mother, Lisa and Lottie) are still in Vienna for the girls'' birthday. The girls tell their parents that they don''t need any presents on this birthday or ever again as long as they don''t have to be separated again. The parents talk it over, realize that they are still in love and decide to get remarried.

Lottie and Lisa

The novel, written by Dai Sijie, is about two teenagers. Luo, "a genius for storytelling", and an unnamed narrator, "a fine musician" are sent to be re-educated after the Chinese Cultural Revolution. They are sent to a mountain called "Phoenix of the Sky" near Tibet, because their doctor parents have been declared enemies of the state and "reactionaries of the bourgeoisie" by the Communist state. There, while forced to work in the coal mines and with the rice crop, they are captivated by and fall in love with the daughter of the local tailor, the Little Seamstress. Throughout the novel, the farming village of Phoenix of the Sky delights in the storytelling of the two teenagers. They even are excused from work for a few days to see films at Yong Jing, a nearby town, and later relate the story to the townspeople. One of these films, a North Korean film entitled The Little Flower Seller and identified by the narrator as "a propaganda film like no other" (39), closely resembles the 1972 Korean film version of The Flower Girl (1972) in the melodramatic scene of the death of the eponymous character''s mother. Other talents and possessions of the two boys at which the townspeople wonder include Luo''s clock and Ma''s violin, on which they love to hear "Mozart Is Thinking of Chairman Mao", their improvised, Communist-friendly name for a Mozart sonata. At the same time, they meet Four-Eyes, the son of a prominent poet, who also is being re-educated. Although he is succeeding in re-education, he is also hiding French, Russian, and English novels that are forbidden by Chinese law. The boys convince Four-Eyes to lend them the book, Ursule Mirouët by Honoré de Balzac. After Luo stays up all night reading the book, he gives the book to the narrator and leaves the village in order to tell it to the Little Seamstress, "the region''s reigning beauty">that both characters are attracted to, and the narrator becomes "completely wrapped up in the French story". When Luo returns, he is carrying leaves from the tree that he and the former virgin, the Little Seamstress, had sex under. The character of Luo is then motivated to educate the Little Seamstress and "ma[k]e her more refined, more cultured". This motivation spurs the narrator and Luo to steal the rest of the books from Four-Eyes’ home, "knowing that [Four-Eyes] will be afraid to call the authorities".Particularly inspirational to the narrator is the translation by Fu Lei of Romain Rolland''s Jean-Christophe, which the narrator credits as giving him a newfound sense of individualism. Luo and the Seamstress''s romantic relationship grows as the narrator silently and jealously watches. After their successful robbery, the narrator recites the tale of The Count of Monte Cristo in his cabin to Luo and the visiting tailor. The village headman, described as a passionate Communist who has just returned from an unsuccessful dental surgery, threatens to turn in Luo and the narrator for spreading the counter-revolutionary ideas found in The Count of Monte Cristo if they don’t agree to fix the headman’s teeth. Faced with the threat of prison, the pair fix the village headmans teeth, but they operate the drill “slowly. . . to punish him.”Later, when the headman is calmer and thankful to the two for repairing his teeth, he allows Luo to leave the village for two months to look after Luo’s ailing mother. During Luo’s absence, the Little Seamstress concludes that she is pregnant. Her character confides this in Ma, for “when [Luo] had left the previous month she was not yet worried” about missing her period. However, since it is illegal to have children out of wedlock in the revolutionary society, and her and Luo are too young to marry, the narrator must set up a secret abortion. Three months after the abortion is performed and Luo returns, the pair''s mission of educating the Little Seamstress backfires. At first, however, it seems as if their plan is working perfectly – she adopts the city accent and begins making modern clothing. Yet, one day, she "comes to understand her own sexual power", and leaves without saying farewell. In his grief, Luo becomes inebriated and burns all of the foreign books “in [a] frenzy,” ending the novel.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

A schoolmaster in a tiny town in West Virginia is found on Christmas morning beheaded and crucified to a signpost in such a way that his body seems to form the letter "T". The letter "T" is scrawled in blood on the dead man''s door. Ellery Queen is on the scene and notes that the letter "T" is also the shape of a "tau cross", or Egyptian cross; this seems to lead to a nearby bearded prophet whose invented religion mixes nudism and Egyptology. The prophet''s business manager is missing and suspected of the murder. Ellery cannot solve the crime with the little information he has, but six months later in Long Island, New York, a neighbour of one of his university professors is found headless and crucified to a totem pole in the same way, in the new neighbourhood of the Egyptian prophet and his followers. This corpse is clutching a red piece from a game of checkers. The third victim is a millionaire yachtsman, similarly crucified. Many events turn on the families of the victims and their interaction with the Egyptian nudists, the game of checkers and the smoking of unusually-carved pipes, but the key clue that leads Ellery to the solution is a bottle of iodine that enables him to go on a cross-country chase and hunt down the murderer.

The Egyptian Cross Mystery

The story introduces an exclusive group of friends: Alison DiLaurentis, the perfect yet manipulative queen bee, Aria Montgomery, an independent girl who is considered to be the weirdo in Rosewood, Emily Fields, a swimmer who holds secret feelings for Alison, Hanna Marin, the overweight girl who strives to be thin and popular like Alison, and Spencer Hastings, an ambitious girl who is brave enough to stand up against Alison''s manipulative ways. Alison mysteriously disappears during a sleepover with the girls before their 8th grade school year begins. The story then jumps 3 years after, where the girls are now separated. Aria returns to Rosewood from a 3 year trip to Iceland with her family and comes back much more sophisticated than before she left. She meets and kisses a guy in a local bar who is revealed to be her English teacher, Ezra Fitz. Emily befriends the new girl in town, Maya St. Germain,and soon develops romantic feelings for her. Hanna lost the weight and is the new popular girl in town alongside the former nerd, Mona Vanderwaal. However, she and Mona will sometimes shoplift. Hanna battles urges to turn back to bulimia, and struggles to mange the stress of keeping her Queen Bee status. Spencer continues to struggle against the rivalry with her and Melissa Hastings, her perfect older sister. Problems occur when she begins to feel attracted to Melissa''s new boyfriend, Wren Kim, when he is introduced to the family. Throughout the story, the liars get messages threatening to reveal their sexual secrets and their present and past emotions for each other, including a terrifying incident the girls refer to as "The Jenna Thing". They automatically believe it is their missing friend, Alison, because she is the only one each of them confided to with their darkest secrets. However, they are shocked when the police find her corpse buried in the backyard of her former house. This could only mean that A is not Alison, but whoever else knew their secrets. The book ends with the liars receiving a text at Alison''s funeral saying, "I''m still here, girls. And I know everything. -A"

Pretty Little Liars

The novel tells the story of Kemal, a convalescing Turkish fighter pilot, who, after his friend mysteriously disappears, is left with a generous allowance and the use of his large house in Istanbul’s Taksim district. Kemal subsequently embarks on a mysterious mission following in the fictitious footsteps of American writer Edgar Allan Poe from Istanbul to Buenos Aires, and eventually to the Edgar Allan Poe museum in Boston where he decides to enter a writing competition with a novel called Many and Many a Year Ago. This novel is, according to the author, “a literary thriller like my other novels,” but, “can also be regarded an ‘experimental mystery’ book,” as it, “also includes eight short stories that overlap with the novel''s plot,” “told with an outlook similar to that of Scheherazade, the narrator of One Thousand and One Nights.” “It is part literature and part travel book, a little bit of Paul Auster and Bruce Chatwin,” he states, “what I tried to do was imagine what the life of a post-modern, well-off Poe would have been like.” “Now, I can only wonder what Americans, should they get the chance to read it, will think of my Turkish interpretation of this American master.”

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

The Reversal

By Michael Connelly

The Heralds

By Brian Killick

The Tale of Two Bad Mice

By Beatrix Potter

Felix Holt, the Radical

By George Eliot

Rubber

By Jeyamohan

Polymath

No Author Listed

Close to the Ground

By Jeff Mariotte

Lottie and Lisa

By Erich Kästner

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

By Dai Sijie

The Egyptian Cross Mystery

By Frederic Dannay

Pretty Little Liars

By Sara Shepard

Many and Many a Year Ago

By Selçuk Altun