Somebody dies. A young mother is recuperating in a San Francisco hospital when she is suddenly gasping for breath. The call button fails to bring help in time. The hospital''s doctors, some of the best in the nation, are completely mystified by her death. How did this happen? Apocalypse nears. This is not the first such case at the hospital. Just as patients are about to be released with a clean bill of health, their conditions take a devastating turn for the worse. Accompanied by the newest member of the Women''s Murder Club, Yuki Castellano, Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer probes deeper into the incidents. Could these cases just be appalling coincidences? Or is a maniac playing God with people''s lives? When someone close to the Women''s Murder Club begins to exhibit the same frightening symptoms, Lindsay fears no one is safe. The 5th horseman rides. It is a wild race against time as Lindsay''s investigation reveals a hospital administration determined to shield its reputation at all costs. And while the hospital wages an explosive court battle that grips the entire nation, Lindsay and the Women''s Murder Club hunt for a merciless killer among its esteemed medical staff.

The 5th Horseman

Dark Prince introduces the Carpathians, a powerful and ancient race. They have many gifts, including the ability to shape-shift, and extended life spans, living well over many years. Though they feed on human blood, they don''t kill their human prey, and for the most part live among them without detection. Despite their gifts, the Carpathians are on the edge of extinction. There have been few children born to them in the past few centuries, those that have been born are all male and often die in the first year. It has been more than 500 years since a female has been born. Without females, many of the males are turning, becoming vampires, the monsters of human legend. After 200 years, a male Carpathian loses the ability to feel emotions and see in color. These will only return to him when he finds his lifemate, the other half of his soul. Mikhail Dubrinsky, Prince of the Carpathians, has worked tirelessly for centuries to discover why so many of their children die in the first years. However, his efforts have come to no avail. It is at this time, when he is on the brink of despair and self-destruction that he meets a beautiful human psychic, Raven Whitney. Raven is a strong telepath, and has worked with the police to capture four serial killers. But her gift has come with a price: a life of isolation, and pain whenever she uses her gift. When he meets her, he is shocked and amazed when he suddenly is able to see colors in her presence; he realizes that she is his lifemate. Despite his joy, there is doubt in his mind. No human woman has ever been a lifemate to a Carpathian. All human females who were converted had become deranged creatures, feeding on children and had to be destroyed. But he knows she is the only woman for him, the other half of his soul. He is determined to live as a human with her and to die when she does. However, this is not to be. Raven is attacked by fanatics, and he is forced to convert her to save her life. Her survival brings new hope to him and his people, for if one psychic human female can be a lifemate, surely there are others.

Dark Prince

Seventeen-year-old Dickory Dock, an art-school student in Greenwich Village, answers an ad for a job as a painter''s assistant at Number 12 Cobble Lane. The painter, Garson, evaluates and hires her; in her duties of cleaning paintbrushes and answering the door, she becomes involved in Garson''s mysterious affairs, as well of those of his downstairs neighbors, Manny Mallomar and Shrimps Marinara. She befriends Garson''s companion, a deaf, mentally handicapped man with the pseudonym of Isaac Bickerstaffe; her fellow student, George Washington III; and the Chief of Detectives of the NYPD, Joseph P. Quinn. When the latter begins asking for Garson''s assistance as a sketch artist, Garson assumes the character of Inspector Noserag (whose name is an imperfect reversal of "Garson"), and dubs Dickory his assistant, Sergeant Kod (likewise). The two work together to solve several cases, which divide the book into six sections of four chapters each: "The Mystery in Number 12 Cobble Lane," "The Case of the Horrible Hairdresser," "The Case of the Face on the Five-Dollar Bill," "The Case of the Full-Sized Midget," "The Case of the Disguised Disguise," and "The Case of the Confusing Corpus." Meanwhile, Dickory learns more about the histories, motives and identities of all the people in and around Number 12 Cobble Lane.

The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues

After being released from his time with Ta-Kumsaw, an Indian leader who taught Alvin the ways of Indian people, the young boy sets out to start his apprenticeship as a Smith in the town where he was born. While there he meets a young half-black boy by the name of Arthur Stuart, the son of a slave and a slave-owner who has been adopted by the owners of the local guesthouse. Another new friend comes in the form of Miss Margaret Larner, who he later discovers to be the "torch" who helped him to be born so many years ago, and with whom he has been strangely linked since that day. Eventually, Alvin is forced into helping Arthur to escape some slave-hunters, something that requires him to slightly change Arthur''s DNA enough to prevent the hunters'' knacks from identifying the runaway child. Alvin also creates a plow of living gold, which is bestowed with magical properties, as his journeyman piece to release himself from his apprenticeship as a Smith (and also as a Maker). The story ends with Alvin and Arthur leaving the town and returning to Alvin''s home in the west.

Prentice Alvin

The locations are, at the beginning of the book, the ship from Marseille to Indochina and a brothel; later it is set in Cambodia, Laos and Siam. The most important characters are young adventuresome Claude Vannec and an old experienced adventurer named Perken, a Dane with German associations. They relate to each other because of their nonconformism, which lets them collaborate to obtain their personal goals: the quest for the reliefs (for which they are motivated both archeologically and financially), as well as the search for a lost adventurer called Grabot. They succeed in stealing the reliefs. But they are abandoned by their guide and in a dangerous jungle. Because they fear the government, they chose a way through the uncontrolled territory of the Moïs. This region is dangerous, too – but on the other hand Grabot is supposed to be there. The adventurers have to defeat hostile vegetation and traps (e.g. swamps, giant insects, fleams). A deal is made with the Stiengs, but disintegrates as the adventurers find Grabot enslaved horribly. Now the adventurers are under siege. Perken, in a moment of lucidity and courage, manages to rescue the beleaguered ones. The price he pays is an injury to his knee, which progresses to ulcerating inflammation of the joint (in a time before the invention of antibiotics, at a place without any opportunity to do a sterile amputation), and he dies slowly in pain.

The Royal Way

Montresor tells the story of the day that he took his revenge on Fortunato, a fellow nobleman, to an unspecified person who knows him very well. Angry over some unspecified insult, he plots to murder his friend during Carnival when the man is drunk, dizzy, and wearing a jester''s motley. He baits Fortunato by telling him he has obtained what he believes to be a pipe (about 130 gallons, 492 litres) of a rare vintage of Amontillado. He claims he wants his friend''s expert opinion on the subject. Fortunato goes with Montresor to the wine cellars of the latter''s palazzo, where they wander in the catacombs. Montresor offers wine (first Medoc, then De Grave) to Fortunato. At one point, Fortunato makes an elaborate, grotesque gesture with an upraised wine bottle. When Montresor appears not to recognize the gesture, Fortunato asks, "You are not of the masons?" Montresor says he is, and when Fortunato, disbelieving, requests a sign, Montresor displays a trowel he had been hiding. Montresor warns Fortunato, who has a bad cough, of the damp, and suggests they go back; Fortunato insists on continuing, claiming that "[he] shall not die of a cough." During their walk, Montresor mentions his family coat of arms: a golden foot in a blue background crushing a snake whose fangs are embedded in the foot''s heel, with the motto Nemo me impune lacessit ("No one insults me with impunity"). When they come to a niche, Montresor tells his victim that the Amontillado is within. Fortunato enters and, drunk and unsuspecting, does not resist as Montresor quickly chains him to the wall. Montresor then declares that, since Fortunato won''t go back, he must "positively leave [him]". Montresor walls up the niche, entombing his friend alive. At first, Fortunato, who sobers up faster than Montresor anticipated he would, shakes the chains, trying to escape. Fortunato then screams for help, but Montresor mocks his cries, knowing nobody can hear them. Fortunato laughs weakly and tries to pretend that he is the subject of a joke and that people will be waiting for him (including the Lady Fortunato). As the murderer finishes the topmost row of stones, Fortunato wails, "For the love of God, Montresor!" Montresor replies, "Yes, for the love of God!" He listens for a reply but hears only the jester''s bells ringing. Before placing the last stone, he drops a burning torch through the gap. He claims that he feels sick at heart, but dismisses this reaction as an effect of the dampness of the catacombs. In the last few sentences, Montresor reveals that in the 50 years since that night, he has never been caught, and Fortunato''s body still hangs from its chains in the niche where he left it. The murderer concludes: Requiescat In Pace! ("May he rest in peace!").

The Cask of Amontillado

On awakening in an idyllic tropical paradise, Rex is disoriented and possibly afflicted with amnesia. He knows his name, but the particulars are curiously missing. He spends his first week exploring, and discovers that his Eden-like paradise is surrounded by a huge unscalable wall 50 miles in circumference. Furthermore, there are six gateways at roughly equal intervals, but there is no way to climb up there and see where they go. After a significant amount of exploring, he finds a single house that may hold the answers to his missing memory. How he could have missed it on first waking, is beyond him. Maybe he was just pointed in the wrong direction, and he started wandering off randomly, and forgot to turn around. Inside, he discovers what appears to be three suspended animation tanks, one of which is labeled REX, another REGINA - both with their tops off - and on looking inside, mysteriously vacant. The other tank is labeled VENUS and holds a woman who is the most breathtakingly beautiful thing he has ever seen.

Six Gates from Limbo

The novella centres on the antagonisms that exist between two brothers. It recounts the story of Robert, a priest whose conduct appears so exemplary that he is called "L''Abbé" ("the abbot"), and is also involved in the clandestine activities of the French Resistance. Against his perspective of ecclesiastical morality, one encounters his twin brother Charles, who is a "libertine." It is the Second World War, which serves as a backdrop for the paradox of interpersonal betrayal, anti-clericalism and its disconnection from public virtue that characterises this work. Charles has a sexual relationship with Eponine, a female libertine. However, Eponine is also attracted to Robert. Worse, Robert is secretly attracted to Eponine, which precipitates an atmosphere of psychological and sexual tension within this triangle. The story turns out badly for all involved, as the resolution of this unstable triangle is not a healthy outcome. The story is told mostly from Charles''s point of view. Robert undergoes a nervous breakdown, as he faints at a church service that he officiates at, with Eponine in the congregation. Robert becomes an alcoholic, and starts to harass Eponine at home late at night, leaving behind traces that suggest growing psychological instability. He loses his moral compass, and eventually becomes insane, leaving his village for a hotel on its outskirts, and spends a fortnight with two prostitutes, Rosie and Raymonde, before the Gestapo apprehend Robert for his activities with the French Resistance. While he has abandoned his clerical vows, however, Robert will not betray his resistance colleagues, and dies an heroic death after severe torture at the hands of his Nazi captors. Charles mourns his death, unable to forget what happened to his brother, until he and his wife Germaine encounter the unnamed narrator of the bracketing sections of this work, read as if an autobiography. Two years after Robert''s heroic death, Charles commits suicide, but the narrator fulfils his responsibilities and takes the work to a publisher.

L''Abbe C

Jamaica Inn tells the story of 23-year-old Mary Yellan, who was brought up on a farm in Helford but had to go and live with her Aunt Patience after her mother died. Patience''s husband, Joss Merlyn, a great big bully who is almost seven feet tall, is the keeper of Jamaica Inn. On arriving at the gloomy and threatening inn, Mary finds her aunt in a ghost-like state under the thumb of the vicious Joss, and soon realizes that something unusual is afoot at the inn, which has no guests and is never open to the public. She tries to squeeze the truth out of her uncle during one of his benders, but he tells her, "I''m not drunk enough to tell you why I live in this God-forgotten spot, and why I''m the landlord of Jamaica Inn." Against her better judgement, Mary becomes attracted to Joss''s younger brother, Jem, a petty thief, but less brutal than his big brother. After Mary realizes that Joss is the leader of a band of wreckers and even overhears Joss ordering the murder of one of their member, she is unsure whether to trust Jem or not. She turns to Francis Davey, the albino vicar of the neighbouring village of Altarnun, who happened to find Mary when she got lost one day on the moor. Mary and Jem leave the moors for Christmas Eve and spend a day together in the town of Launceston, during which Jem sells a horse he stole from Squire Bassat back to the squire''s unwitting wife. When it comes time to return to Jamaica Inn, Jem leaves Mary to go get the jingle, but never returns. Mary hires a coach to take her home wherein she meets Francis Davey, but they are waylaid by her uncle''s band of wreckers, and the coach driver is killed. Mary is then forced to watch as the wreckers trick a ship into steering itself on to the rocks and then murder the survivors of the crash as they try to swim to shore. A few days later, Jem comes to speak with Mary, who is locked in her room at the inn. Mary uses Jem''s help to escape and goes to Altarnun to tell the vicar about Joss'' misdeeds, but he isn''t at home. She then goes to the squire''s home and tells his wife her story, but Mrs. Bassat tells Mary that her husband already has the evidence to arrest Joss and has gone to do so. Mrs. Bassat has her driver take Mary to Jamaica Inn, where they arrive before the Squire''s party. Mary goes inside to find her uncle stabbed to death; the lawmen arrive soon thereafter and discover Aunt Patience similarly murdered. The vicar arrives at the inn, having received a note Mary left for him that afternoon, and offers her refuge for the night. The next day, Mary surreptitiously sees a drawing by the vicar which she found in a drawer of the desk in her room at the vicar''s cottage; she is shocked to see that the vicar has drawn himself as a wolf while the members of his congregation have heads of sheep. The vicar returns, tells Mary that Jem was the one who informed on Joss. Realizing that she has seen the drawing, the vicar then reveals that he was the true head of the wrecker gang and the murderer of Joss and her Aunt Patience, and he tries to escape with Mary as his hostage. The vicar goes on to explain that he tried to find faith in the Christian Church but did not, setting his faith instead in the ancient Druid following. As they flee across the moor to try to reach a ship to sail to Spain, Squire Bassat and Jem lead a search party that closes the gap, eventually coming close enough for Jem to shoot the vicar and rescue Mary. Mary has an offer to work as a servant for the Bassats, but instead plans to return to Helford. One day as she walks on the moor, she comes across Jem, leading a cart with all of his possessions, headed in the other direction from Helford. After some discussion, Mary decides to abandon Helford to go with Jem.

Jamaica Inn

This Mohan Kumar as a student in the U.S., Mohan has "lost his virginity" at Princeton University to Jessica Brown, a beautiful black lady. Their relationship looked like a honeymoon without wedding. While still in the USA, Ms. Yasmeen, a Pakistani, revealed to Mohan Kumar the heady passion of a woman older than her male counterpart. After Mohan gets back to India and settles in married life, his passion for women continues undiminished. He feels highly relieved after being divorced by his "nagging and ill-tempered" wife. But Mohan was a unfaithful husband. His sex escapades, before the divorce and post divorce were unusual and varied, including his repeated relations with his ever-obliging maid, Dhanno, with her practiced charm on the bed. Another woman in Kumar’s life was Tamilian Marry Joseph, described by the author as “a dark, plump woman in her thirties.” She worked as a nurse to Kumar’s son. She has been described almost inviting Shakti Kumar tacitly with these words, “Saar, one life to live, not to waste it on a drunkard husband. You agree?” Kumar has agreed. The book describes Kumar''s rendezvous with madam Sarojini Bhardwaj, a Professor of English. And, when it came to sex, the lady professor proved that she was stronger than many men. Another lady appearing in the sex life of Kumar was Molly Gomes, who was “not only as an incarnation of sensual impulse, but also as a mistress of sexuality.” Likewise, Susanthika, “the small wonderful bird”, from Sri Lanka was really active on bed.

The Company of Women

Mixing fact and fiction, the Duc de Saint-Simon recounts three episodes in which he and his wife involve themselves in the notorious schemings of King Louis XIV''s Versailles. Throughout, the famous courtier''s attitudes toward the King and court shift. In the first story, the young Duc, appalled at the King''s calculating matches of his illegitimate offspring with prominent aristocrats, works to subvert the wedding of one of Louis'' nephews, but is thwarted when his adversaries threaten an exposé of the homosexuality of both the King''s brother and the narrator''s patron, the Prince de Conti. In the second, Saint-Simon is maneuvered into acting as messenger between Conti (who is briefly King of Poland in 1697) and Conti''s mistress, Madame la Duchesse. In this the Duc is subverted by his own wife''s schemings. Finally, in later years, rumors of incest are deployed by both sides in a struggle to determine which of two ill-pedigreed "princesses" will be matched with one of the King''s legitimate grandsons. The high-minded Saint-Simon emerges from these intrigues disillusioned ("We had all...been made part of the Versailles system"), but resolves (after the King''s death) to record the monarch''s "great style" and quest for glory.

The Cat and the King

Andi Walker is a girl who does not want to move to her animal-allergic great-aunt Alice because to do so would mean having to say goodbye to her beloved dog Bebe. Regardless of this, she is forced to go. However, shortly after the move, she finds a stranded dog and wishes to keep her. Andi''s mother vetoes this idea, so, along with her older brother Bruce, she keeps the dog (who she names "Friday") and her pups in an abandoned house across the street. After a while, Andi and Bruce allow in three more partners, Tim, Debbie, and Annabel and eight more dogs: Red Rover (an Irish Setter who ran away from his abusive owner and Bruce''s enemy, Jerry Gordon), MacTavish (an abandoned dog), Preston (a paying tenant), and five "Bulldales". In the end, their expenses overwhelm them, and they are discovered by their father, mother, and aunt. During a final scene, Jerry''s wickedness is revealed to his ignorant father, Red Rover, Sadie, and Bebe return home with the Walkers, MacTavish is adopted by Tim, the Bulldales find a home, and Andi''s writing is finally published. Sequel: A book sequel, called News for Dogs, was released May 1, 2010.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

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The 5th Horseman

By Maxine Paetro

Dark Prince

By Christine Feehan

The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues

By Ellen Raskin

Prentice Alvin

By Orson Scott Card

The Royal Way

No Author Listed

The Cask of Amontillado

By Edgar Allan Poe

Six Gates from Limbo

No Author Listed

L'Abbe C

No Author Listed

Jamaica Inn

By Daphne du Maurier

The Company of Women

By Khushwant Singh

The Cat and the King

By Louis Auchincloss

Hotel for Dogs

By Lois Duncan