This darkly satirical sf mystery is somewhat of a departure from Douglas Adams's internationally bestselling HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY series. Richard MacDuff, a bemused computer programmer, is propelled into a series of mysterious but inextricably interconnected events, involving the odd behavior of an extremely absentminded Cambridge professor, the senseless murder of his boss, the true meaning of Coleridge's two most famous poems, and a horse stuck in a bathroom. Only Richard's old college friend Dirk Gently, a somewhat shady, possibly psychic, and perennially underemployed PI, can trace the pattern to its source: an ancient ghost searching for a hidden time machine. Although DIRK GENTLY has never reached the same popularity as the HITCHHIKER'S books, it has a certain cult classic status. Fans of the British television series DOCTOR WHO will find DIRK GENTLY of interest, as it borrows plot elements from two scripts that Douglas Adams wrote for the series: "City of Death" and "Shada" (the filming of the latter was never completed due to a labor dispute). DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY was followed by a second Dirk book, THE LONG DARK TEATIME OF THE SOUL. A third book in the series, THE SALMON OF DOUBT, was incomplete at the time of Adams's death; the work-in-progress, along with some of Adams's collected writings, was published in 2002.

A food and beer journey into the heart of American, with 175 recipes for foods that taste delicious with (or are made with) beer.

The blind magistrate of Bow Street Court, Sir John Proctor, and the young man who acts as his eyes, Jeremy Proctor, are aboard the H.M.S. Adventure. They are investigating the death of the ship's captain, who went overboard and perished during a storm some months ago. Lieutenant Landon thinks he saw a fellow lieutenant push him over, and it is Proctor's task to uncover the truth.

In a Latin American country under a military dictatorship, Irene Beltran, an upper-class journalist, and Francisco Leal, the photographer son of a Marxist professor, discover a hideous crime.

In this unusual coming-of-age story, a young boy enters a hospital for crippled children. At first he despises the other patients, but gradually he learns that he has a kinship with all of them, and the world of the hospital takes over his life. When he returns to the outside world, he has become an adult who has learned from his suffering.

In this mystery by New Mexican writer Rudolfo Anaya, villains from "Zip Ummer" are resurrected when Tamara Dubronsky, the murderous heiress, is freed after a principal witness dies in a mysterious accident. P.I. Sonny Baca isn't about to let Tamara get away with his cousin's murder, nor that of the witness, whom he thinks died all too conveniently.