New Releases by Julie Smith

A Talba Wallis Novel By night the glamorous Baroness de Pontalba, by day New Orleans’ hippest P.I., Talba Wallis is dumbfounded when she can’t do a simple background check on an old friend—Babalu Maya just doesn’t seem to exist on paper. Four days later, she doesn’t exist at all. As Talba threads her way backward through Babalu’s short, difficult life, she finds an intricate pattern of violence and fear, and a shadowy Mr. Big with homicidal intent. Talba butts right into everybody’s business in Clayton, Louisiana, a small town with a big, ugly secret, where being black, mouthy, and smart are the three qualities most likely to get her killed. As she uncovers dark truths, events and people spiral into nasty motion in a story that has more twists and turns than the Mississippi River.

"From a series of Bible story 10-packs, each Pencil Fun Book features color and activity pages for your child."

Each of these classic titles feature a familiar Bible story from the Old or New Testament -- told simply and embellished with full-color classic artwork throughout.

Now children will always have fun at their fingertips! Each one of these intriguing books features a simple Bible story filled activities and discoveries which come to light when a child scribbles the page with a pencil. Ages 4-7.

This CD is intended as a supplement in an introductory accounting principles course, financial accounting course, or information systems (AIS) course offered at two and four-year colleges and universities. The product provides students with a sense of the integrated nature of accounting and the concept of business processes and the agents involved.

Talba Wallis--African American poet, leader of New Orleans'' café society, and fledgling private detective--is hired by veteran sleuth Eddie Valentino to find a dangerous lothario who seduces teenage black girls who then mysteriously vanish.

This volume assesses the changing nature of the UK''s bilateral relations within the EU. The authors argue that effective bilateral relations are vital to effective decisionmaking and that with repeated EU enlargement they are becoming increasingly important. While France and Germany working in tandem have for many years acted as a motor of integration, few other countries have actively sought to build up good bilateral relations on a systematic basis. Since the 1998 ''step change initiative'' the UK has been trying to do just this. The book shows that the UK has begun to build up long-term bilateral cooperation that will serve as the backdrop to specific bilateral initiatives —particularly in the areas of defense, social policy, and internal security —enabling it to push the process of integration further.

"Blood types" and "Cul-de-sac" feature favorite heroine attorney Rebecca Schwartz; "Always Othello" features Detective Skip Langdon.

Even Rebecca Schwartz is nonplussed when she learns that Chris Nicholson, her law partner and best friend, is a suspect in a murder case. Chris says she has an alibi, but she won''t say what it is. Rebecca has to wonder what could be so shameful that she can''t even tell her best friend. She''s amazed when she learns that her partner has a secret life as did the victim. One thing is certain: if Rebecca doesn''t shake some skeletons from closets - and fast - Chris is going to prison.

Councilwoman Bebe Fortier has misplaced her equally prominent husband. Across town, part-time detective-poet Talba Wallis has a simple wish -- to find out what Russell Fortier''s disappearance has to do with her. But the private investigator who hired Talba to spy on Fortier can''t help her out. He''s lying in his office with a bullet in his chest. At first, Police Detective Skip Langdon thinks it''s just a small case with some big names -- until she senses something huge starting to unfold. Something rooted in corruption, resulting in violence -- and motivated by that old demon ... desire.

Skip Langdon, a New Orleans police detective, encounters death in her own hometown when the local police superintendent is gunned down and then the murderer is killed by a group who goes by the name of "the Jury."

"A BREATHLESS THRILLER . . . Smith pushes her protagonist to the breaking point and the series to a new high water mark of suspense." --Los Angeles Times On temporary leave of absence from the force, Police Detective Skip Langdon becomes obsessed with exposing the frightening figure beneath the good-guy image of Errol Jacomine--a liberal-minded, civic-spirited preacher who is running for mayor of New Orleans. Immediately, an anonymous army of hatchet men go to work on Skip, who learns that opposing Jacomine is dangerous business. And when the only witness to the preachers crimes turns up dead, Skip follows her instincts to the dark center of bayou country . . . where dead cops tell no tales. "Displays the writing skills of one of the genres leading exponents . . . The climax, a frantic rescue effort in the teeth of Hurricane Hannah, will stay with you." --The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"ONE OF THE BEST OF THE SKIP LANGDON SERIES. . . In the fast-growing field of fictional female police officers, New Orleans Homicide Detective Skip Langdon stands tall." --St. Louis Post-Dispatch After prominent New Orleans restaurateur Arthur Hebert is murdered in his beautiful Garden District home, three family members suspiciously vanish: Hebert''s daughter, who was soon to have taken over the management of his restaurant, his ex-addict son-in-law, and his small granddaughter--all missing without a trace. A kidnapping gone wrong? Homicide Detective Skip Langdon thinks it''s possible, but why should the kidnappers have taken three hostages when one would have been enough? Skip''s hunt for a murderer and the missing Hebert heirs embraces worlds within worlds--the elegant, dangerous Garden District, the French Quarter, the seedy Treme, broken-down projects, exclusive mansions, and lowdown bars. It takes her into places where the city''s dirty business is transacted, and those where life is mostly madness, sadness, and badness. It may even take Skip to her death. . . . "SMITH BRINGS THE CITY STRIKINGLY ALIVE." --The Boston Sunday Globe

Lady detective Skip Langdon goes after the killer of Geoffrey Kavanagh, a computer genius. In the process, she learns to navigate The Original Worldwide Network, a country-wide bulletin board service. By the author of Jazz Funeral.

The June 1994 European elections offer the first opportunity for electors in twelve countries to vote as citizens of the European Union. The intense debate surrounding ratification of the Maastricht Treaty showed that many citizens feel increasingly out of touch with European institutions and decision-making. The treaty extends the powers of the European Parliament, yet once again the election campaigns look sat to focus on-domestic issues in the individual member states rather than on the effect on the whole Union of matters such as unemployment, immigration and the environment.

Rebecca Schwartz is a fairly normal Bay-area attorney. But when she almost gets busted for playing piano in a bordello, and Kandi, a part-time student-prostitute is killed in her home, and then the killer stalks Rebecca, it''s time to take action--which is just what she does....

When the heir to the Martinelli family''s renowned sourdough starter is murdered before they were to auction it off, Rebecca Schwartz is determined to discover if he died for a handful of dough. The more she sifts through the tangled relationships of the city''s bread-making dynasties, though, the closer she gets to the recipe for murder....

"Julie Smith not only firmly establishes her claim to the New Orleans crime scene, but she explores an intriguing new franchise for the serial killer." Sue Grafton For detective Skip Langdon, the murder of a multiple self-help group member is no fun. Even if the guilty character is claiming the mantle last held by the Axeman, a notorious New Orleans serial killer of seventy years ago. Yet as Skip threads her fascinated way from one self-help group to another, she finds she has more in common with the twelve-steppers than just the murder. And she knows what they do not: that among their anonymous numbers is a deadly murderous, and dangerously attractive -- psychopath.... From the Paperback edition.

After stealing the original manuscript of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" from a stewardess'' closet, Booker, a partially reformed kleptomaniac, hires private detective Paul McDonald to find its rightful owner

When the private detective whose reports he has been ghostwriting is killed, Paul McDonald becomes the prime suspect in his boss''s murder and himself the target of a murder attempt