On October 7, 1949, starlet Jean Spangler kissed her daughter goodbye, she was never seen again. The only clues left behind: a purse, a cryptic note, and rumours about mobster boyfriends. Two years later, smooth-talking Hollywood publicist `Hop` finds himself unwillingly drawn into the unsolved mystery. Plunging deeper and deeper into Hollywood's substratum in his attempt to uncover the truth.

Product Description: How does a respectable young woman fall into Los Angeles' hard-boiled underworld? Shadow-dodging through the glamorous world of 1950s Hollywood and its seedy flip side, Megan Abbott's debut, Die a Little, is a gem of the darkest hue...read more

Product Description: The economic costs of natural hazards are escalating. Rising population in high-risk areas and our increasingly complex infrastructure further increase potential losses. The largest amount of federal funding supports research on weather hazards¾especially short-term prediction¾with comparatively little research on long-term loss reduction approaches that improve the resilience of communities and infrastructure...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: This book considers a recurrent figure in American literature: the solitary white man moving through urban space. The descendent of Nineteenth-century frontier and western heroes, the figure re-emerges in 1930-50s America as the 'tough guy'...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)