Bøger udgivet af Hot Press Books

A Psalm for Cock Robin is the most innovative murder mystery you will ever read. It features a gentle young man named Harp who lives under the Santa Monica pier after he was accidentally released from a mental hospital. When he wakes up one morning to find another homeless man lying dead right next to him, he runs away but soon becomes the main suspect in the murder. Harp must find the killer before the police find him. Sound like a familiar murder mystery plot? Not really. Harp is clearly not much of a detective, but his caustic, sarcastic, Bible-quoting mother is. The only problem is she's dead. But when Harp gets into trouble, she comes into his head to guide him (and harass him) as he searches among a wild assortment of Venice Beach crazies for clues about who the murderer might be. She becomes a sort of second protagonist, always there in Harp's head to keep him on the straight and narrow (often by quoting the grimmest of Grimm's fairy tales, the only thing she let Harp read when he was a child). As weird as this book may sound, it's actually very funny. You'll find yourself laughing out loud, whether you want to or not. It's a classic murder mystery, with a postmodern twist, one you'll never forget.

LA detective, Drew Steele, takes on a new case while still recovering from life-threatening wounds he suffered in an IED explosion in Iraq where he was working for "the company" as a private contractor. The doctors told him he would never walk again, but he proved them wrong. After multiple surgeries, he is able to walk again using a high-tech prosthetic foot (which provides a convenient place to hide a tiny gun). Although he walks with a limp, don't call him a cripple; he's still one of the most successful and sought-after detectives in LA.His first case back in LA seems routine - a missing Las Vegas casino boss - and unrelated to what he was doing in Iraq, but the case turns decidedly dangerous when the missing man turns up dead with a strange message burned into the flesh of his forehead. When the autopsy reveals a grisly surprise in the dead man's stomach, Steele suspects it was put there to suggest the murder is somehow connected to drug trafficking in Crueltown, the criminal hideout in a toxic swamp near the LA-harbor where police are not allowed. But is Crueltown really at the center of this mystery, or is it one of his old enemies trying to draw him into a deadly trap? Crueltown is a Noir murder mystery that pits two brilliant minds against each other in a life and death struggle against a backdrop of the darker side of LA and Vegas.

Who Owns Arizona is a murder mystery set in the American West during the traumatic post-Civil War period. This fast-paced story has more twists and turns than a runaway river in flood stage. It begins in San Francisco when Drew Steele, a Civil War-veteran turned detective, is hired by newspaperman John Rudd to go to the Arizona territory to find a long-lost Spanish land grant that supposedly lays claim to the entire Arizona territory. Murders ensue, and Steele suspects the motive may be related to the missing Spanish land grant.Steele confronts hired gunslingers, marauding Indians, and of course, a number of beautiful, but dangerous, women as he searches for an illusive and exceptionally clever serial killer.Who Owns Arizona is a murder mystery in the classic mold.

This book provides a highly accessible history of the Electoral College. It analyzes every presidential election in U.S. history, providing fascinating details about national and international events that played a role in determining who would be president. The author reveals how the election process has evolved over time and how political parties learned to target Electoral College votes to win presidential elections.In his discussion of the upcoming 2012 presidential campaign between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, Professor Murdock looks at historical voting patterns and current polling results to predict state by state results. His conclusion is that Obama will win the popular vote by a large margin but lose in the Electoral College, just as Al Gore won the general election in 2000 by 543,895 votes, but didn't get to be president.

Based on true events, Torn by God is a riveting family drama that takes place in 1959 in a small Mormon town in Utah. It chronicles the devastation brought upon the Sterling family when the father has a vision which leads him to become involved with a local polygamist group run by a self-serving fundamentalist named Brother Reuben. Under the influence of this group, the father comes to believe that the Mormon Church never should have rescinded polygamy. He knows that the practice is against the law and grounds for excommunication, but he feels it is something God demands of him. Twelve-year-old Beth watches helplessly as her father becomes increasingly involved with the polygamists and her mother sinks into depression and illness. Even Beth is not safe from Brother Reuben with his piercing eyes and suggestive sexual remarks. When her father leaves home to build a church for the polygamists, the family is cast off by the Mormon community. It is up to Beth to take care of her sick mother and her little brother, Mikey. This story delves deep into the controversial association between mainstream Mormons and fundamentalist off-shoot groups such as those led by Warren Jeffs.

On November 6, 2012, voters went to the polls to vote in the most highly contested (and most expensive) presidential election in U.S. history. There was more attention paid to a few so-called "swing states" than ever before because everyone realized the election would be won or lost in the Electoral College, not in the general election. This book, written by a college professor, analyzes every presidential election in the country's history with special focus on the role played by the Electoral College. He describes how duels and scandals and wars and secret deals contributed to a win or a loss for presidential candidates throughout U.S. history. Dr. Murdock provides fascinating details about how the Electoral College was created at the 1787 Constitutional Convention as a compromise with the slave states and the smaller-population states, and how it has distorted the election process ever since. He also describes how the election process has evolved, how political parties have learned to target Electoral College votes instead of the popular vote. As he says, targeting swing states has become the "new" way to win presidential elections. In the final chapters, he analyzes, in detail, the presidential election of 2012 and predicts how it will influence all future elections.