Karen K Brees

"CHARMING, SUSPENSEFUL, AND HILARIOUS. THE SOPRANOS ON LAUGHING GAS. It's hard to keep up the comedy while also generating genuine danger, but Karen K. Brees pulls it off flawlessly." -Haris Orkin, award-winning author of The James Flynn EscapadesThe Puglisi Crime Family is back with a vengeance. This time, they're ramping up a protection racket to provide startup funding for their human trafficking operations. They've chosen the peaceful Cow Hollow neighborhood of San Francisco as their target area. This may be a mistake. Carla Catalano was there first, and the Mafia has no place in her five-year plan for the ballet studio and her ongoing efforts to leave her past behind. Along with her cousin, Gino Esposito, his wife, Francesca, the rest of the Esposito Family, and some support staff, Carla's plan to bring down the Mob, once and for all, swings into gear. Bolstered by some friends in the Korean mafia and an unlikely partnership with a federal agent determined to shut down the trafficking operation, all the Esposito Family needs are a few Navy SEALS, a Jesuit priest, a poker shark, and some luck. A lot of luck. It's a brilliant plan. If it works.

MI6 Agent Katrin Nissen returns in the third installment of the series. This time, she's joined by her husband, fellow agent John Breckenridge, and a disgraced former agent with a grudge to settle and a point to prove. It's July 1940, and the war has come to England. With Hitler's Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force engaged in a desperate fight for control of the skies over the English Channel, Hitler has already declared victory and begun construction of a vast art complex in Austria. Stocked with the world's art treasures, the museum will be a monument to the power of the Third Reich. The only force standing in Hitler's way is Prime Minister Winston Churchill who has no intention of surrendering to the madman from Austria. But many of England's art masterpieces, along with the Magna Carta, have already fallen into the hands of Nazi spies operating near London. Katrin and her team must stop the operation and recover the stolen treasures before they can be transported to Berlin. Time is short, and with each step, Katrin and her team move closer to a final reckoning, where not all will survive.

"If you loved The Thomas Crown Affair, then The Esposito Caper is a must read." -Cate Masters, award-winning author of Angels, Sinners, and MadmenCrime is easy. Family is what's tough. And for Gino Esposito, family obligations could be the end of him. His grandfather wants to prove he's the genius behind another artist's works. All he needs is for Gino to steal a diary that's currently in the possession of the Mafia. Gino will do almost anything to work an angle, but he's thinking this task could be his last. He needs help, but all he's got is Cousin Carla, an exotic dancer with aspirations of opening a ballet studio, and girlfriend Francesca, whose boss has got her framed for embezzlement. It's a recipe for family problems only faith, luck, and some really good mojo will solve.

A desperate search for a missing MI6 colleague and the microfilm he possesses leads Professor Katrin Nissen deep into the maelstrom of Nazi-controlled Berlin. Impulsive and reckless, Dieter Weiss may have pushed his luck too far and taken one chance too many. Against all odds, Katrin has just one week to find him. Posing as a research scientist sympathetic to the Nazis, Katrin attends a conference organized by Heinrich Himmler. The conference will showcase the Nazis' dark plans to redesign nature and will become the birthing ground of the Holocaust - a cost far greater than Katrin is willing to accept. Weiss's sister, Kristine Trautmann, a staff photographer for Himmler, is also at the conference. While Kristine may provide the key to Dieter's whereabouts, she has her own secrets, and should Himmler discover the truth, it will cost her life. Against a backdrop of a political agenda so bizarre as to seem impossible, Katrin discovers that the Nazis aren't the only ones to fear. A serial killer stalks the university halls. Armed with her wits and her trusty stiletto, Katrin finds herself in the crosshairs of danger in the fight of her life.

Preserve your foods with time-tested methods. Canning, freezing, and pickling might seem intimidating. But think of these experiences as ways to strengthen your relationship with food by eating more healthfully, enhancing your nutritional intake, eating organically, saving money, and minimizing contamination illnesses. Plus, just imagine giving someone a Mason jar with strawberry jam and being able to say "I made this." With this step-by-step preservation guide, you can impress family and friends for years to come with your homemade goodies. This revision includes: - More than 50 recipes to preserve fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy products, and more - Techniques for canning, freezing, pickling, fermenting, and other preservation methods - Techniques for dehydrating, salting, and smoking foods - Information on food safety and the best preservation methods for specific foods - Expert tips from Dr. Karen K. Brees on how to get the most from your preserving experience Whether this is your first time trying food preservation or you're an expert looking for some new recipes to try, Preserving Foods is the book for you

The first book to open up a real conversation about aging. What has the experience of getting older felt like for you? It seems that life's milestones pass by in a flash: graduating from school, landing your first job, getting married, having kids. Most people look forward to these events and have some expectations about what each life milestone will be like. But what about when you get older? How can you continue to live fully in your sixties, seventies, and beyond? Linda K. Stroh and Karen K. Brees asked nearly one thousand older people about the challenges and joys of growing older and compiled their collective wisdom into this must-have book, focusing on important topics such as: Changing self-identitiesFriendships and romantic relationshipsHealth, fitness, and self-imageLossRelationships with adult children, grandchildren, and siblingsAnd much more Full of advice and stories from a wide variety of older people, Getting Real about Getting Older examines love, loss, and changing identities, and will help you take control of your concerns about aging and experience wisdom and joy as an older adult.