Penny Grubb

It's years since Private Investigator Annie Raymond set eyes on PC Jennifer Flanagan, yet here they are face to face because a rogue shipping container turned up in a recycling yard on the outskirts of Hull, and a man died. The grieving widow hurls accusations but too quickly backs off. Why is the container undocumented? How did it arrive unnoticed amid the forest of cameras and automated recognition systems? When Annie's paymasters start taking too close an interest in her present, and Jennifer's supervisors begin digging into her past, the two women are drawn into an uneasy alliance. Do they feel under surveillance because they're watching each other, or is it something more sinister? While Annie tries to protect her agency, in the myriad dockyards sprawled alongside the dark waters of the Humber, robotic systems swing gigantic steel containers with millimetre precision through the cold winter air.

Preparing for Higher Education Study aims to support students starting out in higher education. It focuses on the key skills required to make the step up from school or college to university education. The conventional student of the 20th century is no longer the norm in many sectors. People now enter higher education via diverse routes. They might for example be experienced individuals holding down responsible jobs who want to build their expertise and enhance their career prospects, but who have been out of formal education for several years, or they might be people with the ability but not the standard pre-requisites for a degree course. This book will give new students the boost they need to make the step up into higher education. Dr Penny Grubb has worked in academia since the 1980's and has introduced generations of new students to higher education study. Her later academic work focussed on innovative ways to educate so-called fragile learners to give them the foundation and confidence to move on to degree courses. Penny's academic writing has covered healthcare informatics, software maintenance, creative writing and teaching techniques.

How to be a Fantastic Writer leads you step by step from beginning to end. If you're just starting out and want a solid framework to give you confidence, or if you are a seasoned novelist who wants practical advice on how to inject tension into a scene that inexplicably seems to drag, then this is the book for you.

Syrup Trap City by Penny Grubb is a crime novel featuring private investigator, Annie Raymond, and Detective Ayaan Ahmed. Annie is dismissive of her current assignment. These everyday cases are routine to her these days. She takes time out to visit old acquaintances, at the ramshackle local firm that she worked for years ago. Whilst sharing gossip and coffee with Pat Thompson and Barbara Caldwell, she keeps half an eye on the surveillance she is being paid to do, but her attention focuses on potential betrayal from much nearer home. What is her boss, the enigmatic Mrs Peters, up to now? Shadowing Mrs Peters is a far more tricky business, but while her attention is focused elsewhere, the apparently routine job takes a nasty turn. Annie has misinterpreted events badly and taken her eye off the ball. Suddenly, danger lurks round every corner and nothing is as it seems.

Software systems now invade every area of daily living. Yet, we still struggle to build systems we can really rely on. If we want to work with software systems at any level, we need to get to grips with the way software evolves. This book will equip the reader with a sound understanding of maintenance and how it affects all levels of the software evolution process.