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In The Chess Revolution, the acclaimed Chess.com journalist Peter Doggers explores chess as a cultural phenomenon from its influence on popular culture, the arts and science to its biggest stars and most dramatic moments, culminating in its meteoric rise in the digital age and a new peak in popularity.

Many years ago, Sir Aelfric and his nine companions saved the world, seizing the Dark Lord's cursed weapons, along with his dread city of Necrad. That was the easy part. Now, when Aelfric - keeper of the cursed sword Spellbreaker - learns of a new and terrifying threat, he seeks the nine heroes once again. But they are wandering adventurers no longer. Yesterday's eager heroes are today's weary leaders - and some have turned to the darkness, becoming monsters themselves.

When the body of wealthy businessman Charles Stott is found dead on Wimbledon Common, covered in bruises just feet away from his luxury home, Detective Dan Lockhart is called to investigate the shocking scene. Examining the sickeningly disfigured body before him, Lockhart knows he’s dealing with a brutal killer. Looking more closely, he notices something on the victim’s neck: a small, crudely drawn symbol in black ink. It seems the murderer has marked his victim, but why? Dan needs to get inside the perpetrator’s mind, so he contacts psychologist Dr. Lexi Green.

In a quiet church, on a busy London street, 12-year-old Donovan Blair is found dead. His hands are clasped together as if in prayer. Fearing the murderer may already have another child in his sights, Dan and Lexi work together to establish links between the two deaths and soon discover that not only were both children in care - they had attended the same school. And when it emerges that Lexi’s new boyfriend works there, things become difficult between her and Dan. How much can he tell Lexi about the case? And could she be at risk?

For as long as humans have lived, we have lived beneath the stars. But under the glow of today’s artificial lighting, we have lost the intimacy our ancestors once shared with the cosmos. In Starborn, cosmologist Roberto Trotta reveals how stargazing has shaped the course of human civilization. The stars have served as our timekeepers, our navigators, our muses—they were once even our gods. How radically different would we be, Trotta also asks, if our ancestors had looked up to the night sky and seen… nothing?

The Falcons are knights of the Vestal Order, pledged to use their powers to protect the Empire of Talmont from the cruel Vyr and the carnage they have unleashed upon the world. When the Falcons take a Vyr alive, they go against the protocols of the Vestal Order and interrogate him. They are horrified to learn, if the Vyr speaks truly, that the Empire's worst enemy may not be the Vyr...but the Vestal Order itself. Led by the charismatic Romara Challys, the Falcons go rogue, their quest for the truth taking them through burning forests, lost ruins and the uncanny traces of a dying race.

Ben Harper's life changed for ever the day his older brother Nick was murdered by two classmates. It was a crime that shocked the nation and catapulted Ben's family and their idyllic hometown, Haddley, into the spotlight. Twenty years on, Ben is one of the best investigative journalists in the country and settled back in Haddley, thanks to the support of its close-knit community. But then a fresh murder case shines new light on his brother's death and throws suspicion on those closest to him.

As Detective Dan Lockhart is called to a wealthy London street to investigate Natasha’s death, he’s startled by the similarity to a previous case. Noticing the cable-tie restraints and the tiny scratches on Natasha’s wedding finger, Dan already knows what he will find if he looks in her mouth - the metal ball which choked her to death. Months earlier, Kim Hardy was found in the same position in a run-down hotel across the city - an identical silver ball in her throat. But Kim’s murderer was caught and sent to prison - did they arrest the wrong man?

The year is 1742. Goody Brown, saved from drowning and adopted when just a babe, has grown up happily in the smuggling town of Winchelsea. Then, when Goody turns sixteen, her father is murdered in the night by men he thought were friends. To find justice in a lawless land, Goody must enter the cut-throat world of her father's killers. With her beloved brother Francis, she joins a rival gang of smugglers. Facing high seas and desperate villains, she also discovers something else: an existence without constraints or expectations, a taste for danger that makes her blood run fast.

From the ancient Greeks to Buddhism, our ability to check reality and recalibrate has fascinated philosophers for thousands of years. Yet it is only recently that we've developed the technology to create a rigorous science of self-awareness, what we call metacognition. Head of the Metacognition Lab at University College London, Stephen Fleming is the world's leading expert in this new field of neuroscience. In Know Thyself, he explains both the vast potential of metacognition and why it is that we still so often get it wrong.

Stargazing has shaped the entire course of human civilization. The rhythm of our ancestors' lives revolved around the stars, from cycles of agriculture to patterns of birth. How radically different would humanity be if our ancestors had looked up to the night sky and seen...nothing? In lyrical yet evidence-grounded meditations, Trotta imagines a world without stars, a dramatic alternate history in which we wouldn't understand gravity, where couldn't navigate or have much sense of time, and where our sense of the profound - of art and of the divine - was altered beyond recognition.

When Head of the Ritualistic Behavioural Crime Unit, Dr Harrison Lane, is called to desolate Wicken Fen to assist with a murder investigation, he can’t believe what he sees. Curved iron horseshoes hold down the body of a young, athletic man, and birch leaves rest delicately upon his torso, but it’s what lies above the leaves that interests Harrison…

When a woman is found burnt at the stake on the edge of a pretty English village, the police suspect this is no ordinary murder. Dr. Harrison Lane, Head of the Ritualistic Behavioral Crime unit, is quickly summoned to unravel the mystery. As Harrison investigates, he uncovers a web of deceit woven through the tight-knit community of Thistleford. The villagers claim the victim, Louise Swift, was a gifted psychic, beloved by all… but Harrison immediately senses darker forces at play.

The dog was standing by the tree, four paws firmly planted, his hackles up. His owner, who had run after him through the woods, stopped and gasped aloud in shock. In front of them, hanging from the ancient yew tree, was a body. Blood dripped down the victim’s pale skin, where strange symbols had been crudely carved. The eyes stared straight ahead. Empty. Unseeing.

When a vicar is reported missing just days before Christmas and two churches are burned to the ground, the police know there is only one person that can help them solve the case: Head of the Ritualistic Behavioural Crime unit, Dr Harrison Lane. An expert on ritualistic and religious crime profiling, Harrison uses tracking skills taught to him by his Native American stepfather to follow the trail of clergymen’s bodies displayed in sinister effigies that warp scenes from the New Testament.

Twenty years ago, Alf and his companions defeated the Dark Lord and claimed his city. Now, those few of the Nine that remain find themselves unwilling rebels, defying the authority of both the mortal lords they once served and the immortal king of the elves - the secret architect of everything they've ever known. Once lauded as a mighty hero, Alf is now labelled a traitor and hunted by the very gods he seeks to bring down.

Helena is beautiful, successful and living in married bliss in Exeter. But she's hiding a secret that could tear her perfect life apart. When the notes begin to arrive, she realises someone else must know. But what might her husband and his overbearing family do if they find out the truth? Thea is reeling from her best friend Helena's death. But when she starts digging into the circumstances, she receives a threatening note warning her to stop. She knows her friend's death wasn't an accident. This was murder. And she is determined to get revenge.

In the early hours of a chilly autumn morning, Harrison Lane races to shadowy Fenton Woods. Beneath an ash tree is the lifeless body of a young boy – four guttered candles surround him, a makeshift cross pushed into the earth nearby. Harrison tenses – who would want to hurt an innocent child? As head of the police’s Ritualistic Behavioural Crime unit, Harrison uses his unique tracking skills to assess the scene.

Dr Harrison Lane, Head of the Ritualistic Behavioural Crime unit, is called in to investigate. What he finds makes his blood run cold. A girl has been sculpted by plastic surgery to become the image of a perfect mermaid. Harrison has dedicated his life to tracking down those who hide behind spiritualism and religion to do evil – but this case will test his skills, and his nerve, to the limit. A cold, calculating psychopath is preying on vulnerable women dying to achieve perfection, and instinct tells Harrison that it’s only a matter of time before more mermaids are found.

It's a beautiful day in Como, and the Caswell-Jones family are surrounded their nearest and dearest in their Villa Janus. But when Jonty Caswell-Jones is found dead in his study, it is clear the only suspects are the guests and the family. It seems all this time, tensions have been brewing, guests seething, and rivalries have reared their ugly head....