New Releases by Lynne Truss

The first three charming, witty, and joyfully quirky novels in New York Times bestselling author Lynne Truss's Constable Twitten Mysteries. A Shot in the Dark: In 1957, Inspector Steine rather enjoys his life as a policeman in the seaside British town of Brighton. As far as he's concerned, the town has no criminals, which means no crime, and no stress. But much to Steine's irritation, there's a new constable in town?the keen and clever Constable Twitten, who sees patterns in small, meaningless burglaries and insists on the strange notion that perhaps all the crime has not been cleared out quite as effectively as Steine thinks. Worse yet, some of Constable Twitten's ideas could be correct: when renowned theater critic A. S. Crystal arrives in Brighton to tell the detective the secret he knows about the still-unsolved Aldersgate Stick-Up Case of 1945, he's shot dead in his seat. The Man That Got Away: Just weeks after the startling events of A Shot In the Dark, in the beach town of Brighton, music is playing and guests are sunning themselves, when a young man is found dead, dripping blood, in a deck chair. Constable Twitten of the Brighton Police Force has a hunch that the fiendish murder may be connected to a notorious nightspot, but his captain and his colleagues are?as ever?busy with other more important issues. Inspector Steine is being conned into paying for the honor of being featured at the Museum of Wax, and Sergeant Brunswick is trying (and failing) to get the attention of the distraught Brighton Belles who found the body. As the case twists and turns, Constable Twitten must find the murderer and convince his colleagues that there's an evil mastermind behind Brighton's climbing crime rate. Murder by Milk Bottle In the wake of two extremely high-profile murder cases, and with the summer of 1957 finally winding down, Constable Twitten is eagerly anticipating a quiet spell at work. But his hoped-for rest is interrupted when he and his colleagues find a trio of bodies, all murdered with the same unusual weapon: a milk bottle. The three victims are seemingly unconnected-a hardworking patrolman, a would-be beauty queen, and a catty BBC radio personality-so Constable Twitten, Sergeant Brunswick, and Inspector Steine are baffled. But with Brighton on high alert and the local newspaper churning out stories of a killer on the loose, the police trio is determined to solve the case and catch the killer.

***Shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2021*** THE ACCLAIMED MURDER MYSTERY FROM SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, PERFECT FOR FANS OF RICHARD OSMAN 'Funny, clever, charming, imaginative and nostalgic' The Times 'Terrific' Mail on Sunday 'A giddy spell of sheer delight' Daily Mail The August bank holiday is approaching and after two extremely high-profile murder cases, Constable Twitten is eagerly anticipating a quiet spell at work. But then they find the bodies – and the milk bottles. Three seemingly unconnected victims – a hard-working AA patrolman, a would-be Beauty Queen, a catty BBC radio personality – have all been killed with the same, highly unusual murder weapon. Constable Twitten, Sergeant Brunswick and Inspector Steine are initially baffled, the town is alarmed, and the local newspaper is delighted: after all, what sells papers better than a killer on the loose? Can our redoubtable trio solve the case and catch this most curious of killers before they strike again? 'The glorious return of Constable Twitten is a cause for celebration... the fun is in Truss's keen ear for dialogue, original comic characters and affectionate(ish) recreation of a seaside resort in its slightly sleazy heyday' Sunday Times Crime Club

Laugh your way to punctuation perfection with this pocket-sized paperback compendium of the hilariously illustrated #1 New York Times bestselling series. Clever side-by-side illustrations show how punctuation placement makes a huge difference in the meaning of a sentence. Imagine this without the middle period and the comma: “The king walked and talked. A half hour after, his head was cut off.” Oh no—a beheaded king that can still walk and talk! You might want to eat a huge hot dog, but a huge, hot dog would run away pretty quickly if you tried to take a bite out of him. Scenes from all three of Lynne Truss and Bonnie Timmons’s best-selling punctuation picture books (Eats, Shoots & Leaves, The Girl's Like Spaghetti, and Twenty-Odd Ducks) highlight the important jobs of commas, apostrophes, hyphens, quotation marks, and more in this humorous punctuation primer. “Wordplay or ‘grammarplay’ at its finest.” —School Library Journal

A Times Crime Novel of the Year, the perfect murder mystery read for fans of Richard Osman and Elly Griffiths In the second instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series, our trio of detectives must investigate the murder of a hapless romantic; an aristocratic con man on the prowl; and a dodgy Brighton nightspot... It is summer in Brighton and the Brighton Belles are on hand to answer any holidaymaker's queries, no matter how big or small. The quickest way to the station, how many pebbles are on the beach and what exactly has happened to that young man lying in the deckchair with blood dripping from him? Constable Twitten has a hunch that the fiendish murder may be connected to a notorious Brighton nightspot and the family that run it, but Inspector Steine is – as ever – distracted by other issues, not least having his own waxwork model made, while Sergeant Brunswick is just delighted to have spied an opportunity to finally be allowed to go undercover... Our incomparable team of detectives are back for another outing in the second instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series.

The charming first novel in a new comic crime series from New York Times bestselling author Lynne Truss. It's 1957, and Inspector Steine rather enjoys his life as a policeman in the seaside British town of Brighton. As far as he's concerned, the town has no criminals, which means no crime, and no stress. But much to Steine's irritation, there's a new constable in town—the keen and clever Constable Twitten, who sees patterns in small, meaningless burglaries and insists on the strange notion that perhaps all the crime has not been cleared out quite as effectively as Steine thinks. Worse yet, some of Constable Twitten's ideas could be correct: when renowned theater critic A. S. Crystal arrives in Brighton to tell the detective the secret he knows about the still-unsolved Aldersgate Stick-Up Case of 1945, he's shot dead in his seat. With a new murder, a new constable, and a new lead on the decades-old mystery, the Brighton Police Force must scramble to solve this delightfully droll mystery in "the funniest crime novel of 2018" ( Wall Street Journal).

Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Lynne Truss (Eats, Shoots & Leaves) is back with a mesmerizing and hilarious tale of cats and murder For people who both love and hate cats comes the tale of Alec Charlesworth, a librarian who finds himself suddenly alone: he’s lost his job, his beloved wife has just died. Overcome by grief, he searches for clues about her disappearance in a file of interviews between a man called "Wiggy" and a cat, Roger. Who speaks to him. It takes a while for Alec to realize he’s not gone mad from grief, that the cat is actually speaking to Wiggy . . . and that much of what we fear about cats is true. They do think they’re smarter than humans, for one thing. And, well, it seems they are! What’s more, they do have nine lives. Or at least this one does – Roger’s older than Methuselah, and his unblinking stare comes from the fact that he’s seen it all. And he’s got a tale to tell, a tale of shocking local history and dark forces that may link not only the death of Alec’s wife, but also several other local deaths. But will the cat help Alec, or is he one of the dark forces? In the deft and comedic hands of mega-bestseller Lynne Truss, the story is as entertaining as it is addictive” (The Sunday Telegraph) – an increasingly suspenseful and often hysterically funny adventure that will please cat lovers and haters alike. And afterwards, as one critic noted, “You may never look at a cat in quite the same way again” (The Daily Mail).

TheEats Shoots and Leaves 2013 Day-to-Day Calendar, perfect for every word-lover and wordsmith is based on the punctuation sensationEats, Shoots and Leaves. With such observations as "people truly do not know their apostrophe from their elbow," Lynne Truss has made "the history of punctuation a subject at once urgent, sexy, and hilarious" (John Walsh,The Independent). * Helps combat common punctuation pitfalls such as the difference between its and it's, comma abuse, and the complications brought on by technology such as email and text messaging.

This word-lover and wordsmith's calendar is based on the punctuation sensationEats, Shoots and Leavesthat hit #1 on best-seller lists and has sold more than 3 million hardcover copies worldwide. With such observations as "people truly do not know their apostrophe from their elbow," Lynne Truss has made "the history of punctuation a subject at once urgent, sexy, and hilarious" (John Walsh,The Independent).

SPECIAL PRICE FOR A LIMITED TIME One woman's journal of single life on the margins. A brilliant collection of Lynne Truss’ journalism – recording the life of a metropolitan refugee from coupledom. The alternative ‘Bridget Jones’.

A wonderful comic novel from the bestselling author of ‘Eats Shoots & Leaves’.

Language play iincludes many punctuation marks in this companion to the New York Times #1 bestseller Eats, Shoots & Leaves! Commas and apostrophes aren't the only punctuation marks that can cause big trouble if they're put in the wrong place. “Twenty-odd ducks” is an estimate of how many are waddling by, but “twenty odd ducks” would not only be a big group, but they’d look very strange! Imagine this without the middle period and the comma: “The king walked and talked. A half hour after, his head was cut off.” Oh no—a beheaded king that can still walk and talk! Truss and Timmons put hyphens, parentheses, quotation marks, periods, and more in the spotlight, with silly scenes showing how which marks you choose and where you put them can cause hilarious mix-ups.

This word lover and wordsmith's calendar is based on the punctuation sensationEats, Shoots and Leaves. With such observations as "people truly do not know their apostrophe from their elbow," Lynne Truss has made "the history of punctuation a subject at once urgent, sexy, and hilarious" (John Walsh,The Independent).

A comanion to the New York Times #1 best-seller Eats, Shoots & Leaves, this is punctuation play at its finest! Just as the use of commas was hilariously demystified in Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!, now Lynne Truss and Bonnie Timmons put their talents together to do the same for apostrophes. Everyone needs to know where to put an apostrophe to make a word plural or possessive (Are those sticky things your brother's or your brothers?) and leaving one out of a contraction can give someone the completely wrong impression (Were here to help you). Full of silly scenes that show how apostrophes make a difference, too, this is another picture book that will elicit bales of laughter and better punctuation from all who read it. A New York Times Bestseller Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Winner

The BP Portrait Award is a showcase for artists specialising in portraiture. This book, a full catalogue of the exhibition, includes reproductions of the prize winners and all entries selected by the judges for display in 2007.

In 2003, Lynne Truss followed up her popular BBC radio show "Cutting a Dash" with the punctuation sensation Eats, Shoots & Leaves. A former editor, Lynne Truss dares to say that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the necessary things they are. The book hit number one on the bestseller lists, prompting such extraordinary headlines as "Grammar Book Tops Bestseller List." With more than 3 million hardcover copies sold worldwide to date, Lynne Truss has made "the history of punctuation a subject at once urgent, sexy, and hilarious" (John Walsh, The Independent). Lynne Truss will be receiving renewed publicity with the release of her newest book: Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today, or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door. Features new illustrations.

The best-selling author of 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' is back with a new book on the state of modern manners. 'Talk to the Hand' is a colourful call to arms - from the wittiest defender of the civilised world.

We all know the basics of punctuation. Or do we? A look at most neighborhood signage tells a different story. Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in email, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled. From the invention of the question mark in the time of Charlemagne to George Orwell shunning the semicolon, this lively history makes a powerful case for the preservation of a system of printing conventions that is much too subtle to be mucked about with.

AT LONG LAST, A WORTHY TRIBUTE TO PUNCTUATION'S STEPCHILDREN: THE NEGLECTED SEMICOLON, THE ENIGMATIC ELLIPSIS AND THE MAD DASH.

Belinda Johansson a tout pour être heureuse : un très bel époux suédois, chercheur en génétique et fan du groupe mythique Abba, ainsi qu'une coquette maison victorienne dans un quartier bourgeois du sud de Londres. Son incapacité totale à faire face aux contraintes du quotidien la ronge intérieurement, et l'empêche de se livrer pleinement à son ouvrage sur les doubles littéraires. Sa vie bascule le jour où elle commence à déléguer à sa nouvelle femme de ménage, Linda, ses anciennes responsabilités pour enfin se consacrer à ses recherches. Dans ce roman humoristique à la manière de P.G. Wodehouse, les coups de théâtre se succèdent en rafales. Aucun des personnages ne se révèlera finalement être celui que l'on croyait.

Ce roman drôle et iconoclaste nous emmène sur l'île de Wight, où sont rassemblés durant un été une demi-douzaine des plus grands écrivains et artistes excentriques de l'époque victorienne. Alfred Tennyson, adulé par la reine Victoria, et par son épouse dévouée, Emily ; le peintre symboliste George Frederic Watts, qui vient d'épouser, à quarante-cinq ans passés, une actrice débutante trois fois plus jeune que lui, Ellen Terry, la future Sarah Bernhardt britannique ; la photographe Julia Margaret Cameron qui voue à Tennyson une dévotion sans limite ; et l'immortel auteur d'Alice au Pays des Merveilles, Lewis Carroll, attiré là par sa double fascination pour les célébrités sus-nommées et pour les fillettes qui pêchent la crevette sur la plage. Autour de ces monstres sacrés, gravitent des personnages secondaires tout aussi authentiques, telles les servantes des Cameron et des Tennyson, les deux fils Tennyson, et la reine Victoria elle-même venue en guest star de sa résidence voisine d'Osborne, et bien d'autres encore qui s'ajoutent à une galerie de portraits au vitriol créant ainsi une intrigue comique haletante, truffée de rebondissements aussi délirants qu'inattendus. Ce roman a été salué par la presse britannique comme " le " roman humoristique de l'été.