Showing results by author "S A Richards" in All Categories

Abductions and murder are not what ex-DCI Luke Sackville expected when he left the police after tragedy struck his family. Luke’s return to the workplace was meant to be a soft landing, but when a woman vanishes after being accused of taking bribes, he is assigned a disparate team and tasked with tracking her down. Their search becomes more urgent when her disappearance is linked to the death of a second woman. When a third goes missing, the hunt becomes a race against time.

Ex-DCI Luke Sackville is asked to investigate celebrity parties by a whistleblower at GNE, a global news and entertainment company. Two of his Ethics Team go undercover and piece together a frightening picture of depravity and wickedness. Luke is shocked to discover that celebrities are using their fame to exploit and abuse fans. He takes the evidence to GNE’s executive management but they refuse to take action.

Ex-DCI Luke Sackville could not have predicted the challenges he would face when he joined Filchers, a business outsourcing company, as their Head of Ethics. He and his team are catapulted into helping MI6 thwart the activities of an international terrorist organisation. Initial suspicions centre on money laundering, but when women are abducted and bodies start to turn up it becomes clear there is a lot more at stake.

After years as a consultant to some of the world's biggest brands and having owned 10 companies himself, Troy Hazard has learned crucial lessons on predicting potential business issues before you experience them. Now Troy offers you the skills to prepare your business for a better future. Along with his stories of what works, he also shares his experiences of what doesn't work.

Are you looking for an alternative to a career path at a big firm? Does founding your own start-up seem too risky? There is a radical third path open to you: You can buy a small business and run it as CEO. Purchasing a small company offers significant financial rewards—as well as personal and professional fulfillment. Leading a firm means you can be your own boss, put your executive skills to work, fashion a company environment that meets your own needs, and profit directly from your success.

Ex-DCI Luke Sackville investigates nefarious activities at Wessex Police at the request of the Chief Constable. He and his Ethics Team put their own lives at risk as they seek to unveil the guilty. Luke is horrified when he discovers that a long-established secret society is behind the corruption and is planning a series of attacks on the public. He finds himself in a race against time to identify and capture the secret society’s members before innocent people are murdered on an unprecedented scale.

Luke Sackville is asked to investigate after a whistleblower contacts his Chief Executive claiming that a company director is involved in an unsavoury overseas business. Luke puts his Ethics Team to work. They discover that the board member is making money through several illegal organisations, each exploiting people when they are at the lowest point in their lives. Their quarry is ruthless and prepared to do anything to avoid detection and the team has to act quickly to prevent their reign of terror from being brought to a murderous conclusion.

Ex-DCI Luke Sackville is asked by Globo Energy to investigate two environmental movements. Both groups promote protests and nonviolent civil disobedience, but when members of his Ethics Team go undercover they discover this is a facade. Beneath the surface sinister forces are at work. Luke becomes embroiled in a race to find and stop a murderer who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. Sow the Wind is the sixth book in the series of crime thrillers featuring Luke Sackville and his Ethics Team.

Fallujah. Few names conjure up as many images of blood, sacrifice, and valor as does this ancient city in Al Anbar province 40 miles west of Baghdad. This sprawling concrete jungle was the scene of two major US combat operations in 2004. The first was Operation Vigilant Resolve, an aborted effort that April by US Marines intent on punishing the city’s insurgents. The second, Operation Phantom Fury, was launched seven months later. Richard Lowry’s New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah is the first comprehensive history of this fighting.

No one is immune to the byproducts of compulsory schooling and standardized testing. And while reform may be a worthy cause for some, it is not enough for countless others still trying to navigate the tyranny of what schooling has always been. Raising Free People argues that we need to build and work within systems designed for any human to learn, grow, socialize, and thrive, regardless of age, ability, background, or access to money.

A fantasy anthology featuring the deadly, the worldly, and the sneaky. Blackguards consists mainly of stories in established series, and the authors range from wildly successful indie authors to New York Times best sellers. If you enjoy roguish tales of scoundrels and ne'er-do-wells, this one's for you.

Ex-DCI Luke Sackville investigates a link between a senior executive and a large bet, little realizing that what he is seeing is the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface sinister forces are at work, and when he learns of a tragedy following a rugby match Luke spots a possible connection. He sets his team to work and they uncover a gambling syndicate whose cold and ruthless leader will stop at nothing to achieve his aims. It becomes a race against time as they battle to unmask the guilty.

Many of the most dynamic public companies, from Alibaba to Facebook to Visa, and the most valuable start-ups, such as Airbnb and Uber, are matchmakers that connect one group of customers with another group of customers. Economists call matchmakers multisided platforms because they provide physical or virtual platforms for multiple groups to get together. Dating sites connect people with potential matches, for example, and ride-sharing apps do the same for drivers and riders.

Often the very same skills and traits that enable rising stars to achieve success "tenacity, aggressiveness, self-confidence" become liabilities when promoted into a leadership track. While managers' conversations are generally transactional and centered on the task at hand, leaders must focus on people, asking great questions and aligning them with the vision for the future.

An elderly farmer learns the horrifying truth beyond the phrase “True love never dies”. Something sinister lurks behind the distant eyes of a mother’s traumatized son. And a gravedigger slowly descends into madness, as he grows obsessed with the corpse of a little girl.... Scare Street’s latest collection shines a flickering candle on the terrifying forces of darkness that haunt our dreams. Death, madness, obsession.... The darker side of the human psyche is revealed with each bone-chilling chapter of these 14 macabre tales.

While Jake’s law practice is finally beginning to take off, at home, his marriage is crumbling. He has broken a solemn promise to Elena, his wife, not to defend drug dealers due to her traumatic experiences as a child in her native Colombia. When given the chance to admit what he’s done, Jake continues with the lie, again and again. Now with Jake facing imminent arrest and trial, Elena no longer believes in his innocence, and in fear for her safety takes off with the kids.

Christians from a variety of denominations and traditions are in middle of an important conversation about the final destiny of the saved. Scholars such as N. T. Wright and J. Richard Middleton have pushed back against the traditional view of heaven, and now some Christians are pushing back against them for fear that talk about the earthiness of our final hope distracts our attention from Jesus. In the familiar Counterpoints format, Four Views on Heaven brings together a well-rounded discussion and highlights similarities and differences of the current views on heaven.

War stories from the battlefields of Faerun!

The millennia-old history of Faerun is punctuated by wars both local and world-spanning. This anthology of all-new stories is set against the backdrop of a dozen of those conflicts. From forest elf assassins to jungle-dwelling halflings, from the mighty Seven Sisters to primitive goblins, warriors in every form struggle for their place in the Forgotten Realms world.

Your First Leadership Job is divided into two sections. Part One introduces the concept of catalyst leader - one who sparks energy, passion, and commitment in others. Your transition to catalyst leader is a major step in your leadership journey. This book provides essential tips to put you on the catalyst path. Part Two devotes 13 chapters to critical core leadership competencies, including coaching for success, hiring the best employees, and turning dreaded appraisals into discussions that propel performance. It also includes a chapter for first-time female leaders.

Here are more than 60 heartwarming stories of faith. These are stories about the true gifts of Christmas: answered prayers, real-life angels, and inexplicable miracles. They are the stories of people who gained a greater understanding of the true meaning of Christmas, some through a word or gesture from their fellow man, others through a miraculous event that could only have come from God.