Books with author Robert Barnes

A man?s home is his castle, but for Percy Spender that motto has been taken just a bit too literally. After the sudden death of first one distant relative and then another, the amiable Perce has become the 12th Earl of Ellesmere. And his home, no longer a cozy council flat, is now the drafty, imposing Chetton Hall, complete with more bedrooms than Perce can count and an army of servants. Frankly, all these fancy-pants trappings make Perce itch. He?d just as soon sell up, buy a comfy cottage, and put a bundle on the ponies. However, some of his mates and family members have other ideas. And the sad fact is that an Unfortunate Accident can happen to anyone, even a lord of the realm.

Have you found yourself giving in too often, yelling too much, or making excuses for your child's behavior? Here's how to establish order and harmony in your home and avoid power struggles. The key, says author Bob Barnes, is to have a family plan of shared responsibilities and consequences so that your children know what is expected of them. Read and learn how to create a plan and how to respond when your child fails to meet the plan -- when he or she lies, argues with siblings, fails at a task, or faces peer pressure. Barnes shows you how to discipline your children with consistency and love without feeling guilty or causing anger or resentment. Who's In Charge Here? will help you establish a pattern of positive behavior and self-control that will get your home back in order and avoid disaster. By arming yourself with this book you can win each 'battle' without losing the 'war.'

Largely self-educated, Emily Bronte (1818-1848) was her father's favorite daughter and spent most of her life at the rectory in Haworth, on the edge of the Yorkshire moors. She lead a protected, uneventful existence, with almost no social contacts. Robert Barnard examines her insulated childhood, peculiarities, social boorishness, and aversion to relationships. He includes excerpts of Emily's lyrical poems of her twenties which presage the raw intensity of Wuthering Heights. Many aspects of her only novel are shaped by her own experiences, and the author traces the real-life counterparts of characters, landscape, and buildings. He draws extensively from critical sources varying from early reviews of Wuthering Heights to Gaskell's appraisal of Emily's "stern selfishness," to Juliet Barker's recent biography of the Bronte family.

The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont (1906) brings together tales of the multifarious exploits of Robert Barr's elegant and cunning sleuth, Valmont, a brilliantly ironic parody of Sherlock Holmes. Exhibiting the crucial combination of realism and imagination that characterizes the finest crime writing, the stories exude playfulness and blend mystery and quasi-Gothic thrills with humorous detours and romantic adventure. A notable figure in 1890s literary London and a friend of Conan Doyle, Barr was acutely aware of style as a form of statement and the stories are full of literary effects, commentary on the detective mystery genre, and Valmont's disparaging reflections on English values.

When I look back upon a certain hour of my life it fills me with wonder that I should have been so peacefully happy. Strange as it may seem, utter despair is not without its alloy of joy. The man who daintily picks his way along a muddy street is anxious lest he soil his polished boots, or turns up his coat collar to save himself from the shower that is beginning, eager then to find a shelter; but let him inadvertently step into a pool, plunging head over ears into foul water, and after that he has no more anxiety. Nothing that weather can inflict will add to his misery, and consequently a ray of happiness illumines his gloomy horizon. He has reached the limit; Fate can do no more; and there is a satisfaction in attaining the ultimate of things. So it was with me that beautiful day; I had attained my last phase.I was living in the cheapest of all paper houses, living as the Japanese themselves do, on a handful of rice, and learning by experience how very little it requires to keep body and soul together. But now, when I had my next meal of rice, it would be at the expense of my Japanese host, who was already beginning to suspect,—so it seemed to me,—that I might be unable to liquidate whatever debt I incurred. He was very polite about it, but in his twinkling little eyes there lurked suspicion. I have travelled the whole world over, especially the East, and I find it the same everywhere. When a man comes down to his final penny, some subtle change in his deportment seems to make the whole world aware of it. But then, again, this supposed knowledge on the part of the world may have existed only in my own imagination, as the Christian Scientists tell us every ill resides in the mind. Perhaps, after all, my little bowing landlord was not troubling himself about the payment of the bill, and I only fancied him uneasy.If an untravelled person, a lover of beauty, were sitting in my place on that little elevated veranda, it is possible the superb view spread out before him might account for serenity in circumstances which to the ordinary individual would be most depressing. But the view was an old companion of mine; goodness knows I had looked at it often enough when I climbed that weary hill and gazed upon the town below me, and the magnificent harbor of Nagasaki spreading beyond. The water was intensely blue, dotted with shipping of all nations, from the stately men-of-war to the ocean tramps and the little coasting schooners. It was an ever-changing, animated scene; but really I had had enough of it during all those ineffective months of struggle in the attempt to earn even the rice and the poor lodging which I enjoyed.

This carefully crafted ebook: "DEATH COMETH SOON OR LATE: 35+ Tales of Mystery & Revenge in One Volume (Thriller Classics Series)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents:Face and the MaskDeath Cometh Soon or Late The Woman of Stone The Chemistry of AnarchyThe Fear of It The Metamorphoses of Johnson The Reclamation of Joe Hollends The Type-Written Letter The Doom of London The Predicament of De Plonville A New Explosive The Great Pegram Mystery High Stakes "Where Ignorance Is Bliss" The Departure of Cub Mclean Old Number Eighty-Six Playing With Marked Cards The Bruiser's Courtship The Raid On Mellish Striking Back Crandall's Choice The Failure of Bradley Ringamy's Convert A Slippery Customer The Sixth BenchRevenge!An Alpine Divorce Which Was The Murderer? A Dynamite Explosion An Electrical Slip The Vengeance of the Dead Over The Stelvio Pass The Hour and the Man "And the Rigour of the Game" The Bromley Gibberts Story Not According to the Code A Modern Samson A Deal on 'Change Transformation The Shadow of the Greenback The Understudy "Out Of Thun" A Dramatic Point Two Florentine Balconies The Exposure of Lord Stansford PurificationRobert Barr (1849–1912) was a Scottish-Canadian short story writer and novelist, born in Glasgow, Scotland. His famous detective character Eugéne Valmont, fashioned after Sherlock Holmes, is said to be the inspiration behind Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

What would you do if you suddenly became an earl? That's what happens to Perce and Elsie Spender, an average working-class couple from Clapham, who wake up one day to find themselves the 12th Earl and Countess of Ellesmere, owners of a huge estate named Chetton Hall. It's more of a palace than a house really, with enough antiques and artwork to fill a museum. Perce never hoped to become an earl, and he's none too grateful to the distant cousin who died inconveniently and made it happen.Perce and Elsie have now spent six weeks at Chetton Hall, which is six weeks too many. It's cold, the silk chairs are uncomfortable, and you have to walk a mile to get to the kitchens.Perce wants to sell the whole estate to the highest bidder-even a nasty foreigner, if that's where the money is-and retire to Clapham. Countess Elsie agrees. The sooner she can put all this countess business behind her, the better. But Perce and Elsie forget that their children may like Chetton Hall. Their eldest son, Phil, a nice young man who just happens to be in prison, discovers being the heir to an earl carries certain privileges, even behind bars, while his wife. Dixie, thrills to the title of Lady Portsea. Perce and Elsie's younger son, the Honourable Trevor, finds that his X-rated film-star girl friend, Michele, shows sudden interest in more than his talent under the sheets. And daughter Lady Joan and her insurance-man husband Digby seem inordinately fascinated by the pictures and the silver.