It's the summer of 2002, more than a year after the shattering events recounted in Blind Man, and Falcón, the chief homicide cop in Seville, Spain, has finally regained his confidence and powers of concentration. Still, he cannot fathom why Rafael Vega, a construction company honcho (and recreational butcher), should have smothered his younger, unstable wife in bed, then chugged a fatal draught of drain cleaner. Is there any connection between this tragedy and the disappearance of the Vegas's Ukranian gardener, or money laundering by the local Russian mafia? Can Rafael Vega's demise be related to his distrust of the U.S. government or to a note found in his hand, with its seeming allusion to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks? As Falcón questions the Vegas's suburban neighbors, he discovers one couple linked to the slaying of an Iranian carpet-dealer in New York, and another nearby resident, renowned actor Pablo Ortega, whose grown son is in prison for kidnapping and abusing an 8-year-old boy. Yet these scandals aren't obviously helpful to Falcón in solving the Vega case. Nor do they explain why those first deaths are soon followed by Ortega's drowning in a cesspool, the suicidal leap of an aging child-crimes investigator, and Russian mafia threats against Falcón.

Wilson doesn't exploit Seville's exotic setting so well here as he did in Blind Man, and it can be challenging to follow this sequel's political backstory. However, the author more than makes up for these weaknesses with the depth of his psychological explorations, the ways in which he taunts his police with justice slightly beyond their reach, and a patient storytelling pace that enhances investigative revelations. Falcón remains a potent and pivotal figure, his traumas in the last book being replaced in these pages by personal dramas (three different women tug at the inspector jefe's heart, feeding his hope without depleting his loneliness). Founded in mendacity, fraught with betrayals, The Vanished Hands maintains a firm grip on the reader from its start. --J. Kingston Pierce

In The Ignorance of Blood, Robert Wilson demonstrates once again his effortless skill at orchestrating a variety of elements: vividly drawn, fully-rounded characters, complex and intriguing plotting (with endemic corruption and the impact of the past on the present recurring themes), and – perhaps most piquant of all – a strong and atmospheric sense of place; few novels have conjured up the sultry city of Seville with the skill on offer here.

This, regrettably, is the final book in Wilson’s much-admired Falcón quartet will inspire a duality of feeling in readers who have keenly followed the sequence: satisfaction that Wilson has written such a satisfyingfinis to the quartet, and regret that this is to be our last time in the company of the intriguing Javier Falcón. But we can at least anticipate further achievements from the highly talented Robert Wilson. --Barry Forshaw

Wilson, one of the most distinguished astronomers of the twentieth century, begins by tracing the astronomical studies of the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks and reviews important early contributions from India, China, and the Islamic world. He explains the development of the sun-centered model of the universe in Renaissance Europe. He then tells how the development of the telescope, photography, and spectroscopy pushed back the limits of the observable universe and eventually brought astronomy into the twentieth century. Finally, he describes the rapid advances in radio and space astronomy and other methods over the past fifty years that have ushered in a new "golden age" of astronomy. These advances have not only allowed observation of deep space but also enabled scientists to unlock the secrets of the universe itself from its origin to its possible fate. Wilson himself has played an important role in these discoveries as the developer of one of the most successful astronomical satellites ever launched, the International Ultraviolet Explorer.

While focusing on the human side of astronomical discovery, Wilson also provides readers with a basic understanding of difficult concepts, explaining relativity and quantum mechanics without using technical language or mathematics. Remarkable in its scope and clarity,Astronomy through the Ages provides an accessible view of historical discoveries and modern advances and shows why excitement about astronomy is even greater today than when Galileo first gazed in wonder at the rings of Saturn.

Written by experts in accounting and sport management, this book enables readers to work through the subject at their own pace, with case studies, worked examples and self-tests to ensure students can apply their knowledge to industry-specific situations. Ideal for students on sport and leisure management courses, this book will also be valuable to practising managers who need a quick-reference guide to everyday financial questions.

The first five chapters provide a thorough grounding in the theory of the alternating and classical groups, followed by an overview of the exceptional groups (treated as automorphism groups of multilinear forms) and the sporadic groups. These chapters form the basis of a final year undergraduate course bringing their undergraduate studies to a fitting climax with seminal results from the late 20th century.

The final two chapters give an introduction to the theory of Lie algebras and Chevalley groups (which provides a unified approach to all the untwisted finite groups of Lie type) and to algebraic groups (which unites the twisted and untwisted types). These final chapters are ideal guides for undergraduate projects and prepare the students for further reading in more advanced texts on these important topics.

Volume 1: 1996 * 320 pp., 18 illus. * Hardcover * $54.50 * ISBN 0-8176-3755-9 * Progress in Mathematics, Volume 131 Two Volume Set: $84.50 * ISBN 0-8176-3860-1

PM 132 / Vol. II CONTRIBUTORS: M. Gromov • M. Hanamura and R. MacPherson • L. Jeffrey and F.C. Kirwan • A. Klemm • G.H. Lian • S.S. Roan • S.T. Yau