Showing results by narrator "Julia Barrie" in All Categories

A blaze at an abandoned chapel in impoverished Manorclough turns out to be more than just arson when the body of a man who has been shot twice is discovered in the ashes. For the Manchester Metropolitan police team it’s the start of a gruelling and complex case that exposes the fractures and fault lines of a community living on the edge. DC Rachel Bailey, recently married, is trying to come to terms with her new status and deal with the fallout from her chaotic family.

Motorbike-riding, leather-clad Ross looks like a bad boy, but underneath the leathers he’s a good-looking charmer and he soon worms his way into the hearts of everyone in Talyton St George. Even vet nurse Shannon warms to him. So when she needs a place to live, it makes sense to move in with Ross. Just as a friend, of course. As they grapple with escaped snakes and feral cats, their friendship deepens until they can’t deny their feelings for each other any longer.

With a little one on the way, Jack Wood and Alice Rooney are forced into a volatile marriage. Damaged by her own dysfunctional childhood, Alice shows little affection towards little Lizzie. Lizzie's saving grace is her loving grandmother, Mrs. Wood, who introduces her to the Madame Bella's Academy for the theatrical arts. Though still very young and innocent, will Lizzie’s dream of a glittering theatrical future ever come true?

Annie has a secret. It's a heartbreaking secret she wishes she didn't have - yet Annie isn't broken. Kate has run away. It’s proving difficult to reinvent herself, however, with one person always on her mind. Nobody is really who they seem. Even Annie and Kate aren't entirely sure who they are anymore. Can they work it out before their pasts catch up with them for good?

The body of a teenage boy is found weighted down in a lake. Karin Muller, newly appointed Major of the People's Police, is called to investigate. But her power will only stretch so far, when every move she makes is under the watchful eye of the Stasi. Then, when the son of Muller's team member goes missing, it quickly becomes clear that there is a terrifying conspiracy at the heart of this case, one that could fast lead Muller and her young family into real danger. Can she navigate this complex political web and find the missing boy, before it's too late?

Karin Muller, side-lined from the murder squad in Berlin, jumps at the chance to be sent south to Halle-Neustadt, where a pair of infant twins have gone missing. But Muller soon finds her problems have followed her to Halle-Neustadt. She and her team are forbidden by the Stasi from publicising the disappearances, lest they tarnish the town's image.

Christmas: a time for family and festivity. Unless you’re in Adder’s Fork, home of the Essex Witch Museum, where it’s a time for ghostly spirits and demonic visits. In these 12 short stories, menacing ghosts and supernatural terrors haunt Rosie Strange and Sam Stone, as well as characters past and present from beyond the Essex Witch Museum. Featuring stories from The Strange Casebook as well as original short stories.

Lydia and Bel have been best friends for years, from wild teenage days all the way through to motherhood. Bel becomes pregnant by accident and has a fraught relationship with daughter, Freya, while Lydia and love-of-her-life Mac, after failed fertility treatment, choose to adopt. Gorgeous toddler Chloe challenges them more than either of them had ever expected, and as a teenager her behaviour escalates increasingly out of control, pushing their marriage, and Lydia and Bel's relationship, to breaking point.

Teenager Sally has just run away from a clinic where she to be treated for anorexia. She's furious with everything and everyone, and wants to be left in peace. Liss is in her 40s, living alone on a large farm that she runs single-handedly. She has little contact with the outside world, and no need for other people. From their first meeting, Sally realises that Liss isn't like other adults: she expects nothing of Sally and simply accepts who she is, offering her a bed for the night with no questions asked.

Traumatized by her final case as a psychologist, Stella only feels truly safe hidden away in the isolated house she shares with her husband, Max. Then Blue appears in the middle of a snow-storm, begging to be let in. As secrets and lies gradually seep out of the young girl, Stella’s tightly controlled world begins to unravel.