Showing results by narrator "Saskia Maarleveld" in All Categories

Born a privileged child of America’s Gilded Age, Marguerite Harrison rebelled against her mother’s ambitions, married the man she loved, was widowed at thirty-seven, and set off on a life of adventure. Hired as a society reporter, when America entered World War I she applied to Military Intelligence to work as a spy. Over a decade, Harrison’s mysterious adventures took her to Europe, Baghdad, and the Far East, as a socialite, secret agent, and documentary filmmaker. Janet Wallach captures Harrison’s daring and glamour in this stranger-than-fiction history of a woman drawn to the impossible.

Eager to celebrate her nuptials with her nearest and dearest, Odelia invites her adult children, her daughter-in-law, her grandchild, and her best friend/assistant to an all-expenses-paid luxury safari at Leopard Sands in South Africa, the Babel family’s favorite vacation spot. In its soil, they have deep roots—and even deeper secrets.

Risa will go to any lengths to avenge her mother’s murder - even if it means making a pact with the most evil vampire she’s ever met. Lethal and powerful, Madeline Hunter is leader of the vampire council, and will put her resources behind finding the killer - for a price. The venerable vampire requires the assistance of Risa’s psychic powers. Quid pro quo.

In 2003, 16-year-old Rebecca Winter disappeared. She'd been enjoying her teenage summer break: working at a fast-food restaurant, crushing on an older boy, and shoplifting with her best friend. Mysteriously ominous things began to happen - blood in the bed, periods of blackouts, a feeling of being watched - though Bec remained oblivious of what was to come.

From the time she was a young girl, Luisa Voekler has loved solving puzzles and cracking codes. Brilliant and logical, she's expected to quickly climb the career ladder at the CIA. But while her coworkers have moved on to thrilling Cold War assignments--especially in the exhilarating era of the late 1980s--Luisa's work remains stuck in the past decoding messages from World War II. When Luisa Voekler discovers a secret cache of letters written by the father she has long presumed dead, she learns the truth about her grandfather's work, her father's identity, and why she has never progressed.

1918. Timid Emmaline Balakin lives more in books than her own life. That is, until an envelope crosses her desk at the Dead Letter Office bearing a name from her past, and Emmaline decides to finally embark on an adventure of her own—as a volunteer librarian on the frontlines in France. 1976. Kathleen Carre is eager to prove to herself and to her nana that she deserves her acceptance into the first coed class at the United States Naval Academy. But not everyone wants female midshipmen at the Academy, and after tragedy strikes close to home, Kathleen becomes a target.

Wrapping up a normal day at the office, criminal psychologist Kieran Finnegan is accosted by a desperate woman who shoves an infant into her arms and then flees, only to be murdered minutes later on a busy Manhattan street. Who was the woman? Where did the baby come from? Kieran can't stop thinking about the child and the victim, so her boyfriend, Craig Frasier, does what any good special agent boyfriend would do - he gets the FBI involved. And asks Kieran to keep out of it. But the Finnegans have a knack for getting into trouble....

When Paris Sizzled vividly portrays the City of Light during the fabulous 1920s, les Annees folles, when Parisians emerged from the horrors of war to find that a new world greeted them - one that reverberated with the hard metallic clang of the assembly line, the roar of automobiles, and the beat of jazz. Mary McAuliffe traces a decade that saw seismic change on almost every front, from art and architecture to music, literature, fashion, entertainment, transportation, and, most notably, behavior.

The Paris Wife meets PBS’s Victoria in this enthralling novel of the life and loves of one of history’s most remarkable women: Winston Churchill’s scandalous American mother, Jennie Jerome.

With the death of his wife still raw, Jack Connolly's mood is dark and dangerous. He's not looking for a woman - until he meets buttoned-up but beautiful Grace Spencer, who stirs his senses back to life. Yet Jack cannot act on his feelings, as Grace belongs to another!

Emily had hoped for some peace in the wake of the war. A chance to sit down, relax, and come to terms with everything that happened over the last year. But it was not to be. The post-war world is in chaos, with mundane revolutionary factions clashing with magical supremacists, kings fighting to maintain what remains of their power, magitech changing the world, and shadowy forces preparing themselves to take advantage of the coming conflict… all unaware of a growing threat rising from the long-forgotten past.

Perched on the North Sea, this port town—by turns legendary and mythological—is a place where Highland rebels and English authorities clash in a mortal struggle for survival and dominance. Among the fray is a lovely young widow who possesses rare and special gifts. A true beauty and trained physician, Isabella has inspired longing and mystery—and fury—in a great many men. Hunted by both the British government and Scottish rebels, she came to the Highlands in search of survival.

Irene Bobs loves fast driving. Her husband is the best car salesman in southeastern Australia. Together they enter the Redex Trial, a brutal race around the ancient continent, over roads no car will ever quite survive. With them is their lanky, fair-haired navigator, Willie Bachhuber, a quiz show champion and failed schoolteacher who calls the turns and creeks crossings on a map that will remove them, without warning, from the white Australia they all know so well. This is a thrilling high-speed story that starts in one way and then takes you someplace else. It is often funny, more so as the world gets stranger, and always compelling, even as you learn a history these characters never knew themselves.

Cabaret dancer Sylvie Devereux and Sheikh Arkim Al-Sahid have never seen eye to eye - not from their first antagonistic meeting to their last intoxicating kiss. And certainly not when she publicly stops his convenient society wedding to her beloved sister! Now Arkim wants revenge on the sinful seductress who cost him the respectable reputation he needs.

June 1946. As the residents of Winthrop Island prepare for the first summer season after the sacrifice of war, a glamorous new figure moves into the guest cottage at Summerly, the idyllic seaside estate of the wealthy Peabody family. To Emilia Winthrop, daughter of Summerly’s year-round caretaker and a descendant of the island’s settlers, Olive Rainsford opens a window into a world of shining possibility. While Emilia spent the war years caring for her incapacitated mother, Olive traveled the world, married fascinating men, and involved herself in political causes.

Time grows short to secure the desert city of Midstream. Fel struck a devastating blow, and it’s only a matter of time until their next attack. Out of options, Jacob turns to the abandoned works of Charles von Atlier to create a Titan Mech. The towering machine may be just the weapon they need to protect the city. But Mordair’s thirst for power is escalating. As King of Fel, he is taking full advantage of his alliance with the kingdom across the sea. Together, they’re preparing a siege on Belldorn sure to split their enemies’ focus.

When Harriet McKenna's own relationship goes up in smoke, her ruthless boss, Alex Katona, challenges her to take a leaf out of his book and embark on an illicit affair with him! This means being at his beck and call beyond office hours, and in return Alex promises to show Harriet how pleasurable life can be....

The City of Shallot is on the verge of revolution. The Great Houses are mustering their forces, readying themselves for a shift in the balance of power. The poor have found a new leader and are - finally - demanding their rights. Shadowy figures and old ghosts are prowling the streets. It is only a matter of time before the unease and unrest explodes into violence, as the wealthy and powerful seek to secure themselves in a changing world. And dark forces are laying plans to take advantage of the chaos.

This collection of two short stories and assorted short pieces were published previously, and gathered here for the first time. "The Perils of Effrijim" is loaded with quirky characters, a fast-paced story, and an adorable demon who just wants to be with his beloved. In "Cat Got Your Tongue", Joy Randall thought her honeymoon with husband Raphael was going to fulfill all her expectations, but almost immediately they run into a decades-old curse, a spurned ghostly first wife, and a long-dead randy Scottish Laird.

There’s been a sensational murder at historic Castle Kinloch, a gothic fantasy of grey granite on a remote island in the Highlands of Scotland. Literary superstar Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead—under bizarre circumstances—in the castle tower’s book-lined study. Years ago, Presley purchased the castle as a showpiece for his brand and to lure paying guests with a taste for writerly glamour. Now it seems, the castle has done him in…or, possibly, one of the castle’s guests has.