Showing results by narrator "Derek Perkins" in All Categories

Winter has finally broken its hold over the Kingdom - but as the snows melt, trouble springs up in its place. A dark cloud hangs over Midlan: The army has retreated behind its high walls, not a word slips out from between its gates. And rumors swirl that the King has gone mad. Kael knows nothing of this: His sights are on the plains. But with his horrible luck following him wherever he goes, it doesn’t take long for his plan to unravel.

Removed to glamorous Brussels in the wake of Napoleon's escape from Elba, Intelligence Agent Malcolm Rannoch and his wife, Suzanne, warily partake in the country's pleasures. But with the Congress of Vienna in chaos and the Duke of Wellington preparing for battle, the festivities are cut short when Malcolm is sent on a perilous mission that unravels a murderous world of espionage....

Tassen has always been a one-man dog. When his human companion, Major Thorkildsen, dies, Tassen and Mrs. Thorkildsen are left alone. Tassen mourns Major by eating too many treats, and Mrs. T by drinking too much. But the two unexpectedly find common ground in researching Roald Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole led by a pack of intrepid dogs. But the quiet days Tassen and Mrs. T spend together at the library researching the explorer’s arctic adventure are disrupted by the arrival of her son and daughter in-law.

Her last memory is of her violent death, and now she's screaming for vengeance. He's a Laird with enough sins to stain his soul, but he's cursed for the crimes of another. With a clan divided, an impending marriage, and whispers of dark magic threatening the Highlands, a tempting Banshee is the last thing he needs in his chambers.

When Intelligence Agent Malcolm Rannoch proposes to Suzanne de Saint-Vallier, the tumult of the Peninsular War recedes—if only temporarily. For their union may have shattering consequences for the more fragile partnership between Britain and Spain. But meanwhile, let the celebrations begin...

Fifty years ago, the nightwalkers appeared, creatures of shadow and darkness, thirsting for blood and death. Thousands died, and the kingdom of Entarna was brought to its knees. Then the Chosen came: six men and women endowed with powers by Amedan, the God of Fire and Light. The Chosen joined with the kingdom's armies, and together, they managed to defeat the night's creatures. At least for a time. Alesh, a servant to Chosen Olliman, the greatest of Amedan's priests, knows well what the darkness holds.

As one of the bastards born to the Stirling court, Sorley the Hawk has never known his mother or father. It's a burning quest he has devoted himself to uncovering at any cost. But as a roguish warrior who serves at the pleasure of the King, his prowess - both on the battlefield and in his bedchamber - is legendary. So when a flame-haired Highland lass sneaks into his quarters with a tantalizing proposition, he can't resist taking her up on her offer.

A professional pickpocket and accomplished thief ignores his wife's warnings and embarks on an adventure that will change his life - perhaps for the better. A technological marvel of a sports car kills a pedestrian, but no one was at the wheel. A local lunatic admits to murder, but is he crazy - or crazy smart? The life of a researcher with ties to a British spy agency is thrown into chaos when his research goes missing. Injury Time delivers captivating tales of intrigue wrapped in Catherine Aird's tightly woven logic, sealed with the bow of enigma.

This book is Khodorkovsky's account of what is happening in Russia today and what could happen in the future. Putin will not last forever: sooner or later, there will be a post-Putin era. But Russia's history has been deeply shaped by an autocratic trap: a revolution against an autocracy has produced another autocracy, followed by another revolution and another autocracy, and so on. If Russia is to find its place as a constructive partner in a global community of civilized nations, then it has to escape this vicious cycle.

Roderick MacDonald is on a secret mission for his chieftain when he finds a lass near death on a barren hillside and is forced to take her with him. Though this mysterious Sassenach may have the gift his clan needs - and he burns with passion for her - he's determined to resist the enchantment she weaves on his scarred heart.

Wales, 1369. Owen Archer is travelling to Wales on a mission for the Duke of Lancaster, recruiting archers in anticipation of King Charles of France's invasion of England. Joining him are Brother Michaelo, Geoffrey Chaucer and his father-in-law, Sir Robert D'Arby, who is on pilgrimage to the shrine of St David. When the body of John de Reine, one of the Duke of Lancaster's men, is found at the gate of St David's, the bishop asks Owen to return the corpse to John's father, Sir John Lascelles.

York, 1371. William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, has made many enemies since York knight Sir Ranulf Pagnell died imprisoned in France while Wykeham negotiated his ransom. After escorting Sir Ranulf's body back to the city, Wykeham realises that his own life is in grave danger. The bishop's woes increase when one of his properties in the city is set alight, with horrific consequences. Was it a thoughtless act of revenge or a deliberate murder? Why was someone searching for important documents in the house just before the fire, including those linked to the Pagnells?

York, 1367. Owen Archer and his old comrade, Ned Townley, are each leading companies of the king's men north of York to Fountains and Rievaulx abbeys respectively, on a mission to win the support of the powerful abbots for William of Wykeham becoming the Bishop of Winchester. But trouble stalks Ned Townley—Sir William of Wyndesore's men at Windsor suspect he killed a page in a jealous rage over his betrothed. Is the rumor true?

Owen has completed his latest mission for the Duke of Lancaster, but his plan to return home is thrown into peril when the young stonemason carving the tomb of Owen's late father-in-law, English knight Sir Robert D'Arcy, is discovered hanged. The Archdeacon of St. David's wants Owen to find out whether Cynog was executed due to his support for the would-be Welsh redeemer, Owain Lawgoch's, rebellion against English rule. Prolonging his stay in Wales means that Owen will be unable to deliver the news of Sir Robert's death to Lucie in person, but can he really leave her father's tomb unfinished?

York, 1369. As pestilence rages through the city of York, strange things are afoot at St. Leonard's Hospital. Corrodians are dying in mysterious circumstances and riches belonging to the hospital have been stolen. When a fire claims the life of a corrodian and badly injures another, it's clear it was no accident—both men were violently attacked. With a suspicious death and a lay sister suspected of being behind the thefts, Sir Richard de Ravenser, Master of St. Leonard's, appeals to his uncle, the Archbishop of York, for Owen Archer's help.

The stage is set for the final stroke to be unleashed upon Vale. The survivors of the slaughter must now decide whether to fight on or abandon their home. Drake has not returned with Bomar weapons and soldiers leaving the chance for victory seemingly out of reach. A decision must be made. But Prince Salazar has no intention of leaving the choice with his enemies. He is determined to be the hand that guides the fate of humanity. If that means Vale should burn...so be it.

Fourteen centuries ago, Irish saints brought the Word of God to the Hebrides and Scotland's Atlantic shore. These "white martyrs" sought solitude, remoteness, even harshness, in places apart from the world where they could fast, pray, and move closer to an understanding of God: places where they could see angels. Columba, who founded the famous monastery at Iona, was the most well-known of these courageous men who rowed their curraghs towards danger and uncertainty in a pagan land, but the many others are now largely forgotten by history.

Trained as a knight, condemned as a heretic, exiled as a convict, Prentice’s every moment is a struggle just to survive. The Duke is dead and now Duchess Amelia, his young and inexperienced bride, must rule the Western Reach alone. But when an unknown enemy invades her lands, slaughtering all in their path, her knights are too eager for glory to see the danger. She must turn to Prentice, a convict, wise in the art of war and the only one she can trust despite the dishonor it brings.

After 1660, English governments aimed to convert scattered overseas dominions into a coordinated territorial power base. Stuart monarchs encouraged schemes for expansion in America, Africa, and Asia, tightened control over existing territories, and endorsed systems of slave labor. But English power was precarious, and colonial designs were subject to regular defeats and failed experimentation. Recovering from recent Civil Wars at home, England was shaken by unrest and upheaval through the later seventeenth century.

This is the first major publication on the remarkable life and career of Boris Iofan, state architect to Joseph Stalin. Iofan's story is an insight into the troubled relationship of all successful architects with power. A gifted designer and a committed Communist, Iofan became the Soviet Union's most celebrated architect after Alexei Rykov, Lenin's successor, persuaded him to return to Moscow from Rome with his aristocratic wife, Olga Sasso-Ruffo. Iofan was at the heart of political life in the Soviet Union and his work is key to understanding its official culture.