Showing results by narrator "David Thorpe" in All Categories

Amra and Holgren's comfortable - if decidedly unexciting - life is rudely interrupted when Amra receives an old enemy's head in a box. A longstanding debt calls her back home to Bellarius, the scene of many childhood horrors she would much rather forget about. Bellarius must be saved from utter destruction and civil war. After Amra suddenly vanishes, Holgren crafts a plan that teeters between impossibility and insanity. But first, he'll have to deal with three separate armies vying for control, all of which view him as either a threat, an inconvenience, or a potential tool.

Owen Bradwell is a courageous naval officer who returns to England in the 1930s. He believes that his career is over because he has become colour-blind – but with Nazi Germany an increasing menace, the authorities cannot do without Bradwell, and he is assigned a special mission.

A former acquaintance of Bradwell's has been trapped into betraying his country's secrets by a Nazi agent. Bradwell is sent to spy on the spy, and travels down the Thames on a surveillance trip. Things soon take an unexpected turn, and Bradwell finds himself in the company of a dead man, and a pretty young interior decorator called Sally. Will Bradwell triumph over the villains, and will he and Sally fall in love?

A fire at the Queen's Head deprives Westfield's Men of their home, so they seize the opportunity to travel to Denmark with their patron, Lord Westfield, who is to marry a beautiful young Danish widow. When they reach Elsinore castle, they are given a warm welcome, but the murder of Rolfe Harling, who brokered the wedding, changes the whole atmosphere of the place. Danger threatens from all sides, including England, where one man seeks revenge and dispatches assassins after the troupe. They are soon caught up in a complex web of political intrigue and betrayal.

Over the years, authors, artists and amblers aplenty have felt the pull of the Thames, and now travel writer Tom Chesshyre is following in their footsteps. He's walking the length of the river from the Cotswolds to the North Sea - a winding journey of over 200 miles. Join him for an illuminating stroll past meadows, churches, palaces, country (and council) estates, factories and dockyards.

Lord Westfield's Men, the most successful troupe in London and a prime target for jealousy and resentment, are plagued by a series of practical jokes. But when one of their actors is murdered, the humour turns distinctly sour. Appalling events continue: Lawrence Firethorn, actor manager, is stalked by a mysterious lady; the sole copy of The Malevolent Comedy - the company's new play - is stolen; their leading apprentice is abducted; and there is an attempt on the life of Lord Westfield, their patron.

Amy Knowles has always been the plain sidekick to her pretty best friend, Jules. And whilst the tearoom they both work in on the Monkpark Hall estate in Yorkshire is not exactly awash with eligible bachelors, it's obvious where the male attention is concentrated. There is one man who notices Amy. Joshua Wilson also works at Monkpark, where he flies his birds of prey for visitor entertainment.

At two pm on a Monday in 1966, Ned Balfour wakes in Corsica beside a beautiful woman. In the same instant, back in London, fellow art dealer and Dachau survivor Sam Weiss falls 10 storeys to his death. Ned refuses to believe that Sam's death was intentional, and his investigation thrusts him into the deceit and fraudulence of the art world, where he unmasks more than one respectable face. First published in 1967, this thrilling tale of vertigo, suspicion and infidelity is a long-forgotten classic with an intriguing plot twist.

Crimes are rare in Singapore, but when there's one that has the police baffled, it is Inspector Zhang that they turn to. From locked-room mysteries to murders disguised as suicide, Inspector Zhang is able to draw on his experience as a detective along with tricks he has learned from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. See if you can solve the crimes before the Inspector - the clues are there!

What is it that makes us human? Is it language, imagination, morality, or is it that we cook and wear shoes? Or perhaps we are less human than we think - Neanderthal and Denisovan genes can be found within all of us! Once again, New Scientist have all of the unexpected answers, and - just as they did for the universe in The Origin of (Almost) Everything - they take us on a tour around the human body and brain, taking in everything from evolution to email, from the Stone Age to Spotify.

Nicholas Bracewell befriends a young beggar who is trying to eke out a living as a counterfeit crank, pretending to have spectacular epileptic fits in order to get money from gullible bystanders. When the beggar is murdered inside Bridewell, Nicholas has to pose as a beggar himself in order to get inside the notorious institution so that he can solve the crime. Counterfeiting of all kinds is exposed.

Born to Be Wild began with the death of Oz Blackstone, movie hero and idol of millions, and tells how it might not have happened. The Last Chickenpig carries on the yarn as 17-year-old Tom, Oz's son with his soul-mate Primavera Phillips, goes in search of the father he has mourned since his early childhood.

Chris works as a librarian in a small-town library in the south of England. This is the story of the library, its staff, and the fascinating group of people who use the library on a regular basis. We'll meet characters like the street sleepers Brewer, Wolf and Spencer, who are always the first through the doors. The Mad Hatter, an elderly man who scurries around manically, searching for books. Sons of Anarchy Alan, a young Down's syndrome man addicted to the American TV drama series.

Mark Taylor seems to be an average schoolboy, but he’s really Dynamic Boy! He and his family – Captain Valiant, Ms Victory and Moon Girl – are a superhero team. If only his name, costume and superpower weren’t so rubbish, Dynamic Boy might enjoy saving the world from baddies. But when people start turning into monsters, they all realise this is no ordinary baddy – it’s the revenge of the Black Phantom.

Evil comes from the past… A secret with the power to change the world…. Alex Devereux, former cavalry Major and hardened mercenary, takes on a lucrative mission that leads him into deepest Africa. Working for a diamond cartel and operating outside of international law, Alex comes face-to-face with the Dark Heart Prophecy. Past and present collide - but can Alex redeem himself and prevent the prophecy from coming true?

The body is found by the river, near a spot popular with runners. With a serial rapist at work in the area, DI Zigic and DS Ferreira are initially confused when the Hate Crimes Unit is summoned to the scene. Until they discover that the victim, Corinne Sawyer, was born Colin Sawyer. Was Corinne a victim of mistaken identity? With tensions running high, and the force coming under national scrutiny, this is a complex case and any mistake made could be fatal.

DI Liam McLusky, freshly transferred from Southampton and just recovered from having been injured in the line of duty, has no time to settle in before he is pushed in at the deep end in a new and unfamiliar city. Everyday objects, transformed into explosive devises by a man trying to revenge himself on the world for reasons unknown, are being left across Bristol, maiming or killing those who pick them up.

Jeremy Strong described Ivan's first Casper Candlewacks book as a "funny and engaging debut". This is the triumphant follow-up from the funniest new voice in fiction and once again unsung hero, Casper must save the day. Most villages have an idiot but Casper's village is full of them. So being bright makes poor Casper something of an outsider. An infamous cat burglar has struck in the village of Corne-on-the-Kobb, stealing a precious jewelled sword and kidnapping Casper’s baby sister.

Sam Toop lives in a funeral parlour, blessed (or cursed) with an unusual gift. While his father buries the dead, Sam is haunted by their constant demands for attention. Trouble is afoot on the ‘other side’ – there is a horrible disease that is mysteriously imprisoning ghosts in empty houses in the world of the living. And Sam is caught in the middle – will he be able to bring himself to help? A darkly comic Dickensian ghost story from Blue Peter Award winner Gareth P. Jones.

These are the facts I collect. My son, Gabriel, met a woman called Mariela in a bar. She went home with him, where they had sex. They next morning she was found in an allotment. Mariela is dead. Gabriel has been asked to report to Camden Police station in six hours for questioning.

Eight days before the summer solstice, a man is butchered in a blood-freezing sacrifice on the ancient site of Stonehenge before a congregation of robed worshippers. Within hours, one of the world's foremost treasure hunters has shot himself in his country mansion. And to his estranged son, young archaeologist Gideon Chase, he leaves a cryptic letter.