Showing results by narrator "Julia Barrie" in All Categories

Stuck in a traffic jam, Nicki Clements sees a face she hoped never to see again. It's definitely him, the same police officer, stopping each car on Elmhirst Road. Keen to avoid him, Nicki does a U-turn and makes a panicky escape. Or so she thinks. The next day, Nicki is pulled in for questioning in connection with the murder of Damon Blundy, controversial newspaper columnist and resident of Elmhirst Road. Nicki can't answer any of the questions detectives fire at her. She has no idea why the killer used a knife in such a peculiar way, or why 'he is no less dead' was painted on Blundy's study wall.

In the early hours of the morning, the naked body of a young man is discovered in a ditch next to Göta Kanal. The cause of death is mysterious; the body bears no visible traces of violence. The man is soon identified as Peder Akerlund, a former Swedish politician, excluded from his party for racism but since reformed. Then 16-year-old Nadja Lundin is reported missing, possibly abducted, the same evening, and there are signs that suggest the two cases might be connected.

In 1975, when Oberleutnant Karin Muller is called to investigate a teenage girl's body at the foot of the Berlin Wall, she imagines she's seen it all before. But she soon realizes that this is a death like no other before it - the girl was evidently trying to escape from West Berlin.

Queen of psychological crime Sophie Hannah returns with a chilling new Culver Valley crime novel. A killer that the police are calling "Billy Dead Mates" is murdering pairs of best friends one by one. Before they die, each victim is given a small white book.... For months detectives have failed to catch Billy or work out what the white books mean. And then a woman, scared by what she's seen on the news, comes forward. Stand-up comedian Kim Tribbeck has one of Billy's peculiar little books.

When 17-year-old, Eva Olsen, awakes after a horrific accident that has left her bed-bound, her parents are right by her side. Devoted, they watch over her, night and day, in the attic room of their family home in the forests of Norway. But the accident has left Eva without her most recent memories, and not everything is as it seems. As secrets from the night of the accident begin to surface, Eva realises she has to escape her parents' house and discover the truth. But what if someone doesn't want her to find it?

In a village in Wiltshire, just off a busy road, Larch Tree Lane winds slowly up a low hill. Among the residents is Maggie Hatherall, full of life despite her advancing years, who worries what she is going to do with her 200-year-old home. Lucia Grey has escaped a bad marriage but her ex is reluctant to let her start a new life free of him. And for architect Corin Drayton, an unexpected inheritance is the start of a complicated family wrangle. From the cottages and farms to the local shop, pub and old manor house, the residents' lives are set to intertwine and relationships bloom.

Susan has been trying for a baby for years, and when a one-night stand makes her dream come true, she’ll do anything to ensure her husband doesn’t find out - including the unthinkable. Her secret is safe. For now. But as governments embark on a genetic arms race and children around the globe start experiencing a host of distressing symptoms, something truly horrendous is unleashed. Because those children have only one thing in common and people are starting to ask questions.

There is something not quite right about the death of her aunt...and psychic investigator Fran Castle is sure of it. The will is missing, and long-lost relatives are obstructing the case, both of which are suspicious on their own, even before the bodies start piling up.... Luckily, nothing is likely to stop Fran's sleuthing partner, Libby, from getting involved to help hunt down the murderer. As the murders multiply and the police take over, can the amateur sleuths keep on the trail?

From the twice CWA Dagger shortlisted author of The Twelve Strange Days of Christmas come 12 never-before-published stories to transport you to the macabre world of inexplicable phenomena. With returning characters from the Essex Witch Museum series and a weirdly wonderful tale for each day of Christmas, these spooky stories are the perfect companion for long, dark winter nights.

Return to the worlds of The Craftsman and Lacey Flint in this first short-story collection from Sharon Bolton, International award-winning author of The Split. This collection is available exclusively in audio and features eight short stories, each with a new introduction written and read by the author.

Shirley Steadman, a 70-year-old living in a small town in the North East of England, loves her volunteer work at the local hospital radio. She likes giving back to the community, and even more so, she likes getting out of the house. Haunted by the presence of her son, a reluctant Royal Navy officer who was lost at sea, and still in the shadow of her long-dead abusive husband, she doesn't like being alone much. One day, at the radio station, she is playing around with the equipment and finds a frequency that was never there before.

When her childhood best friend shows Ella that you can't always believe what you see, Ella finds herself thrown into the world of the German Resistance. On a dark night in 1941, Claudia is taken by the Gestapo, likely never to be seen again, unless Ella can save her. With the help of the man she loves, Ella must undertake her most dangerous mission yet and infiltrate the Nazi Party.

When 12-year-old Rhianna and her younger sister, Eleri, are thrown out of their home by their cruel stepmother, they must find food and shelter. Appealing to King Prasutagus in the name of the goddess Morrigan, they are rejected - but then Queen Boudica takes them into her household. As Rhianna settles into this new life, she learns that there's not only kindness in Boudica - there's a darkness waiting to be unleashed, and the Romans will suffer for their crimes against her. A great battle is looming....

In That Way Madness Lies, 15 acclaimed YA writers put their modern spin on William Shakespeare’s celebrated classics!

It’s 1922, and the Depression is just beginning to rear its head in Britain, but Ruby Morgan is about to marry her childhood sweetheart, and nothing can mar her happiness. Or so she thinks. An unimaginable betrayal by those she loves causes her to flee her home and family one snowy night. Crushed and heartbroken, Ruby vows that despite the odds stacked against her, she will not only survive but one day will show the ones she left behind that she’s succeeded in making something of herself. Brave words, but the reality is far from easy.

You think you know him. Until he's dead.... When Cameron Swift is gunned down outside his family home, DC Beth Chamberlain is appointed Family Liaison Officer: a dual role that requires her to support the family and also investigate them. As the case unfolds and the body count climbs, Beth discovers that nothing is quite as it appears, and everyone, it seems, has secrets. Even the dead....

Halloween in Essex, and things are going well for the writers on the Mystery and Suspense course at Ratchette Hall. Things, however, take a turn when early on All Saints' Day the course administrator is discovered murdered. The Essex Witch Museum investigators are quickly drafted in. As Rosie Strange and Sam Stone's investigation progresses they find more questions than answers: who is making the howling noises late into the night? What is the strange glimmering glimpsed in the woods?

As a child, Kerry Darke witnessed the abduction of her sister, Sally, the final victim of the murderous Fell Man, a terrifying serial killer. Sally has never been found and the Fell Man never identified. Decades later, Kerry is a detective inspector in London. When a 10-year-old girl is murdered in a drive-by shooting, a ghost of Kerry’s past returns to trouble her. Tortured by the vengeful spirit of Swain, a notorious gang leader, Kerry struggles to maintain a grasp on the case and her sanity, but she is more determined than ever to lay all her ghosts to rest.

Ghosts, witches and all kinds of creepy things seem to congregate in the town of Adder's Fork, where the world-renowned Essex Witch Museum has its home. Death stalks the pages, cats offer companionship (of sorts) and ghosts haunt a variety of characters. Where are Rosie Strange and Sam Stone when you need them?

Ellie Quicke believes in helping people in trouble. But it would appear that her latest good deed has returned to bite her when she takes in a weeping girl who needs somewhere to stay. Selfish, thoughtless and irresponsible, Angelica is by no means the easiest of houseguests, confident that someone else will always pick up the bill. But when a dead body is found in the garden the morning after a riotous party she's organised, Angelica plunges Ellie's household into a situation too hot for any of them to handle.