Showing results by narrator "Chris Humphreys" in All Categories

Lawyer Arthur Beauchamp is facing the most explosive trial of his career: the defence of seven boisterous environmentalists accused of sabotaging an Ontario plant that pumps out a pesticide that has led to the mass death of honeybees. The story zigzags between Toronto, where the trial takes place, and Arthur’s West Coast island home, where he finds himself arrested for fighting his own environmental cause: the threatened destruction of a popular park. The Toronto trial concludes with a tense, hang-by-the-fingernails jury verdict.   

Here are eight tales of the Greatcoats, legendary sword-fighting magistrates brought together by an idealistic young king and disbanded after his execution as a tyrant. Follow along through their swashbuckling adventures, their triumphs and defeats, their darkest hours and their moments of shining redemption as they struggle to bring justice to a corrupt kingdom.

Anne Easter Smith has studied this king and his period for several decades and has given us a compelling and real portrait of a three-dimensional man of his time - neither saint nor Shakespeare’s monster. Richard was known as a loyal brother, compassionate king, faithful husband, and courageous warrior, all the while hiding his cruel scoliosis. This Son of York’s themes are about duty and loyalty, but they also incorporate love, passion, tragic loss and a king’s caring for the common man. 

After the Coming of the Dark, most immortals in the world have been killed. The religion of the Four Tribes has taken over the world, and any who resist it are crushed. They await the return of their prophesised One, who is both male and female, and neither. They have not been seen for 15 years, but belief rules all. A few still fight. A handful of surviving immortals, once seen as gods, have hidden away. In each of the four lands of the world, there are mutterings of rebellion. 

In the aftermath of WWII, ex-intelligence agent Tore Haugland tries to adjust to life in his newly freed country with the woman he loves. But he still has to testify against a Norwegian traitor whom he helped to capture. When mysterious notes threaten Haugland and his family, he must choose between protecting them or bringing to justice the man who tortured him and destroyed the village that hid him. Challenged by injuries and recurring nightmares, he will have to rely on his former training and old resistance friends to rescue his wife from the traitor.

Homeless and alone on the streets of London in 1800, 12-year-old Jonathan Moore survives a harsh and dangerous world using courage, intelligence, and determination. His dismal fate changes dramatically one day after he is abducted by a gang and pressed into service aboard HMS Poseidon, a 44-gun fighting warship of the British Royal Navy. However, there is more to the event than just a change of address.

British-trained Norwegian intelligence agent, Tore Haugland, is a jøssing - a patriot - sent to a fishing village on Norway’s west coast to set up a line to receive weapons and agents from England via the “Shetland Bus". Posing as a deaf fisherman, his mission is complicated when he falls in love with Anna Fromme, a German widow. Accused of betraying her husband, she has a young daughter and secrets of her own. 

July 30, 2018. It’s the hottest Summer in 50 years, and Joseph Severin, a respectable North London businessman, has taken on a lucrative side job. He’s doing the books, old school, (because these days the only trail you can’t trace is a paper one) for a rogue MI5 outfit, the Shadows, headed by clever, psychopathic Sebastien. When the game is rumbled, he sends their hitman, Mr. Phipps, to kill Severin and get those books back.

One obnoxious English teacher. Twelve tales of his death. Norton Edwards, English department head, is the reigning despot in Canterbury High. This year, his colleagues have had enough. This year, they're getting rid of Mr. Edwards. In this collection of darkly tongue-in-cheek stories, Mr. Edwards dies, tale after tale.

Jonathan Moore is now reunited with his father, though soon leaves the comfort of family and London on what is considered by all to be a ‘peach’ of a mission. However, with the arrival of another midshipman holding a severe but unexplained grudge, life aboard the HMS Danielle is anything but pleasant.

Paladin's War: Midshipman Jonathan Moore, Marine Private Sean Flagon, and adventurer Delain Dowdeswell enjoy a delicate peace between France and England. However, mysterious spy networks now freely roam Europe's great cities, and the ships and armies of all nations remain on the edge of war. Jonathan is now aboard the 18-gun Paladin, the Royal Navy’s fastest ship. Commanded by his friend and mentor, Lieutenant Harrison, their mission is to deliver an important treaty to a clandestine location.

It's been a year since Alex stopped living. He exists. He breathes. He pretends to be like everyone else. But, he doesn't live. Burdened by memories, he dreams of the day when he can finally be free. Until that time comes, he keeps everybody at bay. It's been easy so far. But he never factored in meeting a man like Austin. Hard-working mechanic Austin has always gone for men as muscular as himself. So, it's a mystery why he's so bewitched by the slim, quiet man with the soulful brown eyes who works in the library.

A world of immortals living among humans. Anyone may be immortal, but there is no way to know until you die. If you are one of the very lucky few, you will live an endless life of pleasure and power, considered to be a god. Only decapitation and the rapid separation of body and head for a few days can kill an immortal. In the southlands, a common soldier dies and is reborn and is inducted into the world of the immortals. But the Empire has become decadent, and what he discovers there will shock him. 

Sensory deprivation takes on a new meaning when you let the darkness completely consume your senses of sight, sound, touch and smell, leaving you with the bitter taste of the encroaching darkness. And you'll be surprised what you find lurking there just beneath the surface and the cold, clear light of day.

The three lands of the immortals have never known of each other, but now they are all at war. A fourth land, united by a prophecy of a child of no and both sexes, has started its invasion. Many immortals are dead and the rest are unprepared for what is coming. But there are three immortals, one from each land, who have become involved. One just wants to protect her child. One wants to learn everything he can about this new threat. And one wants revenge. And as all three come together, so do the forces arrayed against them.

If you go into the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise! Bumps in the Night collects four short stories perfect for either sharing around a campfire or reading while on a sleepover.