Showing results by narrator "Samara Maclaren" in All Categories

Majestic mountain views, whisky by the fire and… a murder to solve? Join Ally McKinley at her cosy little guesthouse in the Scottish Highlands as she tackles her first puzzling case!For recently retired Ally McKinley, the tiny village of Locharran is the perfect place to open the guesthouse of her dreams in a lovingly restored old Scottish malthouse. Before long she is making friends with the locals, including Hamish Sinclair, the earl who owns the nearby castle. But things take an unexpected turn when her first paying guest is found sprawled across her cobblestoned courtyard.

Jayne Ferguson has always been a keeper of secrets, most especially her own . . . If there’s one thing Jayne Ferguson has learnt in her life, it’s that every blessing comes with a curse. She married the most handsome man on the isle of St Kilda - but he’s a bully. She inherited her mother’s gift of second sight - but only ever foresees her fellow islanders’ deaths. She has learnt to keep to herself, treading in the shadows and shirking the highs for fear of the lows.

Recent retiree Ally McKinley has stepped out with her puppy Flora for a walk by the loch in the tiny village of Locharran, taking a break from running the cosiest little guesthouse in the Highlands. But Ally’s peace and quiet is sunk when she and Flora find the body of a mysterious woman floating in the water…

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon has lived her life by three rules: hide your magic, keep your head down, and stay away from other witches. An orphan raised by strangers from a young age, Mika is good at being alone, and she doesn't mind it...mostly. But then an unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches, and Mika jumps at the chance for a different life.

Scottish Highlands, 1727. In the aftermath of a tragic fire that kills her father, Aila and her mother, Janet, move to the remote parish of Loth, north-west of Inverness. Blending in does not come easily to the women: Aila was badly burned in the fire and left with visible injuries, while her mother struggles to maintain her grip on reality. When a temporary minister is appointed in the area, rather than welcome the two women, he develops a strange curiosity for them that sets them even further apart from the community.

1997. Amy Novak has lost the two great loves in her life: her husband, Michael, and her first love, music. With the first anniversary of Michael's death approaching, Amy buries herself in her job as an archivist. And when a newly declassified file lands on her desk, she is astonished to uncover proof that Agent 'Colette' existed—a name spoken only in whispers; an identity so secret that it has never been verified.

THE FIRST THREE BOOKS IN THE TOTALLY BINGE-WORTHY GRACE MCKENNA MYSTERY SERIES!

Raine is seventeen-years-old and still on the run. She can see the dead, a secret that could get her killed. Seeking refuge with a deluded cult is her latest bad decision but rescuing an injured woman in the snow is soon revealed to be a horrific mistake. Hazia endangers not just Raine, but the whole world: she's escaped from Redwinter, fortress-monastery of the Draoihn, the warrior magicians who answer to no king or queen of the land, but to their own Grand Master. They will stop at nothing to retrieve what she's stolen.

The power of the Sixth Gate grows stronger within Raine each day - to control it, she needs lessons no living Draoihn can teach her - but when her master Ulovar is struck by a mysterious sickness that slowly saps the vitality from his body, Raine must face her growing darkness alone. And to do so, she must learn the secrets the Draoihn themselves purged from the world. The book can teach her. She doesn't know where she found it, or when exactly, but its ever changing pages whisper with power that has lain untouched for centuries. But others have plans for Raine too.

Edinburgh, October 1679. Lady Christian Nimmo is arrested and charged with the murder of her lover, James Forrester. News of her imprisonment and subsequent trial is splashed across the broadsides, with headlines that leave little room for doubt: Adulteress. Whore. Murderess. Only a year before, Christian was leading a life of privilege and respectability. So, what led her to risk everything for an affair? And does that make her guilty of murder? She wasn't the only woman in Forrester's life, and certainly not the only one who might have had cause to wish him dead.

1910. With the disappearance of her mother and the sudden death of her father, Lena instantly loses any security she has within the circus she has known all her life. She is advised to sell the carousel her father cared for like a child and look for a husband, or a job in a factory. Until flame-haired Violet, known to all in the fairgrounds as 'the greatest trapeze artist that ever lived', suggests they go it alone with their own, all-female act. With her outspoken ways and her refusal to marry, Violet is as much an outcast as Lena. What do they have to lose?

Gifted with fire magic from the Goddess Brigid, Aemyra has always known she is destined for more than the life she leads as a blacksmith's daughter. Once a territory built on matriarchal rule and values, Tìr Teine has been without a female heir for a century. Recent kings have abandoned the matriarchy and allowed an oppressive and corrupt religion to infect the land. Raised among the people, Aemyra has felt their struggles and witnessed the decline of the dragons.

Durham University have the best women’s football team in the League and their star striker Sadie McGrath hopes that winning this year might lead her to being picked up by one of the National Teams. The male team is much less impressive – they’ve never won the league and are facing relegation unless they can improve by the end of the season. But now the unthinkable has been asked of Sadie; to train the cocky, new male striker who has just moved over from the US. Arlo Hudson is a know-it-all who refuses to follow direction, and argues with her every lesson.

It's 1932 and adventuress and plant-hunter Emily Blackwood accepts a commission from Heinrich Vogel, a former dealer of exotic animals in Manhattan, living now with his macabre collection in a remote Scottish castle. Emily is tasked to find a long-lost treasure which Heinrich believes has been hidden within the castle walls. But instead she discovers the pages of a diary, written by Hester Vogel, who died after falling from the Brooklyn Bridge. Hester's diary leads Emily to an old book The Birdcage Library and into a treasure hunt of another kind.

Sera Swan was once one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her magical Guild. Now she runs an inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep the fox in check, and longs for the magical future she lost. Then she discovers a book that could hold the secret to restoring her power. Trouble is, the only person who can help her is Luke Larsen, the gorgeous historian she had a one-night stand with years ago - and hasn't spoken to since.

Portobello, Scotland. Grace McKenna is just back from a hearty breakfast at The Espy seaside pub when a perplexing mystery arrives at her door. Glamorous widow Sylvia Gordon is determined to find the truth about the death of her husband, Paul. Once a local celebrity with supposed psychic abilities, Paul is now the talk of the town after a deadly fall from the tower at a nearby college. The locals believe it was a tragic accident, maybe even a consequence of dabbling too deep into the psychic realm? But Grace has a feeling there's more than meets the eye…

Kenna arrives in Sydney to surprise her best friend. But Mikki and her fiancé Jack are about to head away on a trip, so Kenna finds herself tagging along for the ride. Sorrow Bay is beautiful, wild and dangerous. A remote surfing spot with waves to die for, cut off from the rest of the world. Here Kenna meets a mysterious group of people who will do anything to keep their paradise a secret. Sky, Ryan, Clemente and Victor have come to disappear from life. But what did they leave behind?

After an ambush leaves the Novantae resistance in tatters, the survivors scatter across the galaxy. Wanted by two great empires, the bounty on any rebel's head is enough to make a captor filthy rich. And the Seven Devils? Biggest score of them all. The Devils take refuge on Fortuna where Ariadne gets a message with unimaginable consequences: the Oracle has gone rogue. The AI has developed a way of mass programming citizens into mindless drones. The Oracle's demand is simple: it wants its daughter Ariadne back at any cost.

Having been saved from execution at the hands of the Draoihn - powerful magic users Raine used to count as allies - Raine finds herself in the Fault, a vast magical wasteland, which is falling apart before her eyes. Alongside her two closest companions, they are searching for the only person Raine believes can help them get back home: the enigmatic and infuriatingly elusive Queen of Feathers. But what home are they trying to get back to?

It's New Year's Eve and the stage is set for a lavish party in one of Edinburgh's best postcodes. It's a moment for old friends to set the past to rights—and move on. The night sky is alive with fireworks and the champagne is flowing. But the celebration fails to materialise. Because someone at this party is going to die tonight. Midnight approaches and the countdown begins—but it seems one of the guests doesn't want a resolution.