Showing results by narrator "Charlotte Strevens" in All Categories

Landscape gardener Imogen Bishop has spent the last 30 years trying to forget one fateful school night but when her estranged husband Greg Bishop is found dead in the grounds of her father's Georgian hotel, danger threatens to overwhelm her. Retired police officer Adam Hennessey, hoping for a peaceful life running his traditional Somerset country pub, finds himself drawn into the unfolding drama in the hotel across the road.

In a tranquil Kentish village, Dr Sandys and his wife are preparing for Christmas with their guest, Liane 'Lee' Crauford. Festivities start badly when their party is spoiled by an enigmatic widow new to the village, and the atmosphere hits rock bottom when the pompous local nobleman and ceramic-collector Sir Henry Metcalfe unexpectedly dies. Sensing potential villains among Metcalfe's circle, Lee teams up with Detective-Inspector Hugh Gordon to discover the killer playing merry hell with her holiday in this lost vintage mystery, republished for the first time since 1952.

Two women, centuries apart. One endless nightmare tearing Wales apart – and only they can stop it. Sunday Times bestselling author Barbara Erskine returns to Hay in the year that marks the 30th anniversary of her sensational debut bestseller, Lady of Hay. Hay-On-Wye, 1400 – War is brewing in...

With the birth of the Cicatrix Maledictum the Imperium of Mankind suffers as never before. Conflict and corruption is rife on every front and precious little hope remains, save for those who hold to their faith when faced with destruction.... Denied a martyr’s death during the battle for Ophelia VII, Sister Evangeline of the Order of Our Martyred Lady is blessed with a new and grave duty: to embark on a pilgrimage beyond the Great Rift to recover a precious and powerful artefact - the Shield of Saint Katherine.

Moira Martingale’s comprehensive study, Cannibal Killers: The Impossible Monsters, was originally written in 1993, when the Internet was in its infancy, when few homes had computers and when the character Hannibal Lecter from the book and movie The Silence of the Lambs was regarded as an entirely fictional character, with no real-world counterparts or inspirations. The book demonstrated that this was an erroneous assumption.

Mayfair, 1910. At the age of 90, Florence Nightingale is frail and no longer of sound mind. After a celebrated career as a nurse, writer and statistician, she now leads a reclusive existence. One summer evening she is astonished to receive a visitor – a young man named Silas Bradley, who claims to have met her during the Crimean War 55 years ago. But how can this be? And how does the elusive Jean Frawley connect their two lives? Nightingale is a luminous tale of faith and love, bravery and care, and the vitality of women's work.

The Great War is over, and Millie is ready to leave her loving family home and be a wife to Jeremy. But not long after their wedding, Millie discovers Jeremy is affected by shell shock, and moving into his late father's cold, dark estate escalates the problem. Millie tries to help, but Jeremy grows more distant and befriends a homeless, wounded ex-soldier, Monty, who has secrets....

Wallis Simpson stole the king's heart and rocked the monarchy - but she was not Edward VIII's first or only love. Before Wallis dominated his life, he adored three other women: Rosemary Leveson Gower, the girl he wanted to marry; Freda Dudley Ward, the Prince's long-term mistress; and Thelma Furness, his twice-married American lover. Each one of the three women in this book could have changed the course of history. In examining their lives and impact on the heir to the throne, Rachel Trethewey questions whether he ever really wanted to be king....

While watching the opera at La Fenice, Nancy Tremayne is shocked to see a woman fall to her death. But how did this tragedy occur? Newlywed Nancy is accompanying her art professor husband, Leo, on a work trip. As she explores Italy’s beautiful city on the water, she is increasingly compelled to uncover the mysterious circumstances surrounding the woman’s death. Leo is adamant it was an accident but his assistant, Archie, reluctantly helps Nancy. Nancy’s determination to reveal the facts puts her in harm’s way more than once....

Italy in 1819. Emilia Barton and her mother, Sarah, live a nomadic existence, travelling from town to town as itinerant dressmakers to escape their past. When they settle in the idyllic coastal town of Pesaro, Emilia desperately hopes that this time they have found a permanent home. But when Sarah is brutally attacked by an unknown assailant, a deathbed confession turns Emilia's world upside down. Seeking refuge as a dressmaker in the eccentric household of Princess Caroline of Brunswick, Emilia experiences her first taste of love with the charming Alessandro.

1939. Seventeen-year-old Nora Jennings has spent her life secure in the certainty of a bright, happy future - until one night of passion has more catastrophic consequences than she ever could have anticipated. Labelled a moral defective and sectioned under the Mental Deficiency Act, she is forced to endure years of unspeakable cruelty at the hands of those who are supposed to care for her.

It's 2014. Sensible Nora has always taken success for granted until suddenly her life begins to fall apart. Troubled by anxiety and nightmares, she finds herself drawn to the sweeping beaches of Tenby, a place she's been only once before. Together with a local girl, she rents a beautiful townhouse and slowly begins to settle in to her new life. But Tenby hides a secret, and Nora will soon discover that this little town by the sea has the power to heal even the most painful memories.

When her feisty grandmama takes her travelling, Prue is excited to explore outside of England. Determined to make the most of her holiday and have some fun, she wasn't prepared to meet a man who would make her question herself. In need of distraction, Brandon spends his time climbing mountains in Europe. The last thing he expected was to meet an attractive English rose with the same edgy spirit as himself. When Prue reveals past mistakes to Brandon, he must decide if she is the woman for him, but a tragic accident makes them both confront deeper feelings.

Belinda Sandford thrills to the cheers of the crowd as her beautiful grey racehorse, ‘Butterfly Charm’, thunders past the finishing post first at Wincanton Racecourse. She feels like the luckiest girl in the world. But joy soon turns to despair as a stewards’ enquiry overturns the result and awards the race to her long-time rival, Alexandra Deacon. When Alex is found dead in suspicious circumstances, a host of accusing eyes turn to Belinda and her distraught mother begs Adam Hennessy, her neighbour, retired police officer and publican, to help clear her daughter’s name.

It is 1950 and the Liverpool repertory theatre company is rehearsing its Christmas production of Peter Pan, a story of childhood innocence and loss. Stella has been taken on as assistant stage manager and quickly becomes obsessed with Meredith, the dissolute stage director. But it is only when the celebrated O'Hara arrives to take the lead that a different drama unfolds. In it, he and Stella are bound together in a past that neither dares to interpret.

Present day: When thirty-six-year-old Robyn Willoughby discovers an exquisite yet blood-stained Tudor map in her father’s antique map shop, desperate for a distraction from her problems, she decides to investigate. But as Robyn delves into the mystery, she finds herself caught up in a centuries-old secret—one that will change her life forever.

The Exham-on-Sea’s History Society's annual summer picnic comes to an abrupt end when human bones are discovered in Washford River, beside historic Cleeve Abbey. Thrilled to find evidence of a possible centuries-old murder mystery, the members of the society organise a ghost-hunting night in the ruins of Cleeve Abbey, despite amateur sleuth Libby Forest's reservations. Libby is a woman of many talents, a baker, chocolatier, even a reluctant sleuth, but she's no fan of the supernatural; her doubts are justified when a friend is attacked under cover of darkness at the ghost-hunt.

In Lower Hembrow, an idyllic village nestled beneath Ham Hill in Somerset, the villagers are preparing to enjoy the autumn traditions of the rural English countryside until Joe Trevillion, a curmudgeonly local farmer and the father of six children, vanishes. When Adam Hennessy, the ex-detective proprietor of The Plough, the village's popular Inn, investigates, he finds ominous undercurrents beneath apparently harmless rumour and gossip.

When the Exham-on-Sea residents are targeted by anonymous emails containing apparently harmless nursery rhymes, no one knows whether to laugh or shudder until an unexplained death touches the town. Libby Forest, baker, chocolatier and Exham’s very own resident private investigator, alongside her partner Max Ramshore, set out to solve the puzzle before more people die. But when Max’s ex-wife arrives on the scene, ahead of Max and Libby's long-awaited nuptials, things go from bad to worse.

Billy and Dawnie may be in their seventies, but that won’t stop them taking chances or starting again. Their grown-up children have families and lives of their own, so now it’s Billy and Dawnie’s turn and a life near the sea in Devon beckons. But the residents of Margot Street (or Maggot Street as Dawnie insists on calling it), don’t quite know what to make of their new neighbours.