Showing results by narrator "Samara MacLaren" in All Categories

‘Hi,’ she says, ‘I’m your new neighbour.’ Her smile is bright but her shoulders are tense as she stands on the leafy green Edinburgh street. She seems friendly. But soon I’ll discover her dangerous secret.... On the first day I meet my new neighbour, we share a glass of wine and talk into the night. We swap numbers and I vow to get to know her better. But as I get closer to her, I discover something about her past that changes everything. She isn’t who I thought she was.

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.

When Ally McKinley hears that well-known novelist Jodi Jones is going to host a writers’ retreat at the hotel just down the road, she’s delighted to offer rooms at her little guesthouse for some of the attendees. Ally is thrilled to join the group for one of their first sessions–but the retreat has barely begun before she finds the famous writer strangled in the ladies' bathroom! The cake tin and teapot come out at the little guesthouse in the Highlands as Ally begins to question her bookish guests.

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…

Beth Cunningham thought she'd closed the book on her troubled past when she opened The Wild Haggis Bookshop in the charming Scottish town of Oban. But when her inaugural book club evening ends in real murder–the body dramatically posed amongst the party decorations–her fresh start ends in a twist she definitely didn’t see coming.

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!

A charming new LGBTQIA+ romcom from the bestselling author of BOYFRIEND MATERIAL. Audrey Lane is perfectly fine. Really. So what if she left her high-powered job as a Very Important Journalist—and her even higher-powered long-term girlfriend—to live a quiet life as a reporter for the...

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.

When young, pretty Eliza Anderson walks through Grace McKenna’s door begging for help finding her missing sister, it sparks the Portobello Detective Agency’s most dangerous investigation to date. The trail leads Grace and her team to a plush clinic nestled in Scotland’s remote wilderness. On the surface, Whiteadder House seems too good to be true, offering miracle cures and luxury comfort at no cost. But as they dig deeper, the cracks in its gleaming façade start to show.

Life has changed for Private Investigator Billie Carlson. After years of chasing down every lead possible, she's finally found her son, Lucas, and brought him safely home to Glasgow. One afternoon, Billie gets a call from an unknown number. The man on the end of the phone refuses to tell her his name, but he explains that his brother, Omar, is being held in prison after stabbing two men outside a block of flats. He wants Billie to investigate what happened that night and find out any information that might help Omar. Reluctantly, Billie takes on the case.

The future is looking bright for Billie Carlson. With her child safely home and a new relationship on the horizon, she hasn't felt so settled in years. But when Billie takes on a new client, Elizabeth Fletcher, it's clear trouble is imminent. Elizabeth has killed a man in self-defence. She met him in a bar but he'd turned aggressive, attacking Elizabeth in the middle of the night when she caught him going through her husband's desk drawers. Refusing to go to the police for fear her husband will find out, Elizabeth wants Billie to work out who he was - and what secrets he was looking for.

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…

It’s been 11 years since I last saw Jonah, after his brother died that stormy summer night. And now, without warning, he’s back, living in his old house next door just like old times, on the remote Scottish island that is home. Where I used to imagine we’d stay, together, forever, sharing our lives and our secrets as we always had. But that was before. Jonah’s not the sweet boy I once knew. His mood is changeable, his behavior unstable, our brief conversations are forced and awkward. And then the knocks on my window begin. It can only be him, but why, and what does he want?

Martha and Finn's marriage is hanging by a thread. Martha, crippled by paralyzing climate anxiety, finds herself at odds with Finn, who steadfastly refuses to confront the demons of his past. In a desperate attempt to repair their relationship, they join a group of privileged tourists on a pilgrimage to The Salt Centre, a mysterious retreat nestled deep within the Bolivian salt flats.

When a wealthy local landowner contacts her about a case so sensitive he can’t even discuss it over the phone, Grace is instantly intrigued. Russian collector Sacha Komorov lives out of the public eye, despite his immense wealth and marriage to a famous ex-prima ballerina. As Grace gazes at the ominous silhouette of his Scottish estate, Castle Traprain, with its high walls and thrusting turrets, a shiver runs down her spine. Komorov himself is just as forbidding as he discloses the disappearance of a priceless rose-diamond Fabergé egg from his collection.

When Phoebe and Oliver had their happy ending, they thought the hard part was over. And now, with a five-year-old daughter, they are far from the blissful hedonistic lifestyle of when they first started dating. Not one for giving up, Phoebe creates a sexy wish list: a jar where they can ask the other for anything they've ever wanted in bed - or out of it. But with distractions aplenty, will they be able to relight the fire in the bedroom?

PI Billie Carlson is in Cleveland following a lead on the whereabouts of her son, Lucas. But when the trail goes cold, she is forced to return to Glasgow and a life of waiting and praying that one day she might see him again. Back in the office and ready to throw herself into work, she picks up a call from Lars, an old friend from her teenage years in Sweden. He tells her some devastating news. His younger sister, Astrid, was found dead in the Highlands, frozen to death with traces of drugs and alcohol in her system.

Billie Carlson left the police force under a cloud. Once a promising young officer, she now works as a private investigator, rooting out insurance scams and spying on cheating spouses. One morning a distraught young woman comes into her office saying that her baby has been stolen. Her story seems unbelievable, yet something about her makes Billie want to help - Billie knows what it's like to lose someone too. To get to the bottom of the case, Billie must rattle some dangerous cages and rely on old police friends for inside help.

When Ailsa Reid becomes the subject of a trial by media after an incident at the school where she works, she escapes to the comfort of her grandparents' house in Fife. But she arrives to find her grandmother, Moira - recently diagnosed with dementia - has gone missing, and her grandfather, Rupert, gravely injured. Desperate to ensure Moira's safe return, Ailsa must rely on the help of her estranged mother, Rowan, who abandoned her at birth. Tensions simmer between the two women as they attempt to piece together the lead-up to Moira's disappearance.