Showing results by narrator "Esther Wane" in All Categories

From an irresponsible baron whose body is discovered beneath a silver birch tree, to a classic detective duo solving a historic case as the lights go out across Europe, and an exclusive Tony Hill and Carol Jordan story, the characters McDermid conjures are enigmatic and dangerous. These evocative, atmospheric tales will shock and delight.

It is the summer of 1927 and Hotel Portofino is prospering under Bella’s stewardship. As the season begins, Bella is keenly looking forward to her son Lucian’s imminent arrival and the chance to discuss with him her plans to convert the hotel’s basement into a spa. But then Bella’s husband Cecil turns up unannounced. Over the course of several hot weeks in the middle of the Italian summer, Bella is forced to confront the reality of her relationship with Cecil and to decide to what extent she is prepared to go against social convention to get what she wants.

Princess Sophia has helped her twin sister Lily save the duchy of Marin. But now Sophie faces an even greater threat when she sets out to free the cursed kingdom of Palinar from its beastly prince. Alone, and with danger on every side, Sophie must navigate a magical castle and its even more mysterious master to discover the secret to breaking the curse. Except the more time she spends with Prince Dominic, the more she starts to question who exactly she's supposed to be saving.

Daniel Sullivan needs a wife; the bank insists they will only finance his business if he gets married. What's he to do when the woman he's interested in is promised to another?

Heavily pregnant Lady Ottilia Fanshawe should not really be traveling. But when her sister-in-law dies, she goes with her husband Francis to comfort her brother and her two nephews. And of course it's not long before the services of her alter ego, Lady Fan, are required.

It's summer in Bliss Bay. Ladybirds have descended upon the village, and event organizer Megan Fallon has a diary as clear as the sky. Although her wedding to American fiance Jack Windsor is a year away, excitement surrounding the biggest event of her life (after the birth of her daughter Evie, of course) is already building, and she's determined that nothing will take the edge off it. However, when a visitor to the village is found dead in suspicious circumstances, the police are left scratching their heads.

Event organizer Megan Fallon is gearing up for a concert in honor of the oldest tree in the county: the ancient village oak on Bliss Bay's village green. What she's not gearing up for, though, is stumbling over the dead body of Bliss Bay's most unpopular villager, under the oak tree's sprawling boughs. With a murder investigation underway, a mystery that has everyone looking like a suspect, and a cat that needs a new home, there's also the small matter of the theft of forty-eight garden gnomes to get to the bottom of.

Event organizer Megan Fallon needs to find a killer before the biggest night of the year in Bliss Bay village: a charity dinner and auction to raise funds for local children's charities. After all, there's nothing like a murderer on the loose to put a dampener on the party spirit. With her Uncle Des in tow, the two intrepid amateur sleuths set out to identify the perpetrator. They could be onto something after a mysterious rocking horse offers up a clue to the identity of the murderer.

Thirty-nine-year-old empty-nester, Megan Fallon is putting the fiance who left her well and truly out of her mind, and focusing on settling back into village life, and her new job. Meanwhile, her childhood friend, American, Jack Windsor, is renovating the old village school, and is looking for a four-legged friend to share his new home with. All is well in Bliss Bay until obituaries start appearing on the church noticeboard for villagers who are still very much alive, and the village is thrown into turmoil.

When Fergus tells Diana he's taking her on a flower-arranging retreat for her birthday, she should have been more suspicious. Especially when he announces that he's coming with her. After discovering the whole truth about the retreat, Diana is still considering how to murder Fergus...when one of their fellow flower arrangers is found dead - stabbed in the back with a mystery weapon. With the retreat on complete lockdown, Diana and Fergus have a mystery to solve that wasn't part of the itinerary. Will they find the killer before the clock runs out?

Abducted, held captive by unknown men for unknown reasons, Mary Mason had to use all of her resourcefulness to escape what would surely have been a terrible fate. But in the course of her escape, she encounters new dangers in the form of a mysterious man. Is he friend or foe? Can he be trusted, or will she prove to be just a pawn in whatever game he is playing?

Rachel Stone’s world was destroyed by a stalker, Alan Griffin. After he went to prison, she rebuilt her life. But someone is stalking her again. Her phone, her emails and her social media are hacked. Rachel believes it’s Griffin, out of prison and looking for revenge. She needs to find him and make him leave her alone. But as Rachel is drawn into a hunt, she realises that something even more horrific is happening - something that will make her confront the childhood that has lingered like a ghost and will force her to face the truth about her new life.

Snow has always lived under the shadow of her cruel stepmother, with only her beloved father and her childhood friend - the huntsman, Alexander - to make life bearable. When her father dies, she should be crowned queen, but instead she finds herself fleeing for her life. With no allies, no skills, and no food, her future could be over before it has truly begun. But there's more at stake than just one life. If Snow can't claim her throne, her kingdom faces destruction. Snow has to make a choice: focus on her own salvation or put everything on the line - even those she loves the most.

Daria has spent her whole life caring for others. So when she's rescued by traveling merchants while fleeing for her life, she's more than happy to work for them in return for her safety. But danger follows her, as does Prince Percy.

Ursula Smart and her mother are invited to a supper club at Greystone Castle on the edge of a picturesque Dartmoor village, along with their ever-adventurous book group.

On a spring night, a lone nightingale starts to sing in the boughs of the old village oak tree and a local psychic predicts that it will sing every night until a village mystery is solved . . . As if the excitement surrounding Megan and Jack's forthcoming nuptials isn't enough, a TV antiques show arrives in Bliss Bay to film an episode on the village green, and a trinket Des bought years ago in a junk shop for pennies turns out to be worth thousands . . . and a magnet for trouble.

An intimate portrait of the lives and writings of the Brontë sisters, drawn from the objects they possessed. In this unique and lovingly detailed biography of a literary family that has enthralled readers for nearly two centuries, Victorian literature scholar Deborah Lutz illuminates the complex and fascinating lives of the Brontës through the things they wore, stitched, wrote on, and inscribed.

The story of Violette Szabo is one of the most extraordinary in the annals of World War II espionage and covert operations. Totally fearless and a dead shot, Violette Szabo volunteered to become part of the Special Operations Executive, Britain's premier sabotage and subversion organization of the time. On June 7, 1944, Violette left behind a two-year-old daughter to parachute into France on a special mission.

A long lost relative escapes to Clover Springs, but it's not the happy reunion anticipated by her sister. She's escaped with her life—but brought baggage that jeopardizes her future. When her past threatens her once more, Clover Springs rallies around to help.

When Lady Emma Grace Hastings receives a much-coveted invitation to the most auspicious Christmas party of the season—one that comes with a 10,000 pound prize for the winner of a mysterious game—she cannot believe her good fortune. But as the guests are assembled at Mistlethwaite Manor, the chilling intent of the game is revealed. Each guest has cause for alarm, because all of them have secrets, and to win the prize money, those secrets must be exposed.