Showing results by narrator "Dan Bottomley" in All Categories

Three severed hands. No clues. A race against time. Three embalmed hands are discovered in a disused Victorian house. Is it a gangland ritual? The work of a cult? Or just a prank played by Medical Students? And what happened to the bodies? Meanwhile the Coroner needs to issue a Presumption of Death certificate on a teenage girl who vanished eleven years ago in mysterious circumstances. As hints emerge the two cases are connected, DI Ridpath pushes himself to the limit to find out what really happened.

The earth has shifted on its axis and a mysterious dark mark has appeared on the sun - the whole world is in peril! But billionaire tech genius Howard Hansom has a plan... When Grian's sister goes missing he's convinced she has run off to Hansom's new city to help save the world. But when Grian and his two friends Jeffrey and Shelli track her there they find that nothing is quite as it seems. Why is everything so secret? Where is the mysterious Area 13? What does Howard Hansom want with all the people he has enticed to live in his city?

People know that the sun is being stolen by tech-billionaire Howard Hansom, who's been spinning everyone a massive lie. The only person who can stop him from plunging the world into darkness is the mysterious White Rose. She must keep her identity a secret, so she's been sending out coded letters hoping good people will find them and work out what's going on. Young heroes, Grian, Shelli and Jeffrey have been deciphering her letters and are close to solving all the puzzles. But they need one more set of clues to help them in their quest.

When a creative writing academic becomes infatuated with his colleague–the poet–it is not long before it begins to threaten his relationship with his partner, Michael. Michael is beautiful. Michael is safe. But the poet is everything he isn’t; she has everything he wants. While he writes about steel and sex, she dreams about the movements of swallows.

Nowhere is safe. No one can be trusted. A bloodied body is found in a Manchester Immigrant Removal Centre. The investigating officer and the pathologist seem certain: a suicide. But for DI Ridpath something doesn't add up. As the evidence starts to unravel, and with few leads, the pressure is on to find answers before the Inquest is closed. Caught between the police, the coroner and a system that doesn't care, Ridpath isn't making any friends.

A child's body in an unmarked grave. A killer waiting to strike again. A young boy's body is found in a meadow beside the River Mersey. No DNA. No witnesses. No clues. It brings back painful memories of the Moors Murderers.

The past is never over. It's just waiting for an opportunity to return... When the notorious serial killer the Beast of Manchester was captured, the streets should have been safe. Except the police got the wrong man. An innocent person was convicted, and only later was the culprit put away. Now, those connected to the case are being targeted. Someone wants revenge. DI Thomas Ridpath has to relive the horrors all over again. As the bodies stack up once more, Ridpath knows the answers lie in the mistakes made the first time round.

In the fifth magical adventure in the series from the creators of the Fairytale Hairdresser, Tibben, the Potions Master's apprentice, and his friend Wizz must journey to the Parched Desert to get to the bottom of the mystery fierce hot winds which are blowing sand all over the Kingdom of Arthwen!

The earth has shifted on its axis and a mysterious dark mark has appeared on the sun—the whole world is in peril! But billionaire tech genius Howard Hansom has a plan... When Grian's sister goes missing he's convinced she has run off to Hansom's new city to help save the world. But when Grian and his two friends Jeffrey and Shelli track her there they find that nothing is quite as it seems. Why is everything so secret? Where is the mysterious Area 13? What does Howard Hansom want with all the people he has enticed to live in his city?

Tomek lives a quiet life running his late parents' village store, which has everything you could ever need, and more. Then one day a girl visits. She asks Tomek if he sells something he's never heard of before: a drop of water from the magical River Qjar, which flows back to front and upside down. When he admits he has none, she slips away.

Gizmo has been my best friend since the day I was born - he's always been around. But now they're telling me he might not always be around, which completely sucks. I'm determined that me and Gizmo will have lots more fun and adventures before he goes - I mean, he loves parties, deserves pampering and needs a break by the seaside. And as for that old saying about how you can't teach an old dog new tricks - it's true, you really can't!

This year the secret service made a major mix -up. They mistook a 13-year-old boy called Kevin for a secret agent (I know, so much for an 'intelligence' agency). This was the sort of kid that would try and zip wire across a building and end up falling headfirst into a fountain, with his bum on show. Despite this, it is up to Kevin to save us all from an evil supervillain!

The sea creatures near Haven Bay are acting very strangely, attacking boats, and Alex senses some dark power is controlling them. When he tracks down his friend the water dragon, he finds it's been infected too. If he can't find a way to stop it, the deadly parasite it's carrying could spread throughout the seas.

A death in custody. A life in jeopardy. When Ben Holdsworth dies alone in a police cell, riots erupt in Manchester. But after a post mortem, the authorities have decided nobody was to blame. DI Ridpath is asked to investigate by the coroner before an inquest, and immediately uncovers some discrepancies in the witness statements. Why was the CCTV not working that night? Where was the custody sergeant, and did he know the victim? Wherever he turns there are lies and gaps. It's a dangerous game and the net is closing... On Ridpath himself.

In May 2020, fourteen-year-old Andrew Golding went out for a walk following a row with his mum. He was never seen again. Four years later, when the press discovers police errors in Andrew Golding's case, DI Ridpath is called in to investigate. As Ridpath delves into the case, he slowly discovers something much bigger and far more brutal than he ever expected – a murderer from the past who threatens his career and the lives of those close to him. Can he unravel the secrets before the killer strikes again?

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.

Pick a card... Pick a side... Ryder Waites thought amnesia from a childhood accident was his biggest problem. Then a fallen angel tried to kill him on the London Underground. Now he's dodging assassins while uncovering an impossible truth: he's the heir to the Royal Court of Spades, part of one of the most powerful magical organisations in existence. But someone murdered his mother — the Queen of Spades — before she could restore his missing memories... and powers.

Ron Fawcett is a natural-born climber. In 1969, while still at school in his native Yorkshire, he tied into a climbing rope for the first time and was instantly hooked. From that moment on, it seemed nothing else in his life mattered nearly as much as his next vertical fix... Fawcett found the pressures of the limelight too much to bear, and at the end of the 1980s he faded from view. Now, for the first time, he tells his extraordinary story, of how his love of nature and the outdoors developed into a passion for climbing that took him to the top - and almost consumed him.

Driven by revenge, Serena and Gallows must join forces to take down the conspiracy before the kingdom falls to ruin. Symphony of the Wind is the first audiobook in a gritty epic fantasy trilogy. If you like hardened heroes, bloody action, dark magic, and monsters, then you’ll love Steven McKinnon’s visceral adventure.

The time has come for young Tibben to take the test to become the new Potions Master. But he's going to need some help along the way, and the Emerald Dragon might well have to lend a hand...or a wing! The Magic Faraway Tree meets Worst Witch - a magical young fiction series, perfect for first-time listeners.