Showing results by narrator "John Voce" in All Categories

Detectives Harry Lennox and Jess Wilde have never seen anything like it. The dead woman is dressed up like a Victorian doll. She’s wearing a long white dress, a bloodstained blonde wig and a mask with red cupid-bow lips. Beneath the mask, her face is beaten so badly, it’s unrecognisable. DNA identifies the victim as Lori Lansing, who was kidnapped three weeks ago. Her wealthy husband paid half a million pounds to secure her release – but he never saw his wife again. Then another young woman is reported missing.

Centred on the inter-war years - within the ivy clad walls of Cambridge University's famed Cavendish Laboratory, amid the windswept valleys of north Wales, and in the industrial heartland of Birmingham - The Basis of Everything is the story of the coming of the atomic bomb, and how the unlikely union of two scientists - Ernest Rutherford, the son of a New Zealand farmer, and Mark Oliphant, a peace-loving vegetarian from a tiny Australian hills village - would change the world.

Newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector Kathy Kolla investigates a series of brutal murders on Hampstead Heath. Under intense pressure to find answers, she arrests the unlikely figure of Charles Pettigrew, a failing London publisher who lives alone on the edge of the Heath. Pettigrew's lawyer calls on recently retired David Brock for advice, and soon, unable to resist the pull of investigation, the old colleagues, Brock and Kolla, are at loggerheads.

A teenage boy is found murdered in a local park, stabbed to death and set alight to destroy the evidence. Detectives Harry Lennox and Jess Wilde soon learn his identity and find his bedroom wall decorated with photographs of the victims of unsolved murders. There are images of three people who appear to be the next victims. One of them is the faceless man, a blank cut-out with no features. Jess and Harry must find the killer before the next target dies, and Harry is guarding a secret that could destroy everything he’s built.

After his interest was piqued by a 19th-century photo of a camel train in a country town, Ryan Butta found himself on the trail of Australia’s earliest Afghan camel-drivers. Separating the bulldust from the bush poetry, he reveals the breadth and depth of white Australian protectionism and prejudice. Told with flair and authority, this gritty alternative history defies the standard horse-powered folklore to reveal the untold debt this country owes to humble dromedaries, their drivers and those who brought them here.

Super Happy Magic Forest and the Deep Trouble: Five heroes go diving for Candy Coral in Lake Sparkle and find more than they bargained for-a fishy-looking creature called Foam. It's the start of a brand-new seafaring quest! Super Happy Magic Forest and the Distant Desert: When Tiddlywink the pixie gets trapped inside a cursed puzzle cube, every attempt to free him fails. All hope now rests on the shoulders of five brave heroes, who must journey all the way to the mysterious DISTANT DESERT for answers before the sands of time run out.

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies with Sidney Noir. This collection comprises of all new stories set in Sidney, Australia, by 14 authors of crime fiction....

When Callum and his friends find Iona on Callum's farm, they try to chase her back into the village. But Iona runs from them up into the hills. It is late and dark, and snow lies in the mountain gullies. Worried for Iona's safety, Callum follows to find her shivering with cold but refusing to leave. She is guarding a secret hidden in the forest above the dark waters of the loch. So they make a deal. Iona shares the secret, and in return, Callum allows her back onto the farm.

Beginning with our earliest explorations of the night sky, William Waller takes us on an enthralling journey through the Milky Way and far, far beyond. He combines science and history to show how our understanding of everything from black holes to the structure of the universe has evolved over time, illuminating past discoveries and offering contemporary insights into the cosmic histories of stars, planets and galaxies. Whether object of study or curiosity, the universe – and all it contains – is tantalisingly introduced here.

Immigration is a simple economic equation, but its effects are complex. Sharply written and brilliantly clarifying, Exodus offers a provocative analysis of an issue that affects us all. It is one of the most pressing and controversial questions of our time - vehemently debated, steeped in ideology, profoundly divisive. Drawing on original research and case studies, Collier explores this volatile issue from three perspectives: that of the migrants themselves, that of the people they leave behind and that of the host societies where they relocate.

Author Matty Long presents a collection of two Super Happy Magic Forest stories, following the journey of five brave heroes on an epic quest to reclaim crystals from evil goblins. Super Happy Magic Forest and the Humongous Fungus: our five brave heroes to step up to save the day. Prepare for epic adventures, the odd picnic-break and plenty of fun-filled frolics! Super Happy Magic Forest and the Portals of Panic: a mysterious portal has opened up above the forest and a very hungry gargoyle-like creature has flown out determined to eat everything in its path.

Twelve-year-old Tam ventures into a moon bear den in the mountains of Northern Laos on a dare. His goal is to steal the cub and sell it, making a fortune for his family. But the mother bear’s unexpected return upends Tam’s plan, and he barely escapes with his life. Then his life implodes anyway, as his entire mountain village is forced to relocate to make room for a new highway. Lured by the promise of electricity, running water and a television, Tam’s people move to an overcrowded village, and Tam’s father is killed by a stray landmine.

With a shrill whistle the Night Train is off, delivering its passengers to children's dreams. The yeti, the ballet dancer, the friendly monster and the princess all have starring roles. Then the train comes to an unexpected halt. A tree has fallen across the track, and there's no way the guard can move it on his own. It's a race against time and the passengers will need to use all their talents to get the train moving again. Can they reach their dreams before midnight?

Matthew has dreamed and read and thought about the North Pole for as long as he can remember. And he has done it secretly. It is a place that cannot be tarnished by the world in which he lives – a world where he struggles to find answers and make friends, while everything seems to come easily to other children. But one day, a crow called Lewis Carmichael lands at Matthew's window – a crow who believes in Matthew in the most simple and ordinary ways. Soon, the unexpected voyage of a lifetime begins, and it will change everything.

Flapjack would rather stay at home, but for Huxley, each new day sparkles with possibility and the chance of adventure! Huxley has some pocket money to spend, and where better to spend it than the grand opening of Jollygoods, a new department store in town. But after a mix up with a robber, Huxley is mistaken for a thief. Can Huxley – with a LOT of help from Flapjack – catch the real robber and still make it home in time for tea?

Lonely after their family moves to London, Ben and Hattie are delighted to find a new friend in the park: a talking lion wearing a top hat, dress suit and red cravat. But not only is Mr Dandy Paws an exceptionally well-dressed feline, he’s a highway lion who robs from those who are cruel to animals and invests the proceeds in animal justice. But with a P.I. on his tail, Dandy’s latest scheme – a daring break-out at London Zoo – could get Ben and Hattie into far more trouble than they bargained for.

When they first meet, Kara and Felix can't stand each other. But on discovering an injured dolphin calf on the beach they know they must work together to save it. Now friends, they set out to find the truth behind the disappearance of Kara's mother and to protect the nearby reef. But powerful people don't want them to succeed. And with the odds stacked against them, how can Kara and Felix make their voices heard?

In 221 BCE, the Qin state conquered its neighbours and created the first unified Chinese empire in history. So began the imperial era, where dynasties claiming divine assent ruled for more than 2000 years. Borders shifted, and emperors struggled to exert control over every region of their territories. Elites held that they were inheritors of a rich, pre-imperial culture, while their society produced world-changing inventions such as the compass, printing, gunpowder and the gun. Imperial China itself was altered as it came into contact with others through trade, exploration and war.

Joe has always loved the moorlands above his home: the wildness, the freedom, the peace. But since his father died, everything has changed, and the moors are no longer a place of refuge. Now the whole community is divided over the fate of the hen harriers that nest up there in the heather and Joe is stuck right in the middle, with a choice to make and a huge secret to keep. Joe can't do what's right for everyone. But can he find the strength to fight for what he really believes in?

Deep in the Forest, the foxes live in an underground city built by their wolf slaves. The foxes’ leader, Reynard, controls everything with his clever talk. Silas is bullied at school because his words will not come. He wishes he could live in silence as animals do. One day, Silas helps an injured wolf. Then he enters the secret world of the Forest, where the last remaining wolves fight to survive. But even there, language is power.