Showing results by narrator "Rosie Akerman" in All Categories

A female thief, with four husbands, a lover, and, reportedly, over 12 children, is arrested and tried for the murder of her stepson in 1872, turning the small village of West Auckland in County Durham upside down. Other bodies are exhumed, and when they are found to contain arsenic, she is suspected of their murder as well. The perpetrator, Mary Ann Cotton, was tried and found guilty and later hanged on 24 March 1873 in Durham Gaol. It is claimed she murdered over 20 people and was the first female serial killer in England.

Due to the terms of an estranged relative's will, the duke of Silkridge must revisit the cold, unforgiving mountains where he lost everything he once loved. As soon as he restores his family legacy, he'll return to London where he belongs. He definitely won't rekindle the forbidden spark crackling between him and the irresistible spitfire he'd left behind.

Jack has it all - a beautiful wife and daughter, a home, a career. Then his wife, Rebecca, plunges to her death from the Sussex coast cliffs. Was it an accident, or did she jump? He moves to Manchester with his daughter to start afresh...but things don’t go as planned. He didn’t think life could get any worse.... Then, Jack sees a woman in a window who is the image of Rebecca. Attraction turns into obsession as he returns to the window night after night. But he isn’t the only one watching her.... Jack is about to be drawn into a deadly game.

Belle Moriarty was there one moment and gone the next. Ten years ago, she disappeared walking home from school, under the supervision of her older sister, Eve. Eve has never recovered from the guilt of turning her back on her. But then Eve receives a phone call that changes everything. Belle has been found - alive. But who took her? Why did they keep her alive all these years? And now that Belle has escaped, will they try to silence her for good? With Belle in a coma and Eve receiving increasingly terrifying threats, she must discover the kidnapper's identity before they return.

Meg Church adores two things: life in a village of perennial Yuletide, and the freedom of being a spinster with no reputation to protect. Oh, very well, three things: She’s harbored a secret tendre for Christmas curmudgeon Lucien le Duc since the moment she first glimpsed him. But the sexy blacksmith won’t give her the time of day, much less a night of torrid passion.

Lady chemist Penelope Mitchell took England by storm with Duke, a perfume for men that has women swooning at their feet. To prove the same aphrodisiacal potency of her upcoming version for ladies, the new perfume must cause a rake to fall in love with her in 10 days. And she has just the man in mind.

Beth became a widow after just two years of marriage. Before her husband's death, they made the decision to freeze an embryo so that she could still have his child. But Beth has just been told that the embryo was implanted in the wrong woman seven years ago. Somewhere in the neighbourhood, her longed-for son is growing up without her. What should she do?

Raised in the darkness of Satis House where the clocks never tick, the beautiful Estella is bred to hate men and to keep her heart cold as the grave. She knows she doesn’t feel things quite like other people do but is this just the result of her strange upbringing? As she watches the brutal treatment of women around her, hatred hardens into a core of vengeance, and when she finds herself married to the abusive Drummle, she is forced to make a deadly choice: Should she embrace the darkness within her and exact her revenge?

Nell Cosgrove is the new wife who got it all. She married her handsome, wealthy boss within six months of meeting him. They live in a beautiful riverside home. She has a flourishing career. The only problem is her two stepdaughters, Ruby and Poppy, who are fiercely loyal to their mother and reject all of Nell's overtures.

Rumor has it, charming adventurer Christopher Pringle is finally ready to settle down. He’s searching for a free-spirited bride to join him on his travels. But when the matchmaker he hires turns out to be the woman he had a public spat with the day before, nothing goes as planned!

Lady Charlotte Whitaker is devoted to her family, particularly her sister’s son, Freddie. Her late father, the marquess of Lockhead, died without a male heir. But on his deathbed, he requested that Freddie inherit the title. Consequently, Lottie’s family has petitioned the Crown. But even though she wants nothing more than to honor her late father’s wishes, she unwittingly reveals a wrinkle to the plan....

The Duke of Azureford isn’t the arrogant, aloof lord his peers perceive him to be. Yes, he’s awkward, but he has a plan to fix it. In order to woo a respectable lady, he must learn how to flirt. The completely inappropriate girl next door would make a perfect instructor, but a terrible duchess. So why can’t he walk away? Incorrigible hoyden Miss Carole Quincy likes fast carriages, carom billiards, and the beautiful, buttoned-up Duke of Azureford. She’d be delighted to help him out of his shell and into her arms. Who cares if they’re just pretending to flirt?

Unpaid and under-appreciated journalist Miss Eve Shelling never goes anywhere without a trusty notebook and her overprotective Duenna—who happens to be a bullmastiff. Eve learned the hard way that men are not to be trusted. She’s definitely not falling head-over-heels for the deceptively charming subject of her front-page column.

A new neighbour becomes a new friend. She looks up to you. She admires you, but then - you realise - she wants your life.... When Sharni and Tom move into 24 The Pines, it seems like Clare and Chris have the perfect neighbours. Sharni is always there to help, especially with childcare for Clare's two-year-old, Ben. As Sharni's influence touches everyone around her, Clare finds herself fighting for her sanity as well her family.

Oh-so dashing - but untitled - Everett Markham seeks a bride, and he has charged the field of Miss Sabrina Douglas, a woman who prefers trout to truffles. But sometimes, even when both hearts are engaged, happily ever after isn't so smooth a journey. Unabashed and unapologetic, Sabrina sets her cap for a second son, one who will smile patiently when he comes home to find she's misplaced their children. But marriage changes her in ways she could never have imagined, as the awkward debutante surrenders to a very real, very womanly, all-consuming love.

Sharp-eyed Marianne lives in a white tower made of steel and concrete with her father and the other Professors. Outside, where the land is thickly wooded and wild beasts roam, live the Barbarians, who raid and pillage in order to survive. Marianne is strictly forbidden to leave her civilised world but, fascinated by these savage outsiders, decides to escape. There, beyond the wire fences, she will discover a decaying paradise, encounter the tattooed Barbarian boy Jewel and go beyond the darkest limits of her imagination.

When Natalie snoops through her boyfriend's possessions, she finds more than she bargained for - Mark was once convicted of a brutal killing. However, he was not the only person sentenced for the murder of two-year-old Abby Morgan. The violent and twisted Adam Campbell was also convicted...and Mark knows more about the murder than he will admit. Can Mark ever break free from Adam and his past?

As the daughter of a duke, Lady Isabelle’s pristine reputation is paramount. Her high status is how she’ll attract the titled suitor her mother insists she wed. When Belle’s chaperone falls ill en route to a party, she must pose as an independent widow to avoid gossip. Why not have a wee innocent flirtation with a handsome tailor staying at the same inn? She’ll be gone in the morning…

Olive Harper's family has been feuding with the Westons for decades. The Westons’ stud farm is the biggest, but the Harpers’ is the most famous... and she's the sole heiress. Or was, until her father brokers a truce by offering the Weston heir the Harper farm. The only way to get it back is to marry the knave who kissed her and humiliated her, twice—or prove to her father that some rifts can never be healed.

On arriving home after a friend’s posh wedding, launderette worker Harriet finds her flat has been ransacked and her boyfriend is missing. Shortly afterward, she is harassed by East End gangsters and upper-crust aristocrats. Accepting an offer she can’t refuse, Harriet, against her better judgement, becomes the fiancée of the wealthy Hamilton Lancaster, with dire consequences. What she had not bargained on was meeting Doctor Brice Edmunds.