Showing results by narrator "Stefan Rudnicki" in All Categories

On the celebrated Greek island of Mykonos, a legendary nightclub owner is found in his home…bludgeoned to death. In his lifetime he had helped transform Mykonos from an obscure, impoverished Aegean island into a world-renowned summertime playground for the world's rich and powerful, which made the Mykonian people some of the wealthiest in Greece. All evidence points to obvious killers, but the murder has put into play some long-hidden, politically explosive secrets and drawn a dangerous foreign investor to the island paradise.

A stand-alone novel set in Susan R. Matthews's critically acclaimed "Judiciary" universe, Angel of Destruction focuses on Bench officer Garol Vogel and his attempts to make peace with the Langsarik people-the people his own Judiciary drove into a life of piracy.

We all know Shakespeare’s classic ghost story—the young prince Hamlet’s dead father appears to him, demanding vengeance upon Hamlet’s uncle Claudius, who has usurped the throne and, to add insult to injury, married Hamlet’s mother.

Set in the critically-acclaimed "Judiciary" universe, The Devil and Deep Space features listener favorite hero Andrej Koscuisko caught up in a conspiracy between political backstabbing and military corruption....

The title work in this collection of ten short stories and poems is widely regarded as the most famous of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings. This unsettling tale in verse tells of a man’s slow descent into madness as he mourns the loss of his lover. The mysterious visit of a talking raven that utters only one word sparks the man’s steady decline.

Stalin’s Scribe is the first biography of a man who was once one of the Soviet Union’s most prominent political figures. Thanks to the opening of Russia’s archives, Brian Boeck discovers that Sholokhov’s official Soviet biography is actually a tangled web of legends, half-truths, and contradictions. Boeck examines the complex connection between an author and a dictator, revealing how a Stalinist courtier became an ideological acrobat and consummate politician in order to stay in favor and remain relevant after the dictator’s death.

The British Virgin Islands. Their tourism board calls them “Nature’s Little Secrets.” But these tiny clumps of Caribbean paradise hold dark secrets of their own. Secrets that kill. Sailing his boat to the BVI was Sim Greene’s best option at the time. He planned to run a diving business — a water man’s dream job — with his best friend, Al. But when Al is arrested for the murder of a tourist, Sim faces hostile police, a wealthy and defensive family, vicious criminals, and superstitious tight-lipped locals. He must use every bit of his training and skill to uncover the truth.

Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Masque of the Red Death” nearly 180 years ago, yet its narrative and characters continue to mystify and captivate. The short story is driven by Prince Prospero’s attempt to evade the “Red Death”, a fatal plague infecting his kingdom, by hiding in his abbey, where he indulges in pleasures and delights with other nobles. He soon finds out that no one can escape their end. Steven Archer has recast the characters of “The Masque” and illuminated the narrative in a novel and perhaps more visceral light.

The seemingly peaceful, prosperous community of Beverley Green is haunted. While certain inhabitants - the young Stella Nelson and her feckless painter-father Mr. Arthur Wilmot, who conducts a mysterious business in the City; the aristocratic Salter Boyden; and the retired businessman Merrivan - try to hide their pasts, it turns out that nothing stays secret for long. When, in this tense atmosphere, Mr. Merrivan is found murdered, the clues point to none other than Stella Nelson.

Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus has invested every last hope in achieving a prosperous new start in a new country. But the only job open to him - in the appalling stockyards of Packingtown, Chicago - will become a brutal, dispiriting, and dangerous challenge to his pride, his family, his life, and his faith in the American Dream. A scathing condemnation of capitalism, corporate corruption, and the exploitation of the working class, The Jungle was a sensation when first published. It stands as one the greatest and most influential proletarian novels ever written.

In this ninth volume of Glenn G. Thater’s Harbinger of Doom saga, Theta arrives at Jutenheim, hot on the heels of Korrgonn and the League of Shadows. Their fateful confrontation is fast approaching, if only they pass the Black Elf king and the ancient evils that lurk in his subterranean domain. But do the Black Elves serve the dark powers or the light?

Real estate developer Harold Longworth is facing life in prison for the murder of his wife in their Sagaponack, Long Island home. Just hired by the defense attorneys, former NYPD detective Giuseppe "Joey" Mancuso realizes that for a whole year before the trial, the attorneys have bungled the investigation. Was it on purpose? Are the attorneys covering something up? Joey and his half-brother, Father Dominic O'Brian, have 10 days before the end of the trial to find the real murderer.

Lev Davidovich Trotsky burst onto the world stage in November 1917 as coleader of a Marxist Revolution seizing power in Russia. It made him one of the most recognized personalities of the 20th century, a global icon of radical change. Yet just months earlier, this same Lev Trotsky was a nobody, a refugee expelled from Europe, writing obscure pamphlets and speeches, barely noticed outside a small circle of fellow travelers. Where had he come from to topple Russia and change the world? Where else? New York.

As he attempts to rebuild his life in rural Oregon after a tragic accident, Malcolm Mays finds himself corresponding with Dusha Chuchonnyhoof, a mysterious entity who claims to be the owner of Malcolm's house, jailed unjustly for 117 years. The prisoner demands that Malcolm perform a gory, bewildering task for him. As the clock ticks toward Dusha's release, Malcolm must attempt to find out whether he's assisting a murderer or an innocent.

Luke Abramson, a brilliant cellular biologist who is battling lung cancer, has one joy in life: his 10-year-old granddaughter, Angela. When Angela is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and given less than six months to live, Luke wants to try a new enzyme, Mortality Factor 4 (MORF4), that he believes will kill Angela's tumor. However, the hospital bureaucracy won't let him do it because MORF4 has not yet been approved by the FDA. Knowing Angela will die before he can get the treatment approved, Luke abducts her from the hospital with plans to take her to a private research laboratory in Oregon.

A promising young surgeon, Andrej Koscuikso has come, with great reluctance, to study at a military orientation center adrift in black space. Against his will, he will train here to serve as a "Ship's Inquisitor" - a vocation that runs counter to his deepest moral convictions.

In The Dragon's Son, there is new hope in the form of a special offspring who might be able to bridge the anarchy that is disrupting the delicate and unseen order that the Parliament has tried to protect. The twin offspring of a high priestess and a dragon hold the key to man's future, but their identity must be held secret, even from each other, until they have matured. One is raised in a human court, the other in hiding.

In The Breakthrough in Two Acts, Dr. Fredric C. Hartman paints a vivid picture of emotional pain and its context within the human mind and brain. Set in the dramatic backdrop of a therapy session as a stage play, featuring Dr. Hartman as the psychologist and Human Consciousness itself as “the patient”, this is a practical guide for anyone who struggles with negative or painful emotions.

The sea has inspired exceptional art, marvelous music, and the finest of literature. It is a thing of great beauty. It is also powerful and unforgiving. And it hides the darkest of secrets. Sometimes the water takes note of a small thing—a dumb little decision, a stupid bit of showing off—and it changes lives forever. Sim Greene is a fine companion and a gifted detective. A semi-devout bachelor in his late thirties, he lives in Channel Islands Harbor aboard Figaro, a 39-foot sailboat. He surfs when he likes, sails whenever he can, and loves a woman who is way out of his league.

This second volume of Orson Scott Card's five-volume anthology of short stories features seven tales exploring possible future scenarios for the human race. A fascistic government's capital punishment extends beyond death. Intellectually superior aliens from a doomed world choose Earth's dogs as their new vessels. Not-quite-human beings on an Earth wasted by biological warfare continously fight an enemy which has long been annihilated.