Showing results by narrator "Claire Storey" in All Categories

Ava is settling into her new home - not only has she made friends but they've discovered that magic is real! And together Ava, Sarah and Lily (and Ava's Tibetan terrier, Pepper) are going to learn everything they can about it. When strange things start happening at home and around town the friends suspect magic must be at play. Despite it being the middle of autumn, Ava's mum's hay fever is acting up, plants are growing wildly out of control, and vines have begun to cover houses, entangling people in their path!

When nine friends reunite for a weekend at the charming English seaside, their complicated personal lives lead to laughs as well as drama. Can they all find the happy endings they deserve?

It has been a year since Tess had to trade the hustle and bustle of London life for pulling pints and moonlighting as a Cher impersonator in a backwater country pub. The sleepy Yorkshire village of Cherrywood would always be home, but a return to rural life wasn't quite the path she'd paved for herself. Still, being back with her oldest friends, Raven and Oliver, was a definite upside and she was beginning to settle into the slower pace. That is until Clemmie Ackroyd, a stalwart member of the community, is brutally murdered.

New York City, 1919. Lillie Mead mourns the love she lost in the war. But when a wealthy British friend offers her a reporting job across the pond, she hopes accepting will help her rebuild her life. She barely has time to unpack before she’s assigned the scoop of a poisoned socialite’s death. As the clues take a turn for the scandalous, Lillie unearths shocking skeletons in the victim’s closet. But she never expected the threads of the beloved woman’s life to weave with hers. Can Lillie expose the truth before her own death makes the front page?

Dora Fairweather wasn’t cut out to be a wife and mother, and as soon as she’s able, she turns her back on her young daughter Lissie. With no parents to protect her, Lissie has no option but the dangerous streets of soot-sodden Bradford or the workhouse orphanage. Life in the orphanage is bleak and Lissie longs for the warm embrace of her beloved father. As the years pass, Lissie learns to enjoy the camaraderie of the other girls in the workhouse, and when she’s taken under the wing of matron Connie Briggs, things begin to look up..

A murder case. A love triangle. And a plucky journalist smack in the middle...England, 1922. Crime reporter Lillie Mead wants to take the country by storm. While her handsome fiancé hopes she'll quit her dangerous line of work, the journalist dreams of taking her talents national. When she's called in to cover the murder of a wealthy duke, she puts her relationship troubles on hold to focus on locating the crime's sole witness before the killer does...

December, 1919. Clever crime reporter Lillie Mead hoped to celebrate a peaceful Christmas in the English countryside. But when a close friend's colleague turns up dead, Lillie knows there'll be little festive spirit until she unwraps this mystery. Following the clues to the wintery Scottish Highlands, she hopes to stop the killer cold before the next body hits the snow. But after she connects the victims to a clandestine wartime committee, she puts herself firmly in the murderer's sights.

My first mistake was raising my daughter to be just like me… His death is reported on the morning news. The man my daughter’s been dating. Dead. Gone… I blink slowly–once, twice, three times. The hair on the back of my neck rises as I grip my coffee harder. My breath comes in short bursts. I didn’t even know he existed until recently. Leah doesn’t tell me anything anymore. But I found the letters she hid. I know she fell head over heels for him. That he broke her heart.

Maria is a good woman and a good cleaner. She cleans for Elsie, the funny old bird who's losing her marbles, with the terrible husband. She cleans for Brian, the sweet man with the terrible boss. She cleans for the mysterious Mr Balogan, with the terrible neighbours. If you're thinking of hiring her, you should probably know that Maria might have killed the terrible husband, the terrible boss and the terrible neighbours. She may also have murdered the man she loved.

Oxford, England, 1922. Headstrong crime reporter Lillie Mead is planning her impending wedding. But when her spy fiancé disappears while she’s investigating a suspicious poisoning death, she fears her happily-ever-after will turn tragic. And when she travels to London to get help identifying the toxin, the chemist she consults is shot dead before her eyes.

Welcome back to Cherrywood! Preparations are underway for Cherrywood's annual celebration of Guy Fawkes Night, but when the sleepy village is struck by murder, Tess and her friends are forced to team up once again as they investigate a tale of murder and vengeance that could go all the way to the top.

Duckton-by-Dale has never been your average quintessential English village. And as preparations for the annual pantomime and winter solstice reach fever pitch, you just know that things are going to get even more bizarre! With new visitors bringing mystery, suspicion, flamboyance, and lust, past secrets and current desires will be revealed, bringing a dramatic conclusion to the Duckton-by-Dale series. Expect humor, paranormal happenings, fun and laughter, and of course a large dose of romance in this bestselling lesbian romantic comedy series. Merry Christmas one and all.

When Faith Divine pulls up outside the Duckton-by-Dale cafe on a dazzling red Ducati motorbike she takes Drew Pettigrew’s breath away. Faith is cool, sexy, and desirable, and there isn’t one villager who disagrees. Completely smitten, Drew has no choice but to come out. The fact that Drew is a lesbian doesn’t come as a surprise to those who know her. Except, that is, for her mother, Esther.

When Cassie Hunt learns that her beloved Aunt Aggie is dying, she rushes back home to be with her during her final days. For as long as Cassie can remember Aggie has spoken about the forgotten world that exists just below their feet, in the tunnels and catacombs of the mysterious Sand House. But on her deathbed, Aggie reveals a terrible secret that she’s buried as deep as the tunnels beneath the old house, and when excavation work begins on the site, Cassie is the only one who can help keep the truth hidden.

I first saw her on the platform on my way home from work a few weeks ago. She had an aura about her that made people stop and stare. Then I saw her again. And again. Our twice weekly commute into London Waterloo insync. She was always so poised, so pretty, so perfect. Everything I’m not.

Summer Hastings HATES Christmas. She loves sunshine, the beach and running her travel agency, sending people off to their dream destinations – even if she doesn’t get to see the world for herself. For Summer, Christmas sucks! So, when handsome and charming Noel Pritchett moves his pop-up Christmas shop in to the store next to hers, Summer sees red. Noel loves Christmas…and he quite likes Summer too, if only he could break through the anti-Christmas armour she has surrounded herself with.

Julia and Lauren are sisters, but definitely not best friends. They rarely even speak to each other. But when Lauren's fortieth birthday is ruined by her latest boyfriend dumping her, Julia feels a sudden and unexpected burst of sympathy, and offers to go with her on the special holiday he'd paid for as a birthday present. Unfortunately the holiday turns out not to be a glamorous hotel in a holiday hotspot, but a self-catering cottage in a tiny village called Deepcombe, in the middle of Dartmoor. And it's January.

Susan Quinn, a teacher at St Wilfred's All-Girls School, and Jenna James, a ski instructor in the French Alps, are about to find out. As an invisible bond draws the two women closer, will they appreciate each other for who they are now, not who they once were? One Foot onto the Ice, is a fast-paced romance set in the sunny ski resort of Morzine, where the young cast of students and teachers search for excitement on the slopes, with some finding it a lot more easily than others.

She’s not ill. She’s not in imminent danger. But she is sure it’s going to happen. Because many years ago… she’d made a promise to a stranger, in the woods. Elena’s mother was in hospital, after a life-threatening accident. The promise would keep her mother safe, but put Elena’s own life at risk, instead, when she grew up and turned thirty. Elena put the promise to the back of her mind, over the years. But she’s twenty-nine now, and when something happens that puts her life in danger, she remembers. And she knows.

Everyone in the village loves Joni Blackwood. She is beautiful and bold, and it's no surprise to anyone when on the annual village bonfire, she is crowned 'queen' of the festivities. After all, despite fierce competition from the charity-giving and churchgoing mothers in the village, she has won this honour five years in a row.