Showing results by narrator "Melanie Crawley" in All Categories

JANE is a young woman grieving for her child, who is taken to a remote holiday cottage on the Northumberland coast. From the moment she arrives at the cottage with her much older and over-protective husband, Peter, Jane keeps catching glimpses of a little girl and hearing a child crying. Peter is convinced these are hallucinations, as Jane has been diagnosed with schizophrenia—diagnosis she doesn't agree with. She sets out to discover who or what the child could be. A ghost? A real child? Or something else?

When the SeeMs Agency detectives play bridge online in 2020, they don’t expect their opponent to die during the game and yet a post-mortem the next day proves Brian Deliverer was dead halfway through the night. Can a dead man play bridge? Employed by Brian's daughter Karen to investigate his death, the team are led back to a notorious 1920s murder and to a missing teenager from a Sussex village in the 1960s.

Young Soviet pianist Natalia Aronovich is poised for international stardom when, in one shocking act, a Red Guard officer interrupts her performance and removes her from the stage. She later learns the KGB has arrested her father, Pravda journalist Mikhail Aronovich, for his undercover involvement with Soviet dissidents, refuseniks, and Israeli Intelligence. Soviet officials force Natalia to leave Russia, but she is determined to return and free her father. Natalia recruits Soviet-Israeli doctor Tanya Shlain and they embark on a perilous mission to smuggle Mikhail out of Russia.

When kindhearted Lara rescued Gaetano in a blizzard, she never imagined within weeks she'd be saying "I do" to the man with no memory. Or that when his true identity as future king is revealed, it would rip their passionate marriage apart... Reeling from his shock ascension to the throne, Gaetano was forced to prioritize his country. He didn't know Lara was already pregnant with a royal secret! Now, there's no way that Gaetano will let his son go...but can he convince his queen to stay?

Fire destroyed her present. Secrets destroyed her past. Look in the mirror and ask yourself a question. Who are you? Do you know the answer? At the age of forty-six, Anita Hall knows exactly who she is. She has lived with partner Ed for fifteen years and is proud of the life they've built. They go out into the world separately: Ed with one eye on the future in the world of finance; Anita with one foot in the past, a curator at Hampton Court Palace. This is the life she has chosen - a dream job, equal partnership, living in a quirky old house she adores. She is happy.

In the waning years of the Roman Republic, a talented engineer is tapped to bring water to one of the city’s most notorious slums. Nonius believes he is doing good for his city, but he isn’t counting on the many obstacles that prevent anything from getting done in those turbulent times. His troubles multiply when he falls in love with beautiful, haunted Amaris, concubine of a senator who is determined to stop Nonius’ aqueduct from going through.

When a tiny baby is left on his doorstep, billionaire Tor Sarantos can’t believe his eyes. He’s even more stumped when a beautiful woman arrives in a panic, declaring it’s their son!

Sevastiano Cantarelli can barely believe Amy Taylor is real. After the lifetime of betrayal he’s experienced, her surprising sweetness is the ultimate threat to his cynical worldview! Unwrapping her innocence was a gift he couldn’t forget...but one he knows it wouldn’t be fair to repeat.

As innocent Tansy prepares to meet Jude Alexandris at the altar, she knows their vows are purely for convenience - the billionaire must wed immediately to protect his mother's home. However, there's something Tansy hasn't shared: This marriage is her only hope of getting custody of her little half-sister!

A brutal series of murders of London’s most vulnerable women casts the city into a frenzy of fear and suspicion, pushing it to a state of panic not seen in centuries. Jack the Ripper has arrived. When Scotland Yard begins to find traces of Jack’s handiwork in a string of seemingly unrelated killings, will the world’s most notorious serial killer be caught at last?

September 1939. As Britain is gripped by the fear and uncertainty of war, Tom Armitage stands to gain the one thing that he never thought possible - his freedom. Rosie Elliot sees her future crumbling to dust as Will Aarons leaves Whitby with Jimmy Chappell to fight in the war. As she begins work at The Turnstone Convalescent Home, Rosie finds something she thought she had lost. Friendship.

When schoolteacher Lorna Buchanan witnesses a strange ceremony on the grounds of St. Anne’s College, she is sacked by the tyrannical headmistress - and becomes entangled in a web of mysticism and murder. Set in a cozy 19th-century English spa town, The Malvern Mystery follows Lorna as she investigates a deadly crime clouded by deception, greed, and ancient rituals.

Jane is a woman without a past. She wakes up in the back of a car with handcuffs on her wrists, with a man intent on doing her harm. She escapes, but into the murky underworld of New Orleans. A mysterious man shadows her, and strange memories tantalize her. People want to hurt her, and an unearthly creature stalks the night. Insanity might be a possibility, but everything is horrifyingly real. This sultry world is anything but ordinary.

Leonie Simoneaud was once one of the elusive Lake People - Acadian descendants in Louisiana with odd psychic powers. As a 13-year-old, she rescued an outsider child, Douglas Trent, from a maniacal pedophile named Monroe Whitechapel. Consequently, she was shunned by most of the Lake People for exposing them to the external world. As an adult, she lives elsewhere, an owner of an antique store in a quaint Texas town: Buffalo Creek.

After 50 years of marriage, Gretyl Trollop is thinking of a new life, somewhere hot. Her husband, Albert, is thinking of the crematorium. She's thinking of stuffing herself in a bikini. He's thinking of a taxidermist. The Londoners continue their separate lives until a mysterious letter turns their world upside down. In Essex, Dave and Sharon Soddall are struggling on benefits and looking for a get-rich-quick solution. With the help of a devious financial advisor, they concoct a plan and Costa Soddall Travel is born. Will the Soddalls pull off the con of a lifetime?

Wales. 1955. Sixteen-year-old Janine's wrenching screams shatter the stillness of night as she gives birth to her illegitimate child. Still struggling to take its first breath the newborn is snatched away by the teen's father and they disappear into the dark. London. 1965. Paul, a kind gentleman Janine meets the night she runs away professes his unrequited love. After he becomes aware of the suffering caused by the haunting memories of her past, he convinces her to make peace with her estranged father, now dying.

Dishing the Dirt tells the real-life story of house cleaners for the first time. Journalist Nick Duerden spoke to joyful cleaners, slave labourers, women who dust nude for men, gay cleaners, and butlers running the homes of multi-millionaires for this insightful, surprising and gripping non-fiction book.

If you’re a coach, consultant, or speaker who makes a living from your expertise, this is for you. It’s the guide you need to help you plan, write, and promote the book that elevates your authority, increases your visibility, and gets more clients saying "Yes". Because creating such a book is a challenge. Where do you start? How do you keep going until the end? And what do you do when you’ve finished? Don’t let your book stay in your head - allow it to come to life and make a positive difference to both you and your readers by following the guidance you’ll find in here.

After a tragic car accident, Samantha is left widowed and bereft. Her husband, Adam, was everything to her. At least the home they shared together in Cornwall provides her with some security. Or does it? Upon returning from a school reunion where Sam met her old friend, Penny, and an old flame, Dan, she discovers that Adam had invested money unwisely and she is now penniless. Dan comes up with a way in which she can keep the house, and he’s willing to invest. Dan gets his way...but at what price? And why is he so keen to help, despite his wife’s reservations?

Whalley, 1537: On a day like any other, a devastating fire changes the lives of two young girls. What happens next triggers a series of events leading inexorably to the cells of Lancaster Gaol. Lancashire, 1612: The most notorious witchcraft trials in England are taking place. Among the accused, three generations of the same family. A family rooted in Pendle, tied to the infamous Malkin Towers and always followed by a whisper of evil. A family destroyed by the evidence given by a nine-year-old girl.