Showing results by narrator "Virginia Ferguson" in All Categories

The long-awaited second volume of Vladimir Odoyevsky's excellent prose is here at last, delivering more titillating gossip, astute society remarks, a touch of mysticism, a healthy dose of the ridiculous, and much more.

It’s 1890. A veteran, Detective Rudyard Bloodstone has fought a brutal battle and witnessed war horrors that haunt his nightmares. Now, one of those horrors has followed him home from Africa. A vicious predator, the Cape cobra, can kill a man in 30 minutes. A suspect using the snake as a weapon in robberies is terrorizing London. When the crimes escalate into murder, a victim’s daughter Honoria Underhill becomes the focus of the killer.

When two sisters, Lyla Ford, a successful stunt woman, and her sister Kat Ford, a sought after makeup artist, decide to change course after Lyla is almost killed in a stunt-gone-wrong accident, they never think that becoming Pet Nannies to the stars will put them on the trail of a cunning murderer. Lyla’s visit to take care of a Golden Retriever puppy named Gracie turns into a murder investigation when she discovers Gracie cuddled up next to a dead woman who turns out to be a well-known actress – Faith Sheridan.

Some might see the lessons in Odoyevsky's short and charming life manual for children old-fashioned and outdated. Some might even bristle at certain suggestions. However, we would like to urge our listeners to look beyond the somewhat antiquated rhetoric and consider these lessons as they were intended - guidelines for bringing up intelligent, well-educated, considerate, and industrious future spouses, parents, and, most importantly, engineers of the future world.

Lady Mariana Belmont has just arrived at her family's townhome in Dublin. She is greeted unceremoniously by her father's art protégé, Thomas O'Geary. Realizing she has been mistaken for one of O'Geary's models, Mariana retaliates by playing along with the case of mistaken identity. Her surprise encounter with Thomas is just the first in a whirlwind of events that culminate in a tale of murder, romance, and mystery as Mariana learns more about her father, and about her own rumor-filled origins at the dark castle named Thornywilde....

Three months have passed since Lady Emmaline Darling left her lover and fellow adventurer, Miles. Not certain she’s in love with him, they’re bonded in a miraculous way - she’s enceinte. Yet, despite his promises to write and make plans, there’s been nothing but silence. When she discovers he’s lied and has been out of pocket on a secret mission for the Crown, she’s convinced she can go it alone despite the scandal - and he can’t be trusted enough to know her secret hope.

In 17th-century France, Imogen, a theater performer from a hardworking family, desires an escape from her impoverished existence. Befriending thieves in the Court of Miracles results in using her acting talent to swindle and con, and Imogen becomes a pawn entangled in a plot to dethrone King Louis XIV. She forms an attachment with another pawn, a mysterious man, integral to the plan’s success.

It’s the Christmastide season, and the Hawkins family is at their country estate in Kent. Emmaline, the Countess of Archewyne, is excited, for it’s her first Christmas with her little family, as well as one of the few she’s spent in England. Passing his leisure time with his loved ones gives Miles Lawrence Hawkins, the fifth Earl of Archewyne, great pleasure, as does anticipating their faces when they open his gifts.

Murder in the Pachysandra introduces Hattie Moon, an elderly widow, who steps out of her dusty world of cat hair, mixed-up days, and rambling conversations with her dead husband, to solve the murder of her paperboy Jason Meeks. She, along with her friend Muriel Manning, unravel clues the police have missed. Suddenly, the amateur sleuths find themselves swirling in a deceitful, troubling world of marital infidelity, drugs, the dark web, and a diabolical force that hovers, ready to pounce.

"The Test" is a short, powerful piece that describes a day in the life of a woman, whose past comes to haunt her just as she thinks she is settled and perfectly safe in her life. Faced with memories of long ago as well as considerations and responsibilities of today, she must make a difficult choice she knows will change her life and affect the lives of those around her.

When Sebastian of Hawkesmere returns from the Crusades, he becomes a recluse, locking himself away in an enchanted tower and dabbling in alchemy and magic. When his brother captures a beautiful woman with a satchel full of amazing instruments, Sebastian is enlisted to help discern their purpose and discover where she came from.

Jeb Jackson, a once famous rodeo star, lives in isolation on his family’s storied ranch in Montana. Until the day a mysterious and complex young woman pays him a visit. Less of a visit and more like the surprise of his life - an unwelcome one at that. Or so it seems, when the beautiful stranger (who claims to know him) announces she needs “straightening out”. Now he’s got a drugged-up, freshly-divorced, sequin-encrusted beauty queen passed out in his bed and has no idea what to do with her or himself. Falling in love seems like the only option.

In this pause-resisting mystery romance, young widow Lauren Serra purchases a deteriorating 19th century Queen Anne Victorian, in hopes that it might be the solution to the financial problems left by her recently deceased husband. Once she and her mother move in, they begin to uncover clues to the home’s tragic family secrets, hidden for almost a century. In discovering the house’s secrets, Lauren and her mother begin to uncover the foundation for rebuilding their lives.

Once a celebrated singer, Rosemary Paul is now an embittered woman in her 60s, forgotten by nearly everyone but her assistant, Carrie Markham, who idolizes her and panders to her every need. When Rosemary receives the unexpected news that her record company is dusting off one of her albums for a reissue, the old hunger for fame and success is reignited, and with Carrie's help she begins to plan her big comeback. But as preparations commence, long buried secrets begin to resurface, and Rosemary's quest for fame at any price will lead to murder.

Mr. Fortune was supposed to remain the hero of Linnea's favorite Regency romance, Fortune's Folly. But Linnea has stumbled across a magic spell in the library archives, and now Ben Fortune is real, adjusting to the 21st century - and changing the plot in every copy of Fortune's Folly, wreaking havoc by his absence. Worse yet, his young sister is now in danger, and he needs to go back into the book to save her. Can Linnea find the right spell to send him back to fictional Regency England - and does she even want to?

"Diamond Is Fragile was one of my favorite books from my late grandfather's library. Much to my surprise (and dismay) it was only published once in the former Soviet Union approximately 50 years ago and (to the best of my knowledge) has never been published abroad. I was inspired to translate Diamond Is Fragile into English by my father-in-law - Thom Seymour, Sr. - due to his passion for geology and history (topics amply covered in the book). I hope that other English-speaking readers who are interested in these disciplines will enjoy it as well." (Maria K., translator)

Eyewitness accounts from over 50 diaries of southern women facing the hardships of the Civil War. Includes voices of slave women. As Yankee soldiers plundered, and starvation stalked the land, they hid food and heirlooms in wells and swamps. They watched Atlanta and Georgia burn and fed hungry children. Vivid accounts of women who witnessed the battles. Turned into food scavengers at the brink of starvation, southern women devised ways to feed their children.

Maria Krestovskaya demonstrates her incredibly astute understanding of human mind as she gives us a unique glimpse into the mental turmoils associated with one boy's first love.

The Blessed South lies somewhere between a travel diary and a poetic sketchbook. With his usual skill, Alexander Kuprin lends the air of romance even to the most mundane scenes and situations, inviting the listener to be captivated and enjoy.

Literary critic, E. A. Koltonovskaya, described the literary style of novelist Maria Krestovskaya as follows, “Her pen, for all its feminine agility, is often remarkable for its nearly masculine reticence. She has none of the chaotic flood of thoughtless emotions, which so frequently plagues the works by female writers. She does not like lyrical diversions and allows her characters to speak and act for themselves. Even during the most dramatic scenes, her tone remains restrained. Her formulation of women’s issues gives one the sense of a broad, universal foundation...."