Showing results by narrator "Ben Onwukwe" in All Categories

When a TV producer offers journalist Sam Dean the job of tracking down a suspect in the brutal murder of a young woman and her child, he's reluctant to get involved. But when a colleague is stabbed to death on set, it’s clear something bigger is going on. And when threatening anonymous notes start arriving, Sam is forced to dig for the truth.

Sent from London to New York to bring a dying friend’s message to his daughter, Mary, Sam Dean arrives in Queens, steeped in a mesh of Caribbean and Hispanic culture, looking forward to reconnecting with family and old friends. But his relaxing holiday turns dark when Mary disappears, and Sammy is caught up in a world of murder, sex and corrupt politics that threatens to turn his world upside down.

In 1980s London, Black political leaders who can straddle the racial divide are a rarity. So when a rising Black politician, Aston Edwards, is murdered, the effects quickly ripple through London’s Afro-Caribbean community. Then a young Black boy is arrested for his murder, surrounded by rumours of an affair with Aston’s wife. Sammy Dean, journalist turned investigator, is determined to find the truth. When a Black activist’s death is written off as a suicide, Sam begins to think the two cases are linked. With tensions running high, can Sam find the truth before the city erupts?

In the 1980s, London is a melting pot of cultures, but race and class create sharp divisions. Black British journalist Sam Dean looks for stories, not missing persons. When and old friend asks for help tracking down a White Conservative MP’s daughter, he feels he can’t say no. Virginia’s disappearance is tangled with the fate of Roy, a young mixed-race boy who reminds Sam of his own son, and Sam becomes determined to find the truth.

During a violent snowstorm, the Royal Family gather at Balmoral Castle for a traditional Christmas. As per King Eric's wishes, almost all of the servants have been dismissed. The large castle is inhabited by only eight people—King Eric, his wife Princess Marjorie, his brother Prince David, his two daughters Princesses Emeline and Maud, Maud's husband Thomas Crockley, Maud's sons Princes Matthew and Martin, the royal chef Jonathan Alleyne, and head of security Tony Speck.

The real nightmare begins when the missing person returns. PC Gareth Bell is about to arrest a cocaine dealer on Brighton Marina, when he makes a shocking discovery that turns his world upside down: the dealer is his long-lost brother, Jake, someone he thought had died years ago. But their reunion is short lived. For Jake is on the run from a cold-blooded killer, whose network reaches all the way into the police force itself. Now that his brother’s life is on the line, Bell has only two choices. Family, or duty?

A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection Murder by the Book. A devotee of Sherlock Holmes and prominent Sherlockian scholar, S.C. Roberts wrote several works about Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective. In this story, Holmes and Watson are tasked with discovering who is stealing large quantities of books from the circulation library of a London club. With no clear suspect or motive, Holmes must rely on clues that are hidden in plain sight.

A struggling writer battles constant interruptions during his day, until a final visit from unexpected guests pushes him to his breaking point. A tongue-in-cheek nod to Edmund Crispin’s own troubles as a writer, this short story is both an ironic commentary on what it means to ‘work for yourself’ and arguably one of Crispin’s most personal pieces of crime fiction.

PC Gareth Bell watches the psychopath who stabbed Bell’s partner stroll out of court a free man. Somebody on the inside tampered with the evidence, and now one of Brighton’s most dangerous criminals is back on the streets again. Bell’s personal mission for revenge takes him onto the other side of the law and into the dark, violent underworld of the glamourous seaside city. Soon he faces a horrifying choice: risk everything he holds dear, or let the man who tried to kill his partner walk free.

In today's throwaway culture, there's a counter movement growing that urges us to 'make do and mend'. The Repair Shop has brought this waste-conscious message to an even wider audience, with its regular viewing figures of seven million in the UK alone, cementing itself as a classic series in the vein of Antiques Roadshow. This new book concentrates on the show's much-loved experts. Each of the experts shares their own stories and their repairs, capturing in the process the magic and ethos of the barn.

When a collector acquires an old Spanish rapier cheap from an antiques dealer, he thinks he’s got himself a bargain. But he soon realises why the dealer wanted a quick sale.

When a Londoner retreats to the Cornish Coast for a break, he encounters a veiled woman. Could it be the ghost of intrepid explorer Miss Alice Trellings, who disappeared whilst staying at the hotel?

‘A Wicked Voice’ reuses the theme of music from beyond the grave from Vernon Lee’s first ghost story, ‘Winthrop’s Adventure’. Here, young composer Magnus is writing an opera, determined to go against the conventions of his predecessors, but he soon finds himself haunted by a voice beyond the grave which overpowers him and stops him writing.

Englishman Essart is enjoying his holiday in Portugal when he is enchanted by a mysterious fragrance. The scent makes him long for a woman, and he finds himself drawn into the trees in the hope of finding someone there.

In this short story, Captain Chisholm’s pride and joy, The Swordfish, is taken from him by a mutinous crew. But the sea seems to take matters into its own hands to reunite the old captain with his beloved ship.

Set along the Great Barrier Reef, ‘The Black Bell Buoy’ recalls the story of two members of the Marine Board who were sent to secure a giant buoy near a dangerous piece of coral. Only one man makes it home though as rumours of a hideous octopus abound.

Reported to be an account of a real haunting experienced by the author at a house in Rye, this story features fleeting glimpses of an apparition in a walled garden.

When Philip Hope discovers that his wife, Sybil, is having an affair with his secretary, Julian, he takes great delight in thwarting their affections. Just as Philip dismisses his secretary, though, he falls from a cliff, and Julian doesn’t save him. Now free to be together, Sybil and Julian return to the place Philip died, but it becomes clear that Philip is not finished with them yet as he haunts their honeymoon.

Brain surgeon Dr Francis Assheton is sceptical when one of his oldest friends holds a séance to show him ‘The Thing’ that has been appearing at his home. But when he witnesses it for himself and his friend then dies in mysterious circumstances, the doctor must recount his tale before it is too late.

‘The Outcast’ tells the story of Mrs Bertha Acres, who is handsome and charming company, but inspires horror and dread in all who meet her, most notably her husband who killed himself after only a month of marriage. She starts afresh in a new village, but she is cursed to always be an outcast.