Showing results by narrator "Charles Johnston" in All Categories

A thrilling tale from the author of the popular 'Reverend Shaw' series of Golden Age mysteries! London, 1930: When aspiring film actress Evelyn Parks is found strangled late one night at Hampstead underground station, Scotland Yard detectives begin a desperate manhunt across the fog-shrouded city. Evelyn's neighbour Clarice Thompson begins to suspect that the killer was someone she knew —perhaps even a fellow resident at the Lovell Villa Private Hotel, the down-at-heel boarding house in which Evelyn rented a room.

The Crimean War was a major conflict that took place between 1853 and 1856 involving Russia, the Ottoman Empire, France, and the United Kingdom. In this concise history book, you will delve into the causes, events, and consequences of this brutal war. From the Charge of the Light Brigade to the Siege of Sevastopol, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the key battles and turning points that defined the conflict. With vivid descriptions and insightful analysis, this book is a must-hear for anyone interested in the history of warfare and international relations.

A brazen daylight robbery at Christie's becomes the talk of London, but Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are no longer in the business of solving crime. Holmes has retired to Sussex, to keep bees, and Watson, recently widowed, has returned to general practice. But when Watson, desperate for distraction, agrees to accompany his old friend to Vienna, to visit eminent neurologist, Sigmund Freud, it is not long before the pair are pulled back into the murky world of ruthless criminals bent on abduction, intimidation and murder.

Roger Bushell was 'Big X', mastermind of the mass breakout from Stalag Luft III in March 1944, immortalised in the Hollywood film The Great Escape. Very little was known about Bushell until 2011, when his family donated his private papers - a treasure trove of letters, photographs and diaries - to the Imperial War Museum. Through exclusive access to this material - as well as fascinating new research from other sources - Simon Pearson, Chief Night Editor of The Times, has now written the first biography of this iconic figure.

Pushkin’s story of thwarted love is set in Russia of the early years of the C19th. In verse at once satiric and penetrating, it tells the tale of a bored young man and the country girl, brought up on romantic novels, whose love he rejects. His behavior leads indirectly to tragedy. The tables are turned some time later when he in his turn becomes obsessed with her. In a final confrontation, she rejects his advances.

England, 1930. An antiques dealer is found robbed and murdered in a third class train compartment on a remote Suffolk branch line. The police believe they know who the killer is, and an arrest is soon made. A passenger on the same train, the Reverend Lucian Shaw, country parson and former army chaplain, is concerned that the police have the wrong man and begins an investigation of his own. Before long, Shaw is drawn into a web of intrigue, deceit, and murder which lurks beneath the surface of a seemingly peaceful country parish.

If you are a manager or leader in an organization - company, public service, or NGO - or you are simply interested in how to make your organization work better, then this book is for you. If you have the feeling that you are skating over the surface of what is really going on in your organization, if you know that there is something more vital that you are missing out on, if you’re frustrated by applying the same management fads over and over, just with different labels on, then perhaps you are open to looking deeper into what makes organizations function, fail, and flourish.

Suffolk, 1934: When the Very Reverend Eckhart Vale, the Red Dean of Midchester Cathedral, falls to his death during Evensong, the police are only too quick to dismiss the whole affair as a tragic accident, and the only guilty party some rotten wooden railings. The Reverend Lucian Shaw, bicycling enthusiast, country parson and former army chaplain, is the only person to have seen the Dean fall, and begins to ask questions - questions that lead him into very dangerous waters.

February, 1932: The highly unpopular Joan Hexham, "the spider at the centre of a web of village gossip", is killed on stage during an amateur performance of Hamlet. An accident, surely. Nobody would be brazen enough to commit murder in full view of 50 witnesses in Lower Addenham village hall—or would they?

An essay by Edward Lucie-Smith on David Hockney's portraits exhibited at the Royal Academy's "82 Portraits and One Still-Life", and also "David Hockney and the Yorkshire Landscape" at RA in 2012.

Brian Duffy, aging soldier of fortune, had been hired in Venice by a strange old man who called himself Aurelianus Ambrosius. He was supposed to go to Vienna and act as bouncer at an inn where the fabulous Herzwesten beer was brewed. That was clear enough. But why was he guided and guarded on the trip by creatures from the ancient legends? Why should he be attacked by ifrits and saved by mythical dwarfs? What was so important about the Herzwesten beer to the Fisher King—whoever he was?

Scotland: A place known for its wild natural beauty, fine whisky, and grand castles. From the Loch Ness Monster to bagpipes and tartan kilts, Scotland’s reputation precedes it: It’s a must for your travel bucket list, but if you’re planning a trip, you want to make sure you get the most out of it. You need to know how to experience the true essence of Scotland, steering clear of the tourist traps and steeping yourself in the culture and tradition while taking in all the natural beauty this stunning country has to offer.

Summer 1931: After finding the battered corpse of a spiritualist medium at an archaeological site on the Suffolk coast, the Reverend Lucian Shaw is thrust into a dark and deadly mystery. Was the medium a victim of the evil forces he claimed to have harnessed for his own use, or is there a rational explanation for his demise? Discovering a trail of blackmail and intimidation leading from the foothills of the Himalayas to an English seaside town, Reverend Shaw must battle his own inner demons and struggle with the deepest questions of faith before he is able to unmask the killer.

As the inferno of the Great Fire devours London in 1666, another firestorm rages in the tranquil village of Brampton, where Pepys’s sister, Paulina, stands accused of witchcraft. Pepys summons his inquisitors, Abigail Harcourt and Jacob Standish, plunging them into the heart of the witch-hunt. Can Abigail, Pepys’s astute housemaid, and Jacob, his awkward yet eager protégé, unravel a web of whispers, gossip and lies to clear Paulina’s name?

Veteran journalists Simon Pearson and Fiona Gorman follow the remarkable life of heart surgeon Magdi Yacoub from his formative years in Egypt, through spectacular success at Cairo University, to his long and distinguished career in Britain. Although at times he clashed with the medical establishment in London, Yacoub pioneered great advances in heart surgery. He was knighted in 1992, and in 2014, he was awarded the highest honor in the gift of the Queen, the Order of Merit.

October, 1931: an anonymous telegram summons the Reverend Lucian Shaw, country parson and former army chaplain, to the deathbed of his elderly uncle in the remote Scottish Highlands.

Christmas, 1930. An exiled Balkan king, living incognito in rural Suffolk, is shot dead in his secluded mansion following a meeting with the local vicar, Reverend Lucian Shaw. Special Branch detectives are soon on the trail of sinister agents of a foreign power that they think are responsible, but Shaw begins to realize that the culprit could be much closer to home. Observation, cogitation, meditation, and prayer lead him down a dangerous road toward a desperate killer who will stop at nothing to evade capture.

When a violent storm blasts England’s south coast, it’s up to retired Italian detective Giuseppe Bianchi to sift through the devastation and piece together the tragic events left behind in the storm’s wake.

Retired Italian detective, Giuseppe Bianchi, travels to England to escape one tragic death, when he comes face-to-face with another. When the body of a teenager is found on a Sussex beach, Giuseppe is drawn to the case - a case with no witnesses, and a case about which no one is prepared to talk. National news reports of a missing 12-year-old in Manchester spark fear across the nation. The phrase "stranger-danger" filters into public consciousness. Local reporter, Christina Rossi, already has concerns about her local community. Families are not as close-knit as they first appear.

Able seaman Humphrey Wilkes is dead, shot between the eyes by the murderer known as the Plague Doctor. When Samuel Pepys’s naval colleague, Robert Drake, finds a black cross daubed on his door, it marks him out as the next victim. Pepys dispatches his inquisitors, Abby Harcourt and Jacob Standish, to the docks. Can they unmask the killer and save Drake’s life before he strikes again?