Showing results by narrator "Clare Clare" in All Categories

My husband Matt and I are an ordinary married couple in every way but one. At the end of each day, we return to our own homes and our own spaces. But beyond the fairy lights I string at my window, darkness is pressing in. Two local women have gone missing, and I don't want to be alone. Sipping our coffees, looking out of my kitchen window, I soon notice how observant Brenda is. When she tells me that perhaps my husband isn't simply working late, something cold takes root.

The doorbell rings, just days after my beloved husband’s sudden death. I don’t recognise the woman on our doorstep, with her blonde highlights, a diamond bracelet identical to my own and a bouncing baby boy in her arms. As I show her inside, I notice her eyes grow wide as she takes in our spacious hallway, and the big squashy sofas that we all used to pile on. She glances at the silver-framed family photos and my little daughter hiding behind my skirts. She looks at me, her blue eyes serious. ‘I’m sorry’ she says. ‘I am your husband’s girlfriend. And this is his son.'

Everyone thinks my husband is dead. Just like we planned. Eleven years ago, my husband disappeared. Eleven long hard years I waited, my heart breaking for our son, who didn’t know his father was coming back. Today, my hands shake as I try to understand what I’ve just learned: my husband has a new wife. This wasn’t part of our plan. Eleven years ago, my husband made a terrible mistake. I sacrificed everything to help him fix it. But now he’s put our son and me in danger again. We had a plan. He broke the rules. But who will pay the price?

My darling little boy Albie adores playing at our new neighbours’ house. And after the terrible year we’ve had, I feel so lucky that we can start over in this perfect place, with new friends who treat Albie like the son they never had. He can’t stop talking about the tree house they’re building him, and the cookies they bake together. But as time passes, something starts to feel wrong. Why don’t they ever open the front door more than a crack? They told me they had no children so who does the small pink tricycle I saw in their hall belong to?

My husband and I are fighting for our lives in hospital after a terrible car accident. But despite my pain, all I can think about is what our families will find behind our front door. The scarf that has been all over the news, belonging to a dead young woman with honey-coloured hair. I have to speak to the police before my husband can. I’m drifting in and out of consciousness, but when I hear my wife talking to the police, accusing me of the murder of an innocent woman, a cold fear grips me. I know I’ve got a temper.

DCI Whitney Walker’s in trouble. She’s threatened with demotion if she screws up another case. So, when a killer starts murdering female students, it’s a chance to redeem herself. Forensic psychologist, Dr. Georgina Cavendish, has spent her life inside the university walls, but when one of her students is murdered, she steps out from behind the text books and puts her skills to the test.

Esme is a start-up success who runs her own successful media company and heads up a series of investigative podcasts. She also has a beautiful home, where she lives with her sister, Michelle, and her son, Zachary. Sure, there’s an ex-husband hanging around - Owen likes to pop round a bit too often - but everything is civilised and amicable. She has life all tied up. But Esme knows that any successful podcaster is only as good as her last story, so she sets out on a new series of interviews to get to the truth behind Simone Fischer’s high-profile murder of her husband.

When the call came it seemed like the answer to my prayers. My career as a voice actor had been over for months and me and my little girl Scarlet were living back at my mum’s place. I felt like a failure professionally—and with Scarlet having problems at school, as a parent as well. So, when I was asked to narrate a new book by disappeared novelist Philippa Roberts I jumped at the chance, even if it meant leaving Scarlet with my ex, Hugo, for a few weeks. Hugo, with his perfect new home and his perfect new girlfriend Saskia. But this isn’t a dream come true. It’s a nightmare.

Books ten to twelve in the gripping, fast-paced crime fiction series featuring DCI Whitney Walker and forensic psychologist Dr. Georgina Cavendish.

Ever proposed marriage on a first date? To a guy you first met covered in whipped cream? (I haven't even mentioned the bit where he won our date at an auction) There's no ring in my pocket, but I really hope he says yes. Not because I'm in love with him—that would be ridiculous. He needs to impress my father and I need access to my trust fund. That's all our union will be about.

Jack loves his childhood toy Dur Pig. DP has always been there for him, through good and bad. Until one Christmas Eve something terrible happens - DP is lost. But Christmas Eve is a night for miracles and lost causes, a night when all things can come to life...even toys. And Jack’s newest toy - the Christmas Pig (DP’s annoying replacement) - has a daring plan: Together they’ll embark on a magical journey to seek something lost and to save the best friend Jack has ever known....

Bookish Arabella Bromley never gave a fig for society's rules—until her sister ran off with a man below her station. Now Arabella is desperate to restore her family's ruined reputation to favor amongst the ton. She'll have to marry quickly and well. But in order to carry off her plan, Arabella needs a duke . . . and she has just the rakish fellow in mind.

Marnie Blue and her school friends are spending the weekend at CORAL, an activity centre in Mermaid Lagoon. There will be lots of fun things to do, like playing with the water catapult and singing round the bubble fire. Not to mention midnight snacks! But Marnie is secretly scared: she's heard all the ghostly tales about the shipwreck that lies nearby. Can she brave the weekend away long enough to find out the secret of the spooky shipwreck?

I’ve sworn off men to focus on my dream job that starts on Monday. But my best friend talks me into a final night of fun—a blind date. I only agree because the guy is going to work as a doctor in Africa. It’s the best date of my life. Dr. Africa makes me laugh and swoon, and I want to give him a thorough physical examination. He turns into Dr. One Night Stand, and I’m not sad about it. Monday morning, I’m enthusiastic and excited, until I bump into...you guessed it.

Detective Lauren Pengelly and her partner Matt Price are called to investigate a grisly murder outside Penzance. They quickly identify the victim as Carmel Driscoll, a former police officer, and find a cryptic note reading “Ten Green Bottles” next to her body–words from an old English nursery rhyme. When a second former officer is found murdered with the note “Nine Green Bottles” nearby, Lauren and Matt realise they could be dealing with a serial killer.

Clare Bowditch has always had a knack for telling stories. Through her music and performing, this beloved Australian artist has touched hundreds of thousands of lives. But what of the stories she used to tell herself? That 'real life' begins only once you're thin or beautiful, that good things happen only to other people. Your Own Kind of Girl reveals a childhood punctuated by grief, anxiety and compulsion and tells how these forces shaped Clare's life for better and for worse. This is a heartbreaking, wise and at times playful memoir.

I've been waiting years for this moment. When Vivienne Campbell needs a housesitter, I make sure I'm the perfect candidate. Warm, friendly, highly recommended. Everything she's looking for. She has no idea who I really am. While she's away for the weekend, I have free rein of her perfect home, her perfect life. The life she doesn't deserve. Not after what she did. When she returns, I watch her confusion grow. Small incidents that make her question her own sanity. I'm there to comfort her, to be the friend she desperately needs.

DS Whitney Walker wants a promotion, but it’s hard when she’s trying to balance motherhood with a career. When a newborn baby is kidnapped from the local hospital, she draws on her skills as a mother to help. Despite being ordered not to, and when the leads are going nowhere, Walker enlists the help of a local journalist who’s convinced it’s the work of an international baby smuggling ring. Walker’s plan backfires and she fears they’re running out of time.

Bird is a woman on the run. One minute, she's in a meeting in her office in Birmingham - the next, she's walking out on her job, her home, her life. It's a day she thought might come, and one she's prepared for - but nothing could prepare her for what will happen next. As she flees north using multiple disguises, Bird has to work out who exactly is on her trail, and who - if anyone - she can trust. Like many people, she has fantasised about escape for a long time, but now it's actually happening. Is her greatest fear that she will be hunted down, or that she will never be found?

A treasure chest of timeless short stories by some of the world's greatest authors.