Showing results by narrator "Colleen Prendergast" in All Categories

Stranded on the outskirts of Ironopolis, nickname to a lost industrial Middlesbrough, the Burn Council Estate is about to be torn down to make way for regeneration. For the future... But these streets know many stories, some hide secrets... Jean holds the key to the disappearance of a famous artist... Jim's youth is shattered during the euphoric raves of '89... A brutal boyhood prank scars three generations of Frank's family... Corina's gambling addiction costs her far more than money....

When a young boy falls from a balcony in a block of flats, DS Grace Allendale witnesses the shocking aftermath of the tragic event. But strangely, no one will admit to seeing anything - and the parents will only tell the police that it was an accident. Determined to sort the truth from the lies, Grace is thrown into a case that takes her to the darkest corners of the criminal world - and strikes closer to home than she could have ever imagined.

When a teenage girl is strangled while out for a run with her friends, it shakes the city of Stoke to its core. Why would anyone want to hurt a child? And who would have the audacity to murder in broad daylight? DS Grace Allendale and her team are brought in to bring a swift resolution, but investigating the case brings up no leads. It is as if the killer chose the girl at random and then disappeared. And then another young woman is found dead....

No sooner does Miss Pym board her next stagecoach than she finds herself embroiled in the plight of Miss Belinda Earle, a spirited heiress banished to Bath after swearing off the marriage market.

When the coach founders near Baddell Castle, and the dashing Marquis of Frenton comes to the rescue, Miss Pym decides to give Fate a hand. Although the austere bachelor disdains romance, his furtive glances towards Belinda prove to Miss Pym that her expert matchmaking will soon turn this star-crossed couple into a heavenly match.

All work and no love can make for a dull life. But cupid's arrow has a habit of striking when you least expect it... A heartwarming, feel-good romance to curl up with. Perfect for the fans of Marian Keyes and Veronica Henry. Mallory Westerman is the successful proprietor of Le Petit Cadeau, a gift shop extraordinaire in thriving Leeds. Concentrating solely on her business, she has almost given up on finding someone to love. That is until she literally falls into the arms of a handsome, intriguing stranger who becomes her Knight in shining armour.

Meg just wants to keep her family together. Her mother is desperately ill, and her sister is still in school so it is up to her to support them. All Meg knows to do is bake, and desperation leads her to Ted Lund, the miserly owner of a local bakery. In a moment of uncharacteristic kindness, he takes pity on Meg and offers her a job. But Ted’s charity ends there. He’ll save money at any costs, cutting corners by using sawdust in his bread, ignoring vermin in his flour and paying Meg a pittance.

Liverpool, 1910. When Patch runs up the gangway of the steamship, RMS Glorious, she isn't planning to hang around. But if she leaves her hiding place, the constable might catch her, so sitting tight is worth the risk. Her plan is spoiled when she realises too late that the ship is setting sail, and Patch finds herself an accidental stowaway. Luckily, Patch's unconventional past has made her pretty fearless when it comes to fending for herself, and besides there are friends in high and low places to be made onboard.

It is 1940s coastal Lincolnshire, and Carolyn Holmes is keen to do what she can for the war effort. Raised on the family farm, she battles with her mother to further her education, although nothing is too good for her brother. Phyllis Carter, a bitter widow from the Great War, lives close by with her son, who works on the farm. When Peter decides to volunteer, a distraught Phyllis blames Carolyn, who leaves to join the ATS where she meets Beryl. Carolyn and Beryl are posted to Beaumanor Hall in Leicestershire as ‘listeners’, the most difficult of signals intelligence gathering.

Elaborately disguised and hidden deep beneath the city's streets lies the world of Miss Brickett's, a secret detective agency. From traversing deceptive escape rooms full of baited traps and hidden dangers, to engineering almost magical mechanical gadgets, apprentice detectives at Miss Brickett's undergo rigorous training to equip them with the skills and knowledge they will need to solve the mysteries that confound London's police force.

Sebastian James Murphy is 20 years, six months and two days old. He loves swimming, fried eggs and Billy Ocean. Sebastian is autistic. And lonely. Veronica wants her son Sebastian to be happy. She wants the world to accept him for who he is. She is also thinking about paying a professional to give him what he desperately wants. Violetta is a high-class escort, who steps out into the night thinking only of money.

Bella Whittington’s caviar-and-Cristal life comes crashing down when she walks in on her fiancé and best friend tangled up in page 34 of the Kama Sutra, limbs everywhere. But her plan to dull the pain with Daddy’s credit card is totaled by the news that they’ve lost the family business. Suddenly, Bella’s both single and completely broke. Shivering in her dingy, new studio apartment, after a traumatic incident with a homemade turmeric face mask (Hello Tangerina Jolie!), Bella realizes she must pull up her Gucci socks and get a job, fast.

The small city of Stockleigh is in shock as three women are brutally attacked within days of each other. Are they random acts of violence, or is there a link among the victims? For Detective Eden Berrisford, it's her most chilling case yet. The investigation leads Eden to cross paths with Carla, a woman trying to rebuild her life after her marriage to a cruel and abusive man ended in unimaginable tragedy. Her husband, Ryan, was imprisoned for his crimes, but now he's out and coming for her.

One warm spring evening, five teenagers meet in a local park. Only four will come out alive. Six months after the stabbing of 15-year-old Deanna Barker, someone is coming after the teenagers of Stockleigh, as a spate of vicious assaults rocks this small community. Revenge for Deanna? Or something more? Detective Eden Berrisford is locked into a race against time to catch the twisted individual behind the attacks - but when her own niece, Jess Mountford, goes missing, the case gets personal.

Meg just wants her family to be together at Christmas. But her mother’s illness gets worse every day and her sister is off doing god knows what. So when Meg loses her job in the bakery, she doesn’t know how they’ll cope. Luckily, she knows Frank, the owner of a local patisserie, who offers her a job. But Meg isn’t suited for fancy cake and frills. All she wants is to feed her family and make them proud, but, as winter takes hold, it feels like everything is stacked against her. Can she make a success of herself before Christmas?

Beth Lomas thought she knew her late husband. But this one small word, written on the back of a discarded envelope and left on their kitchen table, convinces the police that Oscar took his own life. As the police announce they are not seeking anyone else in connection with Oscar's death, Beth is convinced that there is more to the story. As she sets out to discover what really happened, Beth uncovers shocking truths about the man she thought she knew better than anyone.

Agatha Christie meets St Trinian's in this delightful new middle grade mystery series! Daphne is off to St Rita's, an exclusive girls' boarding school. It sounds awfully respectable, and Daphne herself is awfully respectable, too. She loves to read and is delighted to be offered the chance to interview for librarian's assistant's assistant immediately upon arrival. But it turns out nothing is quite what you'd expect at St Rita's....

Ottila McGregor is 30 years old and has decided it’s time to sort her life out. She's going to quit drinking, stop cheating, and finally find true happiness. Easy, right? Of course not. For a start, there's Grace, her best friend, who believes self-improvement is for people in their forties. Next there's Mina, her sister, who is mentally ill, and it might even be Ottila's fault. And then there’s Thales, the Greek guy who works in the hospital cafeteria. He's probably the best, most dangerous person Ottila's ever met.

Since her twin brother, Eddie, drowned five years ago, 16-year-old Elsie Main has tried to remember what really happened that fateful day on the beach. One minute Eddie was there, and the next he was gone. Seventeen-year-old Tay McKenzie is a cute and mysterious boy that Elsie meets in her favorite boathouse hangout. When Tay introduces Elsie to the world of freediving, she vows to find the answers she seeks at the bottom of the sea.

When Laura McAllister, a young lady's maid, learns her three siblings have been taken from their mother and emigrated to Canada without her mother's knowledge, she becomes determined to search for them and reunite the family. But a lack of funds and resistance from authorities push her to use a false name and take a position with a child emigration society to gain passage to Canada.

After two years, Meg Fairfax has finally started to make a success of herself. Her skills as a baker have made her enough to buy the bakery she loves and she’s planning a wedding to her fiancé. But Frankie hasn’t been entirely honest and both the bakery and Meg’s happiness are threatened when she discovers the truth. Meanwhile, Meg’s younger sister, Sarah, is attempting to build a life for herself in London but soon realises it’s far from what she expected. Finding herself alone on the city streets, she seeks comfort in the arms of a young cockney named Sam Waites.