Showing results by narrator "Gildart Jackson" in All Categories

Ahren's life consists of being beaten up by his drunkard father or bullied by the village lads. But at the annual suitability tests for apprenticeships, the young boy finds himself selected by Falk, the guardian of the forest, to be his apprentice and his world is turned upside down.

The Paladins are still short one of their number for them to finally be considered a complete fighting force—the thirteen Champions of the gods. Hence, Ahren and his friends, make their way onto the Ice Fields in the far south, following what scant clues there are in their efforts to track down the man considered to be the father of all Forest Guardians and who was last seen hunting down the fearsome dragon, Four Claws. An odyssey on sea and ice awaits them

When young Tyballis discovers her husband has been arrested for murder, she is delighted. As a young orphan coerced to marry her abusive neighbor, she was horribly used. Now is her chance to be rid of him for good and find the confidence she never had. When Tyballis joins forces with the motley network of Andrew’s informers and thieves, they are lured into the dark and dangerous world of medieval London’s political intrigue and back alley slums.

Dirk Struan rose from humble beginnings to build Struan & Company, also known as the Noble House, into the world’s largest Far East trading company. He is now the Tai-Pan—Supreme Leader—of all Tai-Pans in China. Along the way, however, he made a powerful enemy. Tyler Brock, Struan’s rival from their early opium-smuggling days, also heads a large trading fleet, second in size only to Struan’s. But it is not only silks and spices that drive their mutual companies’ wealth—the opium trade is still booming. War between England and China might be over, but the hostilities remain.

The Thirteenth Paladin and his companions are finally reunited with each other and have found a worthy ally in the Eternal Empress—another Paladin who will take part in the war against the Adversary. But the effects of Ahren's journey through the empire have left their mark on him. And so, they all set off to Thousand Halls, the original home of the dwarfs, in the hope of finding the mysterious Father of the Mountain who will surely help Ahren in his recovery. If all goes to plan, the nations of Jorath will at last unite. Yet Ahren and his companions have underestimated the enemy....

This is DC Smith's third investigation with the Diver and Diver Associates agency. They have been asked by a member of Norfolk's aristocracy to look into the tragic death of her younger brother, Freddie, the late Lord Thorpe of the title. The inquest verdict was of misadventure, but it isn't long before Smith begins to suspect there has been a serious miscarriage of justice.

The siege of the Brazen City has been lifted and the Paladin Bergen remains free. Following their victory, Ahren and his companions continue on their travels, this time to the Southern Jungles in search of information regarding the whereabouts of the female Paladin, Sunju. The journey is long and dangerous. Not only must they traverse the Nameless Desert and the untamed primeval forest, but hired assassins are hot on their heels along the Spear Path. And to top it all, the consequences of Jelninolan's extended absence from Evergreen could be fatal to her....

Ahren's enormous undertaking to unite the thirteen Paladins has, following years of dangerous journeying, come to a successful conclusion. Now there is only one task left for him to complete. He must lead the Champions of the gods, his other friends, and the free peoples of Jorath in an assault on the Obsidian Fortress. Yet the Adversary is intent on foiling his archenemies' plan before they reach his hordes lurking behind the compound walls. The Dark god's scheme is to spring the trap that was set centuries earlier in preparation for just such an event.

The story opens with the apparently accidental drowning of a sixth form student in the Norfolk countryside. As a matter of routine, or so it seems, the case passes across the desk of Detective Sergeant Smith, recently returned to work after an internal investigation into another case that has led to tensions between officers at Kings Lake police headquarters. As an ex-DCI, Smith could have retired by now, and it is clear that some of his superiors wish that he would do so.

Success at last! Ahren and his companions have revived the alliance of the Jorathian peoples. But there is little time for celebration, for while the defensive ring around the Pall Cloud is being strengthened with Dwarfish assistance, Ahren and his friends are already on their way to answer the Wrath Elves' cry for help in the Forest of Ire, from within whose depths mysterious dangers are threatening to destroy the Elven forest and all life forms within it. Time is running out.

Hardly have they left the Forest of Ire and its horrors behind them when the Thirteenth Paladin decides to head for the Green Sea with his friends to fulfil his old promise of bringing the necromancer to justice, who has been holding the fertile lands surrounding the horse people and their Paladin, Blazing Eyes, in his bony grip for far too long. But it is not alone the necromancer with his deadly traps who is testing the companions.

Ahren can hardly believe his luck. His apprenticeship finally comes to an end, and Khara's interest in him is growing by the minute. He and his companions leave the Southern Jungles and sail westward, this time in search of two Paladins, who are apparently living a peaceful existence on one of the Isles of the Cutlass Sea. Yet their quest proves full of difficulties, for a war among the pirates has transformed the Cutlass Sea into a bubbling cauldron, hiding its own tragic drama.

Time is running out for Ahren as he and Khara leave their companions under cover of darkness and make their way to the Eternal Empire. The Pall Cloud is spreading relentlessly, yet the full complement of 13 Paladins have still not gathered together. But the couple are finding it impossible to find a way through to the notoriously draconian and reclusive empress, and all their attempts to enlist her support in the war against the Adversary seem doomed to failure once Ahren falls into the clutches of Quin-Wa's Peace Sentinels. 

As the first anniversary of the formation of the Kings Lake murder squad approaches, there is a problem—they've run out of murders. As a result, they are given the task of reviewing unsolved cold cases. One of these comes back to life in unexpected ways as the team try to discover the identity...

Detective Sergeant Chris Waters got the call at 05.29 that July morning. This is it, said DCI Reeve, you'll be first there, it's all yours, you're the crime scene manager. Suddenly, after months of waiting and wondering, Waters finds himself in at the deep end, and alone at the scene of a puzzling murder. As the investigation proceeds, the detectives at Kings Lake Central find themselves visiting familiar places and talking to some familiar faces, while old enmities reappear in the incident room. Before this is over, Chris Waters will need to make a career-changing decision.

Change is afoot at Kings Lake Central police station. A most unexpected new detective inspector takes up his post this Monday morning, and the oldest detective in the place takes a momentous decision. Around them, other officers are considering their own situations, and even the building itself seems to be facing an uncertain future. But life and death go on, nevertheless, and by lunchtime someone will make a grim discovery on the Norfolk saltmarshes. A stranger seems to have suffered a slow and agonizing death out there.

When a worker goes missing from a North Sea gas platform, there seem to be just two possible explanations - it was a tragic accident or a suicide. It does not take Smith and his detectives long, however, to discover that James Bell led a double life back onshore in Kings Lake, a life complicated enough to make him at least one dangerous enemy. Before the case can be unraveled, Smith must get a new team working together.

Never look back. Alex Verus is a diviner who can see probable futures - a talent that's gotten him and his friends out of many a tough scrape. But what happens when someone doesn't want Alex's help? Alex's friend, the life mage Anne, distanced herself from him when she found out about his past as a Dark apprentice. Now she's in serious trouble but wants nothing to do with him. Alex has to start wondering if Anne's problem is really with him - or if there's a secret she's trying to hide.

"She's just watching, thinking about it again, when a big flash car pulls up outside. No one gets out. Then the doors of the bar open and people appear. Two men and a youngish woman, and one of the men has a hold on the woman's arm. It looks as if they're having words. Then this all happens...

When another resident of the Rosemary House care home is found dead in her chair one Saturday evening in December, no one is very surprised - not until the results of a routine post-mortem reveal something extraordinary. Sergeant DC Smith and his team have to tread carefully as they investigate what took place, and Smith himself has to confront some difficult memories. Others, meanwhile, seem intent on getting him to leave the force altogether.