Showing results by narrator "J.T. McDaniel" in All Categories

A football player is shot dead in front of a packed crowd of people. DS Jason Smith is put in charge of the investigation. The murder weapon is found in a house across the road from the football ground. It is a rare Russian army issue sniper rifle. As the investigation hits dead end after dead end, two government agents arrive and take over, pushing Smith and his colleagues to the side.

It is Christmas Day in York. A woman is found dead in her bed. A suicide note is found on her chest. It reads "I am so sorry Martin". Hours later, the police are called to a house a few miles away. A mother and her daughter have been brutally attacked; the mother is dead and the daughter is barely alive. The father is found shaking uncontrollably in the corner of the room. He is covered in blood but he is unharmed. His name is Martin Willow

Is Sherlock Holmes really as rational as he seems? He talks about the importance of reasoning and logic, but why then does he sometimes seem like a “strange Buddha”? On the other hand, why in The Sign of the Four does Watson smash a Buddha? What is going on in all the original 60 stories in “the canon”? In this study of the stories, Sheldon Goldfarb explores questions like these, from the significance of the eggs in “Thor Bridge” to the reason Watson keeps leaving Holmes for an insubstantial wife.

DS Jason Smith is dragged away from paternity leave when a woman is killed with her baby in the next room. When more women with children are brutally murdered, Smith discovers they all have something in common - they all share a secret. When he finds out the mother of his own child is on this list of "Unworthy" women, he finds himself in a race against time to stop the killer before his whole world comes crashing down around him.

Detective Sergeant Jason Smith is days away from the end of his sick leave after a case that almost cost him his life when he gets a call from an old friend. His friend has been arrested for the murder of a student. He wants Smith to investigate the murder and prove his innocence. Smith is persuaded return to work. The student was killed with a bread knife. Ladybirds were scattered on his dead body.

A man is killing people in York. Initially the murders appear to be the random acts of a maniac. Detective Jason Smith is put in charge of the investigation. It soon becomes clear that the murders are all connected to him in one way or another. All of the killings correspond to events in Smith's life and the murderer leaves dates at the crime scene which tie up to important dates in Smith's history. When one of the dates is a time before Smith was even born, he realizes he must look deep into the past.

The Second World War is littered with moments in which the destiny of the whole globe was shaped, but arguably few were as pivotal as the Battle of Britain. With invasion threatened, the hour of destiny over British shores was at hand. This was conflict in the raw, a life-or-death struggle in which the terrors of 20th-century combat were brutally brought home to the nation's doorsteps during what became known as the Blitz.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is one of the most written about men who ever lived but despite this, some parts of his life get little attention. One such period is between 1891 and 1894 when he lived in South Norwood in present day south east London. During this period, he wrote and published much of his best work including the first two series of Sherlock Holmes short stories. This book looks at his life during this period and, in contrast to other biographies, spends time looking at some of his input into local Norwood life.

Sherlock Holmes returns to London after three years away. Traveling from New York to Liverpool he faces death-defying challenges. He finds his city in the grip of a mass murderer and No. 221B Baker Street under siege. He reforms his partnership with Dr. John H. Watson in "The Adventure of the Empty House". Miss Rachel Marcello and other characters from These Scattered Houses, a new young Inspector Chandra Das, the Baker Street Irregulars, and the usual London crew, plus a few surprises, have their parts to play.

The Sherlockian Canon, as prolific as it is, contains few accounts in which Mr. Holmes and his medical colleagues Doctors Watson and Verner solve cases involving frightening medical conditions. It strikes me that many more such cases were successfully solved by Mr. Holmes and his associates. It is unlikely that Doctors Watson and Verner would allow such mysteries remain unsolved. 

Sherlock Holmes has been a beloved character from his first story, and his mystique endures to the modern age in print and on screen, but he has had a long life in the theater, as well. Where did it begin? What are the themes, stories, and characterizations that make his stage presence unique and just as enduring?

A client forsworn, a threatened town, and a Goliath of unimaginable proportions. Sherlock Holmes has survived a three-year vendetta against him by Moriarty’s remaining henchmen. Wounded and bleeding, with Mycroft’s help, he clandestinely boards an Atlantic steamship. At the close of his great hiatus, Holmes finds sanctuary at Vassar Women’s College. This radical challenge entangles him in the web of a nefarious mystery. Its unraveling involves New York’s most revolutionary residents: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

The life and career of Mr. Sherlock Holmes has inspired the interest of many of the brightest intellects in the world. They have expended great efforts to penetrate beyond the glimpses afforded us in the 60 published adventures - to detect the real underlying character of "the best and the wisest man" Dr. Watson has ever known (The Final Problem by A. C. Doyle).

A tale set during the start of World War II that involves the passengers of a cruise ship on its maiden voyage from New Brunswick to Iceland to pick up some European refugees. Once the new passengers are on board a group of Nazis take over the ship with the hope of finding the inventor of a doomsday bomb. The noble captain uses a snowstorm to head the ship straight into an ice-field at the Arctic Circle, thus leaving them snowbound. Decisions have to be made as to staying with the ship or making a dangerous trek across the snow and ice to a remote village.

Soon, an entire British army will climb out of their trenches to attack the German lines, only a few deadly yards away. For Lieutenant Oliver Black, this will be his third attack. He's wondering if his luck will hold. Only five of the original 30 platoon members are still with him. The rest have been killed, or so badly wounded they'll never return to the line. The replacements are green, mostly untried. One of them manages to get himself shot in the head only hours before the attack.

DS Jason Smith sets off for the peaceful Yorkshire village of Scarpdale for two weeks of country air, slow walks by the lakes, and no mobile phone reception. He wakes up on his first morning to find three policemen outside his room. A young woman has been found dead next to one of the lakes. The woman is Sophie Phoenix, the youngest daughter of Jimmy Phoenix. Ill-equipped to deal with such a serious crime, the local police make no headway, and Smith is begged by Jimmy Phoenix to find out what happened to his daughter.

When a man is found tucked up in bed with his throat sliced open two days after Christmas, DS Jason Smith and his team are baffled. It appears he has been drugged, killed, and carefully wrapped up in a duvet. The only evidence Smith finds are some strands of hair belonging to a woman. One month later, another man is killed in exactly the same manner but there appears to be no link whatsoever to the two men apart from the fact that they were both single, lonely, and middle-aged.

Speedway, Indiana native Ricky Wills is a hotshot racecar driver with a chip on his shoulder. As one of the brightest rising stars in the racing world, Ricky competes for a chance to race in the legendary Indianapolis 500, and struggles to maintain his small-town identity as he is swept up by industry fame and the charms of big-city celebrities.

A master criminal known as The Voice has returned from retirement to mastermind a new crime. Unfortunately, Jerry finds he has several highly diverse matters on his hands: the protection of a visiting diplomat's headstrong daughter, a shipment of gold by rail, and a scientist who claims to have discovered the trick of creating gold in the laboratory. Is The Voice's planned caper connected with any of these events?

"Gary Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger have added the final chapter to Bela Lugosi's career, combining fascinating unknown details of his film and stage activities with post-WWII film history. Superbly researched and written as an engrossing story of an actor's struggle against professional decline. A must-read!" (Robert Cremer, author of Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape)