Showing results by narrator "John Rayburn" in All Categories

When a famous actor goes missing, the search leads playwright Richard Copplestone to the seaside town of Scarhaven. Every clue seems to bring about more questions as the intrigue goes much deeper than anyone suspects. Copplestone uncovers layer after layer of dark secrets, many of them involving the attractive Audrey Greyle and her family. If Copplestone does not discover the truth soon, he risks endangering the lives of the friends he has made in Scarhaven, including Audrey.

In the whole history of the English people there is no period so absolutely heroic, so full of enthralling interest, as that in which the might of England made itself apparent by land and sea—the period which saw good Queen Bess mistress of English hearts and Englishmen and sovereign of the great beginnings which came to such a magnificent fruition under Victoria. That was indeed a golden time—an age of great venture and enterprise—a period wherein men’s hearts were set on personal valor and bravery—the day of great deeds and of courage most marvelous.

Richard Viner is basically an average young man on the street who, more or less accidentally, finds a dead body in a dimly lit alley while he’s taking his usual nightly stroll. He calls police and when they arrive they figure it’s likely a robbery gone wrong because the dead man’s valuables are missing. However, a prime suspect is arrested trying to pawn some jewelry belonging to the victim. He happens to be an old school-mate of Viner. Viner discovers the old chum is down and out and needs the money, so he decides to investigate and try get his pal vindicated. 

Teenagers Joe and Frank Hardy had ample mental ability to reach conclusions and act accordingly. Some of that ability was handed down by their former police detective Fenton Hardy, and the overall concept was enhanced by their perceptive cleverness. If you want to be tense with excitement, here’s a chance. They discover a counterfeiting operation in an old mill, are trapped and face a struggle to escape. Eventually, they overcome the misdeeds and wind up with some of the phony money.

In this tale a lead character’s brother has been accused of murder, escapes from prison, and is on the run. The book opens as a small but splendidly built yacht steamed slowly into Torbay, passed Brixham and Paignton, and anchored in the outer harbor at Torquay, England. It was a glorious spring morning, early, and the sun shone on the water with a myriad of dancing reflections; it bathed in light the beautiful town. Now, listeners will have to be alert to keep up with the amazing contradictions you’re going to hear.

As usual for the much-traveled young Biff Brewster, he had major components of adventure and intrigue when his Uncle Charlie contacted him to come to the Caribbean and help with a search for some valuable pearls in and around Martinique. They were first found by Brom Zook, father of Derek Zook, who first surprisingly met with Biff by accident. They were thoroughly astounded to find they looked identical enough to be twins. As the search Biff planned to join his uncle on, they became involved with an evil man named Dietz.

This story begins with travel time for the entire Brewster family as they plan a trip to Hawaii. It includes Bruce (“Biff”), his Mother, and Dad, with the younger twins, Ted and Monica. It’s really exciting for the twins because they have never been outside the continent. One of Dad Tom Brewster’s chief reasons for the journey is a planned meeting with Dr. Johann Weber, scientist and staff consultant for Ajax Mining Company. They were expecting to meet Weber on arrival but a shocking surprise was ahead.

Some months back Biff’s father went to India to legally open up some gold mines that had been absorbed by the India Republic. The setting for same was in exotic and mystical segments of India, with much action to be in and around the vicinity of the Himalayas. At first it was more of a sight-seeing tour than adventure with Biff accompanied by two friends from earlier times … Kamuka, met at the headwaters of the Amazon River in Brazil, and Likake (“Lee”) Mahenili of Hawaii. They headed out by sea and still had one more night to spend on shipboard as they reached Calcutta.

Biff’s father and uncle were both well-traveled and accustomed to unusual situations and they felt it could be a matter of learning and enjoyment for the sixteen-year-old boy. He was big, strong, and very intelligent, so his relatives felt such a trip could add to a future for the lad. It turned our far differently than expectations. A jungle wilderness jam-packed with hazards and thrills. That’s what eventually confronted Biff going through territory inhabited with dreaded head-hunters. It had begun when Biff boarded a plane bound for Brazil and was handed an unexpected letter.

An unusual call from Chinese merchant Ling Tang began an on-going set of circumstances for young Biff Brewster. He was planning a trip to Rangoon in Burma to visit his Uncle Charlie. It seemed such a trip for Biff would be a good way to spend the remainder of his summer vacation from school. It was a pleasant thought for beginning something very different to look forward to. However, “different” isn’t a strong enough description of what was going to happen.

A subtitle of this book is “The Lost World Under the Sea,” and it’s somewhat based on the famed legend of Atlantis. That was an ancient city or continent that was supposedly inundated by the sea. Whether it actually existed has been a question that has lasted for thousands of years.  Greek philosopher Plato wrote about it around 360 BC, so even his possible information was second-hand. Tsunamis (sea storms) have existed for centuries and if there really was an Atlantis, any survivors may have fled inland and built new cities.

A young veteran of WWI in poor health heads to Arizona to try and recover. He meets young Flo Hunter, who successfully nurses him. However, life gets more complicated when his fiancée, Carley Burch, comes to him from back east. She winds up not liking life in the west and goes back to New York. Flo gets badly injured in an accident and vet Glenn Kilbourne wants to repay her for her assistance and proposes marriage. As wedding day approaches, Carley decides she made a mistake and returns to Arizona looking for him. Flo realizes they’re still in love and calls off the marriage.

A weapon used to murder a wealthy business man was apparently an ancient dagger stolen from a museum. It supposedly was from Peru and had a centuries-old inscription that was thought to tell whereabouts of a massive gold stash in the South American country. It was said to have a curse on it for anyone using it to track down the treasure. Professor Craig Kennedy, noted user of science to solve such cases, was contacted to see what he could do. Would his thinking prowess be enough? The finger of blame points at several possibilities as to the guilty party, or possibly parties. 

Being able to unravel and analyze the findings of others was a rare attribute of University Professor Craig Kennedy. He coupled this with use of various gadgets and devices that were commonplace in the early twentieth century. They seem primitive by much of today’s standard equipment but were actual forerunners to what are matter-of-fact equipment, enhanced and extended in the present day. His ability to analyze his findings resulted in the well-earned recognition of “The Scientific Detective.” He was always accompanied by young newspaper reporter Walter Jameson, who kept tabs on plot details.

This was a time that was a major part of western history, a sort of baptism of sweat and blood. Great buffalo herds covered mile after mile, and hide hunters swarmed the plains. They were hard-riding and reckless and killed buffalo by the tens of thousands, bringing on near extinction. The invasion was part of the great western migration, and it caused major confrontations with such Indian tribes as Comanche, Kiowa, Arapaho, and others.

This book has all the ingredients of cowboys, horses, boots, and spurs, in a period of lawlessness that often brought on gunfights in those days. The cowboy hero is Panhandle Smith, known as Pan, as he grew to be wild and free virtually from childhood. The tale prompts seeing, hearing, and feeling what it was like in those bygone days.

Some of the stories by Arthur B. Reeve seem more plausible today than to some skeptical readers back in the early twentieth century. The primary character, University Professor Craig Kennedy, used forensic methods before such criminalistics were commonplace. These include DNA analysis as well as studies of such topics as fingerprints, blood stain patterns, tool marks, and toxicology (poisons used alone or administered in non-lethal potions).

Written nearly a century and a half ago, this book was the first major animal story in children’s literature, although the author had intended it for adults. Anna Sewell had been crippled at a young age, but could still drive a horse-drawn carriage. She often drove her father to the station to go to work and later picked him up to bring him home. During those times, she saw there was often inhumane treatment of horses and was inspired to write about it in order to, as she said, “To induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses.”

IIn the summer of 1850, a topsail schooner slipped into the cove under the rocky promontory of Trinidad Head in California and dropped anchor at the edge of the kelp (algae)-fields. Fifteen minutes later her small-boat deposited on the beach a man armed with long squirrel-rifle and an axe, and carrying food and clothing in a brown canvas pack. From the beach he saw the schooner raise anchor and stand out to sea before the northwest trade winds. When it disappeared from his view, he swung his pack to his broad back and strode resolutely into the timber at the mouth of a little river.

This is a classic mystery novel by the creator of the fictional Chinese detective Charlie Chan. The tale you’re about to hear is in London just before WWI. American visitor Geoffrey West is attracted to a beautiful young lady and he decides to try and get her attention by putting a personal ad in the so-called "Agony Column" of a London newspaper. She sees it and responds by demanding he send her several letters so she can make up her mind as to whether she has any interest in him.  Before anything else happens, Geoffrey winds up being thought possibly guilty of a vicious murder.