Showing results by narrator "Julia Franklin" in All Categories

Nina Cattermole had an unusual death: headbutted by a horse as she protested against the local hunt. The official verdict is that it was a freak accident. But for the Cattermoles it is merely the start of their troubles. On the day of the funeral a family friend, himself a hunt saboteur, is found dead in a ditch. Local CID Detective Den Cooper is sent to investigate. It soon becomes clear that this is not another accident....

Between managing a bustling beauty salon, hectic volunteer commitments and the lion's share of parenting two-year-old Claudia, Angie McIntyre barely has time to turn around. And with each passing month, she feels her relationship with fly-in, fly-out boyfriend Rob Jones slipping through her fingers. When Rob faces retrenchment and the most fabulous fixer-upper comes onto the market, Angie knows this derelict weatherboard cottage will be the perfect project to draw their little family together.

Fifty-five-year-old Jim Lapsford makes an unusually healthy-looking corpse. Having spent his life taking vitamin pills and herbal remedies, it seems almost ironic that he has succumbed to a heart attack. But ex-nurse and trainee undertaker Drew Slocombe is convinced that there is enough conflicting medical evidence to merit a coroner’s inquest though. Whilst Drew may have plenty of suspects, he has no proof. And Jim’s cremation is days away.

As the only female cabinet maker in the valley in 1935, Frankie Redfern is unusual. She faces prejudice even from her own mother. But she's content working for her father and is unwilling to give up her independence or the work she loves for marriage. When her husband falls gravely ill, Frankie's mother takes over, causing serious trouble for her daughter. And her cousin, an unscrupulous local builder, starts to help her for his own reasons.

Ellie Quicke, although comfortably re-married, is still inclined to act hastily. But when she took in a young rape victim, she didn’t expect it to become an invitation to murder. When she was released from the hospital, Mia had nowhere to go. Mia is threatened by violent deaths which dog her every move . . . and Ellie’s. But who is responsible for these terrifying “accidents”? Ellie has other things on her mind as well, after being asked to help organise the weddings of both her best friend and her daughter.

Little Billy, Polly's son, is the light of her life. It's for his sake that she puts up with an unkind mother-in-law and life on an isolated farm. When Billy is knocked down by a car, his father is killed attempting to save his life, and Polly, cast off by her husband's family, is left with a child who may never walk or talk again. Polly turns to her own family for support, but they are unable to outmanoeuvre the malicious Dr Browning-Baker, who is determined to have Billy taken away from his mother, depriving him of the exercises and stimulation that are his only hope. 

Eighteen-year-old Moll Chambers works her fingers to the bone doing all she can to support her family. With an ailing father and a wayward mother, Moll is the only one who can look after her siblings, Bo and Sissy. But Manchester is an increasingly dangerous place to live, overrun with a ferocious rivalry between gangs of so-called 'scuttlers': young men and women bent on a life of violence and crime. And they have her brother in their sights. Soon even Moll can't protect Bo from the lure of the criminal underworld.

Winter has arrived in the town of Windermere and has brought with it the death of Frances Henderson, the best friend of Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown's mother. Simmy must cope with the loss of an important figure from her childhood as well as the confusion at being bequeathed something in Frances' will. When Frances' husband is violently murdered, Simmy must face the fact that the family she was once so close to as a child holds some dark secrets.

Returning from a much-needed holiday, Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown discovers that life in the Lake District is, as ever, far from relaxing. Before she can enjoy the idea of being the future Mrs Chris Henderson, her fiancé discovers the body of his friend, antique dealer Jonathan Woolley, brutally strangled in a house in Grasmere. Enlisting the help of her friends and amateur detectives Ben and Bonnie, the investigation appears to ask more questions than it answers as historical grudges against the dead man are revealed. It seems that many people had a reason for wanting him dead. 

Meet Patience Portefeux, 53, an underpaid Franco-Arab judicial interpreter for the Ministry of Justice who specialises in telephone tapping. Widowed after the sudden death of her husband, Patience is now wedged between university fees for her two grown-up daughters and nursing home costs for her ageing mother. She’s laboured for 25 years to keep everyone’s heads above water.

Susie Moran is a success. She has founded and run her own highly profitable company, and now her three daughters are all involved in the business. Rooted in the traditions of the Stoke-on-Trent potteries, and producing charming, useable objects of distinctive design, Susie is justly proud of her family and her achievement – and has no intention of letting it change. But what of the men in the family? Susie’s husband, a musician and artist, has always seemed happy to take a back seat.

Waspish, wise, and wickedly witty, this is a collection to treasure forever. Reviewers have been describing Fay Weldon's inimitable voice for years. Now, here is Fay Weldon in her own words, selecting and introducing her favourite short stories from across her career as one of Britain's foremost contemporary novelists.

Pru Plum is the owner of a famous Mayfair bakery. She wears Chanel and her hair is expensively cut. Few would believe that she turned sixty-six last year. But Pru is not the confident, successful businesswoman she appears. She has done shameful things to get to where she is today. And she will do anything to protect the secrets of her past - especially now she has finally fallen in love...

Summer has come to Windermere, where Persimmon "Simmy" Brown runs her own florist shop. But the shop is struggling for money, so a contract to provide floral displays for a hotel in Hawkshead couldn't have arrived at a better moment. However Simmy's association with the hotel soon turns sinister when she finds a body in the lake. To make matters worse, her friend, Ben Harkness, is now missing and thought to be kidnapped.

The sun is out, and the beach huts at Everdene Sands are filling up once again. Jemima is artist in residence for the summer, capturing the antics of the holiday makers on canvas. But it's not long before she becomes embroiled in their tangled lives.Vince and Murphy are best mates, and misspent their youths in the waves and bars of Everdene. Now they are making plans for The Lobster Shack, eager to make their fortune.

Charlotte Goodman is living the dream. Surrounded by family, friends and a stunning vineyard overlooking the ocean, it would be difficult for anyone to believe that she has a troubled past. However, haunted by the theft of a young girl, Charlotte begins to realise the enormity of something she did many years ago and soon finds herself having to make the most harrowing decision any woman would ever have to face.

Dan Riley is a major in the British Army. After a six month tour of duty in Afghanistan, he is coming home to the wife and young daughters he adores. The outside world sees those reunions as a taste of heaven after months of hell.But are they? Can a man trained to fight adjust again to family and domestic life? And how will the family cope, if he can't?

A huge funeral for Windermere’s popular resident, Barbara Dodge, is taking place, and florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown and her new assistant, Bonnie Lawson, are busy compiling wreaths in preparation. There’s word of a series of sinister dognappings occurring in nearby Troutbeck, and whilst taking a walk up Wansfell Pike, Simmy and her father, Russell, stumble on a dog strangled to death - it’s not long before Simmy reluctantly finds herself caught up in a murder investigation.

Kesterly-on-Sea is full of secrets. Some are darker than others; many are shameful. One is even deadly. Andee is an ex-detective whose marriage is breaking up. So when a young female student disappears without a trace, she throws herself into the search. Meanwhile the town's beloved Rowzee Cayne has just discovered that she is terminally ill and doesn't want to burden her family and friends with the news. Andee and Rowzee don't know it yet, but their journeys are going to help them uncover a secret.

When her sister disappears, can Ellen Ryan keep her beloved niece safe? For the inhabitants of Liverpool's Milton Street a steady income and a roof over their heads are luxuries. The Ryan family have barely grown accustomed to such things when a fire destroys their father Jack's modest coal haulage business, leaving Jack broken and his family facing ruin. They're forced to turn to Conor, Jack's brother from Ireland, a man whose noisy joviality 17-year-old Ellen Ryan suspects hides a mean viciousness.