Showing results by narrator "Kris Dyer" in All Categories

London, 1556. Hal Westmecott, one of the city's most feared executioners, reckons Jack Blackjack owes him a favour - and now he's come to collect his dues. Hal has ordered Jack to track down his long-lost son. But when Jack's search draws him to the attention of a ruthless nobleman, a dead priest's vengeful brother and finally to a bloodstained body in a filthy lodging house, he comes to realise he is an unwitting pawn in a mesh of schemes dreamed up by the most powerful people in England. Just who is a friend, who is a foe - and will Jack escape with his life intact?

Meet Mark Anchovy: pizza delivery boy and private detective on his second mission—to Russia. Join Colin Kingsley, a.k.a. Mark Anchovy, on his second case for the Golden Spatula League. Posted to Russia on a school exchange programme, he must find a missing casket of jewelled egg cups. His only lead is a frail ex-detective called Swirly Ben. Who happens to be on the hit list of a jewel thief called Heidi Hyde High. On top of all that, crusty Mr Hogstein is directing the school play. Oh, and Colin's sister, Alicia, has found out what 'extra anchovies' really means.

Marshmallow Pie, a big, fluffy cat with an even bigger personality, is off to Hollywood to star in a movie! Pie is loving his trip - the glamourous people, the luxurious hotel, not to mention the tasty snacks! But most of all, he is dazzled by his new friend Madison: a charming, famous young girl not much older than his owner, Amelia. Madison is desperate to spend time with Pie and show him around town. So why doesn’t Amelia seem so sure about her?

Jack Blackjack spends the night at a Devon tavern, agrees to a game of dice - and ends up accused of murder. To make matters worse, the dead man was the leader of the all-powerful miners who rule the surrounding moors. But who would frame Jack for murder...and why? Jack realises that the only way to clear his name - and save his skin - is to unmask the real killer. But knowing nothing of the local ways and customs, how is he to even begin? As Jack's attempts to find answers stirs up a hornet's nest of warring factions within the town, events soon start to spiral out of control.

Carolyn Kirby's stunning debut takes the listener on a heart-breaking journey through Victorian Birmingham and questions where we first learn violence: from our scars or from our hearts. Birmingham, 1885. Born in a gaol and raised in a workhouse, Cora Burns has always struggled to control the violence inside her. Haunted by memories of a terrible crime, she seeks a new life working as a servant in the house of scientist Thomas Jerwood. Here, Cora befriends a young girl, Violet, who seems to be the subject of a living experiment. But is Jerwood also secretly studying Cora?  

When newlyweds Agnes and Andrew Kinghof are present for the discovery of an over-ripe corpse in the air-raid shelter of their apartment building, the two set out to put their amateur detective skills to work. The dead man's sister is nearly frightened to death by the appearance of a grinning pig's head outside her window, and she claims to be threatened by someone calling himself 'The Pig'. The newlyweds deduce that it must be someone who lives in the same apartment building.

'The scar drew her whole face sideways, and even in profile, with the hideous thing turned away, her face was horribly lopsided, skin, features and all, dragged away from the bone. She was a beautiful girl, a white and golden girl, like moonlight on daisies, a month ago.' And yet the men still hover around her, more out of curiosity than lust, and none more so than the wildly seductive, dangerous funny man Honeybuzzard; lithe as a stick of liquorice, he is the demonic puppet master at the swirling centre of the tale.

In this first novel, Chan comes to the aid of an aristocratic Boston family who find themselves in dire straits over what has befallen Dan Winterslip, the black sheep of the family, who lives in a mansion on Waikiki Beach - the house without a key. The troubles begin when a young nephew is dispatched by the family in Boston to retrieve a wayward aunt who has overstayed her welcome in Dan Winterslip's house.

Colin Kingsley is a pizza delivery boy with a twist. He's actually an aspiring detective. But in sleepy Rufflington-on-Sea, there are no cases to solve - until the Golden Spatula League come calling. The world's premier agency for 'caterer-detectives', run by children, the GSL have been dazzled by Colin's freakish memory skills. To join their ranks, Colin - codenamed 'Mark Anchovy' - must fly to Rome to track down a valuable stolen painting, titled Girl with a Squirrel. The chief suspect: Big Alan Fresco, notorious art thief and pizza addict.

Meet Sergeant Colin Taylor, he has been a valuable member of the police force for over 20 years, five of which have been spent policing the 'quiet' Isles of Scilly, a group of islands off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula. Colin has made it his purpose to keep the streets of Scilly free from anchor thieves, goldfish abductors and other culprits, some drunken, intent on breaking the law. This book is the first-hand account of how he did it.

These 25 new stories mark Graham Swift's return to the short form after seven acclaimed novels and confirm him as a master storyteller. They unite into a richly peopled vision of a country that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions.

Nigel Farage is a maverick and an outsider. But perhaps more than anyone else, he is now shaping the British political agenda. Under his leadership the United Kingdom Independence Party has been turned from a fringe organisation into a new political force, winning seats in the European Parliament and on local councils across the country. Farage has been called a "rabble-rouser", as well as "a man of the people". But he is a far more complex character than most people appreciate.

Christie Malry is a simple man. As a young accounts clerk at a confectionery factory in London, he learns the principles of double-entry bookkeeping. Frustrated by the petty injustices that beset his life - particularly those caused by the behaviour of authority figures - he determines a unique way to settle his grievances: a system of moral double-entry bookkeeping.

Today's unprecedented pace of change leaves many people wondering what new technologies are doing to our lives. Has social media robbed us of our privacy and fed us with false information? Are the decisions about our health, security and finances made by computer programs inexplicable and biased? Will these algorithms become so complex that we can no longer control them? Are robots going to take our jobs? John Browne presents an impassioned defence of progress and innovation and argues that we need not and must not put the brakes on technological advance.

When their circus moves into a new town they soon make friends with a young boy named Tom. But Tom can't enjoy the circus because his granny has disappeared, and he's worried he'll never see her again. With the help of their astonishing circus skills can the Shortbread circus stars crack the clues and find Tom's granny?  

Even before Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, private companies were exploiting space via communication satellites - a sector that is seeing exponential growth in the internet age. In human spaceflight, too, commercialisation is making itself felt. Billionaire entrepreneurs Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson have long trumpeted plans to make space travel a possibility for ordinary people and those ideas are inching ever closer to reality. 

With the divisiveness of public discourse and the complexities of modern business, it is more difficult than ever to be sure that you're making the right decision. Adair provides a clear pathway to improving your judgment, beginning with an exploration of the machinations behind decision-making, before demonstrating how you can develop a stronger understanding and control of your judgment. This is an essential companion for any business leaders interested in making the best decisions for them and their organisation. 

Marshmallow Marmaduke Vanilla-Bean Sugar-Pie Fluffington-Fitz-Noodle is a big, fluffy (and grumpy) cat. He loves the easy life: lazing in the sunshine, eating shrimp crunchies and annoying Buster, the dog downstairs. His new owner, Amelia Lime, has grand plans to turn Pie into a star...but Pie thinks he’s a star already, to be honest! Told in the hilarious voice of Marshmallow Pie himself....

One was the mother who bore him; three were women who adored him; one was the sister he slept with; one was his abused and sodomised wife; one was his legitimate daughter; one was the fruit of his incest; another was his friend Shelley's wife, who avoided his bed and invented science fiction instead. Nine women; one poet named George Gordon, Lord Byron - mad, bad and very, very dangerous to know.

March 1557. Jack Blackjack is back in London and enjoying a sedentary life. After his treacherous voyage back to his beloved city the previous year, he desires nothing more than women, wine, beer and more women. But his new parish of St Helen's has different ideas for him. A week after first laying eyes on the tempting Miss Rachel Nailor, she turns up dead on the church vestry floor...and someone is trying to frame him for her murder! Rachel was a woman with many secrets. But was she murdered in a fit of lustful rage, or was it part of a wider political play?