Showing results by narrator "Sally Armstrong" in All Categories

Summoned in the early hours of the morning to a Glasgow flat, forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod is confronted by a horrific crime scene. A teenage boy has been found mutilated and strangled to death by a vicious killer. But her grim task of scanning for evidence is made even more unsettling than normal by the boy’s remarkable resemblance to her – and by the fact that she gave up a baby boy for adoption 17 years ago. Overcome by guilt, Rhona sets out to find the boy’s killer and establish whether the young victim is her long-lost son.

Filled with startling twists, Whiteout is the ultimate knife-edge drama from Ken Follett - an international best-selling author who is in a class of his own. As a blizzard whips down from the north on Christmas Eve, several people converge on a remote family house. Stanley Oxenford, director of a pharmaceutical research company, has everything riding on a drug he is developing to fight a lethal virus.

When notorious millionaire banker Lars Anderson hangs himself from the old oak tree in front of his Kent mansion his death attracts no sympathy. But the legacy of a lifetime of self-serving is widespread, the carnage most acute amongst those he ought to be protecting: his family. Meanwhile, in a wealthy suburb of Glasgow, a young woman is found savagely murdered in her home. The genteel community is stunned by what appears a vicious, random attack.

While illegally street racing in the underground tunnels of Glasgow, four Harley-Davidson riders make a horrifying discovery: a dead man left in the darkness, hands together on his chest as if peacefully laid to rest. The cause of death is unclear, the only clues being a half glass of red wine and a partially eaten chunk of bread by his side that echo the ancient religious practice of sin-eating. Called to the scene, forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod is perplexed by the lack of evidence. 

Mark Howitt expects a fun, no-strings night of passion with Leila. But when he wakes up in the early hours of the morning, he is horrified to stumble upon his former bed partner dead and suspended from the ceiling alongside 27 Barbie dolls. Rhona Macleod's forensic investigation of the scene reveals the cord used to hang Leila to be a cingulum, an artefact used in the practise of Wicca, and sketches hidden in nine of the dolls suggest the dolls are linked with nine men.

Time for the Dead is a gripping crime novel by Lin Anderson and sees forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod discover that a terrifying war is unfolding on Scotland's Isle of Skye. Traumatised by her last case, Rhona returns to her roots on the Isle of Skye to recuperate. A chance encounter with Border collie Blaze in the woods behind ACE Target Sports leads her to what is undoubtedly a crime scene, but without a victim. Could this be linked to a group of army medics fresh back from Afghanistan, who visited the centre, and can no longer be located on the island?

On holiday in the Scottish Highlands, forensic scientist Dr Rhona MacLeod joins a mountain rescue team on Cairngorm summit, where a mysterious plane has crash-landed on the frozen Loch A’an. Added to that, a nearby climbing expedition has left three young people dead, with a fourth still missing. Meanwhile in Glasgow, DS McNab’s raid on the Delta Club produces far more than just a massive haul of cocaine. 

Sanday, one of Britain's northernmost islands, is remote and often inaccessible. When human remains are discovered behind an old primary school, forensic expert Doctor Rhona MacLeod arrives to excavate the grave. Approaching midwinter, daylight is scarce, the weather inhospitable and the residents uncooperative. When the death of an old man in Glasgow appears to have links with the island, DS Michael McNab is dispatched to investigate. Then a series of unexplained incidents occurs....

Cold. Ruthless. Deadly. The myth of Lady Macbeth looms large. But behind the villainous portrait stands a real woman. This is her story.... Scotland, AD 1020 - King Malcolm II is fading fast. It is North vs South, for two families have a claim on the inheritance of his crown. Who will gain the Scottish throne? On the eve of her 16th birthday, a flushed and nervous Cora MacDuff waits to marry her sweetheart, Macbeth. But her dreams are about to be stolen from her as the night she was hoping for turns into a brutal slaughter. In order to reclaim the life she was promised, she will learn to use every weapon at her disposal - even her son.   

With its dark legends and passionate history, the windswept shores of Scotland are an archaeologist's dream. Verity Grey is thrilled by the challenge of uncovering an ancient Roman campsite in a small Scottish village. But as soon as she arrives, she senses danger in the air. Her eccentric boss, Peter Quinnell, has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is convinced he's finally found it....

It’s Edinburgh, Scotland, days before the biggest New Year’s party in the world. When Karen, a young homeless girl, dies in a case of suspected arson, her friend Jaz sets out to avenge her death. Faced with similar cases in Glasgow, Dr Rhona MacLeod heads to the capital to establish whether the string of attacks are linked. Arriving as festivities begin to get under way, Rhona starts her investigation and is confronted by combative Severino MacRae, the city’s chief fire investigator.

Mary McIntyre's disappearance tore the local community apart, inflicting wounds that still prove raw for those who knew her. So when the present-day discovery of a child’s remains are found in a peat bog south of Glasgow, it seems the decades-old mystery may finally be solved. Called in to excavate the body, forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod uses the advances made in forensic science since Mary’s vanishing to determine what really happened all those years ago...and who was responsible. 

When Amy MacKenzie agrees to attend a meeting at a local spiritualist church, the last person she expects to hear calling to her from beyond the grave is her son. The son whom she'd only spoken to an hour before. Then the body of a young man is found inside a neolithic stone circle high above the city of Glasgow and forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod is soon on the case. DI Michael McNab is certain it's a gangland murder, but Rhona isn't convinced.

Set in treacherous sixteenth-century Scotland, Border Bride is the unforgettable story of a woman sworn to defy the knight she is forced to wed - only to discover a love she’ll do anything to claim. As Mary, Queen of Scots, languishes in the Tower of London as a prisoner of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, war tears Scotland apart. To save her beloved homeland, a proud Highland beauty named Mary Kate MacPherson must wage her own battle when she’s forced into wedlock with a knight, Sir Adam Douglas.

Heather is a pig whose best friend is a girl called Isla. They all live on a farm in Scotland until a thunderstorm destroys everything and forces Isla's dad to sell up and move to London - leaving Isla and Heather miles apart and utterly miserable. Then fate intervenes, turning Heather into a national celebrity and catapulting her to fame, fortune and, most excitingly of all...London. Armed only with her own pigheadedness, Heather embarks on a quest to track down Isla.

Amanda Scott concludes her thrilling Border trilogy with the incandescent story of a woman and a man who are mortal foes…until they're undone by love. The rebellious daughter of a Scottish march warden, Lady Laurie Halliot is as fearless as she is beautiful. Now, to protect her runaway sister who stands accused of murder, Laurie offers herself as hostage - and reluctant bride - to the man who is her country's enemy. She prays that her sister will return before the next wardens' meeting, or Laurie herself will have to bear the punishment.

Under cover of night, he leads his ragtag army to defend Scotland's borders against their English enemies. Few know that Rabbie Redcloak, the legendary highwayman who could find his way to hell and back, is in reality Sir Quinton Scott, scion of a powerful Scottish clan. Captured during a daring raid, he's sentenced to hang. Luck comes his way in the form of an unlikely savior: a silver-blond beauty who risks her life to save his.

When Holly's mother puts her on the Edinburgh train in the care of a complete stranger, who happens to be a children's author, none of them have any idea of what is going to happen. The following weeks will be unlike anything Holly has known before.

In 1998, BBC Radio 4 found it had a new star on its hands. From the opening monologue ("You see when the boys in the playground found out that I had a potentially fatal allergy to peanuts, they used to shove me up against a wall and make me play Russian roulette with a bag of Revels") to the closing number ("Milton Jones, Milton Jones, so good they named him"), everything about the show was different, weird, and funny.

The world knows Ophelia as Hamlet's troubled lover, but behind Shakespeare's tragedy stands a real woman. This is her story.... The second novel in the new historical fiction series from the best-selling author of The Queens of Conquest, Joanna Courtney's new trilogy unearths the real women behind Shakespeare's most infamous queens. If you love Elizabeth Chadwick and Anne O'Brien you will adore Joanna Courtney.