Showing results by publisher "Soundings" in All Categories

Maxwell’s Millennium is not quite like other people’s - for a start, it is a year later. After much quibbling with the maths department, everyone calls it an honourable draw and he celebrates as only he can: with his cat, his model soldiers and his Southern Comfort. A knock on the door could be Jacquie Carpenter, released from night shift earlier than expected, but instead of a warm girl Maxwell opens his door to find a very cold old lady, dead and naked.

History teacher Peter 'Mad Max' Maxwell, a bit of a maverick, is sent on a short-term swap with another teacher at a nearby private school, Grimonds.

Sam Grant is tasked with the job of tracing the vendor of a painting that had come up for sale at a London auction room. Produced by a German Jewish artist who had perished in a Nazi concentration camp, the painting had been stolen from a schloss in Lower Saxony in World War Two. Then it had apparently vanished. Now it has surfaced 50 years later. So who had possessed it in those years? Grant has to find the answer for Gerda Hoffman, an attractive blonde. But the case turns out to be more dangerous and life-threatening than he could have anticipated…

Felicity Holland is missing. She left her handsome West London house to go to her weekly pottery class and didn't come back. She's a mature, sensible woman with a stable home life and a happy marriage - no reason to abscond. Her distraught husband is convinced she must have been snatched. DCI Bill Slider and his team know that when a woman goes missing, you have to move fast if there's to be a hope of finding her alive. But with no evidence of foul play - nothing to go on at all - where do you even start looking?

1325: Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and his friend Simon Puttock are sent to France to guard the King’s son. The King’s son must pay homage to the French King if he is to enable the English to keep hold of vital territory, but they are unaware that King Edward’s wife, Isabella, has grown so disaffected that she has begun to plot her revenge.

Mrs Porter takes charge of her daughter's unhappy marriage. When war breaks out in France, her selfish husband manages to escape but finds himself at the mercy of his mother-in-law, penniless. He must overcome his arrogance if his wife is to love him again.

For Miss Cordell, principal of Persephone College, there are two great evils to be feared: unladylike behaviour among her students and bad publicity for the college. So her prim and cosy world is turned upside down when a secret society of undergraduates meets by the river on a gloomy January afternoon only to find the drowned body of the college bursar floating in her canoe.

Lord Westfield's Men, the most successful troupe in London and a prime target for jealousy and resentment, are plagued by a series of practical jokes. But when one of their actors is murdered, the humour turns distinctly sour. Appalling events continue: Lawrence Firethorn, actor manager, is stalked by a mysterious lady; the sole copy of The Malevolent Comedy - the company's new play - is stolen; their leading apprentice is abducted; and there is an attempt on the life of Lord Westfield, their patron.

What do mascara wands and gardening shears have in common? Absolutely nothing! At least that’s what wannabe beauty influencer Sophie Timney thinks when her friend Polly suggests involving her brother Marcus in Sophie’s makeup tutorials. She needs more views, Marcus needs promotion for his gardening business - in Polly’s mind joining forces will help them both. Sophie isn’t so sure. Because Marcus Bowman has a habit of getting under her skin in a way that no exfoliating face scrub ever could.

Young widow Louise Rutherford longs to find a new husband, and when a handsome American officer arrives to recruit volunteers for a secret project, she senses an opportunity. Her efforts are hampered, though, by her determination to help a 10-year-old war orphan, George Nelson. On both sides of the street there are challenges to face. Jen Carter's relationship with Henry Keller is threatened when an old flame reappears in her life. Her mother Joyce's decision to take romance slowly threatens to become a dangerous mistake when the V1 rockets start hitting London.

London, 1940. After her fiancé breaks off their engagement, Evelyn decides to do her part for the war effort by signing up for construction work on Waterloo Bridge. Grieving after her little boy dies in an air raid, Gwen is completely lost when her husband sends their younger children to the countryside for safety. Enlisting as a construction worker, she is partnered with cheerful Evelyn. The two women strike up a heartwarming friendship. 

Sixteen-year-old Charlotte Kirby believes she's all alone in the world when her mother is killed in a bombing raid. But then a mysterious aunt comes forward and offers her a home in the small Yorkshire village where she and her husband George run the local pub. Charlotte finds it hard to adjust to rural life. She doesn't mind helping out in the pub, but she can't understand why her Aunt Hilda seems to resent her so. When a group of French orphans are brought to live in the big house, Charlotte volunteers to help look after them.

Manchester, 1940. By day, Betty works cheerfully with her best friend Sally, now the manager of the salvage depot. By night, they both do their bit for the war effort as Auxiliary Fire Service girls. But Betty wishes she could do more. So when Samuel, a kind and gentle young bookseller, needs help sorting out novels to entertain the boys overseas, Betty volunteers. Anything for the troops! But then Sally's home is destroyed, and her surviving possessions stolen by looters. Desperate to help her friend, Betty could never have expected the guilt when she uncovers what really happened.

The French Revolution is turning in on itself even as the war with the English drags on. As the armies move towards Italy, George Markham and his Marines find themselves assigned to the sloop Sylphide under the impetuous Captain Germain. Set ashore in the midst of the French army, Markham is charged with escorting a group of loyalists on a secret mission and is soon wishing he was back in the thick of it at sea.

Gurney Close isn’t the sort of place where anything untoward should happen. It’s just a small, newly-built cul-de-sac with three nice houses and a bungalow overlooking the river Wye. The people who move in – three married couples and a divorcee – don’t expect much excitement beyond some neighbourhood friendliness. With this in mind, they organise a party to celebrate moving in. Everything goes well and a good time is had by all – until one of them is found dead the next morning.

London, 1914. Sick and injured servicemen are returning home and Lizzie Kellaway and her godmother Margaret Penrose are determined to do their bit to help them. With Lizzie's beautiful singing voice and Margaret's talent for the piano, concerts in hospitals and convalescent homes offer the perfect opportunity to lift the spirits of men who have suffered so much. When Polly Meadows's fiancé rejects her and leaves for the war, she doesn't hesitate before travelling to London to be with her childhood friend, Lizzie.

Even in wartime, East End girl Nancy Evans has reason to hope. She's a rising star in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, and she'll be walking down the aisle any day now...but then a brutal night of bombing changes her life forever. Newly pregnant and single, Nancy swaps her blue uniform for a pinny, taking on housekeeping duties for handsome village doctor David Denny. And though Nancy tries to stay cheerful and contribute to the war effort in any way she can, it isn't long before she finds herself leaning on David for comfort....

Jo Docherty and Hattie Contaldo have a vision - a holiday retreat in the heart of the Lake District exclusively for guests of 'a certain age' wishing to stimulate both mind and body with new creative experiences. One hotel refurbishment later and the Best Boomerville Hotel is open for business! Perhaps not surprisingly, Boomerville attracts more than its fair share of eccentric clientele.

When her childhood best friend shows Ella that you can't always believe what you see, Ella finds herself thrown into the world of the German Resistance. On a dark night in 1941, Claudia is taken by the Gestapo, likely never to be seen again, unless Ella can save her. With the help of the man she loves, Ella must undertake her most dangerous mission yet and infiltrate the Nazi Party. 

Having had his retirement snatched from him by malfunctioning technology, Peter “Mad Max” Maxwell finds himself facing yet another year at Leighford High School. His wife, Jacquie, is further annoyed when a family holiday quickly becomes an impromptu Year Seven trip to the Isle of Wight. The situation takes another turn for the worse when the wife of Tom Medlicott, the new Head of Art, goes missing.