Showing results by narrator "Julia Franklin" in All Categories

Manchester, December 1940: this winter, the girls boarding at Star House - Betty, Sally and Lorna - are determined to keep a stiff upper lip. But for Lorna - who is dedicated to caring for the wounded with the Women's Voluntary Service - the past is about to come calling. Lorna is heartbroken when the devastating Christmas Blitz reunites her with her ex-fiancé George. . .As air raids and rescue missions throw George and Lorna together time and again, it becomes clear that nothing about his visit to Manchester is what it seems.

Librarian Pru Pearce is preparing for her wedding to police detective Andy Barnes. But after one of her Women's Institute friends suffers a suspicious accident at Rookery Grange, a home for the elderly and infirm, Pru and the other ladies are on alert. And when one of the residents is asphyxiated with a pillow, no one can rest easy.

How far would you go to protect your child? Can you really keep them safe? What if who they are puts them at risk? And what if they have blood on their hands?Teenager Allie Kennaway heads off for prom night, cheered on by dad Steve and her little sister, Teagan. But Allie never comes home, beaten to death in an apparent hate crime because of her transgender identity. As police investigate the brutal murder, a crime that has appalled the country, one parent is at her wits' end with her son's behaviour.

Tells the story of the married life of Nevis Falconer, a young woman novelist, and Simon Quinn. Temperamentally unsuited, they live this superficial existence for three years, until one day Nevis meets Marcus Chard, her American publisher, who has just arrived in London. Soon friendship develops into love. Nevis finds herself caught in a whirl of circumstances over which she has no control.

The day Maggie Lane dies, she sends her daughter Olivia a letter containing the address of Olivia's first love, Richie Briscoe. Olivia has not seen Richie for over twenty years, not since his desertion of her as a teenager almost destroyed her. Convinced that the note represents an admission of guilt, Olivia sets off for the idyllic seaside village where Richie now lives.

When Gabrielle Newman throws her cheating husband out, Stu cares more about the money than the break-up, getting more than his fair share from their house sale. An unexpected bequest offers Gabrielle a new start and she tries to leave the past behind, heading north with Des Monahan, the private investigator sent to find her. Meanwhile, Stu has got entangled with organized crime in Eastern Europe and is desperate to pay his gambling debts. Gabrielle needs Des's help to protect herself and her inheritance. She's very attracted to Des - but dare she trust any man again?

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.

This wonderful short story collection was first released in print in 2009 by Salt publishing. Robert’s stories are a close, intimate look at friendship, marriage, relationships and the problems and joys that come with the territory. They look at men and women in and out of love and the way we yearn for what was and can never be.

Newly single and unemployed, Cleo Moon ups sticks and moves to the gloriously rustic hamlet of Lovers Knot. With its host of mad but delightful neighbours, she very soon feels at home, especially when she finds The Most Beautiful Boy in the World slumped on her doorstep - the drop-dead-gorgeous and achingly-upper-class Dylan Maguire. But when she is given the taxing task of organising the annual Harvest shindig, things start going horribly wrong for Cleo.

Living above her stepfather's fish and chip shop on Merseyside's Paradise Parade, Emily Barr is glad to escape to the relative peace of her job in Wythenshaw's jewellery factory. And when she is promoted to work for young Mr Giles, the son of the owner, she is the envy of all her workmates. What a catch he would be! Or so it seems.

The Lake District's cold case specialist, DCI Hannah Scarlett, is determined to uncover the truth behind Bethany Friend's apparent suicide in the Serpent Pool. Why would Bethany, so afraid of water, drown herself? Hannah fears that her partner, bookseller Marc Amos, is keeping dark secrets. Does he hold the key to Bethany's past—and why was his best customer burnt to death in an Ullswater boathouse? Hannah still carries a torch for Daniel Kind, who is researching Thomas De Quincey and the history of murder.

Andee Lawrence is in heaven. Well, the South of France to be exact. Ex-detective Andee has swapped freelance investigation and a broken marriage for two months in Provence, renovating a beautiful villa with the new man in her life. Pottering around a small picturesque town on an early summer's day, she is at peace. But her world is about to be shattered. 'Remember me?' Two words spoken by a woman from the back of a car that say so much yet reveal so little.

Rachel has always loved being at the centre of her large family. She has fiercely devoted herself to her three sons all their lives, and continues to do so even now they are all grown up. They are, of course, devoted to her – she and Anthony, their father, hold the family together at their big, beautiful, ramshackle house near the wide, bird-haunted coast of Suffolk. But when Luke, her youngest, gets married, Rachel finds that control is slipping away.

Staffordshire, 1911. Money is in short supply for Ginnie Jones’ family, and she is sent to Haddon Workhouse. When she meets Clara and Sam, she hopes that she has made friends for life...until tragedy strikes. Three years later, Ginnie finds work as a mouldrunner at the Potteries, but never stops thinking about her friends. When Sam and Ginnie are reunited, their bond is as strong as ever, until Sam is sent to fight in the war. Can Ginnie find the joy that she’s never had?

Curiosity about a murder that took place in an 18th century folly draws father and daughter team Peter and Georgia Marsh to attend a summer gala in honour of Jane Austen at Stourdens, a Georgian mansion in Kent. Robert Luckhurst, the murdered former owner of Stourdens, was an avid collector of Jane Austen memorabilia, and his collection is thought to contain secrets about the novelist that still remain to be revealed.

In Honor-Bound Groom, Alexander del Castillo and Loren Dubois have been betrothed almost all their lives - thanks to an agreement made between their old-fashioned dads. But playboy Alexander never really gave the matter any serious thought - until now. With some recent bad press and his family’s wine empire to uphold, Alexander thinks a wedding will help turn things around. Yet convincing Loren to be his bride may not be as easy as he had hoped.

June 1998: Elodie Marshall has committed a terrible crime. But when she's deemed unfit to plead, she is sentenced to living within the confines of a mental health facility . . . Present day: Amateur detective Pru Pearce and her friends from the Winterbottom Women's Institute are about to embark on their annual getaway. The 1960s Butlins-style Harmony Hollows Resort has caught their attention for a few reasons, including the northern ballroom championships and the unsolved double murder from 1983.

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?

The Dangerous Lord Darrington is not a man to be welcomed into a house of unprotected women! He may be an earl, but even in the wilds of Yorkshire Beth Forrester has heard tales of the incorrigible rake that make her toes curl… Unexpectedly hosting such a scandalous celebrity is only the first of Beth’s problems. Now the wicked Lord Darrington has found out about the dark secret she will do anything to protect. How to buy a rake’s silence? There is only one way - with her body!

Oxford historian Daniel Kind and his partner Miranda both want to escape to a new life. On impulse they buy a cottage in Brackdale, an idyllic valley in the Lake District. But though they hope to live the dream, the past soon catches up with them. Tarn Cottage was once home to Barrie Gilpin, suspected of a savage murder. A young woman's body was found on the Sacrifice Stone, an ancient pagan site up on the fell, but Barrie died before he could be arrested. Daniel has personal reasons for becoming fascinated by the case and for believing in Barrie's innocence.