Showing results by narrator "David Thorpe" in All Categories

Hatushaly and his young wife, Hava, are living a good life, working to reopen the burned-out Inn of the Three Stars in the prosperous trading town of Beran's Hill. But there is a great deal more to this bucolic scene than meets the eye. Both Hatu and Hava were raised on the secret island of Coaltachin, and though they may appear to be no more than a young couple in love preparing for the midsummer festival where their friends Declan and Gwen will be wed, they are in fact assassins on a mission, waiting instructions from their masters in the Kingdom of Night.

Soldier Ralph Delchard and lawyer Gervase Bret lead a group of the king's finest commissioners into the war-torn lands of Yorkshire to settle land claims and compile the Domesday Book. One island of wealth and luxury remains in Yorkshire: the castle of merchant Aubrey Maminot. There the commissioners learn of two great terrors: the rogue Olaf Evil Child, a hero of the poor and conquered Saxon people, and the ravenous lions Aubrey Maminot keeps as pets.

Spring, 1648. When Thomas Hill, a bookseller living in rural Hampshire, publishes a political pamphlet, he has little idea of the trouble that will follow. He is quickly arrested, forced on a boat to Barbados and condemned to life as a slave to two of the island’s most notoriously violent brothers. In England war has erupted again, with London under threat of attack.

Lord James Harrington and his wife, Beth, are taking a well-earned holiday with Stephen and Anne in Polpennarth, Cornwall, where the Cornish Legends festival is taking place. James learns that during the opening procession, a local fisherman vanished, and when further men disappear in broad daylight, he can't help but put his sleuthing hat on. The streets were crowded, yet no witnesses have come forward. If they were kidnapped, why is there no ransom demand? What are the flashing lights off the coastline? Have the Cornish Legends really come to life? James delves into the mystery, but his questions come at a price.

On 7th November 1843, Harriet Monckton, 23 years old and a woman of respectable parentage and religious habits, is found murdered in the privy behind the chapel she regularly attended in Bromley, Kent. The community is appalled by her death, apparently as a result of swallowing a fatal dose of prussic acid, and even more so when the surgeon reports that Harriet was around six months pregnant. Drawing on the coroner’s reports and witness testimonies, Elizabeth Haynes builds a compelling picture of Harriet’s final hours through the eyes of those closest to her and the last people to see her alive.

A single death could plunge the Empire into chaos... Silus, a member of Emperor Caracalla's elite assassins, the Arcani, is dispatched to Numidia. Rumours of assassination plots against Marcellus, the Emperor's closest aide, are rife. Silus must stop them. But the forces arrayed against the Arcani are now as powerful as they are clandestine. Inducted into the Emperor’s bodyguard, his Lions, Silus soon discovers secrets that should have stayed hidden. And as the Emperor becomes ever more reckless in battle, Silus unearths a conspiracy that runs deeper than his worst nightmares.

The Call of the Road reveals the epic battles of all of the racing seasons since the first Tour de France, looking beyond the results to see the drama - not just on the road but within the teams and between individuals - and the politics and scandal that continue to fascinate cycle road race fans everywhere.

I'm a doctor. Mobster. Killer. My hands are covered in filth. I don't have the right to touch anything as clean and pure as Ellison MacAllister. I distance myself...always remaining obscure, composed, restrained. Careful to never allow my eyes to linger too long. Careful to hide my interest. Careful to keep my burning desire buried beneath the surface. I do it for her - suffer in silence - because it's what is best for the woman I love. And she has no idea.

Strangling vines and meat-hungry flora fill this unruly garden of strange stories, selected for their significance as the seeds of the villainous (or perhaps just misunderstood) 'killer plant' in fiction, film and video games. Step within to marvel at Charlotte Perkins Gilman's giant wisteria and H.G. Wells' hungry orchid; hear the calls of the ethereal women of the wood and the frightful drone of the moaning lily; and do tread carefully around E. Nesbit's wandering creepers. Every strain of vegetable threat can be found within this new collection.

It was the dead thing they found hanging from a tree that changed the trip beyond recognition. When four old University friends set off into the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle, they aim to briefly escape the problems of their lives and reconnect. But when Luke, the only man still single and living a precarious existence, finds he has little left in common with his well-heeled friends, tensions rise. A shortcut meant to ease their hike turns into a nightmare scenario that could cost them their lives.

Newly estranged from his girlfriend, Lindy Hey, Inspector Domenic Jejeune returns to Southern Ontario, where he receives news that his brother, Damian, has gone missing in Wood Buffalo National Park while conducting research on whooping cranes. Domenic immediately heads out to try to find him. Back in the UK, Jejeune’s plan to protect Lindy has failed, and she has been kidnapped by his old foe, Ray Hayes. Jejeune's trusty sergeant, Danny Maik, tracks down Lindy, but there is far more to the situation than he anticipated.

Lord James Harrington and his wife, Beth, run a country hotel in West Sussex, England. Autumn has arrived, and they are helping with the Harvest festivities when they learn that escaped convict Locksmith Joe is in the area. James suspects that his good friend Bert knows more about this than he's letting on. When new arrival Christie Cameron is found dead in his bedroom, clues suggest foul play, yet the room was locked from the inside. How did the killer get in? When a second death occurs at the scarecrow festival, James puts his sleuthing hat on. Will a surprise discovery jeopardise his friendship with Bert?

Inspired by a newspaper competition, a group of people discuss enigmatic remarks they have overheard but do not know the meaning of. The phrase ‘Grey’s ghost was black’ sparks much intrigue and speculation, as series detective John Appleby recounts the mysterious tale of an author, his ghost writer and his ghost writer’s ghost.

The king's coronation brings hope. Until a murderer strikes. Spring 1661: After years of civil war followed by Oliver Cromwell's joyless rule as Lord Protector, England awaits the coronation of King Charles II. The mood in London is one of relief and hope for a better future. But when two respectable gentlemen are found in a foul lane with their throats cut, it becomes apparent that England's enemies are using the newly re-established post office for their own ends.

It took us 200 years to establish 15 colonies on the closest habitable planets to Earth. It took the Ghosts only 20 years to destroy them. Navy pilot Colm Mackenzie is no stranger to the Ghosts. He has witnessed firsthand the mayhem and tragedy they leave in their wake. No one knows where they came from or how they travel or what they want. They know only one thing for sure: Ghosts leave no survivors.

In a gloomy flat off Islington High Street, Chief Inspector Brett Nightingale and Sergeant Beddoes find an old woman dead. The Princess Olga Karukhin, who fled from Russia at the time of the Revolution, has lived in terror of being discovered ever since. Olga's grandson, Ivan, appears to have run from the scene but is later seen returning to the flat as though oblivious to the terrible crime. Taking place between 22nd and 24th December, Nightingale's enquiry takes him across London, culminating in the wrapping up of the mystery on Christmas Eve.

When an epidemic outbreak occurs, the most physical and financial harm historically falls upon the people who can least afford it: the economically and socially marginalized. Where people live and work, how they commute and socialize, and more have a huge impact on the risks we bear during an outbreak. In The Rich Flee and the Poor Take the Bus, economist Troy Tassier examines examples ranging from the 430 BCE plague of Athens to the COVID-19 pandemic to demonstrate why marginalized groups bear the largest burden of epidemic costs-and how to avoid these systemic failures in the future.

The English Army is besieging Carrickfergus in Ireland. Brilliant but unusual gunner Holcroft Blood of the Royal Train of Artillery is ready to unleash his cannons on the rebellious forces of deposed Catholic monarch James II. But this is more than war for Captain Blood; a lust for private vengeance burns within him. French intelligence agent Henri d'Erloncourt has come across the seas to foment rebellion against William of Orange, the newly installed Dutch ruler of England, Scotland and Ireland.

From atop the choppy waves to the choking darkness of the abyss, the seas are full of mystery and rife with tales of inexplicable events and encounters with the unknown. In this anthology we see a thrilling spread of narratives: sailors are pitched against a nightmare from the depths, invisible to the naked eye, a German U-boat commander is tormented by an impossible transmission via Morse Code, a ship ensnares itself in the kelp of the Sargasso Sea and dooms a crew of mutineers, seemingly out of revenge for her lost captain.

For the first time in audio, the Cycle of Fire Trilogy, a stout and epic tale mixing Sci Fi and Fantasy by acclaimed author Janny Wurts. Book 3 Shadowfane:The concluding novel in the "Cycle of Fire" fantasy trilogy. Jaric inherits his father's powers, and as he struggles to successfully assume them, mankind's enemies are growing strong.Janny Wurts is the author of several fantasy series, and the internationally best selling Empire trilogy written in collaboration with Raymond E. Feist.