Showing results by narrator "Anne Dover" in All Categories

A Pawnshop Robbery: It's no rest for the wicked as Kate Shackleton picks up her second professional sleuthing case. But exposing the culprit of a pawnshop robbery turns sinister when her investigation takes her to Harrogate - and murder is only one step behind.... A Fatal Stabbing: A night at the theatre should be just what the doctor ordered - until Kate stumbles across a body in the doorway.

It's 1919 in Ashford-in-the-Water, Derbyshire. The Ryan family are adjusting to life in the aftermath of the First World War. Walter has returned home a broken man, and so it falls to his son, Josh, and daughter, Emily, to do their best to keep their family business as the village candle makers going. Josh and Emily are great friends with Thomas 'Trip' Trippet, whose father owns a cutlery manufacturing company in Sheffield, and Amy Clark, daughter of the local blacksmith.

When Sally Westwood moves into a large Victorian house that she has been left by a stranger, she is unaware that her benefactor died at the hands of her grandson, who is expected to inherit. The house holds a secret that Sally must reveal before she and her husband are out of danger. Mystery and intrigue surround them. The story goes back to the previous century, revealing something that is hidden in the house. Something that a man would kill to get his hands on.

1943, Hampshire. Pixie Saunders is 19 and employed in the local armaments factory. Not for the first time, her mother has run off with a dodgy-looking bloke, leaving Pixie to pay the rent and fend for herself. Pixie, along with her best friend, Rita; Em, the factory overseer; and the rest of the girls are making the most of the war while trying to stay alive. The work is dangerous and the hours long, but in the evenings they take off their overalls and go to the pub or, better still, go dancing.

1912 in The Yorkshire Dales and Alice Bentham and her brother Will have lost their mother to cancer. Money is scarce and pride doesn't pay the doctor or put food on the table. Alice gets work at Whernside Manor looking after Lord Frankland's fragile sister Miss Nancy. Meanwhile Will and his best friend Jack begin working for the Lord of the Manor at the marble mill. But their purpose there is not an entirely honest one.

Paddington station, nine a.m., rush hour. As the crowds ebb and flow, time suddenly stands still for two people: Fern and Elliott, ex-lovers who parted twenty-five years before and never expected to see each other again. But here they are, face to face, and the connection is as powerful as it was the day they first met. Their lives have moved on - to marriage, children and divorce - yet neither has stopped regretting the day that drove them apart. Fern gives Elliott her number and they tentatively arrange to meet.

Kathy Burton longs to escape the drudgery of her life as an unpaid labourer on her father's farm. With only the local church choir and the occasional dance at the village hall for amusement, she yearns for the bright lights. Spurning Morry Robinson's proposal of marriage, Kathy goes to live in the city with his aunt, Jemima Robinson. In turn, she finds employment for Kathy in a department store, but is anxious when Kathy is captivated by the sophisticated and handsome floor manager, Tony Kendall.

Polly Longden's china-doll looks belie a strong and fiery personality. When typhoid strikes her home city of Lincoln, she needs every ounce of that strength in order to cope. With the death of her mother, thirteen-year-old Polly has to give up her ambition of becoming a teacher to care for her family. When their father, too, falls victim to the typhoid, his only hope is to go to hospital, leaving Polly to cope alone. Thankfully she has the support of her neighbours: Bertha Halliday and her son, Leo, a young policeman.

Fleur Bosley didn't believe in love at first sight, at least not until she bumped into Robbie Rodwell on a railway station in the blackout of wartime Britain. Posted to a newly built Lincolnshire airfield, Robbie as a wireless operator on bombers and Fleur as an R/T operator in the watch office, their only escape is to the little cottage in the nearby village where Fleur is billeted with another WAAF, Ruth. The two girls become good friends, but Ruth, already hurt by the loss of one of the pilots, does not approve of wartime romances.

Back in 1950 Pamela Rhodes became one of the first policewomen in the country. But the force's new female recruits faced a sceptical public in rural Yorkshire and even before they stepped out on the beat there were the prejudices of older male officers to overcome. Yet from the first Pam was thrust into the front line. From runaway bulls to investigating ladies of the night and cases of vice, her innocent eyes were quickly opened.

Maddy Kiernan knows her situation is desperate. With her parents dead, her brother Thomas is left as guardian to her and her sister, Carmel, and Thomas, Maddy is all too aware, only cares about himself. When his plans to marry the daughter of the Protestant canal agent backfire Thomas takes off to Liverpool, leaving the girls to fend for themselves against the lecherous agent. Taking the momentous decision to follow their brother, Maddy leaves for Liverpool. Within days the girls are destitute, reduced to living in a cellar, their money gone. Eventually, Maddy finds work as a maid to an old lady....

Bel Huntley married too young. If Miles could only give her the daughter she longs for after four sons, she might yet rediscover her love for him. While Bel dreams of a daughter, Jean Carter prays for a son. Jack, her husband, pours scorn on Jean’s failure to provide him with an heir. When Bel finally gives birth to a daughter, Jean becomes suspicious. Could there have been something between Bel and her husband, who always fathers daughters? In her jealous grief, Jean invokes an old curse.

Local Whitby girl, Colette Shipley has become fascinated by the mysteries of the new art of photography and begins to create a record of her scenic home town with its tall ships and twin lighthouses, street urchins and weathered old fishermen. One day she encounters Arthur Newton who shares her passion for the town's unique atmosphere. Colette and Arthur begin a friendship that develops further. However, unbeknown to Collette, Arthur is also married with a young child. Arthur has tried to be content with his steady job at the railways and his marriage to his childhood sweetheart Rose.

Scarborough, 1938. When Jane and Nell are brought together by a chance encounter, Jane, unhappy at home, sees an opportunity to escape when Nell invites her to visit her family in Lowestoft. However, they have no idea that their friendship will be tested through the trials of love, hardship and war. Nell's friends, Simon and Ewan, accept Jane as one of their own and welcome her into their world. But the threat of war soon brings changes for all four of them.

1858 - When a wheel breaks on 20-year-old Betsy Palmer’s trap as she is crossing the North York Moors on her way to Rosedale with jewellery to sell to the ironstone miners, she is helped by Jim Fenwick, a supervisor on the mining project, and a special relationship between them develops. In Newcastle, love is also blossoming between Robert Addison, son of a successful merchant, and Adele Jordan when Robert discovers something scandalous that he fears will ruin many people’s lives.

Forced by circumstance to seek refuge with Fleur, her young daughter, in the remote abbey of Saint Marie-de-la-Mer, Juliette reinvents herself as Soeur Auguste under the tutelage of the kindly Abbess. But times are changing: the murder of Henri IV becomes the catalyst for massive upheaval in France. A new appointment is made, and Juliette's new life begins to unravel. For the new Abbess is Isabelle, the eleven-year-old child of a corrupt and noble family.

At the dawn of the Victorian epoch two young sisters, industrious Carrie and vivacious May, lose home and livelihood when their Leeds pub is sold to make way for the coming of the railway. They head for Harrogate to find work in the burgeoning hotel trade only to fall prey to fraudsters before being driven apart by misunderstanding, pride and a mutual sense of betrayal. Estranged from one another, Carrie and May must each pursue their own destinies as they seek to overcome misfortune and look for lasting happiness.

The village of Burracombe is looking forward to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, but the year of 1953 is to prove a year of heartbreak as well as celebration. While Stella Simmons begins to plan her wedding, her sister Maddy is only just coming to terms with the loss of her own fiancé; Val and Luke Ferris are wondering if they will ever become parents, and Hilary Napier wonders if love will ever find her. The Tozer family also face anxiety.

Hull, 1930. A terrified woman runs through the dark, rain-lashed streets pursued by a man, desperate to reach the sanctuary of the local police station. Alice Goddard runs with one thing in mind: her daughter. In her panic she is hit by a car and rushed to hospital. When she wakes, she has no memory of who she is, but at night she dreams of being hunted by a man, and of a little girl. The weeks pass, but even her own mother is evasive about the girl’s whereabouts. Penniless and homeless, Alice must rebuild her life, hoping that one day she will be reunited with her lost daughter.

After facing the horrors of the Crimean War, Adam Brooksbank returns to Black Moss Farm filled with regret over the path in life he has chosen. Starting anew, he decides to focus on rebuilding his family’s rundown farm and make it a home again. Lucy Bancroft lives with her parents on Prospect Terrace which backs onto the local tannery and is the most beautiful girl in the village. But unfortunately her wealth doesn’t match her looks, and she soon realises that nobody wants to court a girl from the filthy Flay Pits, let alone marry her.