Showing results by narrator "Ron Keith" in All Categories

What would it be like to cast aside the industrial bustle of the early 20th century to hop a freighter bound for the verdant jungles and untamed wildlife of the fabled Amazon? H.M. Tomlinson did just that, trading the streets of Swansea, Wales, for the open sea of the Atlantic. Thanks to Tomlinson's sharp eye for detail, his spellbinding account of this 1909 journey is much more than a standard travel narrative.

There was once a village off the coast of Cornwall, England where people were so poor that they prayed for shipwrecks. They made their living by salvaging food and clothing from the wreckage. Some of them lit fires during a storm to lure ships onto the rocks. Then these "wreckers" made sure that no one survived the wrecks, so there would be no witnesses to their crimes. One stormy night in 1799, 14-year-old John Spencer was unfortunate enough to be on his father's ship when the wreckers did their worst.

A rousing tale of swashbuckling adventure, The Shining Company sweeps young adults back to Britain in A.D. 600. When King Mynyddog calls for warriors to battle the Saxons, young Prosper travels to the King’s fortress to serve as shieldbearer. Deeply rooted in the true events of the Saxon invasion, this powerful historical novel is a great choice for young adults who enjoy courageous adventure.

Best-selling author Tom Angleberger received widespread accolades for The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, which Publishers Weekly called a “delightful first novel.” With Horton Halfpott, Angleberger offers a zany tale of dizzying hilarity. What be this? The unthinkable has happened - Lady Luggertuck has loosened her corset! Oh, this can’t be good. In the wake of the Loosening, it seems anything is possible!

This thrilling companion to Iain Lawrence's award-winning The Wreckers and The Smugglers plunges listeners into high-sea action and intrigue. After 17-year-old John Spencer sets out on his first voyage to foreign lands, he and his crew are wary when they come across a stranger named Horn rowing a lifeboat in the middle of nowhere. What is the man hiding?

Faced with current crimes copied from past wrongdoings, Resnick fights to catch the criminals even as he deals with a flood of unsettling memories.

It's been two years since John Spencer and his father were shipwrecked and nearly murdered by unscrupulous scavengers. Now the Spencers have a new ship, the Dragon, and 16-year-old John is elated to be making the new schooner's maiden voyage to London. But not long out to sea, John realizes that the captain and crew of the Dragon are not who they pretended to be.

Writing in England at the turn of the 20th century, G.K. Chesterton was dubbed the "prince of paradox" for addressing serious questions with his light, whimsical style. In this classic allegory, which has captivated generations since it was first published in 1908, Chesterton tackles such profound concepts as honor, truth, and God with insightful humor and colorful enigma.

When Robin Brogan comes down with chicken pox, he doesn't think it's really so terrible. After all, it gets him out of acting in the school play. And since his best friend Dan also has spots, they are staying together at Robin's house in England overlooking the ocean. When the hours begin to drag, Robin's mother tells stories about a wonderful summer she spent in their shoreline house.

When two British schoolboys decide to test the truth of the ancient Spartan tale of Romulus and Remus, they are soon stuck with the task of recovering a missing baby and making up ever-more elaborate lies to cover their tracks. This highly imaginative madcap farce could only have been crafted by Leon Garfield, the award-winning author of Black Jack.

The adventure of 12-year-old William Jones’ lifetime begins when he hears his father’s footsteps, pacing back and forth late at night across the floor of the bedroom beneath his own - even though his father is dead. To stop the restless pacing of his father’s ghost, William goes to London to find John Diamond, the son of the man his father cheated two decades earlier. In a strange, shadowy world of thieves, swindlers, and cutthroats, William tries to make amends for the sins of his father.

The air raid siren that pierces the English night sky comes as no surprise to young Harry Baguely. Ever since Hitler began sending his warplanes to raid London, Harry has become an old hand at running to his family’s bomb shelter and waiting for the attacks to end. This time, though, Harry’s family doesn’t make it to the shelter. A war orphan with nowhere to go and only a lonely dog for a friend, Harry decides to make a courageous journey up the English coast. He is looking for a place to call home....

Victor Jenner has just been released from prison where he spent 10 years paying for the shooting and crippling of a young policeman. But his new freedom serves only to fuel his obsession with the events that precipitated his arrest.

Charlie Resnick is the last person to see the attractive young woman who vanishes after a Christmas office party, but he can’t even remember the color of the car in which she left. Days later, a tape-recorded ransom note arrives at police headquarters, and Resnick—along with his faulty memory—is the key to outsmarting the abductor.

Eleven-year-old Kevin Cartwright can hardly believe his ears when his father, a brave soldier wounded in the Revolutionary War, announces that he is leaving Philadelphia and never coming back. He is heading into the untamed wilderness of New Jersey, where he hopes to find a peaceful place to raise Kevin and his little sister. But in 1783, New Jersey is filled with secret traps and hidden dangers. Before the family has traveled far, Kevin is captured by the mysterious Captain Grey and his murderous band of pirates. These lawless men of the sea say they have killed the boy’s father and sister. Will Kevin be next?

Steeplejack Joe Clark climbed his first factory chimney when he was four years old. Steeplejacking had been in his family for five generations. Not much frightened him. Certainly not stone. So when Joe is offered the lucrative job of repairing the weathercock and stonework on one of Muncaster Cathedral’s spires, he can’t believe his good fortune. But from the moment he saw the medieval gargoyle - lichen colored and hollowed-eyed - he felt uneasy, as if he were being watched. But he wasn’t going to let a few superstitious fears get in the way of his job.

While protecting harassed best-selling American writer Cathy Jordan at the annual Shots in the Dark crime writers’ festival, Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick gets involved in a peculiar crime wave—men are found nearly naked and punctured with mostly superficial stab wounds.

It is 1857, and Reverend Geoffrey Wilson has departed England to prove the literal truth of the Bible. The expedition heads towards Tasmania, where he is convinced he will find the real Garden of Eden. But the other passengers have their own agendas. Dr Potter is developing a sinister thesis, and the ship is crewed by smugglers of contraband brandy and tobacco. As the English passengers near Peevay's land, their bizarre notions become painfully at odds with reality.