Showing results by narrator "David Thorpe" in All Categories

When young Charles Benson arrives in Toftham, a sleepy Norfolk market town, on a miserable Sunday afternoon in January 1952, he has only the vaguest idea what Fate has in store for him. It is at the hands of the editor of the Toftham and Wettleford Journal, Mr Juby, that Charles is introduced to local reporting and Norfolk ways.

Isabella Rose, the Angel, is used to surprises, but being abducted is an unwelcome novelty. She’s relying on Michael Pope, the head of the top-secret Group Fifteen, to get her back. When ISIS get involved, the situation becomes even bleaker. Isabella’s abductors are in turn abducted, and she finds herself trapped in Raqqa, the capital of the self-styled caliphate.

Retired bank manager George Pearmain is apparently dead. According to the behaviour of everyone around him, it seems he is no more. Not only that, but his mother has also passed away – and on the eve of her 99th year. Not only that, it could be that they were both murdered. Apart from that he feels fine.

Since its improvised creation at Microsoft in the mid-1990s, Comic Sans has become one of the most used and talked—about typefaces of the digital age. The subject of April Fools pranks and endless internet discourse, it has spawned a movement to ban it, inspired revivals and spinoffs, and continues to be widely promoted by educators. In this delightful history, bestselling author Simon Garfield tells the story of how Comic Sans emerged from speech bubbles on educational software to become one of the most recognized—and reviled—typefaces on earth.

Department K didn’t tell John Craig why Kaplan was important. That wasn’t his business. His business was to get Kaplan out of Turkey despite the very hostile attentions of competing intelligence services, including his own! Very quickly Craig realises that there is no-one he can trust on this violence-strewn journey except himself; and that there are probably no innocent bystanders.

Ten years after her boyfriend Mitch’s mysterious disappearance, Rebecca finally learns the truth about what happened. When he finally returns, a happy ending appears within their grasp but there is no escape from the past. And Arthur, Rebecca’s friend who has formed an unhealthy obsession with her, has no intention of letting her go. When Arthur realises that Mitch is the only person standing in the way of his happiness, his thoughts turn to murder.

During her lifetime Violet Paget, who wrote as Vernon Lee, was referred to as 'the greatest of modern exponents of the supernatural in fiction', and yet today she remains on the periphery of the genre. This collection of her uniquely weird short stories and dark fantasies proves why she was once considered among the best of the genre, and why she deserves to return to those ranks today.

The Boxing Day hike is meant to bring their nature group together. As the sun sets, a gunshot rings out on the nature reserve. One of the seven is dead. And one of their number killed them.

1096. The Pope has called for a crusade to free Jerusalem, and half the warriors of Europe have responded. Among them is the Norman, Count Bohemund, one-time enemy of Byzantium. In company with his warrior nephew, Tancred of Lecce, Bohemund must once more cross the Adriatic to the lands of the Byzantine Empire. His first task, pushing back the infidel Turks, calls for an uneasy alliance with old enemy Emperor Alexius. But can the Crusaders trust the wily Emperor?

When the police are called to the report of a late-night shooting, they expect it to be drugs or gang-related. They don’t expect to find a young student executed on his way home. Jordan Radley was an aspiring journalist: hard working, well-liked, dedicated. His first major story - looking at the fallout following the closure of a major local factory - had run recently and looked to be the first step in his longed-for career. Even after the story ran, Jordan continued to stay in contact with those he interviewed: he was on his way back from their social club the night he was murdered.

In Victorian London, race-walking, or 'wobbles', is all the rage. So on a Monday morning in November 1879, the crowds gather for Islington's bizarre six-day endurance walking race. By Tuesday, one of the contestants is dead. Tetanus from a blister is assumed, but then there is a second death, and this time it's definitely murder. A bemused Sergeant Cribb from Scotland Yard is called in, along with Constable Thackeray, and they soon discover that something foul is at play.

Daniel isn’t used to living life in the slow lane. So when he finds himself unexpectedly jobless and back in his old Cornish hometown, he can’t sit still. Hazel used to be adventurous too. But now widowed and in her 80s, she barely leaves the house. When she sees an advert for Daniel’s new walking club, she grabs at the chance of some excitement. Daniel’s heart sinks when he sees that the only person who’s turned up for his walking club is the old lady from two doors down. What he doesn’t expect is to discover that she is one of the most fascinating people he’s ever met.

Calling Major Tom is a funny, uplifting tale of friendship and community about a man who has given up on the world...but discovers in the most unlikely way that it might not have given up on him. We all know someone like Thomas. The grumpy next-door neighbour who complains to the residents' committee about the state of your front lawn. The man who tuts when you don't have the correct change at the checkout. The colleague who sends an all-company email when you accidentally use the last drop of milk.

Colm's powers could save humanity from extinction … if he can learn to control them. For centuries, humanity has viewed the sentrienza with wonder and reverence. They gifted humanity with technology and knowledge, teaching us the secrets of space travel. Until the Ghosts arrived and everything changed. Among the slaughter of the Ghost invasion, humanity learned an awful truth: Every gift from the sentrienza comes at a price. The price is our freedom. Now humanity is fighting back, but it’s an uphill battle. We’re outnumbered, outgunned, and the sentrienza have the home-field advantage.

The sixth book in the beloved Sergeant Cribb series by Peter Lovesey. The spiritualist movement has captivated a segment of Victorian London: manifestations, the occult and 'sensitives' are in vogue. Unfortunately, those ready to believe are vulnerable to fraud. When séance sites become targets for theft, Sergeant Cribb and Constable Thackeray are on the case. But then someone murders the medium, and the two find themselves rubbing shoulders with some rather eccentric suspects.

The year is 1884. London is being terrorised by a series of bomb blasts - even within Great Scotland Yard! Reluctantly, Sergeant Cribb attends a course in the science of infernal machines in a bid to gain expert knowledge of explosives and beat the criminals at their own game. With Constable Thackeray the prime suspect, Cribb feels bound for professional and personal reasons to track down the truth at any cost. And very soon he is abducted at gunpoint by an Irish-American hammer-thrower and finds himself an unwilling but vital member of the Dynamite Party.

A postman encounters a strange letterbox in this spooky story. He’s never seen the occupants of the house, the windows and doors are shuttered and any letters posted through the mysterious letterbox disappear into a void of black. It isn’t long before the postman and the local community must investigate.

Ernest Roydon is distressed by a mysterious apparition that appears around his house. What he initially thinks is a trick of the light soon starts taking on a more human form, until he’s too scared to stay in the house on his own and must enlist the help of a friend.

One of the author’s earliest pieces of short horror fiction, ‘On the Embankment’ introduces us to London’s homeless population as they fight for space on seats to sleep each night. However, no matter how busy it is or desperate the sleepers are, there’s always one seat that is mysteriously left empty....

Henry Grimshaw prides himself on his dual personality. By night, he is a socialite and eligible bachelor; by day, he is a clothing factory tyrant, with fugitives working for him who he hands over to the authorities if they step out of line. When Cyrus Sabinette meets Grimshaw at a party, he initially wants in on the operation, but when Grimshaw refuses to be blackmailed, he devises a cunning plan to get back at the factory owner. Is he just a master of illusion, or can he conjure the dead?