Showing results by narrator "Kris Dyer" in All Categories

When Miles Hammond is invited to a meeting of the Murder Club in London, he is met instead with just two other guests and is treated to a strange tale of an impossible crime in France years before; the murder of a man on a tower with only one staircase, under watch at the time at which the murder took place. With theories of levitating vampires abounding, the story comes home to Miles when he realises that the librarian he has just hired for his home is none other than Fay Seton, a woman at the heart of this bizarre and unsolved past murder.

Nearly 20 years ago, on 11 September 2001, four passenger aircraft were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon near Washington and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed. The narrative in the weeks and months that followed seemed straightforward: the attacks had been masterminded by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, an embittered terrorist with an abiding hatred of the West. But, as the 20-year anniversary approaches, that neat explanation still fails to answer some important questions surrounding that fateful day.

Why does one smoker die of lung cancer but another live to 100? The answer is "The Hidden Half" - those random, unknowable variables that mess up our attempts to comprehend the world.

Having conquered the world's taste buds and established itself as a staple in our daily lives, coffee has mirrored the moods and movements of society for centuries - yet, how much do we know about its history? In his riveting new book, A Short History of Coffee, Gordon Kerr investigates the fascinating history behind the global obsession with coffee, from its Ethiopian origins, the legends, myths, geographical locations and somewhat eccentric characters that have helped make it the staple that it is today.

Roger Scruton’s How to be a Conservative presents the case for modern conservatism not in the terms of an elegy but rather as a practical example of how to live as a conservative despite the pressures to live otherwise. As he writes, the book ‘is not about what we have lost, but about what we have retained, and how to hold on to it’. In this witty and frank account, Scruton draws on his years of experience as a counter-cultural presence in public life.

In the aftermath of the mysterious death of their lead singer, the young members of a now-legendary British acid folk band hole up at Wylding Hall, an ancient English country house with its own dark secrets. There they record Wylding Hall, the album that makes their reputation but at a terrifying cost when Julian Blake, their new lead singer, disappears within the mansion and is never seen again.

Berlin, 1945. Following the fall of the Third Reich, drug use — long kept under control by the Nazis' strict anti-drug laws — is rampant throughout the city. In the American sector, Arthur J. Giuliani of the nascent Federal Bureau of Narcotics is tasked with learning about the Nazis' drug policies and bringing home anything that might prove 'useful'.

Behind the stage lights and word-perfect soliloquies, sinister secrets are lurking in the wings. The mysteries in this collection reveal the dark side to theatre and performing arts: a world of backstage dealings, where unscrupulous actors risk everything to land a starring role, costumed figures lead to mistaken identities, and on-stage deaths begin to look a little too convincing. This expertly curated thespian anthology features 14 stories from giants of the classic crime genre.

From the development of international trade fairs in the 12th century to the innovations made in China, India, and the Arab world, it turns out that historical economies were much more sophisticated that we might imagine, tied together by webs of credit and financial instruments much like our modern economy.

Welcome back to Rotherweird. The town of Rotherweird has been independent from the rest of England for 400 years to protect a deadly secret. Sir Veronal Slickstone is dead, his bid to exploit that secret consigned to dust, leaving Rotherweird to resume its abnormal normality after the travails of the summer...but someone is playing a very long game. Disturbing omens multiply: a funeral delivers a cryptic warning; an ancient portrait speaks; the Herald disappears - and democracy threatens the uneasy covenant between town and countryside.

The nightmare home. We thought we'd found our haven, a cottage deep in the heart of the forest. Quaint, charming, maybe a little run-down, but so peaceful. The woodland animals and birds couldn't have been more neighbourly. That was the first part of the Magic. Midge's painting and my music soared to new heights of creativity. That was another part of the Magic. Our sensing, our feelings, our love for each other - well, that became the supreme Magic. But the cottage had an alternative side. The Bad Magic.

Joe is in control of everything in his simple life, both his day job as a janitor for the police department and his night work. He isn't bothered by the daily news reports of the Christchurch Carver, who, they say, has murdered seven women. Joe knows, though, that the Carver killed only six. He knows that for a fact, and he's determined to find the copycat. He'll punish him for the one, then frame him for the other six. It's the perfect plan because he already knows he can outwit the police.

In November 2014 Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother, father and sister to death with a hammer. Now incarcerated at a medium-security mental-health institution, Arla will speak to no one but Scott King, an investigative journalist, whose Six Stories podcasts have become an internet sensation. King finds himself immersed in an increasingly complex case, interviewing five witnesses and Arla herself as he questions whether Arla's responsibility for the massacre was a diminished as her legal team made out.

The Classic Crime Collection is a collection of 18 classic detective novels, read by esteemed cast of award-winning narrators. Included here are stories by some of the most iconic crime writers in history, including Dorothy L. Sayers; Arthur Conan Doyle; Agatha Christie; Dashiell Hammett; Wilkie Collins; Josephine Tey; and more.

Bachelor John Marcher is haunted by the premonition that something terrible lies in store for him, like a "beast in the jungle" lying in wait. So he spends his life in idleness, unable to carry out his dreams or desires, while his friend May Bartram, curious to see how this spectacular fate will manifest, helps watch out for the arrival of the beast.

It's often said that when tragedy strikes, the victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But not Harry and Alice French. Assaulted by masked men looking for a mysterious package and a man named Renshaw, Alice and Harry manage to convince them that there has been a terrible mix-up. But nothing prepares Alice and Harry for the web they find themselves trapped in after their assailants leave. Especially as Alice hasn't been completely honest.

The moon contains a wealth of natural resources. So, as the Earth's supplies have begun to dwindle, it is no surprise that the world's superpowers and wealthiest corporations have turned their eyes to the stars. As this new Space Race begins, A.C. Grayling asks: who, if anyone, owns the moon? Or Mars? Or other bodies in near space? And what do those superpowers and corporations owe to Planet Earth and its inhabitants as a whole?

Force for evil. A little girl called Alice, a deaf-mute. A vision. A lady in shimmering white who says she is the immaculate conception. And Alice can suddenly hear and speak. And she can perform miracles. Soon the site of the visitation, beneath the ancient oak tree, has become a shrine, a holy place for thousands of pilgrims. But Alice is no longer the guileless child overwhelmed by her new saintliness. She has become the agent of something corrupt, a vile force that is centuries-old.

Gervon Wynter has returned to Rotherweird and has not only taken over the town but is busy destroying the countrysiders' life too. Can our small band of heroes find a way to outwit a genius whose master plan is five centuries in the making?

Five haunting tales from Benedict Ashforth, the best-selling author of Abbot's Keep.