Showing results by narrator "David Monteath" in All Categories

It is 1548, and seven-year-old Mary Queen of Scots, betrothed to her cousin the Dauphin, heir to the French throne, has been dispatched to France. But far from home and vulnerable, surrounded by the double-dealing and debauchery of a dangerous and unpredictable court, she suffers a series of 'accidents'. Her mother, Scotland's Queen Dowager, orders Francis Crawford of Lymond to protect Mary, believing that at the very heart of Henri II's glittering, decadent court is an assassin hired to kill the infant monarch. Lymond must secretly hunt down this individual before he himself is exposed.

A dreich day for a crossing and a small ferry packed to the gills. A fracas when off loading leads to blood and tears. And one man sits dead at the wheel of the last remaining car. Macleod and McGrath return to Cromarty when a man is found dead at the wheel of his car on the small, local ferry. As the passengers are identified, the trail extends across the highlands and islands as past deeds are paid back in full. Can the now seasoned pair hunt down a killer before their butchery spreads across the land?

A dawn raid on the home of a suspected rapist leads to a chilling discovery, a disturbing collection hidden under floorboards. Narey is terrified at the potential scale of what they've found and of what brutalities it may signal. When the photographs are ruled inadmissible as evidence and the man walks free from court, Narey knows she's let down the victim she'd promised to protect and a monster is back on the streets.

Everyone's favourite unorthodox journalist Jack Parlabane goes undercover to investigate the mysterious and lucrative world of alternative medicine - in particular, the practice of homeopathy. Are there unexplained forces that can be harnessed to heal us, or is it all a load of sugar?

When pop megastar Zach Crystal dies in a fire at his remote mansion, his mysterious demise rips open the bitter divide between those who adored his music and his endless charity work, and those who viewed him as a despicable predator who manipulated and abused young and vulnerable girls. Online journalist Scott King, whose Six Stories podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the accusations of sexual abuse and murder that were levelled at Crystal before he died. But as Scott begins to ask questions and rake over old graves, some startling inconsistencies emerge.

Mrs Gentle has fooled everyone into thinking she is as sweet as she sounds - Gentle by name and gentle by nature. But local constable Hamish Macbeth isn't fooled. He believes this little old lady is actually quite sly and vicious, but he's in a minority of one. Or is he? When Mrs Gentle dies under unusual circumstances, the villagers of Lochdubh are shocked and outraged. Chief Detective Inspector Blair suspects that members of her family may be involved but Hamish thinks there's much more to the story - and is willing to get rough to solve the riddle of Mrs Gentle's mysterious demise.

Amazing news is spreading like wildfire across the Scottish countryside: the most famous of all Lochdubh, remotely nestling in the Highlands, is perfectly anonymous... until well-known TV reporter Crystal French races into town in her bright new BMW. And PC Hamish Macbeth, dourly wed to duty rather than the fiancée who dumped him, promptly gives her a ticket for reckless driving. Outraged, Crystal makes Macbeth's life a misery with a TV report on policing in the Highlands...

Teenager Alison Doig disappeared from Kinloch more than 30 years ago under mysterious circumstances. Her reclusive family still live in a remote part of the Kintyre peninsula, amidst rumours of wrecking, smuggling and barbaric cruelty. Now rich American hotelier Alice Wenger has arrived in town, determined to punish those who made her suffer in the past. But someone has vowed to keep hidden sins concealed for ever. Daley’s team must race against time to expose long-held secrets and shameful lies before there are any more victims.

As the Second World War nears its end, a man is stabbed to death on the shoreline of Kinloch, in the shadow of the great warships in the harbour. Many years later the postman on Gairsay, a tiny island off the coast of Kintyre, discovers that the Bremner family are missing from their farm. When DCI Daley comes into possession of a journal written by his wartime predecessor in Kinloch, Inspector William Urquhart, he soon realises that the Isle of Gairsay has many secrets.

Penguin presents the audio edition of Checkmate by Dorothy Dunnett, read by David Monteath. It is 1557, and legendary Scottish warrior Francis Crawford of Lymond is once more in France. There he is leading an army to rout the hated English from Calais. Yet while Lymond seeks victory on the battlefield he is haunted by his troubled past - chiefly the truth about his origins and his marriage (in name only) to young Englishwoman Philippa Somerville.

A student meets an untimely demise when she falls from Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh's Holyrood Park. Was she pushed? Whilst DI Jack Knox is picking through the lies of the victim's friends, he is called upon to help the narcotics division on the other side of the city. A drug dealer is dead and the squad is setting up a deadly sting. But without Knox and the clout he has among the criminal fraternity, they're unable to move against rival gangs.

Don Colyear has begun his career in Edinburgh's CID, but the transition has not been easy. The workload and paperwork are one thing but being micro-managed by DCI Templeton as well is more than testing. And when Colyear's investigation of a mysterious death spirals into a complicated case centred around a massive consignment of Class A drugs, a double murder and a clash between low-level and professional criminals, his instincts are put to the test.

Spinster Chastity Hamilton is the Duke of Roxburgh's heir. Her father insists she marry. She insists that the man who wins her hand must first find matches for her three younger sisters. Sir Stirling James takes up the challenge, and the sisters are shocked when he announces the engagement of their youngest sister to the Devil of Delny. Lady Chastity didn't believe a man who could make such matches in one month's time existed.

Patricia Martyn-Broyd, now in her seventies, has retired to the Highlands. She hasn't written a word in years and her books are out of print. But now a television company is about to film her last detective story, featuring the aristocratic Scottish detective Lady Harriet Vare. Even better, a London publisher is bringing the book into print. Even though the snobbish Miss Martyn-Broyd doesn't care to mix with the locals she can't help but share her excitement with local policeman Hamish Macbeth.

When a light aircraft crash-lands at Machrie airport, Daley and Scott rush to the scene. But it soon becomes clear that both occupants of the plane were dead before take-off.... Meanwhile, tending to his lobster creels, Hamish finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and back at the County Hotel, Annie is beginning to suspect her new boss Ian Macmillan may not be as he first appeared.

St. Andrews, Scotland: Renovation works on the famous Old Course golf course uncovers the remains of a body in a shallow grave—two bullet holes in the skull. DNA confirms the victim as Rab Shepherd, the missing brother of Scotland's late crime patriarch, Jock Shepherd. But Rab pulled out of the family business over twenty years ago, and moved to Australia where he allegedly lived an honest and wealthy life. This body confirms otherwise. Why was Rab killed? And who would risk killing him, knowing he was big Jock's brother?

Film star Amelie Hart is the darling of the silver screen, appearing on the front pages of every newspaper. But at the peak of her fame she throws it all away for a regular guy with an ordinary job. The gossip columns are aghast. Any hope the furore will die down is crushed when Amelie’s boyfriend, Dave, is arrested on charges of child sexual abuse. Dave strongly asserts his innocence, and when Amelie refuses to denounce him, the press witch hunt quickly turns into physical violence and she has to flee the country.

After an incident makes remaining in Glasgow impossible, Police Sergeant Don Colyear is sent to work in a remote Highlands town. His new Inspector wants him gone and the locals wonder why he’s even there. Still, Don makes a go of things, striking up a good working relationship with rookie officer Rowan Forbes. As Don starts to investigate petty crimes, it soon becomes clear that there is something off about the town. A string of teenage disappearances has not been given due attention.

The brutal murder of 10-year-old Callum Bradley sent shockwaves across Scotland, but as the weeks have stretched on with no solid leads, the investigation has been scaled back. Sergeant Don Colyear, community police officer, is tasked with tying up a loose end: a 999 call which may have hinted at the boy's murder. However, the call was made three weeks before the crime took place. The caller turns out to be a resident at an Edinburgh care home, drifting in and out of lucidity due to dementia - enough to write off the potential lead as a dead end.

Just when Hamish most needs him - the dentist turns up dead... In Scotland, where thrift and a 'nice set of dentures' are generally admired, dental surgeon Dr Frederick Gilchrist's cheap rates and penchant for pulling teeth have gained him a clientele. However, wiser Highlanders (like Hamish Macbeth) opt to steer clear of this reputed womanizer's all-too-busy hands. Only jaw-throbbing agony drives Hamish to Gilchrist's surgery, but what he finds is the dentist's dead body - putting several angry husbands in the frame for murder...