Showing results by narrator "Virginia Ferguson" in All Categories

It’s the Christmastide season, and the Hawkins family is at their country estate in Kent. Emmaline, the Countess of Archewyne, is excited, for it’s her first Christmas with her little family, as well as one of the few she’s spent in England. Passing his leisure time with his loved ones gives Miles Lawrence Hawkins, the fifth Earl of Archewyne, great pleasure, as does anticipating their faces when they open his gifts.

Jonathan Brodie, the only son of Sir Roger and Lady Brodie, has lived in the village of Maplebridge his whole life. Penelope, the daughter of the local florist, was adopted by the Baldwins when she was just a baby. They could not be more different and yet, one blustery January morning, their paths collide in a chance encounter that is destined to change their lives forever. Jonathan soon discovers that Penelope is far from the quiet wallflower that she first seems, but rather a beautiful rose just waiting for its chance to bloom.

"What happens when an irresistible force encounters an immovable object?" The ancient paradox becomes a real-life problem when a woman, whose wealth and influence are matched only by her arrogance and violent temper, encounters someone with the strength of character to rival her own. It is bad enough that this new, formidable foe is a mere girl. But to make matters worse, she also happens to be the great lady's only granddaughter.

Can you keep a secret? Three women on the peripherals of war did - the most dangerous secret of all. MI6 spy Kate Morden has a big problem. She's involved in a case where someone has killed an informer and discovered more than they bargained for. Kate investigates and finds her dead father, also a spy who taught her all she knows about coding, is involved. Juliette Watson holds the key to the mystery. She knows what the apocalyptic secret is but she's not telling, until she confides in Iraqi artist, Sanaa Yazidi, who she meets i the desert.

Hattie Moon, a modern-day Miss Marple, is thrown into a mystery close to home when her son Howie, gets engaged. While his bride-to-be is charming, Hattie learns the woman is a widow who lives with her mother and sister, who are also widows. Naturally, Hattie becomes concerned...as she should.

February, 1603. In Richmond Palace, London, the last Queen of the Tudor dynasty, Elizabeth I, is dying. As Death hovers at her elbow, waiting for her to obey his call, the aged Queen looks back on her life, and on the trials, victories, and sorrows which brought her, eventually, to the throne of England.

The thrills of 24, the swagger of Reacher and the smarts of Spooks. There’s a mercenary on the streets of London, protected by a gangland boss and bankrolled by members of the government, all of whom are embroiled in a plot to subvert democracy that puts thousands of lives at risk. This is the thrilling debut novel by Ben Bruce, an explosive, fast paced thriller that opens up the world of The Regulators Jack Quinn and Adam Morgan, as they work with tenacious NCA officer Thea Watts to stop the plot, before it’s too late.

This seaside town holds more secrets than you could ever imagine. Grace and Dick Thomas are the proud owners of the Sandybank Guest House, a pristine establishment set in a prime location overlooking the beach. Tourists come and go all year round, enjoying the beautiful setting and their host's wonderful culinary skills. However, the permanent residents of this pretty coastal town cause net curtains to flutter and tongues to wag with their myriad of secrets and tales to be told.

The Sea Gable Mansion is a historical home in South Florida with a beautiful southern accent. Recently restored and turned into a bed and breakfast. This is the grand opening, and it starts off with a bang.

Fenella Conyers, a distant Raynham connection, unexpectedly appears at Beaumatin, the ancestral home of the Barons Raynham, with a request and a gift. After a life spent roaming the globe, she wants to settle down in the Cotswolds and asks if her noble cousin has an empty cottage where she could stay until she can find her own place. The gift is an extremely rare snowdrop—a yellow “spiky” that Fenella mysteriously acquired in her travels and which she has named Mystic Mayhem.

An accidental trophy wife must survive the deepest depths of high society. Meet Amy, the world's most improbable trophy wife. She has a degree, ambitions, and something resembling a mind of her own. The trouble is, she just doesn't use it anymore. Married to handsome aristocrat, Harry Green, Amy's world is a whirlwind of luxury, labels, and lunches. But amidst the peerages and polo of the privileged, few lie wolves in minks' clothing. Before she knows it, Amy's perfect existence is plunged into chaos by the poshest of plots.

When Stella McKenzie is summoned to meet her Great Aunt Bess, her grandmother's sister, on the occasion of that lady's 100th birthday, she keeps the appointment with a great deal of trepidation. All her life she has been told about this mysterious lady, to whom her grandmother has not spoken since the First World War. She has been told that she is mean and spiteful, that she wrecked the engagement of her sister to the man she loved out of spite and jealousy.

The witty, wily princess, Elizabeth Tudor has survived the turmoil of her formative years, and finally, is now Queen of England. Rising to the throne on a wave of popularity, Elizabeth is keen to avoid the mistakes of her siblings, and bring England to a new sense of unity and hope.

She had always done as she pleased - with nary a thought to the consequences. Indeed, Sally Mallory's great success throughout the ton as a fine portrait painter had been aided by spirited independence - along with wit and extraordinary talent. But now it seemed she had gone too far. Impetuous Sally had compromised her reputation, and now was to be forced into a marriage of convenience with the most distinguished art critic in London, the cold and arrogant Duke Ian Frobisher!

Mr. Fortune was supposed to remain the hero of Linnea's favorite Regency romance, Fortune's Folly. But Linnea has stumbled across a magic spell in the library archives, and now Ben Fortune is real, adjusting to the 21st century - and changing the plot in every copy of Fortune's Folly, wreaking havoc by his absence. Worse yet, his young sister is now in danger, and he needs to go back into the book to save her. Can Linnea find the right spell to send him back to fictional Regency England - and does she even want to?

The painting and the woman, both hiding in plain sight. And a killer who targets both. Sarah Downing, an art conservator hiding in witness protection, identifies a lost masterpiece by Caravaggio. History says it burned in WWII Berlin, but here it is, on her easel. Someone betrays Sarah - an agent, a friend? Soon she is fighting to save the painting and herself.

Marissa, a theater musician, desired an escape from her impoverished existence in 17th century France. After watching Marissa perform, King Louis XIV snatched her from the stage only to cast her in his royal court. Marissa plots a betrothal to a marquis to cement her place among nobility. Her plans are interrupted by Michael, a noble and gallant musketeer. When Michael meets Marissa, his service to the crown is challenged by a passion that overshadows duty.

In the Metfield of the 1930s, you could do all of your shopping without leaving the village, have a choice of pubs and "spend happy evenings helping to dig potatoes and listening to the old boys". If this sounds too idyllic to be true, Evelyn Whiting's charming memoir of growing up in this Suffolk community is quick to remind us that making a living from the land was hard and tedious work in those days. There was no electricity and water came from the sky, or from the pond.

A child turns up at a rural police station in Yorkshire, with a tale that will shock the nation. As Thea Watts begins her investigation, she realizes she can't trust the system to keep the boy safe, so she calls on the one man she knows won't let her down, Jack Quinn, a vigilante with his heart set on doing one thing: the right thing.

A hugely entertaining account, brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, delves you into the era of the greatest generation as you travel through this enormously engaging tale propelled by remarkable World War Two characters. A classic work of historical fiction depicts the dedication shared by heroes of the free world and their emotional struggle to survive this brutal war. Champions create lifelong friendships that can only be understood by those who have lived through the harshest of times leading them to create unbreakable bonds.