Showing results by narrator "Sophie Aldred" in All Categories

Twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce is back at Buckshaw at last, but her homecoming is overshadowed by news of her father's illness. Forbidden from visiting him in hospital, Flavia busies herself in the village, but she soon makes a macabre discovery: the corpse of a reclusive woodcarver in an empty house, except for a curiously uncurious cat. Curiosity may not kill this cat, but Flavia is energized at the prospect of a new investigation. However, what awaits Flavia will shake her to the core.

Millanno: a holiday planet of extreme wealth and extreme leisure - on one side. The other side of the planet teems with politicians, administrators, and also criminals. When the Professor and Ace decide to take a holiday, they are unwillingly pitched into a battle for supremacy on the planet. Separated and suddenly finding themselves on the lost and lonely Isle of Prosperity, they must find each other. But standing in their way is the determination of a mysterious figure from the past to reclaim the directorship of the planet.

Ace finds herself separated from the Professor, marooned, blind and cared for by a mysterious stranger. How did she get there? Who is Dorsai? What secret is he hiding?

There's a new arrival at Buckshaw—Flavia de Luce's obnoxious cousin Undine. Flavia reluctantly takes on the mentorship of her fellow orphan, who in her best moments shows some potential for trespassing and trickery. When Major Greyleigh, a former hangman, is found dead from a breakfast of poisonous mushrooms, suspicion falls on the de Luce family's longtime cook, Mrs. Mullet. After all, didn't she pick the mushrooms and serve them to Greyleigh moments before his death? Flavia knows her beloved Mrs. Mullet is innocent.

High in a hot-air balloon, flying away, all alone. How is Suzy the cat ever going to find her way home? A heart-warming purrfect adventure based on Jill Tomlinson's classic story. Thirty minutes of audio entertainment, including story reading, soundtrack, songs and lots of listening fun all voiced by actress Sophie Aldred.

Flavia de Luce, the 12-year-old chemist and amateur detective, is eager to turn professional. She and her father's valet, Dogger, have founded a detective agency, Arthur Dogger & Associates, and unexpectedly cut into their first case during the revelry at her sister's wedding reception. After an eventful ceremony with a missing best man and spontaneous ventriloquist act, spirits are high as Feely and her new husband head for the towering and beautifully iced wedding cake. But as Feely slices into the first piece, a scream rings out - the bridal cake contains a severed human finger.

The Professor and Ace arrive in present-day London to find the city strangely changed. England is a republic, ruled by an elderly Lord Protector more interested in a mysterious comet than the long-suppressed forces of revolution fomenting in his kingdom. As political factions vie for power, the travellers become embroiled in the plans of King Charles XIV who stands poised to reclaim the throne. Can they discover who is behind the drastic alteration of history or will the Puritan cause triumph throughout eternity?

When a mysterious puppet show arrives in Bishop's Lacey, death is not far behind... a grisly murder during a performance of Jack and the Beanstalk in the village hall reaches back to an earlier crime that has cast a shadow over the village for years. Flavia's investigations test her powers of deduction to the limit - and provide a shocking insight into the darker corners of the adult world.

With the family finances in a parlous state, Flavia's father has rented Buckshaw to a film company for a location shooting. When a heavy snowfall cuts the village off, the actors are talked into staging a benefit performance in the parish hall. But old jealousies surface, and the leading lady is murdered. Flavia, who has been enlisted to help out behind the scenes, finds herself up to her knees in snow - and murder!

It is the time of the Second World War, and all is not well at a top-secret research base in Greenland. The British have been testing a new device which could bring about a swift end to the war with Germany - but the trials have gone disastrously wrong. When the Professor and Ace arrive, they encounter an isolated community not only under threat from its human enemies, but stalked by a horrifying menace with a voracious appetite for survival.

The death of a nameless traveller on a flight to the volcanic Hedistic islands would seem to have been natural. But when his young friend starts her own murder investigation, she uncovers a plot which threatens the safety of the entire planet....

At this stage of her life, Gloria Jones just wants peace, quiet, and as little stress as possible. But her habit of helping others in need is hard to break—even when it gets her into trouble. So when Gloria encounters a distraught young girl and learns about a shadowy London gang of human traffickers exploiting women, she simply can't let such injustice stand. After all, it's not the first time she has stopped vicious criminals from hurting someone . . .

In Yorkshire, the Potter family are preparing to celebrate Elizabeth II’s arrival on the throne. Its three youngest members, however, are preoccupied with other matters. Stephanie has grown tired of their overbearing father and resolves to marry the local curate. Anxious teenager Marcus gains a new teacher and suffers increasingly disturbing visions. Then there is Frederica. On the brink of adulthood, a love affair with a young playwright may offer the freedom she desperately desires.

On a snowy February morning, the body of 25-year-old journalist Alice Salmon washes up on a riverbank south of London. The sudden, shocking death of this beloved local girl becomes a media sensation, and those who knew her struggle to understand what happened to lively, smart, and savvy Alice Salmon. Was it suicide? A tragic accident? Or...murder?

Idris Telemmier has uncovered a secret that changes everything – the Architects’ greatest weakness. A shadowy Cartel scrambles to turn his discovery into a weapon against these alien destroyers of worlds. But between them and victory stands self-interest. The galaxy’s great powers would rather pursue their own agendas than stand together against this shared terror. Human and inhuman interests wrestle to control Idris’ discovery, as the galaxy erupts into a mutually destructive and self-defeating war.

Gloria Jones has had enough. She's sixty-five, approaching retirement, and nearing the end of her tether. When someone flings away a gun in her local park, it ends up in Gloria's hands and changes the course of her life forever. Realizing there is injustice all around, Gloria finds herself transforming from a harmless senior into a confident and ruthless vigilante, determined to help victims of crime.

In the 1540s, a young French noblewoman, Marguerite de la Rocque, was abandoned on an island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with her maidservant and her lover. In present-day Stockholm, an author and mother become captivated by the image of Marguerite sheltered in a dark cave after her companions have died. This image soon becomes an obsession. She must find out the real story of the woman she calls the Bear Woman. But so much in this history is written so as to gloss over male violence. And the maps and other sources she consults are at times undecipherable.

George and his best friend, Annie, have been selected as junior astronauts - part of a programme that trains up young people for a trip to Mars in the future. This is everything they've ever wanted - they get to be a part of up-to-the-minute space discoveries and meet a bunch of new friends who are as fascinated by the universe as they are. But when they arrive at space camp, George and Annie quickly learn that strange things are happening - on Earth as well as up in our skies.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of George and the Ship of Time by Lucy Hawking, read by Roy McMillan and Sophie Aldred. When George finds a way to escape the spacecraft Artemis, where he has been trapped, he is overjoyed. Surely now he can return to Earth. But when George touches down, he knows immediately that something is wrong. There’s a barren wasteland where his home town used to be, intelligent robots roam the streets and no one will talk to George about the Earth that he used to know.

Come and spend summer by the sea! Wanted! A caretaker for Roundhouse Row holiday cottages. Where? Nelson’s Bar is the perfect little village. Nestled away on the Norfolk coast, we can offer you no signal, no Wi-Fi and - most importantly - no problems! Who? The ideal candidate will be looking for an escape from their cheating scumbag ex-fiancé, a diversion from their entitled cousin and a break from their traitorous friends.