Showing results by narrator "Elizabeth Bower" in All Categories

When your life changes in a moment, how do you rewrite your story? In 1940s Britain, with the Second World War raging, Alice is working in a laboratory developing a new miracle medicine. Made to leave school at sixteen and abandon her aspiration to be a teacher, she learns instead how curing people may be her destiny.

England, 1941. When Jane Treen is summoned to her boss’s office at the end of a long day, she smooths down her tweed skirt and makes them both another strong pot of coffee. Brigadier Remmington-Blythe slides a folded copy of the evening newspaper towards her, with one small article circled in red ink. A body has been found on an English beach in the little seaside town where she grew up, and he wants her to investigate. Jane is used to managing secret agents and spies, but she is now part of The Secret Detective Agency, England’s answer to solving the most mysterious murders.

Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied, and your math-whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can't afford to pay for. That's Jess' life in a nutshell - until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess' knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages...maybe ever.

A gang war grips the city, and the police force is under fire from all sides. But Detective Inspector Helen Grace defies direct orders as she becomes drawn to the case of a missing teenager. Naomi's mother is desperate for help - and Helen is her only hope. Keeping the investigation secret, she finds a disturbing trail of questions - and more who have vanished off the streets... Sometimes, the truth hides in plain sight. But proving it is another matter entirely. The clock is ticking - and the only person looking for Naomi is about to meet her match.

From summer days when butterflies dance above stone cottages, to autumn sunsets that bathe the market square in golden light, to winter snowfalls that transform the Yorkshire Dales into a shimmering wonderland–the village of Tuppenny Bridge holds beauty in every season.

A silent killer stalks the city, targeting those home alone at night—killing without pity or remorse. As panic spreads, Detective Inspector Helen Grace leads the investigation, but is herself a hunted woman, her every step dogged by a ruthless killer bent on revenge. As she tracks the murderer, Grace begins to suspect there is a truly shocking home truth that connects these brutal crimes.

A crimewave sweeps through the city and no one is safe. An arson at the docks. A carjacking gone wrong. A murder in a country park. What connects all these crimes without causes, which leave no clues? Detective Inspector Helen Grace faces the rising tide of cases which threatens to drown the city. But each crime is just a piece of a puzzle which is falling into place. And when it becomes clear just how twisted and ingenious this web of crime is, DI Grace will realise that it may be impossible to stop it.

Date with Poison is the brilliant fourth novel in Julia Chapman's Dales Detective Agency series and is perfect of fans of M C Beaton's Agatha Raisin series and Gervase Phinn. A young teenager has gone missing. Can Samson O'Brien and Delilah Metcalfe find him? Spring is in the air in Bruncliffe. But not everyone is filled with the joys of the season. Implicated in the murder of a man in Leeds, the Dales Detective Agency’s Samson O’Brien is facing tough questions from the police....

From the international best-selling author of Eeny Meeny comes the second thriller in the truly excellent series featuring Detective Helen Grace. A man’s body is found in an empty house. A gruesome memento of his murder is sent to his wife and children. He is the first victim, and Detective Helen Grace knows he will not be the last. But why would a happily married man be this far from home in the dead of night? The media call it Jack the Ripper in reverse: A serial killer preying on family men who lead hidden double lives. Helen can sense the fury behind the murders.

‘Just rest, Frankie. I’ll take care of you.’ I feel my baby kick as my nanny fluffs my pillows and lays me down. She gives me a soothing smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She knows I’m afraid of her… When I shake our nanny Jasmine’s hand for the first time and catch her perfect smile, I can’t ignore the feeling that we’ve met before. But I tell myself it’s nothing. I desperately need help around the house. Since I got pregnant, I burst into tears over the smallest things and my mind is a haze. I can barely look after my toddler Olivia. Jasmine is a godsend–isn’t she?

From stolen washing to inheritance investigations, Bruncliffe’s Dales Detective Agency is being inundated with cases. But with Samson O’Brien still in London helping the Met Police clear his name, and the newly appointed member of the investigations team, Ida Capstick, distracted by her brother George’s insistence that their farm is haunted, Delilah Metcalfe is struggling to meet the mounting demands for the agency’s services. So when the mother of a local estate agent arrives at the offices insisting her son is missing, Delilah is relieved to have Samson return to help.

The Dales Detective Agency is on the brink of closure. Samson O’Brien has returned to his position as an undercover operative for the Met in London, and his relationship with Delilah is under pressure. Their troubles are only multiplied when an ecologist is found dead and the finger of blame is pointed firmly at Delilah’s older brother, Will Metcalfe. It seems an open and shut case. An argument over an ecology report for planning permission which got out of hand, with Will known to have a hot temper. But Delilah won’t accept he’s guilty and neither will Samson.

Death is coming to Bruncliffe; its target is Samson O’Brien. Oblivious to his impending date with fate, Samson is busy juggling a number of cases at the Dales Detective Agency. Too busy, in fact, to notice his partner behaving oddly. Because Delilah Metcalfe knows what is coming. A hitman. Sent from London with one objective: to finally silence the troublesome O’Brien before his corruption case can make it to court.

I thought my first husband was dead. But when I get a letter with his name on it just days before my wedding, it will tear my perfect new life apart… As we drive up to the gorgeous house by the lake with its red and yellow roses round the door, I breathe in the pure air and count my blessings. In two days’ time I’m getting married to Matt, my soulmate and the father of my beautiful boy. After all the pain of my past, my life now is perfect.

From death to danger and malice to mystery, Samson and Delilah have weathered many storms. Finally, things should be going smoothly. Except life’s never that simple in Bruncliffe, is it? As the couple are beset with worries about their upcoming wedding, a charismatic celebrity comes knocking on the Dales Detective Agency’s door, seeking their services. Samson is initially reluctant to help, for many reasons. But things quickly escalate following a murder at Fellside Court and, as a friend comes under suspicion, Samson and Delilah must set aside their personal problems to catch a killer.

Two people are abducted, imprisoned, and left with a gun. As hunger and thirst set in, only one walks away alive. It's a game more twisted than any Detective Inspector Helen Grace has ever seen. If she hadn't spoken with the shattered survivors herself, she almost wouldn't believe them.

Detective Samson O'Brien is ready to settle down to a nice cup of tea, but it's not long before he's called on for help with a new case. In order to execute a recent will, solicitor Matty Thistlethwaite requires a copy of a death certificate for a young woman who died when Samson was a child. It should be straightforward, but things in Bruncliffe rarely are. Particularly when Matty insists that Delilah Metcalfe, with her wealth of local knowledge, works alongside Samson on the sensitive investigation.

With two jobs and two children, Jess Thomas does her best day after day. But it’s hard on your own. And sometimes you take risks you shouldn’t. Because you have to.... Jess’ gifted, quirky daughter Tanzie is brilliant with numbers, but without a helping hand she’ll never get the chance to shine. And Nicky, Jess’ teenage stepson, can’t fight the bullies alone. Sometimes Jess feels like they’re sinking.... Into their lives comes Ed Nicholls, a man whose life is in chaos, and who is running from a deeply uncertain future. But he has time on his hands. He knows what it’s like to be lonely. And he wants to help....

Those are the only words on the phone call. Then they hang up. Surely, a prank? A mistake? A wrong number? Anything but the chilling truth... That someone is watching, waiting, ready to take your life in one hour. But why The job of finding out falls to DI Helen Grace: a woman with a track record in hunting killers. However, this is one case where the killer seems to always be one step ahead of the police and the victims. With no motive, no leads, no clues - nothing but pure fear - an hour can last a lifetime....

Trunks packed with potions and cures, Jane Aire sets out on a crisp, clear morning in October to face the greatest challenge of her sheltered girls’-school existence. A shadow lies over Thornfield Hall and its reclusive master, Edward Rochester. And he’s hired her only as a last resort. Jane stumbles again and again as she tries to establish a rapport with her prickly new employer, but he becomes the least of her worries as a mysterious force seems to work against her.