Showing results by narrator "Angus King" in All Categories

Winning stories from The Bazaar of Bad Dreams Hodder- Guardian competition. The number one best-selling writer Stephen King presents six gripping and chilling stories in this captivating anthology: 'Wild Swimming' by Elodie Harper. 'Eau-de-Eric' by Manuela Saragosa. 'The Spots' by Paul Bassett Davies. 'The Unpicking' by Michael Button. 'La Mort de L'amant' by Stuart Johnstone. 'The Bear Trap' by Neil Hudson.

On a remote Scottish island, five children are the only ones left. Since the last adult died, sensible Elizabeth has been the group leader, testing for a radio signal, playing teacher and keeping an eye on Alex, the littlest, whose insulin can last only so long. There is 'shopping' to do in the houses they haven't yet searched and wrong smells to avoid. For eight-year-old Rona, each day brings fresh hope that someone will come back for them, tempered by the reality of their dwindling supplies.

The warm, funny memoir of Gregor Fisher, the much loved Scottish actor best known for Rab C. Nesbitt, told as he uncovers his dramatic family history. Growing up in the Glasgow suburbs, Gregor was 14 when he asked where he was christened and was told that he was adopted. But it wasn't quite that simple. And so began an unfolding of truths, half truths and polite cover-ups from his various families.

There’s been a sensational murder at historic Castle Kinloch, a gothic fantasy of grey granite on a remote island in the Highlands of Scotland. Literary superstar Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead—under bizarre circumstances—in the castle tower’s book-lined study. Years ago, Presley purchased the castle as a showpiece for his brand and to lure paying guests with a taste for writerly glamour. Now it seems, the castle has done him in…or, possibly, one of the castle’s guests has.

Thirteen years ago, DI Helen Birch's little brother Charlie disappeared. Two days ago, Birch was part of a raid on one of Scotland's most feared criminal organisations. Yesterday, Charlie came back.... Now Birch has a choice: save her career, or save Charlie? As she interrogates her brother, we see his story, in a brilliantly tense and clever story about what people will do to survive and the lines they'll cross to protect those they love.

Elodie and Ed Crane are twin Artezans, possessors of Hidden and Unseen magic. They wield powers that have exploded beyond all understanding and an ominous shared destiny. While Ed has the power to control dreams, Elodie can hear the thoughts of every living thing around her. Bombarded by the incessant chatter, Elodie struggles with overwhelming noise. But that's far better than the sinister Whispers she hears.

A father who is trying to rescue his lost wife. Their child, desperately searching the wild forests and dangerous mountains of the Scottish Highlands, not knowing what’s out there. An abandoned cottage in the remote wilderness, filled with thousands of confusing, terrifying handwritten notes. And a dark, looming voice who threatens to destroy everything. Perfect for fans of Pine and The Loney, Fray announces an electrifying new voice in literary fiction.

John Docherty’s mother has just been taken into a nursing home following a massive stroke and she’s unlikely to be able to live independently again. With no other option than to sell the family home, John sets about packing up everything in the house. In sifting through the detritus of his family’s past he’s forced to revisit, and revise his childhood. For in a box, in the attic, he finds undeniable truth that he had a brother who disappeared when he himself was only a toddler.

Joseph Staines left town with a stolen tallybook, but two suspicious deaths and a surprise inheritance have lured him back home to Edinburgh. No one is pleased to see him. The debtors want him gone. The police have some questions for him. And a mysterious stranger has been asking about him in the pub. To survive, Staines has to sober up, solve the murders and stay one step ahead of the man who wants him dead.

Paul and Mikey are on the run, apparently from the press surrounding their house after Mikey's release from prison. His crime: child murder, committed when he was a boy. As they travel, they move from one disturbing scenario to the next, eventually involving themselves with a bizarre religious cult. The power between the brothers begins to shift, and we realise there is more to their history than Paul has allowed us to know.

If you can't trust your family, who can you trust...? Glasgow gangster Jamie Gray and his fellow Blood Brothers rule the Gallowburn Estate with an iron fist. No one messes around on their turf without consequences. But when Jamie’s erstwhile dad, Jason Gray, reappears after many years away - some of them spent behind bars - the Blood Brothers are drawn into the murky and dangerous world of the toughest gangster of them all – the Queen of Glasgow, Toni McVay.

Leave it to the Hangman introduces Glasgow's most notorious criminal dynasty–the Kilburns. From the murky depths of smuggling to the explosive dangers of stolen dynamite, no deed is too daring for this clan. Yet, even in a world where lawlessness reigns, there are lines that are not meant to be crossed.

Bartender Marie has a simple life in the small town of Banktoun and a new relationship with local policeman, Davie Gray. But someone doesn't want her to be happy. With an escaped psychiatric patient on the loose, and the body of a woman found on the outskirts of town, Davie is distracted. The new relationship is falling apart before it starts. Because Marie is keeping a secret.

On a remote Scottish island, Max loses his hearing in a boating accident. Struggling to make sense of his new life, and resenting being put into the 'special' class at school, he notices changes taking place after a new wind farm is constructed off the island's coast. People have become irritable and unpredictable, and acts of violence threaten to tear the community apart. For the turbines are being used to test out a new soundwave weapon. Unaffected due to his hearing loss, Max and his classmates must find a way to stop the out-of-control experiment before it has tragic consequences.

A 29-year-old man lives alone in his Glasgow flat. The telephone rings; a casual conversation, but behind this a job offer. The clues are there if you know to look for them. He is an expert. A loner. Freelance. Another job is another job, but what if this organisation wants more? A meeting at a club. An offer. A brief. A target: Lewis Winter. It’s hard to kill a man well. People who do it well know this. People who do it badly find out the hard way. The hard way has consequences.

The publishing house of John Murray was founded in Fleet Street in 1768 and remained a family firm over seven generations. Published to coincide with this remarkable achievement' and in the anniversary year, Dear Mr Murray is a collection of some of the best letters from the hundreds of thousands held in the John Murray Archive. They reveal not only the story of some of the most interesting and influential books in history but also the remarkable friendships - as well as occasional animosities - between author and publisher as well as readers, editors, printers and illustrators.

Published in 1927, Scottish writer John Buchan's Witch Wood is set in a rural parish located in the Scottish Borders during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The story centers around newly ordained minister David Sempill's arrival in Woodilee in the wake of the Church of Scotland's acceptance of the Solemn League and Covenant and explores themes and issues surrounding religious tolerance and seventeenth-century Calvinism. With pagan rituals, an outbreak of the plague, and rumors about fairies and the devil, Witch Wood also delves into the supernatural and occult.

Three women had been brutally murdered between early 1968 and late 1969, each after a night dancing at Glasgow’s infamous Barrowland Ballroom. Their murders were linked and ascribed to the spectre of the well dressed, scripture quoting killer who had apparently stalked the city’s dancehalls. The figure was never caught or identified. But the intervening years have spawned a legend that has never quite lost its grip on the popular imagination of Glasgow. The killings provoked the country's largest-ever manhunt.

Seventeen-year-old Tyler lives in one of Edinburgh’s most deprived areas. Coerced into robbing rich people’s homes by his bullying older siblings, he’s also trying to care for his little sister and his drug-addict mum. On a job, his brother Barry stabs a homeowner and leaves her for dead, but that’s just the beginning of their nightmare, because the woman is the wife of Edinburgh’s biggest crime lord, Deke Holt.

Twelve-year-old Luca Verani has big plans for his future. But when his aunt announces she's selling the family's ice cream café and his nonna's mind starts to wander, Luca's dreams melt away… Will his family ever be the same again? Heart-warming and gently funny, this hopeful new novel from the Carnegie-nominated author of Guardians of the Wild Unicorns presents a child's perspective on dementia in the family.