Showing results by narrator "Gordon Griffin" in All Categories

One night a stranger wrapped in bandages and eccentric clothing arrives in an English village. That stranger, Griffin, is a brilliant and obsessed scientist who has discovered how to turn his entire body invisible. Although he initially feels joy at his newfound freedom and abilities, that joy quickly turns to despair when he struggles to discover a way to reverse the process.

Inspector Alvarez is just considering whether he can surreptitiously leave work early when a colleague calls to tell him that an Englishman has been found dead in his car in his garage, the engine on and the tank empty. Alvarez, chafing over the prospect of an evening on the job, proceeds to the scene, but his hopes of a quick and easy case are dashed – for while the man was found in a car full of fumes, it appears the cause of death was not carbon-monoxide poisoning….

In April 1917, as Tsar Nicholas II's abdication sent shockwaves across war-torn Europe, the future leader of the Bolshevik revolution, Vladimir Lenin, was far away, exiled in Zurich. To lead the revolt, Lenin needed to return to Petrograd immediately. But to get there, he would have to cross Germany, which meant accepting help from the deadliest of Russia's adversaries and betraying his homeland.

A ghost is haunting the little Hertfordshire village of Cheriton.... In this fun short story, we meet quirky Detective Quentin Drex and his novel robot assistant as he investigates whether the legend of the Silver Bride is behind recent deaths at Cheriton Hall.

When Hugh Latimer is shot in the head during combat, he is not expected to survive. But he returns home a hero and is awarded the VC. As time moves on, though, it becomes clear that whilst he may have recovered physically, he has been dramatically changed psychologically by the war....

An Englishwoman living in France falls through a balcony railing. Or was she pushed? An Englishman whose rented car showed a Spanish registration visited her in France on the day she died. Days later, an Englishman living in Spain dies from a heroin overdose - although he wasn’t an addict.

Spring, 1947. Having survived the horrors of the camps, Felix Breit, one of pre-war Europe’s foremost sculptors, arrives in London, hoping to rebuild his life and career. The opportunity arises when two English architects invite him to join a community they are hoping to create at the Dower House, a Georgian country house. He is under the spell of Angela Wirth, a fellow concentration camp survivor. Will they ever dare admit their love?

When the body of retired Bolivian diplomat Guido Zavala is found floating in his pool, Inspector Alvarez finds that the evidence might point to foul play. As he slowly uncovers Zavala's past, he learns there are those who have good cause to have disliked him: Jerome Robertson, whose wife has been having an affair with him; Santiago Pons, whose heavy gambling losses have placed him at the other's mercy; Bailey, who suffered in the past because of him.

Smuggler Guy Lunt is missing his former companions who were caught by the law on their last job. Not only that, he is struggling to make the payments on his smart new motor cruiser, Seasprite. But then he meets a stranger who has the perfect plan....

Thousands of short stories were published during the First World War, which coincided with the heyday of the fiction magazine in Britain. Much of this material has never been republished since the end of the war and is virtually lost to the modern audience. This new collection is an important work of recovery, introducing little-known magazine short fiction - which was primarily written for a civilian readership - by major writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle as well as more neglected authors.

A collection of Peter Fleming’s essays written for The Spectator.

A story from Night in the Front Line, a collection of Second World War short stories. 'The Wall' vividly captures the horror and reality of the Blitz with a firsthand recollection of a particularly fateful night from a member of the National Fire Service.

The Second World War sparked the writing of hundreds of short stories by servicemen and women as well as civilians. They appeared in magazines and collections during and after the war and addressed all areas of the conflict, from the home front to service abroad. Short stories offer a wonderful insight into everyday concerns on the various front lines and illustrate the humour that kept up morale as well as the despair and confusion felt by so many.

In the fictional Harrington Convent, one of its more challenging inhabitants, Baroness Sliema, is found murdered. Chief Inspector Pearson of Scotland Yard is called to solve the crime. He discovers the convent is governed by a particularly shrewd and omniscient Reverend Mother, and we meet a varied and entertaining cast of characters observed with wit and charm. Shepherd describes the world of a convent with its colourful and in some cases unlikely inhabitants with sympathy and humour, making for a gentle and entertaining tale.

Inspector Alvarez is in a good mood, for once. The sun is shining, he has enjoyed an uniterrupted morning nap at his desk, his irasciable boss - Superios Chief Salas - is on holiday, and the local Mallorquin government’s proposal to increase tax on alcohol has been soundly defeated. But optimism, he soon has cause to reflect, is the road to disaster. In short order, he provokes the ire of Salas’ secretary and then of Salas himself - whose holiday does not seem to exclude phoning Alvarez to complain about his work. In no time at all, Alxvarez is mired down by a seemingly impossible task....

With a penchant for wine and women, Tyler is not the kind of man to let the law stand in his way. Rich, arrogant and spoiled, when his love of wine and cognac leads to the death of a young couple walking along a country lane, he'll do anything to avoid the consequences - including driving his car to his property in Mallorca so the English police can't examine it.

Retired teacher Lewis Sullivan always imagined living by the sea. He lives instead in the Midlands village in which he was born. His grown-up daughter visits every day, bringing soup. He does not want soup. He frequents his second-favourite pub, where he can get half a shandy and a speciality sausage. When a childhood friend appears on the scene, Lewis finds his life and comfortable routine shaken up.

A body neatly wrapped in brown paper is found by the gardener, Mr Turtle, on his garden rubbish heap. The police are again summoned to the convent, and we meet again the now Deputy Commissioner Pearson, along with many of the characters so charmingly and empathetically described in the first audiobook.

The essential novels of Jules Verne include the classics such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. Enjoy all three novels in this enthralling science-fiction collection.

James Pattinson was best known for his novels of adventure on the high seas, and this short story follows his maritime theme. When a man goes overboard on the M.V. Southern Star with just one witness, Captain Perry and his old friend Barton Rice must investigate.