Showing results by narrator "Karen Cass" in All Categories

The Classic Crime Collection is a collection of 18 classic detective novels, read by esteemed cast of award-winning narrators. Included here are stories by some of the most iconic crime writers in history, including Dorothy L. Sayers; Arthur Conan Doyle; Agatha Christie; Dashiell Hammett; Wilkie Collins; Josephine Tey; and more.

Austria, 1938. After years of hardship, Ella is full of hope for a better future for Austrians, and when Hitler marches into Linz, she can’t help but become swept up in the euphoria of her boyfriend, Max. But she soon realises her mistake. When she witnesses a woman being shot in the street and a childhood friend’s Jewish department store is closed down, she knows she must do something. It’s a dangerous time to be a resistor, especially when her fascist boyfriend proposes to her.

Kelly Ingles's case should have been one to tug on the public's heartstrings: a young woman missing in the run-up to Christmas. But Kelly wasn't perfect - she liked to party, enjoyed a drink, didn't always make the best decisions. And when evidence of her drunken antics appears online, it becomes clear that Kelly might not just have been in the wrong place at the wrong time; she might also be the wrong sort of girl to encourage public sympathy. It's a case that's right up Maxie Reddick's street. But can she get the police and public on board before it's too late?

Art teacher Walter Hartright is on the road to London when he encounters an enigmatic woman dressed entirely in white. She's an unnerving portent of strange things to come as Hartright starts a new job as drawing-master at Limmeridge House. There the teacher falls in love with Laura, his betrothed pupil, who bears a striking resemblance to the woman in white. Soon Walter is drawn into a family intrigue of greed, secrets, madness, and revenge.

Laura Hardy is recovering from a traumatic car crash. The incident proved fatal for her mother, and whilst Laura's life was spared, she is left injured, weak and grieving for her loss. Her brother, Edward, resolves that accommodating Laura at his family home, Four Winds, will provide the respite she so desperately needs. But as soon as she steps foot over the threshold, she is assailed by feelings of choking and terror, engulfed by a sense of despair.

Single mother Sally Lachlan has a secret that has haunted her for a decade, although perhaps it is time to let it go. A chance meeting with a fellow scientist, the charismatic geneticist Anthony Blake, reawakens her desire for love. But as Sally finally lets down her guard, her teenage daughter, Charlie, begins to ask questions about her late father.

Danish journalist Heloise Kaldan is in the middle of a nightmare when she receives the first in a series of cryptic letters from a woman named Anna Kiel. Wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of a young lawyer three years earlier, Anna hasn't been seen since. The police think she's fled the country, until the reporter who originally wrote about the case is found murdered. Has Anna Kiel struck again, or is there more than one killer at large? And why does every clue point directly to Heloise Kaldan?

Blood carries life, yet the sight of it makes people faint. It is a waste product and a commodity pricier than oil. It can save lives and transmit deadly infections. Each one of us has roughly nine pints of it, yet many don’t even know their own blood type. And for all its ubiquitousness, the few tablespoons of blood discharged by 800 million women are still regarded as taboo: menstruation is perhaps the single most demonized biological event.

After his father is laid to rest, Aaron Berkeley, Earl of Graylocke, sets out to void the marriage contract that his father had in place for him. To his dismay, he discovers that he has no choice but to marry Lady Beatrice or else lose a vital part of his inheritance. To make matters worse, the contract stipulates that they must marry by his thirtieth birthday, which is only two months away. He resigns himself to the marriage, finding solace in one’s cups.

Meet Carmen, Polly and Dana - all happy and successful women, with very different views on relationships. Carmen has made a life with Elliot for the past eight years. She's ready for the next step, but a proposal seems to be as far away as ever. Polly is devoted to her family. But after her parents' bitter divorce, she's wary of marriage - even after sharing 20 years and one son with Fraser. Single mother Dana longs for companionship, despite her dedication to raising her son, Luke.

We prefer not to talk about it, but we should. Disease spread by waste kills more people worldwide every year than any other single cause of death. Even in America, nearly two million people have no access to an indoor toilet. Yet the subject remains unmentionable. Moving from the underground sewers of Paris, London, and New York (an infrastructure disaster waiting to happen) to an Indian slum where ten toilets are shared by 60,000 people, The Big Necessity breaks the silence, revealing everything that matters about how people do - and don't - deal with their own waste.

Hope Close: a leafy, tranquil backwater in the heart of the English countryside. But when Andy Meyer moves in, it soon becomes clear that picture-perfect homes can hide less-than-perfect lives. Fresh from rehab and with no interest in meeting his neighbours, Andy erects forbidding gates to keep the ghosts of his past - and any prying eyes - at bay. Next door, in the grandest house, Layla is unhappily married to a much older man and desperately misses her young son, who has been banished to boarding school.

Having grown up in an orphanage, Kate Oakley is afraid of love, and she always puts her job first. One day, she receives sad news that her best friend, who also grew up in the orphanage, has been in an accident and died, leaving her baby behind. Without hesitation Kate decides to adopt the orphaned boy, but raising a baby while running a company isn’t so easy. She decides to hire the babysitter recommended by her friend. And when he shows up at her door, he turns out to be absolutely gorgeous! But Kate has yet to learn who this Rick Evans really is...and why he is there.

In the spring of 1945, at Rechnitz on the Austrian-Hungarian border, not far from the front lines of the advancing Red Army, Countess Margit Batthyany gave a party in her mansion. The war was almost over, and the German aristocrats and SS officers dancing and drinking knew it was lost. Late that night, they walked down to the village, where 180 enslaved Jewish labourers waited, made them strip naked, and shot them all before returning to the bright lights of the party.

After a lifetime of living for her friends, family, even strangers, Lady Lucy Westmont knows something must change or she’ll lose herself forever. An invitation to visit her free-spirited and scandalous aunt in the wild Scottish countryside is the perfect opportunity to discover how to live the life she wants. James Pembroke just learned that not only is he the new Earl of Rossbury, he’s also inherited his late uncle’s debts and a manor house deep in Scotland.

On a warm evening in late summer, best friends Raymond and Cara camp out overnight in the garden. By morning, Raymond is dead and Cara is missing. DI Rita Cannan is called home to the sleepy seaside town of Green-on-the-Sea to investigate Raymond’s murder and try to find Cara - alive. But the case carries eerie echoes of another girl’s death that rocked the close-knit community, decades ago.

Student and Zumba instructor Izzy Grant leads a pretty normal life, but in the run-up to Christmas an unusual encounter with a friendly Santa paves the way for the most wonderful and star-studded Christmas she’s ever experienced. Because at almost exactly the same time, Izzy also meets Seth Roberts - as in the Seth Roberts, bona fide rock star and lead singer of Scarlet Gryphon. As their connection grows, Izzy’s Christmas countdown becomes a glittering whirlwind of after-show parties and classy restaurants - and does she have her mystery Santa to thank?

Recently widowed, Charlotte Pennyworth is relishing her independence and it rankles to have to rely on a man to help her with a sinister stalker. Former Yardman, Elliot Baker, is reluctant to take on Charlotte''s case but despite himself and his history with another woman, he is drawn to the bright, attractive widow. Sparks smolder between the PI and his client but neither is looking to form an attachment. Elliot thinks Charlotte is hiding something. Charlotte has no desire to marry again, especially to a private investigator, no matter how handsome, brave and kind he is.

You could say it started with vanity. We believed we were special. But the truth is we were simply vulnerable. One of them is lying. One of them is guilty. No one is safe. Months after landing their dream job, five brilliant young minds are sent on a remote retreat. But when one of them disappears, they're forced to question why they were brought here in the first place - and how far they'd go to get what they want. And for the first time in their lives, they realise too much knowledge can be deadly.

For the townspeople of Poole on the Dorset coast, the war feels like it's right on their doorstep. And with more and more men leaving to fight, one fisherman’s daughter is determined to do whatever she can to help. Peggy volunteers to use her skills on the water to work with the flying boats alongside the RAF based in the harbour. But when she is asked to undertake a special mission, she will have to make a terrible choice – between her duty to her country and her only chance of happiness.