Showing results by narrator "Claire Storey" in All Categories

Between jobs and out of her rented accommodation, Clara Harrington decides to take a break and stay with her beloved, yet eccentric aunt. Vanessa Harrington is an award-winning crime novelist. When it comes to crime, and murder, there’s not a lot that she doesn’t know. Clara’s hope for peace and quiet is shattered when, on her first night at Chadwick Lodge, the local town councillor is murdered, falling face down into his dessert. Finding herself in the middle of one of her books, Vanessa happily takes on the task of uncovering the murderer and drags Clara along with her.

Sylvia, Joy and Pearl are preparing to compete in a major national ballroom competition - not easy in wartime when travelling is difficult and air raids might mean that events can be cancelled at the last minute. But 'live for the day' is the motto for the times, and our girls plan to waltz their worries away. And beyond the pressures of the ballroom, the three friends support and encourage each other to fulfil their dreams in love, life and dancing...

As soon as you first see the house, a former hotel in a picturesque enclave of the Cypriot hills, you know this abandoned resort is the perfect home for you – with breath-taking views, a refreshing pool, and peace and quiet, away from the rest of the world. A place to recover and grow. But paradise isn’t cheap, and as the debts mount, you could lose everything you've worked so hard for. Until someone makes you an offer: to keep your home, all you have to do is take a life.

Everyone in the village loves Joni Blackwood. She is beautiful and bold, and it's no surprise to anyone when on the annual village bonfire, she is crowned 'queen' of the festivities. After all, despite fierce competition from the charity-giving and churchgoing mothers in the village, she has won this honour five years in a row.

This is the story of Josie, a British expat living in New York City. Or rather, it is the tale of two Josies, as her life path split three years ago, when she did or did not meet the love of her life—wealthy, handsome Rob. One Josie is now a single radio show host living in Brooklyn, with a huge crush on her friend Peter; the other is happily married to Rob and living in a fabulous Manhattan penthouse. It’s both Josies’ 36th birthday, and each is set to celebrate when they crash their bicycles at the exact spot where their lives split three years ago.

She’s not ill. She’s not in imminent danger. But she is sure it’s going to happen. Because many years ago… she’d made a promise to a stranger, in the woods. Elena’s mother was in hospital, after a life-threatening accident. The promise would keep her mother safe, but put Elena’s own life at risk, instead, when she grew up and turned thirty. Elena put the promise to the back of her mind, over the years. But she’s twenty-nine now, and when something happens that puts her life in danger, she remembers. And she knows.

Grace has it all. At least she did until a moment of indiscretion threatened to destroy her career. With everything in London at stake and her fate in the Board’s hands, she escapes to her Aunt’s house in the Lake District—the perfect place to hide from her secrets and to get some much-needed peace and quiet. But Duckton-by-Dale is nothing like she remembered and she certainly didn’t expect to be attracted to her new neighbor, Harriet. But then she also didn’t expect her world to be turned upside down by the quirky ensemble of villagers who plot to give love a helping hand.

On the beautiful and windswept island of Tresco, two worlds live side by side. The wealthy visitors come by helicopter to stay at their lavish time-share properties. The estate staff travel by boat, and work all hours to keep them happy, to keep the money flowing in. But while the blue skies and savage waves make the island seem a wild paradise, under the surface the inhabitants are concealing more than they dare reveal. As black clouds come rolling in and a storm hits the island, truths and rumours begin to tumble out, wreaking terrible damage.

December, 1919. Clever crime reporter Lillie Mead hoped to celebrate a peaceful Christmas in the English countryside. But when a close friend's colleague turns up dead, Lillie knows there'll be little festive spirit until she unwraps this mystery. Following the clues to the wintery Scottish Highlands, she hopes to stop the killer cold before the next body hits the snow. But after she connects the victims to a clandestine wartime committee, she puts herself firmly in the murderer's sights.

As a child, Grace Cooper suffered from bouts of sleepwalking. Now, after the unexpected death of her husband, she’s moved back to Woodburn Cottage, her childhood home—and the sleepwalking returns. Grace doesn’t know what she does in her sleep, but it’s stirring up dark memories that Grace would rather forget. Like the disappearance of her brother Simon as child and the tragic death of her father…

Real life doesn’t play out like a movie. Electric connections mostly mean you’ve got static in your jumper. Camila Moore knows that; she’s not daft. She has two teenage boys and bills to pay, plus the only man she’s ever been with has traded her in for a gym bunny. Returning to work’s the answer, but when she finds herself in the wrong room and wrong place at the wrong time, the last thing she expects is to be promoted out of obscurity into the arms of Harriet Imogen Pearson, media darling, hotshot entrepreneur, and notorious lesbian playgirl.

A murder case. A love triangle. And a plucky journalist smack in the middle...England, 1922. Crime reporter Lillie Mead wants to take the country by storm. While her handsome fiancé hopes she'll quit her dangerous line of work, the journalist dreams of taking her talents national. When she's called in to cover the murder of a wealthy duke, she puts her relationship troubles on hold to focus on locating the crime's sole witness before the killer does...

June, 1941. When Bobby Bancroft arrived in Silverdale to take a job as a reporter on The Tyke magazine, the sleepy Yorkshire Dales village felt like a little pocket of a past long gone. But war finally seems to have come to Silverdale. The villagers face new hardships when shortages and rationing begin to bite, young men become scarce as more are called up, and Bobby finds herself juggling her job on the magazine with a new role as an ARP warden. Even her surly editor Reg and his wife are doing their bit, agreeing to take two evacuees from London into their home.

Norfolk, 1813. In the quiet Waveney Valley, the body of Mary Tyrell is staked through the heart after her death by suicide. She had been under arrest for the suspected murder of her newborn child. Mary leaves behind a young daughter, Hannah, who is later sent away to the Refuge for the Destitute in London, where she will be trained for a life of domestic service. It is at the Refuge that Hannah meets Annie Simpkins, a fellow resident, and together they forge a friendship that deepens into passionate love.

Julia and Lauren are sisters, but definitely not best friends. They rarely even speak to each other. But when Lauren's fortieth birthday is ruined by her latest boyfriend dumping her, Julia feels a sudden and unexpected burst of sympathy, and offers to go with her on the special holiday he'd paid for as a birthday present. Unfortunately the holiday turns out not to be a glamorous hotel in a holiday hotspot, but a self-catering cottage in a tiny village called Deepcombe, in the middle of Dartmoor. And it's January.

Susan Quinn, a teacher at St Wilfred's All-Girls School, and Jenna James, a ski instructor in the French Alps, are about to find out. As an invisible bond draws the two women closer, will they appreciate each other for who they are now, not who they once were? One Foot onto the Ice, is a fast-paced romance set in the sunny ski resort of Morzine, where the young cast of students and teachers search for excitement on the slopes, with some finding it a lot more easily than others.

Oxford, England, 1922. Headstrong crime reporter Lillie Mead is planning her impending wedding. But when her spy fiancé disappears while she’s investigating a suspicious poisoning death, she fears her happily-ever-after will turn tragic. And when she travels to London to get help identifying the toxin, the chemist she consults is shot dead before her eyes.

Teacher Susan Quinn, and club ski instructor Jenna James have finally found love. True love. Real love. Breathless love. There’s chemistry. There’s passion. There’s a future. But what happens when distance separates them? The fun cast of characters from St. Wilfred’s All-Girls School are back to support Jenna and Susan on their journeys of self-discovery.

Leah is accused of a crime she didn't commit. Dumped by Adam, the man she planned to marry, she escapes to Aunt Jayne's smallholding in the Kent village of Winkleigh Marsh. Heartbroken and homeless, she strives to clear her name and deal with her emotions. Jayne treats Leah's unhappiness with herbal remedies, cowslip wine, and common sense in equal measure. In return, Leah works hard for the delicious home-cooked meals they share. Back in London, steps are being taken to investigate what's happened to the missing money.

When Toni arrives at Wild Club with a moody teen in tow and little knowledge about taking care of the planet, she’s the tall, dark stranger Stella didn't realize she'd been longing for. A mishap with a broken tent brings them physically, as well as emotionally, closer. But Toni is 18 years Stella's junior and apparently straight as a die. Should Stella kiss any romance with Toni a firm goodbye? Or is Toni truly attracted to her?