Showing results by narrator "Genevieve Swallow" in All Categories

Anarchy hits Dunedin when a cargo ship runs aground on Aramoana Beach amid a crowd of onlookers. One of them discovers a skull in the sand while desperate scavengers fight each other for the best of the bounty. Waking up to the chaos and hurrying outside to give the police a hand, Detective Constable Sam Shephard cops a wallop before her attacker is himself beaten senseless - and she saves his life in the ambulance. Returning to work, she is sent to help recover a body submerged in the water, the autopsy revealing that this was no accidental drowning but a lethal assault.

When Mirka gets a job in a country house in England, she has no idea of the struggle she faces to make sense of a very English couple and a way of life entirely alien to her. Richard and Sophie are chaotic, drunken, frequently outrageous but also warm, generous and kind, despite their turbulent marriage. After a traumatic break two years ago with her family in Slovakia, Mirka finds she is happy at Fairmont Hall. But when she tells Sophie that she is gay, everything she values is put in danger....

DC Sam Shephard is stationed in Dunedin CIB, a newbie at the bottom of the pecking order. When a young university student is found battered to death and floating in the Leith, she is pushed to one side by her boss and only given grunt work. Despite this, it is Sam who discovers that there has been a string of unsolved murders on the South Island, and that each has occurred while a travelling circus was in town - the same circus that is presently in Dunedin.

How do you solve a puzzle when there are no pieces? When an attractive, well-dressed woman is found dying on a Chelsea street, it seems clear to DS Thea Walsh that this murder will be one that is wrapped up quickly. The policing murder manual describes the golden hour, that window in time in which the most critical information can be gathered and they have the best start. The witness who found her reacted quickly and respected the crime scene. And then there is the victim herself. She is wearing a wedding ring and has recently had a child, so someone will be looking for her.

Beginning with the return to Venice of an old and sick man determined to confront his past, and accompanied by his daughter who is escaping hers, The Antipodeans spans three generations of a New Zealand family and their interaction with three families of Northern Italy.

The shocking murder of a heavily pregnant woman throws the New Zealand city of Dunedin into a tailspin, and the devastating crime feels uncomfortably close to home for Detective Sam Shephard as she counts down the days to her own maternity leave.

Growing up in London in the aftermath of the Second World War, Ruth is a thoughtful child who finds herself in a confusing adult world. She seeks refuge in her memories of her idyllic stays with her grandparents in the picturesque countryside, which provide comforting visions of a simpler life. As she comes to terms with her surroundings and her adolescence, Ruth finds the motivation to pursue the dream which has governed her childhood, discovering family secrets along the way.

When three bodies are found in close succession in a tight-knit Cumbrian community, everyone knows the victims. This was 15 years ago. Since then, there have been more deaths but no further clues. Emilia Hellier has grown up in the shadow of a serial killer, watching her father's hunt for the killer twist and change her family. Now she belongs to the same CID department. Now it's her turn to figure out who has cast such a shadow over their lives.

Kara has achieved something that no Majat has ever managed – freedom from the Guild! But the Black Diamond assassin Mai has been called back to face his punishment for sparing her life. Determined to join his fight or share his punishment, Kara finds herself falling for Mai. But is their relationship – and the force that makes their union all-powerful – a tool to defeat the overpowering forces of the Kaddim armies, or a distraction sure to cause the downfall of the Majat?

Carmen is happily married to Tom, a successful London lawyer and divorcé with three children. She is content to absorb the stresses of being a stepmother to teenagers and the stain of 'second wife'. She knows she'll always live in the shadow of another woman - not Tom's first wife, Laura, who is resolutely polite and determinedly respectable, but the lover who ended his first marriage: Zena. Zena, who was shockingly beautiful. Zena, who drowned swimming late one night.

Adam Hamilton-Shaw has more reason than most to avoid commitment. Living on a houseboat in the Severn Valley, his dream is to sail into the sunset - preferably with a woman waiting in every port. Would-be screenplay writer Sienna Meadows realises that everything about Adam spells trouble - but she can't ignore the intense physical attraction that exists between them. But can Adam change his damaging behaviour - or is the road to destruction a one-way street?