Showing results by narrator "Kris Dyer" in All Categories

Behind the stage lights and word-perfect soliloquies, sinister secrets are lurking in the wings. The mysteries in this collection reveal the dark side to theatre and performing arts: a world of backstage dealings, where unscrupulous actors risk everything to land a starring role, costumed figures lead to mistaken identities, and on-stage deaths begin to look a little too convincing. This expertly curated thespian anthology features 14 stories from giants of the classic crime genre.

The theatres are padlocked. Christmas has been cancelled. It is 1657, and the unloved English Republic is eight years old. Though Cromwell's joyless grip on power appears immovable, many still look to Charles Stuart's dissolute and threadbare court-in-exile, and some are prepared to risk their lives plotting a restoration. For the officers of the Republic, constant vigilance is needed. So, when the bloody corpse of a Royalist spy is discovered in a small Essex village, why is the local magistrate so reluctant to investigate?

Crime author Dick Markham is in love again; his fiancée, Lesley Grant, the mysterious newcomer to the village. When Grant accidentally shoots a fortune teller through the side of his tent at the local fair - following a very strange reaction to his predictions - Markham is reluctantly brought into a scheme to expose his betrothed as a suspected serial husband-poisoner. That night the enigmatic fortune teller - and chief accuser - is found dead in an impossible locked-room setup, casting suspicion onto Grant and striking doubt into the heart of her lover.

Elizabeth's reign is reaching its winter and England's old adversaries are fading. But in a world on the brink of change, showing any weakness can be fatal. 1598. Nicholas Shelby, physician and reluctant spy for Robert Cecil, has brought his wife and their child home from exile. But he has returned to a dangerous world. Two old enemies are approaching their final reckoning. England and Spain are exhausted by war. In London, Elizabeth is entering the twilight of her reign. In Madrid, King Philip of Spain is dying. Perhaps now is the time for one last throw of the dice.

It's often said that when tragedy strikes, the victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But not Harry and Alice French. Assaulted by masked men looking for a mysterious package and a man named Renshaw, Alice and Harry manage to convince them that there has been a terrible mix-up. But nothing prepares Alice and Harry for the web they find themselves trapped in after their assailants leave. Especially as Alice hasn't been completely honest.

Do you have an idea in you? A hobby, a project, a product...something that could change your life? The Idea in You is a bulletproof system for finding the right idea and shaping it in to a success - on your own terms. With advice from the people behind the likes of Pizza Pilgrims, Parkrun and Decoded, The Idea in You will show you what to expect, how to think and what to do when launching your own venture.

Investigative journalist David Gardner turns his uncompromising gaze on the many conspiracy theories connected with the COVID pandemic. With first-hand reporting and detailed investigations into the people who originated these COVID theories—some of them plausible, some driven by an agenda and some plainly mad—he answers the questions that everyone has been asking for nearly two years since the pandemic began, and left us doubting our leaders as never before.

A young, shy, sickly priest is assigned to his first parish, a sleepy village in Northern France. Though his faith is devout, he finds nothing but indifference and mockery. The children laugh at his teachings, his parishioners are consumed by boredom, rumours are spread about him and he is tormented by stomach pains. Even his attempts to clarify his thoughts in a diary fail to deliver him from worldly concerns. Yet somehow, despite his suffering, he tries to find love for his fellow humans and even a state of grace.

While Charity Shackleford might be considered far more outspoken than her twin sister Chastity, she was much less inclined to make a complete cake of herself. Something her twin appeared to be doing with increasing regularity. Indeed, when details of Chastity's latest faux pas threatened to travel beyond the confines of Blackmore, it appeared that removing her from the vicinity was the only answer. Naturally, as always, Grace, the eldest daughter and current Duchess of Blackmore was tasked with picking up the pieces.

Decades tend to crest halfway through, and 1995 was the year of the Nineties: peak Britpop, peak YBA (Tracey Emin's tent), peak New Lad (when Nick Hornby published High Fidelity, when James Brown's Loaded detonated the publishing industry, and when pubs were finally allowed to stay open on a Sunday). It was the year of The Bends, the year Danny Boyle started filming Trainspotting, the year Richey Edwards went missing, the year Alex Garland wrote The Beach, the year Blair changed Clause IV after a controversial vote at the Labour Conference.

The red night of bells heralds global catastrophe. Annihilation on a biblical scale. Seeing the morning is no blessing. The handful of scattered survivors are confronted by blood-red skies and an infestation of predatory horrors that never originated on earth. An occupying force intent on erasing the remnants of animal life from the planet. Across the deserted landscapes of England, bereft of infrastructure and society, the overlooked can either hide or try to outrun the infernal hunting terrors. Until a rumour emerges claiming that the sea may offer an escape.

First published in 1944, Fell Murder sees E.C.R. Lorac at the height of her considerable powers as a purveyor of well-made and traditional detective fiction. The book presents a fascinating 'return of the prodigal' mystery set in the later stages of the Second World War, amidst the close-knit farmerfolk community of Lancashire's lovely Lune valley. The Garths had farmed their fertile acres for generations.

In November 2014 Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother, father and sister to death with a hammer. Now incarcerated at a medium-security mental-health institution, Arla will speak to no one but Scott King, an investigative journalist, whose Six Stories podcasts have become an internet sensation. King finds himself immersed in an increasingly complex case, interviewing five witnesses and Arla herself as he questions whether Arla's responsibility for the massacre was a diminished as her legal team made out.

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of Waterloo (the song, not the battle) – a seminal moment in pop history which saw Swedish sensation ABBA burst on to the international music scene. How is it that half a century later this seventies Eurovision act is bigger than ever – reaching listeners of all ages and spinning off into musicals, museums and holograms? Giles Smith, writer and music fan, sets out to find out why.

We all have good days and bad days. Some days we're on form, others we can't really be bothered and feel a little lackluster. No one enjoys those slump days - so let's do away with them! The wonderful, uplifting, and funny authors of the best-selling The Art of Being Brilliant are here to show us how to get motivated, get positive, and get happy, and, most importantly, how to be all three consistently.

Economics may seem like a modern field, but its object of study is ancient. Resources have been exchanged and distributed since the dawn of history, and the economies that arose from those transactions were more complex than you might expect. In this panorama of the development of trade and industry, Economist columnist Philip Coggan tracks the development of the world economy starting with the first obsidian blades that made their way from Turkey to what is now the Iran-Iraq border 7,000 years before Christ, and ending with the Sino-American trade war that we are in right now.

When Blake Barton opens the door to a stranger one morning, he comes face to face with an unimaginable evil. Because this stranger claims to be the devil, and he promises to kill Blake—not now, but in six days, six hours, and six minutes exactly. Plunged into a nightmare race to save his wife and young son, Blake finds himself fighting not only the stranger but an army of young men who call themselves the devil's disciples—men who will do anything to please their master. As time runs out, Blake realizes that in order to fight evil, he must find the devil inside himself.

Dachau, 1942. Emilie has been told she's here to nurse evil men. But the first patient she sees in the cold, dark room is hauntingly familiar. Her first love is not wicked. He couldn't be. What is he doing here? Emilie's heart stops as she takes in her childhood sweetheart hunched in a tattered prisoners uniform, the light lost from his face. Her new husband, Otto, said this was a camp for criminals. He should know, he's the doctor. But Danner would never have broken the law.

In the 1930s, as official government expeditions set their sights on conquering Everest, a little-known World War I veteran named Maurice Wilson conceived his own crazy, beautiful plan: he would fly a Gipsy Moth aeroplane from England to Everest, crash land on its lower slopes, then become the first person to reach its summit - all utterly alone.

For the first time in audio, a collection of Carys Davies’ iconic novel West and her award-winning short story collection The Redemption of Galen Pike. West: Cy Bellman, American settler and widowed father of Bess, reads in the newspaper that huge ancient bones have been discovered in a Kentucky swamp. He leaves his small Pennsylvania farm and young daughter to find out if the rumours are true: that the giant monsters are still alive and roam the uncharted wilderness beyond the Mississippi River.