Showing results by narrator "Sean Barrett" in All Categories

Following a previous investigation, which implicated those at the very top in Soviet Russia, Captain Alexei Korolev finds himself hailed as an example to all. But Korolev lives in an uneasy peace - if it is discovered what his real actions were during the case, he will face deportation to Siberia. Instead, Colonel Rodinov of the NKVD security service asks the detective to look into the suspected suicide of a young woman on a film set in the Ukraine. The feared commissar for State Security, Ezhov, wants the matter looked into.

Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler, long considered the bible of fishing, is a joyful celebration of the English countryside and the relaxed and reflective lifestyle of the devoted fisherman. Through dialogue between teacher and student, the book sheds a unique light on fishing, baiting, and cooking, including an original recipe for trout. Its music, rhymes, poetry, and humor are all brought to life by a full cast.

From poverty to pets, from medicine to magic, from slang to sex, from wallpaper to women's rights. A glorious portrait of life in London from 1660-1670 by the bestselling author of ELIZABETH'S LONDON.

Ten years ago, Andrea Hayes was the best master bombmaker in the business. Young, beautiful, and deadly, she was the favourite of her Irish republican masters. Then it all went wrong. Five children were killed, when disruption was all that was intended. It all became too much, and she turned away from her trade.… Now, a new Andrea Hayes lives a safe suburban life, with her loving husband and young daughter. Safe in the knowledge that her past is another country. But then her daughter is kidnapped and the past has come knocking.

Dieter Hess, an aged spy, is dead, and John Bachelor, his MI5 handler, is in deep, deep trouble. Death has revealed that the deceased had been keeping a secret second bank account - and there's only ever one reason a spy has a secret second bank account. The question of whether he was a double agent must be resolved, and its answer may undo an entire career's worth of spy secrets.

When Kurt Wallander first appeared in Faceless Killers back in 1990, he was a senior police officer, just turned 40, with his life in a mess. His wife had left him, his father barely acknowledged him; he ate badly and drank alone at night. The Pyramid chronicles the events that led him to such a place. We see him in the early years, doing hours on the beat whilst trying to solve a murder off-duty; witness the beginnings of his fragile relationship with Mona, the woman he has his heart set on marrying.

Old college friends Rob, Oliver and Mick reunite on a bird-watching tour to America. It is the first time in 20 years the three have been together—since the fateful holiday to America during which they met the enigmatic Laurie.... The tour party is hoping for spectacular sights at High Island on the Upper Texas coast, but as the rain pours down and the birds descend, Mick is discovered dead. Back in Britain, PIs George and Molly Palmer-Jones are working on a minor fraud case with name of Brownscombe Associates attached.

Here is the extraordinary true story of a British soldier who marched willingly into Buna-Monowitz, the concentration camp known as Auschwitz III. In the summer of 1944, Denis Avey was being held in a POW labour camp, E715, near Auschwitz III. He had heard of the brutality meted out to the prisoners there and he was determined to witness what he could. He hatched a plan to swap places with a Jewish inmate and smuggled himself into his sector of the camp.

There is a killer loose on the streets of London, one that evades security cameras, is not held by locks, and savagely mutilates his victims. When the murderer switches from unknown prostitutes to Julie Longmuir, a beautiful actress at the height of her success, no woman feels safe. As the press begin to draw uncomfortable comparisons with Jack the Ripper, Jane Sullivan, heading up the police investigation, grudgingly has to agree.

Warrior queens and Roman invaders do battle in the final volume of this thrilling epic fantasy trilogy. Caesar's soldiers have murdered, massacred, and pillaged their way through Gaul and loom on the far side of the sea, ready to descend upon Britain; with them are an unstoppable legion of men twisted by dark magic. Somehow Queen Lowa must repel the invasion, although her best general is dead and her young druid powerless.

Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes or filled with bean bags and children's drawings - the history of the library is rich, varied and stuffed full of incident. In this, the first major history of its kind, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen explore the contested and dramatic history of the library

May 1940. Britain is at war, European democracies are falling rapidly and the public are unaware of this dangerous new world. Just days after his unlikely succession to Prime Minister, Winston Churchill faces this horror - and a sceptical King and a party plotting against him. He wonders how he can capture the public mood and does so magnificently before leading the country to victory.

A strikingly beautiful young woman is found dead in her Florence apartment. She lays on her bed, naked, a black rose between her legs. And the murders do not stop there: shortly afterwards, a woman is burned to death in a church, and a man is shot on the Ponte Vecchio. Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara is all too familiar with the dark side of Florence.

Tom Bettany is working at a meat processing plant in France when he gets a voicemail telling him that his estranged 26-year-old son is dead - Liam Bettany fell from his London balcony, where he was smoking pot. Now for the first time since he cut all ties years ago, Bettany returns home to London to find out the truth about his son's death. But more than a few people are interested to hear Bettany is back in town, from incarcerated mob bosses to those in the highest echelons of MI5. And some of them - like JK Coe - will have cause to regret his reappearance.

Described by the author as simply 'a work of love', Mirror to Damascus provides an enthralling and fascinating history of Damascus from the Amorites of the Bible to the revolution of 1966, as well as being a charming and witty personal record of a city well-loved. In explaining how modern Damascus is rooted in immemorial layers of culture and tradition, Colin Thubron explores the historical, artistic, social and religious inheritance of the Damascenes in an amusing and perceptive manner.

King Aethelred the Unready's Kingdom of the English is threatened. Olaf Tryggvason and his fleet of Viking warships snap at the coastal edges like ravenous wolves, and Sweyn Forkbeard, King of the Danes, has landed in East Anglia with an army of battle-hardened warriors. Ealdorman Byrhtnoth of Essex must stand against them faced with overwhelming odds, forging his legend in the blood of his deadly enemies.

Moscow, 1936. In a deconsecrated church, a young woman is found dead, her mutilated body displayed on the altar for all to see. Captain Alexei Dimitrevich Korolev is asked to investigate. But when he discovers that the victim is an American citizen, the NKVD - the most feared organisation in Russia - becomes involved. Soon, Korolev’s every step is under close scrutiny and one false move will mean exile to the frozen camps of the far north. Committed to uncovering the truth, Korolov enters the realm of the Thieves, who run Moscow’s underworld.

Just as a major environmental summit is about to start in Hamburg, a massive storm hits the city. When the flood waters recede, a headless torso is found washed up. Initially, Jan Fabel fears it may be another victim of a serial rapist and murderer who stalks his victims, then dumps their bodies in waterways around the city. But the truth of the situation is far more complex. Fabel’s investigations lead him to a secretive environmental Doomsday cult called “Pharos”, the brainchild of a reclusive, crippled billionaire.

The murder has been solved. But has justice been done? Harry Hole is back in Oslo. He's been away for some time, but his ghosts have a way of catching up with him. The case that brings him back is already closed. There is no room for doubt: The young junkie was shot dead by a fellow addict. The police don’t want him back....Denied permission to reopen the investigation, Harry strikes out on his own.

Following Icel’s epic rescue of Lord Coenwulf's children from their almost certain death, King Wiglaf is forced to call upon Icel’s loyal services once more. Furious that the conspirators behind the audacious move to snatch the children have yet to face justice, he dispatches Icel to hunt down the enemy of Mercia and discover who seeks to conspire against the throne.