Showing results by narrator "David Thorpe" in All Categories

Set against the enchanting background of post war Vienna, with its beautiful palaces and gardens, its disenchanted residents and scars of war, E.C.R. Lorac constructs a characteristic detective story, sure to puzzle and excite. This exceedingly rare mystery, first published in 1956, makes its triumphant return for the first time since its original appearance.

From renowned booze correspondent Henry Jeffreys comes this rich and full-bodied history of Britain and the Empire, told through the improbable but true stories of how the world’s favourite alcoholic drinks came to be. Learn how we owe the champagne we drink today to 17th-century methods for making sparkling cider; how madeira and India Pale Ale became legendary for their ability to withstand the long, hot journeys to Britain’s burgeoning overseas territories; and why whisky became the familiar choice for weary Empire builders who longed for home.

The king's coronation brings hope. Until a murderer strikes. Spring 1661: After years of civil war followed by Oliver Cromwell's joyless rule as Lord Protector, England awaits the coronation of King Charles II. The mood in London is one of relief and hope for a better future. But when two respectable gentlemen are found in a foul lane with their throats cut, it becomes apparent that England's enemies are using the newly re-established post office for their own ends.

Charlie Cooper, a member of the covert Group Fifteen, travels to Israel to find his estranged half-brother, Freddy, who has mysteriously disappeared. Freddy's ties to NetGuardian, a cybersecurity firm implicated in dubious activities, propel Cooper into a dangerous web of corporate espionage, state-of-the-art surveillance technology, and the ruthless world of intelligence.

In Hide My Eyes, Campion finds himself hunting down a serial killer. A spate of murders leaves him and his friend and colleague Inspector Luke, with only the baffling clues of a left-hand glove and a lizard-skin lettercase. However a chain of strange events leads them to an odd museum of curiosities hidden in a quiet London neighbourhood where there is more going on than meets the eye.

Will, Carl, Aiden and Darren are inseparable from the day they meet at school. The combination of Will’s street smarts, Carl’s brains, Aiden’s loyalty and Darren’s fearlessness mean they are a force to be reckoned with, and together they feel ready to take on the world. But solidarity can’t insure against tragedy, and when life tests the boys to their limits, slowly the four choose different paths as they take the step into adulthood.

March, 1941. World War Two is well underway and the Blitz is taking its toll on Central London with bombs raining down almost every night. Inspector Coburg and his trusted Sergeant Lampson are just recovering from the devastating bomb attack on the Café de Paris when they get a call asking them to go to the disused Lord's Underground station. Once there, they are taken to see the body of a man on the former platform. He's been beaten to death by blows on the back of his head, by what Dr Welbourne believes to have been a cricket bat.

One night less than two weeks before Christmas, a single mother is violently assaulted. It’s a brutal crime at the time of year when there should be goodwill to all. When DI Barton begins his investigation, he’s surprised to find the victim is a woman with nothing to hide and no reason for anyone to hurt her. A few days later, the mother of the woman attacked rings the police station. Her granddaughter has drawn a shocking picture. It seems she was looking out of the window when her mother was attacked.

Albert Campion is summoned to the village of Kepesake to investigate a particularly distasteful death. The body turns out to be that of Pig Peters, freshly killed five months after his own funeral. Soon other corpses start to turn up, just as Peter's body goes missing. It takes all Campion's coolly incisive powers of detection to unravel the crime.

On top investment bank Bloomfield Weiss’ training programme in New York, Chris and Lenka had become part of a close-knit gang of ambitious trainees. But then one of the gang died during a drunken boat trip, and the rest were left to cover up the truth. Ten years later a helpless Chris watches Lenka die in a Prague street. With his friend and business partner dead, Chris not only has to fight to keep his company afloat in the face of nervous investors but must also discover who is behind Lenka’s murder.

Following a mysterious explosion, the offices of Excelsior Joinery Company are no more; the three directors are killed and the peace of a quiet town in Surrey lies in ruins. When the supposed cause of an ignited gas leak is dismissed and the presence of dynamite revealed, Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is summoned to the scene. But beneath the sleepy veneer of Evingden lies a hotbed of deep-seated grievances. Confounding Littlejohn's investigation is an impressive cast of suspicious persons, each concealing their own ax to grind.

Matthew Bartholomew, unorthodox but effective physician to Michaelhouse college in medieval Cambridge, is as worried as anyone about the pestilence that is ravaging Europe and seems to be approaching England. But he is distracted by the sudden and inexplicable death of the Master of Michaelhouse - a death the University authorities do not want investigated.

Meet John Milton. He considers himself an artisan. A craftsman. His trade is murder. Milton is the man the government sends after you when everything else has failed. Ruthless. Brilliant. Anonymous. Lethal. You wouldn't pick him out of a crowd but you wouldn't want to be on his list. But now, after ten years, he's had enough - there's blood on his hands and he wants out. Trouble is, this job is not one you can just walk away from. He goes on the run, seeking atonement for his sins by helping the people he meets along the way.

England 1321: Deep in the countryside lies an isolate village governed by a sinister regime of Owl Masters. But their dark status quo is disturbed by the arrival of a house of religious women. Why do their crops succeed when village crops fail, their cattle survive despite the plague? Accusations of witchcraft and heresy run rife, while the Owl Masters rain down hellfire and torment on the women, who must look to their faith to save them from the lengthening shadow of evil... a shadow with predatory, terrifying talons.

2022: Former spy Simon Sharman is eking out a living in the private sector. When a commission to delve into the financial dealings of a mysterious Russian oligarch comes across his desk, he jumps at the chance. But as Simon investigates, worrying patterns begin to emerge. His subject made regular trips to Oxford, but for no apparent reason. There are payments from offshore accounts that suddenly just...stop. Has he found what none of his former colleagues believed possible, a Russian spy ring now nestled at the heart of the British Establishment?

DI McLusky has settled into his new job in Bristol but the severe freeze shows an unfamiliar side to the city. After the conviction of a drug baron earlier in the year a new kingpin secures the hub of drug crime in Bristol. But how secure is he? A series of seemingly unconnected murders, accidents and dying drug users slowly reveal the web of violence. Narrow strips of a cut-up photograph arriving piecemeal at the Bristol Herald's offices may hold vital clues, but will the completed puzzle reach McLusky in time?

Jerry Grayson is an ordinary man who chose an extraordinary career. At age 17 he became the youngest helicopter pilot ever to serve in the Royal Navy. By age 25 he was the most decorated peacetime naval pilot in history.

When a wealthy benefactor is found dead in Michaelhouse, Brother Michael and Matthew Bartholomew must find the culprit before the college is accused of foul play. At the same time, Cambridge is plagued by a mystery thief who is targeting rich pilgrims. Moreover, pranksters are at large in the university, staging a series of practical jokes that are growing increasingly dangerous and that are dividing scholars into bitterly opposed factions.

Find life-enhancing work and realise your potential with this enlightening read. This is a book about how to take working life in new directions – how to negotiate the labyrinth of choices, how to think about personal ambitions and motivations, and ultimately how to take concrete steps to finding a fulfilling career. It is a self-help book with a difference. Standard career guides are filled with pop psychology and bullet-point advice for writing CVs and making action plans, but How to Find Fulfilling Work casts its net wider.

When a Russian defector is assassinated in a sleepy English seaside town, Group Fifteen agents John Milton and Michael Pope find themselves in a rush to uncover the culprits and bring them to justice. Their investigation leads them to Moscow and a confrontation with Directorate S, the agency responsible for seeding Russian sleeper agents around the world. When lies and double crossing mean that no-one is what they seem, the two agents - alone and without backup - struggle to achieve their goals under the most dangerous of circumstances.