Showing results by narrator "Diana Bishop" in All Categories

DCS Fran Harman's relationship with Assistant Chief Constable Mark Turner is going well and they are buying a house together. At work, a former protégé, Simon Gates, has just become her new boss. But there are complications with Simon and with Mark's daughter. Even the environment is hostile, the water in Fran's village tainted by something in the local reservoir. Some good old-fashioned detective work seems a useful antidote.

Chief Superintendent Frances Harman has been assigned to investigate the case of a woman beaten into a coma. Elise has been in a coma for two years, and if the hospital switches off her life support now, her attacker will be guilty of murder. Fran faces overload as she takes on more responsibilities – her elderly parents, Elise, a child abduction, the disappearance of her only witness, and the growing affection that she and her long-time colleague Mark Turner seem to share for one another.

In Cambridge a child has been hideously murdered and other children have disappeared. The Jews, made scapegoats by the all-powerful Christian clergy, have been forced to retreat into the castle to avoid slaughter by angry townspeople. Henry, King of England, is displeased. The Jews provide a large part of his revenue and therefore the real killer must be found, and quickly.

On hearing of this momentous discovery, King Henry II demands evidence that the legendary Arthur is dead. So he calls upon his Mistress of the Art of Death, anatomist Adelia Aguilar, to examine the bones. But someone doesn’t want the skeletons identified – and is prepared to kill in order to prevent it…

Since solving a particularly nasty case of child murder using her forensic skills, Adelia Aguilar is deemed too valuable to send back to the School of Medicine in Salerno. Instead, King Henry II has decided to keep her in England. This is bad news for Adelia – in twelfth-century England women doctors are regarded with great suspicion. So, with her illegitimate child, Adelia is forced to live and practise in the secrecy of Cambridgeshire’s fenland. But at Henry’s court, terrible things are happening.

Antiques dealer Lina Townend – bright, sharp, and pretty ���� is making a name for herself as a restorer, with a national reputation for honesty. So when she spots a dead body in a field, she calls the police – only for it to promptly vanish. And it seems that her luck has entirely deserted her when she’s accused of stealing two Anglo-Saxon rings, and no one seems to believe she’s innocent. So when her love life looks up, Lina’s delighted – and unprepared when things take a frightening turn for the worse…

From the moment Lina Townend and Griff Tripp, set up their antiques stall at the weekend fair, Lina knows they’ve made a mistake. But Lina’s day is brightened when local director Emilia Cosworth begs Griff to take part in her latest play. Lina’s own good luck seems in short supply. Griff’s frequent rehearsals put strain on her relationship with DI Morris; a new antiques centre threatens their business; and Lina is visited by a man who wants her to work for him and seems disinclined to take no for an answer.

Meet Buffy. With three ex-wives, a failing career and only his dog, George, for company, Buffy's bachelorhood is looking worryingly confirmed. Until he meets Celeste. Dazzled by love, Buffy has no idea that Celeste is systematically researching his ex-wives, children, and step-children, and unearthing secrets that will change all their lives.

When Josie Welford settles in the idyllic West Country village of Kings Duncombe, she honestly believes she can bury her past. The widow of one of Britain’s most wanted criminals, she knows what it’s like to be an outsider and fervently wishes for a fresh start in life. But she soon finds herself on the wrong side of the locals and she begins to wonder just how far their threats will go... A feisty and highly likeable character, Josie leads the listener through a tantalizingly twisted murder mystery to a deliciously rich ending.

Morning service in the quiet village church. Josie Welford, licensee of the White Hart, is daydreaming during Father Tim Martin’s sermon. The peace is shattered when a filthy Chinese youth flings himself into the church demanding sanctuary. The Church must decide whether to accede to a request that no long has legal standing or to hand Tang over to the authorities. Josie’s friend and long-term lodger, Nick Thomas, fears for the boy’s life.

Alice Baxter knows the best things in life are free. But the approach of her 40th wedding anniversary and 60th birthday surely warrants a proper celebration. With visions of a glorious family gathering complete with a marquee, champagne and sunshine, Alice has big plans for the big day. Her husband David isn't so enthused. He seems to have lost his lust for life since retiring from his job. And he's not the only one who isn't in the mood to celebrate. Each of Alice and David's four grown-up children has their own problems to contend with.

The Everton murder case has long been closed. The culprit has been charged with the murder of his uncle and has served a year of his sentence already. Or has he? The evidence against Geoffrey Grey is convincing but his wife believes in his innocence. And so does her young cousin, Hilary, who decides to solve the mystery herself. But when Hilary herself is nearly murdered she turns in desperation to her ex-fiancé for help. He calls upon the services of Miss Silver to help solve another mystery, which she does in her own original style.

Davey is the new boy and Sam can't stand him. He thinks that Davey is a first-class, grade A, top-of-the-dung-heap moron. But when the two are thrown together, Sam discovers that Davey's eccentric way of looking at the world makes life a lot more exciting. Until something terrible happens...A beautiful, funny and sad story, told completely in verse.

The first of the classic mysteries featuring governess-turned-detective Miss Silver, who investigates a deadly conspiratorial ring. Charles Moray has come home to England to collect his inheritance. After four years wandering the jungles of India and South America, the hardy young man returns to the manor of his birth, where generations of Morays have lived and died. Strangely, he finds the house unlocked, and sees a light on in one of its abandoned rooms. Eavesdropping, he learns of a conspiracy to commit a fearsome crime.

Marjorie had never seen a dead person until she got home one tranquil summer evening and found her sister’s body. She looked peaceful, as if she was asleep. Their mother suspects, however, that Dot’s death was far from natural. What’s more, she’s convinced she knows who the killer is. Slowly and meticulously, she plots her revenge. After all, who would suspect a neatly dressed, grey-haired widow of anything?

Mr and Mrs Bigsby of the Pig and Whistle, Stoke Newington, already look after 10 children. When Constable O'Drowd brings them an 11th orphan found on the streets, Ma Bigsby is reluctant to take her. But there's something about Elfie, it's the first day of a new century and Ma loves a mystery. Just why does Elifie possess a little watercolour of the Pig and Whistle? As the mystery unfolds, Elfie's world will change completely.

In The Pattern in the Carpet, Margaret Drabble tells the history of the jigsaw, a uniquely British form of meditation, from its earliest incarnation as a teaching tool to the extraordinary variety of cut-outs that have continued to amuse children and adults until the present.

Alice has a scrupulously organised, comfortable life in West London with Noel - her second husband whose main ambition in life is to sharpen his golf handicap in time for retirement. But Alice’s once-famous bohemian mother, Jocelyn, residing in shabby splendour in a crumbling house on a clifftop in Cornwall, becomes ill and Alice, with her daughter and stepson, goes to look after her. What she finds there appals her.

Antonia Weston has come to the sleepy market town of Amberwood in search of peace and anonymity after a shattering and all-too public tragedy in her life. Shortly after her arrival, a series of disturbing incidents occur eerily echoing the past she is trying to forget. She becomes fascinated by the macabre local history surrounding the disused watermill, Twygrist, and the now vanished Latchkill Asylum.

The murder of a government scientist demands the attention of Miss Silver. Michael Harsch’s life has never been easy. A German Jew, he fled his country when Hitler came to power, escaping the concentration camps by the skin of his teeth. His wife and daughter were not so lucky, and he vowed revenge on the Fuhrer through science. He set to work on a marvelous new explosive that, in the hands of the British army, could silence the German guns forever. But on the eve of his great triumph, the scientist is struck down.