Showing results by narrator "Claire Storey" in All Categories

Fran finds her standing by the swings. A little girl, Esther, no older than seven years old, by herself in the dead of night, her pretty but old-fashioned yellow dress covered in grass stains and her hair dishevelled. She says she's waiting for Father, and that strikes Fran as particularly odd. After Esther is reunited with her family, Fran can't stop thinking about this pious child whose imaginary friend is God. Fran's instincts tell her something is very wrong. Why does Esther keep running away from home, and how did she get that bruise on her leg?

Monica Noble and her husband Graham, the local vicar, are invited to participate in a high-flying church conference being held at a swanky manor house hotel in their village. At the Saturday night dinner, the ambitious female cleric Celia Gordon tragically dies, seemingly of a peanut allergy. But when Chief Superintendent Jason Dury arrives on the scene he quickly discovers that it's a case of murder.

Kira Murphy is a liability, always has been. She might be small, but her personality and heart are not: A sexual health doctor with a foul mouth, pink streaks in her hair, a bizarre worldview, a reputation for being "pathologically social", and a huge crush on the current minister of state for business, energy, and clean growth, she’s weird and lovable in equal measure.

Poppy Voss has successfully dodged the family watch business her entire adult life, until her aunt threatens to sell it out from under her. Suddenly desperate to preserve the legacy, Poppy persuades her aunt to give her a chance to prove herself. There's just one tiny, soul-crushing catch: she has to work alongside Eliza Carpenter, the childhood best friend she's been expertly avoiding since they were teenagers.

This tale transports listeners to a consequential precipice in Catherine’s life. One where she discovers her voice and begins to understand the needs of her own heart—and how fragile that heart may be—transforming her into the antagonist listeners know and loathe in Jane Austen’s cherished Pride and Prejudice.

Despite the fact that her daughter is not cooperating, Caroline, Duchess of Riverton, is determined to ensure every one of her children marries someone they love as much as she loved their late father. William, the widowered Earl of Blackstone, is delighted to have his days of escorting daughters approaching an end.

Monica Noble is thrilled to be asked to judge a neighboring village’s flower show, even if she can't tell a begonia from an azalea! Her fellow judge Vicar James Davies inhales deeply from a large bloom and drops dead in the tent. At first everyone thinks he’s had a heart attack, but the doctor on hand is suspicious and calls in the police. A second murder quickly follows, this time of one of the main suspects. Monica must help Chief Inspector Jason Dury to solve the two murders and find the killer—fast, before anyone else pays the ultimate price.

Daisy Bailey has it all: the perfect home, the perfect husband, the perfect life. Or so it seems. When she runs into Tom Burgess—her first love—old feelings spark back to life. But what begins as a nostalgic reunion soon twists into obsession, temptation, and a dangerous game Daisy can’t seem to walk away from. Her sister Sarah thinks she’s reckless, ready to throw away her marriage to Cole for a man she barely remembers. But Cole has secrets of his own. And Sarah knows far more than she’s admitting…

In 1995, six university students moved into the house at 215 Caldwell Street. Months later, one of them was found dead on the sofa the morning after their end-of-year party. His death was ruled an accident by the police. The remaining five all knew it wasn’t, and though they went on with their lives, the truth of what happened to their sixth housemate couldn’t stay buried forever. Twenty years later, all five of them arrive - lured separately under various pretenses - at Wolfheather House, a crumbling, secluded mansion on the Scottish isle of Doon.

Monica Noble is throwing a party to welcome the village’s new residents. Then as the drinks are flowing, a shotgun blast rings out. One of the guests is found dead. DCI Dury and Sergeant Jim Greer are soon on the scene and discover that the victim had many enemies. Almost all the guests harbor secrets and motives for murder. Even Monica’s daughter comes under suspicion. When another villager is strangled to death nearly a week later, the stakes are raised. Can Monica help the local detectives save her daughter and solve the murders before anyone else pays the ultimate price?

Saffron Oliver is the golden girl. Golden hair. Golden skin. Golden movie career. Only one problem: She hates it. She flees to her sister’s seaside town - where she meets the confident and charming Kirsty McBride. Kirsty is everything Saffron wants to be. Perhaps also, everything she wants. But Saffron can’t have it all. So now, she has to decide: Does she crave Kirsty enough to blow up her golden life?

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Anna Karenina, a literary masterpiece by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.

May 1943. The tide of war has turned at last, with an Allied victory looking increasingly certain, but all is not well for the residents of Silverdale. Newlyweds Bobby and Charlie find themselves back in civilian life after Charlie is given a medical discharge from the RAF. But the village of Silverdale has been forever changed, and the memories of their lost young men cast a long shadow.

New York City, 1919. Lillie Mead mourns the love she lost in the war. But when a wealthy British friend offers her a reporting job across the pond, she hopes accepting will help her rebuild her life. She barely has time to unpack before she’s assigned the scoop of a poisoned socialite’s death. As the clues take a turn for the scandalous, Lillie unearths shocking skeletons in the victim’s closet. But she never expected the threads of the beloved woman’s life to weave with hers. Can Lillie expose the truth before her own death makes the front page?

I first saw her on the platform on my way home from work a few weeks ago. She had an aura about her that made people stop and stare. Then I saw her again. And again. Our twice weekly commute into London Waterloo insync. She was always so poised, so pretty, so perfect. Everything I’m not.

Meet Sara Snow: Christmas fanatic, festive wedding Grinch. Her dream nuptials? Sun-soaked, Beth-free. Meet Beth Callaghan: Expert at running. From countries, feelings, and one-night stands with best friends. Now Beth's back, armed with apologies and tinsel-wrapped determination. But can she melt Sara's frosty heart? Or will she need a Christmas miracle? One thing's crystal clear: Sara Snow will NEVER have a Christmas wedding. Right? RIGHT?

Between jobs and out of her rented accommodation, Clara Harrington decides to take a break and stay with her beloved, yet eccentric aunt. Vanessa Harrington is an award-winning crime novelist. When it comes to crime, and murder, there’s not a lot that she doesn’t know. Clara’s hope for peace and quiet is shattered when, on her first night at Chadwick Lodge, the local town councillor is murdered, falling face down into his dessert. Finding herself in the middle of one of her books, Vanessa happily takes on the task of uncovering the murderer and drags Clara along with her.

1943. Lidia De Angelis has kept a low profile since Mussolini’s laws wrenched her from her childhood sweetheart. But when the Germans occupy Venice, she must flee the city to save her life. Lidia joins the partisans in the Venetian mountains, where she meets David, an English soldier fighting for the same cause. As she grows closer to him, harsh German reprisals and her own ardent patriotic activities threaten to tear them apart.

When Caroline takes in her sister’s baby after a sudden tragedy, she thinks the hardest part will be learning how to care for a child while navigating her own grief. But soon people around her begin to die under strange and unexplainable circumstances. As the body count grows, Caroline is forced to confront a chilling possibility: that protecting her family may mean facing an unthinkable choice. Seen is a haunting story of family, loss, and the choices we never imagine we’ll face.

Thrown together when their plane conks out and a blizzard rolls in, Morgan Scott and her childhood friend Ali Bradford are on a mission to make it from Glasgow to Devon in time for Christmas. The catch? Roads and trains are up the spout, Morgan’s patience is running low, and Ali has had a secret crush on Morgan since forever. But she can keep a lid on over two decades of unrequited love. Particularly when they keep having to share a bed. Absolutely no problem at all.