Showing results by narrator "Sandra Duncan" in All Categories

A love affair...between Matt Shaw, self-made property tycoon, and Eliza Clark, dazzling fashion editor and one-time Deb of the Year. Their story spans sixties London, the extravagance of Milan and the lovely decaying country house that has been in Eliza's family for generations, and the source of huge trouble itself.

Spain, 1939: Following the wishes of her parents to keep her safe during the war, a young girl, Julia, enters a convent in Barcelona. Looking for a way to maintain her links to the outside world, she volunteers to help in a maternity clinic. But worrying adoption practices in the clinic force Sister Julia to decide how far she will go to help those placed in her care. England, 2011: Six months after her parents' shocking death, 34-year-old journalist and jazz enthusiast Ruby Rae has finally found the strength to pack away their possessions and sell the family home. But as she does so, she unearths a devastating secret....

1st September, 1939. As the mass evacuation takes place across Britain, thousands of children leave London for the countryside. But when three little girls step off the train to 'safety' only to go missing in less than 48 hours, the reality of separation becomes more urgent and more deadly for the families they left behind in the city. In the chaos and uncertainty of war, Golden Age crime author Josephine Tey struggles with the prospect of change. 

Inspector Archie Penrose has invited Josephine Tey to his family home in Cornwall, a struggling but beautiful country estate on a magnificent stretch of coastline. But death clouds the holiday from the outset. When the local theatre proves to be a stage for real-life tragedy, Archie's loyalties are divided between his friends and his job, and he and Josephine must confront the violent reality which lies beneath a seemingly idyllic community.

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LAST ORDERS AND MOTHERING SUNDAY, reissued for the first time in Scribner For forty years, Willy Chapman has struck a strange but steadfast bargain between the two poles of his life: his beautiful but emotionally damaged wife and the sweet shop he runs on a south...

Never before has criminal justice rested so heavily on scientific evidence. With ever-more sophisticated and powerful techniques at their disposal, forensic scientists have an unprecedented ability to help solve even the most complex cases. Angela Gallop has been a forensic scientist for over 40 years. After joining the Forensic Science Service, the first crime scene she attended was for a case involving the Yorkshire Ripper.

A charming new bumper short-story collection from the world's best-loved storyteller. A fantastic collection of 30 stories about animals of all shapes and sizes, this will charm children aged 6 and up. From pet puppies to woodland wildlife, garden birds to pond-dwelling frogs, Enid Blyton was a...

When Josephine Tey inherited a remote Suffolk cottage from her godmother, it came full of secrets. There were the infamous Red Barn murders, committed in the grounds a century before, and still casting a shadow over the village. And there was Lucy Kyte, the mysterious beneficiary of her godmother’s will, who no-one in the close-knit village would admit to knowing. Trapped in this isolated community and surrounded by shadows of obsession, abuse and deceit, can Josephine untangle history from present danger and prevent a deadly cycle beginning once again?

A Question of Trust is vintage Penny Vincenzi: rich with characters, life-changing decisions, glamour, love, desire and conflict. London, 1950s. Tom Knelston is charismatic, working class and driven by ambition, ideals and passion. He is a man to watch. His wife, Alice, shares his vision. It seems they are the perfect match. Then, out of the blue, Tom meets beautiful and unhappily married Diana Southcott, a fashion model. An exciting but dangerous affair is inevitable and potentially damaging to their careers.

May 1937, and London prepares to crown a new king. At the height of the Coronation celebrations, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose is called to the BBC to investigate the murder of a famous broadcaster, a death which Josephine Tey suspects is linked to a decade-old scandal. With Archie's hands tied by politics, it is left to Josephine to get to the truth. Soon she is forced to confront at first-hand the deadly consequences of love, deceit and betrayal.

From the double Man Booker Prize-winner, a savagely funny tale that revisits the characters from the much-loved Every Day is Mother’s Day. Muriel Axon is about to re-enter the lives of Colin Sidney and Isabel Field. It is ten years since her last tangle with them, but for Muriel this is not time enough. There are still scores to be settled, truths to be faced and vengeance to be wreaked.

Through the years of success in Hollywood composing music for the world's most lauded films, Chris always promised his wife they would return to the Yorkshire Dales one day. Now, after his wife's death, Chris feels he must not forget his promise. Back in the Dales, he rents an isolated house...

Set off on an outdoor adventure with this collection of 30 classic tales by the world's best-loved storyteller. The perfect holiday read for children aged 7 and up! From stolen dogs and disappearing necklaces to journeys to faraway lands, these fun-filled stories are packed full of mystery and...

In 1815, the clever, courted and cherished Annabella Milbanke married the notorious and brilliant Lord Byron. Just one year later, she fled, taking with her their baby daughter, the future Ada Lovelace. Byron himself escaped into exile and died as a revolutionary hero in 1824, aged 36. The one thing he had asked his wife to do was to make sure that their daughter never became a poet. Ada didn't. Brought up by a mother who became one of the most progressive reformers of Victorian England, Byron's little girl was introduced to mathematics as a means of calming her wild spirits.

On 29 May, 1953, the summit of Mount Everest was finally reached. The achievement brought fame and honours to many involved - except the man who made the ascent possible. Now, for the first time, drawing upon previously unseen diaries and letters, rare archive material and interviews, Everest - The First Ascent tells the remarkable story of Griffith Pugh, the forgotten team member whose scientific breakthroughs ensured the world’s highest mountain could be climbed.

Ralph and Anna Eldred live in the big Red House in Norfolk, raising their four children and devoting their lives to charity. But the constant flood of 'good souls and sad cases' welcomed into their home hides the growing crises in their own family. From the violent townships of South Africa to the windswept countryside of Norfolk, this is an epic yet subtle family saga about what happens when trust is broken...

From swimming on Hampstead Heath to illicit trysts in hayfields, or counting stock in corner shops and stifling parenting classes to pedicures in Florence, this collection of short stories includes some previously unpublished in audio, and covers the gamut of human nature—our foibles, our loves, our desires, hopes, ambitions and failures. Rich in observation and speckled with a delicious dark humour, Fool for Love confirms Deborah Moggach's place as one of our finest observers of human life.

Eva Gatsby has often wondered about her grandfather Lawrence's past, and exactly what happened to him in Burma during the Second World War. But it is only when Eva's job as an antiques dealer suddenly requires a trip to Mandalay that Lawrence finally breaks his silence and asks her to return a mysterious artefact of his own - a chinthe - to its rightful owner. As Eva arrives in Burma her mission soon proves dangerously complicated, and the treasure she is guarding becomes the centre of a scandal that will have far-reaching consequences.

September 1939, and the worries of war follow Josephine Tey to Hollywood, where a different sort of battle is raging on the set of Hitchcock's Rebecca. Then a shocking act of violence reawakens the shadows of the past, with consequences on both sides of the Atlantic, and Josephine and DCI Archie Penrose find themselves on a trail leading back to the house that inspired a young Daphne du Maurier—a trail that echoes Rebecca's timeless themes of obsession, jealousy, and murder.

Called to the peaceful churchyard of St-John's-at-Hampstead, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose faces one of the most audacious murders of his career, leading him to Cambridge, where both Josephine Tey and Archie's previous lover, Bridget, have settled down together. It is uncovered that there has been a series of vicious attacks against women in town, spreading fear in the community. Archie and Josephine must race to stop another attack in this beautifully written, intricately plotted mystery.