Showing results by narrator "Charlotte Worthing" in All Categories

Jenny Starling has her dream job cooking for Lord and Lady Avonsleigh in a genuine castle. Then one of the castle’s treasures, a fabulously jewelled dagger, is used to murder a staff member. The victim is found stabbed through the heart in the conservatory. Lady Avonsleigh insists that Jenny help the police find the murderer. But how can Jenny solve this case when the murder was committed in front of several reliable witnesses, none of whom saw a thing?

Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Jenny Starling is working at The Spindlewood Inn for the weekend. It’s hosting a Regency Extravaganza, involving historical costume, amateur dramatics and food. Leading actress of the amateur dramatic society and reputed man-eater Rachel Norman portrays a doomed noblewoman. But when she turns up actually drowned in the pond, there’s suddenly a murder to investigate. There’s been plenty of trouble at the idyllic country inn.

Jenny Starling is spending Christmas in a snowed-in country house cooking all the traditional food she loves. But the family she’s working for are not full of the seasonal spirit. In fact, they seem to hate each other. On Christmas Eve, someone is found dead on the kitchen table. And the head of the family is blaming Jenny! But with an incompetent detective called in, and seemingly no motive for the murder, Jenny will have to give the police a hand. She will stop at nothing to clear her name and find the real murderer.

Post-university life doesn’t suit Phyl. Time passes slowly living back home with her parents, working a zero-hour contract serving Japanese food to holidaymakers at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. As for her budding plans of becoming a writer, those are going nowhere. That is, until family friend Chris comes to stay. He’s been on the path to uncover a sinister think-tank, founded at Cambridge University in the 1980s, that’s been scheming to push the British government in a more extreme direction. One that’s finally poised to put their plans into action.

Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Jenny Starling is catering the 21st birthday party of upper-class twins Alicia and Justin. She arrives at their parents' country house and is immediately met by the police. A young man has drowned in the pond. Was it an accident or murder? But the birthday party goes ahead. Then, just after midnight, everyone gathers for a champagne toast...and one of the guests falls down dead. The police are baffled, and there is a whole party full of suspects.

One magical winter's night in Venice, Didi fell in love. But it ended - and he left without even saying goodbye. Now, 13 years on, Shay Mason is back. Of course the old spark is still there, but that's as far as it goes. Didi won't let the past unsettle her present: as manager of one of the most stunning hotels in the Cotswolds, she's happy at last and soon to be married. Anyway, Shay isn't staying. He's made a promise to his wayward father, that's all. He's going to keep it. And then he'll be gone.

For travel blogger Fiona, Japan has always been top of her bucket list so when she wins an all-expenses paid trip, it looks like her dreams are coming true. Until she arrives in vibrant, bustling Tokyo and comes face-to-face with the man who broke her heart 10 years ago, gorgeous photographer Gabe. Fiona can’t help but remember the heartache of their last meeting but amidst the temples and clouds of soft pink cherry blossoms, can Fiona and Gabe start to see life - and each other - differently?

As if my mum breaking her hip and being rushed to hospital isn’t shocking enough for one day, now in her post-operative delirium, she’s just told me I’m not her daughter. That she has never been able to have children. The nurse reassures me that people are often confused after a trauma. But I know this woman so well and I can tell there’s a grain of truth in what she says. Which begs the questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? When I dig into the truth, I suddenly stir up a hornet’s nest of secrets, lies – and possibly a crime so unfathomable – that stretches back decades.

Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Please note this book was first published as Just Not Cricket under Faith Martin’s pen name Joyce Cato. Jenny Starling is doing the catering for the village cricket match. But she’s not expecting one of the players to turn up dead. Everyone from the village has turned out to watch the match, and with this being the club’s centenary, Jenny Starling has been hired specially to provide her stunning food for the event.

Olivia Bingham has bad luck with men. She’s been ghosted more times than she can count, but this Christmas she’s finally met someone really special online: Fraser Douglas, a Scottish chef working at an idyllic hotel in the Highlands. He’s sweet and sensitive, thoughtful and funny – not to mention incredibly good looking. But just when she thinks things couldn’t be going any better, Fraser’s dating profile vanishes, and Olivia fears the worst.

Jenny Starling has a job on a luxury paddle steamer working for a wealthy businessman. All she has to do is cook for his small number of guests. But things quickly turn sour. Then she discovers the body of one of the passengers in the store cupboard. Who wanted him dead and why? Jenny will have to ignore many red herrings and follow the clues to get to the bottom of a complex and intriguing murder mystery. This is the third of a series of enjoyable murder mysteries with a great cast of characters and baffling crimes which will keep you in suspense to the final second.

Mum passed recently. It was sudden and unexpected. On the cusp of adulthood, my twin sister, Skye, and I are left with decisions to make that will change our lives forever. As identical twins, we’d normally stick together like glue, but anger and grief gets the better of us and we push and pull in different directions. At an impasse, each of us stubbornly gets our wish. Finding myself alone and without the other half of me, I’m desperately lonely. I need a friend. But, when I find that special someone, I know I’ve made a terrible mistake and trusted the wrong person.

Maisie has always loved horses. She is also a talented artist. When the opportunity arises for her to study in Paris, her two worlds collide. There, in the heart of the city, Maisie finds the childhood diary of famous horse artist Rose Bonifait and meets the beautiful black stallion Claude. As the two girls’ stories emerge, tragedies unfold - both past and present - and Maisie realises that she can’t begin to imagine life without her forever horse.

It was an ordinary school day, the day I lost my little brother. One moment he was on the roundabout and then was gone. Gone. Missing. They all blamed me. I was in charge. Even though I was only ten years old. They sent me away. The hurt, the shame, the questions. The not knowing. I tried to move on. It’s been nineteen years in exile and now somebody wants me back. Someone with a dark secret.

Tara Hunter is a therapist on a mission to restore Longhampton's community spirit after catastrophic flooding. But with her boyfriend AWOL, her family fragmented, and only a cat for company, Tara's own life's on rocky foundations. Dr David Dalloway is Longhampton Wellness Centre's new star counsellor. He invites pets to session. He also has a knack of reading people's minds - which is the last thing Tara needs right now.

An ancient labyrinth of eerie subterranean ruins and creeping shadow, the dead city of Mordavia has long concealed a secret of unimaginable power. Now, as vast armies gather and war drums thunder, the perilous treasures of this cursed city are about to be unleashed. Lord-Celestant Kalyani Thunderblade leads her Celestial Vindicators into battle, determined to ensure that the city’s secrets remain forever under lock and key.

From the acclaimed author of Anno Dracula, the perfect gift for those who love the dark fantastic imaginations of Neil Gaiman and T. Kingfisher, this is a nightmarish tale of a haunted Christmas set deep in the British countryside not too long ago. Cosy traditions are made twisted and terrifying as a mother and son grapple with their painful past.

On Emilia Morris's thirteenth birthday, her mother Rachel moves into a tent at the bottom of their garden. From that day on, she never says another word. Inspired by her vow of silence, other women join her and together they build the Community. Eight years later, Rachel and thousands of her followers around the world burn themselves to death.

Christmas has never been Katie Seddon’s favourite time of year. Whilst everyone else shares memories of families coming together and festive number ones, the soundtrack to Katie’s childhood wasn’t quite so merry. But since she moved to the village of Budbury on the gorgeous Dorset coast, Katie and her baby son have found a new family. A family who have been brought together by life’s unexpected roads and the healing magic of a slice of cake and a cupful of kindess at the Comfort Food Café.

Singleton Dot Riley’s grandmother, Nanny Flo, is on her deathbed, surrounded by family and distraught at the thought of Dot being all alone in the world. Desperate to make Flo’s final moments happy ones, Dot invents a boyfriend - plumping in panic for her childhood friend, Felix, a firm favourite of Flo, but whom Dot hasn’t actually seen for 15 years. But when Flo makes an unexpected recovery a few weeks before a family wedding, Dot is faced with a dilemma. Should she tell her frail grandmother that she lied and risk causing heartache and a relapse?