Showing results by narrator "Candida Gubbins" in All Categories

It's been two years since Harper and Will discovered their mum's boyfriend Nick is Santa Claus—now their family is one bigger thanks to baby Yula Hall who's almost a year old. But baby Yula also seems to have Christmas magic she can't control (cue turning the sandpit into a snow pit, causing mischief at nursery by pulling whichever toy she likes out of any drawer and the house being wrapped up in Christmas paper!)

From her cellar bedroom, Clementine dreams of a magic place. And she's determined to find it one day. But first she must escape from her wicked aunt and uncle and from the Great Black City. With the help of her best friend, Gilbert, a very clever cat, she sets off on an epic journey that just might make her dreams come true. A thrilling, moving and funny adventure about looking for the most magical place of all. Home.

As he packs my things, the nurses tell me Freddie hasn’t left my bedside since the accident I was in days ago. They tell me I’m lucky. We seem like the perfect couple, and together we’ll figure out what happened. So I go home to a beautiful house with a fancy marble kitchen and manicured garden that is supposedly ours. But deep down I know something isn’t right. Even though my memories are gone, this doesn’t feel like my life.

It's 25 days until Christmas. And 10-year-old Harper gets a surprise when Mum announces she's bringing her new boyfriend Nick home for the holidays! Nick seems nice enough. But why do strange Christmassy things happen whenever he's around? Like snow falling only in the family's garden? Or a reindeer suddenly appearing on the roof?! Harper's convinced that Nick must be Father Christmas! And if her mum and older brother won't believe her, she'll just have to find a way to prove it herself.

When sisters Celine and Pip get a call telling them their reclusive mother has died, the two women assemble at her riverside home in Arundel to pick up the pieces. But someone is missing - their sister, Vanessa, brutally murdered years ago and the victim of an unsolved case. As the sisters confront ghosts from the past, the discovery of another body in similar circumstances throws new light on Vanessa's death.

Faye Bright always felt a little bit different. And today she’s found out why. She’s just stumbled across her late mother’s diary which includes not only a spiffing recipe for jam roly-poly, but spells, incantations, runes and recitations...a witch's notebook. And Faye has inherited her mother’s abilities. Just in time, too. The Crow Folk are coming. Led by the charismatic Pumpkinhead, their strange magic threatens Faye and the villagers.

Ingrid Olsson returns home from a Stockholm hospital to discover a man in her kitchen. She's never seen the intruder before. But he's no threat - he's dead. Criminal Investigator Conny Sjoberg takes the call, abandoning his wife Asa and their five children for the night. His team identify the body as that of a middle-aged family man. But why was he there? And who bludgeoned him to death? Lacking suspect and motive, Sjoberg's team struggle until they link the case to another - apparently random - killing. And discover they face a serial killer on a terrible vendetta....

For Esther, it’s proving hard not to feel bitter watching Lucas enjoying his successful career, not to mention the attentions of his gorgeous, intelligent, and predictably younger lover. She meanwhile is struggling to forge a new life for herself, navigating the pitfalls of modern dating, while trying not to despair at the cost of living as a single woman of a certain age. Then Lucas faces a shattering accusation at the same time as their children Dylan and Lily, start to implode.

The arrival of a trio of Jewish children fleeing the Nazis brings the fight for Europe to the village. When their guardian is found dead, Faye must play nanny to the terrified children while gathering clues to uncover a dark magic that threatens to change the course of the war. And she must do it quickly—the children have seen too much, and someone wants them silenced for good.

When Max is sent to Istanbul to stay with her boring Great-Aunt Elodie, little does she expect to be plunged into a thrilling nighttime adventure across Europe. And when the mysterious Heartbreak Diamond goes missing, Max must find her feet in a whirling world of would-be diamond smugglers, thieves and undercover detectives. Will she discover the real diamond thief before they reach their destination?

Susan has been trying for a baby for years, and when a one-night stand makes her dream come true, she’ll do anything to ensure her husband doesn’t find out - including the unthinkable. Her secret is safe. For now. But as governments embark on a genetic arms race and children around the globe start experiencing a host of distressing symptoms, something truly horrendous is unleashed. Because those children have only one thing in common and people are starting to ask questions.

Sisters Georgie and Kate have always been close. Brought up by their mum Jan after the death of their father, this family of women have always been able to rely on each other. Jan loves her daughters with all her heart. She knows some people think she’s an over-protective mother, but they didn’t know what she knows. She has always kept her girls close but now she can feel them slipping away. Secrets have a nasty habit of refusing to stay hidden, and now Georgie and Kate are about to discover that while lies can cause pain, the truth could destroy them all.

Three-year-old Hanna wakes up to find she has been abandoned. Her family is gone. The house is locked. She is trapped. Meanwhile, a teenage girl has been found murdered aboard the Cinderella, a cruise ship which sails between Sweden and Finland. Detective Chief Inspector Conny Sjoberg visits the girl's home to deliver the tragic news. But as he investigates, it becomes chillingly clear that the girl's younger sister will meet a similar fate - unless the police can crack the case and trap this elusive and vicious killer.

Norse chiefs meet Christian kings on Midgard's battlefields, as Loki's army of the dead clashes with Odin's golden shields on Asgard. An ancient premonition of death hangs over all. Only two are free to choose their paths, to prevent the annihilation of the Nine Worlds: Ragnar, a storyteller who holds all fates in his hands, and Hilda, a warrior with no fate at all.

Should you find yourself in need of a discreet investigation into any sort of mystery, crime or puzzling circumstances, think of Jesperson and Lane.... For several years Miss Lane was companion, amanuensis, collaborator and friend to the lady known to the Psychical Societs only as Miss X - until she discovered that Miss X was actually a fraud.

The MacBrides have always gone to Far Barn in Devon for Bonfire Night, but this year everything is different. Lydia, the matriarch, is dead; Sophie, the eldest daughter, is desperately trying to repair a crumbling marriage; and Felix, the youngest of the family, has brought a girlfriend with him for the first time. The girl, Kerry, seems odd in a way nobody can quite put their finger on - but when they leave her looking after Sophie's baby daughter, and return to find both Kerry and the baby gone, they are forced to ask themselves if they have allowed a cuckoo into their nest....

Lizzie James is happy. She has a steady office job (with a steady stream of tray bakes), has had the same best friend since secondary school, and sees her family every Thursday night for take-away and TV soaps. Granted, some members of her family she'd rather not see, and they definitely don't want to see her after what happened back then...but on the whole she's happy. Or somewhere close to it, anyway. Until a letter arrives one day from her best friend, Roman. A letter dated 12 years ago, the exact day he went missing.

When a freshly mummified body is discovered at the Brighton Museum of Natural History, Detective Francis Sullivan is at a loss to identify the desiccated woman. But as Egyptian burial jars of body parts with cryptic messages attached start appearing, he realises he has a serial killer on his hands. Revenge, obsession and an ancient religion form a potent mix, unleashing a wave of terror throughout the city. Caught in a race against time while battling his own demons, Francis must fight to uncover the true identity of the Embalmer before it's too late.

It is summer 1989, and 15-year-old Clotilde is on holiday with her parents in Corsica. On a twisty mountain road, their car comes off at a curve and plunges into a ravine. Only Clotilde survives. Twenty-seven years later, she returns to Corsica with her partner, Franck, and their sulky teenage daughter, Valentine. Clotilde wants to the trip to do two things - to help exorcise the ghosts of her past and to provide a bridge between her and her daughter, so that Valentine can begin to understand why her mother is the way she is.

After old remains resurface in a heat wave, a young woman is attacked and left fighting for her life in hospital. Twenty-four hours later she dies, and a deadly tattoo is discovered on her body. When another young woman disappears, Detective Francis Sullivan and his team fear a serial killer walks the streets of Brighton. His team identify a suspect, Alex Mullins, son of his lover, Marni. Can Francis forget their shared past and save the next victim before it is too late?