Showing results by narrator "David Tredinnick" in All Categories

As Sydney prepares for its grand role as host of the next Olympic Games, Scobie Malone is confronted with solving a scam that does nothing for the city's image. Lurking beneath a facade of respectability, illicit deals are being struck and money from Hong Kong is being banked in large quantities. But whose money is it, and where is it really from?

Great stories from around Australia to lift your heart, make you laugh and puff out your chest. In his very popular Saturday column, the 'Fitzy Files', Peter FitzSimons usually writes about famous sports men and women. But from time to time, he throws in stories taken from grassroots sport and daily life.

On 4th July 1975, Juanita Nielsen set out on foot through the wintry streets of Sydney's red-light district. The chic heiress and newspaper publisher had a business meeting with a man called Eddie Trigg, a manager at the seedy Carousel Cabaret nightclub in Kings Cross. The following day, Juanita was reported missing. She has not been seen since and her body has never been found. Despite two police investigations, a coronial inquest and a federal parliament inquiry, the disappearance of Juanita Nielsen remains one of Australia's great unsolved murder mysteries.

In the early hours of Thursday 19 March 2020, the luxury cruise liner Ruby Princess docked at Sydney's Circular Quay, the gateway to Australia. Hours later, 2,700 passengers disembarked. Yet in the middle of a pandemic sweeping the planet, there were no health checks. Over the next few days, the passengers got some bad news. The COVID-19 virus had infected some on the ship, and it spread rapidly. Eventually over 900 passengers and crew would be diagnosed, and 28 would die from the disease.

Cavalier has heard that his daughter - kidnapped by a notorious Mexican drug warlord - is still alive but is a sex slave for the Mexican drug gang operating in the Golden Triangle. Through his contacts, he manages to uncover the fact that the Mexicans plan to secretly leave Thailand in the next few days on the Bangkok Express, along with their accumulated fortunes from drugs and sex slave trafficking. Their imminent departure is prompted by intel from their insider contacts that the Americans, led by the CIA and involving Navy Seals, may be closing in on them.

After a men's room confrontation with his new boss right-hand man, Maori cop Tito Ihaka has been sent into exile. And yet, out of the blue McGrail summons him back to Auckland. Christopher Lilywhite, the businesswoman s terminally ill husband whom Ihaka suspected was behind his wife's death, wants to see him. Lilywhite confesses that he had his wife murdered, but he dealt with the hit-man at arm's length so has no idea who he is. In quick succession Lilywhite and another potential source of information are murdered.

Vic Cavalier has certainly had better weeks. His newspaper editor is hell-bent on showing him the door, his footy team lost its last game and his drinking habit is winning the war with his better angels. And then there's the man with the bullet in his head and links to a Mexican drug cartel lying in a Carlton laneway. When his editor wants the story, Cavalier finds himself in Bangkok, uncomfortably close to the action and under the watchful eye of a local cop with an intriguing background herself.

Far from being a land of plenty, the Antarctic continent—if it was that—was no place for human beings. Robert Falcon Scott's 1910 attempt to reach the South Pole is placed in jeopardy when Edward Evans joins as his second-in-command. A clash of personalities between the two men almost prevents the Terra Nova from sailing, but they forge ahead, conscious of competing expeditions racing to the pole. On the treacherous journey across the Antarctic ice, the differences between the scientific-minded Scott and the ambitious Evans become insurmountable.

Summer, 1847. People are getting used to the corpses lying by the road and along the ditches. For John Mitchel - lawyer, journalist, activist, politician - the word 'famine' will forever conjure the hollowed faces of Ireland's dead, the liquid Irish of the past now mute on their tongues. Propelled by disgust at the injustice, Mitchel will do all he can to fight for the destitute, the starved, the forgotten. His odyssey will take him all the way to America - that land of promise - but it will draw him into a terrible paradox.

Tall tales, all true, about guns, bombs, car chases, spiders, exotic locales, men in uniform, and dancing girls - with deadpan delivery and a social conscience. "I remember the advertisement to join the Army. It asked for guys who were fit, committed, tough, volunteer parachutists, comfortable in the ocean, and mature. As a surfer, that sounded like me - except for the mature bit."

Meet Osamah Sami: a schemer, a dreamer and a madcap antihero of spectacular proportions whose terrible life choices keep leading to cataclysmic consequences...despite his best laid plans to be a good Muslim boy. By the age of 13, Osamah had survived the Iran-Iraq war, peddled fireworks and chewing gum on the Iranian black market, proposed 'temporary marriage' not once but three times, and received countless floggings from the Piety Police....

It's hard to imagine this story as being part of our past, but in 1942, an 11-year-old Australian boy, Richard Manson, and his parents either side of him were shot by the Japanese for suspected spying in Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. Acclaimed Fourth Estate author and award-winning science journalist Ian Townsend has uncovered a fascinating story of World War Two, little known to most Australians.

A novel adventuring between the pre-WWI Russian enclave in Brisbane and Tsarist Russia. From the author of Schindler's Ark, another tale of oppression and the triumph of determined peoples.Artem Samsurov, a charismatic protege of Lenin and an ardent socialist, reaches sanctuary in Australia after escaping his Siberian labour camp and making a long, perilous journey via Japan.

When Grace married Captain Leo Waterhouse in Australia in 1943, they were young, in love - and at war. Like many other young men and women, they were ready, willing and able to put the war effort first. They never seriously doubted that they would come through unscathed. But Leo never returned from a commando mission masterminded by his own hero figure, an eccentric and charismatic man who inspired total loyalty from those under his command.

Representing the Universal Conscious Community, 52 authors have co-created the "Unfolding Journeys: Ways to Connect" book. Some of them are established writers, and for the others, it's a debut. Still, all have a few things in common—love for writing, the ability to reflect on their transformational journeys and willingness to share learnings along the way. The journey towards inner peace is unique for everyone. For some, it's a smooth road while for others, it's a bumpy, frightening ride.

Lance Dillon is owner of a new cattle station on the southern fringe of Australia's Arnhem Land. When an aboriginal hunting party targets Dillon's prize bull for a ritual killing and then spears Dillon in the shoulder, it's clear they want him off their traditional land. Under the merciless rays of the burning sun, the wounded Dillon flees into the bush, with expert tracker Mundaru in hot pursuit. Dillon's city-born wife, Mary, and handsome local policeman Neil Adams set out to search for her husband.

Catholic priests don't generally have children, but Australian legend Father Chris Riley has brought up about 60,000 – and they're some of the toughest kids around. He regularly encounters some of the most troubled children on Earth – kids who have given up or refuse to talk to others, who steal, take drugs, see themselves as irredeemable failures, hate everyone and everything, self-harm, have been abused or abuse other kids, and prostitute themselves.

The breadth and richness of Keneally's life is explored in this comprehensive biography, authorised by the subject and written by Stephany Evans Steggall. For five decades Tom Keneally has been one of Australia's finest and most loved writers. Celebrated across the world as a master storyteller and known especially for the Booker Prize-winning Schindler's Ark, he is also respected for his humanitarian work and his commitment to causes such as republicanism.

Do you believe in love? Do you trust your partner? Nick Souter did, with good reason - he and Anne had something special. He didn't make a habit of going through her pockets but what's a man supposed to do when he's got a rotten cold and a wife who helps herself to his handkerchiefs? You can't blow your nose on an adulterous love-note but it certainly took Nick's mind off his sniffles. Secrets and lies can turn doubt into obsession and a loving couple into snarling adversaries. Secrets and lies can kill.

Lancelot, an orphaned kangaroo adopted by a farmer and his wife, is the constant figure across these stories. He is also disabled, after losing one of his arms in an accident. His quest is to discover his kangarooness and find love and acceptance among his fellow creatures.Lancelot is a little Joey whose mother has died. He is adopted by Bill and Emmy, the farmer and his wife, and he doesn’t even know that he is a kangaroo.