Showing results by narrator "Esther Wane" in All Categories

Formed in 1940, Special Operations Executive was to coordinate Resistance work overseas. The organization's F section sent more than 400 agents into France, 39 of whom were women. But while some are widely known - Violette Szabo, Odette Sansom, Noor Inayat Khan - others have had their stories largely overlooked. Kate Vigurs interweaves for the first time the stories of all 39 female agents.

Event organizer Megan Fallon needs to find a killer before the biggest night of the year in Bliss Bay village: a charity dinner and auction to raise funds for local children's charities. After all, there's nothing like a murderer on the loose to put a dampener on the party spirit. With her Uncle Des in tow, the two intrepid amateur sleuths set out to identify the perpetrator. They could be onto something after a mysterious rocking horse offers up a clue to the identity of the murderer.

From an irresponsible baron whose body is discovered beneath a silver birch tree, to a classic detective duo solving a historic case as the lights go out across Europe, and an exclusive Tony Hill and Carol Jordan story, the characters McDermid conjures are enigmatic and dangerous. These evocative, atmospheric tales will shock and delight.

Marcus Kincaid, earl of Ashford, has returned to England after a 10-year absence to find his younger sister embroiled in a potential scandal that could ruin her chance at marriage. His aunt has already called in reinforcements - The Paragon.

Event organizer Megan Fallon is gearing up for a concert in honor of the oldest tree in the county: the ancient village oak on Bliss Bay's village green. What she's not gearing up for, though, is stumbling over the dead body of Bliss Bay's most unpopular villager, under the oak tree's sprawling boughs. With a murder investigation underway, a mystery that has everyone looking like a suspect, and a cat that needs a new home, there's also the small matter of the theft of forty-eight garden gnomes to get to the bottom of.

Diana and Fergus are both in the running for the coveted spot of "prime suspect". Fergus decides the only way to clear their names and save Christmas is for them to investigate the case. He's convinced that an ancient curse is the real killer. Diana is convinced that Fergus has lost his marbles. She's ready to prove him wrong, but when they are dragged into a maze of secrets and lies, she starts to wonder....

Digging up trouble is becoming a habit for Diana Flowers. But when she finds a collection of bones buried where she had planned to plant out her lupins, she can't believe her bad luck...especially as she doesn't think Diggory the dog is the one who buried them. Fergus has a wild theory about the identity of the skeleton beneath the flower field. More shockingly still, he might just be right.

On a spring night, a lone nightingale starts to sing in the boughs of the old village oak tree and a local psychic predicts that it will sing every night until a village mystery is solved . . . As if the excitement surrounding Megan and Jack's forthcoming nuptials isn't enough, a TV antiques show arrives in Bliss Bay to film an episode on the village green, and a trinket Des bought years ago in a junk shop for pennies turns out to be worth thousands . . . and a magnet for trouble.

It is 1916 and Rasputin has finally been killed by those who have long feared his influence over Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra. But for Princess Militza, famed as one of the 'Witches of St Petersburg', and her daughter Nadezhda, life is about to become extremely dangerous. Revolution is bubbling and with it will come the murder of the Romanov imperial family. Now the rest of the court is also on the run, fleeing from the mob. Against this violent and turbulent backdrop, Nadezhda, the witch's daughter, finds in exile and captivity an extraordinary and unlikely love.

It's summer in Bliss Bay. Ladybirds have descended upon the village, and event organizer Megan Fallon has a diary as clear as the sky. Although her wedding to American fiance Jack Windsor is a year away, excitement surrounding the biggest event of her life (after the birth of her daughter Evie, of course) is already building, and she's determined that nothing will take the edge off it. However, when a visitor to the village is found dead in suspicious circumstances, the police are left scratching their heads.

Withering and waspish, Ursula Smart (not her real name) gate-crashes her mother's book club at an isolated country house for a long weekend retreat. Much to Mother's chagrin. Joining them are Mother's best friend, Mirabelle, Aunts Charlotte and Less, and Bridget with her dog, Mr. Bojangles. It doesn't matter that they've read Gone Girl three times this year already, this retreat is their chance to escape bustling suburbia. But someone has other ideas. A body is found in the grounds.

The brain is the basis of everything we do: how we behave, communicate, feel, remember, pay attention, create, influence, and decide. Why We Do What We Do combines scientific research with concrete examples and illustrative stories to clarify the complex mechanisms of the human brain. It offers valuable insights into how our brain works every day, at home and at work, and provides practical ideas and tips to help us lead happy, healthy, and productive lives.

Dubbed 'Lady Scandal' thanks to her gossip-stirring past, Portia Fairhaven, the widowed Countess of Blakewell, is no stranger to rumors and innuendos. Although freed of her unhappy marriage, she is still forced to maintain as spotless a reputation as she can manage for the sake of her son. That is, until a desperate search for her lost half brother takes her to the darkest depths of London’s underworld and straight into the arms of one brawny, undeniably handsome East End rogue.

For four years Jessica has never doubted that her sister Isabel’s death was an accident. But when Jessica’s young daughter seems to know long-forgotten details about her aunt’s past, Jessica can’t shake the feeling that there’s a more sinister truth behind the tragedy. As Jessica unearths disturbing revelations about her sister, and about the people she loved and trusted most, it becomes clear Isabel’s life was less than perfect and that Jessica’s might also be at risk.

Anne Bassett served four of Henry VIII's queens, yet the king himself once pledged to serve her. Had fate not decreed otherwise, she might have been his wife - and queen of England. But now, far from court and heavy with her husband's child, Anne prays in the Hungerford chapel and awaits the ghostly figure she knows will come. This is her story, one that entwines with the fate of another Lady Hungerford from not so many years before.

Hotel Portofino has been open for only a few weeks, but already the problems are mounting for its owner Bella Ainsworth. Her high-class guests are demanding and hard to please. And she’s being targeted by a scheming and corrupt local politician, who threatens to drag her into the red-hot cauldron of Mussolini’s Italy. To make matters worse, her marriage is in trouble, and her children are still struggling to recover from the repercussions of the Great War.

Week after week the postcards arrive, addressed to a name Ellie does not know, with no return address, each signed with an initial: A. With their bright skies, blue seas and alluring images of Greece, these cartes postales brighten her life. After six months, to her disappointment, they cease. But the montage she has created on the wall of her flat has cast a spell. She must see this country for herself.

Betrothed to Marcus Balfour, Marquess Althorn since infancy, the entirety of Miss Jane Barrett's life has been planned for her by others. Through an overheard argument, Jane discovers at a tender age that her betrothed is opposed to the match. The knowledge wounds her deeply and sows the first seeds of rebellion in her. Rather than marry her, the Marquess joins the army but disappears in one of the war's bloodiest battles.

A shipwreck near Castle Black sees Dr. Nicholas Warner risking his life to save a woman from the churning sea. As he pulls her to the safety of the shore, the villagers are stunned by her presence. She is no stranger to them. They identify her as Viola Grantham, Lady Ramsleigh, wife of the recently deceased Lord Percival Ramsleigh...a woman who supposedly died nearly two years earlier. She confides in Dr. Warner about the son she bore in secret, the heir to her late husband and that she had only returned to secure his future and his place in society.

Jess Bright, single mum and journalist, feels her life has stalled. So when she's offered a writing job in Paris for the summer, she leaps at the chance to go back to a city full of old memories and the promise of new opportunities. Her subject is the iconic artist Adelaide Fox, whose personal life has always been steeped in scandal and intrigue. Now approaching eighty, she's ready to tell her side of the story - and serve up some scalding-hot revenge in the process. Amidst a stormy working relationship, Jess and Adelaide must face up to their pasts.