Showing results by narrator "David Thorpe" in All Categories

A dawn swim turns deadly in a brand-new short story starring DCI Vera Stanhope.... Two bored cell-mates play a game with chilling results.... A hen night in an isolated cottage brings new meaning to 'I will survive'.... Why not treat yourself to a slice of murderously moreish fiction, and join us in wishing the squad many deadly returns. With stories by Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Margaret Murphy, Chris Simms and Cath Staincliffe, as well as John Baker, Chaz Brenchley and Stuart Pawson.

September 1940. The height of the Blitz. When the Savoy advertises its series of underground shelters, a crowd of people from East London arrive at the hotel and demand entry. There they find a shelter worthy of the Savoy's clientele, but the next morning, after the air raid and when the Stepney protestors have left, it is discovered that one of the hotel's guests is dead, stabbed through the heart.

What makes life perfect? Insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen knows the answer because he calculates everything down to the last decimal. And then, Henri is faced with the incalculable. After suddenly losing his job, Henri inherits an adventure park from his brother - its troubling financial problems included. The worst of these issues appear to originate from big loans taken from criminal quarters and dangerous men are keen to get their money back. But what Henri really can't compute is love. He meets Laura, an artist with a joie de vivre and erratic lifestyle that bewilders him.

Small businesses and start-ups face their own challenges, and Steve Coulson has been there, made the mistakes and found a way to triumph. His straightforward, no-nonsense advice outlines a path to success if you want to grow your business to something bigger and more successful than you could ever have believed possible.

"Eight Figure Entrepreneur" provides the tools to rapidly strengthen and grow your business while working less. From focussing on personal development and creating a workplace culture that attracts the best to understanding the pillars of growth and maximising capacity while adapting to the market, it's all underpinned by discovering who you are and what you truly stand for.

1936. Devastated by the death of her brother Hugh, Emma seeks to keep his memory alive by embracing his dreams of a communist revolution. But when she marries an ambitious diplomat, she must live within the confines of embassy life in Paris and Nazi Berlin. 1979. Emma's grandson, Phil, dreams of a tour of Europe, but is nowhere near being able to fund it. So when his beloved grandmother determines to make one last trip to the places she lived, and to try to solve a mystery that has haunted her since the war, he jumps at the chance to accompany her.

On a foggy night in Hampstead, London, a party has gathered in an artist's studio to weather the wartime blackout. A civil servant and a government scientist match wits in a game of chess while Bruce Manaton paints the portrait. In the kitchen, Rosanne Manaton prepares tea for the charlady of Mr Folliner. When the murder of 'Old Mr. F' is discovered by his Canadian infantryman nephew, it's not long before Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard is called to the scene.

The queen of Steelhaven has grown in strength. Taking up her dead father's sword, she must defend the city from the dread warlord Amon Tugha and his bloodthirsty army now at the gates. A vicious, unrelenting four-day battle ensues, the most perilous yet. No side is immune from danger as all hell breaks loose, with the threat of coups and the unleashing of the deadliest and darkest magick. Loyalty, strength and cunning will be put to test in the quest for victory. What fate awaits the free states?

Ralph Delchard, a soldier who fought at the Battle of Hastings, and Gervase Bret, a talented lawyer, have been commissioned by William the Conqueror to look into irregularities brought to light during the compilation of the Domesday Book. A man’s body is found mutilated in Savernake Forest and the residents of Bedwyn sleep uneasy at night, fearing a monster stalking the town. When Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret arrive, they discover that the locals are harbouring dark secrets and that the real killer may be a little closer to home....

Forbidden in Victorian England, the grim and violent world of bare-knuckle fighting has gone underground. So when a headless body is found floating in the Thames, his hands "pickled" for fighting, Sergeant Cribb knows he is facing a challenge. Desperate for information, they select the young constable Henry Jago to infiltrate the gang, subjecting him to a rigorous program of purging, pickling, and training. Cribb is certain that the losing fighters are being killed, or worse, so getting Jago out just in time is crucial.... 

A bold new dramatisation of Thomas Hardy’s classic, giving his story a 21st-century resonance. Tess Durbeyfield is driven by poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urberville family. But meeting her cousin Alec proves to be her downfall. This classic criticism of social convention is given a new treatment in this full-cast adaptation which blows away the shepherd's pipe and heritage stereotype, foregrounding Hardy's social and sexual radicalism.

Discover the heart-pounding thriller with an unforgettable ending from bestselling author, Ross Greenwood Perfect for fans of Mark Billingham and Stuart MacBride. A murder made to look like suicide. Another that appears an accident. DI Barton investigates the tragedies that have shattered a...

Bloomsbury presents The Shorter Wisden 2020 edited by Lawrence Booth, read by David Thorpe, Lawrence Booth and Terry Blake. The Shorter Wisden is a compelling distillation of what's best in its bigger brother – and the 2020 edition of Wisden is crammed, as ever, with the best writing in the...

This audiobook stinks! Hold your nose while you find out absolutely everything you never knew about poo! Did you know that.. A week's worth of elephant poo weighs as much a 25 people? A lifetime of farts would fill 2,000 balloons? The world uses enough loo paper in an hour to wrap around the...

December 1882. Attending the opening of the new Natural History Museum, reporter Alec Lonsdale and his colleague Hulda Friederichs are shocked to discover a body in the basement, hacked to death. Suspicion falls on three cannibals, brought from the Congo as museum exhibits, who have disappeared. But Alec discovers that three other men have been similarly murdered, and when he and Hulda discover a letter in the victim's home warning of a catastrophic event planned for Christmas Eve, they find themselves in a race against time.

Maya has to escape. She's on the run in a country she doesn't know and has no idea who to trust. Raul is escaping too - travelling back to his home where a terrible tragedy happened, ready to stir up trouble. When their paths collide in the middle of the jungle, the sparks begin to fly. As modern world corruption meets the magic and legends of ancient times, can Maya draw on her hidden light to find the way through to the truth?

In this addictive collection, master crime writer Peter Lovesey prescribes 15 fiendishly clever stories featuring the man in the street along with the ever-popular detectives Peter Diamond and the self-important Bertie, Prince of Wales. Here, the genteel mix easily with the sordid in a nasty but effective concoction of mayhem and suspense. It’s a mixture that will make your heart beat faster - and there are twists that will take your breath away....

On a fine autumn weekend Lord Aveling hosts a hunting party at his country house, Bragley Court. Among the guests are an actress, a journalist, an artist and a mystery novelist. The unlucky 13th is John Foss, injured at the local train station and brought to the house to recuperate - but John is nursing a secret of his own. Soon events take a sinister turn when a painting is mutilated, a dog stabbed and a man strangled.

Albert and Karen don’t have much. They live in a bedsit in Reading, and Karen spends her evenings mending clothes. So when a chance to win £10,000 from a video clip submitted to a TV programme arises, the couple can’t resist. They borrow a caravan, park it precariously close to a clifftop in Wales - what could possible go wrong?

A story from the collection Do Not Exceed the Stated Dose. Albert and Rose have been married for 47 years. To everyone else they’re the perfect couple, but Albert has reached breaking point. He’s tired of the same routine every night, the same conversation and running around after his wife. But how to escape when his wife adores him? The only way is murder.