Showing results by narrator "Philip Franks" in All Categories

Miss Mackenzie by Trollope was the runner-up in Radio 4's 'Neglected Classics' vote. Margaret Mackenzie is a single woman in her mid-thirties who receives a large inheritance when her brother dies. She must then deal with what comes with the fortune, including several suitors, who may, or, may not, simply be after her money.

In the second novel in the Pop Larkin series, the Larkin family descends upon Brittany in France. Like fish out of water, they find that things don't quite turn out their way: The weather is less than ideal, the food is awful, and the hotel is in a bad state of repair. But things slowly improve as Pop manages to sweet-talk Mlle Dupont, Angela Snow and her sister, Iris; and Charley and Mariette celebrate their first wedding anniversary. A Breath of French Air is a delightful book full of nostalgia, fun, and frivolity.

In the final book of the series that began with The Darling Buds of May, the fun-loving Pop Larkin finds himself confined to a bed following a mild heart attack - caused by a little too much of what he fancied. Ma battles with the doctors as she attempts to find an adequate cure, but it turns out that a seductive nurse is all he needs. Pa's spirits truly recover themselves when he is forced to defend his home from the ministry's railway plans. This concludes the tales of H. E. Bates' Larkin family.

A year has passed, and in this third novel of the Pop Larkin series, Pop Larkin is preparing to build the bungalow he promised Charley and Mariette upon their engagement. He buys a country home slated for demolition, intending to convert it for the two, but it is not long before a London couple persuade him to sell it. Pop, ever the trickster, sells it for an extortionate price, as the two social climbers know little about country life.

Telling the Story shows how leaders affect our understanding of what is possible and desirable through the stories they tell. It opens a door into the world of narrative leadership: what stories are and how they work, when to tell a story and how to tell one well, and how the language and metaphors we use influence our actions and change how we think about the world.

Constable Among the Heather is the tenth book in the brilliantly entertaining and heartwarming books behind the hit 90s TV series “Heartbeat”. One of the top ten most watched shows of the decade. Britain's most popular bobby gets back on the beat. Constable Nick proves once again that a...

Constable In Disguise is the ninth book in the brilliantly entertaining and heartwarming books behind the hit 90s TV series “Heartbeat”. One of the top ten most watched shows of the decade. Britain's most popular bobby turns detective! A delightful account of Constable Nick’s foray into...

The seventh in the brilliantly entertaining and heartwarming audiobooks behind the hit 90s TV series Heartbeat. Constable Nick’s beat is modernized, with his police bike replaced by a mini-van. He gets more than he bargained for as his work draws him into closer contact with villagers, in more...

The brilliantly entertaining and heartwarming books behind the hit 90s TV series “Heartbeat”. One of the top ten most watched shows of the decade. During a break from his usual village beat, young Police Constable Nick finds himself involved with holidaymakers and their problems. As well as...

The brilliantly entertaining and heartwarming books behind the hit 90s TV series Heartbeat. One of the top ten most watched shows of the decade. Constable Nick patrols his rural Yorkshire beat on foot or on his trusty Francis Barnett motorcycle. But as beautiful as the villages are, they conceal...

The brilliantly entertaining and heartwarming books behind the hit 90s TV series Heartbeat. One of the top ten most watched shows of the decade. Nick is settling into his role as a police constable in Aidensfield, getting to grips with rural life and his new colleagues and neighbours. Constable...

The brilliantly entertaining and heartwarming books behind the hit 90s TV series Heartbeat. One of the top ten most watched shows of the decade. Nick is still settling into his role at the Ashfordly Section police station, and he’s drawn the short straw: night duty. Alone in the midnight hours...

The brilliantly entertaining and heartwarming books behind the hit 90s TV series Heartbeat. One of the top ten most watched shows of the decade. Policeman Nick Rhea has been posted to the country with his wife Mary and their three small children. They move into the police house, high on a ridge...

In 1964, a young artist sat sketching former prime minister Winston Churchill. The Sunday Times refused to print the resulting drawing of this frail, aged figure - so far from the public image of the man - it was too truthful. In Long Drawn Out Trip, Gerald tells his life story for the first time. With captivating, often thrilling stories, he takes us back to his wartime childhood and the terrible curse of asthma, through his days as an advertising draughtsman, to his field reporting in Vietnam and the giddy highs of rock 'n' roll. 

The lives of the inhabitants of Swevenings are disrupted only by a fierce competition to catch the Old Un, a monster trout known to dwell in a beautiful stream which winds past their homes. Then one of their small community is found brutally murdered; beside him is the freshly killed trout. Both died by violence - but Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn's murder investigation seems to be much more interested in the fish.... Scales of Justice was first published in 1955.

The Royal British Legion was founded in 1921. It is now the country’s leading charity providing financial, social and emotional support to those who have served or who are currently serving in the British Armed Forces and their dependants. The RBL is behind the annual Poppy Appeal, the highest...

Peregrine Jay, owner of the Dolphin Theatre, is putting on a magnificent production of Macbeth, the play that, superstition says, always brings bad luck. But one night the claymore swings, and the dummy's head is more than real: murder behind the scene. Luckily, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn is in the audience....

One of Ngaio Marsh’s most famous murder mysteries, which introduces Inspector Alleyn to his future wife, the irrepressible Agatha Troy. It started as a student exercise, the knife under the drape, the model’s pose chalked in place. But before Agatha Troy, artist and instructor, returns to the class, the pose has been reenacted in earnest: the model is dead, fixed forever in one of the most dramatic poses Troy has ever seen. It’s a difficult case for Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn.