Showing results by narrator "Tom Weiss" in All Categories

Michael Berrington is a bachelor leading a quiet life in London. Overhearing a conversation at his club one day, he becomes interested in a discussion regarding a man named Gastrell. Gastrell is somewhat of a mystery to the club members in spite of his renting a house from one of them. Berrington’s interest in Gastrell intensifies as his fiancé, Dulcie Challoner, befriends a wealthy widow, Mrs. Connie Stapleton who evidently has some type of relationship with Gastrell.

E. Phillips Oppenheim, an English novelist created well in excess of 100 novels and 30 plus collections of short stories. Most of his tales are thrillers and espionage. The Great Impersonation was written following World War I and is considered by many to be perhaps his best novel. The story focuses on German espionage in England prior to the start of World War I. The tale centers on two characters that are almost identical in appearance. Indeed, while both attend the same school in England, they are often mistaken for one another.

William Le Queux was a British novelist and prolific writer of mysteries. Indeed, mystery surrounds the author himself as to whether he was a spy or rather just a self-promoter. Regardless of which is true, Le Queux brings us a story of intrigue and espionage that travels across Europe in the true spirit of a good mystery. There are shootings, burglaries, romances, escapes from prisons, and intricate conspiracies that may surprise and leave you scratching your head as you try to solve this "whodunit”.

It is during World War I. A chemist, Sandy Graham, has discovered a new powerful explosive, but he lets it slip in a London restaurant that he has made the discovery. Graham is ready to join some friends for luncheon at the restaurant but chooses to clean up before joining them. He never comes out of the restroom. Several spies from different governments set out to find him and the formula. This espionage novel is from 1918, but it could just as easily have been from today.

"It is an easy task," Selingman declared. "This young man is your slave. Whatever your daily business may be here, some part of your time, I imagine, will be spent in his company. Let me know what manner of man he is. Is this innate corruptness which brings him so easily to the bait, or is it the stinging smart of injustice from which he may well be suffering? Or, failing these, has he dared to set his wits against mine, to play the double traitor? If even a suspicion of this should come to you, there must be an end of Mr. Francis Norgate."

Herbert Wrayson, a bachelor returns to his flat one night to find a young lady rifling his desk. He questions her and finds she thought she was in the apartment of his neighbor, Morris Barnes, who lives above him. While he is on the telephone, she quietly slips out of his flat and heads to Barnes' abode. A few hours later, she is once again at his door - this time looking scared and faint. She asks Wrayson to escort her downstairs as the hallway is unlit. As they emerge, a hansom sits at the doorway with Morris Barnes in it. But, they discover that Barnes has been strangled.

The Mosquito Fleet is a documentary about America's small but strategically important fleet of PT boats during the Second World War. After Pearl Harbor, the American Naval Fleet was at a severe disadvantage to the mighty Japanese fleet. Enter the PT or patrol torpedo boat of the US Navy. Built for speed and carrying four torpedoes, the wooden craft proved to be a significant "irritant" to the enemy in terms of their effectiveness in combat.

Little Joe Otter is playful and full of surprises. Peter Rabbit is curious. Peter is curious why he has not seen Little Joe Otter in the Smiling Pool? Wait! Did Peter just see two Little Joe Otters in the Smiling Pool? While Peter is trying to determine if there is indeed more than one Little Joe Otter, he learns some other lessons from the times "when the world was young" from Grandfather Frog and others.

Peter Rabbit has a great deal of curiosity and loves to hear stories. In this collection of 16 short stories, Peter Rabbit learns more about many of his neighbors in the Green Forest and the Green Meadows. Sometimes Grandfather Frog tells him a story but there are other neighbors who also share their "knowledge" with him. Mother West Wind's Where Stories explains how Old Mother Nature gives special attention to each creature's special needs when the "world was young".

Many of his animal friends consider Grandfather Mole to be strange. It is not that he is strange but rather quite different from most of them. Grandfather Mole spends most of his time in his favorite place, underground. He loves digging and nature has equipped him with the body, legs, and feet to dig. Surprisingly, he can also swim quite well. Because Grandfather Mole spends so much time underground, he has very poor eyesight and hearing.

Chirpy Cricket loves to fiddle. He thinks everyone he meets should. However, as Chirpy meets other critters near Farmer Green's house, he learns that not everyone who fiddles sounds the same as he does. Along the way, he meets some strange crickets like the Mole Cricket who never comes above ground. Or the Cricket Frog who chirps like cricket but is really from the frog family. (Did you know there are over 900 species of crickets?) We also learn about some of the predators of crickets and how they hunt. But mostly, this story is about Chirpy.

Washer is a baby raccoon, who along with his brother's play together. One day Washer is playing with some sticks near a waterfall. He leans too far in and falls into the water. Luckily he is able to pull himself up onto a large branch going over the waterfall. His mother hears his cries but by then, Washer is over the falls and all raccoons fear he has perished. No raccoon has ever survived going over the falls. Washer manages to swim to shore but captured by Sneaky the Wolf and carried back to his den.

The Spindrift Scientific Foundation has sent Dr. Tony Briotti, Rick Brant, and Don "Scotty" Scott to the Philippine Islands for a quiet peaceful archeological expedition. Dr. Briotti wants to investigate some native artifacts, among which is supposedly a golden skull. Rick and Scotty travel along to assist Dr. Briotti. The artifacts are located in a remote part of an island with natives who are purported to be headhunters.

"The Tale of Ferdinand Frog" is a somewhat short story about a typical frog who has an amazingly wide mouth and queer, bulging eyes. Ferdinand is somewhat unflappable and hard to anger. Like many of Bailey's characters, he believes that others need to able to do the things he does. Like all frogs, his tongue is attached at the front so he can catch insects and Ferdinand doesn't understand why other's tongues aren't attached like his.

Written in 1860 in the language of the day by William and Ellen Craft, Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom tells the story of a husband and wife's plight to escape slavery in 1848 Georgia. Unlike many slaves who escaped in the dead of night chased by slave hunters and bloodhounds, the Crafts traveled in first-class trains, dined with a steamboat captain, and stayed in the best hotels during their escape to Philadelphia and freedom. Ellen, who was nearly white, disguised herself as a young male cotton planter traveling with his slave, William.

Two of the scientists from the acclaimed Spindrift Scientific Foundation in New Jersey are missing in the Philippines. When the staff zoologist, Dr. Howard Shannon, and the staff archaeologist, Dr. Anthony Briotti, fail to turn up on schedule from an expedition to the Sulu Sea, the entire Foundation became personally concerned. All work stops while the staff speculates on what might have happened and what course of action to take.

Farmer Brown's boy Tommy discovers an old gray stone in the pasture that magically transforms him into whatever animal he wishes to be. He shares adventures with Danny Meadow Mouse, Peter Rabbit, Old Mr. Toad, Paddy the Beaver, and others. Initially, Tommy believes that life for his furry friends is one big happy lark. But he quickly learns that life can be difficult for Mother Nature's furry creatures.

The main characters are Dr. Mark Ransford, his two wards, Mary and Dick Bewery, and one Dr. Pemberton Bryce - an assistant to Dr. Ransford. Bryce makes unwelcome advances to Mary Bewery and Ransford, after having warned him against these advances, dismisses Bryce. Bryce sets out to make Mary his own while suspecting Ransford and implicate him in the murders. A surprising twist toward the end of the story.

There is something fishy near the scientific foundation near Spindrift Island, NJ. A fishing trawler has wrecked upon well-known a reef by an experience fishing boat captain who says he was drunk when it happened. The experienced captain is a teetotaler, however, and refuses to talk about how or why his trawler suddenly crashed onto the reef. Rick and Scotty are also baffled and as they investigate they find many things don't add up.

Two scientists working on a top-secret government project suddenly start talking gibberish. The government does not know how or why this has happened and asks the Brants if they can move the remaining scientists to Spindrift Island, a scientific foundation located on an island off the New Jersey Coast, in order to better protect them. The Brants agree. Rick and Scotty become suspicious of a new barber in town and believe he is part of an espionage ring.