Showing results by narrator "John Telfer" in All Categories

From the dramatic Highlands to bustling cities, the unique landscapes and locales of Scotland have enthralled and shaped generations of mystery writers. This new collection presents 17 classic stories, spanning a period from the 1880s to the 1970s, by a host of Scottish authors alongside writers from south of the border inspired by the history and majesty of the storied country.

The life of Demetrius (337-283 BCE) serves as a through-line to the forty years following the death of Alexander (323-282 BCE), a time of unparalleled turbulence and instability in the ancient world. With no monarch able to take Alexander’s place, his empire fragmented into five pieces. Capitalizing on good looks, youth, and sexual prowess, Demetrius sought to weld those pieces together and recover the dream of a single world-state, with a new Alexander—himself—at its head.

Bloomsbury presents Et tu, Brute? by Harry Mount and John Davie, read by John Telfer. Harry Mount and John Davie unlock the wisdom of the past in this light-hearted and fascinating book, revealing how ancient Latin can help us to live better in the present. There are so many Latin phrases in...

It is November 5th, Guy Fawkes Night, 1930. Bonfires are blazing, rockets burst. In a country lane, revellers discover a car that has been set on fire. At first they assume that this is the work of vandals taking the Guy Fawkes spirit a little too far, then they notice, sitting at the wheel, a body, charred beyond recognition. The initial assumption is that the owner of the car, Mr William Hodge, a successful travelling vacuum cleaner salesman has taken his own life by flooding the car with petrol and lighting a match.

Last night, Mademoiselle Duchêne was seen heading into the Gallery of Horrors at the Musée Augustin waxworks, alive. Today she was found in the Seine, murdered. The museum's proprietor, long perturbed by the unnatural vitality of his figures, claims that he saw one of them following the victim into the dark; a lead that Henri Bencolin, head of the Paris police and expert of impossible crimes, cannot resist.

After Arthur Penfold’s wife reveals she is leaving him to care for her ailing aunt, he sets upon a path of murder and deceit to avoid the social embarrassment of a second marital breakdown. But the purchase of a poetry book triggers a sequence of events that begins to unravel both Arthur and a seemingly open-and-shut murder case.

Detective fiction writer Coleby is asked for his theory on a murder case that seemingly points to one conclusion. But when the facts don’t quite add up, Coleby must draw on his crime writing experience to construct a plausible narrative.

Best-selling crime writer Geoffrey Gilroy is overcome with jealousy when his wife’s newfound success in the genre begins to eclipse his. Drawing upon his extensive knowledge on the subject, he meticulously plans the perfect murder that will put an end to his wife’s career—and life—once and for all.

Private detective Philip Trent, who first appeared in E.C. Bentley’s Golden Age crime classic The Woman in Black, is called upon to solve a mystery surrounding the will of a wealthy man with a particular appreciation for the work of Lewis Carroll. A string of literary clues leads Trent to suspect there was more to the man’s dying wishes than may have first appeared.

1796. John Pearce is stuck with a difficult mission, a crew of Quota Men forced to enlist in the Royal Navy, four new midshipmen as well as Samuel Oliphant, companion cum spy, whom he finds a constant irritant. In his favour, he commands HMS Hazard, a speedy warship, a pair of competent officers and, of course, his trusty friends the Pelicans. Their mission is to head for the Mediterranean Fleet and warn Admiral Sir John Jervis of impending danger he will face, fighting a combined French/Spanish fleet.

When Major Mercer visits his old friend Lionel Deacon and his family in the country, his visit is hampered with heavy rain. As soon as there is a break in the weather, though, he heads into the village for a walk. Across the river, he sees a mother and a child, but when he returns to the Deacons, they assure him that he cannot possibly have seen who he thinks he saw.

An adventure ideally suited to Indiana Jones, ‘The Treasure of the Tombs’ sees three WW1 veterans return to a remote cave to recover hidden gold, but the tomb is cursed.

From atop the choppy waves to the choking darkness of the abyss, the seas are full of mystery and rife with tales of inexplicable events and encounters with the unknown. In this anthology we see a thrilling spread of narratives: sailors are pitched against a nightmare from the depths, invisible to the naked eye, a German U-boat commander is tormented by an impossible transmission via Morse Code, a ship ensnares itself in the kelp of the Sargasso Sea and dooms a crew of mutineers, seemingly out of revenge for her lost captain.

'When Spirits Steal’ features regular protagonists from Philippa Forest: businessman Peter Carwell and artist Wilton. Wilton recalls a holiday in Somerset where they encountered Mary, a young girl with a nervous disposition whose sleepwalking and vivid dreams lead Carwell to believe she is being possessed by a spirit.

Inspired by a sketch of a poor woman driven to madness by artist Cecchino, wealthy Madame Krasinska attends a ball in fancy dress mocking the old woman. But after the ball, she is overcome by severe depression. Could the old woman be haunting her as punishment?

When Carstone visits his old friend, Brendan, one night, he is intrigued by the empty house next door, which is said to be haunted. Despite his host telling him many of the spooky tales that surround the old house, he accepts a dare to spend the night at The Gables, but his bravado soon falters....

Two friends embark on a walking tour of northern France, but they encounter a strange fellow traveller who they struggle to shake off on their journey.

Phantom Death is an imaginative story about a painting that has perplexed crowds across Europe. The painting must be viewed in solitude and is presented in a dark room, draped in black silken rope. When the unnamed narrator views the painting for himself, though, he is interrupted by another, setting off an unexpected chain of events.

C. N. Barham served as a minister but was also an amateur hypnotist, and in this short story, he explores how clairvoyance might be used to track lost ships at sea by regaling the story of Audacious, a brig which never reached its destination.

Keen to escape London to work on their respective music scores and novel, two cousins stumble across a rural holiday let that is well below their budget. But it soon proves too good to be true when something on the top landing starts spooking them and their staff.