Showing results by narrator "John Rayburn" in All Categories

It was a lonely English courtyard where attorneys received traditional apprenticeship … one of the ancient Inns of Court. The bludgeoned body of a well-dressed elderly man was found there at midnight, an apparent murder victim. Investigative newspaper reporter Frank Spargo was one of the first to arrive at the crime scene and he was puzzled about why such a prosperous looking man had been wandering there at that time of night. The only item found on the body was a small paper with a young barrister’s address.

It was a clear, apple-green evening in May, and Four Winds Harbour was mirroring back the clouds of the golden west between its softly dark shores. The sea moaned eerily on the sand-bar, sorrowful even in spring, but a sly, jovial wind came piping down the red harbor road along which Miss Cornelia’s comfortable, matronly figure was making its way towards the village of Glen St. Mary. Miss Cornelia was rightfully Mrs. Marshall Elliott, and had been Mrs. Marshall Elliott for thirteen years, but even yet more people referred to her as Miss Cornelia than as Mrs. Elliott. 

Teenagers Joe and Frank Hardy had ample mental ability to reach conclusions and act accordingly. Some of that ability was handed down by their former police detective Fenton Hardy, and the overall concept was enhanced by their perceptive cleverness. If you want to be tense with excitement, here’s a chance. They discover a counterfeiting operation in an old mill, are trapped and face a struggle to escape. Eventually, they overcome the misdeeds and wind up with some of the phony money.

This is the story of two young brothers from the backwoods of Maine … Randy and Earl Portney. Having a difficult time financially, unable to pay their rent, even how to keep on eating, they weren’t sure how to resolve their dilemma. Then, virtually out of the blue, they got an unexpected invitation letter from their Uncle Foster. He was going to head out for the big search for gold in Alaska and he wanted to know if the boys would go with him.

As usual for the much-traveled young Biff Brewster, he had major components of adventure and intrigue when his Uncle Charlie contacted him to come to the Caribbean and help with a search for some valuable pearls in and around Martinique. They were first found by Brom Zook, father of Derek Zook, who first surprisingly met with Biff by accident. They were thoroughly astounded to find they looked identical enough to be twins. As the search Biff planned to join his uncle on, they became involved with an evil man named Dietz.

Their instincts and intelligence were valuable assets for teenage brothers, Joe and Frank Hardy, as they followed in the footsteps of their well-known father, Fenton Hardy, a former police detective. They had wits and courage that gave them what it took to solve cases in their fictional home of Bayport in the upper east coast area of the US. They never lost their nerve despite being frequently confronted by danger. In this instance there is a robbery at the Tower Mansion and a friend of the Hardy Boys’ father is falsely accused. Young Joe and Frank take on the case.

Some months back Biff’s father went to India to legally open up some gold mines that had been absorbed by the India Republic. The setting for same was in exotic and mystical segments of India, with much action to be in and around the vicinity of the Himalayas. At first it was more of a sight-seeing tour than adventure with Biff accompanied by two friends from earlier times … Kamuka, met at the headwaters of the Amazon River in Brazil, and Likake (“Lee”) Mahenili of Hawaii. They headed out by sea and still had one more night to spend on shipboard as they reached Calcutta.

This story begins with travel time for the entire Brewster family as they plan a trip to Hawaii. It includes Bruce (“Biff”), his Mother, and Dad, with the younger twins, Ted and Monica. It’s really exciting for the twins because they have never been outside the continent. One of Dad Tom Brewster’s chief reasons for the journey is a planned meeting with Dr. Johann Weber, scientist and staff consultant for Ajax Mining Company. They were expecting to meet Weber on arrival but a shocking surprise was ahead.

An unusual call from Chinese merchant Ling Tang began an on-going set of circumstances for young Biff Brewster. He was planning a trip to Rangoon in Burma to visit his Uncle Charlie. It seemed such a trip for Biff would be a good way to spend the remainder of his summer vacation from school. It was a pleasant thought for beginning something very different to look forward to. However, “different” isn’t a strong enough description of what was going to happen.

Biff’s father and uncle were both well-traveled and accustomed to unusual situations and they felt it could be a matter of learning and enjoyment for the sixteen-year-old boy. He was big, strong, and very intelligent, so his relatives felt such a trip could add to a future for the lad. It turned our far differently than expectations. A jungle wilderness jam-packed with hazards and thrills. That’s what eventually confronted Biff going through territory inhabited with dreaded head-hunters. It had begun when Biff boarded a plane bound for Brazil and was handed an unexpected letter.

This the story of the unplanned adoption of an eleven-year-old girl orphan by an elderly brother and sister farm couple: Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. They had requested a young boy orphan to help with farm chores, so the girl was unwanted at first. However, she was very intelligent, imaginative and quite a chatterbox. She gradually made her way into the unexpected adoption that brought love and respect, creating a warm and wonderful association. This delightful classic takes place in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island.

In this tale a lead character’s brother has been accused of murder, escapes from prison, and is on the run. The book opens as a small but splendidly built yacht steamed slowly into Torbay, passed Brixham and Paignton, and anchored in the outer harbor at Torquay, England. It was a glorious spring morning, early, and the sun shone on the water with a myriad of dancing reflections; it bathed in light the beautiful town. Now, listeners will have to be alert to keep up with the amazing contradictions you’re going to hear.

A late-night murder of a diamond merchant’s veteran employee in London’s Hatton Gardens has Scotland Yard calling on Inspector French to investigate. When French gets there he finds not only the victim but missing diamonds and money from an open safe. There are meager clues as the Inspector follows a trail to mainland Europe and back. There are many false clues and several suspects with much of the searching leading to nothing but dead ends. We can listen as French sorts it all out, finding the missing diamonds and nabbing the murderer.

A subtitle of this book is “The Lost World Under the Sea,” and it’s somewhat based on the famed legend of Atlantis. That was an ancient city or continent that was supposedly inundated by the sea. Whether it actually existed has been a question that has lasted for thousands of years.  Greek philosopher Plato wrote about it around 360 BC, so even his possible information was second-hand. Tsunamis (sea storms) have existed for centuries and if there really was an Atlantis, any survivors may have fled inland and built new cities.

Even the coming of an autumn dusk could not subdue the color of this land. Shadows here were not gray or black; they were violet and purple. The crumbling adobe walls were laced by strings of crimson peppers, vivid in the torch and lantern light. It had been this way for days, red and yellow, violet—colors many had hardly been aware existed back in the cool green, silver, gray-brown of Kentucky. So this was Tubacca! Back in ‘59 this had been a flourishing town, well on its way to prominence in the Southwest.

This is a very unusual book, wherein the majority of the story is contents of an ancient diary found by two friends on a fishing holiday while on the grounds of an old dilapidated house. The moldy manuscript has inscribed tales of strange things seen and heard. There are horrible creatures and huge monsters described as though they were old gods of mythology.

Nothing is so easy as falling in love on a long sea voyage, except falling out of love. Especially was this the case in the days when the wooden clippers did finally land you in Sydney or in Melbourne under the four full months. Passengers and crew all saw far too much of each other, unless, indeed, they were to see still more. Their superficial attractions were mutually exhausted, they lost heart and patience in the disappointing strata which lie between the surface and the bed-rock of most natures.

Here is a meeting with George and Marion Kerby, a couple of free-wheeling ghosts, who meet up with respectable banker Cosmo Topper. This was noted by the New York Times, claiming: “Thorne Smith created the modern American ghost story, ghosts with style and wit; ghosts that haunt us still.” Others pointed out, “Smith was a master of urbane wit and sophisticated repartee.” The overall mood has a touch of silliness, but it provides lighthearted reading and listening, a matter of nonsensical escapism. For Topper it meant relief from a nagging wife with ongoing indigestion.

The story you’re about to hear is the second Charlie Chan novel, and it features a parrot named Tony who is witness to a crime. The unusual bird spoke Chinese and had a less-than-perfect use of English grammar but was killed by the criminals as a precaution. Chan himself was a friend of a family selling jewels and agreed to deliver them on his first trip to mainland California. While there he masquerades as a pidgin-speaking cook during his undercover investigation. His profound and original intelligence offers genial humor and witty dialogue. 

It wouldn’t be out of line to call this book a great world of pretend. It is actually eight short stories that are clever and magical, as well as frightening at times. The storyteller, Edith Nesbit, was born in 1858 in what is now Greater London. She had the imaginative foresight to concoct tales that often found her called the creator of modern children’s fantasy. Her imagination attracted children of her time and involved them in what seemed to be a real world filled with unexpected adventures. Her powers of invention brought us the magical stories we’re about to hear.