Showing results by narrator "Judith Boyd" in All Categories

Agatha Christie's personal memoirs about her travels to Syria and Iraq in the 1930s with her archaeologist husband, Max Mallowan, where she worked on the digs and wrote some of her most evocative novels. Think you know Agatha Christie? Think again! To the world she was Agatha Christie, legendary author of best-selling whodunits. But in the 1930s she wore a different hat, travelling with her husband, renowned archaeologist Max Mallowan, as he investigated the buried ruins and ancient wonders of Syria and Iraq.

Merham is a well-ordered 50s seaside town - the kind of town where everyone knows their place (and those who don't are promptly put in it). Lottie Swift is an evacuee who has grown up with the respectable Holden family and loves Merham. The Holden's daughter Celia, however, chafes against the constraints on the town and longs to escape....

The only place Suzanna Peacock finds comfort is her shop, which provides a haven for the misfits in town. But she is forced to confront events of the past and her family that have been haunting her for so long. And she discovers that the key to her happiness may have been in front of her all along....

On Coronation night the ex-pat community in Hong Kong gathers for a celebration party, and 21-year-old Joy falls in love at first sight. She is engaged within 24 hours, but will not see her fiancé again for a year. Fifteen years later, when Sabine, her mother and grandmother are brought together, not only a deeply buried family secret is discovered, but also some fundamental truths: about the conflict between love and duty, about women's choices, and about mothers and daughters.

Vicky is nine months pregnant and in prison. As the days slip by, she wrestles with the terrible knowledge that her baby will be taken away. Meanwhile her lawyer and his wife have moved to the country with their two children. Their arrival in the village sends ripples through a community that is to reevaluate the nature of family life, love, separation and death....

When Meredith Mitchell bumps into her old school friend Rachel Hunter at the Chelsea Flower Show, she is shocked to discover that she was the first wife of her companion, Chief Inspector Alan Markby. But the meeting is not the only surprise; before the afternoon is out, Markby has a death on his hands.

The two elderly sisters of the Oakley family live in poverty in an ancient mansion and have decided to sell up to live comfortably from the profits. However, things become more complicated when a young Polish man appears claiming rights to half the fortune. When he dies in circumstances familiar to the Oakley family, the sisters are haunted by the shadow of crime, and Superintendent Markby must look back at the events of a century ago to find the killer.

When Meredith Mitchell agreed to stay with her actress cousin, Eve, in the run up to Eve's daughter's wedding, she anticipated a degree of drama. But she can hardly have expected it to include murder, blackmail, and unrequited love. Or to involve a certain Chief Inspector Markby, a middle aged divorcee.

Where Old Bones Lie is set on an isolated archaeological dig in the Cotswolds. When a body is found near the site, the suspects, witnesses, and clues all conflict, and the disappearance of a group of New Age travellers just seems to add to the mystery. Superintendent Markby and Meredith Mitchell must untangle the mess, and in doing so find themselves in a dangerous and uncompromising situation.

A Campbell and Cater mystery. Crime in the Cotswolds just got deadly. When Lucas Burton arrives at a deserted farm, hoping to conduct a business deal, he stumbles across the body of a girl. And that's just the start of his problems. Penny Gower, from the local stables, spots his car leaving the crime scene, and when her friend Andrew Ferris calls the police it's only a matter of time before Lucas gets a visit from someone he'd rather not see...

London, 1921. Julia Longfield lives on the fringes of the East End, in prosperous Victoria Park. With her brother and two younger sisters, she has known a happy childhood, and looks forward to the announcement of her engagement to Chester Morrison, son of a business acquaintance of her father. Any doubts Julia may have are overruled by her family's assurances that this will be an excellent match. But their fortunes are altered forever when Mr Longfield dies, leaving them in poverty.

In the cold light of dawn, a dead body is found in the smouldering remains of a burnt-out Cotswold manor. Key House has stood empty for years, but its owner, Gervase Crown, was seen nearby just before the blaze. Is he responsible, or was he the intended target? As Campbell and Carter begin their investigation it becomes clear that Gervase wasn't particularly popular and his return reawakens old memories, not all of them good.

Meredith and Markby are almost ready to leave on a long planned canal barge trip, but Meredith is having reservations. Then the 12-year-old corpse of a missing teenage girl is dug up in the local graveyard. The vacation is off (to Meredith's relief), but the investigation is on.

When Frankie sees the unforgettable face of her long-lost love in a passing train, she turns straight round and goes after him. For she, more than anyone, "knows" he is dead. She was there when it happened, attended the inquest, and later served a prison sentence for his manslaughter. Frankie, Cristina, Cassandra, Jenny, Pippa.... They are five women living quite separate lives - in Antwerp, Paris, Venice, Rio, Bath - except for one crucial fact. Each has devoted her life to the same duplicitous man.

When Meredith Mitchell's old friend, Toby Smythe, turns up on leave, she is delighted to see him. But Toby has a problem - or rather his relative, Alison Jenner, has - and he wants to enlist the help of Meredith's fiancé, Detective Superintendent Alan Markby.

Dedicated to her profession, DI Joanna Piercy has built her imposing reputation on thorough investigative police work. However, the job that once excited and intrigued her has now fallen into a familiar pattern of form filling and snide office banter. She resorts to formulaic solutions to resolve her cases, having seen the same situations time and again. But when a strangled body is discovered recklessly dumped on the Leek moorlands, she is forced to revaluate her stance.

On a snowy December morning, a young woman is found outside Patches nightclub in Leek. Half dead from the cold, she says she has been raped. As Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy - fresh from a disciplinary action - investigates, she learns that Kayleigh Harrison has made unsubstantiated allegations before against her stepfather. But there are possible links to a similar rape case six months previously. Is there a real case to investigate or not? Kayleigh holds the key, but how much of her story can be trusted?

For recently engaged DI Joanna Piercy, a murder is the last thing she wants to deal with. Especially one with as dark a back story as that relating to calculating landowner and farmer Jakob Grimshaw; a man who managed to make enemies of all his neighbours and what little family he still had. One thing is certain; Joanna has a tough job ahead of her.

It doesn't take Meredith Mitchell long to regret giving up her lovely Cotswold cottage in favour of living in London. In addition, the fact that her job gives a whole new meaning to the word "tedious" does little to improve her mood. What she needs is a holiday. So, when Alan Markby's sister wants a house-sitter, Meredith jumps at the chance. Alan himself is overloaded with work following the discovery of two bodies, one of which, at least, is a murder victim.

When a hotelier announces that he will be converting Springwood Hall into a smart country hotel, his plan is greeted with a chorus of local disapproval, led by the fearsome Hope Mapple, head of the Society for the Preservation of Historical Bamford. So the grand opening, to which all are invited, promises to be a lively affair, particularly since Hope is planning a disruptive protest "streak". However, Hope is to be unwittingly upstaged by the discovery of a recently murdered body on the premises.