Showing results by narrator "John Telfer" in All Categories

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.

Steve Nicholls makes an epic journey along the River Tees in north-east England, from the industrial complexes near its estuary to its source high in the Pennine Hills. The Tees estuary was where Steve’s life-long passion for nature was born, launching a long career as a documentary maker. As he travels the length of the eighty-mile river, he uses his years of travelling the world and his work on nature films to place the fauna and flora he encounters along the Tees in a wider context.

London’s Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, Sir John Appleby, is invited on a break to the Scottish Highlands for a trout-fishing weekend but his detective skills are soon put to the test when he discovers the body of their host, and all the guests seem to have a motive for murder....

In 1774, Josiah Wedgwood, master craftsman possessed with a burning scientific vision, embarks upon the thousand-piece Frog Service for Catherine the Great. Josiah's nephew Tom journeys to America to buy clay from the Cherokee for this exquisite china. Tom is caught up in the American rebellion, and falls for a Cherokee woman who will come to play a crucial role in Josiah's late, great creation: the Portland Vase.

Harry Pershore knocks down a wall to create a secret garden, despite warnings from his friend who has spotted that the patch of land has been walled off for a reason and is actually an altar of sacrifice. Pershore ignores his friend’s advice and it’s not long before strange things start happening in the garden.

It's 1999, and aspiring poet Saul Judd is living quietly in Bath with his wife, Elise, and son, Thomas. But when he wins a competition he never intended to enter, he is drawn into a web of dark forces and mysterious events.

The year is Two House and the Mexica Empire teeters on the brink of destruction, lying vulnerable to the flesh-eating star-demons - and to the return of their creator, a malevolent goddess only held in check by the Protector God’s power. The council is convening to choose a new emperor, but when a councilman is found dead, only Acatl, High Priest of the Dead, can solve the mystery. When he hears rumours of a sinister cabal of sorcerors he must face up to demons, not all of them his own.

George Best is considered the greatest footballer of our time. No other imposed himself so completely on to the romantic imagination. No other was so emblematic of the era during which he flourished. And no other will ever be as memorable as George Best. On the field Best's skills were sublime and almost other-worldly. Off it, he had a magnetic appeal. He was treated like a pop icon and a pin-up; a fashion-model and a sex-symbol. Every man envied him and every woman adored him.

Composed in the 5th century BC, Sun Tzu's Art of War is the earliest-known treatise on military strategy, and is still hugely popular around the world for its perceptive tactical advice to commanders on how to win at war with minimal bloodshed. Aimed at all those who want to study the text in depth, this is the first step-by-step guide to the famous treatise, breaking down the 13 chapters of the original into 200 easily digested lessons, from 'do not press a desperate enemy' to 'control your troops through bond of loyalty' to "when you are weak, beware attack".

In this colourful history of the wild world of crime reporting since 1700, Duncan Campbell reveals what it's really like to deal with murderers, gangsters, victims, informers and detectives, looking at the 'hacks in the macs' who would go to any lengths to get a story - and serve it up to an ever-eager reading public. Crime is a prism through which we see society and its phobias.

The Postmaster looked over my shoulder. As I turned to look I saw a flicker of movement from across the street. I felt unseen eyes peer at me. He walked away without another word. I watched as he climbed onto his bicycle and sped away down the street. I turned back and looked over my shoulder. Someone had been watching us.

For three decades the Windrush was the maritime Zelig of the 20th century, playing different roles in the most turbulent years in modern times. Designed in 1930 in the Hamburg boatyard of a Jewish shipbuilder to ferry Germans to a new life in South America, it wasn't long before Goebbels requisitioned her as one of his ‘Strength Through Joy’ vessels. However, her duties soon darkened: she became a Nazi troop carrier, a support vessel for the pocket battleship Tirpitz and a prison ship transporting Jews to Auschwitz.

The final instalment of this fabulous bestselling series. The Tide Lords have gathered in Jelidia to find out the secret of how to kill an immortal... Cayal in particular. Before they can do this, however, they must find the Chaos Crystal that brought them into this world. They initially head to Glaeba, where Akady has been captured by Jaxyn.

A young woman named Samantha Andretti wakes up in a hospital bed. Samantha was abducted when she was 13. She was kept prisoner for 15 years. The man by her side, Dr Green, believes that Samantha's memories contain the clues that will lead to the capture of her abductor. But why does she keep referring to a labyrinth? Outside the hospital, private investigator Bruno Genko does not have long to live. Bruno was assigned to Samantha's case many years ago, and now it is his chance to make amends.

Origen (c. 185-c. 253) was the most influential Christian theologian before Augustine, the founder of Biblical study as a serious discipline in the Christian tradition, and a figure with immense influence on the development of Christian spirituality. This volume presents a comprehensive and accessible insight into Origen's life and writings, written and compiled by Joseph W. Trigg, a leading Origen authority. An introduction analyzes the principal influences that formed him as a Christian and as a thinker.

When a famous theatre actor is found dead in his changing room, it is initially labelled a suicide. But Inspector Alleyn believes there is more to it, and soon the cast of the production find themselves under suspicion.

Would you receive a ‘char and a wad’ with a grateful smile? If asked to take a ‘dekko’, would you be offended? And if spotted reading the ‘yellow press’, would you be embarrassed?The meaning of these and many other intriguing phrases are defined, and their loss lamented, in this wonderfully nostalgic look at how language has changed over the past few decades.

Billy Calder is already nervous about being on guard during the night shift at the castle. But then he learns about the castle ghosts... This is a terrifying ghost story that will chill your blood, from acclaimed author Joseph Delaney.

No other group of animals has had such a complex and lengthy relationship with humankind as birds. They have been kept in cages as pets, taught to speak and displayed as trophies. More practically, they have been used to tell the time, predict the weather, foretell marriages, provide unlikely cures for ailments, convey messages and warn of poisonous gases. When There Were Birds is a social history of Britain that charts the complex connections between people and birds, set against a background of changes in the landscape and evolving tastes, beliefs and behaviours.

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.