Showing results by narrator "Gordon Griffin" in All Categories

A tip-off leading to the discovery of a young woman's body throws Harry Vicary and his team into another perplexing murder investigation. Big Andy Cragg's drunken disclosure to an undercover police officer in a West London pub that he was once party to the disposal of the body of a murder victim sets a sinister and disturbing chain of events in motion for Harry Vicary and his team.

Inspector Alvarez is just considering whether he can surreptitiously leave work early when a colleague calls to tell him that an Englishman has been found dead in his car in his garage, the engine on and the tank empty. Alvarez, chafing over the prospect of an evening on the job, proceeds to the scene, but his hopes of a quick and easy case are dashed – for while the man was found in a car full of fumes, it appears the cause of death was not carbon-monoxide poisoning….

Suddenly, there was a high voice screaming in the darkness: "Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!" It was Long John Silver’s parrot, Captain Flint! I turned to run . . .’But young Jim Hawkins does not escape from the pirates this time. Will he and his friends find the treasure before the pirates do? Will they escape from the island, and sail back to England with a ship full of gold?

The Mallorcan police receive an anonymous call to say that a body has been found at the foot of a steep wall of rock. Hoping it is an accident, Alvarez makes cursory enquiries only to find that the medical evidence reveals this could be a murder. Alvarez uncovers several possible motives seeming to draw in just about every English person on the Island – but he refuses to countenance that Mary, the dead man’s niece, to whom he becoming uncomfortably close, could be guilty.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. When the Russian Royal Family Jewels are put on display at Orbin’s department store in the fortnight leading up to Christmas, Mr Rossiter Payne can’t resist a present to himself. An inconspicuous London bookseller by day, an experienced jewel thief by night - can he pull off this latest festive heist?

When Hugh Latimer is shot in the head during combat, he is not expected to survive. But he returns home a hero and is awarded the VC. As time moves on, though, it becomes clear that whilst he may have recovered physically, he has been dramatically changed psychologically by the war....

An Englishwoman living in France falls through a balcony railing. Or was she pushed? An Englishman whose rented car showed a Spanish registration visited her in France on the day she died. Days later, an Englishman living in Spain dies from a heroin overdose - although he wasn’t an addict.

Spring, 1947. Having survived the horrors of the camps, Felix Breit, one of pre-war Europe’s foremost sculptors, arrives in London, hoping to rebuild his life and career. The opportunity arises when two English architects invite him to join a community they are hoping to create at the Dower House, a Georgian country house. He is under the spell of Angela Wirth, a fellow concentration camp survivor. Will they ever dare admit their love?

When the body of retired Bolivian diplomat Guido Zavala is found floating in his pool, Inspector Alvarez finds that the evidence might point to foul play. As he slowly uncovers Zavala's past, he learns there are those who have good cause to have disliked him: Jerome Robertson, whose wife has been having an affair with him; Santiago Pons, whose heavy gambling losses have placed him at the other's mercy; Bailey, who suffered in the past because of him.

A ghost is haunting the little Hertfordshire village of Cheriton.... In this fun short story, we meet quirky Detective Quentin Drex and his novel robot assistant as he investigates whether the legend of the Silver Bride is behind recent deaths at Cheriton Hall.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic Deep Waters. When a man is found dead on his yacht on the Thimble River, an inlet off the Solent, series detective David Wintringham must draw on his nautical knowledge to track down the killer....

A story from Night in the Front Line, a collection of Second World War short stories. 'According to the Directive' opens in a displaced persons camp at the end of the war. Journalist Lisa Wilson is writing a feature and is met with mixed emotions as the camp prepares to disband.

With a penchant for wine and women, Tyler is not the kind of man to let the law stand in his way. Rich, arrogant and spoiled, when his love of wine and cognac leads to the death of a young couple walking along a country lane, he'll do anything to avoid the consequences - including driving his car to his property in Mallorca so the English police can't examine it.

Charlotte Honeyman jilts her long-time swain, and on the spur of the moment marries a stranger. His pride damaged and his matrimonial plans upturned, sea captain Nick Thornton threatens to take revenge. Charlotte’s younger sister, Marianne, takes pity on Nick and secretly boards his ship, where she meets with an accident. Nick regards Marianne as the perfect tool with which to get his own back, but in the process falls in love....

A body neatly wrapped in brown paper is found by the gardener, Mr Turtle, on his garden rubbish heap. The police are again summoned to the convent, and we meet again the now Deputy Commissioner Pearson, along with many of the characters so charmingly and empathetically described in the first audiobook.

What are the arguments for and against religion and religious belief--all of them--right across the range of reasons and motives that people have for being religious, and do they stand up to scrutiny? Equally important: what is the alternative to religion as a view of the world and a foundation for morality? In The God Argument, Anthony Grayling offers a definitive examination of these questions, and an in-depth exploration of the humanist outlook that recommends itself as the ethics of the genuinely reflective person.

Thought-provoking short essays by Britain's leading public philosopher that show us how to discover our own answers to life's challenges Rather than presenting a set of categorical answers Grayling offers instead suggestions for how to think about every aspect of a question, and arrive at one's own conclusions. As a result Thinking of Answers is both an enjoyable and inspirational collection.

The Challenge of Things joins earlier collections such as The Reason of Things and Thinking of Answers, collecting Grayling's recent writings on the world in a time of war and conflict. In describing and exposing the dark side of things, he also explores ways out of the habits and prejudices of mind that would otherwise trap us forever in the deadly impasses of conflicts of all kinds. Whatever he is writing about, his essays are always enlightening, enlivening, and hopeful.

The Age of Genius explores the eventful intertwining of outward event and inner intellectual life to tell, in all its richness and depth, the story of the 17th century in Europe. It was a time of creativity unparalleled in history before or since, from science to the arts, from philosophy to politics.

Carnegie Medal winning author Tanya Landman delivers a refreshing and truly accessible retelling of Charles Dickens’ beloved classic Christmas story. It’s Christmas Eve and everyone is in the holiday spirit … all except miserly old Ebenezer Scrooge, who despises the holiday season. But...