Showing results by narrator "Sophie Roberts" in All Categories

In 1903 England, Vita Carew searches for the truth after a boxer dies in a match against her brother and tries to prove herself to a disdainful professor at Cambridge.

Amateur baker and part-time sleuth Claire Walker is looking forward to a vacation with her boyfriend, Jonathan Ainsley. The happy couple boards the famed Scottish train, the Mallaig Steam Express—temporarily renamed “The Marzipan Express” in honor of chef Alan Gables, who is hosting an exclusive culinary experience for his most devoted fans.

Elizabeth's parents warned her that Alexander Blackwell would not make a dependable husband, and only after eloping with him did she learn they may have been right... After their marriage, the couple finds lodgings in London. Alexander looks for work while Elizabeth learns engraving. Before long, though, Alexander is in the Marshalsea, the notorious debtors' prison, and she is left to fend for herself. Alone and penniless, she has a few things going for her: a skill, an idea, and an acquaintance.

When a neighbour’s lodger is found dead, Vita Carew, a sharp-witted science student, is the first on the scene. The police pronounce it an accident, a fatal fall, but Vita remains unconvinced. Her access to the post-mortem reveals the truth: Albert Flett was murdered. As Vita investigates, she uncovers a trail of evidence that suggests Albert’s quiet, unassuming ways were hiding a complex and dangerous secret life. When a prominent, eccentric old lady is also found dead under suspicious circumstances, Vita finds herself entangled in a deadly game of cat and mouse with a ruthless killer.

Agatha Christie was not only the biggest selling writer of detective stories the world has ever known, she was also a mystery in herself, giving only the rarest interviews, declining absolutely to become any sort of public figure and a mystery too in the manner in which she achieved her astonishing success. HRF Keating, a crime novelist and respected reviewer of crime fiction, brought together a dozen distinguished writers from both sides of the Atlantic to throw light on this double mystery.

This Barbara Cartland take on a Cinderella story is perfect for anyone looking for a bit of romantic suspense. Raised by her aunt and uncle, Alida lives in the shame that her late father cast upon the family. Always seen as inferior, Alida never thought love was going to be in her future. But her life is turned upside down when she must join her cousin on a trip to Russia to meet the young Prince that her cousin shall marry.

Berlin, 1947: good Soviets Vera and Marya find themselves mired in the covert post-war conflicts that are shaping a new world order. When Marya, an interpreter liaising with the British, gets caught in secret agent Vera's web of deceit, she must make desperate choices to survive—and to protect those she loves. Nine years later, as the Soviets confront their Stalinist past, Vera revisits that pivotal moment, unravelling shocking truths about her sister and herself.

After travelling to the notoriously haunted Crowswood Castle to recover from illness, Cambridge student Vita Carew finds herself at the centre of a ghostly unsolved mystery. As renovations on the ancient castle near completion, old secrets emerge, and Vita must decipher the meaning of a hidden message in an old painting of the deceased previous mistress of the house. When workmen unearth human remains in the castle grounds, Vita finds herself piecing together the clues to a chilling decades-old mystery. 

Kaiser is a dog who grew up on the streets with his owner - although they were homeless, they had each other and with that came an unbreakable bond. However, when Kaiser's owner is diagnosed with terminal cancer, their future together is cut short and Kaiser is at risk of being left alone and in danger. However, this is when Michelle - founder of the charity Dogs On The Streets - met Kaiser and his owner. She immediately knows that she must help Kaiser and tirelessly campaigns on his and his owner's behalf.

Amateur baker Claire Walker is thrilled to be a contestant on Britain’s Battle of the Bakers. She can almost smell the fresh pastries wafting through the air. If she can win the grand prize, she can ditch her teaching job and launch her baking career. The Viscount of Colburn, Jonathan Ainsley, is the custodian of Blackfirth Park and an eligible bachelor. He reluctantly agrees to allow the cooking competition show to film on his estate, but when a contestant is found dead soon after filming begins, Jonathan is forced to get involved.

In a quiet coastal village, Irina spends her days restoring furniture, hiding away from the world. A family secret, long held and never discussed, casts a dark shadow and Irina chooses to withdraw into her work. When an antique bureau is sent to her workshop, the owner anonymous, Irina senses a history to the object that makes her uneasy. As Irina begins to investigate the origins of the piece, she unearths the terrible secret it holds within.

Can you remember the first time you encountered true darkness? The kind that remains as black and inky whether your eyes are open or closed? Where you can't see your hand in front of your face? Jacqueline Yallop can. It was in an unfamiliar bedroom while holidaying in Yorkshire as a child, and ever since then she has been fascinated by the dark, by our efforts to capture or avoid it, by the meanings we give to it and the way our brains process it.

Der Kriminalautor Vincent Vernier wird tot am Grund eines Brunnens gefunden, der zu einem verlassenen Gehöft gehört. Das Merkwürdige, Verniers letzter Roman handelt von einer Verbrecherbande, die sich nach einem brutalen Raubüberfall auf einem Gehöft verschanzt und ihre Beute in einem Brunnen versteckt. Dupin und Poe treten die Ermittlungen an, um die Wahrheit hinter dem Roman aufzudecken.

After running away from an arranged marriage, red-haired beauty Jabina finds herself being inadvertently rescued by Drue, the Duke of Warminster. When their carriage overturns on their journey, the pair are taken in by aristocratic friends of Jabina's father leading to the lie that Jabina and Drue are married.

Former Polish teenage piano prodigy Mosha Gebert is teaching when the Nazis come for her. They kill her student, but she is taken to Majdanek concentration camp. There, Commandant Josef Hanke spots her and recognises her as the pianist he fell in love with years earlier. Hanke demands that Mosha play ‘Ode to Joy’ for him, but she refuses. She will never play in such a horrific place – or for such an evil monster. So begins a battle of wills and repeated torture.

Seventeen-year-old noble Will Arrex and her classmate Paige Tarrant were destined to be bitter rivals. Where Will is ice cold and painfully poised—everything an Arrex should be—Tarrant is a firecracker, unafraid to speak her mind. Every twenty-five years, students aboard the Eden Space Station are chosen by lottery to pilot the Laikas—a fleet of ships sent on exploratory missions, humanity's last hope to find a habitable world. As the only daughter of a powerful politician, Will was not supposed to be one of them.

All the stories in Standing Her Ground have been chosen to celebrate the skill, the passion and achievements of women writers spanning one hundred years of innovation. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and...

After the tragic death of her parents in a carriage accident, orphaned Pandora was taken in by her uncle, the Bishop of Winchester. One day, she is horrified to overhear that he plans to marry her off to his Chaplin, the Honourable Prosper Witheridge. Certain she can't change her uncle's mind, Pandora decides to try and repulse Witheridge and drive him away. She invites herself to her stay with the decadent Earl of Chartwood. The Earl is notorious for his scandalous parties, with the kind of bohemian guests and raucous behaviour that would shock anyone from polite society.

Venice, 1717. Before Maddalena arrived at the Ospedale della Pietà, Venice's most illustrious music school, fifteen-year-old orphan Luisa has only wanted one thing: to be the best at violin. Luisa is good at violin, but she is not the best. She has peers, but she does not have friends. Until Maddalena. Sent to the Pietà until her noble family can find her a husband, Maddalena is cunning, passionate, and unlike anyone Luisa has ever met. Maddalena can promise the world to Luisa, and when she does, their fates intertwine.

One sultry evening in Kowloon, Dr Rowena Rossiter and Sister Alice Huntley are off-duty and in search of fun - little knowing that their world is on the brink of collapse. That night, Rowena will meet two men who will fight for her heart for the next four years. Connor O'Connor, the rebellious Irish soldier, who will woo and then lose her, and Kim Pheloung. Immensely rich and the most beautiful man Rowena has ever seen, he is also the most ruthless, with a sinister need to possess and control.