Showing results by narrator "Christine Mackie" in All Categories

Former stand-up comic Juno Mulligan has been suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. Not only has she lost the love of her life, but she’s having to relocate to the (admittedly idyllic) village of Inkbury to watch out for her elderly mother, who she’s genuinely worried might be marrying a wife-killer. She hopes that her old friend, disgraced-journalist-turned-novelist Phoebe Fredericks can help her crack the case of whether her mother’s perma-tanned, iceberg-smiled, three-times-a-widower fiancé is hiding a murderous past.

When crime novelist Phoebe opens the post and receives an invitation to her own funeral, she’s horrified. Not least because the date of her death is marked as tomorrow. Deciding it’s nothing more than a prank from an enemy from her past, she determines to put it to the back of her mind. But the next morning, when her completely infuriating postman (who likes to think himself her no.1 literary critic) rings her doorbell, a parcel of poisoned pen-nibs explodes in his face. Forced to confront the fact her correspondence is more RIP than RSVP, Phoebe realises someone must want her dead.

Juno is feeling ready – at last – to start dating again, after losing her husband some years ago. She is sure she can make time from being a Village Detective, indeed it might help distract her from her crush on hunky (but far-too-young!) pub landlord – Mil. So she’s signed up to an exclusive new dating app and cannot wait. But when one of the founding investors in that same dating app drops dead in front of fellow Village Detective Phoebe in a nearby hotel, Juno knows she’ll have to put her love life on hold.

London, 1934. Doreen Bates is working in the same office as E, an older married man. They strike up a passionate affair and Doreen records it all in her diary - secret midnight walks, countryside escapades and stolen moments of intimacy. But Doreen longs for a child with E. Despite all the taboos at the time and against the wishes of E, Doreen gets pregnant and is amazed when twins are born during the war. However, Doreen faces an uncertain future - will E ever leave his wife and join his new family?

Bear witness to the quiet courage of the women who endured one of English history’s darkest chapters. Step into the shadowy world of seventeenth-century England with Widdershins, a haunting historical novel that lays bare the terror of the 1650 Newcastle witch trials. Jane Chandler is a natural healer whose knowledge of herbal remedies leaves her vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft in a society consumed by superstition. In pursuit of her is John Sharpe, a witchfinder whose relentless crusade against witches is forged by religious zealotry.

When Jane’s lover, Tom, returns from the navy to find her unhappily married to his betrayer, Jane is caught in an impossible situation. Still reeling from the loss of her mother at the hands of the witchfinder, Jane has no choice but to continue her dangerous work as a healer while keeping her young daughter safe. But as Tom searches for a way for him and Jane to be together, the witchfinder is still at large. Filled with vengeance, the witchfinder will stop at nothing in his quest to rid England of the scourge of witchcraft.

The year is 1792 and it's winter in Berkeley Square. As the city sleeps, the night-watchman keeps a cautious eye over the streets and another eye in the back doors of the great and the good. Then one fateful night he comes across the body of Pierre Renard, the eponymous silversmith, lying dead, his throat cut and his valuables missing.

England, 1673. Still a world of witches, witch trials and witchfinders. When a new vicar arrives to take over the parish of Mutton Clog, the village finds itself in the grip of puritan fever, and suspicious eyes are turned on Rose Driver. Rose’s mother, brother and grandmother were all put to death by the fanatical witchfinder, John Sharpe. Almost quarter of a century after the Newcastle witch trials, Sharpe is no longer a threat. Rose should be safe in her quiet village, but is history about to repeat itself?

Broadstairs, Kent, 1851. Once a sleepy fishing village, now a select sea-bathing resort, this is a place where people come to take the air and where they come to hide.... Delphine and her cousin, Julia, have come to the seaside with a secret, one they have been running from for years. The clean air and quiet outlook of Broadstairs appeal to them, and they think this is a place they can hide from the darkness for just a little longer.

Mandy Rose finds herself in the most horrendous position. A middle-class housewife, with three children, a husband, and a beautiful house, she finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. What happens to Mandy not only changes her life it changes her personality. Mandy does things she would never have thought about before that fateful night. This story will change how you see things. It is easy for us all to judge a person, but if that person needs to survive, then judgment can be harsh. This book will take you to the very last minute to judge your thoughts.

When Tessa’s best friend organises a surprise TV makeover, Tessa is horrified. It’s the last thing she needs – her business is on the brink of collapse, her marriage is under strain and her daughter is more interested in beauty pageants than student politics. What’s more, the ‘Greenham Common angle’ the TV producers have devised reopens some personal history Tessa has tried to hide away. Then Tessa’s least favourite member of the Greenham gang makes contact ...