Showing results by narrator "Simon Prebble" in All Categories

Imagine a world where Beatlemania was against the law - recordings scratched onto medical X-rays, merchant sailors bringing home contraband LPs, spotty broadcasts taped from western AM radio late in the night. This was no fantasy world populated by Blue Meanies, but by the USSR, where a vast nation of music fans risked repression to hear the defining band of the British Invasion. The music of John, Paul, George, and Ringo played a part in waking up an entire generation of Soviet youth, opening their eyes to seventy years of bland official culture and rigid authoritarianism.

By 1939, Anglo-American journalist John Russell has spent 15 years in Berlin, where his German-born son lives. He writes human-interest pieces for British and American papers, avoiding the investigative journalism that could get him deported. But as war approaches, he faces the prospect of having to leave his son and his longtime girlfriend.

Mr Phillips wakes on the morning of July 31st in his modest, nearly mortgage-free home, in the bed he has contentedly shared with his wife of 30 years - though to be honest, at night he lies beside her and dreams of other women. He's ready to face another ordinary day. Except that for Mr Phillips, it is not an ordinary day, for on July 28th, he was summarily sacked. Nonetheless, he rises at his usual hour and prepares himself as he has done his entire working life for the office he no longer has.

The year is 548, and Empress Theodora is dead of disease. Such is the belief of everyone in Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire - everyone except Emperor Justinian, who orders John, his Lord Chamberlain, to find her murderer or suffer the consequences. There is no sign of foul play, but many of the aristocrats at the imperial court had good reason to want Theodora dead.

Dirty Laundry in Paradise. For a moment, my estimation of the good Mr. Brae had increased somewhat, as I gathered he didn’t want one of his servants taking the blame for a deed the poor soul hadn’t perpetrated. I glanced at Holmes to determine his take on the situation, but I wasn’t surprised that he had taken little notice of Mr. Brae. “Would you pass the milk, Watson?” Ignoring the man completely as one could ignore a bumbling buffoon, as Holmes had dubbed him after our previous encounter. Dutifully, I passed him the cream which he slowly poured into his tea.

He vowed he'd never marry. To Vane Cynster, Bellamy Hall seems like the perfect place to temporarily hide from London's husband hunters. But when he encounters irresistible Patience Debbington, Vane realises he's met his match. Patience vowed no man would catch her, and she isn't about to succumb to Vane's propositions. Yes, his caresses made her melt; but Patience has promised herself she'll never become vulnerable to a broken heart. Is this one vow that was meant to be broken?

Three compelling Sherlock Holmes mysteries in one book, including "The Game of Cat and Mouse": "The interior was dark, and neither of us searched for a lamp or switch. There came a ticking of some clock or another. And the sound of a dripping faucet somewhere in the house was like a hammer to an anvil. Our breaths were loud, but my heart sounded louder to me...."

Summer, 1939. British journalist John Russell has just been granted American citizenship in exchange for agreeing to work for American intelligence when his girlfriend, Effi, is arrested by the Gestapo. Russell hoped his new nationality would let him safely stay in Berlin with Effi and his son, but now he's being blackmailed.

With his first historical high-seas adventure chronicling the exploits of Naval Commander Charles Edgemont, Jay Worrall sets sail in the rousing tradition of C.S. Forester and Patrick O’Brian.

In the fall of 1941, Anglo-American journalist John Russell is still living in Berlin, tied to the increasingly alien city by his love for two Berliners: his 14-year-old son, Paul, and his longtime girlfriend, Effi. Forced to work for both German and American intelligence, he's searching for a way out of Germany. Can he escape and take Effi with him?

Lucien (Lucy) Minor is the resident odd duck in the bucolic hamlet of Bury. Friendless and loveless, he is a compulsive liar and a weakling. When Lucy accepts employment assisting the majordomo of the remote, foreboding castle of the Baron Von Aux , he meets thieves, madmen, aristocrats, and a puppy. Thus begins a tale of polite theft, bitter heartbreak, domestic mystery and cold-blooded murder....

"The case of the missing Mayan Codices". "I do not suppose that you have brought your revolver with you Watson?" I shook my head to indicate that my response was in the negative to his question. He turned his head forward again and led us through the kitchen, past several side pantries. As we cautiously inched forward, Holmes observed that the blood trail consisted of droplets of varying size. "Whomever it came from, they must have been applying intermittent pressure on the wound as they walked."

It is 1857, and Reverend Geoffrey Wilson has departed England to prove the literal truth of the Bible. The expedition heads towards Tasmania, where he is convinced he will find the real Garden of Eden. But the other passengers have their own agendas. Dr Potter is developing a sinister thesis, and the ship is crewed by smugglers of contraband brandy and tobacco. As the English passengers near Peevay's land, their bizarre notions become painfully at odds with reality.

Only five still guard the borders between the worlds. Only five hold back what waits on the other side. Once the Oversight, the secret society that polices the lines between the mundane and the magic, counted hundreds of brave souls among its members. Now their number can be tallied on a single hand. When a drunkard brings a screaming girl to the Oversight's London headquarters, it seems their hopes for a new recruit will be fulfilled - but the girl is a trap, her appearance a puzzle the five remaining guardians must solve or lose each other, and their society, for good.

Captain Rafe Carstairs is the final hope for thwarting the evil traitor known only as the Black Cobra. Bold and determined, Rafe is a roguish charmer possessing inner steel. He races to complete his assignment against impossible odds - the mission made suddenly more perilous by the proud English rose, Loretta Michelmarch, he must now protect from villainous hordes.

It’s the day before Mike Frame’s 50th birthday, and his quiet, provincial life is suddenly falling apart. But perhaps it doesn’t matter because it’s not his life in the first place. He has a past that his partner, Miranda, and stepdaughter, Sam, know nothing about. Now Mike is seeing ghosts - a dead ex-lover, and an old friend who wants to reminisce. Mike can no longer ignore the contradiction between who he is and who he once was.

E.E. King delivers a collection of short stories that are original, funny, and always thought provoking. From a hilarious tale of an animal activist who can't get anything right to a man tasked with writing a guidebook for heaven. These tales will delight you.

English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory.

Logan Monteith's mission got off to a shaky start. Wounded in battle, he jumped from his ship rather than risk losing the evidence that would bring down a traitor. As he recuperates in a tiny village, he finds his respect for the villagers grows - as does his fascination with his rescuer, Linnet Trevission. Unwilling to risk putting the village in greater danger by remaining, but unable to travel on his own, Logan reluctantly accepts Linnet's offer of help.

Gareth Hamilton is stunned when he recognises Emily Ensworth on his ship. The veil she wears is not enough to disguise her from him - or from the man hired to kill her. Whisking Emily to safety, Gareth realises that the Black Cobra is on to them. In order to protect her, Gareth must reveal to Emily the dangerous plot in which she is now intimately involved. Emily Ensworth is no wilting flower. She knew the packet the dying soldier thrust upon her held vital information, and she has every intention of seeing it into safe hands.