Showing results by narrator "Julia Barrie" in All Categories

Shirley Steadman, a 70-year-old living in a small town in the North East of England, loves her volunteer work at the local hospital radio. She likes giving back to the community, and even more so, she likes getting out of the house. Haunted by the presence of her son, a reluctant Royal Navy officer who was lost at sea, and still in the shadow of her long-dead abusive husband, she doesn't like being alone much. One day, at the radio station, she is playing around with the equipment and finds a frequency that was never there before.

Annie can’t believe Dominic Carlyle’s claim. How can he be her husband? Why would she have walked out on him and forgotten all about their marriage? To jog Annie’s memory, Dominic insists they move in together: Annie is strangely compelled to say yes - haunted by the memory of a dream in which a man makes love to her - a man who looks just like Dominic.

Take one woman, add a boss who’s told the world they’re having an affair, and then concoct one very special dish in order to save the heroine’s catering career! Heaven Matthews is trying to pick up the pieces after becoming entangled in her old boss’s scheme to divorce his wife. Making mail order puddings to help stay afloat, she is offered the chance to cater for a special Christmas meal. A Christmas meal for her ex-boss. One that Heaven intends to make very special indeed!

There are many reasons to bake: To feed; to create; to impress; to nourish; to define ourselves; and, sometimes, it has to be said, to perfect. But often we bake to fill a hunger that would be better filled by a simple gesture from a dear one. We bake to love and be loved. In 1966, Kathleen Eaden, cookery writer and wife of a supermarket magnate, published The Art of Baking, her guide to nurturing a family by creating the most exquisite pastries, biscuits and cakes.

In the peaceful Wiltshire valley of Essington St Mary, architect Corin Drayton stumbles upon a ghastly new building development that is set to destroy the tranquil atmosphere and Edwardian features of this quiet neighbourhood. He is horrified. For only recently has he inherited - and spent his life savings on renovating - a home for himself and his newly pregnant wife Lucia in Larch Tree Lane. From the cottages and farms to the local shop, pub and old manor house, residents' lives are set to intertwine, relationships bloom, and both romance and heartache lie ahead.

Throughout her distinguished career, Ann Granger has penned an array of hugely entertaining and gripping short stories. To mark her thirtieth anniversary as a crime writer, eighteen of these compelling mysteries have been brought together to delight and enthrall crime fans everywhere.

When Matilda's father retires through ill health, the family's new life in Much Winterlow is forced into reduced circumstances. To make ends meet, Matilda applies to be Dr. Henry Lovell's receptionist. She does her best to ignore the strong attraction she feels for him - dreaming of white weddings and a happy marriage is not for her, and, after all, Henry is engaged to Lucilla.

When her plane is delayed overnight, Gaby Struthers finds herself forced to share a hotel room with a stranger: a terrified young woman named Lauren Cookson - but why is she scared of Gaby in particular? Lauren won't explain. Instead, she blurts out something about an innocent man going to prison for a murder he didn't commit, and Gaby soon suspects that Lauren's presence on her flight can't be a coincidence. Because the murder victim is Francine Breary, the wife of the only man Gaby has ever truly loved.

Justine thought she knew who she was, until an anonymous caller seemed to know better...After escaping London and a career that nearly destroyed her, Justine plans to spend her days doing as little as possible in her beautiful home in Devon.But soon after the move, her daughter Ellen starts to withdraw when her new best friend, George, is unfairly expelled from school.

MI5 Intelligence Officer Liz Carlyle has received alarming intelligence from a source in Syria. A Middle East peace conference is planned to take place at Gleneagles in Scotland, and the Syrians have learned that two individuals are mounting an operation to disrupt the conference in a spectacular way, laying the blame at Syria's door. As the conference deadline draws ever closer, Liz discovers that the threat is far greater than she or anyone else could have imagined. But so many questions are still to be answered.

The next stunning novel from Richard and Judy pick Amanda Brooke. When Jo pretends to be asleep as her husband leaves for work the morning after an argument, she doesn't realise how deeply she will come to regret the opportunity to say good-bye. By nightfall her life has changed irrevocably. David has disappeared, and there doesn't seem to be any trace of him. But Jo is five months pregnant, and her marriage is full of secrets - not least, David's unwillingness to start a family..

Maisie doesn't understand why her mother can’t love her, but she knows that her life is hard and deeply unhappy. When her stepfather George, the only person she trusts, leaves, Maisie has no protector until she begins to escape. She could never be quite sure when she first met up with Hamilton; most likely it was when she started talking to herself. But she didn’t call him that then; that came much later when she was 14 and Doctor Kane had to pay her a professional visit....

When former high-powered lawyer turned PI Selma Falck is shot and her oldest friend, a junior MP, is killed in a sniper attack, everyone - including the police - assume that Selma was the prime target. But when two other people with connections to the MP are also found murdered, it becomes clear that there is a wider conspiracy at play. As Selma sets out to avenge her friend's death and discover the truth behind the conspiracy, her own life is threatened once again. Only this time, the danger may be closer to home than she could possibly have realised.

It is the summer of 1871 when Scotland Yard's Inspector Ben Ross pays a visit to Jacob Jacobus, the old rogue of Limehouse: infamous antiquarian, friend to villains and informer to the police. Ben hopes to glean information about any burglaries that might take place now that the wealthiest echelons of society are back in London for the Season. Little does he realise that an audacious theft has already occurred - a priceless family heirloom, the Roxby emerald necklace, has been stolen from a dressing table in the Roxby residence, and the widowed Mrs Roxby is demanding its immediate return.

Queen of psychological crime Sophie Hannah returns with a chilling new Culver Valley crime novel. A killer that the police are calling "Billy Dead Mates" is murdering pairs of best friends one by one. Before they die, each victim is given a small white book.... For months detectives have failed to catch Billy or work out what the white books mean. And then a woman, scared by what she's seen on the news, comes forward. Stand-up comedian Kim Tribbeck has one of Billy's peculiar little books.

Teri has dated more men than she's had low-calorie, low-fat dinners, and she still hasn't found Mr Right. She's found other men, though: Mr Lazy, Mr Greedy, Mr Completely Selfish, Mr Looking-for-Mother-Substitute and Mr Pervert. But no Mr Right. That is until she's literally knocked off her feet by Jamie Duncan as they rush to catch the same train from Euston station: the 18.07 from platform eight. It's not long before love blossoms and commuting takes on a whole new meaning.

When Megan meets Ben Saunders, she's very attracted and he seems the same, but she didn't expect him to propose immediately. It'd be like marrying a stranger. Only, how can she refuse when they get on so well and he goes to Australia in a week? Can they make this sudden marriage work?

Budding landscape architect Luisa MacGregor is stuck in a rut - she hates her boss, she lives with her sister, and she is still morning the loss of her fiancé many years ago. So when she is given the opportunity to take on a parcel of land in a deprived area, she sees the chance to build a garden that can make the area bloom. Arriving in the rundown seaside town of Collaton on the north-west coast of Cumbria, she realises that her work is going to be cut out for her.

Annie has a secret. It's a heartbreaking secret she wishes she didn't have - yet Annie isn't broken. Kate has run away. It’s proving difficult to reinvent herself, however, with one person always on her mind. Nobody is really who they seem. Even Annie and Kate aren't entirely sure who they are anymore. Can they work it out before their pasts catch up with them for good?

Fliss Benson is a TV producer struggling to deal with a personal tragedy in her own life. She receives at work an anonymous card which consists of 16 numbers arranged in four rows of four. These numbers mean absolutely nothing to her. At the same time, she is handed a particularly unwelcome assignment: she has to work on a documentary about cot death and three mothers accused (wrongly, it seems) of murder: Helen Yardley, Sarah Jaggard and Rachel Hines.