Showing results by narrator "Julia Barrie" in All Categories

From the twice CWA Dagger shortlisted author of The Twelve Strange Days of Christmas come 12 never-before-published stories to transport you to the macabre world of inexplicable phenomena. With returning characters from the Essex Witch Museum series and a weirdly wonderful tale for each day of Christmas, these spooky stories are the perfect companion for long, dark winter nights.

As a child, Kerry Darke witnessed the abduction of her sister, Sally, the final victim of the murderous Fell Man, a terrifying serial killer. Sally has never been found and the Fell Man never identified. Decades later, Kerry is a detective inspector in London. When a 10-year-old girl is murdered in a drive-by shooting, a ghost of Kerry’s past returns to trouble her. Tortured by the vengeful spirit of Swain, a notorious gang leader, Kerry struggles to maintain a grasp on the case and her sanity, but she is more determined than ever to lay all her ghosts to rest.

A heart-wrenching family saga for fans of Dilly Court and Val Wood. Kath walked for so long that she wanted to lie down in the snow and sleep, but she thought of her sister and knew she must go on. Soon the snow was so deep that she couldn't move. She could feel her shoes disintegrating, and her feet were numb. The sky cleared, and a great big moon came out, and there were so many stars. She remembered what her mother had said before she died, that each star was one of her people.

1945. War has ended, but for sisters Isobel and Flora, the struggles still continue. They've lost their father, had their home destroyed in a bombing raid and now they must go to live with their aunt and her awful husband, Mr Godfrey, in their ancestral home of Splint Hall. From the moment of their arrival, it seems that this is a place shrouded in mysteries and secrets. Who are the strange men who arrive with packages at night? What is the source of the strange blue sparks coming from the ground? And why do the locals seem to hate their family so much?

Videogame-obsessed Flo and her best friend Max get more than they bargained for when they find themselves inside their favourite games! Crammed in a plane flying over the dramatic landscape of Last to Leave, Flo and Max get a shock as they are suddenly parachuted out. The game has begun! As they navigate challenging terrain and highly skilled players, they come face to face with an old enemy. With time running out, the friends have to decide who they can trust if they're going to make it to the end. Can they complete the game and get back home?

Flo and Max are stuck in the hugely popular Critter Clash, where teams of creatures battle to become champions in epic arenas. The two need their own players that they can coach to victory, but the game is about to start - and their options are limited. Will they be able to find a team powerful enough to defeat an impressive range of opponents and send the friends back to the real world?

Videogame-obsessed Flo and her best friend, Max, get more than they bargained for when they find themselves inside their favourite games! Having successfully battled spaceships, Max and Flo are excited to return home. But when they wake up, they're in Max's favourite game, Blocktopia. The friends are accepted into a city, where they are protected from the dangerous monsters that attack daily.

When Flo's engineer mum creates a device that will make her image appear in her video games, Flo can't wait to use it! Ignoring her mum's warnings that it's not ready, Flo accidentally transports herself into the game, along with her not-so-keen-on-video games-and-wishing-he'd-stayed-home best friend Max. Immersed in the world of Star Smasher, they not only have to face armies of soldiers, but also the very real possibility that there may not be a way out....

In a world where magic is so powerful it has been outlawed, Cass is a rare creature - an obtuse, someone who is unaffected by magic. But what has always felt like a handicap becomes a strength when sorcerers and magicians begin to perform magical deceptions with malicious intent. The Queen of Minaris is in grave danger, and it's up to Cass to protect her.

Secretly Rosie Strange has always thought herself a little bit more interesting than most people - the legacy her family has bequeathed her is definitely so, she's long believed. But then life takes a peculiar turn when the Strange legacy turns out not just to be the Essex Witch Museum, but perhaps some otherworldly gifts that Rosie finds difficult to fathom.

When 12-year-old Rhianna and her younger sister, Eleri, are thrown out of their home by their cruel stepmother, they must find food and shelter. Appealing to King Prasutagus in the name of the goddess Morrigan, they are rejected - but then Queen Boudica takes them into her household. As Rhianna settles into this new life, she learns that there's not only kindness in Boudica - there's a darkness waiting to be unleashed, and the Romans will suffer for their crimes against her. A great battle is looming....

Married couple Jack and Ali Gardiner move to a self-sufficient spiritual commune in the English Fens, desperate for fresh start. The local village is known for the witches who once resided there, and Rosalind House, where the commune has been established, is a former psychiatric home, with a disturbing history. When Jack and Ali arrive, a chain of unexpected and unexplained events is set off, and it becomes clear that they are not all that they seem. As the residents become twitchy, and the villagers suspicious, events from the past come back to haunt them, and someone is seeking retribution....

The La Fleur restaurant has a slew of unusual phenomena. Bonnet-clad apparitions pass through walls, blood leaks from ceilings and rats besiege the dining room. Experts from the Great Essex Witch Museum are called in to quell these strange sights. But before Rosie Strange and Sam Stone can do their thing, events turn darker. For La Fleur's chef has been strung up and slaughtered like a pig. More oddly, the only witness, the owner's daughter Mary, swears blind a ghost did it.

It's chaos once more on the bridge of the Toxic Spew. But this time, the ship's problems are of a most human nature - they've run out of food! Mutiny, cannibalism and plain old theft are suggested as potential problem-solvers, but Captain Harvey politely requests that the crew think of something else. When the team arrive at the Interstellar Service Station, it's spookily deserted, and it's not long before Harvey suspects there's something fishy going on....

With a little one on the way, Jack Wood and Alice Rooney are forced into a volatile marriage. Damaged by her own dysfunctional childhood, Alice shows little affection towards little Lizzie. Lizzie's saving grace is her loving grandmother, Mrs. Wood, who introduces her to the Madame Bella's Academy for the theatrical arts. Though still very young and innocent, will Lizzie’s dream of a glittering theatrical future ever come true?

Karin Müller, sidelined from the murder squad in Berlin, jumps at the chance to be sent south to Halle-Neustadt, where a pair of infant twins have gone missing. But Müller soon finds her problems have followed her to Halle-Neustadt. She and her team are forbidden by the Stasi from publicising the disappearances, lest they tarnish the town's image. Meanwhile, in the eerily nameless streets and tower blocks, a child snatcher lurks, and the clock is ticking to rescue the twins alive....

Life has been tough for village midwife Zara. Recently divorced and living with her grandmother, Zara is struggling to get back on track. Until one day love walks in, in the form of an abandoned puppy. Although Zara adores her new friend, the puppy causes havoc wherever they go, so she is grateful when local shepherd Lewis offers to train her. But Lewis has an ulterior motive for helping. And though Zara may be able to trust him with her naughty dog, can she trust him with her bruised heart?

In a beachfront mansion in Martha's Vineyard, Annick and Rebecca relax, safe in the knowledge that their young children are in the care of lifelong friend Tash. But by the end of the afternoon, one of the children will have vanished.... Annick, daughter of an actress and an assassinated president, has spent her life running from the truth of her family's wealth. Rebecca has always done the right thing. Perfect daughter. Perfect wife. Perfect mother. She's beginning to wonder if she'll ever get chance to live for herself.

A darkly gripping new mystery in the internationally best-selling Malin Fors series. Linköping's top detective, Malin Fors, is about to take on a case that's a little too close for comfort. Her daughter has just discovered a dead body. It is that of a 79-year-old resident at the nursing home where she works. He's been hung by his own alarm cord. At first it looks like a cut-and-dry suicide.

On the cobbled streets of Bradford in 1931, Lily Briggs does all she can to keep trouble at bay for her and her family. She works hard at Calvert Mill to make ends meet and take care of her parents and younger siblings. Saturday nights at the dance hall and dressmaking with her two best friends keep Lily upbeat, and now there’s a blossoming romance with childhood friend Harry Bainbridge to put an extra spring in her step, too.