Showing results by narrator "John Telfer" in All Categories

When Major Mercer visits his old friend Lionel Deacon and his family in the country, his visit is hampered with heavy rain. As soon as there is a break in the weather, though, he heads into the village for a walk. Across the river, he sees a mother and a child, but when he returns to the Deacons, they assure him that he cannot possibly have seen who he thinks he saw.

Phantom Death is an imaginative story about a painting that has perplexed crowds across Europe. The painting must be viewed in solitude and is presented in a dark room, draped in black silken rope. When the unnamed narrator views the painting for himself, though, he is interrupted by another, setting off an unexpected chain of events.

C. N. Barham served as a minister but was also an amateur hypnotist, and in this short story, he explores how clairvoyance might be used to track lost ships at sea by regaling the story of Audacious, a brig which never reached its destination.

Thomas Oulton has worked for a London banking house for 30 years and is widely respected by his colleagues, so when he seemingly disappears with a client’s money, everyone is shocked, none more so than his manager, Louis Carrington. When a friend comes to spend the weekend with Louis and his family at their Surrey home, a series of strange phenomena leads the narrator to discover what’s happened to Oulton.

Three Men on a Diet is the very funny and brutally honest story of three mighty men with nothing to gain and so much to lose: a diet book with a difference. Three Men on a Diet is the story of George, Reggie and Sebastian, three middle-aged friends and food- and drink-lovers, learning how to lower their calorie intake without losing their joie de vivre. Determined to improve his looks and health before it's too late (and after being told that he looked like a pregnant bulldog), Reggie persuades the others to join him on a five-month quest to shed three stone.

You'd die for your family. But would you kill for them? Family is everything. So what if yours was being terrorised by a neighbour - a man who doesn't listen to reason, whose actions become more erratic and sinister with each passing day? And those you thought would help - the police, your lawyer - can't help you. You become afraid to leave your family at home alone. But there's nothing more you can do to protect them. Is there?

In this colourful history of the wild world of crime reporting since 1700, Duncan Campbell reveals what it's really like to deal with murderers, gangsters, victims, informers and detectives, looking at the 'hacks in the macs' who would go to any lengths to get a story - and serve it up to an ever-eager reading public. Crime is a prism through which we see society and its phobias.

On an errand of mercy for an elderly neighbour, Simon Templar meets a distraught but beautiful damsel in distress. It seems she is missing her brother...and someone else is missing a Rembrandt. Soon the Saint discovers the two are connected, and he’s on the trail of "The Masterpiece Merchant". In Philadelphia, the Saint meets a lovely young heiress at a charity ball only to discover that another member of the party is a leading figure in organised crime.

George Best is considered the greatest footballer of our time. No other imposed himself so completely on to the romantic imagination. No other was so emblematic of the era during which he flourished. And no other will ever be as memorable as George Best. On the field Best's skills were sublime and almost other-worldly. Off it, he had a magnetic appeal. He was treated like a pop icon and a pin-up; a fashion-model and a sex-symbol. Every man envied him and every woman adored him.

Bram loves his Aunt Pat's beach hut, and longs to stay there overnight. The grown-ups tell him it's not allowed, so he steals the key and creeps down to the shore when everyone else is asleep. It is then that he meets the spirit child. A terrifying ghost story that will chill your blood, from acclaimed author Robin Jarvis.

Billy Calder is already nervous about being on guard during the night shift at the castle. But then he learns about the castle ghosts... This is a terrifying ghost story that will chill your blood, from acclaimed author Joseph Delaney.

Henry Davies is writing a diary as a school project, and when a visiting author reads out the story of Vaughan Darkness to his class, Henry gets a photocopy and puts it in his diary. It's a truly terrible tale, but it's only a story - isn't it? A terrifying ghost story that will chill your blood, from acclaimed author Sam Llewellyn.

In the early eighteenth century, the British army led by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, were the leaders of a wide-ranging and very successful alliance. Jack Steel, maverick gentleman, superb soldier, was in the middle of any fight.

You could say it started with vanity. We believed we were special. But the truth is we were simply vulnerable. One of them is lying. One of them is guilty. No one is safe. Months after landing their dream job, five brilliant young minds are sent on a remote retreat. But when one of them disappears, they're forced to question why they were brought here in the first place - and how far they'd go to get what they want. And for the first time in their lives, they realise too much knowledge can be deadly.

In 1774, Josiah Wedgwood, master craftsman possessed with a burning scientific vision, embarks upon the thousand-piece Frog Service for Catherine the Great. Josiah's nephew Tom journeys to America to buy clay from the Cherokee for this exquisite china. Tom is caught up in the American rebellion, and falls for a Cherokee woman who will come to play a crucial role in Josiah's late, great creation: the Portland Vase.

‘To Mr Thomas Combe my sword.’ These six words in Shakespeare’s will tell us that Shakespeare had a sword. Did he wear it? Did he use it? What sort was it? When and why did he get it? What happened to it? Might it – does it – still exist? These questions plague Simon Gold, an antiques dealer. He believes he has identified the sword as belonging to a customer, an unworthy owner indifferent to cultural icons and uninterested in history. Simon is desperate to acquire the sword, but how?