Showing results by narrator "David Rintoul" in All Categories

Once more, we catch up with the delightful goings-on in the fictitious 44 Scotland Street from Alexander McCall Smith. With customary charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith gives us another installment in this popular series, now running in its ninth season in the Scotsman. Anything could happen to Bertie and the gang....

HMS Wagtail is a river gunboat, a ship seemingly at the end of her unusual life, lying in a Hong Kong dockyard awaiting her last summons to the breakers' yard. Commander Justin Rolfe is also seemingly at the end of his useful naval life, an embittered man, brooding and angry from a court-martial verdict. Then the offshore island of Santu is threatened with invasion from the Chinese mainland.

The crack German cruiser Prinz Luitpold had always been lucky in battle. To the beleaguered army on the Baltic coast she was their one remaining symbol of hope. But it is the summer of 1944, and on every front the war is going badly for Germany. When the order comes to leave the Baltic to attack and destroy enemy shipping in the Atlantic, Kapitan zur See Dieter Hechler knows that once out in this vast killing ground it will only be a matter of time before the hunter becomes the hunted.

His true identity has never been revealed. His victims faced the abyss of human insanity. His name is Jack the Ripper. London, 1888. In the poor district of Whitechapel, women are found dead, their bodies brutally disfigured. The victims' ripped throats are proof of a bestiality and cruelty, which has never been seen before. The investigation of the police leads to no satisfying results. Soon, the public calls the culprit "Jack the Ripper" - a serial killer who stalks the streets of Whitechapel at night and viciously kills.

Twenty-one years ago, when a conductor was poisoned and the Questura sent a man to investigate, readers first met Commissario Guido Brunetti. Since 1992’s Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon and her shrewd, sophisticated, and compassionate investigator have been delighting readers around the world. For her millions of fans, Leon’s novels have opened a window into the private Venice of her citizens, a world of incomparable beauty, family intimacy, shocking crime, and insidious corruption.

February 1943. As the balance of the war slowly shifts in Britain's favour, Lieutenant-Commander Steven Marshall brings his battle-scarred submarine into home port. Captain and crew are exhausted after 14 months' continuous service, but for most there can be no thought of leave. If the enemy collapse in North Africa is to be exploited, every experienced man will be needed. Marshall must return to the Mediterranean, but this time to a very different kind of war.

The old submarine-chaser USS Hibiscus, re-fitting in a Hong Kong dockyard before being handed over to the Nationalist Chinese, is suddenly ordered to the desolate island group of Payenhau. For Captain Mark Gunnar - driven by the memory of his torture at the hands of the Viet Cong guerrillas - the new command is a chance to even the score against a ruthless, unrelenting enemy. But Payenhau is very different from his expectations....

The human torpedo, or chariot, is the ultimate weapon in a war, and only men of extreme courage or recklessness volunteer for the special operations missions requiring its use. Reeman has also written 22 novels under the pseudonym Alexander Kent.

A leading industrialist of the 19th and 20th centuries, Andrew Carnegie was one of America's most successful and generous businessmen. The autobiography tells of his rise to power, from humble beginnings in Scotland to controlling the biggest steel empire in the history of the United States. Carnegie lays down the blueprint for success, with an abundance of inspiring life lessons, while also giving unique first-hand impressions of burgeoning 19th century America and some of the most prominent people of the age, including Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain.

First published in 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson's rollicking historical novel Kidnapped was an instant bestseller. It was followed by an 1893 sequel, Catriona, which Stevenson regarded as his 'high water mark', declaring that he would 'never do a better book'. Included here is the epic 10-part BBC radio dramatisation of both action-packed tales.

A 12-year-old boy runs wildly into his local police station claiming to have seen Halldis Horn's brutally murdered corpse. Errki Johrma, an escaped psychiatric patient and known town misfit, was sighted at the scene disappearing into the woods. The next morning the local bank is robbed at gunpoint. Making his escape the robber takes a hostage and flees and, once again, a suspect takes to the woods. As the felon's plans begin to fall apart he is, in contrast to his quiet hostage, rapidly losing his control and power.

Has anyone seen Andreas? Andreas's disappearance is a mystery to all, including his inseparable friend Zipp. But its not easy for Zipp to come forward with details of the last time he saw his friend - they had been following an old woman, an easy target for some quick cash, and Andreas boldly followed her into her home brandishing his knife, the next moment he was gone.

Early one September three friends spend the weekend at a remote cabin by Dead Water Lake. With only a pale moon to light their way, they row across the water in the middle of the night. But only two of them return. When the body of the third friend is discovered, Inspector Sejer is put in charge of the investigation. He is troubled by the apparent suicide and has an overwhelming sense that the surviving pair has something to hide.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett. It is the 11th century, and Europe is full of young kings - some dreaming of new civilisation, some content to live as their forefathers have done, and all ceaselessly fighting, befriending or betraying one other.

Travelling at almost 18,000 miles per hour—10 times faster than a rifle bullet—Gagarin circles the globe in just 106 minutes. While his launch begins in total secrecy, within hours of his landing he has become a world celebrity—the first human to leave the planet. Beyond tells the thrilling story behind that epic flight on its 60th anniversary. It happened at the height of the Cold War as the US and USSR confronted each other across an Iron Curtain.

From the million-copy bestselling author of The Parent Agency and Birthday Boy comes a wildly entertaining wish-fulfilment adventure that asks the question: what would happen if the strictest head teacher swapped bodies with the naughtiest kid in school?

Meet Dr Ben Cave. For over thirty years he has worked in prisons and secure hospitals diagnosing and treating some of the most troubled men and women in society. A lifetime of care takes us from delusional disorders to schizophrenia, steroid abuse to drug dependency, personality disorders to paedophilia, and depression so severe a mother can kill her own baby. These are the human stories behind the headlines. The reality of a life spent working with patients with the severest mental health disorders. The tragic and often frightening truth about what happens behind closed doors.

As the Second World War progresses, the destruction of Allied shipping mounts. Fighter pilot Tim Rowan is posted to an escort carrier to help guard the precious convoys. His adventures take him first to the Arctic and then the Indian Ocean.

Spring 1983: it seemed that one of the most startling discoveries of the century had been made, and that one of the world's most sought after documents had finally come to light - the private diaries of Adolf Hitler. What followed was a fiasco of fakery, greed, the duping of experts, and the exchange of extraordinary sums of money for worldwide publishing rights. But that was just the beginning of the story....

At 30, Duncan Bannatyne had no money and was enjoying life on the beaches of Jersey. He saw a story about someone who had made himself a millionaire, and decided to do the same. Five years later, he had done it, and now he is worth £168 million. In this remarkable book, he explains how anyone could take the same route as he did, if they really want to.