Mostrando resultados por Editor "Soundings" en Todas las categorías

January 1953. Eight years on from the most destructive conflict in human history, the Cold War enters its deadliest phase. An Iron Curtain has descended across Europe, and hostilities have turned hot on the Korean peninsula as the United States and Soviet Union clash in an intractable and bloody proxy war. An ageing Winston Churchill yearns for peace with the Kremlin - but new American President Dwight Eisenhower cautions the West not to drop its guard.

Lord James Harrington and his wife, Beth, happen upon a road accident where the driver, Bernard Potter, is seriously injured. While giving first-aid, Potter mumbles concerns about his daughter which James takes as the ramblings of a dying man. But, when visiting Mrs Potter, they realise that her husband, a police constable, was secretly investigating the goings-on at a local commune where his daughter lived.

Following a string of successful performances along the west coast, the Moscardi Circus is travelling by train to Hexham on the Newcastle to Carlisle Railway for their next show. Yet a collision on the track causes pandemonium. When the headless body of a woman is discovered in nearby woodland, Inspector Colbeck is desperate to lend assistance, however a reluctant Superintendent Tallis forbids him from doing so.

Despite the hardships of life during wartime, Bobby Bancroft has never been happier. Engaged to her airman sweetheart Charlie, living in the beautiful Dales village of Silverdale and gainfully employed at The Tyke magazine, her life seems to be going exactly the way she always hoped it would. As the festive season approaches, Bobby is recruited to help produce a Christmas pantomime for the evacuee children billeted in the village. The project introduces her to some new friends, including a handsome Canadian, Flying Officer Ernie King, and her friend Topsy's upper-crust cousin Archie Sumner.

A fire at the Queen's Head deprives Westfield's Men of their home, so they seize the opportunity to travel to Denmark with their patron, Lord Westfield, who is to marry a beautiful young Danish widow. When they reach Elsinore castle, they are given a warm welcome, but the murder of Rolfe Harling, who brokered the wedding, changes the whole atmosphere of the place. Danger threatens from all sides, including England, where one man seeks revenge and dispatches assassins after the troupe. They are soon caught up in a complex web of political intrigue and betrayal.

Thea Osborne and her canine companion Hepzie travel to the isolated village of Snowshill for their next assignment, house-sitting Hyacinth House for the mysterious Yvonne Parker. Something doesn't feel right to Thea, who is ill at ease in the village, and soon her intuition is proved to be right. A local boy, Stevie Horsfall, is found brutally strangled, with his mother as prime suspect.

Thea Osborne hopes to spend a quiet Christmas house sitting for the Shepherds in the picturesque village of Stanton. Walks in the local countryside with the dogs and perhaps a meal in the pub are all the excitement she wants. When her arrival at the village coincides with the funeral of local businessman Douglas Callendar, found electrocuted in his bath, Thea's interest is stirred but the onset of flu looks to prevent any sleuthing.

Tina Valentine has it all: the loving family, the beautiful house, the successful career. But then Megan Pearson starts work at Tina’s law firm, and the perfect world Tina has built for herself starts to collapse, as it becomes clear that the newcomer is intent on infiltrating every aspect of her life. Something is obviously wrong with Megan, but nobody else seems to see it. As the mind games and manipulations continue, Tina comes to the sickening conclusion that now she’s opened the door to Megan, it’s going to be impossible to make her leave....

As the Masonic Lodge Ladies' Night comes to a close and the guests drift away, a man is found in the car park, garroted at his steering wheel. Murder is no laughing matter, of course, but why look a gift horse in the mouth? DI Percy Peach has always taken a special pleasure in taunting his superior, Superintendent Tucker, about the indiscretions of his fellow Masons - now he's been given a free hand to dig up any amount of dirt about the secret order.

It's 1944. London's citizens are weary of air raids and rationing. But there are rumours of an invasion of France. Is the tide of war turning? Young widow Louise Rutherford longs to find a new husband, and when a handsome American officer arrives to recruit volunteers for a secret project, she senses an opportunity. Her efforts are hampered, though, by her determination to help a 10-year-old war orphan, George Nelson.

Spring, 1944. Working on an aeroplane production line for planes, Hildy believes she is doing her part for the war effort. But troubles at home with her overly protective mother make it harder for her to find happiness. Meanwhile, Cora is still reeling from the devastating loss of both her parents in the Blitz. Faced with homelessness and poverty, Cora and her friend, Belle, turn to the dark streets of Southampton to work on the game.

After being driven from home by their brutal father, the Willett sisters find themselves facing greater heartache in the wider world. Nell, the middle daughter, has left home to be with her lover, Cliff, fearing what reprisals might come from marrying against her father’s wishes. The couple head for Lancashire, but Nell’s happiness is short-lived.

A tip-off leading to the discovery of a young woman's body throws Harry Vicary and his team into another perplexing murder investigation. Big Andy Cragg's drunken disclosure to an undercover police officer in a West London pub that he was once party to the disposal of the body of a murder victim sets a sinister and disturbing chain of events in motion for Harry Vicary and his team.

It is the autumn of 1945 and identical twins Joy and Gillian Lawrence are on their way home to Liverpool, having been evacuated to Devonshire five years earlier. Their mother has been killed in the blitz but the girls hope that with their beloved father’s help they will be able to manage. All goes well until there is a terrible accident and Joy loses her sight. At first she is bitter and resentful whilst Gillian is racked with guilt.

Since escaping his family’s notoriety in Australia, Will Kidd has been content to live the life of a wanderer, but everything changes when he comes face to face with a ghost from his past on a cloudy beach in Liverpool. Every step of Hannah Dawson's life has been laid out for her...until she meets Will. Their love is forbidden, and forces on all sides divide them. They will have to fight against the odds to find their way back to one another.

Thea Osborne agrees to do a second spell of house-sitting for Lucy Sinclair in her new home in Northleach. Lucy is scheduled for an operation on her back in Oxford and needs Thea to look after things for a few days. Thea is glad of the change of scene and soon meets several of the townsfolk, and it appears that few of them have any liking for Lucy. When a man is found dead in a Northleach house and turns out to be Lucy's stepson, Thea is once again at the very heart of a police investigation.

1555. A priest has been stabbed to death in the village of St Botolph, his body left to rot by the roadside, and Jack Blackjack stands accused of his murder. As well as clearing his name, Jack has his own reasons for finding out who really killed the priest, but this is an investigation where nothing is as it seems. Was it a random attack by a desperate outlaw, or do the answers lie in the murdered priest’s past? As he questions those who knew the dead man, Jack is faced with a number of conflicting accounts – and it’s clear that not everyone can be telling him the whole truth.

21-year-old Alix is studying in Paris, far away from Sasha, her Serbian father and Leonora, her English mother, as World War Two breaks out. Finding hope even in troubled times, romance sparks with fellow student Raoul; but she soon learns young love can be tumultuous. So, when Steve, a handsome American pilot with Serbian ancestors, enters her life, she can't ignore her feelings toward him. And making a decision will be even harder as both men leave for war.

Cambridge, 1583. About to graduate from Corpus Christi, the young Christopher Marlowe spends his days studying Virgil and Aristotle, and his nights carousing with old friends. But when one of them, Ralph Whittingside, is discovered lying dead in his King’s College room, mouth open in a silent scream, Marlowe refuses to accept the official verdict of suicide.

A short story from British Library Crime Classic The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. A brutal murder and a shocking deathbed confession - the love triangle of Karen Garborg, Thord Jensen and Olaf Kinck proves deadly on the Norwegian ski slopes.