Showing results by narrator "Daniel Philpott" in All Categories

Beauty can be a gift...or a wicked temptation.... So it is for Filippo Lippi, growing up in Renaissance Florence. He has a talent - not only can he see the beauty in everything but he can capture it, paint it. But while beauty can seduce you and art can transport you - it cannot always feed you or protect you. To survive, Filippo di Tommaso Lippi, street urchin, forger, drinker, seducer of nuns, must become Fra Fra Filippo Lippi - Carmelite friar, man of God.

A bloody war is raging across the oceans, with the Pirate Federation and Nocturnals in alliance against the renegade Vampirates. Connor and Grace Tempest each have important roles to play - he as a pirate warrior; she as a powerful healer. As the twins face their greatest challenge yet, old allies and foes return to play their part in the ultimate battle of Pirate versus Vampirate.

When Connor Tempest and his swashbuckling pirate buddies get a rare break in their duties, they're in the mood for fun, sun and adventure. A chance meeting with the crew of The Lorelei seems to offer all that and more. Soon, Connor and co are learning to freedive into the amazing world far beneath the ocean's surface. But the pirates are further out of their depth than they realise.

Omar Yussef, teacher-turned-detective, is sent to the troubled Gaza Strip to carry out a routine school inspection. There he learns that a fellow teacher has been arrested, and, instinctively recognizing the signs of grave injustice, he sets out to investigate. The person responsible for the teacher's arrest is Colonel al-Fara, the most powerful - and dangerous - man in Gaza, and Omar's friends urge him not to intervene. But Omar confronts the colonel, and soon finds himself caught in a ruthless power struggle.

Ignorance is bliss... especially when it comes to murder! Ever since the death of his father, Fellworth Dolphin has slaved away as a waiter to support his miserly, cold-hearted mother. So when she suddenly dies Fellworth is shocked to discover she has left him a fortune. Somewhat confused, Fell teams up with a girl from work, Maggie, to investigate the source of the riches. But what they find instead is a closet full of skeletons... Is it really possible Fell's father was involved in a decades-old train robbery? And who is the mysterious woman in the portrait?

When a high-profile pirate is slain, the Pirate Federation takes decisive action and begins training up a ship of dedicated vampire hunters. Amongst the dynamic crew is young pirate prodigy Connor Tempest. Meanwhile, Connor's twin sister Grace enjoys a bittersweet reunion with their mother, Sally, who has some important and shocking news for her daughter. As Grace uncovers the truth about her family's past, she realises that she and Connor face a daunting and uncertain future.

Three brothers return to the family cottage by the lake, where, more than two decades earlier, a catastrophe changed the course of their lives. Now, they are here to scatter their mother's ashes - young men, estranged but bound together by the history that defines them. Their lives have been spent competing for their father's favour and their mother's love, in a household more like a minefield than a home. What really happened that summer day when everything was blown to pieces?

To Fred Archer, born in the village of Ashton-under-Hill in 1915 and growing up in the 1920s, nothing seemed to change except the seasons. This was the age of paraffin lamps, earth closets, and the last train from Evesham at 7 o’clock in the evening. The village was a self-sufficient community with its own hierarchy, strong Church and Chapel, fierce politics and home-made entertainment.

This is a story from the Famous People in History II collection.

Naive and already war-weary, James Gouding takes up a position in Naples in 1943. What he doesn't anticipate is that this involves a limited menu of fried Spam fritters and interrogating the would-be Italian fiancees of members of the armed forces.

When the body of a Russian agent is found down a monastery well, Yashim knows exactly who to blame. Fevzi Ahmet Pasha, ruthless commander of the Ottoman fleet. Years ago, Fevzi Ahmet was his mentor. And now Yashim must confront the secret that Fevzi Pasha has been keeping all these years, a secret whose roots lie deep in the tortured atmosphere of the sultan's harem.

Farideh's husband is a corporal in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, entrapped by MI6 for interrogation. His job as a driver to a top general has left him with potentially valuable knowledge, but he won't talk unless Farideh is brought out of Iran. The SAS say it's too dangerous, so MI6 assemble a team of three ex-soldiers and a student dropout who knows the language and smuggles them into Tehran.…

For decades, Omar Yussef has been a teacher of history to the children of Bethlehem. When a favourite former pupil, George Saba, is arrested for collaborating with the Israelis in the killing of a Palestinian guerrilla, Yussef is convinced that he has been framed. With George facing imminent execution Yussef sets out to prove his innocence. As Yussef falls foul of his headmaster and the local police chief, time begins to run out for Saba.

Small towns can hide big secrets, but Rocco Schiavone will do whatever it takes to bring them into the light. The second novel in the internationally best-selling series from Italian crime maestro Antonio Manzini. In an elegant apartment in a chilly Alpine town, a cleaning lady makes a gruesome discovery: the body of her employer hanging from a chandelier in a dark room in an apparent suicide. Working the case is Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone, banished from his beloved Rome to snowy, small-town Aosta.

Britain, AD366 - The island is at peace, enjoying an unprecedented age of prosperity. But from beyond the northern frontier come unsettling rumours: the barbarians are rising, eager to prey on the riches of the south. As the shadow of war looms, Cironius Agnus Paulus, a young soldier with a secret past, becomes ensnared in a conspiracy that endangers the home he has forsaken and the family he loves.

The brightest mind meets the darkest killer...1887. When James Murray, a young Scottish doctor fascinated by the workings of the criminal mind, travels to the vibrant city of Turin, it is to study with Cesare Lombroso, the world-renowned criminologist. But just hours after his introduction to Lombroso, the discovery of a horrifically mutilated body in the nearby Piazza Statuto, and a note that appears to implicate the celebrated criminologist himself, changes everything.

Istanbul 1838. Lefevre, a French archaeologist, has arrived in Istanbul determined to uncover a lost Byzantine treasure. Yashim is hired to investigate him, but when the man turns up dead, there is only one suspect: Yashim himself. Once again, the investigator finds himself in a race against time to uncover the startling truth behind a shadowy secret society dedicated to the revival of the Byzantine Empire, caught in a deadly game deep beneath the city streets, a place where the stakes are high—and betrayal is death...

It’s a HUGE surprise when Farmer Palmer chooses Lewie the llama to guard his new lambs. It’s the most important job on the farm and everyone thought he’d pick the biggest strongest, loudest llama. Lewie is the best at singing and dancing but is he a match for a cunning coyote?

1888. When young Scottish scientist James Murray receives a letter from Sofia Esposito, a woman he once loved and lost, he cannot refuse her cry for help. Sofia's fifteen-year-old cousin has vanished but, because of her lower-class status, the police are unwilling to investigate. Accompanied by his younger sister Lucy, Murray returns to the city of Turin where he was once apprenticed to the world-famous criminologist, Cesare Lombroso.

1920. The Great War has been over for two years, and it has left a very different world from the Edwardian certainties of 1914. Following the death of his wife and baby and his experiences on the Western Front, Laurence Bartram has become something of a recluse.