Showing results by narrator "Paul Ansdell" in All Categories

Joshua is convinced there is a family curse. It has taken loved ones from him, it has robbed him of his eyesight, and it is the reason why his father was killed while investigating the homicide of a young woman. But after his father's death, Joshua is handed an opportunity he can't refuse: an operation that will allow him not only to see the world but to see the world through his father's eyes.

Stella Darnell cannot shake her father's legacy. A year after his death, she has discovered what looks like an unsolved case in his darkroom: a folder of unlabelled photographs of deserted streets. But why did her father - a Detective Chief Superintendent - never file them at the station? The oldest photo dates back to 1966, to a day when 10-year-old Mary Thornton was taking her little brother home from school. That afternoon, as the Moors Murderers were sent to prison for life, Mary witnessed something horrible.

In Lord, Break Me!, William MacDonald explains that God puts a premium on broken things - especially on broken people. That is why we read such verses as: "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit" (Psalm 34:18). "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 51:17).

From the Preface: "The purpose of this little book is to show that the dedication demonstrated by the early disciples, is without exception, enforced by the commands of our Saviour. And not only that, but it is illustrated by the conduct of the apostles and early Christians. The author therefore asks that all sincere disciples of Christ carefully weigh what is written here in the balance of the Sanctuary, not the balance of the world."

It was the murder that shocked the nation. Thirty years ago, Kate Rokesmith went walking by the river with her young son. She never came home. For three decades her case file has lain, unsolved, in the corner of an attic - until Stella Darnell, daughter of Detective Chief Superintendent Darnell, starts to clear out her father's house after his death.

The Forgotten Command: Be Holy is a clarion call for all Christians to follow their master's command and to be holy. In the world of today, where holiness is set aside and considered to be outdated, the vital truth of holy living by the Christian has never been more relevant. Christlikeness produces holiness, and William MacDonald stresses its importance as he looks at every aspect of the Christian life. This book makes compelling and searching listening for those who are serious about obeying the forgotten command: be holy.

Jack Harmon craves silence and a bird's-eye view. From his new home in Palmyra Tower, he can raise binoculars to watch over West London. If he watches for long enough, he will learn who has secrets. He will learn who plans to kill. But Jack does not see everything. October 2013, the month of the great storm of St. Jude. A man dies beneath a late-night Piccadilly line train, verdict: suicide. Jack's friend Stella Darnell, the detective's daughter, suspects it could have been murder.

Francis Bacon walks the streets of World War II London, employed as a warden for the ARP to keep watch for activities that might tip off the Axis powers. Before the war, Bacon had travelled to Berlin and Paris, picking up snatches of culture from a succession of middle-aged men charmed by his young face. Known for his flamboyant personal life and expensive taste, Bacon has returned home to live with his former nanny in a cramped bohemian apartment. But one night, death intrudes on his after-hours paradise.

For artist Francis Bacon, life with David grows more dangerous by the day. When sober, he is charming, but when he drinks, he is violent, slashing Francis's paintings and threatening to gut the painter, too. When David leaves London for Morocco, Francis cannot help but follow this man whom he loves, but can no longer trust. In Tangier, they find a thriving community of expats who guzzle champagne while revolutionaries gather in the desert. But in Morocco's International Zone, death does not wait for rebellion.

England, 1810. Young Parson Tobias Campion is excited to be starting at the small parish of Moreton St Jude's. But his first night in the village brings excitement of the wrong kind when he has to intervene in the attempted rape of housemaid Lizzie Woodman. Even in the normal course of events, village life is far from quiet, and soon Tobias has to deal with suspicious deaths.

In Woollen and Linen, J. G. Bellett exhorts us to live our lives wholly for God. We are not to be found wearing garments of "woollen and linen" or "divers sorts", i.e., we are not to live with a mixture of Godly and wordly principles.

Francis Bacon never cared much for country living, so he is overjoyed when his father sends him to Berlin as punishment for his not-so-innocent flirtations with the other boys at school. With afternoons at the cinema, dinner at the Hotel Adlon, and nights at the most outrageous cabarets in Germany - and in his Uncle Lastings' bed - he'll fit right in.

In Where Is Your Treasure?, William MacDonald explains that God's will is that our lives should be a perpetual crisis of dependence on Him. We defeat His will in our lives when we lay up treasures on earth. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth...but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21) But the question may arise, "How can I make this practical in my own life? What should I do?"

Peace has come to England and the blackout is over, but the gloom has yet to lift from London. One night, leaving a gambling club where he has run up a considerable tab, the young painter Francis Bacon, accompanied by his lover, sees a man gunned down in the street. Soon afterward, Bacon receives a strange offer from the club owner: He will erase Bacon's debts if the painter delivers a package to the dead man's widow on the Riviera. What gambler could resist a trip to Monte Carlo?

Francis Bacon was having a ball in Berlin - until his uncle Lastings disappeared, leaving Francis alone, broke, and wanted by the burgeoning Nazi party for a political murder he didn't commit. Luckily, for a young painter still learning his craft, there's no better place to find refuge than the cafes of Paris. In the City of Lights, Francis can perfect his French, complete his education, and - if he's lucky - escape with his life. Strolling along the boulevard one lovely evening, he hears gunshots and sees a Russian emigre cut down by an assassin.

The story of a father and son - and is it true, as Wordsworth claimed, that "the child is father of the man" or can one's character actually change as one grows older?