Showing results by narrator "Philip Frank" in All Categories

What if the villain of your childhood turned out to be someone really rather extraordinary? Disgraced politician Sir James Hastings is resigned to living out his retirement in a secluded village in the Surrey Hills. He is unmoved when he learns his mother has died at the age of 108. In his mind, he buried her when she abandoned him as a child. Brought up by his father, a charismatic war-hero turned racing driver, the young James, torn between self-blame and longing, eventually dismissed her.

When the body of Rufus Moorcroft, a middle-aged widower with a distinguished war record, is found in his summerhouse, the verdict is suicide. But both reporter Jill Francis and her lover, Detective Richard Thornhill, approaching the case from different angles, discover there's more to it than that. The sixth instalment in the acclaimed Lydmouth series.

The Challenge of Things joins earlier collections like The Reason of Things and Thinking of Answers but this time to collect Grayling's recent writings on the world in a time of war and conflict. In describing and exposing the dark side of things, he also explores ways out of the habits and prejudices of mind that would otherwise trap us forever in the deadly impasses of conflicts of all kinds.

A hay barn is set on fire at Low Dale Farm. It seems that an arsonist is targeting isolated barns. Arnold Merryweather’s ancient bus helps catch a car thief. And when Nick arrests not only a pig thief but also the expectant pig, the police station cleaner is not very pleased. But it’s not all crime. A glider crashes into a romance in a thatched cottage, and then Constable Nick is involved in a plot to force a penny-pincher to spend money. In the beautiful North Yorkshire countryside of the 1960s, Constable Nick’s roles are as varied as the eccentric villagers.

Constable Nick has come to know and love the host of characters who live and work on the beautiful North Yorkshire Moors. The amiable constable handles every encounter with his characteristic humor and professionalism, whether he’s investigating a plot to scare away a troublesome suitor or helping a neighbor return his late wife’s ashes to her beloved moors. But when Ted Williamson’s sheep start disappearing, can Rhea find the culprit without making enemies of the farmers of Yorkshire?

In the final book of the series that began with The Darling Buds of May, the fun-loving Pop Larkin finds himself confined to a bed following a mild heart attack - caused by a little too much of what he fancied. Ma battles with the doctors as she attempts to find an adequate cure, but it turns out that a seductive nurse is all he needs. Pa's spirits truly recover themselves when he is forced to defend his home from the ministry's railway plans. This concludes the tales of H. E. Bates' Larkin family.

In the third sequel to The Darling Buds of May, Charley and Mariette decide to get baby Blenheim christened, leading to a wholesale christening of all seven of the Larkin children. Chaos abounds as the vicar, Mr Candy, is run ragged by the naughty twins, Zinnia and Petunia, and finds himself the object of desire for Pop's second eldest, Primrose. To top it all off, Pop buys a fairground on a whim, and Mlle Dupont arrives to discover that Pop is not a Lord, nor does he live in a mansion.

Sherlock Holmes ein Mörder? Das kann nicht sein! Davon ist Dr. Watson überzeugt und auch Inspektor Lestrade vollstreckt seinen Haftbefehl nur mit äußerstem Widerstreben. Hinter Gittern zwar in seiner Ermittlungs- aber nicht Denkfähigkeit beeinträchtigt, will der Meisterdetektiv nicht nur seine Unschuld beweisen, sondern auch herausfinden, was wirklich hinter dieser mysteriösen Geschichte steckt.

As a young police officer in Palestine during the closing months of the Mandate - the cradle of Middle Eastern terrorism - Richard Thornhill saw and did things which still haunt his dreams and make him fear for his sanity. Is he himself a killer? Now, when a retired police officer is found dead in the ruins of Lydmouth Castle, the past has come back to claim Detective Inspector Thornhill and he is under suspicion of another murder. His wife, Edith, and former lover Jill Francis join forces in an uneasy alliance to try to help him.

An Englishwoman is found dead in a house near Rome. Her distraught husband enlists the help of his closest friend, Chris Bronson, who discovers an ancient inscription on a slab of stone above their fireplace. But who are the liars? And what is it they are lying to protect? Pursued across Europe, Bronson uncovers a trail of clues that leads him back to the shadowy beginnings of Christianity; to a chalice decorated with mysterious symbols; to a secret code hidden within a scroll. And to a deadly conspiracy which – if revealed – will rock the foundations of our modern world.

That’s what Edith Sorrell, mysterious resident of Mayfield Rest Home, says when Robert asks her to share a wisdom with him as part of a class project. And even though Robert Nobel, aka Norbert No-Bottle, the perpetually picked-on class squit, is convinced she’s batty, he’s determined to pluck up his courage and go. After all, what does Robert have to lose? His dad is busy with his new family, his mum is always at work, the school bully is making his life miserable, and the class beauty won’t give him the time of day.

The Royal British Legion was founded in 1921. It is now the country’s leading charity providing financial, social and emotional support to those who have served or who are currently serving in the British Armed Forces and their dependants. The RBL is behind the annual Poppy Appeal, the highest profile charity appeal in Britain.

On November 12, 1912, a rescue team trekking across Antarctica's Great Ice Barrier finally found what they sought - the snow-covered tent of the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott. Inside, they made a grim discovery: Scott's frozen body lay between the bodies of two fellow explorers. They had died just eleven miles from the depot of supplies which might have saved them.

BOHEMIA, 1741: on the northern banks of the Vltava River, an extraordinary event is taking place. Inside a private chapel, a high-born Hungarian lady is being laid to rest. But not before her heart is removed from her body, and she is buried beneath a layer of heavy stones - lest she rise again to prey upon her victims…VENICE, PRESENT DAY: in the world’s most beautiful city, something unspeakable is happening. An unnamed tomb has been opened revealing a female skeleton and a diary dating back hundreds of years.

Policeman Nick Rhea has been posted to the country with his wife, Mary, and their three small children. They move into the police house, high on a ridge overlooking the moors. It sits on the edge of the village of Aidensfield - 'probably the most beautiful site in the country'. In the beautiful North Yorkshire countryside of the 1960s, Constable Nick's roles are as varied as the eccentric villagers. He handles every encounter with his characteristic humour, humanity and professionalism.

Author, bookseller, spy-breaker, killer. Enter the world of Russell Stickles. Not since George Harvey Bone in Hangover Square has there ever been a singular protagonist as compelling. As sickly. As sick. From the creator of Dead Funny: Horror Stories by Comedians comes a stunning novel that re-invents the tale of the empty man.

These 25 new stories mark Graham Swift's return to the short form after seven acclaimed novels and confirm him as a master storyteller. They unite into a richly peopled vision of a country that is both a crucible of history and a maze of contemporary confusions.

Constable Nick’s beat is modernised, with his police bike replaced by a mini-van. He gets more than he bargained for as his work draws him into closer contact with villagers, in more ways than one! There are compromising positions aplenty in this next charming instalment of Aidensfield life. Nick finds himself lost in heavy fog and runs across a couple of illicit lovers trapped in their car. He advises the village grocer about his very respectable lady shoplifter and discovers how farmer Owens copes with his bossy wife.

Nick is still settling into his role at the Ashfordly Section police station, and he’s drawn the short straw: night duty. Alone in the midnight hours with nothing but dead leaves, stray cats and legends of ghosts and ghoulies to accompany him. A sleeping village doesn’t mean a simple shift, though. Between the early risers of the farming community, a badger with a sweet tooth and getting to know his new workmates, there’s no time for Nick to kick his feet up in the station.

Constable Along the Lane is the seventh in the brilliantly entertaining and heartwarming audiobooks behind the hit '90s TV series Heartbeat - one of the top 10 most watched shows of the decade. A hay barn is set on fire at Low Dale Farm. It seems that an arsonist is targeting isolated barns. Arnold Merryweather's ancient bus helps catch a car thief. And when Nick arrests not only a pig thief but also the expectant pig, the police station cleaner is not very pleased.