British Christmas Short Stories

Finn wants precision and calm. His boyfriend, Aly, the charming, chaotic former rower, wants him—and isn't afraid to use a little holiday labour and athletic heat to push Finn's strict boundaries. The other two couples are just as complicated, battling old secrets, simmering jealousies, and the memory of their intense past in the competitive world of rowing. The tension peaks with the arrival of Matt, a handsome Canadian visitor who brings a fresh, unpredictable energy to the house.

A disgraced scholar. A silent village. And a bell that listens to the dark. Winter, 1888. Exiled by a professional scandal to the frozen coast of Wales, Alastair Finch has accepted a lonely commission: cataloging the library of the late, eccentric Baronet of Portmeirion. Trapped in the drafty Gatehouse Library by a relentless blizzard, Alastair finds his only company is the whistling wind and the rhythmic scratching of his own pen. Until he discovers the Vigil-Bell Log. Hidden among the archives, the leather-bound journal belonged to a missing bell-ringer who vanished on Christmas Eve five ...

Five cases for the great Poirot… First came a sinister warning to Poirot not to eat any plum pudding… then the discovery of a corpse in a chest, but what can link these baffling cases? The little grey cells of Monsieur Hercule Poirot! Feast yourself on these intriguing crime mysteries from...

Miss Kitty Bennet has a terrible, embarrassing secret...she is afraid of the dark. When the sister she shares a room with marries, Kitty must finally confront her fear, a confrontation she's losing. At least, until she gets a little help from some unlikely sources: her older sister Mary and the Christmas Unicorn.

Charles Dickens is known for writing the greatest of all Christmas stories... A Christmas Carol, but few know that he wrote a number of other short stories for that holiday season. Here in one wonderful audio collection are six short stories about Christmas--A Christmas Tree, What Christmas is as We Grow Older, The Poor Relation's Story, The Child's Story, The Schoolboy's Story and Nobody's Story.

Rajeev’s caravan remains parked on the roundabout, and the Easter Fair is in full swing. Bruno Mars is still playing on full volume, and the vodka continues to flow through the gals’ veins. Yes, we are back in the crazy world of Sheila Patel. And all is good. Well, nearly. The usual suspects are up to their usual reprehensible tricks. Flying chuppels and flip-flops make way for happy times at the Leeds Road police station. Letters to James Bond segue seamlessly into cricket, Shaz’s birthday celebrations, Diwali fireworks, bobble hats and ghee. further generous helpings of Indian ...

A former Royal Marine and veteran of the Afghan war confronts his past and seeks solace and meaning at Christmas time. A story of inspiration and hope.

Snow, Stars - and murder! When Bernie, the star of breakfast show TV Rise & Shine, is murdered in her dressing room, Celebrity Crimes Investigation Agents Abi and Jake are sent undercover just before Christmas to catch the killer. With suspects aplenty, the snow building up outside and the holidays fast approaching, they’ve certainly got their work cut out!

All Clarissa wants is to go home for Christmas, but a storm and an accident dash all her hopes. Trapped in a dark castle and longing for her family and their holiday traditions, Clarissa discovers the heart of an ancient and terrible secret. It will take more than a Christmas wish to break the curse and find a happily ever after. Praise for Donna Hatch “Donna Hatch is one of the masters of clean romance with electric tension and smokin’ hot kisses.” ~ Reading is My Super Power Reviews "Recommended to all historical romance fans." ~ Julie Whiteley, InD' Tale Magazine "Written with ...

Read by Juliet Stevenson and Simon Callow, A Literary Christmas is a seasonal anthology that collects together poems, short stories, and prose extracts by some of the greatest poets and writers in the English language. Like Charles Dickens’ ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, they are representative of times old and new - from John Donne’s Elizabethan hymn over the baby Jesus to Rudyard Kipling’s "Christmas in India", from Thomas Tusser counting the cost of a Tudor feast to Laurie Lee’s "Cider with Rosie".

At the Christmas Eve masquerade ball, Evelyn plans to lure the charming and handsome Michael underneath the mistletoe and show him just how much she likes him. With a single, earth-shattering kiss, she's certain he'll finally realize she's the only girl for him. Little does she know, her childhood friend, Colin, has the same plans for Evelyn. Neither her crush on another man, nor her near escape from falling through the ice in a frozen pond will stand in Colin's way. They'll both need the magic of a mistletoe kiss, but only one of them will succeed in their plans.

Matt is exhausted and short on cash, but when the charismatic couple Freddy and Andy invite him on an impulsive New Year's Eve trip to Berlin, he can't refuse. After spending a charged Christmas at Silverbourne Manor, the Canadian expat knows he wants to be with them—but not the mess that comes with dating.

The festive season should be a time for generosity and goodwill, but in Glasgow, Leger finds that is not the case. His human companion's attempt to raise funds for a CT scanner for a local hospital has been thwarted by a callous thief who has stolen decorations from her seasonal garden display. Now Leger resolves to mend Annabella's broken heart by finding the thief. With Ginger nursing her newborn kittens, Isabella confusing him with erratic behaviour and Bob more interested in Hugh's discarded slipper than helping solve this mystery, Leger's only clue comes from an unexpected source - a ...

A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time on audio. Whilst dining at the Bantrys, Miss Marple is asked to tell a murder mystery. She recounts the time she could tell from a man’s behaviour that he was planning to kill his wife. But at the time of the...

Twelve days. Three couples. One manor house full of forbidden heat. PART TWO! Welcome back to Silverbourne Manor, the grand Oxfordshire estate where tradition meets temptation. In this uncut bonus collection of steamy holiday stories, the six men of Silverbourne return for twelve days of indulgence, confession, and raw desire. This time, the gloves and the clothes come off. Finn, ever the perfectionist, craves peace and order, but his athletic boyfriend Aly has other plans, using Christmas chaos and carnal persuasion to melt Finn’s icy self-control.

A delicious Christmas feast of short stories from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author of A French Affair and The Perfect Match. Add some extra sparkle to your Christmas by joining Katie Fforde for a perfect, romantic Christmas feast of short stories. Collected together for the first time...