Showing results by narrator "Daniel Philpott" in All Categories

Brighton, 1950: When the body of a girl is found, cut into three, Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is reminded of a magic trick, the Zig Zag Girl. The inventor of the trick, Max Mephisto, is an old friend of Edgar's. They served together in the war as part of a shadowy unit called the Magic Men. Max is still on the circuit, touring seaside towns in the company of ventriloquists, sword-swallowers, and dancing girls.

A stranger arrives in a small English town, wreathed in a hat, coat, goggles and bandages. It's not just his identity he's hiding, though; he has discovered the secret of invisibility, and believes it will lead him to ultimate power. But he needs to be able to control the process, and when the terrified villagers refuse to help him, he decides on bloody revenge.

A newly reissued edition of Agatha Christie’s ‘Mary Westmacott’ novel, a Crime of the Heart novel about love and anguish across the class divide. Everyone expected Isabella Charteris, beautiful, sheltered and aristocratic, to marry her cousin Rupert when he came back from the War. It would have been such a suitable marriage. How strange then that John Gabriel, an ambitious and ruthless war hero, should appear in her life. For Isabella, the price of love would mean abandoning her dreams of home and happiness forever. For Gabriel, it would destroy his chance of a career and all his ambitions….

Prague, 1588 The Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, wants to expand the boundaries of human knowledge and his court is a haven for scientists, astrologers and alchemists. His abiding passion is the elusive hunt for the philosopher’s stone and thus immortality. The Catholic Church fears he has pushed too far – into the forbidden realm of heresy – while the greatest powers in Christendom are concerned about the imperial line of succession.

Victor is the perfect killer. He has no past. He will stop at nothing. And he can find you anywhere. In sweltering Algiers, ultra-efficient hitman Victor executes a fellow assassin. But when the CIA comes calling, Victor must pose as his victim to identify the dead man's next mark--a mission that takes him across Europe to the bloody streets of Rome. Working alongside a group of vicious mercenaries, Victor faces an impossible choice: to do what's right, or to sacrifice the only thing he cares about: his life.

Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall is an Edwardian history book for younger listeners (age six to 12) that tells the story of England, concluding with the reign of Queen Victoria. Having released it unabridged in three volumes, Naxos AudioBooks now offers an attractive collection of the main stories and personalities. This skilful abridgement nevertheless maintains the narrative of British history, from the arrival of Julius Caesar to the height of the British Empire and the long reign of Queen Victoria.

As a boy, William Bellman commits one small cruel act that appears to have unforeseen and terrible consequences. The killing of a rook with his catapult is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games. And by the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, he seems indeed, to be a man blessed by fortune. Until tragedy strikes, and the stranger in black comes, and William Bellman starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, he enters into a bargain.

The plays of William Shakespeare, and his famous lines, are part of the national consciousness. There may be few solid facts about Shakespeare the man, and yet not only do we want to know all about him - we feel, through his plays, we do.

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

The Black Prince has launched a devastating raid deep into France, laying waste to everything in his path. In response, the French have mustered an army that outnumbers the English forces 10 to 1 and are determined to drive their hated foe from the land after years of bloody conquest. Sir Thomas Blackstone, the British archer knighted on the field of Crecy, has used the intervening years to forge his own war band and has hacked out his own fiefdom in central France.

Now is the time to tell the story of an ancient realm, a tragic tale that sets the stage for all the tales yet to come and all those already told.... It's a conflicted time in Kurald Galain, the realm of Darkness, where Mother Dark reigns. But this ancient land was once home to many a power…and even death is not quite eternal. The commoners' great hero, Vatha Urusander, is being promoted by his followers to take Mother Dark's hand in marriage, but her Consort, Lord Draconus, stands in the way of such ambitions.

James Dearsley’s wife thought he had lost his mind when he announced his intention to become a beekeeper. But like many interested in the self-sufficient lifestyle, he loved gardening and growing vegetables on his allotment and the old romantic in him had idealistic notions of teaching his little boy where honey came from, so he set himself what seemed a reasonable goal: to get, in a year’s time, just one jar of honey.

A beautifully written insight into the stresses, strains and successes of working for the London Ambulance service. Is there anyone who hasn't wondered about the state of the occupant of an ambulance, screaming along with its sirens on and blue lights flashing? Have you? And have you wondered about the other people inside the ambulance, maybe fighting to save the patient's life?

He is darkness. She wants him dead. In a city starved of light, she might just succeed. She moves like a shadow; she kills silently: Raven. This elegant assassin has been on the run for years. This time, though, she has picked the wrong target. The hitman known only as "Victor" is as paranoid as he is merciless and is no stranger to being hunted. He tracks his would-be killer across the globe, aiming not only to neutralise the threat but to discover who wants him dead.

A hitman must be anonymous, amoral... and alone. Victor is the face in the crowd you don't see, a perfect assassin with nothing to live for. But when an old friend turns to him for help, he finds he can't refuse. For once his objective isn't to kill, but to protect. Hunted through the streets of London by ruthless enemies, Victor needs to be more than just a bodyguard... but his every move leads danger closer to the very person he's vowed to defend. Published in the US as No Tomorrow.

From best-selling author Tom Wood comes a unique and gasp-inducing Victor thriller that turns all your expectations on their head.... Former CIA agent Antonio Alvarez has been tracking a dangerous murderer for years, a nameless hitman responsible for numerous homicides. Once, the Agency deflected him away from his search, but now a promotion has given him a second chance to right the past. Only problem is the murderer has vanished.

A serial killer is terrorising the people of Bologna, and rookie Detective Inspector Grazia Negro is determined to solve the case. She only has one witness who can identify the killer - and he is blind. Simone spends his nights listening to Chet Baker and scanning the radio waves of the city, eavesdropping on other people's lives. He imagines what people are like - based on the 'colour' of their voice - and his acute hearing sets alarm bells ringing when he tunes in to the killer.

Brighton, 1951. Pantomime season takes a dark turn when two missing children are found dead under the snow, surrounded by sweets - a macabre, real-life Hansel and Gretel. DI Edgar Stephens, has plenty of leads to investigate. The missing girl, Annie, used to write plays and perform them with her friends. Once again Edgar enlists magician and ex-wartime comrade Max Mephisto's help in penetrating the shadowy theatrical world that seems to hold the key. But is this all just classic misdirection?

If the assassin known only as Victor once had a moral compass, it is long since buried, along with his many victims. Yet some men are so evil even Victor accepts they must die for reasons other than just money. One such man is Milan Rados, a former commander in the Serbian army who has escaped trial at The Hague to become a formidable criminal power. Tracking down and killing this brutal man will win Victor a reprieve for his own recent crimes on British soil.

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...