Showing results by narrator "John Telfer" in All Categories

On the eve of World War II, the Saint is in Vienna, where his attentions are divided between a sensuous countess and some legendary diamonds - both of which he is trying to keep out of Nazi hands. Leslie Charteris was born in Singapore and moved to England in 1919. He left Cambridge University early when his first novel was accepted for publication. He wrote novels about the Saint throughout his life, becoming one of the 20th century's most prolific and popular authors.

A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection Final Acts. The Great Detective recounts the tale of an old case to Inspector Cockrill, which, solved too late, failed to bring about a conviction. But Cockrill draws his own conclusions on the case.

Two friends embark on a walking tour of northern France, but they encounter a strange fellow traveller who they struggle to shake off on their journey.

Between 1940 - 41, in Berlin, nine women are killed during the blackouts. One of these is a young girl. Her face is covered in snow and it looks as if she is smiling. This murder differs from the others and detective Johann Braunmann is ordered to solve it. However, he quickly senses that he is...

Henry Davies is writing a diary as a school project, and when a visiting author reads out the story of Vaughan Darkness to his class, Henry gets a photocopy and puts it in his diary. It's a truly terrible tale, but it's only a story - isn't it? A terrifying ghost story that will chill your blood, from acclaimed author Sam Llewellyn.

For three decades the Windrush was the maritime Zelig of the 20th century, playing different roles in the most turbulent years in modern times. Designed in 1930 in the Hamburg boatyard of a Jewish shipbuilder to ferry Germans to a new life in South America, it wasn't long before Goebbels requisitioned her as one of his ‘Strength Through Joy’ vessels. However, her duties soon darkened: she became a Nazi troop carrier, a support vessel for the pocket battleship Tirpitz and a prison ship transporting Jews to Auschwitz.

Dr Malcolm Goldblatt has one last chance in the NHS. As the temporary senior registrar of a London hospital, he needs to prove to the medical establishment he can toe the corporate line. But this new hospital is all rather depressingly familiar - from Dr Madic's ferocious aversion to work, Dr Burton's knife-in-the-back ambition, right up to the pathologically insecure yet monstrously vain Professor Small, it is an environment of short tempers, back-biting and office politics - a place in which caring for patients seems secondary to caring for professional reputations.

It is November 5th, Guy Fawkes Night, 1930. Bonfires are blazing, rockets burst. In a country lane, revellers discover a car that has been set on fire. At first they assume that this is the work of vandals taking the Guy Fawkes spirit a little too far, then they notice, sitting at the wheel, a body, charred beyond recognition. The initial assumption is that the owner of the car, Mr William Hodge, a successful travelling vacuum cleaner salesman has taken his own life by flooding the car with petrol and lighting a match.

Harry Pershore knocks down a wall to create a secret garden, despite warnings from his friend who has spotted that the patch of land has been walled off for a reason and is actually an altar of sacrifice. Pershore ignores his friend’s advice and it’s not long before strange things start happening in the garden.

This year's London Marathon is my last chance to win the final place on the Olympic team. The months of rehabilitation after my injury will feel worth it to cross that line. But I wasn't expecting the man who's been making my life a living hell to be there. Last I knew, my stalker was behind bars, but he says he's going to be at the race watching. I have 26 miles to figure out whether it's him, and what he wants, or I could lose more than just the race.

A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection The Edinburgh Mystery. Father Brown joins his friend, amateur detective Flambeau, at Glengyle Castle in Scotland to investigate the mysterious death of the earl, and the mysterious behaviour of his servant, Israel Gow.

It's 1944. The Second World War is going the way of the Allies. Major Bill Evans is an intelligence officer in London working on the crucial Operation Overlord - the Allied invasion of Western Europe. When a monitored German agent goes missing, suspicion falls on the agent's landlady - and on Helen Duncan, a well-known medium the landlady has been consulting. Duncan seems to know more than a Scottish housewife should about certain aspects of the war. Is it her supposed access to the spirit world, or is she something more sinister - a Nazi sleeper agent?

Voices from the Blue tells the story of the hundred years of service of female police officers within the Metropolitan Police through the voices of the women who fought their way towards equality and won the respect of both their colleagues and the public. The authors have interviewed hundreds of former and serving policewomen and with the co-operation of the Metropolitan Police and the Women's Police Association now have access to the files and stories of thousands of former officers who served over the past hundred years.

'THRILLING . . . SHIFTS LIKE QUICKSAND UNDER YOUR FEET' Erin Kelly, author of HE SAID/SHE SAID 'SLICK AND PACEY' Renée Knight, author of DISCLAIMER A new standalone psychological thriller from Colette McBeth, whose dark, twisty and hugely compelling novels are beloved of writers like Paula...

Inspired by a sketch of a poor woman driven to madness by artist Cecchino, wealthy Madame Krasinska attends a ball in fancy dress mocking the old woman. But after the ball, she is overcome by severe depression. Could the old woman be haunting her as punishment?

Mosul, Iraq, 2016. Once ISIL’s greatest conquest but fast becoming a giant graveyard, where the difference between a gruesome death or wretched survival is just a matter of chance. As attacks by the Western coalition forces devastate the city, even senior ISIL officers like Karl realize that defeat is inevitable. On his instructions, two ISIL jihadists travel across the EU Schengen Zone, planning to bring terror to a Western European city.

Best-selling crime writer Geoffrey Gilroy is overcome with jealousy when his wife’s newfound success in the genre begins to eclipse his. Drawing upon his extensive knowledge on the subject, he meticulously plans the perfect murder that will put an end to his wife’s career—and life—once and for all.

When Carstone visits his old friend, Brendan, one night, he is intrigued by the empty house next door, which is said to be haunted. Despite his host telling him many of the spooky tales that surround the old house, he accepts a dare to spend the night at The Gables, but his bravado soon falters....

Keen to escape London to work on their respective music scores and novel, two cousins stumble across a rural holiday let that is well below their budget. But it soon proves too good to be true when something on the top landing starts spooking them and their staff.

C. N. Barham served as a minister but was also an amateur hypnotist, and in this short story, he explores how clairvoyance might be used to track lost ships at sea by regaling the story of Audacious, a brig which never reached its destination.