Showing results by author "Ian Shimwell" in All Categories

King Henry VIII is inconsolable over the loss of his beloved queen, Jane Seymour. He banishes himself to the lower-levels of Whitehall Palace and refuses to see or speak to anyone. A deeply concerned Cromwell has a desperate plan: To send down the old court jester, the unstable Will Sommers, into the darkness, to somehow help. Meanwhile, Cromwell's enemies at court are gathering. Henry's grief regresses into a strange kind of manic madness. But can a fool really save the King?

Before... A young woman cycles precariously through a snowy wonderland, carrying the most precious gift of all... After... A troubled family encounter a stranger on the bleakest of Christmas Eves - a man who knows far more about them than he possibly could. And what exactly is this "gift of Christmas" he so reverently speaks of...?

Meet all the engines, characters big and small, in this collection of all six stories from The Engine Series. Puff along with engines Little Titch, Gideon, Toc Toc, Rust Bucket, and Sally Steamy, and don't forget Minnie Millie, the engine lookerafterer.

A new recruit is assigned to be Hitler's personal bodyguard.

What is so special about Space Pilot Harrys? True, he values his individuality above anything else. He is even weary of being one-bonded with his female. But, just before the dawn of the next millennium, Harrys' belief system is about to be blown wide apart. Because, across the immense vastness of Space, the Prime is waiting for him...

The Compound consists of 23 males and 23 females. The same Routines are rigidly followed every single 24 Hour Block. The Compound's Rules must always be obeyed. And Sexual Relief is only allowed to happen between the same sex. Male 13 slowly starts to quietly question the world of the Compound. He wonders if there could be more to life other than Work, Eat and Repeat. And, Compound-forbid, could he dare to risk everything, and ever attempt to have Sexual Relief with a female..?

Sally Steamy is an engine who doesn't seem to like Christmas at all. Sally wants to keep herself busy and believe Christmas is just another day. Can Little Titch and a magical Christmas adventure somehow change her mind?

Say hello to Little Titch, the small engine with a big heart. Little Titch feels very small next to his good friend, the kind and very big engine, Gideon. But when Gideon forgets something important, it's up to the littlest of little engines to save the day....

At last, after 165 years, the sequel to The Man in the Iron Mask... 17th Century France, two years after D'Artagnan's death: Deep beneath the Palais de Versailles, Aramis is shocked and astonished by the directives of D'Artagnan's Legacy. To follow, he must betray his honour; his King and, perhaps most damning of all, his fellow Musketeers. The Sun King will be eclipsed by darkness once more... Or can the ageing Musketeers really reunite, for one last time - for the glory of France?

The powerful Council of Nobles are humbled by an enigmatic cloaked figure. A unique felled tree, deep in the heart of Sherwood Forest, holds the secret to a revolutionary bow. The Sheriff of Nottingham aims to cleverly meld those two events into one dramatic vision: to be finally rid of Robin Hood and his band of irritating outlaws. And he is more than willingly assisted by the menacing, and Robin's rival for the affections of Marion, Sir Guy of Gisbourne.

A missing girl... The manipulative aristocrat, Marcus Dreadbury. A local gangster with a drug-dealing problem. The Manor's locked room, with a dusty handle. Stables, but with no sign of any horses. A subterranean stream. Marcus' madcap father. And a Manor-House full of surprises. Trench and Old Tom must somehow make the connection, if they are to succeed at playing find-the lady...

Minnie Millie is the station cleaner who likes to look after her engine friends. But her friends, Little Titch and Gideon, want to know just who is it who controls all the Mainland engines. To find out, they must go all the way to the Big City, where the biggest surprise of all is waiting for them....

Gideon is a big, kind engine with a huge crane arm. But when he meets an even bigger engine, Massive Mandy, she is always very rude to him. With the help of his friends, can Gideon somehow find the softer side of the bad-tempered engine?

I am Claire. I am a 12-year-old girl. I meet a new friend, Mel, and we slowly investigate a mystery, which becomes very Victorian...

Rust Bucket is an old engine who lives on a lost railway. Little Titch wakes up on an old, rusty railway track. He doesn't know where he is or how he even came to be there. Back home, Gideon and Minnie Millie desperately search for their friend. Can they ever find the lost little engine?

Toc Toc is a clockwork engine who holds the secret to the tick and the tock. Little Titch, Gideon, and Minnie Millie come to the Clockwork Village with a cog, spindle, and wheel to fix the Great Clock. But what lies behind the towering clock face? And why, for a clockwork village, is there neither a tick nor a tock?

Little Titch and Gideon snuggle up for a bedtime story. And Minnie Millie tells her engines a story of a clockwork engine coming to life and of a clockmaker trying to make the Great Clock work in time before the Clockwork Village itself runs out of its tick and its tock.

Over 90 years ago, an abandoned boy does not last the night on the bitterly cold, snowy streets. Modern-day Stokeham is gripped by a relentless blizzard. Trench and Debsy struggle through the snow to interview a stranded medium - psychic Derek.

Lord and Lady Cranleigh come to Baker Street with an intriguing mystery for Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Their debutante stepdaughter suddenly disappeared 10 years ago seemingly without a trace. They consult the detecting pair to finally discover what has actually happened to her.

Who is Old Tom? A sad and lonely fusspot? Or a forgotten figure whose bewildering deductive abilities hint at something more? Does he ever leave his armchair? Why is he only ever seen or heard by engaging local newspaper reporter Trench? And what surprising secret are the Mayflower Court Flats really hiding?