Showing results by narrator "Sandra Duncan" in All Categories

May 1937, and London prepares to crown a new king. At the height of the Coronation celebrations, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose is called to the BBC to investigate the murder of a famous broadcaster, a death which Josephine Tey suspects is linked to a decade-old scandal. With Archie's hands tied by politics, it is left to Josephine to get to the truth. Soon she is forced to confront at first-hand the deadly consequences of love, deceit and betrayal.

Frances Shore is a cartographer by trade, a maker of maps, but when her husband's work takes her to Saudi Arabia she finds herself unable to map the Kingdom's areas of internal darkness. The regime is corrupt and harsh, and the streets are not a woman's territory; so she becomes confined in her flat. As her days empty of certainty and purpose, her life becomes a blank – waiting to be filled by violence and disaster.

Spain, 1939: Following the wishes of her parents to keep her safe during the war, a young girl, Julia, enters a convent in Barcelona. Looking for a way to maintain her links to the outside world, she volunteers to help in a maternity clinic. But worrying adoption practices in the clinic force Sister Julia to decide how far she will go to help those placed in her care. England, 2011: Six months after her parents' shocking death, 34-year-old journalist and jazz enthusiast Ruby Rae has finally found the strength to pack away their possessions and sell the family home. But as she does so, she unearths a devastating secret....

Evelyn and Muriel Axon, mother and daughter, lead a haunted existence. Objects of horror to their neighbours, they evade or terrorise any social worker who crosses their path. Inside their house, they pursue a covert persecution of each other, shrinking from the unseen occupants of their spare room. But change is in the air… Every Day is Mother's Day is a merciless comedy of colliding lives: of sex, death, madness, adultery and the social services.

The insights and memories of a member of the British Royal Family - HRH The Duke of Kent in conversation with Hugo Vickers about some of the key events of his life and the Queen's reign. HRH The Duke of Kent has been at the heart of the British Royal Family throughout his life. As a working...

Once a celebrated author of short stories now in his twilight years, Anthony Peardew has spent half his life collecting lost objects, trying to atone for a promise broken many years before. Realising he is running out of time, he leaves his house and all its lost treasures to his assistant Laura, the one person he can trust to fulfil his legacy and reunite the thousands of objects with their rightful owners. But the final wishes of the Keeper of Lost Things have unforeseen repercussions which trigger a most serendipitous series of encounters....

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Amanda Hodgkinson's heartbreaking novel about wartime secrets, 22 Britannia Road. Read by the actress Sandra Duncan. War changes us all, and sometimes we no longer recognise ourselves... 'Housekeeper or housewife?' the soldier asks Silvana as she...

A love affair...between Matt Shaw, self-made property tycoon, and Eliza Clark, dazzling fashion editor and one-time Deb of the Year. Their story spans sixties London, the extravagance of Milan and the lovely decaying country house that has been in Eliza's family for generations, and the source of huge trouble itself.

Dining alone in an elegant Parisian brasserie, accountant Daniel Mercier can hardly believe his eyes when President François Mitterrand sits down to eat at the table next to him. After the presidential party has gone, Daniel discovers that Mitterrand’s black felt hat has been left behind. After a few moments’ soul-searching, Daniel decides to keep the hat as a souvenir of an extraordinary evening. It’s a perfect fit, and as he leaves the restaurant Daniel begins to feel somehow...different.

Summer, 1936: Writer Josephine Tey joins her friends in Portmeirion, meeting with Alfred Hitchcock to sign a film deal. Hitchcock has a few tricks planned to keep the party entertained, but things get out of hand when a Hollywood actress is brutally murdered. As fear and suspicion take over, Chief Inspector Archie Penrose becomes unsatisfied with the investigation. Several years later another horrific murder drives Penrose back to Portmeirion to uncover the shocking truth.

September 1939, and the worries of war follow Josephine Tey to Hollywood, where a different sort of battle is raging on the set of Hitchcock's Rebecca. Then a shocking act of violence reawakens the shadows of the past, with consequences on both sides of the Atlantic, and Josephine and DCI Archie Penrose find themselves on a trail leading back to the house that inspired a young Daphne du Maurier—a trail that echoes Rebecca's timeless themes of obsession, jealousy, and murder.

Twenty-eight magical short stories to enjoy round the clock from one of the world's best-loved children's authors, Enid Blyton. Follow Edward the very brave pink teddy bear as he rescues his owner Elsie from a dark wood, meet a naughty toy clown who gets a nasty fright when he cooks some sweets...

A housewife running from years of domestic abuse. A bodyguard hired to escort a smuggled rhinoceros. A group of Islamic terrorists based in a quiet residential street. A secret government agency threatened with amalgamation within a bigger department. A retired policeman trying to get used to...

Inspector Archie Penrose has invited Josephine Tey to his family home in Cornwall, a struggling but beautiful country estate on a magnificent stretch of coastline. But death clouds the holiday from the outset. When the local theatre proves to be a stage for real-life tragedy, Archie's loyalties are divided between his friends and his job, and he and Josephine must confront the violent reality which lies beneath a seemingly idyllic community.

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LAST ORDERS AND MOTHERING SUNDAY, reissued for the first time in Scribner For forty years, Willy Chapman has struck a strange but steadfast bargain between the two poles of his life: his beautiful but emotionally damaged wife and the sweet shop he runs on a south...

‘The most dazzling biography of a female writer to have come my way for a decade…' – Financial Times ‘To be savoured for its vivid and sympathetic recreation of the tragic life and brilliant times of the gifted Mary Shelley’ – Times Literary Supplement ‘Brilliant and enthralling'...

Set off on an outdoor adventure with this collection of 30 classic tales by the world's best-loved storyteller. The perfect holiday read for children aged 7 and up! From stolen dogs and disappearing necklaces to journeys to faraway lands, these fun-filled stories are packed full of mystery and...

1st September, 1939. As the mass evacuation takes place across Britain, thousands of children leave London for the countryside. But when three little girls step off the train to 'safety' only to go missing in less than 48 hours, the reality of separation becomes more urgent and more deadly for the families they left behind in the city. In the chaos and uncertainty of war, Golden Age crime author Josephine Tey struggles with the prospect of change. 

A wonderful selection of 27 short stories about holidays by one of the world's best-loved children's authors, Enid Blyton. School's out! So go on a picnic, visit the seaside or throw coconuts at the fair in this enchanting collection of stories perfect for summer holidays...

From the double Man Booker Prize-winner, a savagely funny tale that revisits the characters from the much-loved Every Day is Mother’s Day. Muriel Axon is about to re-enter the lives of Colin Sidney and Isabel Field. It is ten years since her last tangle with them, but for Muriel this is not time enough. There are still scores to be settled, truths to be faced and vengeance to be wreaked.