Showing results by narrator "John Telfer" in All Categories

It's 1999, and aspiring poet Saul Judd is living quietly in Bath with his wife, Elise, and son, Thomas. But when he wins a competition he never intended to enter, he is drawn into a web of dark forces and mysterious events.

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.

The year is Three Rabbit, and the storm is coming…The coronation war for the new Emperor has just ended in a failure, the armies retreating with a mere 40 prisoners of war - not near enough sacrifices to ensure the favour of the gods. When one of those prisoners of war dies of a magical illness, ACATL, High Priest for the Dead, is summoned to investigate.

A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection Final Acts. Detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers presents a look at morality and motive as playwright John Scales grows angrier and more resentful towards the actor who reinvented his script, and must decide how far he will allow his hatred to take him.

When a petrol yacht catches fire in the South Atlantic, its lone survivor, Patterson, swims to safety. He is relieved when he washes up on a tropical island inhabited by four other ship-wrecked characters. But when he discovers one of the men was cast adrift by the Titanic, he is forced to question where he really is and if he will be able to escape.

Out-of-work actor Harriet is recuperating from a crash-and-burn affair with Damian - aka ‘Cockweasel’ - and making ends meet as a barista when she meets two rather lovely men. Tom is a regular at the café, and seems like such a nice guy. Smooth-talking DJ Richard is older, but in great shape - a real silver fox. Deciding to take a chance on both of them, Harriet doesn’t realise at first that she is actually dating father and son.

Jamal loves to run. But one morning - as he is training on a path winding up a steep cliff - he stumbles across a woman in distress. It's a matter of seconds: suddenly she is falling through the air, crashing on the beach below.

A grisly spirit turns travelling companion for an unwitting traveller on the top deck of a London bus one bleak winter’s night in this short story.

Private detective Philip Trent, who first appeared in E.C. Bentley’s Golden Age crime classic The Woman in Black, is called upon to solve a mystery surrounding the will of a wealthy man with a particular appreciation for the work of Lewis Carroll. A string of literary clues leads Trent to suspect there was more to the man’s dying wishes than may have first appeared.

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.

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.

Three Men on a Diet is the very funny and brutally honest story of three mighty men with nothing to gain and so much to lose: a diet book with a difference. Three Men on a Diet is the story of George, Reggie and Sebastian, three middle-aged friends and food- and drink-lovers, learning how to lower their calorie intake without losing their joie de vivre. Determined to improve his looks and health before it's too late (and after being told that he looked like a pregnant bulldog), Reggie persuades the others to join him on a five-month quest to shed three stone.

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.

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.

‘To Mr Thomas Combe my sword.’ These six words in Shakespeare’s will tell us that Shakespeare had a sword. Did he wear it? Did he use it? What sort was it? When and why did he get it? What happened to it? Might it – does it – still exist? These questions plague Simon Gold, an antiques dealer. He believes he has identified the sword as belonging to a customer, an unworthy owner indifferent to cultural icons and uninterested in history. Simon is desperate to acquire the sword, but how?

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?

A traditional psychological ghost story, ‘A Phantom Lover’ tells the story of an artist who is commissioned to paint eccentric couple Mr and Mrs Oke of Okehurst. But the Okes have a dark family history, and the fateful events of two centuries previous come back to haunt them.

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.

1346. France. King Edward III is restless. Despite earlier victories the French crown remains intact. Determined to bring France under his own rule, Edward has devised a new plan of attack – one which he believes will finally bring the French army to its knees: a final, cataclysmic battle ... Berenger Fripper, Vintener of a pox-ridden mob of sixteen who make up the Vintaine of Sir John de Sully, storms the beaches of Normandy to bring victory to their king. But the French are nowhere to be seen…

An adventure ideally suited to Indiana Jones, ‘The Treasure of the Tombs’ sees three WW1 veterans return to a remote cave to recover hidden gold, but the tomb is cursed.