Showing results by narrator "David Thorpe" in All Categories

On top investment bank Bloomfield Weiss’ training programme in New York, Chris and Lenka had become part of a close-knit gang of ambitious trainees. But then one of the gang died during a drunken boat trip, and the rest were left to cover up the truth. Ten years later a helpless Chris watches Lenka die in a Prague street. With his friend and business partner dead, Chris not only has to fight to keep his company afloat in the face of nervous investors but must also discover who is behind Lenka’s murder.

Almost every aspect of business - and indeed human life - involves negotiating skills, whether you are striking a deal, organising a team working on a project, seeking a pay rise or a pay-off, or simply settling such important matters as who is going to do the shopping or the household chores.

This witty and intelligent guide looks at the theory and practice of negotiating and provides a wealth of illuminating insights into the skills and psychology of negotiation that can make all the difference to how successful you are.

The spiritualist movement has captivated a segment of society: manifestations, the occult, and “sensitives” are in vogue. But the séance sites seem to be targeted for burglaries. Then, while Cribb is on the case, someone murders the medium. There was a great vogue for table-turning and getting in touch with the dead in Victorian times, and this lent itself to fraud, at the very least. It seemed inevitable that Cribb and Thackeray should take part in a séance at some stage. They come to it indirectly, following an art theft.

Bob, Wendy and the team have a new project – to build a treehouse for Saffi! Saffi has drawn up her own exciting designs and wants the treehouse to be the new headquarters for the Spring City Rockets. There’s a lot to do, so the team quickly get to work but the excitement proves too much for Saffi, who just can’t wait to explore her new treehouse before it’s ready. Luckily, Wendy and Bob are on hand to save the day.

1936. Devastated by the death of her brother Hugh, Emma seeks to keep his memory alive by embracing his dreams of a communist revolution. But when she marries an ambitious diplomat, she must live within the confines of embassy life in Paris and Nazi Berlin. 1979. Emma's grandson, Phil, dreams of a tour of Europe, but is nowhere near being able to fund it. So when his beloved grandmother determines to make one last trip to the places she lived, and to try to solve a mystery that has haunted her since the war, he jumps at the chance to accompany her.

As the Great War grinds to its bloody finale, DI Hardcastle is encumbered with a frustrating and complicated investigation... March, 1918. The Great War is grinding slowly to its bloody finale. Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle, head of the Whitehall Division of the Metropolitan Police, is called to a body is recovered from the Thames. Mavis Parker, the victim’s attractive widow, proves to be a good-time girl, and to complicate matters, all the suspects seem to be known to each other, including a South African who purports to be an actor.

Newly appointed as land agent to the youthful Lord Croft, Matthew Rowsley finds plenty to keep him busy as he attends to his lordship's neglected country estate. But he's distracted from his tasks by the disappearance of a young housemaid. Has Maggie really eloped with a young man, as her mother attests - or is the truth rather more sinister? What's been going on behind the scenes at the grand country estate and where has his lordship disappeared to?

The king's coronation brings hope. Until a murderer strikes. Spring 1661: After years of civil war followed by Oliver Cromwell's joyless rule as Lord Protector, England awaits the coronation of King Charles II. The mood in London is one of relief and hope for a better future. But when two respectable gentlemen are found in a foul lane with their throats cut, it becomes apparent that England's enemies are using the newly re-established post office for their own ends.

When Eddy Stone finds a pirate in his Gran’s bath, his miserable summer holiday turns into a treasure hunt. Setting sail in a ship-shaped shed, crewed by an old lady and a grumpy penguin, what could possibly stop them? (Apart from the world’s most evil shopkeeper, a man-eating beast, and the maddest, baddest villain in all the seven seas.) All aboard for an EPIC adventure....

London, 1884: A series of bomb blasts in public places is causing mayhem throughout the city. Even Scotland Yard’s CID office becomes a target, throwing suspicion on Constable Thackeray. The primary suspects are Irish terrorists seeking independence, but could the villain be someone else? A beautiful Irish woman? An American athlete? Sergeant Cribb reluctantly enrolls in a bomb-making course and infiltrates the Dynamite Party.

1957. Lord James Harrington and his wife, Beth, run a country hotel in the village of Cavendish, deep in the heart of West Sussex. James and Beth are discussing the latest Cavendish Players production, The Devil Incarnate, when their cleaner informs them that farmer Alec Grimes is missing.

The ordered calm of Gloucester Abbey is shattered by the murder of one of the monks. The Abbey becomes paralysed with fear and the Abbot is ill-equipped to deal with such a heinous crime, especially as suspicion inevitably falls on the brothers themselves. Ralph Delchard, a former soldier in the era-defining Battle of Hastings, and Gervase Bret, an accomplished lawyer, are investigating a local land dispute when news of the vicious murder reaches them.

Makana, a former police inspector who fled from Sudan to Cairo, lives on a rickety Nile houseboat. When the notorious and powerful Saad Hanafi hires him to track down a missing person, Makana is in no position to refuse him. Hanafi is the owner of Cairo’s star-studded football team; his most valuable player has just vanished and Adil Romario’s disappearance threatens to bring down not only Hanafi’s private empire but the entire country. But why should the city’s most powerful man hire its lowliest private detective?

When their dog goes missing during a day trip to London, the Walker family are forced to accept that they may never see Henry again. But as the family search for their beloved pet, the reality of what has happened to Henry never even crosses their minds: Henry has been mistaken for one of the Queen's prized corgis.

Charlie and Sarah are bored. They live in the middle of nowhere, with their dull grandparents who refuse to let them do anything exciting. But one day, adventure comes knocking when their grandparents are captured by the most terrifying pirate of all time - Vladimir Death Pirate. Charlie and Sarah launch an immediate rescue mission, setting sail to find their grandparents...in a bathtub!

Passengers boarding the 10.35 train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston have no idea that their journey is about to be brutally curtailed. Holly has just landed her dream job, and Jeff is heading for an interview after months of unemployment. They end up sitting next to each other.

A woman is on trial for her life, accused of murder. The 12 members of the jury each carry their own secret burden of guilt and prejudice which could affect the outcome. In this extraordinary crime novel, we follow the trial through the eyes of the jurors as they hear the evidence and try to reach a unanimous verdict. Will they find the defendant guilty or not guilty? And will the jurors' decision be the correct one?

A Dead Man in Deptford re-imagines the riotous life and suspicious death of Christopher Marlowe. Poet, lover, and spy, Marlowe must negotiate the pressures placed upon him by theatre, Queen, and country. Burgess brings this dazzling figure to life and pungently evokes Elizabethan England.

From the vaults of the British Library comes a new anthology celebrating the best works of forgotten, never-since-republished supernatural fiction from the early 20th century. Waiting within are malevolent spirits eager to possess the living and mysterious spectral guardians - a diverse host of phantoms exhumed from the rare pages of literary magazines and newspaper serials to thrill once more.

During her lifetime Violet Paget, who wrote as Vernon Lee, was referred to as 'the greatest of modern exponents of the supernatural in fiction', and yet today she remains on the periphery of the genre. This collection of her uniquely weird short stories and dark fantasies proves why she was once considered among the best of the genre, and why she deserves to return to those ranks today.