Showing results by narrator "Colin Mace" in All Categories

We talk about the weather a lot. It exasperates, confounds, and on occasion delights us. Our national conversation is dominated by the weather, but how much do we really know about it? Charlie Connelly sets off on the trail of our island obsession: He breezes through the lives of meteorological eccentrics, geniuses, rainmakers, and cloud-busters and brings vividly to life great weather events from history.

Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown's schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents - horsemanship, facility with foreign languages, and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century despite trying his utmost to escape them all.

In modern espionage, every action has a reaction. One wrong move could sink an entire region into turmoil – even war. Former MI5 operative Marc Dane understands this better than anyone. Dedicating your life to protecting the country means collecting enemies and a lot of them. But for those hell-bent on bringing the West to its knees, each failed plot has one common denominator: private intelligence agency The Rubicon Group, Dane's employer. Only if Rubicon crumbles will their path truly be clear.

Following the unprecedented and universal acclaim for The Lord of the Rings, the respected academic and world-renowned Tolkien scholar Professor Tom Shippey presents us with a fascinating and informed companion to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien, in particular focusing on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Written in a clear and accessible style, J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century reveals why all of these books will be timeless.

One time king of the underworld, Jack Spot was known as one of the most powerful criminals in Britain—amassing incredible wealth, and being associated with a string of women, throughout his 30-year career. From taking to the streets of London in the thirties and associating with the pantheon of criminals who led the '60s organisations, Jack Spot’s tale is a gripping cocktail of dastardly crimes and glamourous associations.

On 14 June 2017, a 24-storey block of flats went up in flames. The fire climbed up cladding as flammable as solid petrol. Fire doors failed to self-close. No alarm rang out to warn sleeping residents. As smoke seeped into their homes, all were told to ‘stay put'. Many did–and they died. It was a disaster decades in the making. Peter Apps exposes how a steady stream of deregulation, corporate greed and institutional indifference caused this tragedy. It is the story of a grieving community forsaken by our government, a community still waiting for change.

#taken in the night: They thought they were kidnapping the mistress of one of London’s most powerful gangsters. But they’ve taken the wrong woman. And crossed the wrong detective. #taken underground: Detective Max Wolfe's hunt for the missing woman takes him from New Scotland Yard’s legendary Black Museum to the glittering mansions of career criminals, from sleazy strip joints to secret sex dungeons - and to unspeakably dark deeds committed decades ago.

Ex-British Army Soldier, John Carney, ran a close protection operation in Iraq for oil executives when he was asked by the family of a young Dutch woman to extract her from the collapsing Islamic State in Syria. Hearing first-hand of the shocking living hell of tricked naive young girls, many from the West, trapped, sexually abused and enslaved by ISIS, he knew only one thing - he had to get them out. Armed with AK-47s and 9mm Glocks, he launched a daring, dangerous and deadly operation to free as many as he could.

Marc and his partner - former US Delta Force sniper Lucy Keyes - are pitted against their most terrifying challenge yet when a genius bio-researcher with the ability to create a deadly biological weapon is kidnapped by a ruthless terrorist. Their desperate search for the missing scientist takes them across the world, from the desolate wilderness of Iceland to the slums of the Near East and the dark underbelly of a fracturing Europe, where they will discover a shocking atrocity in the making.

Egypt, 25 BC. Titus Cervianus marches into the unknown as he and the Twenty Second Legion contend with the armies of the Bellatrix: the Warrior Queen of Kush. The Kushites and the Egyptians are united against the Roman presence in their lands—but there are complex political and military forces at work. Deep in the deserts, Cervianus and his comrades must brace themselves for a furious onslaught as they take on the might of the Bellatrix.

An insightful, comprehensive and always entertaining appreciation of how European football has developed over the last three decades by the author of the much heralded The Mixer. Continental football has always cast a spell over the imagination. From the attacking flair of Real Madrid of the '50s to the defensive brilliance of the Italians in the '60s and on to the total football of the Dutch in the '70s, the European leagues have been where the game has most evolved and taken its biggest steps forward.

Bordeaux, 1367. Having angered the bloodthirsty Don Pedro, King of Castile, Sir Thomas Blackstone is thoroughly sick of his mission for the Prince of Wales, but must remain true to his oath. But this is the Hundred Years' War, and tensions are rising once more. With the Prince of Wales deeply unpopular in his Aquitainian lands, Blackstone, King Edward's Master of War, must return to French soil to help stem the tide of support for the King of France. Meanwhile, Henry, Blackstone's son, faces an incognito ride across France with his own motley band of outlaws and mercenaries.

To his many thousands of fans, ex-SAS officer Ben Hope stands tall as a hero, a warrior, a protector of the innocent, a defender of those in need, relentless in his pursuit of those who exploit or do evil to others.

Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown's schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents - horsemanship, facility with foreign languages, and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all. If only Flashman had got on with his dinner and ignored the handkerchief dropped by a flirtatious hussy in a Calcutta hotel....

To his many thousands of fans, ex-SAS officer Ben Hope stands tall as a hero, a warrior, a protector of the innocent, a defender of those in need, relentless in his pursuit of those who exploit or do evil to others. But Ben Hope is also a man with flaws and weaknesses that we can all recognise all too well. That’s what makes Ben Hope not only one of the best-liked thriller heroes of modern fiction, but the one that readers say they feel they know as though he were a real, living person and more than a character on a page.

Move over Jason Bourne, Marc Dane is here.... A vicious Serbian gang whose profits come from fake nuclear weapons. A disgraced Russian general, with access to the real thing. A vengeful Somali warlord, with a cause for which he'd let the world burn. A jaded government agency, without the information to stop him. Only one man sees what's coming. And even he might not be able to prevent it....

Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown's schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents - horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the nineteenth century despite trying his utmost to escape them all. Flashman, soldier, duellist, lover, imposter, coward, cad, and hero triumphs in this first installment of The Flashman Papers.

Dark waters hide deadly secrets. When the headmistress of a Portsmouth school is found brutally murdered on an old structure in the middle of Langstone Harbour, Detective Andy Horton of Portsmouth CID is assigned to the case. The victim, discovered with a note with the words ‘Have you forgotten ME?’, was a steely, determined woman who made enemies on her path to success. But did any of them hate her enough to want her dead?With the clock ticking and Superintendent Uckfield pressing for results, Horton is forced to make a decision that will put his life on the line.

Eight years ago, James McCready was convicted of killing his partner, Gary Meadows. But McCready has always claimed that the stabbing was a tragic accident and, when fresh evidence comes to light, he wins his appeal for a retrial. Detective Inspector Pat North is assigned to the reinvestigation. But when North discovers that her partner, Detective Superintendent Mike Walker, led the original police inquiry, their fledgling relationship is put to the test - particularly when she starts to suspect that he is covering something up.

Flashman must choose - politcs in London or slave trading in Africa - not that it matters really in this hilarious third installement of the Flashman Papers. When Flashman was inveigled into a game of pontoon with Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck, he was making an unconscious choice about his own future - would it lie in the House of Commons or the West African slave trade? Was there, for that matter, very much difference?