Showing results by narrator "Janine Birkett" in All Categories

'She's not worth more than tuppence, that child!' Those are the words that haunt Sadie Linthorpe. She is the talk of Ryhope when she arrives there, aged 17, alone, seeking work and a home in the pit village. But Sadie is keeping a secret - that she is searching for her baby girl who was taken from her at birth to be sold by the child's wicked, battleaxe grandmother when Sadie was just 15 years old.

A dawn swim turns deadly in a brand-new short story starring DCI Vera Stanhope.... Two bored cell-mates play a game with chilling results.... A hen night in an isolated cottage brings new meaning to 'I will survive'.... Why not treat yourself to a slice of murderously moreish fiction, and join us in wishing the squad many deadly returns. With stories by Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Margaret Murphy, Chris Simms and Cath Staincliffe, as well as John Baker, Chaz Brenchley and Stuart Pawson.

Everyone recognises the cry of Meg Sutcliffe as she plies her trade along the back streets of Ryhope. She learnt the ropes from her dad when he returned from the war. But when tragedy struck, Meg had no choice but to continue alone, with only her trusty dog, Spot, and beloved horse, Stella, for company. Now the meagre money she earns is the only thing that stands between her family's safety and predatory rent collector Hawk Jackson....

Who is the new family on the Seahills estate? Who is it that spends her days staring out of the window deeply regretting her bid for freedom, yet still plotting? Can Lorraine Hunt put what happened to her three months ago out of her mind to catch a vicious serial killer who scalps his victims? Will Dev be allowed to bring his plan to fulfilment and what is the real reason he turned up fresh from prison three months ago? As the Seahills residents go about their daily lives more than one plot unfurls bringing about a terrifying climax.

Eighteen-year-old Evie arrives at Post Stone Farm in December 1944, and, choosing to join the land army, she longs for quiet days. The other land girls have already formed close friendships, and Evie barely makes a ripple when trying to blend in. But it is there she falls in love with Giorgio, an Italian POW. All this changes one June evening when Corporal Norman Clark arrives at the farm, and a startling revelation thrusts Evie into the spotlight.

Eighteen-year-old Debbie Hargreaves is heading to college in Leeds, where she'll be sharing digs with three girls. Debbie soon becomes firm friends with shy Lisa, outspoken Karen and self-assured Fran. Over the coming months, the four flatmates will share tears and laughter and the drama of a new romance. At the same time, Debbie's birth mother, Fiona Norwood, is struggling to cope with four young children and her duties as a rector's wife.

Winters End should have been the perfect place for me and my husband Neil to start again. To leave the terrible secrets and guilt of our past far behind us. But from the moment we arrived in the small, isolated community, it becomes clear to me that we are not welcome here. That someone wants us to leave…

Becca’s had a hard time of it, but she has finally got her life together. She has a nice little flat, a steady job pulling pints and she’s even seeing someone new: Andy, who keeps his private life to himself but is always good for a laugh. And then Andy vanishes. When his body turns up on isolated Sunk Island, Becca learns Andy wasn’t just another punter. He was a police officer, deep undercover, investigating a drugs ring that he believed operated out of Becca’s pub.

North of England. Cumbria. Salome Delaney didn't have a great start in life. But her abusive childhood came to a tragic conclusion with the killing of her tyrant mother, Trina, by a jealous ex-boyfriend. At least, that's what the police say. Sal has never believed kind Wulf, who tried to protect her from her mother's dark side, could have committed such a crime, but the evidence was irrefutable . . . and who else could have done it? Now a Collison Investigation Officer, Sal's done her best to put the past behind her. But one snowy morning she's called to an accident scene...

She was the daughter of a preacher and a gypsy. A strange and elusive child with powers of prophecy, she grew into an even stranger woman. From those around her she inspired love and admiration or furious hatred. Nothing in between. And somehow Jassy could transform even those who loved her into her enemies. Barney Hatton, the dispossessed heir of Mortiboys, loved her but not enough. Lindy, a girl who worked there, loved her too much.

In the heart of Ashington - a bustling Geordie mining town - a handsome red-brick vicarage, surrounded by rambling gardens, stands proudly among the rows of terraced houses. It is the perfect place for playing games, keeping secrets and chasing the ghosts of previous occupants, and it will be nine-year-old Barbara's new home now that her father is to be vicar in this strange new place.

Ivy, Dulcie, Barbara, Ann, Dorothy and Jean all had different reasons for applying to work at Carr’s biscuits, but once they had put on their overalls and walked through the factory gates they discovered a community full of life, laughter and friendship. To those who didn’t know, the biscuit factory that towered over Carlisle might look like just another slice of the industrial North, a noisy and chaotic place with workers trooping in and out at all hours.

Battered, bruised and washed up on the banks of a remote loch, the Lullaby Girl doesn't know who or where she is. She doesn't speak. She only sings a haunting Danish lullaby over and over again. When her shocking story hits the headlines, the Lullaby Girl is hot news. Everyone wants to know who she is. Strangers donate money for her care, and the media are breaking down the door to get to her.

When Britain declares war on Germany in 1939, Carolyn Maddison is still a schoolgirl. Her elder brother, Alastair, wastes no time in joining the RAF as a flying officer, and Carolyn decides that when she is 18 she will follow him into the service by joining the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. While reporting to the Air Ministry in London, she meets a good-looking, charismatic pilot, Charlie Wade, currently employed in propaganda work.

1964. Detective Sergeant Harry Barnard has been ordered to track down notorious Soho club owner Ray Robertson, who hasn't been seen for several days. The case takes on a greater urgency when a battered body is discovered at the gym Ray owns. Is Ray the killer, or is he a victim?

It's 1963. A badly mutilated corpse is discovered on the site of the new Centre Point Tower currently under construction in London's West End. Fingers and toes severed, it has all the hallmarks of a gangland killing. But Detective Sergeant Harry Barnard isn't convinced. At the same time, young photographer Kate O'Donnell's current assignment with the crime reporter of a national newspaper is causing a rift in her relationship with Harry Barnard.

Westmorland - winter, 1922. After her mother dies unexpectedly, Florence Grainger is abandoned by her stepfather at an isolated farm owned by the Dalbys. He leaves her with nothing but an old red coat belonging to her late mother...and her tenacious gypsy spirit. It is far too dangerous for a young woman to travel the roads alone, and Florence stays on the farm until an incident with the owner forces her to leave.

The Davies family is as dysfunctional as they come. When Frank marries a younger woman, Susan, his 10-year-old daughter, Louise, feels pushed out, and even more so when baby Karen arrives. Now, years later, with her father gone, Louise feels even more the odd one out. Obsessed with finding her birth mother, she distances herself from her family and spitefully makes trouble for Karen whenever the opportunity arises.

Nineteen-year-old Panda is planning to meet her suicide buddy, Marty, at midnight. Until then, she wants to experience Last Summer Night in Kirkwall, when, according to local legend, all those who should never be allowed out, come out. She encounters some interesting people: Sigurd and his feuding Viking family; her tattooed friend Martin, who is actually a girl and a criminal, of sorts; Noah, a visiting reporter and sometime relationship counsellor; Davey, an itinerant and talkative 84-year-old; and her father’s new girlfriend, Sandy.