Showing results by narrator "John Telfer" in All Categories

Victorian London, 1882. Five years ago, crusading lawyer Cage Lackmann successfully defended Moses Pickering against a charge of murder. Now, a body is found bearing all the disturbing hallmarks of that victim - and Pickering is missing. Did Cage free a brutal murderer? Cage's reputation is in tatters, and worse, he is implicated in this new murder by the bitter detective who led the first failed case. Left with no other alternative, Cage must find Pickering to prove his innocence.

Much has been written about the Knights Templar in recent years. A leading specialist in the history of this legendary medieval order now writes a full account of the Knights of the Order of the Temple of Solomon, to give them their full title, bringing the latest findings to a general audience. Putting many of the myths finally to rest, Nicholson recounts a new history of these storm troopers of the papacy, founded during the crusades but who got so rich and influential

The first volume of Parade's End introduces the central characters: Christopher Tietjens, a brilliant, unconventional mathematician; his dazzling but unfaithful wife Sylvia; and the young Suffragette Valentine Wannop. It starts with the cataclysmic meeting of Tietjens and Valentine: a weekend whose violence prefigures the coming war.

Behind the stage lights and word-perfect soliloquies, sinister secrets are lurking in the wings. The mysteries in this collection reveal the dark side to theatre and performing arts: a world of backstage dealings, where unscrupulous actors risk everything to land a starring role, costumed figures lead to mistaken identities, and on-stage deaths begin to look a little too convincing. This expertly curated thespian anthology features 14 stories from giants of the classic crime genre.

Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great were two of the greatest generals Rome had ever produced. Together they had brought vast stretches of territory under Roman dominion. In 49 BC they turned against each other and plunged Rome into civil war. In this audiobook, Adrian Goldsworthy relates the gripping story of this desperate power struggle. Drawing on original accounts of the war, he examines how legion was pitched against legion in a vicious battle for political domination of the vast Roman world.

1937: Hitler sent an expedition to Tibet in search of the lost land of Thule. 1941: Himmler spent a huge fortune, and sacrificed the lives of hundreds to turn Wewelsburg Castle in Germany into a shrine to the SS. 2008: Art recovery expert Jamie Saintclair is astonished to discover that the gentle grandfather he thought he knew was a decorated war hero, serving in the Special Air Service in World War Two. And his grandfather has one more surprise.

The Saint is on holiday in Naples when a brawl interrupts his lunch; a tweedy English tourist has casually addressed an Italian as Dino Cartelli - provoking the paunchy individual so named to set his hulking henchman on the bewildered Briton. The Saint intervenes, and soon the disagreement is all but forgotten...until the following morning’s newspaper headlines reveal that the Englishman has been murdered.

John Morris' new book is an investigation into the Clydach murders in South Wales in 1999 in which Mandy Power, her mother and her two daughters were battered to death. Dai Morris was tried twice for these cruel murders and finally convicted in 2006. Yet John Morris, a legal specialist, is certain that Dai Morris is innocent. No fingerprint evidence or DNA connected Morris to the crime; his conviction was based on the lack of a solid alibi, the presence of his gold chain in Power's house and the lies he initially told the police in explanation.

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.

In the smoke-wreathed gloom of a Parisian salon, Detective Bencolin has summoned his allies to discuss a peculiar case. A would-be murderer, imprisoned for his attempt to kill his wife, has escaped and is known to have visited a plastic surgeon. His whereabouts remain a mystery, though with his former wife poised to marry another, Bencolin predicts his return. Sure enough, the detective's worst suspicions are realised when the beheaded body of the new suitor is discovered in a locked room of the salon, with no apparent exit.

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) is generally regarded as the greatest intellectual ever to have appeared in the Arab world - a genius who ranks as one of the world's great minds. Yet the author of the Muqaddima, the most important study of history ever produced in the Islamic world, is not as well known as he should be, and his ideas are widely misunderstood. In this groundbreaking intellectual biography, Robert Irwin provides an engaging and authoritative account of Ibn Khaldun's extraordinary life, times, writings, and ideas.

Hugh Everton was intent on nothing more than quietly drinking in the second-rate hotel he found himself in on England's south coast—and then in walked his old flame Lucy and her new husband and ex-Judge, Gregory Bath. Entreated by Lucy to join her party for an evening back at the Bath residence, Hugh is powerless to resist, but when the night ends with the judge's inexplicable murder he is pitched back into a world of chaos and crime—a world he had tried to escape for good.

In this biography of Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, A. N. Wilson narrates the complex drama of the writer's life: his childhood of aristocratic privilege but emotional deprivation, his discovery of his literary genius after aimless years of gambling and womanizing, and his increasingly disastrous marriage. Wilson sweeps away the long-held belief that Tolstoy's works were the exact mirror of his life and instead traces the roots of Tolstoy's art to his relationship with God, with women, and with Russia.

Straightforward guide to understanding PDA for anyone needing an overview of the condition. Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome (PDA) is a developmental disorder that is being increasingly recognised as part of the autism spectrum. The main characteristic is a continued resistance to the ordinary demands of life through strategies of social manipulation, which originates from an anxiety-driven need to be in control.

Our students’ success will be defined by their ability to read fluently and skilfully. But despite universal acceptance of reading’s vital importance, the reading gap in our classroom remains, and it is linked to an array of factors, such as parental wealth, education, book ownership, as well as classroom practice. To close this gap, we need to ensure that every teacher has the knowledge and skill to teach reading with confidence.

When the San Angelo drifts into port in the Thames Estuary, telephones begin to ring across the capital and an intricate series of events is set in motion. Beset by dreadful storms in the Bay of Biscay, the ship, along with the 'mixed cargo' it carries, is late. Unaware of the machinations of avaricious importers, wayward captains and unscrupulous traders, Harry Reed and June Harvey are thrust together by a riverside accident, before being swept into the current of a dark plot developing on the dockside.

Oscar is having the worst holiday ever. So when his dad suggests the family go on a haunted tour of York, he jumps at the chance of doing something that doesn't involve trailing round gift shops. But the ghost walk turns out to have a haunting twist.... A terrifying ghost story that will chill your blood, from acclaimed author Matt Haig.

In this collection of six stories, the fireworks go off with a bang. There's a murky tale of blackmail at a candy convention; a chance to turn the tables on an unscrupulous real-estate broker; a confidence trickster with a keen grasp of maths; a scientific invention that is too good to be true; some respectable ladies with a secret to be kept; and a criminal lawyer who's perhaps too close to the criminals he represents.

The Saint is back - fifty audiobooks are now available starring the debonair classic crime hero. Simon Templar is the Saint - daring, dazzling, and just a little disreputable. On the side of the law, but standing outside it, he dispenses his own brand of justice one criminal at a time. When the Saint and Patricia spot a country house on fire they rush to help, but are too late to rescue one man trapped inside.

The Saint is back – 50 audiobooks are now available starring the debonair classic crime hero. Simon Templar is the Saint - daring, dazzling, and just a little disreputable. On the side of the law, but standing outside it, he dispenses his own brand of justice one criminal at a time. The Saint never asks for adventures, but they will keep happening to him, and these three classic stories force him into action once more.