Showing results by narrator "Michael Page" in All Categories

Max Tudor thought he'd left the world of deceit when he resigned from MI5 to become an Anglican priest. Then his bishop asks him to return to his Oxford college, St Luke's, to investigate the death of its chaplain, and Max realizes there's no leaving the past behind. At first, Max agrees with the official police verdict of death by natural causes. The Rev. Ace Graybill was as harmless a man as ever lived. It's difficult to see how he managed to cross anyone capable of murder.

Humans and elves, dwarves and gnomes, wizards and warriors all live and do business in the thriving, overcrowded port city of Cliff's End, to say nothing of the tourists and travelers who arrive by land and sea, passing through the metropolis on matters of business or pleasure or on quests. The hard-working, under-appreciated officers of the Cliff's End Castle Guard work day and night to maintain law and order as best they can. Arra Cynnis is the youngest child in one of the most powerful families in the wealthy district of Unicorn Precinct.

The young and headstrong D'Artagnan, having proven his bravery by dueling with each, becomes a friend of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, members of the King's Musketeers. At the urging of the woman he loves, he and his friends head for England to reclaim two diamond studs that the Queen imprudently gave to her lover, the Duke of Buckingham. However, the chief minister of King Louis XIII will resort to anything to stop the Musketeers from interfering with his plan to ruin Queen Anne’s reputation…even murder.

The East India Company was the largest commercial enterprise in British history, yet its roots in Tudor England are often overlooked. The Tudor revolution in commerce led ambitious merchants to search for new forms of investment, not least in risky overseas enterprises-and for these "adventurers" the most profitable bet of all would be on the Company. Through a host of stories and fascinating details, David Howarth brings to life the Company's way of doing business—from the leaky ships and petty seafarers of its embattled early days to later sweeping commercial success.

Waking up beside the gorgeous Savannah Jones, John is shocked to learn she was for hire, and he can't pay the price - 1000 pounds or broken legs. In desperation, he turns to best friend, Mark, for the money. Only one problem - Mark has a dagger in his back.

For the first time in a thousand years, the Kingdom of the Isles has a government and a real ruler: Prince Garric of Haft. The enemies joining against him intend to destroy not only the kingdom but humankind as well. The rebels gathering in the West outnumber the royal army and the magic they wield can strike into the heart of the palace itself, but far greater dangers lie behind those. On the far fringes of the Isles, ancient powers ready themselves for a titanic struggle in which human beings are mere pawns - or fodder! Reptilian and insect monsters from out of the ages march on the kingdom, commanded by wizards no longer human or never human at all.

In The Long Hangover, Shaun Walker provides new insight into contemporary Russia and its search for a new identity, telling the story through the country's troubled relationship with its Soviet past. Walker not only explains Vladimir Putin's goals and the government's official manipulations of history, but also focuses on ordinary Russians and their motivations. He charts how Putin raised victory in World War II to the status of a national founding myth in the search for a unifying force to heal a divided country, and shows how dangerous the ramifications of this have been.

Ebenezer Scrooge has no time for the poor or the wretched. And it's "Bah, humbug!" to anyone who wishes him a Merry Christmas. But when he turns in for the night one cold, fateful Christmas Eve, his past, present, and future converge. Three haunting guests are about to show him that the time has come to change his miserly ways - before it's too late.

In A Fatal Winter, Max Tudor - Anglican priest, former MI5 agent, and village heartthrob - investigates two deaths at Chedrow Castle. But his growing attraction to Awena Owen complicates his case, as does the recent arrival at Chedrow Castle of a raucous group of long-lost, greedy relatives, any one of whom has a motive for murder. With a cozy setting, intricate puzzles, and a handsome (non-celibate) priest doing the sleuthing, the books in this series are destined to become instant classics in the mystery world.

Rife with captivating details of survival in an icy wilderness, this reimagining of the famous 1910 expedition to the South Pole, told in Cherry's voice, is an unforgettable tale of courage and camaraderie.

More than 2,000 men, women, and children are on board. Here on the first-class promenade is millionaire John Jacob Astor, who hopes his return from Egypt with his pregnant teen bride will invite a minimum of media attention. And here, in the third-class common room, a beautiful Lebanese refugee, on her way to family in Florida, discovers first love. And there in the distance, shrouded in darkness, an ancient iceberg lies patient, awaiting its encounter.

By the time a baby is born, its brain is equipped with billions of intricately crafted neurons wired together through trillions of interconnections to form a compact and breathtakingly efficient supercomputer. Zero to Birth takes you on an extraordinary journey to the very edge of creation, from the moment of an egg's fertilization through each step of a human brain's development in the womb—and even a little beyond. As W. A. Harris guides you through the process of how the brain is built, he takes up the biggest questions that scientists have asked about the developing brain.

When Alice steps through a mirror, she enters a reflection of her world where backwards is forwards, the future is remembered, and only the opposite of logic makes sense. Increasingly befuddled, she’s challenged by the belligerent Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the nonsense rhymes of the Jabberwocky, and the discovery that she’s a pawn in a living game of chess. To become queen and find her way home, Alice must play.

Once a Knight of the Realm, Crispin Guest was stripped of his title and his lands and now must earn his living with his wits. In various corners of late fourteenth-century London, Guest has become known as the Tracker, a man who can solve any puzzle or find any missing object - for a price. Because of that reputation, Guest is sought out by Nicholas Flamel, a famed alchemist. Both Flamel's wife and his apprentice are missing, and he wants Guest to find them and bring them home.

Following the end of the First World War, Poland was wedged uncomfortably between the two dominant nations of Germany and the Soviet Union. Poland was obliged to plot and negotiate to try and prevent them from realizing their ambitions to eviscerate the country. As well as bitter ethnic battles between Germany and Poland for the political control of Upper Silesia, there were also the burning ambitions of Weimar Germany, and later Nazi Germany, to reclaim lands incorporated into the new state of Poland at Versailles.

Her parents' death has left Kelsey Langton penniless - and responsible for the well-being of her younger sister, Jean. Kelsey knows that the only way to avert their doom is to allow herself to be sold at auction. Resigned to becoming the plaything of a well-heeled gentleman, she gets more than she bargained for.

On an uncharted South Pacific island, the mad genius Doctor Moreau has found refuge. It’s here, away from London and the civilized world, that the scientist can conduct his experiments on animals without condemnation. When Edward Prendick, the sole survivor of a shipwreck, washes ashore, he bears witness to Moreau’s cruel research and its bloody, inevitable unraveling. In exploring the disquieting crossroads of scientific progress and ethical responsibility, Wells’s cautionary account about the perversion of natural order rattles audiences’ sensibilities to this day.

Lord and Lady Baaden-Boomethistle have been in residence for some weeks now, and the villagers are hoping for a return to the good old days, when the lord of the manor sprinkled benefits across the village like fairy dust. Father Max Tudor's invitation to dinner at the Hall comes as a welcome novelty; it will be his first time meeting the famous family that once held sway in the area.

This book analyzes the evolution of Russian military thought and how Russia's current thinking about war is reflected in recent crises. What Jonsson reveals is that Russia's conception of the very nature of war is now changing, as Russian elites see information warfare and political subversion as the most important ways to conduct contemporary war. Since information warfare and political subversion are below the traditional threshold of armed violence, this has blurred the boundaries between war and peace.

When the body of the glamorous film star Margot Browne washes ashore, Max's former colleague, Patrice Logan, requests his help. It's a perfect closed-circle murder: Margot must have been killed by one of the actors, stylists, scriptwriters, or second-tier royalty aboard the yacht. Patrice suspects the yacht's owner, a playboy film director she's been keeping tabs on for smuggling, but Max isn't so sure.