Showing results by narrator "Rayner Bourton" in All Categories

Every morning, the same path, the same route, the same time. Except when a wrong turning changes one man’s life for ever...When Steve Ellison discovers the body of a neighbour’s six-year-old daughter - who strongly resembles a child who disappeared in similar circumstances 26 years earlier - it unleashes a sequence of events that turns his life upside down, overwhelms his family, and the local community alike. DCI Neil Hunter immediately begins his investigation and the media invade Steve’s privacy, leaving him stunned, bewildered and...the prime murder suspect.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in 1870. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, it focuses more on Drood's uncle, John Jasper, a precentor, choirmaster and opium addict, who is in love with his pupil, Rosa Bud. Miss Bud, Edwin Drood's fiancée, has also caught the eye of the high-spirited and hot-tempered Neville Landless. Landless and Edwin Drood take an instant dislike to each other. Later Drood disappears under mysterious circumstances.

A Child's History of England is a book by Charles Dickens. It first appeared in serial form in Household Words, running from 25 January 1851 to 10 December 1853. Dickens also published the work in book form in three volumes: the first volume on 20 December 1851, the second on 25 December 1852 and the third on 24 December 1853. Although the volumes were published in December, each was postdated the following year. Dickens dedicated the book to "My own dear children, whom I hope it may help, bye and bye, to read with interest larger and better books on the same subject".

Rayner Bourton, original Rocky Horror and all 'round nice guy, has released this wonderful new book with his memories of the early days of The Rocky Horror Show. It gives a brilliant insight from the first auditions though the original Theatre Upstairs production to the Kings Road shows. For the true Rocky Horror fans, this book is a mine of information.

"The Empire of the Ants" is a disturbing tale about a new species of giant ants in South America which have evolved to use tools and weapons, wear clothes, communicate and organize themselves as a deadly fighting machine. And their chosen enemy is mankind...

G.K. Chesterton was one of the towering figures of British literature in the early twentieth century. A man of massive size, massive personality, and massive appetite, Chesterton famous personality, dress, and personality gave rise to an eponymous adjective: Chestertonian. Although he is renowned for the Father Brown detective series, Chesterton also wrote volumes of nonfiction. First published in 1917, A Short History of England is exactly that, serving Chesterton's goal of publishing "a popular book of history written from the standpoint of a member of the public."

Nicola never imagines herself as a widow in her mid-thirties. Losing her husband to a sudden illness shatters her world, but then she unexpectedly meets up with Matt, her childhood love. As they reconnect after years apart, Nicola finds herself drawn to his easy charm and gentle demeanour. Despite the guilt she feels for moving on so quickly after her husband's death, she can't help but fall for him. Their affair is passionate and all-consuming, but just as Matt finally decides to leave Michelle his wife, Michelle disappears without trace.

DI Barbara Forster returns home to Cumbria for the first time since a personal tragedy shattered her small Lake District village. Tragedy strikes again when her teenage goddaughter Katya vanishes under circumstances that mirror the disappearance of Barbara’s teenage friend 10 years earlier, during a charity fun run on bonfire night - still an unsolved case. Convinced there is a link, Barbara is determined to find the missing girl and answers to the past.

DI Barbara Forster is investigating a chilling cold case, but what at first seems an isolated child's death soon becomes a conspiracy of secrets and lies. And not only does she have to outmaneuver the agendas of powerful associates, including investigative journalist Alice Myers, who is hell-bent on a major scoop, she also has to confront the demons of her own past. Within days, three young women are found dead in suspicious circumstances, leaving behind suicide notes, and Barbara finds herself caught up in one of the darkest, most harrowing cases of her career.

A complex psychological thriller packed with suspense and a plot that twists and turns like an octopus. On 7th July 2005, a man disappears, believed dead, in the London bombings. Some years later, a freelance journalist recognizes his photograph in a newspaper - the man she has just seen in a café. From that second, Alice’s life will be changed forever in ways she could never have foreseen. Immediately she is pitched into a race against time that takes her from London, across Britain and into the heart of a mystery - the reason for his disappearance on that fateful day.

An English family have just moved to a house in India. They find Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the mongoose flooded out of his burrow. A pair of large cobras, Nag and Nagaina, attempt unsuccessfully to kill him. He hears the cobras plotting to kill the father in the house, and attacks Nag in the bathroom. The sound of the fight attracts the father, who shoots Nag. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi destroys Nagaina's eggs and chases her into her "rat-hole" where he kills her too.

The young daughter of a local doctor is killed - shoved into an icy, fast-flowing river and cold-bloodedly left to die. Her parents stubbornly deny any involvement. The child’s father is so focused on his right to remain silent that DCI Neil Hunter, DI Barbara Forster, and DC Matt Walsh begin to wonder if he wants the truth uncovered - or ensure it remains buried. The mother, too, has her own reasons for keeping the truth dead and buried. Then, within days, a boy is also murdered, and all three officers find themselves caught up in one of the most harrowing cases of their careers.

Rebekah and Mark Walker find themselves in every parent’s worst nightmare when their dazzling, talented daughter Kezia vanishes after a night out. Soon, they are propelled into the vortex of a fraught missing person inquiry. In a family torn apart by the disappearance of an apparently captivating teenager, we discover a tangled web of intrigue: mutual suspicion, sibling struggles, and the vain attempt of Kezia's parents to maintain a normal life in the face of almost unendurable pressures.

Written in the late 19th century by H. G. Wells and first published in The Butterfly (September 1899), (and collected in The Obliterated Man and Other Stories, [Dec 1925]), A Vision of Judgment is a short story in 9 sections. It portrays a Last Judgment in which God and the archangel Gabriel laugh at sinners and saints alike, embarrassing them until they flee "up the sleeve of God." After every human soul has taken shelter there, all of humanity, "enlightened" and "in new clean bodies," is given a second chance.

After 15 years of self-imposed exile in Canada, successful businessman Nick Lawrence returns to the Derbyshire village where he grew up, to rescue a company on the verge of bankruptcy and its workforce from mass unemployment. But, it soon becomes clear why he left. He was convicted and later acquitted of the murder of his girlfriend Emily, the daughter of Oliver Fleming - owner of the failing company that is still determined to prove he was guilty all along.

'... slowly uncoiling their tentacles... and making a soft purring sound to each other' A disgusting account of a school of giant squid attacking a seaside resort, and two other examples of Wells' extraordinary imagination at work - 'The Magic Shop' and 'The Land Ironclads'.

Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life is the first book by American writer Herman Melville, published first in London, then New York, in 1846. Considered a classic in travel and adventure literature, the narrative is partly based on the author's actual experiences on the island Nuku Hiva in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands in 1842, liberally supplemented with imaginative reconstruction and adaptation of material from other books. The title comes from the valley of Taipivai, once known as Taipi.

Praised for her success in an earlier case, DI Barbara Forster is suddenly accused of having tampered with evidence in it - an accusation that threatens to derail her entire career. As the man who was wrongfully convicted 10 years earlier goes free, a young woman goes missing. Meanwhile, Barbara is suspended and the media smell blood. To discover what really happened she must work alone, aided only by Alice Myers, an investigative journalist for a mass-market tabloid who hopes her latest report on a recent murder will help take her friend off the front pages.

A story of murder, deception, and revenge set in Derbyshire’s Peak District, an area of isolated farms, close-knit villages, and festering secrets. Into this secluded world steps journalist Alice Myers at the invitation of DI Neil Hunter, who soon begins investigating deaths that look increasingly like murder. All the deaths seem linked to a serial killer, now serving a life sentence. A cat-and-mouse game unfolds for both Neil and Alice. Is a copycat at large? Who will be the next victim?

Three murders. Multiple suspects. No proof. Sixteen years ago, Alice's closest friend suddenly breaks off their friendship in the New Forest where they both grew up. And Alice's father inexplicably moves the family away to London. All these years later, everything changes. Returning to her childhood home on the death of her grandmother, journalist Alice Myers finds a community in upheaval. The death of her friend Ellie is just the start.