Showing results by narrator "David Thorpe" in All Categories

Escaping the rat race for a few happy weeks, Tom Chesshyre indulges in the freedom of the tracks. From France (dogged by rail worker strikes) through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland he goes, travelling as far east as Odessa by the Black Sea in Ukraine. With no set plans, simply a desire to let the trains lead the way, his trip takes him onwards via Hungary, the Balkans and Austria. Along the way he enjoys many an encounter, befriending fellow travellers as well as a conductor or two. This is a love letter to Europe, written from the trackside.

A response to all ships sunk in action during the war, James Francis Dwyer uses the supernatural to achieve his end in this short story, as an Australian sailor recalls his journey on a pearl schooner and his experience of a ghost ship.

On the besieged planet of Kepler 186f, a Marine platoon races against time to rescue civilians from an army of unstoppable Ghosts. Dropship pilot Justin Ceguerra is living through his own private hell, until the mission offers an unlikely chance of redemption.

Twilit and sinister, oozing with ague, bad airs, boggarts and other spirits: in the mind’s eye marshes, bogs and swamps are dangerous, crepuscular—and only partly of this world. For centuries, wetlands, have been the object of our distrust: we’ve drained away their demons, encroached upon and denuded them, ripping away not only their fragile beauty, botany and birdlife but also the carefully calibrated lives of those that have come to understand and thrive in them. In Swamp Songs, Tom Blass takes us on a journey through these strange lands and waterscapes.

Hardcastle is sent to investigate the murder of Colonel Sir Adrian Rivers, Bt. It seems the baronet's second wife, much younger than Rivers, is neither distressed by the murder, nor able to assist in the investigation. It is up to the dogged Hardcastle, aided by DS Charles Marriott, to question an array of characters and narrowly avoid being killed in a Zeppelin raid, before the killer is eventually unmasked.

A sadistic practical joker is haunting the popular music halls of London, interfering with the actors and interrupting their acts by orchestrating humiliating disasters that take place in view of the audience. A trapeze artist misses her timing when the trapeze ropes are shortened. Mustard has been applied to a sword swallower's blade. A singer's costume has been rigged. The girl in a magician's box is trapped. Then the mischief escalates to murder. Or was murder intended all along?

With the death of Edward the Confessor, the crown of England is hanging in the balance. And in the north Harald Hardrada, the Norwegian Viking leader, is determined to take his chance of capturing the country. But newly-crowned King Harold Godwinson will not let that happen without a fight. Charismatic and the leader of a mighty army, he is determined to make Hadrada the last Viking in England. And so the bloodiest battle yet fought on English soil is about to begin. At stake is sovereignty, freedom and honour.

Dawn Prentice was already known to the Peterborough Hate Crimes Unit. The previous summer she had logged a number of calls detailing the harassment she and her severely disabled teenage daughter were undergoing. Now she is dead - stabbed to death whilst Holly Prentice has been left to starve upstairs. DS Ferreira, only recently back serving on the force after being severely injured in the line of duty, had met with Dawn that summer.

Known for his nautical themes, William Hope Hodgson begins this story with a small rowing boat in distress and its sailor regaling a tragic tale. This story differs from many in the botanical gothic genre in that it features sinister fungi, as opposed to the traditional vines, flowers or trees.

An Englishman in Bombay strikes up a friendship with postcard-seller Baburao Munshi, after allowing him credit to sell a selection of books from his office. As Baburao’s bookselling success grows, so does the two men’s friendship. Yet when Baburao’s son is old enough to be involved in the business, so begins a war of attrition between father and son.

The once-notorious cabaret singer Adora Ferne guards a treasure trove of 12 classic Jaguar cars but hankers over the one that is missing. Enter Jack Colby: Adora's manager Danny Carter has commissioned him to buy the 13th dream car from its owner, the Earl of Storrington. When a murder follows the Earl's rejection of an offer, Jack is determined to find out whether there is a link between that and the 12 Jaguars. But does the truth lie amongst the secrets of Adora's past or closer to home? Speeding along the route he's certain will lead to the answer, Jack rushes headlong into danger.

The Nightwatchman contains the very best of cricket writing from all over the world, produced in association with Wisden. It gathers together leading cricket journalists and well-known writers from other disciplines - mathematics, poetry, history and literature, to name but a few - to offer long-form original pieces about all aspects of cricket.

It's 1665. Silas is killing plague victims for fun; the ready supply of victims means that he can satiate his desires easily. In 2015, at the Crossrail dig in London, two bodies are found, just as a spate of murders takes place. As the police rush to put together the links between the two, the modern-day serial-killer fights to stay ahead of them enough to kill again. DI Mark Fairgreaves and his team must work together to put together the pieces before they lose one of their own.

A group of telegraphists are on the edge of their seats awaiting news of the prime minister who is dying. But a storm causes a power cut, and one of the men, Old Shayler, recalls a stormy night 15 years ago, where a man was killed, and not by the lightning....

Wanted: Dead or Alive! (Or smashed into little bits and delivered in boxes.) The Steampunk Pirates get a taste of their own medicine when their ship is raided by a sea monster that’s greedy for gold. But when the rusty robots race to get their treasure back, they sail straight into a trap…...

When a severed hand is found in an abandoned flat, Detective Jake Porter and his partner Nick Styles are able to DNA match the limb to the owner, Natasha Barclay, who has not been seen in decades. But why has no-one been looking for her? It seems that Natasha's family are the people who can least be trusted. Delving into the details behind her disappearance and discovering links to another investigation, a tragic family history begins to take on a darker twist. Hampered by a widespread fear of a local heavy, as well as internal politics and possible corruption within the force, Porter and Styles are digging for answers. But will what they find ever see the light of day?

You have 87 seconds to save yourself from drowning. Can you? A young woman in a strapless blue summer dress lies on the cobblestones next to the canal. With her eyes half open, it looks like she's had one too many Bacardi Breezers and is going to wake up with a killer hangover. Except she won't wake up ever again... and her lifeless body has been pulled from Christianshavn canal, right in the centre of Copenhagen. Investigator Georg Guldmann watches with dismay as the zip of the bodybag is pulled close.

A parent's worst fear is realised when seven-year-old Libby Hallforth goes missing at a funfair; no witnesses, no leads, and no trace. Months later, human remains are found, but they're too old to be Libby. It's the tip of a gruesome iceberg - bodies, buried in pairs, carefully laid to rest in a ritualistic manner. For DI Jake Porter and DS Nick Styles, the trail for Libby is cold, and everyone is a suspect.

When Max Brennan’s estranged father and then his own girlfriend go missing in quick succession, he turns to his old friend Detective Jake Porter for help. As Max is then attacked in his own home, Porter and his partner Nick Styles waste no time in investigating. But when their main suspect turns up dead, alongside a list of other targets, it seems the case is much bigger than it first appeared. With events spiralling, can Porter and Styles catch the killer before another victim is claimed?

As the world moves from the industrial era to the digital age, power is shifting and fragmenting. Power is no longer about might and ownership; power in a digital world is about access. Existing businesses need to understand this shift and position themselves to survive and thrive in an environment where entrepreneurs and start-ups enabled by access to technology are genuine threats.