Showing results by narrator "David McCallion" in All Categories

Most of the great Greek stories and epic tales are initiated over women, which is exactly what happens in the very beginning of The Iliad by Homer. The Trojan War has been waging for nearly a decade, and really erupted when Helen, the wife to Menelaos, was kidnapped and thus launched the "thousand ships" in pursuit of her. This is the reason that the Achaians and the Trojans have been fighting each other for so long. Achilles, who has become hero to the Greeks, is given the present of a slave girl for his excellence in battle.

The Baxter house has been on the estate agent’s books for decades. Dilapidated and near derelict, nobody is interested in it. But, for one buyer, the remote location and rat-infested cellar are perfect. For the first year, Mackenzie’s marriage to Derek was ideal. But Derek believes she is having an affair, and when she realises her husband is becoming controlling, she knows she’s made a terrible mistake. When she threatens to leave and then disappears, no one believes she has been abducted.

When Jake Boulder is asked to help investigate the murder of Kira Niemeyer, he soon finds himself tracking a serial killer who selects his next victim in a most unusual manner. As the body count rises, Boulder has to work with the police to identify the killer before more lives are taken. What ensues is a twisted game of cat and mouse. Only Boulder or the Watcher can survive.

There may never have been a novel written about love and loss with more irony of poetry than Ethan Frome. Written almost exclusively in flashback, Ethan Frome has continued to draw attention and accolades since its publication in 1911 by famed writer Edith Wharton. When we are introduced to the novel's protagonist, we discover that he is married yet inconveniently in love with his wife's cousin, who is spending time with the family to help care for Ethan's sick wife.

The Man Who Was Thursday was written by G. K. Chesterton and follows newly recruited Scotland Yard detective Gabriel Syme as he infiltrates the dangerous underworld of the European anarchist council. Syme is a member of a special antianarchist division of the police and finds his way into the secret group through a poet he befriends, named Lucian Gregory.

In Denmark, a very prosperous and popular ruler, King Hrothgar, has built a large mead hall and encouraged all of his soldiers to be jubilant and merry. The commotion from the festivities has greatly upset a horrible demon, Grendel, who lives in the swamp. Every night the demon terrorizes the community forcing the Danes to suffer at the hand of the beast for many years until a young Geatish warrior, Beowulf, hears of the plight King Hrothgar has endured.

The Jungle tells the brutal reality of industrial Chicago in the early 1900s through the eyes of an immigrant. Fresh from Lithuania, Jurgis; his wife, Ona; and their family are forced to scrape for survival after moving to Chicago in hopes of chasing the American Dream. From the very beginning, they fall upon hard times when the house they purchase is found to be in shabby condition and has hidden fees that the family can't afford. With the financial burden that the family is faced with, even the youngest family members are forced to find jobs in plants and factories to contribute what they can.

The 15 short stories that make up James Joyce's Dubliners give a realistic account of the life in and around Dublin, Ireland, in the early 20th century. In many of the short stories within the work, Joyce includes the Irish struggle for self-identity through epiphanies from the main characters.

DS Hutton returns in a blisteringly brutal crime novel that obliterates the line between thriller and horror, and elevates the Hutton series to the upper echelons of contemporary noir fiction. Three people are dead. Murdered. Each one bound and gagged in a forest, the top of the skull removed, their exposed brain picked at by crows. If they were lucky, they died quickly. DS Hutton has been on sick leave for several months, living on the side of a Scottish mountain. However, the Plague of Crows has arrived, all hands are on deck and Hutton is summoned back to duty.

It is a serendipitous encounter for the hapless DI Greg Byrne when retired sleuth James Munro stumbles upon his crime scene. And perhaps also for Munro himself, who, his protégé Charlie West having firmly snapped his apron strings, needs other lambs to wean. The day is far less auspicious for the victim in the affair, the unfortunate property developer Rebecca Barlow, who has been trussed up like a scarecrow in her yard. Though occurring off DI West’s Ayrshire patch, the investigation will soon intertwine with one of her own.

Tristram Shandy is an example of classic literature that has withstood the test of time. A sensation in England when first released in a series of nine volumes, this amusing novel is widely considered to be a masterpiece in satire fiction.

Having been the victim of a hit-and-run accident, and despite being black and blue, DI Munro wastes no time in trying to find out the identity of the perpetrator. In the meantime, a junior detective receives a call from a concerned member of the public, worried that a recently deceased friend’s will had been unlawfully changed. What connects these two events will be crucial to the detective’s investigation. But when prime witnesses turn up dead, they’ll discover they have a more serious case on their hands.

The stories revolve around the same character, Horne Fisher, who uncovers mysteries that he can't bring to the public eye. In the first story, The Face in the Target, Fisher and two other men come across a dead man at a park. The dead man is a political figure, and Fisher realizes that uncovering the truth could lead to political trouble for the city. Although Fisher usually finds out who has killed the victim, the different circumstances regarding the murders in each of the eight stories usually prevent him from taking further action.

Jake Boulder’s help is requested when his friend’s family is crucified and burned. 

When a woman’s body is discovered, Boulder realises the murders have something unusual in common. After a young couple is snatched, the case takes a more brutal turn. Gruesome footage is sent to the major US news outlets; the pressure to find those responsible mounts. With the authorities against him, can Boulder catch the killer?

Sherlock Holmes receives a mysterious ciphered message from a man using an alias sent to Professor Moriarty. After deciphering the code, more than once, they uncover that a man named John Douglas is in imminent danger, and Holmes believes that Professor Moriarty might be involved. Holmes and Dr. Watson enlist the help of Inspector Alec MacDonald of Scotland Yard. The inspector and Holmes have different theories on who killed John Douglas, who was shot at close range inside his own home, and they go on the hunt for clues.

As the winter chill grips the Highlands, a body is discovered burned alive in a solstice bonfire, kicking off a harrowing Christmas season. When a retired businessman is found hanging from a tree and another associate is savagely murdered in his isolated home, the team is stretched to the limit. With DCI Helena Grant away for a romantic holiday with crime writer Bill Emsworth, McKay must navigate a series of baffling killings under mounting pressure—amidst staff shortages and the relentless Scottish winter.

When Alex MacLure’s friend and colleague dies he is determined to carry on her research into ancient Egypt. He finds she has left him a coded message, and, as he tries to make sense of it all, he discovers she was murdered. And now the murderer needs to silence him. With only a few clues and a mysterious object, Alex follows a trail from London to Cairo. He must crack the code and expose a shocking and inconceivable truth before the secret is buried for ever.

The young Danish Prince, Hamlet, is vexed by a trip home to Denmark from school in Germany, to attend his father, the king's funeral. Upon arriving at home, Hamlet has discovered that his mother has already become married to the former King's brother, Hamlet's uncle. What's more, the man has declared himself to be King of Denmark even though Hamlet was the true and rightful heir. Hamlet is enraged by this deception, and immediately suspects foul play in his father's murder.

This collection of 13 short mystery stories features everyone's favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his assistant, Dr. Watson. Three years after Holmes disappears and is presumed dead, he reappears and picks up right where he left off with Watson.

His Last Bow is a collection of eight Sherlock Holmes mysteries, including "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge", "The Adventure of the Cardboard Box", "The Adventure of the Red Circle", "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans", "The Adventure of the Dying Detective", "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax", "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot", and "His Last Bow".