Showing results by narrator "Jan Cramer" in All Categories

DI Zoe Finch has a new job. New house, new boss, and new team too. She's been persuaded to move from Birmingham to Cumbria, to head up a team investigating some of the county's most complex crimes. But it isn't easy. Adjusting to rural life, not to mention navigating the politics of Cumbria Police, will be a challenge. And she's not sure who she can trust. And then, her work becomes linked to that of her partner Carl, whose job it is to chase down bent coppers. Zoe's been here before.

DI Zoe Finch has been in Cumbria long enough to know who’s pulling the strings in organised crime, and who’s helping them from within the police. But just as she’s closing in on the evidence to prove it, she finds herself scrambling in the fallout from the murder of a key witness, and struggling to keep the case out of the hands of the very man she suspects of orchestrating it.

Still reeling from the death of one colleague and a near miss for another, DI Zoe Finch could have done with a quiet winter. But when a body is pulled from the ice at a rural beauty spot, Zoe and her team find themselves back in the thick of murder and intrigue. Who is the dead man? Why was he there? And is there a connection with a web of blackmail and corruption that spreads across the county?

After the death of their father, sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood face financial ruin. At the mercy of their half brother, John, and his greedy wife, their only hope is to make a good match. But reduced circumstances make courtship difficult—especially after being turned out of their home. While responsible Elinor takes a practical approach to matters of the heart, Marianne throws herself in unreservedly. In Jane Austen’s first novel, two of literature’s most iconic characters discover that love demands a balance of passion and pragmatism.

Meet Detective Inspector Zoe Finch. She's ambitious, determined, and damaged. And she's about to uncover evidence that could make her career... or get her sacked.

DI Zoe Finch has enough on her plate as the trial of her deadliest enemy gets underway. But when a birdwatcher stumbles across a body in the shifting flatlands of the Solway coast, the evidence takes her team in some disturbing directions. Has the victim fallen foul of the same organised criminals Zoe has spent the last two years trying to put behind bars? Or could there be a connection with the disappearance of a man from a local caravan park years earlier?

Six-year-old Lola Jade Harper is taken from her bedroom. Her mother is distraught. She is convinced her estranged husband, Gavin Harper, has abducted their daughter. Detective Rachel Prince is leading the investigation but is soon out of her depth as she searches for the most high-profile missing child in the country. To uncover the truth about Lola’s disappearance, Rachel must untangle the Harper family’s complicated web of secrets and lies.

Erica Sands keeps her family legacy locked away – very few people know that her father is in a high-security prison, forever stained by the blood of his many victims. But when the body of a woman is found in an isolated cottage, a cryptic note concealed nearby, Erica is once more dragged into her father’s dark orbit.

Morton Hall, with its beautiful, ruined grounds and its reclusive mistress, Emilia Morton, is full of mysteries. For freelance editor Anne Marie, the wild garden has become a serene and secret refuge from her loveless marriage. The only other regular visitor is Cape, the hall's part-time gardener, who is forbidden to tend to anything except the magnificent maze or to meet his enigmatic employer. When Emilia dies, Cape and Anne Marie are astonished to find themselves among an unlikely group of villagers named in her strange will.

Italy, 1958: Rachael is a young widow with a small child. After a lifetime of running for survival, of not knowing who to trust and where to call home, she finds herself in a place of safety. On a sun-drenched Italian island for one carefree summer the troubles of her past fade away, and she falls in love. But will Rachael’s new-found happiness bring her further heartache?

DI Zoe Finch has survived her first winter in Cumbria CID. She’s learning to trust her team, even if they do have a tendency to get themselves into dangerous situations. And finally, the sun is beginning to shine. But when a competitor in a local fell race is found dead near an isolated cairn, Zoe finds herself navigating an unfamiliar landscape. From the rough and competitive world of the fell runners, through the local business community, to the exclusive Bassenthwaite Manor Hotel, people are keeping secrets from her — and not all of her colleagues seem keen for her to unearth them.

Sixteen years ago, Lizzie Armitage woke to find her newborn baby gone. Just days later, Lizzie was dead. Her sister Paula swore she would do everything she could to find the child. If she hadn’t promised to keep Lizzie's pregnancy secret, maybe the baby wouldn’t have disappeared. And maybe Lizzie would still be alive. But, in nearly a decade, Paula’s never found any trace. Until now...

A victim killed with a single, precise stab to the heart appears at first glance to be a robbery gone wrong. A caring, upstanding social worker lost to a senseless act of violence. But for Detective Kim Stone, something doesn't add up. When a local drug addict is found murdered with an identical wound, Kim knows instinctively that she is dealing with the same killer. But with nothing to link the two victims except the cold, calculated nature of their death, this could be her most difficult case yet.

DCI Lesley Clarke is settling into her new job in Dorset's Major Crimes Unit, and becoming accustomed to a slower pace of life. But then she's called in to solve the murder of a woman with links to Lesley's new girlfriend. Has Lesley made a grave error of judgement? Can she track down the killer or does she already know her? And how will Lesley's new colleagues react when she tells them she's dating a suspect? The Clifftop Murders is the second instalment in the gripping Dorset Crime series, in which rural Dorset is a whole lot darker than the holiday brochures would have you think.

London, 2008. Chani Kaufman is a 19-year-old woman, betrothed to Baruch Levy, a young man whom she has seen only four times before their wedding day. The novel begins with Chani standing like a "pillar of salt", wearing a wedding dress that has been passed between members of her family and has the yellowed underarms and rows of alteration stitches to prove it. All of the cups of cold coffee and small talk with men referred to Chani’s parents have led up to this moment. But the happiness Chani and Baruch feel is more than counterbalanced by their anxiety....

First published in 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman tackles many of the punitive patriarchal attitudes that dominated 18th-century society. With warmth and passion, Mary Wollstonecraft urges women to prioritize reason over emotion - a necessary step in building the strength of character required to break free from male notions of female fragility and foolishness. Wollstonecraft bases much of her argument in the case for women's education.

DCI Lesley Clarke's two teams are in flux. The Major Crime Investigations Team has a new DI, and the Cold Cases team has a member back from parental leave. And Lesley herself is itching to get stuck into a case, instead of sitting behind a desk. When a body is found at the luxury beach huts on Mudeford Spit, the Cold Cases team know it's one of theirs, as the remains have been buried for over thirty years. But then evidence is found connecting a member of the Kelvin organised crime family, as well as Lesley's lawyer wife Elsa.

I open the creaking oak front door of my beautiful country house to see a stranger on my doorstep. The woman is stunning with glossy red hair and flawless make up. "Can I help you?" I ask. That was my first mistake. Alexis tells me she is a distant relative and shows me a DNA match on her phone. She has no family and would love to get to know us. My husband Hugh invites her in to join our dinner party. As we drink wine, she opens up about her sad childhood. Her amber eyes are mesmerizing, and I can see my husband is being drawn in by her story. Then she asks for our help.

When nine-year-old best friends Charlie and Amy disappear, two families are plunged into a living nightmare. A text message confirms the unthinkable; that the girls are the victims of a terrifying kidnapping. And when a second text message pits the two families against each other for the life of their children, the clock starts ticking for D.I. Kim Stone and the squad.

Three more chilling cases test DCI Lesley Clarke to her limits as corruption, organized crime, and personal betrayal threaten to destroy everything she’s built. In this third box set of the bestselling Dorset Crime series, Lesley faces her most dangerous investigations yet – and discovers that the truth can be deadlier than any killer.