Showing results by narrator "Beverley A Crick" in All Categories

It's the Christmas season in London, but the holiday festivities don't deter Lady Katherine from investigating a death that happened months earlier. Since the victim was a maid, investigative resources were sparse, and the police hastily wrote it off as a random killing. But Lady Katherine and her friends believe it was nothing short of premeditated murder, and they vow to seek justice.

American artist Jeremy Keane refuses to return home and take over his father's business. He'd much rather sample bevvies of beauties abroad, in search of a model for the provocative masterpiece he's driven to paint. When he meets Lady Yvette Barlow at a London wedding, he realizes she's perfect for his work - and determines to capture the young heiress' defiant spirit and breathtaking sensuality on canvas.

Maddie Montgomery’s family is in debt, and her hope rests on the rival Davies clan missing their yearly “pledge of goodwill", ceding the land that separates their estates. With Maddie’s teenage nemesis, Gryffud “Gryff” Davies, Earl of Powys, away, hope is in reach. But then Gryff shows up on a horse and is stunned that the tomboy he once teased is now a woman. When Gryff and Maddie discover contraband on their land, they realize it can benefit both families. But they’ve also uncovered a dangerous plot....

Lady Henrietta Prince is far too busy for romance. She’s dedicated her life to turning her family vineyards into a profitable sparkling wine venture. But when she shares a thrilling kiss at midnight with a handsome stranger, she’s captivated...until he claims to be the distant heir to her father’s dukedom.

Forced to run for her life, Kit FitzGilbert finds herself in the very place she swore never to return to - a London ballroom. There she encounters Graham, Lord Wharton, who believes Kit holds the key to a mystery he's trying to solve. As much as she wishes that she could tell him everything, she can't reveal the truth without endangering those she loves.

Olivia Townsend is in trouble and out of options. Pursued by a dangerous man in search of a lost treasure she doesn't possess, she's got only two things in her favor: her late husband's diary - which she was never meant to see - and the man who was her first and only love. Losing him broke her heart, though she's been careful to hide it for the last 10 years. But when he comes to her aid and vows to stand by her, no matter what, she can't help but hope that things will be different for them this time.

Miss Fiona Hartley’s huge dowry should have ensured that finding a husband would be quick. True, she’s a tad older than the average debutante and spends too much time sketching brutally honest character portraits. She desperately needs a husband, so she can access her dowry, lest the man blackmailing her reveals a secret that would ruin her family. So desperate in fact, that she’s willing to do the unthinkable - propose marriage to the most surly, irritable gentleman in town.

When Hugh Deveraux discovers his newly inherited earldom is bankrupt, he sets about rebuilding the family fortune - in the gaming hells of London. But the most daring wager he takes isn’t at cards. A wealthy tradesman makes a tantalizing offer: marry the man’s spinster daughter and Hugh’s debts will be paid and his fortune made. The only catch is that she must never know about their agreement....

Scarred by a dark secret, Brandan Delamar, Duke of Westbury, must concede his misdeeds have finally caught up with him. With five younger sisters to support, he must marry for money. Sunny and steadfast, Viola Beaton is no heiress. As music instructor to the duke’s sisters, she’s developed a genuine affection for the bright young ladies. Unfortunately, she’s also developed a forbidden passion for her wildly attractive employer.

Penelope Weston does not like Benedict Lennox, Lord Atherton. He may be the suave and charming heir to an earl as well as the most handsome man on earth, but she can't forget how he abandoned a friend in need - nor how he once courted her sister, Abigail. He's the last man she would ever marry. If only she didn't feel so attracted to the arrogant scoundrel....

Under the pert pen name "Lady Smart", opinionated Lindsey Graham crusades for social change among London's elite, writing for the ladies' gazette Heart to Heart. But Lindsey's greatest campaign begins when her brother Rudy, a notorious rake, is accused of murdering a string of prostitutes. Her confidence in his innocence is bolstered when an anonymous letter arrives naming Viscount Merrick as the killer.

When Edwin Barlow, the Earl of Blakeborough, agrees to help his best friend's impetuous ward, Lady Clarissa Lindsey, in her time of need, he knows that he's in for trouble. He's been hunting for someone to wed, and she'll just get in the way. Although captivated by the witty, free-spirited beauty, he fears that she'd be all wrong as a wife...if she would even take such a gruff cynic for her husband. Yet he wants nothing more than to have her for his own.

After the death of his fiancée, Kai Ramsay left Scotland to roam distant lands. He has searched ancient ruins, collected priceless antiquities, and escaped certain death after being imprisoned as a spy during the Napoleonic War. Ramsay has lived on the edge of danger for years — but everything changes the day a letter arrives for him from Scotland....

Bianca Tate is horrified when her sister Cathy is obliged to accept an offer of marriage from Maximilian St. James, notorious rake. Defiantly, she helps Cathy elope with her true love and takes her sister’s place at the altar. Perched on the lowest branch of his family tree, Max has relied on charm and cunning to survive. But an unexpected stroke of luck gives him an outside chance at a dukedom - and which Tate sister he weds hardly seems to matter. Married or not, Bianca is determined to protect her family’s prosperous ceramics business, even when Max shows an affinity for it.

Two possible futures loom before Miss Anne Davenport. The first option: sharing an unhappy home with her father and soon-to-be stepmother. The second: a life of independence at the Spinster House, if only her friend, Cat, would vacate the premises and marry the Duke of Hart. A well-placed whisper about the pair's secret tryst might speed the course of true love.

The son of a proud naval dynasty, Gabriel Hawkins leaves the Royal Navy in disgrace and is disowned by his family. As captain of his own ship, he’s earned his living in ways both legal and illegal, and his experience makes him the best choice to ransom an aristocratic beauty captured by Barbary pirates. Having avoided the traps of convention and marriage, Lady Aurora Lawrence is horrified by the prospect of spending her life as a harem slave. Her only hope of escape is a quiet, steely captain who has a history with her captor - and who will do anything to free Rory.

Rosamund Carrow has spent years learning the law by assisting her barrister father, despite the frustrating truth that the profession is closed to women. When he dies unexpectedly, necessity compels her to disguise herself as a man so she can step into the courtroom to finish his cases. She's willing to put her reputation at risk, but she never expects that the greatest peril will be to her heart.

Miss Jane Wilkinson couldn't be more delighted when her two best friends marry, creating a much-desired vacancy at the Spinster House. For the first time in her 28 years, Jane can be free of her annoying older brother and enjoy complete solitude - with the exception of the Spinster House cat, Poppy. If only Jane's unruly thoughts didn't keep drifting to handsome Alex, Earl of Evans, in the most un-spinsterlike ways....

Using the most common postmortem process as the backbone of the narrative, The Chick and the Dead takes the listener through the process of an autopsy while also describing the history and changing cultures of our relationship with the dead. The book is full of vivid insight into what happens to our bodies in the end. Each chapter considers an aspect of an autopsy alongside an aspect of Carla's own life and work and touches on some of the more controversial aspects of our feelings toward death.

From the author of The Darcys of Pemberley comes a new story, straight out of the world of Jane Austen and told in a style reminiscent of her six classic novels. Set in nineteenth century Hampshire and Bath, For Myself Alone is the tale of Josephine Walker, a bright, young woman whose quiet life is turned upside-down by an unexpected inheritance. With a tempting fortune of twenty thousand pounds, she's suddenly the most popular girl in town. Yet Jo longs to be valued for who she is, not for her bank balance.