Showing results by narrator "Lewis Hancock" in All Categories

Bath, 1761. Lizzie Yeo has had a hard life but fortunately secures a position as wet nurse for the young son of vicar Jonathan Harding. When the boy starts school, Harding finds her a job with local apothecary Mr. Leslie, delivering the curing waters of Bath to invalids. But when a body shows up in the river and her friend Nancy disappears, Lizzie is determined to find answers.

Whitaker Wright led a truly extraordinary life. From his humble beginnings as an impoverished preacher, he crossed the Atlantic to prospect for gold, surviving a Native American massacre and making his fortune. When the bubble burst, he returned to England and soon became one of the world’s richest men, entertaining the Kaiser and the Prince of Wales on his steam yacht. But his downfall was as dramatic as his ascent.

A new breed of gangster appears and the battle for the East End begins. Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy is quite literally caught in the crossfire, when he is hit by the blast from a car bomb.

March 1938. The Germans take Vienna without a shot being fired. Covering Austria for the English press is a young journalist named Rod Troy. Back home his younger brother joins the CID as a detective-constable. November 1938. Kristallnacht. The Jews leave Vienna-Sigmund Freud with an American escort on a sleeper train, Josef Hummel tied to the underside of a box car.

Having shot someone in the chaos of 1963 Berlin, Joe Wilderness finds himself locked up, with little chance of escape. But an official pardon through his father-in-law, Burne-Jones, a senior agent at MI6, means he is free to go. His newest operation will take him back to Berlin, now the dividing line between the West and the Soviets. When the Russians started building the Berlin Wall in 1961, two 'Unfortunate Englishmen' were trapped on opposite sides. In 1965 there is a plan to exchange the prisoners on Berlin’s bridge of spies.

Meret Voytek, pupil of professor Viktor Rosen, a Jew in exile from Germany, watches as Vienna comes under Nazi rule and the repercussions for the Jews. Across Europe, Dr Karel Szabo, a Hungarian physicist, has been interned on the Isle of Man. Rescued by the Americans, they recruit him in building an atomic bomb. Moving from Vienna and Auschwitz to the deserts of New Mexico to London, fate carries the enemy alien, Szabo and gentile Voytek, across the battlefields of the destructive war.

In April 1956, at the height of the cold war, Khrushchev and Bulganin leaders of the Soviet Union are in Britain on an official visit. Chief Inspector Troy of Scotland Yard is assigned to be the official bodyguard and to spy on the Soviets. Soon after, a Royal Navy diver is found dead in a mutilated state in Portsmouth Harbour. Troy embarks on an investigation that takes him to the rotten heart of MI6, to the distant days of his childhood and into the dangerous arms of an old flame.

It's 1960s London, and spy Joe Wilderness should be living like James Bond. But alas, in the wake of an embarrassing disaster for MI6, Wilderness has been posted to remote northern Finland in a cultural exchange program to promote Britain abroad. Bored and with nothing to spy on, he strikes a deal with his old KGB pal Kostya to smuggle vodka into the USSR - but there is something fishy about Kostya's sudden appearance. Could it be connected to cobalt mining, a critical component in atomic bomb casings? Wilderness's posting is getting more interesting, but more dangerous too....

Charlotte is a British expatriate who has recently settled in the nation's capital with her second husband, but her enviable dinner parties and soirées aren’t the only things she is planning. Meanwhile, Charlie Leigh-Hunt has been posted to Washington as a replacement for Guy Burgess, last seen disappearing into the Soviet Union. Charlie is soon shocked to cross paths with Charlotte, an old flame of his, who, thanks to her gossipy parties, has a packed pocketbook full of secrets to share.

Jim and Millie Hunter have it all: good looks, brilliant minds, and a meteoric rise to fame. Dr Jim Hunter is a genius biochemist, and author of a smash-hit science book that is propelling him to the top. His wife Millie, is a blonde bombshell and fellow scientist, researching rare poisons derived from puffer fish. They seem to have it all, but others in their academic circle have got the knives out, jealous of their success - and their inter-racial relationship arouses prejudice.

Dr. Jay Handler’s life is perfect: a wife and children he loves; a successful career. But a call comes that changes everything. His troubled nephew, Evan, has killed himself and Jay’s brother is in despair. Jay flies to California to help out, and is soon convinced Evan’s death was no suicide. The police want him to leave the matter alone, but he is determined to dig deeper.

The body of a young woman who went missing from a Florida nightclub is found in a dumpster. A horrifying scene, but nothing compared to what she had to endure before her murder. She was drugged and tortured – all broadcast live for the twisted pleasure of a snuff club. Detective Manny Alvarez works the homicide alongside young hotshot Assistant State Attorney Daria DeBianchi.

Turner Raines is Mr Heartbreak. Everybody leaves him. They walk out, they run away...they die. When his oldest friend, Mel Kissing, dies with an ice pick through his skull, Raines picks up the thread and sets out to ask 'who?' and 'why?' But this is America in 1969, and one death is just a drop in the ocean. The Vietnam War is ripping the country to pieces, the Woodstock Festival is in full swing and Norman Mailer is standing as candidate for mayor of New York.

What if a candidate who promised hope and change had agreed to staff his campaign with Wall Street insiders in exchange for very secret campaign cash? And what if those insiders then made sure that none of their own ever got caught when the financial crisis exploded? Michael M. Thomas has written a shocking, wildly plausible thriller about the insider's insider who brokers the deal - and changes American history forever.

On 17 August 1860, wealthy widow Mary Emsley was found dead at home, killed by a blow to the head. What followed was a murder case that gripped the nation.There was an abundance of suspects, from disgruntled stepchildren and a spurned admirer to a trusted employee, former police officer and spy. A sensational trial culminated with a public execution, but years later the case caught Arthur Conan Doyle’s attention. Convinced that an innocent man had been convicted and executed, he could never find the real murderer, but now, best-selling author Sinclair McKay has solved the case.

The uncanny abilities of London crime-scene specialist Kelly Jacks to coax evidence from the most unpromising of crime scenes once earned her the nickname of The Blood Whisperer. Then, six years ago, Kelly woke next to the butchered body of a man, the knife in her hands and no memory of what happened. Now released after serving her sentence for involuntary manslaughter, she gets a job at a crime-scene cleaning firm.

Since detective Nick Lambert pushed his luck a little too far in the line of duty he has been moved to low-level assignments. But Nick has no idea that his first errand to check out an autistic girl who may be linked to a bizarre murder will pitch him into the most shocking and bewildering case of his career. Of any detective’s career. At its core is a young woman who might just be the most important human being who ever lived – a woman who holds the key to shaping world events. Not just once, but over and over again.

A novel of intrigue, violence and conflicted loyalties from the author of The Street Philosopher. Spring, 1853. After a triumphant display at the Great Exhibition in London, the legendary American entrepreneur and inventor Colonel Samuel Colt expands his gun-making business into England. He acquires a riverside warehouse in Pimlico and sets about converting it into a pistol works capable of mass producing his patented revolvers on an unprecedented scale - aware that the prospect of war with Russia means huge profits.

New York City is under attack. Millions may die. But the enemy's weapons are invisible, undetectable and creating terror at lightning speed. Now, there's nothing to stand in their way.... A Hiroshima survivor turned criminal mastermind. A pharma industry riddled with corruption. A Libyan entrepreneur coerced by threats to his family. A New York cop falling for an elusive beauty. A visitor to Tokyo from the mountains of Afghanistan. One terrible desire for revenge connects them all.

When a bomb explodes aboard Flight 320 killing everyone onboard, Jack Bernstein chess Grandmaster turned IT entrepreneur, is informed that his daughter Lara, missing for the past three years, was on board and making her way home. Jack believes the bombing was a terrorist act, but when he is sent an ELS code to decipher the truth about his daughter’s death, it reveals that the bombing was something altogether more sinister...