Showing results by narrator " Joel Froomkin" in All Categories

This combination of serious artistic engagement with warmth and clarity of prose revels in the experiences and pleasures of art and the body, identity, and community.

London, 1941: Major Edgar Brampton is found shot dead in his office in Buckingham Palace. All signs point towards a self-inflicted tragedy, but when Palace authorities hurry his body away and order staff to stay silent, fellow courtier Guy Harford's suspicions are raised. While the outside world faces the onslaught of war, within the Palace walls a curious mystery unfolds. Rumours swirl about Brampton's relationship with the Queen, and there's talk of other plots involving those closest to the King.

Raised by a vampire in a secret society of witches, shifters, and elves, Charlotte finds that she is the freak in her world of magic and wonder. When she stands before an army of impossible obstacles, the likelihood of survival in this coming-of-age modern fairy tale is slim, resulting in a war between light and darkness. Charlotte knows no other home than the one nestled deep in the woods of Eastern Europe, where witches draw spells of enchantment, shifters throw tea parties, and elves are the closest in kin.

Smut sells. Michael Rourke learned this the hard way. Struggling to make ends meet as a mystery writer, he sold his soul - and his pride - as he pedaled sex and lust writing under the pen name Christoph Strong. No one knew he was the one behind the steamy stories on the best sellers lists. And he planned to keep it that way. Until he met her.

When one of his colleagues witnesses a robbery in which one of the participants, a child, bears a striking resemblance to a certain Bow Street Runner, John Pickett realizes he has a young half-brother who has been “apprenticed” to a criminal gang. The brutal murder of the pursuing constable makes the crime far more serious than a simple robbery would be - and 10-year-old Kit is linked to the crime by the toy soldier he dropped while fleeing the scene.

The Cloudkiss Killer is dead. Now a true-crime podcast is hosting a contest to find his bones. Lucy was almost the serial killer’s final victim. Carolina is a true-crime fan who fears her own rage. Maggie is a psychology student with a little too much to hide. All of them are looking for answers, for a new identity, for a place to bury their secrets. But there are more than bones hiding in the shadows…sometimes the darkness inside is more frightening than anything the dead leave behind.

Doug wants his rescuer, Julie, to be happy. He is loyal and loves her unconditionally - two things that can’t be said about Julie’s married boss and lover, Luke. Yet Julie is reluctant to break up, afraid to end up like her eccentric cat-owning neighbor. It’s a prospect that horrifies Doug, too. Newly divorced Tom, on the other hand, is perfect for Julie. Everyone can see it - except for Julie and Tom. Doug is confident that with his help they will get over their initial animosity toward each other.

Long-dormant magical forces are moving once again in Sartorias-deles. Agents of Norsunder, a mysterious bastion of incredible dark power, have reappeared in the world, amassing resources and sowing instability. But with numerous nations led by young rulers brought too early to their thrones, the world is hardly ready to defend itself. Atan is still uncomfortable with her new queenship, gained after her country was freed from a Norsundrian enchantment that left it frozen outside time for a century.

In the old, abandoned Greyford house on the outskirts of the Mayfield School for Girls, Delany would be completely and purposefully alone...or so she thought. Yet there was more to this house than first met the eye: There were secret passages and hidden treasures, lost and forgotten with the passing of time, and a room...a fantastic and otherworldly sort of room, which she had decided to call "the Window Room". This is a story about the dangerous and mysterious adventures she found there.

Revolutionary terrorists, a dead British agent, a man-eating tiger, and the Commander of the British Army cavorting with a Russian spy. Now it's a national emergency. Monarchies are collapsing daily and the world is on the brink of revolution, but most importantly--the game is afoot!

An Amazonian tribe that may or may not exist; a dangerous teenage sorceress - and madness - conspire to stop Jake Kendricks from revealing the truth about a mysterious substance that will end world hunger.

Jarvis Mann is a private detective whose business thrived on the mundane - paying the bills by shadowing cheating spouses, getting in the middle of messy divorces, and working for the fat-cat insurance companies running down false claims. On a winter’s Sunday afternoon, a young man graces his office steps. His words coaxing with the simple declaration of “please” convinces Jarvis to help find a valuable missing Ernie Banks rookie baseball card.

Originally published in 1928, the second and final Winnie-the-Pooh volume by A.A. Milne follows Pooh Bear and the rest of his friends living in the Hundred Acre Wood—including the newest addition to the cast, Tigger.

Scrappy but small, Kirrin gets beat up. A lot. So, when he hides from the local bullies in a powerful man's carriage, he's inadvertently transported to a vast rural estate. Far from home and hungry, Kirrin is caught stealing from the kitchen and fears the worst. But the So'har Hak'kar is impressed with Kirrin's tenacity and quick wit. Instead of having him criminally punished, the great ruler sentences Kirrin to serve him while learning to fight, move with stealth, and solve intellectual puzzles. Unfortunately, Kirrin doesn't realize he's being trained as the lord's personal assassin.

Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to David Copperfield and experience the classic novel by Charles Dickens.

The eighth book in the series finds John Pickett bound for England's scenic Lake District, where an unsigned letter has summoned him for an unspecified reason. Pickett and his wife Julia, the former Lady Fieldhurst, take a room at the Hart and Hound as the letter instructs him. Once installed there, however, Pickett can do nothing but wait for the anonymous contact to identify himself. A midnight search of the inn's register seems to identify the innkeeper, Ned Hawkins, as his man, but before Pickett can discover the reason for his summons, Hawkins is pushed from a cliff - surviving the fall only long enough to call Pickett's attention to the letter in his pocket.

Astrid Bailey is content living alone, balancing her career as a contract machinist with her true passion: making “felicitation devices” for her discerning female clients. At the upcoming World’s Fair, with its substantial cash prize, there's an opportunity for her to open the shop she’s always imagined and solve her financial woes. With questionable credentials, though, she’s unable to enter without a reputable businessman to vouch for her.

Listeners will discover lost and forgotten women who wrote horror every bit as effectively as their male contemporaries. They will learn about their lives and careers, the challenges they faced as women working in a male-dominated field, the way they overcame those challenges, and the way they approached the genre - which was often subtler, more psychological, and more disturbing.

Pissing off God comes with consequences, which should have been obvious in hindsight. For Loki and Lucifer, it’s a victory—and the least of their problems. Building an infernal army is a lot harder when trying to fit it around eight daily hours of mind-numbing labor, uncooperative fugitive deities, and competing layers of escalating sabotage. Even worse, behind its bland corporate veneer, Providence is anything but that: its deities brim with magic, secrets, and ancient scars. The career path is soul-destroying.

Bow Street Runner John Pickett and Julia, Lady Fieldhurst, seem to have reached an impasse as they wait for the annulment of their accidental marriage to come before the ecclesiastical court. In the meantime, Pickett is summoned to investigate the theft of almost 200 pounds from a linen-draper's shop - but finds no sign that either the shop or the safe where the money was kept had been forced open. Given the lack of evidence, he can only assume the money was taken by someone inside.