Showing results by narrator "Ruth Urquhart" in All Categories

Japanese folklore is abundant with tales of ghostly creatures and the supernatural. In Haunted Japan, author Catrien Ross reveals the legends that have been passed down for generations and continue to terrify us today.

As Kate Hamilton plans her upcoming wedding to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, she is also assisting her colleague Ivor Tweedy with a project at the Netherfield Sanatorium, which is being converted into luxury townhouses. Kate and Ivor must appraise a fifteenth-century painting and verify that its provenance is the Dutch master Jan Van Eyck. But when retired criminal inspector Will Parker is found dead, Kate learns that the halls of the sanatorium housed much more than priceless art.

Her sister's husband Miles Strickland, seventh Earl of Langley, is a scoundrel. Olivia just caught him in the arms of another woman. When she dares to confront him, the blackguard has the gall to accuse her of blackmail. Determined to expose his unfaithfulness, Olivia leaves London to visit her sister in the English countryside, where her world is overturned.

Five days before her wedding to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, Kate Hamilton finds her friend Sheila in need of her help. Sheila, a soon-to-be bride herself, needs Kate’s help to get Carl Curtis, her fiancé, out of Venezuela. His passport was taken from him by the authorities, and they say he owes them money. Carl says it’s a bribe, but he’s unable to leave unless it’s paid. Sheila decides to sell her grandfather’s coin collection, including a valuable gold coin presented by Queen Victoria to her great-grandmother. Among her grandfather’s stored possessions is a letter from the Queen.

Ironcross Castle was called cursed by the Highlanders. Its most recent lairds had perished in accidents, falls, or fires. The newest owner, Gavin Kerr, did not fear death. It was feeling that he dreaded - the pain of betrayal and loss. Now, he arrived at the castle to hear of hauntings and cults and to be drawn to the portrait of beautiful Joanna MacInnes, who died here amid a furnace of flame. And looking at her, Gavin desired her, feeling an impossible longing to take her in his arms.

In Sightlines, Kathleen Jamie reports from the field - from her native Scottish "byways and hills" to the frigid Arctic in 14 enthralling essays. She dissects whatever her gaze falls upon - vistas of cells beneath a hospital microscope, orcas rounding a headland, the aurora borealis lighting up the frozen sea. In so doing, she questions what, exactly, constitutes "nature", and upends the idea that it is always picturesque. Written with precision, subtlety, and wry humor, Sightlines urges the listener: "Keep looking, even when there's nothing much to see."

For generations, the Ryhans, ruling family of the Province of Greenwald, have been keepers of a sword rumored to possess enough magic to defeat kings. Lord Varthan, a former archduke and betrayer of the king, covets the sword and invades Greenwald. Lady Ceralda Ryhan, daughter of the murdered duke, gains the sword and flees, trusting only her white wolf, Trikser - magically bonded to her. Cera needs nothing more to aid in her fight.

Layla has never belonged to the fairy realm - at least, half of her hasn’t. She’s never known anyone with human blood, not even her father. When she was three, the dragon Fauth attacked the fairy festival, murdering her fae mum & stepfather. Frankly, some fairies think she should’ve been eaten too. As she grew, despite being called names like “fuman” for being a half-blood, she’s discovered that being half-human isn’t terrible. She may lack magic, but she is immune to iron sickness, and she can wield a sword with elven skill.

Terror haunts a remote Scottish Glen. Heartbroken Anna MacDonald leaves Edinburgh to find peace at the edge of a Scottish loch. Safely ensconced in her late grandmother's cottage, she can finally heal her heart and write the novel that has burned inside her for years. Her peace is short-lived. When debonair artist Luke Tallantyre's yacht gets stranded in the loch, he seeks help at the nearest residence - Anna's croft.

Adrianne Percy was hidden in the Western Isles, safe from her family's enemies - until her sisters sent a notorious pirate to return her to the Highlands. But when she hatches a plan to free her kidnapped mother, it requires her to marry the handsome rogue. But what begins as a simple matter of business quickly flares into an uncontrollable desire. As Adrianne's heart smolders, their calculated arrangement threatens to ignite into a burning passion....

There was a familiar feel in the air. She knew it well, knew exactly by whom that sensation had been provoked. But could it be? Could it really be him? He was the one man who set her soul on fire. He was also the husband who had abandoned her ten years earlier. Her name was Rob MacArthur. At the age of eight, she had married the 15-year-old marquess. Their time together was bliss, a fantasy world where true love and pure hearts were all they knew.

Taylor Kincaid is the host of a popular television series that debunks myths and legends. So when she travels to Scotland after receiving notice of an inheritance, she hopes to unravel the mystery behind a local legend surrounding the disappearance of locals through the "Ladysgate", an archway of stones just off the Scottish coast. Despite the warnings of rugged sea captain Duncan Fraser, Taylor sails toward the arch.

A riveting, brilliantly written debut novel, The Death of Bees is a coming-of-age story in which two young sisters attempt to hold the world at bay after the mysterious death of their parents. Marnie and Nelly, left on their own in Glasgow's Hazlehurst housing estate, attempt to avoid suspicion until Marnie can become a legal guardian for her younger sister.

Suspecting her of murdering her husband, Callum, on their wedding night, Maev McCloskey's clan has banished her to a remote tower. There, she dreams of her dead love - and the passion they never knew in life. But soon she wonders if the seductive, mysterious Callum of her sleeping mind is real - and, if he is, whether joining him in his world would be an act of courage...or of madness.

Lady Isobel is a Norman laird's daughter, living near the Scots border where her father, Lord Pembroke, is trying to keep the peace. But her mother was a Highlander and the man Isobel loves most of all is Laird Marcus McEwan, who has been bringing news of her mother's people for years. But now Isobel's father wishes her wed to an English nobleman, who will carry on his title. Isobel will wed no other man but her heart's desire - and that is one braw Highlander from her mother's homeland.

When Paige Walsh attends the annual Highland Games on Grandfather Mountain and makes a deal with a gypsy, she has no idea that her illustrious plans to find a hunky highlander for her own would backfire and instead of one man wearing a kilt she somehow ends up in the past facing an entire clan of hunky highlanders.

Raised in the security of the king's castle, Lady Elissa Durroc remembers nothing of the death of her family or how she survived it. As an elemental mage with control over all four elements, her powers are rare. And coveted by dark magic. None darker than the mage who killed her parents.

Shackled in the dungeon of a macabre castle with no recollection of her past, a young woman finds herself falling in love with her captor - the estate’s master. Trusting him before she regains her memory and unravels the castle’s wicked truths would be a catastrophe. Far away at Pemberley, the Darcys happily gather to celebrate the marriage of Kitty Bennet. But a dark cloud sweeps through the festivities: Georgiana has disappeared without a trace.

In defiance of society's strictures, Lady Olivia is determined to share her fascination with fencing with other ladies and enjoy the thrill of facing an opponent like the dashing Lord Milbourn. Ignoring convention comes at a cost, however. If she wants to start a fencing academy for ladies, then her family insists that she agree to a betrothal to the wealthy, but conventional, Lord Saunders. Despite her secret longing for Lord Milbourn and their shared passion for fencing, she reluctantly agrees.

The tenuous balance of the Isle of Cadence is under threat from Bane, the spirit of the north wind. In the west, Adaira struggles to find her place. And, though magic blooms there, the spirits suffer beneath Bane’s harsh power, felt in every gust of wind. In the east, Jack Tamerlaine is adrift without Adaira, until he acquires a mission destined to lead him back to her. But among the Tamerlaines sickness is spreading and Torin desperately strikes a bargain with the spirits—a folly at any time.