Showing results by narrator "Mike Grady" in All Categories

Investigating the disappearance of a vicar's daughter in London, the popular novelist and amateur detective Roger Sheringham is shocked to discover that the girl is already dead, found hanging from a screw by her own silk stocking. Reports of similar deaths across the capital strengthen his conviction that this is no suicide cult but the work of a homicidal maniac out for vengeance - a desperate situation requiring desperate measures.

The Pyrates is all the swashbucklers that ever were, rolled into one great technicoloured pantomime - tall ships and desert islands, impossibly gallant adventurers and glamorous heroines, buried treasure and black spots, devilish dons and ghastly dungeons, plots, duels, escapes, savage rituals, tender romance and steaming passion, all to the accompaniment of ringing steel, thunderous broadsides, sweeping film music, and the sound of cursing extras falling in the water and exchanging period dialogue.

Whales are among the largest, most intelligent, deepest diving species to have ever lived on our planet. We have hunted them for thousands of years and scratched their icons into our mythologies. They simultaneously fill us with waves of terror, awe and affection - yet we know hardly anything about them. Whales tend to enter our awareness only when they die, struck by a ship or stranded in the surf. They evolved from land-roaming, doglike creatures into animals that move like fish and breathe like us and can grow to 300,000 pounds, live 200 years and roam entire ocean basins. Yet despite centuries of observing whales, we know little about their evolutionary past.

A magisterial life of Ted Hughes - identified recently as the only English poet since the First World War with a claim to true greatness and one of Britain's most important writers - to be published on National Poetry Day by prize-winning biographer Jonathan Bate. Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate, was one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. He is one of Britain's most important poets, a poet of claws and cages: Jaguar, Hawk and Crow. Event and animal are turned to myth in his work.

A stunning new emotional tour-de-force from the author of Shadow, Born to Run and War Horse. May, 1915. Alfie and his fisherman father find a girl on an uninhabited island in the Scillies - injured, thirsty, lost… and with absolutely no memory of who she is, or how she came to be there. She can say only one word: Lucy. Where has she come from? Is she a mermaid, the victim of a German U-boat, or even - as some islanders suggest - a German spy?

The second book in the spellbinding, epic adventure series from 'the Godmother of Fantasy', Diana Wynne Jones. For centuries Dalemark has been a land divided by the warring earldoms of the North and South. Now, with the help of the Undying, the mysterious gods of Dalemark, four extraordinary young people must join forces to reunify their beloved land. After his father mysteriously goes missing, Mitt joins a group of freedom fighters plotting to overthrow the tyrannical ruler of Holand.

For four characters the 500 quid worry bead in their pocket may be both a blessing and a curse. For elderly Dr Zachary Busner, it's his lifeline to his autistic grandson Ben, whose own connection with technology is, in turn, a vital one. For MI6 agent Jonathan De'Ath, aka 'the Butcher', the phone may reveal his best kept secret of all: that Colonel Gawain Thomas is his lover.

A classic novel by a Booker Prize-winning author. Singapore just before the Japanese invasion in the Second World War: the Blackett family's prosperous world of tennis parties, cocktails and deferential servants seems unchanging. But it is poised on the edge of the abyss. This is the eve of the fall of Singapore and, as we know, of much else besides.

Across the lush plains of Egypt, Taita, a freed eunuch slave, wears his authority lightly. Not only is he the close advisor to the Pharaoh, but he is guardian to Pharaoh Tamose's two teenage sisters, the young beauties Tehuti and Bekatha. But the kingdom is not at peace. They have been fighting Southern Egypt's constant and historic enemy, the Hyksos people in the north, since time began. To finally crush them, Pharaoh must turn to his most trusted friend.

Original Swedish crime stories from the masters of Nordic noir, including a never-before-published short story by Stieg Larsson. Ever since Stieg Larsson shone a light on the brilliance of Swedish crime writing, listeners have devoured this dark and compelling genre. Now the nation's best crime writers have been brought together to form the first-ever anthology of Swedish crime.

A collection of stunning short stories from the most acclaimed Science Fiction author of any generation. Arthur C Clarke is without question the world's best-known and most celebrated science fiction writer. His career, spanning more than sixty years, is one of unequalled success.

The Malabar coast is full of dangers: greedy tradesmen, fearless pirates, and men full of vengeance. But for a Courtney, the greatest danger might just be his own family.... Francis Courtney flees the comfort of his Devonshire estate when his stepfather's gambling debts leave him penniless and at risk. He sails to South Africa with revenge and fortune on his mind: his uncle Tom Courtney killed his father, and Francis intends to avenge his death and make his fortune in the process.

are Enchanters: people born with magic in their bones, who can wield all four seasons of magic. When Juniper discovers she is an Enchanter, she is invited to study at Thistledown Academy. Unwilling to be left behind, her twin brother, Rafferty, follows her to the capital city of Stormgrove and takes up an apprenticeship at a bookbindery. As Juniper learns to wield enchantment, Rafferty becomes involved with a mysterious secret society that meets after dark.

The Armstrongs are both predator and prey, hunting for clues to help them fight the Darkening King while constantly watching their backs. This time it’s not just the world of the Hidden searching for them: the Josser world is intent on capturing the family, too. Leading the search is the curious Mr Fox and his agents in grey, and they’ve found an ally who knows Ned’s every move.

It has taken a long time, but humankind has won its battle against the sea. Now Professionals like Walter Franklin patrol the infinite savannahs of the oceans, harvesting from the plankton prairies. But like that other great frontier, space, the sea has not yet yielded up all its secrets. And men like Franklin will never rest until its every fathomless mystery has been challenged....

Ash spewed into the sky. All eyes were on Vesuvius. Pliny the Elder sailed towards the phenomenon. A teenage Pliny the Younger waited. His uncle did not come back. In a dazzling new literary biography, Daisy Dunn introduces Pliny the Younger, the survivor who became a Roman lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, curator of drains, and representative of the Emperor. He was confidant and friend to the great and good, an unparalleled chronicler of the Vesuvius catastrophe, and eyewitness to the terror of Emperor Domitian.

From a garden shed laboratory where he manufactured the greatest stink in the world to a tent high in the Arctic in pursuit of fossils, this is a story of obsession and love of nature, flavoured with the peculiarities and restrictions of post-war Britain. Fortey tells the story of following his father down riverbanks to fish for trout, and also of his father's shocking death. He unfolds his early passions–fungi, ammonite hunting and eyeing up bird's eggs. He evokes with warmth and wit how the natural world started out as his playground and refuge, then became his life's work.

The first time Annie Sweet sees 43 Stanley Road, the house is so perfect she feels almost as if it has chosen her. She longs to move in, but with her husband increasingly distant, and her daughter wrapped up in childhood, Annie is left alone to mull over the past.

Ever since that first primordial fireball exploded in the void countless aeons ago, people have been doing comic sketches on the radio. And this is no exception. These two mouth-watering series feature a whole host of tasty takeaway skits and shenanigans, from 'The Man At Parties No-One Wants To Talk To' and 'Britain's Stupidest Postman' to sauna novices, the perfect Proms punter and Batman in his dotage. Other highlights include regular characters Mr Makesalotofmistakes, who can't seem to get anything right, and smug yuppies Richard and Dulcie ('Rich and Dull') Perrier.

On a voyage toward the boundaries of the known universe, nine misfit academics seek out first contact with a shadowy alien race. But another enigma is the Nightflyer itself, a cybernetic wonder with an elusive captain no one has ever seen in the flesh. Soon, however, the crew discovers that their greatest mystery - and most dangerous threat - is an unexpected force wielding a thirst for blood and terror.... Also included are five additional classic George R. R. Martin tales of science fiction that explore the breadth of technology and the dark corners of the human mind.