Showing results by narrator "Jilly Bond" in All Categories

1918: Freddie was destined for a different life, determined to make his fortune in the plantations of Ceylon. But just as the great war comes to an end, the eldest brother and heir to Coombe Hall, Edward, doesn’t return. Torn between duty and freedom, Freddie must now sacrifice his own dreams to keep the estate – and the future of Coombe – alive. And now he must now marry for an heir, not for love. But the turmoil of war didn’t end on the battlefield; the country faces upheavals like never before.

Rina accepts an invite to Aikensthorpe, a country-house hotel with a sinister past. Her fellow guests are an eccentric bunch of magicians and scholars who want to re-enact a séance. Back in 1872, it left one man dead and another mad. But Rina won’t be drawn into all of that. She's relieved when Detective MacGregor comes to her rescue. But then a blizzard sets in...leaving them trapped in the house, cut off from civilization. And then the first of the bodies is found—a distinguished scholar, smothered in his sleep. Who will be next to die on this dark and stormy night?

It was the night that shattered his life. One year ago, Rina’s dear friend Detective Mac McGregor witnessed something unspeakable: the murder of a child on a golden sandy beach. The girl died in his arms while her killer fled into the night, never to be seen again. But then, out of the blue, Mac gets a call that changes everything. His old adversary is back in town, and this could be Mac’s final chance to put him away.

One glorious morning, Rina heads out for a stroll along Frampton promenade, where all is picture-perfect...until she spots something that stops her in her tracks: a luxury yacht sailing round in circles. Rina knows that can’t be right. As for the captain, he is nowhere to be seen...until coastguards board the yacht and find him shot dead—execution-style.

When Juno Browne returns to the picturesque Dartmoor town of Ashburton after a brief holiday, she’s relieved to find that no one has been murdered while she was away. Though uncharitable friends suggest the quiet was simply due to her absence. Just as she’s settling back into her routine at the antiques shop and as domestic helper and dog walker, the brutal killing of local journalist Sandy Thomas shocks the town.

A jar of festival mud, a photo album of family memories, a child's teddy bear, a book of bell ringing methods, an old cassette tape, a pair of slippers... These are the items that fill the exhibit shelves in Vanessa Jones' museum. At first glance, they appear to have nothing in common, but that's before you find out the stories behind them... Because Vanessa's Little Museum of Hope is no ordinary museum - its aim is to help people heal by donating items associated with shattered lives and failed relationships, and in doing so, find a way to move on, perhaps even start again.

Coming of age in Prague in the 1930s, Lena Kulkova is inspired by the left-wing activists who resist the rise of fascism. She meets Otto, a refugee from Hitler’s Germany, and follows him to Paris to work for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. As the war in Spain ends and a far greater war engulfs the continent, Lena gets stuck in Paris with no news from her Jewish family, including her beloved baby sister, left behind in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Otto, meanwhile, has fled to a village in England, and urges Lena to join him, but she can’t obtain a visa.

With the festive season fast approaching, amateur sleuth Juno Browne helps organise a Christmas Fair to raise funds for Ashburton’s local animal sanctuary. The event is a success, but whilst Santa is handing out presents in the fairy-lit grotto, a murder is being committed in a dark corner of the garden. Juno discovers the body of Bob the Blacksmith, found clutching a horseshoe decorated with a sprig of elder. Suspicion falls on Bob’s longsuffering wife, Jackie, and on Don Drummond, with whom Bob violently quarrelled in the past

Abbie loses her cool during an argument with her daughter’s teacher, unaware the conversation is being recorded. Soon, her tirade is shared on social media, and she is fired. Even her children suffer from the fallout. To make matters worse, the public scandal has attracted an old enemy intent on ruining Abbie’s life. As the shaming and outrage intensifies, her children are forced to face some terrible truths. And when lives are threatened, Abbie must ask herself... Will anyone come out of this unharmed?