Showing results by narrator "Joe Dunlop" in All Categories

When Private Enquiry Agent Oz Blackstone opens the door of the flat in Ebeneezer Street, the sight that greets him isn't quite what he's looking for. Diminutive stockbroker Willie Kane - reclining on the bed with a large knife still embedded in him - is clearly no longer in a position to assist Oz in recovering the 900 grand he's stolen and secreted in a numbered Swiss bank account.

When the body of a red-haired young man is washed up on the shore of the beautiful Isle of Mull, Detective Superintendent Lorimer's tranquil holiday away from the gritty streets of Glasgow is rudely interrupted. The body has been bound with twine in a ghoulishly unnatural position and strongly reminds Lorimer of another murder: a twenty-year-old Glasgow case that he failed to solve as a newly fledged detective constable and which has haunted him ever since.

Ten years ago Oz Blackstone, movie icon, died tragically while filming in remote Guatemala; mourned by millions, his story came to an end, and his secrets died with him. His soul mate, Primavera Phillips, took their young son, Tom, back to the Spanish village where he was conceived and built a new life for them both in Oz's honour. For sure Oz was an idol, and as is the way with ill-fated legends, there are those who have never accepted his death, who have kept the faith ever since.

After cracking their first case together as a private investigation team, Oz Blackstone and Primavera Philips find themselves simultaneously in love and in the money. And where better to lie back and contemplate life than the picturesque village of St. Marti, on the rugged Costa Brava.

It's summertime in Monaco and Oz Blackstone, now an international film star, is sitting on the verandah of his opulent mansion gazing idly at luxury yachts in the harbour. Life doesn't get much better than this. But somebody knows where he lives, and the demons of the past begin to creep up on Oz's sunny life.

In 2006 a British peace-keeping force was sent to Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Within weeks they were cut off and besieged by the Taliban. Here, in their own words and for the first time, are the young veterans of Herrick 4- alongside the words of the Taliban themselves. Fergusson examines the war in Helmand and asks this most troubling question: could Britain have avoided the violence altogether?

Newly married to his childhood sweetheart and happily settled in Glasgow, private enquiry agent Oz Blackstone is looking for some excitement. And when he’s introduced to the seven-foot, granite muscled figure of Everett Davis, champion wrestler and head for the Global Wrestling Alliance, he knows he’s found it.The GWA’s televised tour of Europe has been dogged by inexplicable technical hitches and terrifying accidents in the ring.

It's 1970s London....When his firm's next robbery goes badly wrong, Glaswegian Colin Grant knows it's time to move on - fast. In Africa, Colin finds a new way of life and new friends. But, as he soon discovers, it's a land of unbelievable and almost irresistible riches. And all he has to do is work out how to fly a planeload of gold out of the country without anyone - especially Major Judas Akaba - finding out.

Oz Blackstone didn't go looking for fame - it jumped out of an alleyway and mugged him with a fistful of high-denomination notes. When he recovered, he found that he was a movie star, married to a successful businesswoman and about to leap into the Big Time. But life could never be that sweet.

Dr. Steven Dunbar works for the SCI-Med Inspectorate, an elite government agency charged with investigating hi-tech crime relating to the world of science and medicine. He is therefore bemused when the deathbed confession of a convicted psychopath lands on his desk. But it's not so amusing when it emerges that another man has already been tried and convicted of the crime - a man whose medical research once sent shockwaves through the scientific community.

For Oz Blackstone and Primavera Philips, the idea to forget their troubled past by returning to L'Escala, the idyllic Spanish village where they were once so happy, is not working out. A body turns up in the swimming pool of their new villa, and they are suddenly very much back in harness again.

World War Two is over and the Cold War beginning when Brett Manning is sent to do some business in Archangel. But on his way, in the thick fog and darkness of the Barents Sea, disaster strikes and his ship is run down by a much larger vessel. Only Brett and one other man are picked up. The two survivors find themselves on board a Russian freighter bound for a secret destination. Slowly it dawns on Brett and his companion that they now know too much for their own good.

As the three Henderson brothers - Jack, Douglas and Angus - head toward their childhood home in East Fortune for their annual summer gathering, they steel themselves against sibling rivalry, parental expectation and the vulnerability that comes with being with those who know you best. A subtle look at lives at the crossroads; about life and love, chance and hope - and how families survive.

Using a tanning salon as a front, Edinburgh-based Carlos Morales arranges contract killings. But his hit man's in jail and won't be out for a while. So when an anonymous payment arrives, Carlos decides to take the job on himself. But once the 'mark' is revealed, Carlos re-thinks his plan. This is no longer business - it's personal - because the 'mark' is his mother.

Oz Blackstone is enjoying the success of his latest smash-hit movie. He's moving into a big country house near Loch Lomond with his gorgeous wife Suzie Gantry, who has twice been named Scottish Businesswoman of the Year. They have the lifestyle of everyone's dreams. But when blackmailers threaten Oz's father with a particularly sleazy scam, the dream begins to turn into a nightmare. Oz gets paint thrown at him during the premiere of his movie and then an incendiary bomb is sent to his wife's offices.

For Oz Blackstone, his days as a Private Enquiry Agent could soon be over. An undercover stint as a TV wrestling master of ceremonies has convinced him that he may have hidden theatrical talent - and now he's got a taste for the spotlight. So, the chance of a bit part in a movie seems like an offer he can't refuse - even though his own life is fast developing a dramatic storyline of its own.

An unpredictable killer is loose on the streets of Glasgow. Beginning with brute force and relishing the power of snuffing out another human life, the murderer moves on to poison and drowning, greedy for new and better ways to kill. Faced with a string of seemingly unconnected victims, DCI Lorimer turns to psychologist and friend Solomon Brightman for his insights.