Showing results by narrator "Matthew Lloyd Davies" in All Categories

September 1888. A 29-year-old Arthur Conan Doyle practices medicine by day and writes at night. His first Sherlock Holmes story has only netted him 25 pounds. Embittered by the experience, he vows never to write another "crime story". Then a messenger arrives with a mysterious summons from former Prime Minister William Gladstone, asking him to come to London immediately. Once there, he is offered one month's employment to assist the Metropolitan Police as a "consultant" in their hunt for the serial killer soon to be known as Jack the Ripper.

The year 1989 brought the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. It was also the year that the economic theories of Reagan, Thatcher, and the Chicago School achieved global dominance. And it was these neoliberal ideas that largely determined the course of the political, economic, and social changes that transformed Europe over the next quarter century. This award-winning book provides the first comprehensive history of post-1989 Europe.

In London's fashionable Chelsea, a Halloween bash goes terribly wrong. Emmeline Wardle, daughter of a frozen-foods baron, throws a party that results in the demise of two university schoolmates. Handsome golden boy Trevor Parsons is dead. So is pasty computer nerd Clive French. Both died on the Wardle estate within minutes of one another, and both died the same way - an axe to the skull. Given the social connections of all involved, New Scotland Yard sends a real baron to investigate.

All good things must come to an end.When Jeremy Clovenhoof is called up to serve his final role in the Apocalypse, he’s more than a little annoyed. He enjoys his quiet sinful life in suburban England and has some two-for-one vouchers for the local kebab shop he hasn’t spent yet.

Cowardice in a legionary carries a heavy punishment: the sentence of decimation—to live or die at the whim of the gods with the unlucky ones clubbed to death by their fellow soldiers. Ursus, the man killed in Quintus's group, lays a heavy charge on the youth, asking him to look after the remaining men and to take care of his family back in Rome.

Adam has come far. Once a lowly apprentice, and a powerless one at that, he has discovered a whole new field of magic. Combining magic and technology into one, he has become the leading light of the university. His innovations have made many things possible, from powerful magics anyone can use to hot air balloons and flying battleships. The world has changed beyond hope of repair.

Life at St Cadfan’s is never dull. There’s the cellar full of unexplained corpses. There’s the struggle to find food when the island is placed under quarantine. And there’s that peculiar staircase in the cellar.... Being a demon in Hell has its own problems. There’s the increasingly impossible torture quotas to meet. There’s the entire horde of Hell waiting for you to slip up and make a mistake. And there’s that weird staircase in the service tunnels.

Troubled by an inability to find any meaning in his life, the 25-year-old narrator of this deceptively simple novel quits university and eventually arrives at his brother's New York apartment. In a bid to discover what life is all about, he writes lists. He becomes obsessed by time and whether it actually matters. He faxes his meteorologist friend. He endlessly bounces a ball against the wall. He befriends a small boy who lives next door. He yearns to get to the bottom of life and how best to live it.

Michael Irvine is 33 years old, drives a 12-year-old car, and lives with his parents. His job bores him, and his love is unrequited. Very few people pay attention to Michael, and that suits him fine. Then one day, he finds himself the winner of the largest lottery in the history of Europe: €190,000,000. Under the weight of his newfound wealth and fame, Michael's life spirals out of control until he is forced to make a decision.

Paige Chadwick is having the worst day of her life. Her tyrant boss has made her three days late for her sister's destination wedding trip, and now she's stuck on the wrong Caribbean island with the wedding just hours away. Enter Mac Gamble, a brooding yet irresistibly attractive pilot, who reluctantly agrees to get her to the church on time. When a fast-moving storm leaves them stranded on a deserted island, they're forced to rely on each other to survive. As they navigate their new surroundings, tempers flare and an undeniable attraction grows.

To the devil a daughter! Parenthood can come as a shock to some. It’s especially shocking if you are Satan, the Prince of Hell, and are trying to live a quiet life of semi-retirement in suburban England under the name of Jeremy Clovenhoof. Clovenhoof quickly finds that being a single parent involves more than lullabies and nappies and has to contend with social disapproval, paternity tests and, possibly, the end of the world.

The Reveries of the Solitary Walker was one of the last works written by the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and was, in fact, not quite complete. It was published four years after his death and came quickly to be regarded as one of his most poetic works. It consists of 10 Walks (only the final ‘Walk’ was unfinished) during which he muses on a variety of topics including thoughts on issues which featured strongly in his notable life as a philosopher and commentator, including education and political philosophy.

September 1989. In the tense final days before the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Communist government is on the brink of collapse. Even the Stasi, once a notoriously fearsome intelligence agency, can't stop the rebellion. In a desperate play for advantage, they send former foreign agent Dr. Rudi Rosenharte to Trieste to rendezvous with his old lover and fellow agent, Annalise Schering. They believe Annalise has vital intelligence. The only problem: Rudi knows she's dead. After seeing her lying in her own bloodied bathwater, he kept her suicide a secret.

The bundled edition of the first three books in the popular Ambassador series. 1: Seeing Red - Cory Wilson is about to start his new job as representative to gamra, the alien organization that controls the network for wormhole travel, when a political murder may well end his career before it starts. In Coldi society, you can get killed for looking a superior in the eye. Never mind accusing him of murder. 1A: The Sahara Conspiracy - Cory is asked to deal with the alien mafia on Earth, and stumbles across a plot that endangers Earth's fragile peace.

When Alice’s Uncle Sam brings home a mysterious calendar that’s short on chocolate but big on surprises, she is thrown into an advent she never dreamed of. Codes arrive by text message and open the doors in the calendar, drawing Alice and Sam into fantastical new worlds that are wondrous, frightening and beautiful - and strangely familiar.

One stormy night, a ghostly encounter on a lonely road leads Inspector de Silva into a case of murder and a mystery that stretches back to Ceylon’s distant past. To uncover the truth, he will have to face death and his inner demons. If you love entertaining and absorbing mysteries, spiced with colorful characters and a dash of humor, don’t miss the Inspector de Silva Mysteries.

Getting snowed in at a remote cottage in Wales with someone he'd fancied for ages isn't exactly how Sam expected to spend Christmas. His feelings for Ryan are pointless. Ryan's straight - or so he thought.

Spanning three centuries and eight thousand nautical miles, and compiled by a direct descendant of a sailor who waged war with pirates in the early nineteenth century, The Penguin Book of Pirates takes us behind the eye patches, the peg legs, and the skull and crossbones of the Jolly Roger and into the no-man’s-land of piracy that is rife with paradoxes and plot twists.

In Emaneska, to consort with magick is to court death. Banned by the Arka Empire, magick's purging has finally brought peace to war-torn Emaneska. Like any dutiful citizen, Mithrid Fenn wants nothing to do with magick. But when an illegal spellbook washes up on a beach after a battle between giant, unknown ships, Mithrid Fenn is thrust into a war she never knew existed. Her family slaughtered, Mithrid finds herself hunted by daemons and the emperor's assassins.

Alec Rowland is a high-flying lawyer in a London firm, whose career is his life. He doesn't have time for relationships, and his sexuality is a closely guarded secret. After picking up a cute guy on a Friday night, Alec's world is rocked to its foundations when his one night stand shows up in the office on Monday morning - as the new temp on his team.