Showing results by author "Matthew Hall" in All Categories

A dense, bitterly cold fog has settled over the Wye Valley when Bristol coroner Jenny Cooper is called to the scene of a dreadful tragedy: in the village of Blackstone Ley, a house has burned to the ground, with three members of a family inside. Though evidence of foul play is quickly uncovered, it isn't long before the police investigation is drawn to a close. It seems certain that the fire was started by one of the victims, Ed Morgan, in a fit of jealous rage. But their infant son is still missing, and Ed had left a message for his surviving wife....

Coroner Jenny Cooper investigates… A tragic accident or a terrible crime? When Flight 189 plunges into the Severn Estuary, Coroner Jenny Cooper finds herself handling the case of a lone sailor whose boat appears to have been sunk by the stricken plane, and drawn into the mysterious fate of a ten year-old girl, Amy Patterson, a passenger on 189, whose largely unmarked body is washed up alongside his.

Coroner Jenny Cooper investigates…. An unlikely suicide or a deadly conspiracy? When Bristol Coroner Jenny Cooper investigates the fatal plunge of a man from a motorway bridge, she little suspects that it has any connection with the sudden death of a friend’s thirteen year old daughter from a deadly strain of meningitis. But as Jenny pieces together the dead man’s last days, she’s drawn into a mystery whose dark ripples stretch across continents and back through decades.

“A fledgling Black Knight, Artamos De’spada, is on a mission to deliver the king’s betrothed safely home amidst brigands and traitors.” In his final mission to become a full-fledged Black Knight, a member of the king’s most trusted men, Artamos must return the king’s newly betrothed home safely. Artamos has little understanding of how his world is about to change, and how the beautiful young woman, Lady Leona, will play a part in it. Facing brigands, treachery, and his own insecurities, Artamos must complete his mission at all costs if he is to be a Black Knight, and the cost is...

Would you like to hold in your hand a great secret of success, which will entail you about knowing people and their aspects in the best manner? All you need to use manipulation on your behalf is detecting the secrets underlying the human mind and learn the strategies to sneak into it, so that you will be able to handle it, manage it, persuade it, control it.

“Suspected of an assassination attempt on the King, Adrian and friends must risk everything to clear their names.” It’s commencement time, the completion of Black Knight initiate training and someone wants the King of Cromania dead. When a failed attempt interrupts Adrian’s commencement to Black Knight apprenticeship, he and his companions commit to uncovering the assassin only to become suspects themselves. They must risk everything, even their very lives, to clear their names and rescue the King and his family from a grizzly fate. Will Adrian and his companions succeed? Can they ...

“Orphaned from his family, forced to take the black, Adrian “Rizz” Rizzo battles his way through The Border Wars facing liars, spies, and assassins along the way.”

“Tasked with providing security to Fenric Castle, Adrian’s first mission collapses when Luisa Albano, the lord's daughter, goes missing with a Bermanian Army camped at the gates.” When a ruthless spy and love interest of Luisa Albano, threatens the security of Castle Fenric, Adrian and team must do everything possible to protect the security. The task becomes doubly complicated when the spy takes Luisa hostage, enlightening her as to his true identity while exposing a little known secret entrance into the castle. On the brink of siege and with a Bermanian army closing in, will Adrian ...

When lawyer Jenny Cooper is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner, she’s hoping for a quiet life and space to recover from a traumatic divorce. But the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence. Could the tragic death in custody of a young boy be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the fate of Marshall himself? Jenny’s curiosity is aroused. Why was Marshall behaving so strangely before he died?

"Orphaned and on the run, Adrian Rizzo, “Rizz,” and friends must traverse the war torn north, dodging Bermanian slavers, and outwitting the local lords while seeking safe passage south." Orphaned in the first battles of The Border Wars, Adrian Rizzo “Rizz” and his companions must make their way south amidst a web of Bermanian spies and slavers. When little brother Gian’s asthma medicine runs dangerously low, they are unwittingly forced into the path of Bermania’s next conquest, Fenric Castle. In a series of mishaps that end with Maria and Gian being kidnapped by Bermanians ...

Dr Leo Black is one of Oxford University's rising stars. His lectures play to a packed audience of adoring students. He seems destined for tenure amongst the gleaming spires. But Worcester College has never employed a man like Leo Black before. For 20 years Leo served the SAS with distinction. And when the friend he served alongside is killed in Paris trying to prevent the abduction of a young British scientist, the world Leo has tried to put behind him begins to reel him back in.

The BBC Radio 3 series exploring the meaning of the male nude in the visual arts. When we think of the nude we usually think of the female nude, and in Western art in particular, we're often contemplating an image where the artist is primarily concerned with sensuality and desire. If we spare a thought for the male nude at all, he tends to appear as a figure symbolising courage and endurance. Both perspectives are, of course, a simplification or distortion.

The body of a dead man is discovered in an overgrown cemetery in Bristol, the sign of the cross gouged into his flesh. At first it seems to coroner Jenny Cooper that all the evidence points to a horrific, if routine, suicide. Then an enigmatic young priest, Father Lucas Starr, arrives on Jenny’s doorstep, entreating her to hold an inquest into the death of Eva Donaldson, a high profile political campaigner whose past life continued to haunt her.

Emergency Room: The Covid Diaries, is a true-life look behind the headlines first-hand account of what it was like behind the scenes at a major American hospital as the Covid-19 pandemic swept through the United States as seen by nurses and doctors who dealt with the unprecedented crisis every day.Told through the eyes of Guy Maddison, a Registered Nurse at a level one trauma center in Seattle, Washington, Emergency Room tracks the on-the-ground medical response as the virus arrived on US shores. We learn about the massive operations required to protect healthcare workers and the public from ...

Two young British students, Nazim Jamal and Rafi Hassan vanish without a trace. The police tell their parents that the boys had been under surveillance, that it was likely they left the country to pursue their dangerous new ideals. Seven years later, Nazim’s grief-stricken mother is still unconvinced. Jenny Cooper is her last hope. Jenny is finally beginning to settle into her role as coroner for the Severn Valley; the ghosts of her past that threatened to topple her, banished to the sidelines once more.

The day they've all been waiting for is at hand. The last British combat soldiers in Helmand are counting the minutes until their departure for home. For their excited families in Highcliffe, it spells the end of an agonizing six-month wait. But in the final hours, disaster strikes. Nineteen-year-old private Pete 'Skippy' Lyons is abducted, and the patrol sent out to locate him is ambushed. One killed, two injured. One still missing in action... Their loved ones are left desperate for answers the army won't provide.

“Becoming a Black Knight is tough, and it’s even tougher while being bullied.” It’s hard to become a Black Knight. It’s even harder when the bully in your life becomes your competition. Only the best of the initiates become Black Knights after a nine-month training course wrought with head-to-head competitions between the initiates. Adrian’s path through initiate training becomes tougher than most when he loses his best friend, leaving him to face his bully alone. Will Adrian overcome his bully? Can he win back his lost friendship? Will Adrian succeed and become an apprentice ...

I’m a Coroner. I spend my life laying things to rest . . . When lawyer, Jenny Cooper, is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner, she’s hoping for a quiet life and space to recover from a traumatic divorce, but the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence. Could the tragic death in custody of a young boy be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the fate of Marshall himself? Jenny’s curiosity is aroused.

Coroner Jenny Cooper investigates…. An unlikely suicide or a deadly conspiracy? When Bristol Coroner Jenny Cooper investigates the fatal plunge of a man from a motorway bridge, she little suspects that it has any connection with the sudden death of a friend’s thirteen year old daughter from a deadly strain of meningitis. But as Jenny pieces together the dead man’s last days, she’s drawn into a mystery whose dark ripples stretch across continents and back through decades.

The day they've all been waiting for is at hand. The last British combat soldiers in Helmand are counting the minutes until their departure for home. For their excited families in Highcliffe, it spells the end of an agonizing six-month wait. But in the final hours, disaster strikes. Nineteen-year-old private Pete 'Skippy' Lyons is abducted, and the patrol sent out to locate him is ambushed. One killed, two injured. One still missing in action... Their loved ones are left desperate for answers the army won't provide.