Showing results by narrator "Daniel Philpott" in All Categories

This is a story from the Famous People in History II collection.

On the night of 22 December 1980, a plane crashes on the Franco-Swiss border and is engulfed in flames. Out of 169 passengers. 168 are killed instantly. The miraculous sole survivor is a newborn baby. But the identity of the child is unknown, and two families - one rich and affluent, and the other poor - step forward to claim her. So begins a private investigation that wil go on for the next 18 years.... The novel opens on the eve of the girl's 18th birthday.

Brighton, 1951. Pantomime season takes a dark turn when two missing children are found dead under the snow, surrounded by sweets - a macabre, real-life Hansel and Gretel. DI Edgar Stephens, has plenty of leads to investigate. The missing girl, Annie, used to write plays and perform them with her friends. Once again Edgar enlists magician and ex-wartime comrade Max Mephisto's help in penetrating the shadowy theatrical world that seems to hold the key. But is this all just classic misdirection?

Reunited with his crew aboard the frigate HMS Themis, Captain Charles Hayden is ordered by the Admiralty to the West Indies to carry war to the French among their own islands. Before he makes port in Barbados, the Themis intercepts a single boat adrift in the middle of the ocean - its sole occupants, two young Spanish noblemen. But not is all as it seems with Hayden’s unexpected guests.

A stranger arrives in a small English town, wreathed in a hat, coat, goggles and bandages. It's not just his identity he's hiding, though; he has discovered the secret of invisibility, and believes it will lead him to ultimate power. But he needs to be able to control the process, and when the terrified villagers refuse to help him, he decides on bloody revenge.

This is a story from the Famous People in History II collection.

Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall is an Edwardian history book for younger listeners (aged six to 12) that tells the story of England, concluding with the reign of Queen Victoria. Antonia Fraser and many other current historians declare that it was this book that opened the delights of history for them. It fell from fashion in the 1960s, but its recent re-release in hardback has seen it become a publishing surprise in the UK, with sales of some 75,000 copies in a few months.

Inspector Montalbano is awake at dawn, sitting on his porch, when his attention is caught by a seagull that falls from the sky, performing a strange dance, before lying down to die. Montalbano is perplexed by what he has witnessed and the scene hangs over him like an omen. About to depart for a holiday with his girlfriend Livia, Montalbano makes a quick trip to the police station to tie up loose ends. But when his dear colleague Fazio is discovered missing, Montalbano instead launches a desperate search for his lost friend....

A professional killer is at large in the cities of Italy. Code-named 'Pit Bull', he is a master of disguise and an expert with weapons. He modifies his guns and his bullets are untraceable. His skill with prosthetics, wigs and makeup means that no two victims witness the same terrifying final vision. This is a hunt for a man with no face. Only the picture of a pit bull terrier left behind at each murder can link the crimes. Day after day, Ispettore Negro works on her seemingly impossible case.

At the end of the Second World War, some of the highest ranking Nazis escaped from justice, Aided and abetted by the Vatican, they travelled down secret 'rat lines' and were taken in by shady Argentine secret agents. Vengeful Holocaust survivors and inept politicains attempted to bring them to justice and there were daring plots to kidnap or assassinate the fugititives.

A clear and accessible guide to philosophy, How Philosophy Works combines bold infographics and jargon-free text to demystify fundamental concepts. Covering everything from ethics to epistemology and phenomenology, the book presents the ideas and theories of key philosophical traditions and philosophers - from Plato and Socrates to Nietzsche and Wittgenstein via Kant - in a novel, easy-to-understand way.

Omar Yussef, teacher-turned-detective, is sent to the troubled Gaza Strip to carry out a routine school inspection. There he learns that a fellow teacher has been arrested, and, instinctively recognizing the signs of grave injustice, he sets out to investigate. The person responsible for the teacher's arrest is Colonel al-Fara, the most powerful - and dangerous - man in Gaza, and Omar's friends urge him not to intervene. But Omar confronts the colonel, and soon finds himself caught in a ruthless power struggle.

When the body of a Russian agent is found down a monastery well, Yashim knows exactly who to blame. Fevzi Ahmet Pasha, ruthless commander of the Ottoman fleet. Years ago, Fevzi Ahmet was his mentor. And now Yashim must confront the secret that Fevzi Pasha has been keeping all these years, a secret whose roots lie deep in the tortured atmosphere of the sultan's harem.

A serial killer is terrorising the people of Bologna, and rookie Detective Inspector Grazia Negro is determined to solve the case. She only has one witness who can identify the killer - and he is blind. Simone spends his nights listening to Chet Baker and scanning the radio waves of the city, eavesdropping on other people's lives. He imagines what people are like - based on the 'colour' of their voice - and his acute hearing sets alarm bells ringing when he tunes in to the killer.

Summer 1914: Europe is on the brink. As Britain’s enemies grow stronger, the Comptroller- General must confront the man with whom he has struggled for a generation - a man he knows only as the Spider. In a desperate gamble, he sends four agents out across the continent, on a mission they do not understand ... The future of British intelligence - of the British Empire.

The year is 1527. While the Papal city of Rome burns, two of her most interesting and wily citizens slip away. Though almost as damaged as their beloved city, Fiammetta Bianchini and Bucino Teodoldi, a fabulous courtesan and her dwarf companion, are already planning their future. They head for the shimmering beauty of Venice, a honey pot of wealth and trade where they start to rebuild their business. As a partnership they are invincible. Venice, however, is a city that holds its own temptations.

Yashim is no ordinary detective; he's a eunuch. As the Sultan plans a series of radical reforms to his empire, a concubine is strangled in the palace harem, and a young cadet is found butchered in the streets of Istanbul. Delving deep into the city's crooked alleyways, and deeper still into its tumultuous past, Yashim discovers that some people will go to any lengths to preserve the traditions of the Ottoman Empire.

Beauty can be a gift...or a wicked temptation.... So it is for Filippo Lippi, growing up in Renaissance Florence. He has a talent - not only can he see the beauty in everything but he can capture it, paint it. But while beauty can seduce you and art can transport you - it cannot always feed you or protect you. To survive, Filippo di Tommaso Lippi, street urchin, forger, drinker, seducer of nuns, must become Fra Fra Filippo Lippi - Carmelite friar, man of God.

Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall is an Edwardian history book for younger listeners (age six to 12) which tells the story of England, concluding with the reign of Queen Victoria. Antonia Fraser and many other current historians declare that it was this book that opened the delights of history for them. It fell from fashion in the 1960s, but its recent re-release in hardback has seen it become a publishing surprise in the UK, with sales of some 75,000 copies in a few months.

1888. When young Scottish scientist James Murray receives a letter from Sofia Esposito, a woman he once loved and lost, he cannot refuse her cry for help. Sofia's fifteen-year-old cousin has vanished but, because of her lower-class status, the police are unwilling to investigate. Accompanied by his younger sister Lucy, Murray returns to the city of Turin where he was once apprenticed to the world-famous criminologist, Cesare Lombroso.