Showing results by narrator "Simon Slater" in All Categories

It's 1.15 a.m. Connie Bowskill should be asleep. Instead, she's logging on to a property website in search of a particular house: 11 Bentley Grove, Cambridge. She knows it's for sale; she saw the estate agent's board in the front garden less than six hours ago. Soon Connie is clicking on the 'Virtual Tour' button, keen to see the inside of 11 Bentley Grove and put her mind at rest once and for all. But she finds herself looking at a scene from a nightmare.

It should have been a cosy scene - log fire, sheepskin rug, Vivaldi on the stereo, Christmas lights and tree. But appearances can be deceptive. For Caroline Hartley, lying quietly on the couch, has been brutally murdered. Inspector Alan Banks is called to the grim scene. And he soon has more suspects than he ever imagined. As he delves into her past, he realizes that for Caroline, secrecy was a way of life, and her death is no different. His ensuing investigation is full of hidden passions and desperate violence....

Wednesday's Child is the sixth novel in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series, following on from Past Reason Hated. When two social workers, investigating reports of child abuse, appear at Brenda Scupham's door, her fear of authority leads her to comply meekly with their requests. Even when they say that they must take her seven-year old daughter, Gemma, away for tests.... It is only when they fail to return Gemma the following day that Brenda realises something has gone terribly wrong.

The tenth book in the dramatic and intriguing story about the colonisation of Australia: a country built on blood, passion, and dreams. Not only Englishmen come to the new country of Australia. A young American, the only survivor of a shipwreck, has also ended up there. She stands alone in this new and completely foreign world. Another American, who served in the British army against Bonaparte, has arrived as well — voluntarily. In this melting pot, everyone must establish a life for themselves. The obstacles are many, but the future is still bright.

Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks has reached a turning point. With his wife now living with another man in London and his career in the doldrums thanks to Chief Constable Riddle, it is time to ring the changes. Perhaps a move to the National Crime Squad? Perhaps a second chance with Sandra? But then late one night he is summoned to Riddle's house - and his plans take a surprising new turn. For the Chief Constable's 16-year-old daughter, Emily, has run away, and for once Riddle wants Banks to use his unorthodox methods to find her without fuss.

The 26th instalment of the internationally best-selling DCI Banks series. When the body of a teenage boy is found stuffed into a wheely bin on the East Side Estate, Banks and Annie have a homegrown murder case to solve. But Banks' attention is also on Zelda, who, in helping him track down his old enemy, has put herself in danger and alerted the stone-cold Eastern European sex traffickers who brought her to the UK.

It was facts that helped him explain how the world works. But it was curiosity and commitment that made the late Hans Rosling, author of worldwide best seller Factfulness, the most popular researcher of our time. How I Learned to Understand the World is Hans Rosling's own story of how a young scientist became a revolutionary thinker and takes us from the swelter of an emergency clinic in Mozambique to the World Economic Forum at Davos.

It was 2:47 a.m. when Chief Inspector Alan Banks arrived at the barn and saw the body of Keith Rothwell for the first time. Only hours earlier two masked men had walked the mild-mannered accountant out of his farmhouse and clinically blasted him with a shotgun. Clearly this is a professional hit - but Keith was hardly the sort of person to make deadly enemies. Or was he? For the police investigation soon raises more questions than answers. And who, exactly, is Robert Clavert?

The thirteenth book in the dramatic and intriguing story about the colonisation of Australia: a country made of blood, passion, and dreams. Against overwhelming odds they fought to tame a savage land, now they must fight to keep it. During the 1850s on a promise of fertile soil, the wilderness of Australia had been tamed by proud men and passionate women like the Broomes or Tempests. This first line of pioneers had worked the land for the betterment of the colony.

For Michael Parkinson it was never really in doubt that he would spend his life in sport. His father, a fearsome fast bowler himself, indoctrinated young Michael from an early age into the Yorkshire cricket tradition and supporting Barnsley FC. All he ever wanted was to play cricket for Yorkshire and England. My Sporting Life is Sir Michael's love letter to sport, to the heroes and legends of his Yorkshire youth, to the characters of the international games he watched and wrote about, and to the very idea of sport itself.

When controversial US presidential candidate Dale Victor is killed in a plane explosion, along with hundreds of other passengers, it appears to be a clear-cut case of terrorism. The suspect has even confessed to the bombing. But as criminal barrister Michael Devlin is about to discover, everything is not as it seems. Also suspecting there are other forces at work, intelligence agent Joe Dempsey is driven to investigate. Who would have wanted Victor out of the way – and would commit mass murder to do it?

Late November, 1980. English student Nick Hartley returns from a lecture to find his house full of police. He soon discovers that his ex-girlfriend has been found murdered in a nearby park, and her new boyfriend is missing. Nick quickly realises he is a suspect as he has no convincing alibi, but Nick has his own suspicions. Meanwhile, in late November 2019, an archeological dig near Scotch Corner unearths a skeleton that turns out to be far more recent than the Roman remains she is looking for.

When the lawyers of alleged war criminal Hannibal Strauss are caught up in a terror attack in The Hague, barrister Michael Devlin immediately suspects all is not what it seems. Teaming up once more with Agent Joe Dempsey, they must find who’s behind it all before any more innocent lives are lost.

The gruesome double-murder at an Eastvale property developer’s luxury home should be an open and shut case for Superintendent Alan Banks and his team of detectives. There’s a clear link to the notoriously vicious Albanian mafia, men who left the country suspiciously soon after the murder. When Banks and his team find a cache of spy-cam videos hidden in the house, the investigation pivots to another violent crime that could cast the murders in an entirely different light.

The twenty-fourth, and final, book in the dramatic and intriguing story about the colonisation of Australia: a country made of blood, passion, and dreams. Finally the end has been reached as the Australians look towards the future. The Australians have reached a time of technological advance that features steam power of ships and auto mobiles becoming the preferable personal transportation for the wealthy Australians. Australia becomes Australia as we know it today.

Climate change is the defining issue of our time - we know, beyond reasonable doubt, what that science now tells us. Just as climate change is accelerating, so too must we - summoning up a greater sense of urgency, courage and shared endeavour than humankind has ever seen before. The Age of Climate Change is an age of superlatives, but Porritt is optimistic. He believes we have time to do what needs to be done, but only if we move now - and move together.

The sixteenth book in the dramatic and intriguing story about the colonisation of Australia: a country made of blood, passion, and dreams. Michael knows that he cannot outrun his past, yet it is the longing for freedom that keeps him alive. Australia... For some, a land of opportunity where bravery and honour rule the once savaged wilderness, for others, a brutal prison where even the best of men are driven to commit some of the cruellest acts in the name of freedom. Michael Wexford is aware that his past follows him wherever he goes, yet Kitty and Patrick Cadogan are determined to clear his name, no matter the cost.

The eighteenth book in the dramatic and intriguing story about the colonisation of Australia: a country made of blood, passion, and dreams. Despite resistance from the native Maoris and Hauhaus, the settlers find themselves in a war between cultures. The settlers try to claim the bold frontier of New Zealand, but face opposition from two native tribes. The journey will be dangerous, and the consequences bloody. It is a matter of perishment or prevalence. Loyalty will be tested, love will fade, men will fall, but neither of the parties will back down without a fight.

When traces of a radioactive material are found with a body in Key West/Florida, multiple federal agencies suddenly descend on the scene. This is not just an isolated murder; a domestic terrorist group is ready to bring the US government to its knees. The threat hits close to home for ISB Agent Joe Dempsey when he discovers a personal connection to the group.

The Chemin, also known as the Camino de Santiago, is a centuries-old pilgrim route that ends in Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. Every year, thousands of walkers - some devout, many not - follow the route that wends through quaint small villages and along busy highways alike, a journey unlike any other. Zoe, an artist from California who’s still reeling from her husband’s sudden death, has impulsively decided to walk the Camino, hoping to find solace and direction. Martin, an engineer from England, is road-testing a cart of his own design…and recovering from a messy divorce.