Showing results by narrator "Elizabeth Bower" in All Categories

I thought my first husband was dead. But when I get a letter with his name on it just days before my wedding, it will tear my perfect new life apart… As we drive up to the gorgeous house by the lake with its red and yellow roses round the door, I breathe in the pure air and count my blessings. In two days’ time I’m getting married to Matt, my soulmate and the father of my beautiful boy. After all the pain of my past, my life now is perfect.

Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied, and your math-whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can't afford to pay for. That's Jess' life in a nutshell - until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess' knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages...maybe ever.

When Jessica’s grandfather left for war, he promised to keep a record of each day he was apart from her grandmother. The diary was lost along with him—until now, when a mysterious, handsome Italian man named Alessandro shows up at Jessica’s door with the diary in hand. Immediately enchanted by her grandfather’s accounts of Italy’s glittering golden hours, Jess decides to spend a summer in Tuscany before she’s due to take over at her family’s farm. She hopes she can visit the places her grandfather once did—and finally find out what really happened the night he died.

A crimewave sweeps through the city and no one is safe. An arson at the docks. A carjacking gone wrong. A murder in a country park. What connects all these crimes without causes, which leave no clues? Detective Inspector Helen Grace faces the rising tide of cases which threatens to drown the city. But each crime is just a piece of a puzzle which is falling into place. And when it becomes clear just how twisted and ingenious this web of crime is, DI Grace will realise that it may be impossible to stop it.

The girl emerged from the woods, barely alive. Her story was beyond belief. But it was true. Every dreadful word of it. Days later, another desperate escapee is found - and a pattern is emerging. Pairs of victims are being abducted, imprisoned then faced with a terrible choice: Kill or be killed. Would you rather lose your life or lose your mind? Eeny Meeny is an electrifying debut, with the nerve-shredding intensity of Saw and Along Came a Spider.

In a world where disguises and discretion are the norm, and where one admission could unravel a life, a killer has struck, and a man is dead. No one wants to come forward to say what they saw or what they know - including the woman heading the investigation: Detective Helen Grace. Helen knew the victim. And the victim knew her - better than anyone else. And when the murderer strikes again, Helen must decide how many more lines she's willing to cross to bring in a devious and elusive serial killer.

A woman in tears in the Dales Detective Agency is never the best way to start the week. But when that woman is the wife of Bernard Taylor, town mayor and eminent businessman, there is even more cause for alarm. So when Nancy Taylor asks the detectives to investigate whether her husband is having an affair, Samson O’Brien and Delilah Metcalfe know they will have to tread carefully. The case, however, proves to be more complex than even they had imagined.

With two jobs and two children, Jess Thomas does her best day after day. But it’s hard on your own. And sometimes you take risks you shouldn’t. Because you have to.... Jess’ gifted, quirky daughter Tanzie is brilliant with numbers, but without a helping hand she’ll never get the chance to shine. And Nicky, Jess’ teenage stepson, can’t fight the bullies alone. Sometimes Jess feels like they’re sinking.... Into their lives comes Ed Nicholls, a man whose life is in chaos, and who is running from a deeply uncertain future. But he has time on his hands. He knows what it’s like to be lonely. And he wants to help....

Ruby wakes up in a strange room. Her captor calmly explains that no one is looking for her. No one wants her. Except him. When the body of a woman is found buried on a secluded beach, Detective Helen Grace is called to the scene. She knows right away that the killer is no amateur. The woman has been dead for years, and no one has even reported her missing. But why would they? She's still sending text messages to her family.

A woman's body lies in the road. At first it looks like a tragic accident. But when Helen Grace arrives on the scene it's clear she's looking at a coldblooded killing. But why would anyone target a much-loved wife and mother?

Those are the only words on the phone call. Then they hang up. Surely, a prank? A mistake? A wrong number? Anything but the chilling truth... That someone is watching, waiting, ready to take your life in one hour. But why The job of finding out falls to DI Helen Grace: a woman with a track record in hunting killers. However, this is one case where the killer seems to always be one step ahead of the police and the victims. With no motive, no leads, no clues - nothing but pure fear - an hour can last a lifetime....

It's dark in the Dales this winter.... When Mrs Shepherd arrives at the Dales Detective Agency on a December morning, quite convinced that someone is trying to kill her, Samson O'Brien dismisses her fears as the ramblings of a confused elderly lady. But after a series of disturbing incidents at Fellside Court retirement home, he begins to wonder if there is something to her claims after all.... With Christmas around the corner, Samson is thrown into a complex investigation.

From stolen washing to inheritance investigations, Bruncliffe’s Dales Detective Agency is being inundated with cases. But with Samson O’Brien still in London helping the Met Police clear his name, and the newly appointed member of the investigations team, Ida Capstick, distracted by her brother George’s insistence that their farm is haunted, Delilah Metcalfe is struggling to meet the mounting demands for the agency’s services. So when the mother of a local estate agent arrives at the offices insisting her son is missing, Delilah is relieved to have Samson return to help.

A silent killer stalks the city, targeting those home alone at night—killing without pity or remorse. As panic spreads, Detective Inspector Helen Grace leads the investigation, but is herself a hunted woman, her every step dogged by a ruthless killer bent on revenge. As she tracks the murderer, Grace begins to suspect there is a truly shocking home truth that connects these brutal crimes.

Trunks packed with potions and cures, Jane Aire sets out on a crisp, clear morning in October to face the greatest challenge of her sheltered girls’-school existence. A shadow lies over Thornfield Hall and its reclusive master, Edward Rochester. And he’s hired her only as a last resort. Jane stumbles again and again as she tries to establish a rapport with her prickly new employer, but he becomes the least of her worries as a mysterious force seems to work against her.

Date with Poison is the brilliant fourth novel in Julia Chapman's Dales Detective Agency series and is perfect of fans of M C Beaton's Agatha Raisin series and Gervase Phinn. A young teenager has gone missing. Can Samson O'Brien and Delilah Metcalfe find him? Spring is in the air in Bruncliffe. But not everyone is filled with the joys of the season. Implicated in the murder of a man in Leeds, the Dales Detective Agency’s Samson O’Brien is facing tough questions from the police....

Death is coming to Bruncliffe; its target is Samson O’Brien. Oblivious to his impending date with fate, Samson is busy juggling a number of cases at the Dales Detective Agency. Too busy, in fact, to notice his partner behaving oddly. Because Delilah Metcalfe knows what is coming. A hitman. Sent from London with one objective: to finally silence the troublesome O’Brien before his corruption case can make it to court.

A fatal accident at Bruncliffe’s livestock auction mart leads to a call for detectives Samson O’Brien and Delilah Metcalfe. What starts as a simple health-and-safety investigation soon takes a sinister turn when they discover evidence that suggests murder. Clive Knowles approaches them for help – his sheep are being threatened by the gang of rustlers that is plaguing the Dales. Meanwhile, poacher Pete Ferris has also decided to play his hand, setting in motion a blackmail plot which will ensure Samson is pulled back into trouble with his nemesis Rick Procter.

The Dales Detective Agency is on the brink of closure. Samson O’Brien has returned to his position as an undercover operative for the Met in London, and his relationship with Delilah is under pressure. Their troubles are only multiplied when an ecologist is found dead and the finger of blame is pointed firmly at Delilah’s older brother, Will Metcalfe. It seems an open and shut case. An argument over an ecology report for planning permission which got out of hand, with Will known to have a hot temper. But Delilah won’t accept he’s guilty and neither will Samson.

Two people are abducted, imprisoned, and left with a gun. As hunger and thirst set in, only one walks away alive. It's a game more twisted than any Detective Inspector Helen Grace has ever seen. If she hadn't spoken with the shattered survivors herself, she almost wouldn't believe them.