Showing results by narrator "Nicki Paull" in All Categories

Lucy Entwhistle's beloved father has just died; aged twenty-two she finds herself alone in the world. Leaning against her garden gate, dazed and unhappy, she is disturbed by the sudden appearance of the perspiring Mr Wemyss. This middle-aged man is also in mourning - for his wife Vera, who has died in mysterious circumstances. Before Lucy can collect herself, Mr Wemyss has taken charge: of the funeral arrangements, of her kind aunt Dot, but most of all of Lucy herself - body and soul.

Every once in a while a great race horse is born that will become famous throughout the land. This book is about such a horse. Perhaps even rarer comes a truly wonderful story about a horse and the human being closest to it. Two beings, horse and human, are bound in an unspoken love and respect which draws the finest from both of them. This book by award-winning author Kathleen Peyton, tells their story.

On the far northwest coast of Tasmania at Cape Grimm lies the isolated and idiosyncratic community of Skye, which practises a religion that reveres the imagination. One clear evening in 1992 all the inhabitants enter the church hall, where they are locked in and burned alive. They have been persuaded to do this by a young man called Caleb Mean - also known as El Nino, the Christ Child.

Detective Inspector January David has always put his professional before his private life, but the two worlds are about to clash horrifically as he visits his latest crime scene. He is confronted by a lifeless figure suspended ten feet above a theatre stage, blood pouring from her face into a coffin below. This gruesome execution is the work of an elusive serial killer. Three women from three different London suburbs, each murdered with elaborate and chilling precision. And as January stares at the most beautiful corpse he's ever seen, he detects the killer's hallmark.

Marnie and Raver are each set apart from their community: Marnie because she is a newcomer brought to the village by her much older husband, and Raver because he is the village lunatic. The villagers are suspicious of any newcomer and they are especially wary of Marnie when her husband dies suddenly. She causes more consternation when she befriends Raver, but Marnie discovers that he is not mad: he is deaf. She develops a rudimentary sign language to communicate with the young man. The villagers see Raver responding calmly to her hand gestures, and they try Marnie for witchcraft.

Paris has seduced many admirers, but for visiting Australian Ellie Nielsen, it's true love. So deep is her infatuation that, if she can't have it all to herself, she'll only be satisfied with buying her own little piece of Paris.

Twenty years on, each of Mary's four sisters is settled in her own way: Jane has a happy marriage and a large family; Lizzie and Mr Darcy have a formidable social reputation; Lydia has a reputation of quite another kind; and Kitty is in demand in London's fashionable salons. Mary, however, is a changed woman, and newly independent of family obligations. Now she is afire with resolve - to publish a book revealing the ills of England and the plight of the poor.

Goodall's popular leading lady, Briony Williams, is now a detective with the Chelsea CID. She has grown in confidence and rank from when she first appeared in The Walker as a rookie cop. In the fierce English summer of 1976 the Punk movement is on the rise and chaos is the catchcry down in its heartland at the World's End of London. But things take a darker turn as a new group calling themselves Sudden Deff show signs of wanting to live up to their name.

Matthew Liu sees his parents gunned down on a lonely Sydney backstreet. A young woman, the killer, stares him in the face before fleeing the scene. When the police arrive, all they find is the discarded gun. Detective Inspector Paul Harrigan's unit is pitched into a high-profile investigation with little to go on. Who is the young woman? How can she have vanished into thin air? When DC Grace Riordan follows up a connection between one of the victims and a termination clinic, pieces start to fall into place, but Grace is forced to confront some personal demons.

Following the phenomenal success of Jane R. Goodall's 2004 debut novel The Walker comes the second Briony Williams thriller, The Visitor.

Twin boys run away from their au pair on a trip to the Oxford countryside. They race into some woods, where they see a man chopping. At first they think he is chopping wood, but what he is holding in his hand is not an axe, and the shape on the ground is not a tree.

Gemma and Kit's childhood was overshadowed by their father's conviction for murdering their mother. Thirty years later he is released from prison, sparking conflict between the sisters, who have different opinions about his guilt. At the same time a series of gruesome incidents involving slashed women's clothing escalates into a serial murder. Both Gemma and Kit become caught up in a terror linked to past secrets.

They kill without mercy. Disappear without trace. They are The Two. And now the stakes are raised once more for Detective January David. 5 lie dead, brutally murdered - the first taken on the night of Halloween and as autumn bleeds into winter more ritualistic murders are discovered. January must battle his demons, for in his mind lies the clue to stopping a ruthless murderer. But his worst nightmares have literally come true when he discovers there's not one, but two twisted killers on the loose.

The Shadow King has been thwarted for centuries from walking in our world with a form of his own... Maeve: a beautiful slave who is sold to Lord Morlen, a man who inspires terror in all who meet him. Jasper: a free man who has survived his eighteen years in the cruel land of Slivia living on his wits and courage. Saravelda and Dorjan: talented students at Bellandra's famous school for healers....

After the death of her father and brothers in a Viking raid, Ran is alone. Alone and afraid. Travelling by sledge across a snowy headland to take part in the winter sacrifice, her future is uncertain. Her fate lies in the hands of Vigut, a cruel stranger who brings nothing but fear and death. Her life at the mercy of an evil magician. Her destiny in the love of a travelling musician. But where the journey ends is up to her....

When PI Gemma Lincoln agrees to investigate the disappearance of a student from exclusive Netherleigh Park Ladies' College, she finds herself drawn into a double murder case with the life of a third student in peril. Gemma's policewoman friend, Angie McDonald, is the investigating officer, but she is overworked, undermined and crazy in love. When Gemma discovers the missing students were live-cam girls, with links to a hardcore pornography site, she suspects that the college's formidable principal is involved in a cover-up, either to protect herself or someone else...

Meet Eve: four kids, one hectic job, two complicated exes and a lot on her mind. Like, is sex with the vet better than no sex at all? Is she too old to shop at Topshop or dye her hair pink? Are violets the new geraniums? What the hell is in the fridge for supper? And, most important of all, has she let the love of her life get away too easily?

Matthew Liu sees his parents gunned down on a lonely Sydney backstreet. A young woman, the killer, stares him in the face before fleeing the scene. When the police arrive, all they find is the discarded gun. Detective Inspector Paul Harrigan's unit is pitched into a high-profile investigation with little to go on. Who is the young woman? How can she have vanished into thin air? When DC Grace Riordan follows up a connection between one of the victims and a termination clinic, pieces start to fall into place, but Grace is forced to confront some personal demons.

Detective Inspector January David has always put his professional before his private life. But now, as he visits this latest crime scene, his two worlds clash horrifically. Confronted with a ghostly figure suspended ten feet above a theatre stage with blood pouring from her face into a coffin below, it's clear this gruesome execution scene is the work of an elusive serial killer - and the body hanging above is that of the forth known victim. But Girl 4 is different: she is alive - barely. And January recognises her.