Showing results by narrator "Philip Battley" in All Categories

A former First World War field hospital, the spooky old mansion at Devil's Neck attracts spirit-seekers from far and wide. Illusionist-turned-sleuth Joseph Spector knows the house of old. With stories spreading of a phantom soldier making mischief, he joins a party of visitors in search of the truth. But the house, located on a lonely causeway, is quickly cut off by floods. The stranded visitors are soon being killed off one by one.

Raz Frewer just made a bet with the Devil. He needs a cure to save his dying wife, and Lucifer has it—a mystical lamp, but its pieces were scattered around the globe centuries earlier. If he can find them, he'll get his cure; if he can't, the Devil gets his soul.

When wounded Templar Knight Sir Marcus de Rancourt receives word that his sister is dying, he returns to a home he hasn't seen in twenty years, only to find his sister dead, and her children orphaned. Sir Marcus decides to take on the greatest challenge of his life and remain behind to raise the children, his loyal sergeant and squires insisting on joining him to work the land by his side.

With her commission in her coat and a well-found deck beneath her feet, Catherine Cook, granddaughter of the great explorer, prepares to set sail. With her new frigate and her master and commander’s warrant, Kate is ready to begin her career in the Royal Navy. Yet as every sailor knows, not all seas run smoothly. As Kate and her crew set out to defend British and American shipping from French and Spanish marauders, the young, improbable captain is sailing straight into deadly peril. For her old nemesis, Pierre Meraux, survived their last encounter and is out for vengeance.

Freddie is unremarkable—too unremarkable. He doesn't stand out in any way, and in fact teachers and fellow students keep forgetting who he is. Even his mom thinks he's a disappointment, and spends almost all her time at work, producing a TV show. After a particularly awful night when he embarrasses himself in front of Jasper Perry (the gorgeous teen star of his mum's new show), Freddie decides to follow a proactive new philosophy designed to transform his social and romantic life: saying 'yes' to every opportunity.

Catherine Cook, unclaimed granddaughter of the great explorer James, Cook is on her way to America to re-connect with her mother’s family when fate intervenes and thrusts her into ultimate peril. All of her life, Kate has yearned to go to sea and to command a sailing ship in the Royal navy…an impossible dream for a young woman in 1797.

Oxford, Spring - 1354. When the series of accidents to the building of the chapel at Queen’s College begin, they do not appear a cause for concern, but they grow more serious, and stonemasons are injured. Nicholas Elyot becomes involved after it is discovered that an intruder has reached the college by way of his garden. When Jordain Brinkylsworth’s youngest student goes missing, it seems at first that his disappearance is unconnected, yet he is one of the ‘poor boys’ supported by Queen’s. Surely this serious and studious boy cannot be responsible for the troubles?

Lucius Anselme, the new Marquess of Windmere, is no stranger to responsibility. He visits his new estate in the Berkshire countryside a man with a plan: Set Tamarix Hall to rights and return to London in time to enjoy everything the season has to offer—the theatre, the balls, the women. What he doesn’t plan for is making the acquaintance of Miss Cressida Ambrose. She’s clever, beautiful, and just the kind of young lady who might tempt him if he wasn’t wholeheartedly opposed to matrimony.

London, 1889. For Ira Adler, former rent-boy and present plaything of crime lord Cain Goddard, stealing back the statue from Goddard's blackmailer should have been a doddle. But inside the statue is evidence that could put Goddard away for a long time under the sodomy laws, and everyone's after it, including Ira's bitter ex, Dr. Timothy Lazarus.

Meet Ellie. She's perfectly happy living a quiet life with her husband, Clive. (Well, she does sometimes wonder about the way he talks to her and about all the things she hasn't achieved yet. But she's happy enough.) Meet Dan. He's definitely content - content with his predictable, ordered existence, making harps in his isolated barn on Exmoor. Content being on his own, far away from other people and - crucially - far away from any risk of surprises.

Sebastian Grenville, the duke of Sindalton, known as Sin to the ton, has had his fair share of scandal. His father's involvement in what became referred to as "The Scandal of the Century" plunged him into the spotlight at the tender age of 12, and he's been there ever since. Egged on by his best friend, Beau - the marquis of Beaumont - his life is one of dissipation and ease. But every duke needs an heir, and everyone knows Sindalton is on the market for a wife.

Hampshire, 1938. Victor Silvius is confined in a private sanatorium after attacking prominent judge Sir Giles Drury. When Sir Giles starts receiving sinister threatening letters, his wife suspects Silvius. Meanwhile, Silvius’ sister Caroline is convinced her brother is about to be murdered... by none other than his old nemesis Sir Giles.

Bard and fighter Liobhan is always ready for a challenge. So when news arrives at Swan Island that the prince of Dalriada has gone missing after an assault by both masked men and the sinister Crow Folk, she's eager to act. While Liobhan and her fellow Swan Island warriors seek answers to the prince's disappearance, the bard Brocc, Liobhan's brother, finds himself in dire trouble. His attempts to communicate with the Crow Folk have led him down a perilous path.

Dreams of love are all well and good, but all Prunella Chuffington-Smythe wants is to publish her novel. Marriage at the price of her independence is something she will not consider...Robert Adolphus, The Duke of Bedwin, is in no hurry to marry, he’s done it once and repeating that disaster is the last thing he desires...Surely showing the man she’s not actually the meek little wallflower he is looking for should be enough to put paid to his intentions? When Prue is dared by her friends to do something drastic, it seems the perfect opportunity to kill two birds.

His cheeks are as tender as raw meat on a butcher's block. And those are just the cheeks of his face. As he slumps in the saddle, watching the road disappear into the distance, he aches in parts of his body that he's only just discovering he has. When Mark travels to Ecuador to go hiking and climbing, he discovers a land of dramatic volcanoes rising through the clouds and wide-open horizons rich in history.

Luke Frankland, a junior intelligence officer just home from the Iraq War, finds himself cast into a world of cyber espionage and state-level politics. Out of his depth and with no one in the government heeding his warnings, he forms a makeshift team and tries to establish who is waging a new kind of war from behind a keyboard. The truth will leave him plunged into an arena he little expected, and where the real cost is not measured in 1s and 0s but in human life.

Dishonoured and ashamed, the ton's scandalous darling, "Beau" the Marquess of Beaumont, is forced to flee England to escape debtor's prison. After a chance encounter, it appears Miss Millicent Sparrow is his only remaining friend, however unlikely...when his father dies suddenly and Beau inherits the Dukedom...he finds a woman in despair and, moved by pity, he offers her the protection of his name by marriage. But Milly becomes impossible to overlook, and the more Beau needs his wife, the less interested she seems in her gorgeous husband.

When the beautiful Lady Isabella Scranford finds herself in the family way and her lover refuses to do the honorable thing, she knows her life is at an end. With a reputation for being a cold-hearted bitch, there will be no sympathy for her, only shame and ridicule. Finding that even her best - and only - friend refuses to be associated with her any longer, Isabella decides she cannot go on and makes a fateful decision. When a filthy and frightening man rescues Isabella from drowning, she begins to believe her fate has taken an even darker turn. Yet appearances can be deceptive....

Being dared to kiss a man in the moonlight is all well and good, but men and moonlight do not fall from the skies at will. Until they do. Under instruction from a friend, drab Alice Dowding lingers alone on a moonlit balcony. Not the most sensible course of action for a usually sensible girl. Yet, being sensible has gained Alice a seat among the wallflowers, and her only likely chance of marriage to a man she finds nigh on repulsive. Something must be done.

Lady Charity MacGalloway likes little dogs, long country walks, and summer cloudbursts, but she wants absolutely nothing to do with the Season or the pompous heirs trolling the marriage mart. Harry Mansfield is not only the town of Brixham's butcher, he's also a boxer, and he's about as far removed from polite society as any man can be. But when Lady Charity steps into his shop, she manages to take everything he thinks he knows about women of quality and turns it upside down.