Showing results by publisher "Soundings" in All Categories

London, 1945. The capital is shrouded in the darkness of the blackout, and mystery abounds in the parks after dusk. During a stroll through Regent's Park, Bruce Mallaig witnesses two men acting suspiciously around a footbridge. In a matter of moments, one of them has been murdered; Mallaig's view of the assailant but a brief glimpse of a ghastly face in the glow of a struck match. The murderer's noiseless approach and escape seems to defy all logic, and even the victim's identity is quickly thrown into uncertainty.

On a dark, brooding evening on the Isle of Wight, Agnes Raybould and her companion find themselves an empty first-class compartment on the train. But before long a middle-aged man, clearly in high spirits after dining at his club, joins them, and begins a conversation. His name is Edwin Blanchard – and within moments of the train leaving the station, Agnes and her accomplice strangle him.

1939. When the man Georgie has always loved is sent to France on a secret mission, every knock of the door fills her with dread. Beth is determined to do her bit for the war effort. Caught up in a whirlwind romance, she marries only to become a war widow. Desperately trying to make her way back from Paris to her family in England, a fateful and tragic encounter brings Hetty to Chateau de Faubourg, where she joins the resistance.

September, 1940. The sun is shining, and in the midst of the good weather Londoners could be mistaken for forgetting their country was at war - until the familiar wail of the air-raid sirens heralds an enemy attack. The Blitz has started, and normal life has abruptly ended - but crime has not. That night a man's body is discovered in an unmarked van in the back streets of West Ham. When Detective Inspector John Jago is called to the scene, he recognises the victim: local justice of the peace Charles Villiers. The death looks suspicious, but then a German bomb obliterates all evidence.

The ordered calm of Gloucester Abbey is shattered by the murder of one of the monks. The Abbey becomes paralysed with fear and the Abbot is ill-equipped to deal with such a heinous crime, especially as suspicion inevitably falls on the brothers themselves. Ralph Delchard, a former soldier in the era-defining Battle of Hastings, and Gervase Bret, an accomplished lawyer, are investigating a local land dispute when news of the vicious murder reaches them.

Bailiff Simon Puttoc’s servant, Hugh, has been granted leave to look after his wife, Constance, and her son. But their happy time is to be short-lived, for a gang of men break into their home and attack Hugh’s family. When Simon and Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King’s Peace, arrive on the scene the cottage is burnt to the ground, the bodies from within already buried. It seems that Hugh must have perished in a dreadful accident - but appearances can be deceptive.

Yorkshire, 1913. Beth Beaumont enjoys her life as a rhubarb farmer's daughter. Although not thinking of marriage, when Beth meets village miner Noah Jackson, she is suddenly very aware that Noah is a man who could change her mind. But a disaster at the coal mine changes their lives forever and Noah's love for Beth is put at risk.

Pretty Celia Mardham should have been a success in her London Season, but a near fatal riding accident has left her with a pronounced limp which means she cannot even make a good curtsy, let alone dance. There can be no expectation of marriage, but her mama makes one last effort. She draws up a list of guests for a country house sojourn, picking only young ladies she feels will not be rivals, and some potential suitors. Among the well-bred gentlemen is Lord Levedale.

Seventeen-year-old Muriel Dearlove has weathered the Blitz unscathed, earning her keep in Miss Chapman's grocery shop. But with her sweetheart, Bill, away fighting and her friends conscripted into the WRENS and WAAF, life has become tedious for Muriel. Then one day an old friend returns from a stint in the Land Army. She is rosy cheeked and looks healthier than ever. Desperate for the chance to broaden her horizons, Muriel signs up to become a Land Girl.

Dana and Caitlin meet on the ferry from Ireland, both in search of new lives in Liverpool, having left their secrets behind in Ireland. But Dana is ambitious, and when the opportunity comes to own their own tearoom she persuades her friend to join her. No one is willing to rent property to a couple of girls, so when Caitlin’s new man-friend says he’ll back them, they are delighted. Soon the tearoom is thriving.

Adam and Polly Fitch face a bleak future after being sold for just five shillings to Miss Reed's orphanage by their bullying father. But the orphanage does have one advantage - a merry band of children who soon form their own kind of family - and they're all determined to escape the clutches of the wicked Miss Reed. Can Adam, Polly and their band of friends survive life with only each other to rely on?

It wasn't a privileged childhood, but it was a happy one. Sybil and Lizzie Cream, brought up in a fisherman's cottage on the edge of the cold North Sea, were content to leave privilege where it belonged: with their friends the Wintertons. Christina Winterton was the same age as Sybil, and the two girls were inseparable, but it was Lizzie whom Ralph Winterton, three years older, found irresistible. Then war came to East Anglia, and so did Manchester-born Fenn Kitzmann, now of the American Army Air Force.

West Yorkshire, 1901. When Eli Simmonite takes in a heavily pregnant woman fleeing from peril, he feels sure no good will come of it. After all, settled folk don't need much reason to take against the travellers, so having one seek safety amongst his people is unheard of. When danger comes knocking, they leave devastation in their wake. Eli is left with the baby girl and his orphaned grandson; a reminder of the offer of aid that cost him his family. With no kin but the adopted family who hold her responsible for their demise, Rosie is filled with questions of her past.

Cambridge, 1939. The opening weeks of the Second World War, and the first blackout - The Great Darkness - covers southern England, enveloping the city. Detective Inspector Eden Brooke, a wounded hero of the Great War, takes his nightly dip in the cool waters of the Cam. Daylight reveals a corpse on the riverside, the body torn apart by some unspeakable force.

1853. In the serene countryside of rural Yorkshire, Caroline and Trixie's unbreakable bond, forged amidst the hardships of York's slums, is the cornerstone of their shared dream: to transform their modest farm into a flourishing haven. . .Amidst this toil, Caroline finds herself caught in a delicate dance with Max Cavendish, the charismatic land agent of Melliton Abbey estate. Caroline remains hesitant to confront her own feelings, unwilling to risk their friendship.

After a class of children falls mysteriously ill and their teacher dies from eating poisoned sausage rolls, suspicion falls on mill owner Louise Wilkins. Working with her aristocratic friend Sybbie and the ever-skeptical DI Colin Bradshaw, Georgina delves into the mill's dark history and uncovers a chilling parallel: over a century earlier, the miller's daughter was accused of poisoning a local family with arsenic-laced flour.

A joint operation between Britain and France, the 1916 Battle of the Somme was an attempt to gain territory and dent Germany's military strength. By the end of the action, the Allied Forces had made just twelve kilometres. For this slight gain, more than a million lives were lost. In this classic military memoir, Staff Sergeant Sidney Rogerson vividly captures the last spell of frontline duty performed by the 2nd Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment.

Felicity Holland is missing. She left her handsome West London house to go to her weekly pottery class and didn't come back. She's a mature, sensible woman with a stable home life and a happy marriage - no reason to abscond. Her distraught husband is convinced she must have been snatched. DCI Bill Slider and his team know that when a woman goes missing, you have to move fast if there's to be a hope of finding her alive. But with no evidence of foul play - nothing to go on at all - where do you even start looking?

Miranda Lovage and her mother have a blazing row when Arabella tells her daughter that she can no longer afford their present lifestyle. Miranda goes to bed angry and upset. When she awakes next morning, however, it is to find that her mother has disappeared. Miranda raises the alarm but everyone is baffled, and when searches fail to discover Arabella's whereabouts, Miranda is forced to live with her Aunt Vi and cousin Beth, who resent her presence and treat her badly.

Bristol, 1618. Kit Faulkner is a young vagrant orphan, taking life as he finds it in the rough world of the docks. But after an encounter with two gentlemen, his fortunes are changed forever.Kit is taken aboard the Swallow, a large merchant ship partly owned by the two men, Captain Henry Mainwaring and Captain Gideon Strange, and they decide to train the boy for a life on the sea.