Showing results by narrator "Jennifer Ness" in All Categories

It was just an ordinary Wednesday lunchtime when Detective Martha Munro's life changed forever. Her sergeant is speaking, but she barely hears what he's telling her. Your mother has been shot dead. Your four-year-old daughter has been taken. There are no leads. Who would want to hurt her family? Martha realizes it's time to ask herself some hard questions about her late father. He led the anti-corruption squad at Scotland Yard. It's rumored he kept a list of everyone who worked for him, from coppers to criminals. And just being on the list was a sure-fire way to lower your life expectancy.

It has always been Maddie Willand's dream to take over her father's plant nursery. But after his sudden death, she is devastated to discover that she might lose The Potting Shed forever. Maddie's bossy older sister, Sabi, is joint owner of the nursery, and she's convinced that the best thing for both of them would be to sell up. Determined to keep the business going, Maddie can't afford any distractions, but staying focused might be harder than she thinks when her search for legal advice throws her into the path of attractive lawyer Ed...

The sisters at a lonely Cornish convent share a chilling secret they cannot confess...Sister Sophia is dead. Another disappears. And a mysterious last letter from a dying nun is sent to the prioress. Sister Joan has faced her own demons. Now she is sent to the convent to investigate, as well as teach the local children. There are whispers of virgin sacrifice and suicide, and the mother prioress certainly wears pink nail varnish. And who is the young man hiding in the bracken?

Welcome back to The Potting Shed! Join Maddie and Sabi as they re-open the doors of their family-run garden center. Autumn is falling, business is thriving, and rival garden center BIG has been held at bay once more. Maddie and Sabi have decided it's time to give back to the community that has kept The Potting Shed afloat, by opening a dementia cafe called the Forget-Me-Not Café.

Spring has arrived at The Potting Shed and things seem to finally be going Maddie's way. Her relationship with lovable lawyer Ed is going well and the business is thriving with the help of her new friend Jo and his bright orange coffee van. But troubles are just around the corner... the upgrade of The Potting Shed from a nursery to a garden centre is at a critical point, turning part of Maddie's business into a building site. And just as she has to temporarily move out of her home, a major garden centre announces its grand opening only twenty miles away.

Evil has crept into the peaceful lives of the Daughters of Compassion. At first there are only small signs of its presence. The children at Sister Joan’s school are eerily well behaved. Holy water and candles mysteriously disappear from the chapel. The beautiful au pair of one of Sister Joan’s pupils flees in the middle of the night. Then a handsome young teenager vanishes. Murder has come to this quiet corner of Cornwall. Sister Joan must battle the evil forces threatening the nuns - as well as the temptations aroused in her by the dashing police detective on the case.

After the worst year of her life, Martha Munro is looking forward to getting back to the job she loves. She's one of the best and brightest young detectives in the Met, but she's immediately put on a seemingly pointless case . . . Martha is ordered to investigate a spate of cat abductions in leafy south London. Each time, the missing moggy turns up unharmed days later. But then one family receives a terrifying message: Next time it's the kids.

The Chamberlain family - Charlie and Daphne and their children Laura, Scott and Nick - had fantastic summer holidays when they were young. But then, inevitably, the children grew up, and their own messy lives got in the way. Since their mum died, it feels to them all as if their family just isn't that close any more. And Charlie fears his kids have all lost their direction. For his 80th birthday, all Charlie wants is to bring his family together again - and by some miracle, they've all said yes. It's only 10 days...how hard can it be?

From the first time Vanessa Martin sets foot inside the world's most renowned children's hospital, she knows that she will never have another dull moment. In this heartwarming memoir of a passionate, determined young woman trying to help as many children as she can, Vanessa pulls back the curtain on the bustling world of 60s London, and tells the remarkable story of finding her place within it. Nostalgic, charming and full of heart, The Great Ormond Street Nurse is the heroic tale of a woman who has dedicated over 40 years to the NHS.

A decade to save the planet. That's the current call to arms. Targets are set, governments vow to do their bit and on a societal level we are encouraged to do ours by choosing to forego all things plastic. The question is whether this is the right decision or are we inadvertently at risk of doing more harm than good? Are there other factors in play needing equal consideration? The book will follow the story of plastic, and to an extent rubber (known collectively as polymers), and all with an eye to the overarching theme of the environment.

Sister Joan receives a photo of her art school classmates, reminding her of a reunion pact they made 20 years ago. But for three of group, it’s too late - they’re already dead. Joan is more determined than ever to attend the get-together. Then another copy of the photo arrives, again anonymously, with the dead friends crossed out and an ominous black circle drawn around Sister Joan. Ten old friends. Three are dead. Is she next?

A new lay sister joins the nuns at the convent, but is there another new arrival? A sinister figure has been skulking around, and a bloody axe appears on the altar of the chapel. When the housekeeper at the local rectory is found dead, it’s assumed she committed suicide. But Sister Joan, surreptitiously investigating along with Detective Sergeant Mill, is not so sure. Then the discovery of the mutilated corpse of an unidentified young man, followed quickly by two more unexpected deaths, leads Sister Joan to another crime from 20 ago....

When Mother Dorothy's godmother dies of a heart attack and leaves all her money to the convent, Sister Joan is uneasy. While on visiting duty at the hospital, she makes some tacit enquiries. Things don't seem quite right. The nursing staff are always away from their posts at crucial times. The surly young doctor seems very out of sorts. Then a little girl goes missing. Sister Joan knows there's something truly sinister going on. She teams up with Detective Sergeant Mill, but can they get to the bottom of things before tragedy strikes?

There is clearly something weird going on in their quiet corner of Cornwall. There's been some obscene vandalism in the kitchen. A dog is kidnapped. And when a cat is killed, Joan knows there's evil afoot. Then Sister Joan goes to visit Mrs. Pearson. She's met with a horrifying scene. Are these crimes just practical jokes gone horribly wrong? Or does someone have a dangerous obsession with the occult? Sister Joan teams up with Detective Sergeant Mill to get to the bottom of things. But can they stop anyone else getting hurt?

While out riding one day Sister Joan stumbles across an old, ruined chapel in a lonely area of the moors. It looks abandoned, but it’s not empty. On one of the pews lies a man. From the smell, Joan guesses he’s been dead for some time. With Detective Alan Mill away, Joan goes to his deputy, but the police seem strangely reluctant to help. Meanwhile, a young woman turns up and begs Sister Joan to help find her missing sister. But the police are not interested in the missing woman either.

The sixth book in the Sister Joan murder mystery series. Two newcomers are visiting the convent in the hope of joining the nuns. But soon after their arrival, there’s a mysterious late-night intruder. Who left the single red rose on the chapel steps? And are they connected to the new-age travellers camping on the moor? When one of the women is found bludgeoned to death, Sister Joan knows that their isolated convent is no longer safe. Teaming up with Detective Sergeant Mill, Sister Joan must once again investigate the grisly goings-on.

How well do you know your neighbours? When residents of a North London cul-de-sac enrol in a seemingly innocent social network, they soon find themselves embroiled in a murky web of sinister manipulation and murder. From the outside, Caroline and Jason Swinton have an idyllic life. But when the cracks start to appear, the residents of Riverside Close are drawn into a dangerous game. When Jason’s body is discovered in a house on the close, everyone becomes a suspect.

Sister Joan heads to the serene shores of Loch Morag for a spiritual retreat in a cave up a steep hill. She’s hoping for peace and quiet, but she soon finds trouble. Six years ago, the womanizing husband of the local store-owner disappeared. Then the minister’s wife died of an overdose. Was it an accident or suicide? Then, after a sudden storm, a body surfaces in the loch. What’s going on? The grumpy villagers don’t want to talk about it. Sister Joan must abandon her solitude to search for the killer and unearth the truth.

Sixteen-year-old Valerie vanishes from home in the small hours clad only in her robe and slippers. Three days later, Sister Joan finds her body abandoned in the convent's little Moor Schoolhouse. The dead girl is dressed in wedding white. A garland of leaves encircles her head, and a thin red line runs round her neck. Valerie has been strangled. Then a second young Catholic girl, also dressed in white, turns up dead. Sister Joan is once again torn between her religious duties and helping Detective Sergeant Mill’s inquiries...but time is running out.

I'll never forget that day. The horror, fear and the uncertainty of what was to come are still etched on my memory. But I didn't know that in that moment, somewhere off the M1 in a place that seemed as unnerving as it was eerie, I would find something so precious that would change my life forever. That was the day I discovered my Buddy, abandoned in a crate, unable to move and so frail that he only had moments to live. He stopped me in my tracks, and without pausing to think I scooped him up and quickly ran from the scene. This was no place for people or animals.