Showing results by narrator "Karen Cass" in All Categories

Primrose Hill, London. Criminal profiler Ziba MacKenzie arrives at the scene of a gruesome murder with a disturbing sense of déjà vu. Nine days earlier, another woman’s body was found: same location, same MO, same physical appearance. For the police, it’s clear a new serial killer is on the loose. But for Ziba, it’s even more sinister—because the victims look just like her. Ziba has been the focus of a killer’s interest before and knows that if she gets too close again this case could be her last.

Julia and Lauren are sisters, but definitely not best friends. They rarely even speak to each other. But when Lauren's fortieth birthday is ruined by her latest boyfriend dumping her, Julia feels a sudden and unexpected burst of sympathy, and offers to go with her on the special holiday he'd paid for as a birthday present. Unfortunately the holiday turns out not to be a glamorous hotel in a holiday hotspot, but a self-catering cottage in a tiny village called Deepcombe, in the middle of Dartmoor. And it's January.

For children’s book author Imogen, an idyllic life in the English countryside seems like the perfect fit for her and her husband. But when tragedy strikes, Imogen is left widowed, and finds herself moving into Storybook Cottage alone with only her monstrously narcissistic cat for company. After discovering she is pregnant, Imogen grows determined to embrace a new start in Middlemass, with its duckpond, cricket matches and village fêtes. The only thing Imogen can’t seem to shake is her neighbor—a brooding, artisan blacksmith named Gabriel—who she can’t quite decide is friend or foe.

Karen could be excused for crying on her birthday, especially as it’s the first one since her husband got on a plane to the States and never came back. Then there’s the fact that her workmates were practically bribed to attend her birthday meal. But when a restaurant double booking leads to her sharing a table with single dad Elliot and his daughter, things start looking up.

1862. Growing up in a small seaside town on the Isle of Wight, free-spirited Eveline Stanhope feels trapped by the weight of expectation from her well-to-do family. Her mother and two elder sisters would rather she focus her attention on marrying well, but Eveline wants more for herself, and the arrival of the railway provides just the cause she’s been searching for. Driven by the cherished memories of her late father, Eveline is keen to preserve the landscape he loved so much and becomes closely involved with the project.

Austria, 1938. After years of hardship, Ella is full of hope for a better future for Austrians, and when Hitler marches into Linz, she can’t help but become swept up in the euphoria of her boyfriend, Max. But she soon realises her mistake. When she witnesses a woman being shot in the street and a childhood friend’s Jewish department store is closed down, she knows she must do something. It’s a dangerous time to be a resistor, especially when her fascist boyfriend proposes to her.

Darren Evans was only 11 when his beloved sister, Carly, and four other teenage girls disappeared, sparking a huge police investigation. Eventually a woman confessed to their murders. But although she admitted her guilt, Olivia Duvall refused to say what had happened to those five missing girls. Or where their bodies might lie. Ten years later Darren's family are still no closer to the truth.

He needed a make-believe lover.... It was such a strange request - Gray Chalmers asking Stephanie to pose as his lover to help him resist the attractions of a beautiful but married woman. Gray knew Stephanie, knew she didn't even like being touched. Yet he insisted she come back to the village to play the part of the femme fatale. Gray had never pried into the bitter marriage Stephanie had endured to his cousin. He'd offered only comfort in the 10 years since its tragic ending. So, while she hated the pretence, she couldn't refuse.

When Anna Flores' adored older sister goes missing as a teenager, Anna copes by disappearing too and eventually building a life for herself abroad. Thirty years later, the death of her mother finally forces Anna to return home. Tasked with sorting through her mother's possessions, she begins to confront not just her mother's death but also the huge hole Gabriella's disappearance left in her life - and finds herself asking a question she's not allowed herself to ask for years: what really happened to her sister?

The urge to explore and discover is a natural and universal one, and the edge of the unknown is expanded with each passing year as scientific advancements inch us closer and closer to the outer reaches of our solar system and the galaxies beyond them. Generations of writers have explored these new frontiers and the endless possibilities they present in great detail. The Final Frontier delivers stories from across this literary spectrum, a reminder that the universe is far large and brimming with possibilities than we could ever imagine, as hard as we may try.

The Chalet des Anglais should be the ideal locale for recently widowed Oxford don Emily to begin cutting through the fog of her grief. With no electricity, running water, or access by car, the rustic chalet nestled at the foot of the verdant, snow-topped Alps should afford Emily both time and space to heal. Joining her will be a collection of friends from the university, as well as other fellows, graduates, and undergraduates. Something feels off, though—heightening Emily's existing grief-induced anxiety.

Mattie Arden has just escaped from a toxic relationship, so when she receives a letter informing her that she has inherited a house from her great-aunt Millie a few days before Christmas, it’s a welcome distraction. Except it comes with a strange proviso: if Mattie wants the house, she must fulfil Millie’s last wish and scatter her ashes over 'the boys of Christmas'. In the company of her best friend, Toby, Mattie sets out for the seaside village of Christmas Steepleton in the hope of finding out the meaning of her aunt’s bizarre request.

Former child star Lily Thane is now a struggling 30-something actress. Her old stage-school buddy, Adam Harker, is on the brink of making it big, but he needs an appropriate red-carpet companion to seal the deal and Lily fits the bill. Soon after signing on the dotted line, Adam's dark side starts to surface and their perfect fauxmance turns toxic. But when Adam winds up dead in a swimming pool, Lily is the only person who cares enough to find out why. She's convinced someone was out to get Adam—and now they're after her.

There are things no-one can prepare you for when your daughter goes missing - you are haunted by her memory. Even close friends can't understand what you are going through, and only in a group with mothers of other lost children can you find real comfort. But as the parents gather to support each other in the wake of another disappearance, a crack appears in the group that threatens to rock their lives all over again. Welcome to the club no one wants to join.

It's 1943. Evie Yeo's best friend Sukie and sister Pattie are leaving Devon behind and heading to London to work in a hotel. Sukie's fiancé, Wesley, is in a swing band that's booked to play the bar and with Sukie 'upstairs' on reception and Pattie a chambermaid 'downstairs', they see and share all aspects of the hotel and meet all of its residents. From the military officials in town for meetings at the war office, to people from the theatre helping to bring joy to the capital in wartime, an eclectic mix of people come together at this small hotel in Covent Garden.

Eve and Neil live in the beautiful Cumbrian town of Tarnside. After years of trying for a baby, they are in the final stages of adopting four-year-old Milly. They just have to pass the 'settling in' period - three months of living together as a family under watchful eyes - and then they can make it official. For Eve, her heartbreak is nearly at an end. She now has this perfect little girl in her life, a little girl who calls her mummy. But Eve's dream of a happy family is fragile.

Anna Hopkins' daily walk through Oxford's Port Meadow is rudely interrupted one autumn morning when her white German shepherd, Bonnie, unearths a blood-soaked body in the undergrowth. For Anna it's a double shock: she'd met the victim previously. Naomi Evans was a professional researcher who had told Anna she was working on a book about a famous Welsh poet and who offered to help Anna trace Bonnie's original owner.

In 2018, 66.3 million pairs of shoes were manufactured across the world every single day. They have never been cheaper to buy, and we have never been more convinced that we need to buy them. Yet their cost to the planet has never been greater. In this urgent, passionately argued book, Tansy E. Hoskins opens our eyes to the dark origins of the shoes on our feet.

Two families. One cancelled flight. And a last-minute house swap. Things get desperate for strangers Harriet and Sophie when they become stranded with their families in Heathrow's Terminal 5. Each woman has her own reason for really, really, really needing the family holiday they've anticipated for months. But Iceland's volcano has other plans for them. When their flights are cancelled, the families swap houses and discover that sometimes the best things in life happen close to home.

A serial killer is terrorising London, removing a body part from each victim and leaving in its place a single pink rose. Dr Vernon Sange, a multiple murderer awaiting extradition, seems to know the culprit’s identity - but he’ll only talk to profiler Ziba MacKenzie, the woman responsible for putting him away. Though there’s something he wants in return from her. And time is running out. With one killer whispering in her ear and another running rings around the police, Ziba must play a game in which only her opponent knows the rules, and the forfeit is death.