Showing results by narrator "John Rayburn" in All Categories

This story begins with travel time for the entire Brewster family as they plan a trip to Hawaii. It includes Bruce (“Biff”), his Mother, and Dad, with the younger twins, Ted and Monica. It’s really exciting for the twins because they have never been outside the continent. One of Dad Tom Brewster’s chief reasons for the journey is a planned meeting with Dr. Johann Weber, scientist and staff consultant for Ajax Mining Company. They were expecting to meet Weber on arrival but a shocking surprise was ahead.

Some months back Biff’s father went to India to legally open up some gold mines that had been absorbed by the India Republic. The setting for same was in exotic and mystical segments of India, with much action to be in and around the vicinity of the Himalayas. At first it was more of a sight-seeing tour than adventure with Biff accompanied by two friends from earlier times … Kamuka, met at the headwaters of the Amazon River in Brazil, and Likake (“Lee”) Mahenili of Hawaii. They headed out by sea and still had one more night to spend on shipboard as they reached Calcutta.

An unusual call from Chinese merchant Ling Tang began an on-going set of circumstances for young Biff Brewster. He was planning a trip to Rangoon in Burma to visit his Uncle Charlie. It seemed such a trip for Biff would be a good way to spend the remainder of his summer vacation from school. It was a pleasant thought for beginning something very different to look forward to. However, “different” isn’t a strong enough description of what was going to happen.

Even the coming of an autumn dusk could not subdue the color of this land. Shadows here were not gray or black; they were violet and purple. The crumbling adobe walls were laced by strings of crimson peppers, vivid in the torch and lantern light. It had been this way for days, red and yellow, violet—colors many had hardly been aware existed back in the cool green, silver, gray-brown of Kentucky. So this was Tubacca! Back in ‘59 this had been a flourishing town, well on its way to prominence in the Southwest.

Unassuming in plot and style, Heidi may none the less lay claim to rank as a world classic. In the first place, both background and characters ring true. The air of the Alps is wafted to us in every moment; the house among the pines, the meadows, and the eagle poised above the naked rocks form a picture that no one could willingly forget. And the people, from the kindly towns-folk to the quaint and touching peasant types, are as real as any representation of human nature need be. Every goat even, has its personality.

Frederick Faust (pen name Max Brand) was said to have written in excess of twenty-five million words as he seemed to have a button to push to generate fictional ideas. Of course, it’s known that much of his work was issued under pen names, around twenty of them, a great many of them wild Westerns. This one that features a drifter named Donnegan. He gets off a train and takes on a job with a rich man who doesn’t seem to care much about the difference between rights and wrongs.

This is a classic mystery novel by the creator of the fictional Chinese detective Charlie Chan. The tale you’re about to hear is in London just before WWI. American visitor Geoffrey West is attracted to a beautiful young lady and he decides to try and get her attention by putting a personal ad in the so-called "Agony Column" of a London newspaper. She sees it and responds by demanding he send her several letters so she can make up her mind as to whether she has any interest in him. Before anything else happens, Geoffrey winds up being thought possibly guilty of a vicious murder.

Nothing is so easy as falling in love on a long sea voyage, except falling out of love. Especially was this the case in the days when the wooden clippers did finally land you in Sydney or in Melbourne under the four full months. Passengers and crew all saw far too much of each other, unless, indeed, they were to see still more. Their superficial attractions were mutually exhausted, they lost heart and patience in the disappointing strata which lie between the surface and the bed-rock of most natures.

The ferry-boat was waiting when Rebecca Flint got off the train with her bag and lunch basket. When she and her small trunk were safely embarked she sat stiff and straight and calm in the ferry-boat as it shot swiftly and smoothly across stream. There was a horse attached to a light country wagon on board, and he pawed the deck uneasily. His owner stood near, with a wary eye upon him, although he was chewing, with as dully reflective an expression as a cow.

Hathelsborough marketplace lies in the middle of the town—a long, somewhat narrow parallelogram, enclosed on its longer side by old gabled houses; shut in on its western end by the massive bulk of the great parish church of St. Hathelswide, Virgin and Martyr, and at its eastern by the ancient walls and high roofs of its medieval Moot Hall. The inner surface of this space is paved with cobble-stones, worn smooth by centuries of usage.

In the whole history of the English people there is no period so absolutely heroic, so full of enthralling interest, as that in which the might of England made itself apparent by land and sea—the period which saw good Queen Bess mistress of English hearts and Englishmen and sovereign of the great beginnings which came to such a magnificent fruition under Victoria. That was indeed a golden time—an age of great venture and enterprise—a period wherein men’s hearts were set on personal valor and bravery—the day of great deeds and of courage most marvelous.

One January day, many years ago, the little town of Hanover, anchored on a windy Nebraska tableland, was trying not to be blown away. A mist of fine snowflakes was curling and eddying about the cluster of low drab buildings huddled on the gray prairie, under a gray sky. The dwelling-houses were set about haphazard on the tough prairie sod; some of them looked as if they had been moved in overnight, and others as if they were straying off by themselves, headed straight for the open plain. None of them had any appearance of permanence, and the howling wind blew under them as well as over them.

Shore Road has a bunch of auto thefts outside Bayport, home territory of the Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe. They find out that one of their friends, Jack Dodd and his father, have been accused of the thefts. This bothers the lads because they feel certain there has been a big mistake and they intend to do something about it. As a result of their intentions and investigation the Hardy Boys wind up helping in capture of the actual car thieves who had framed and kidnapped their friends. It’s exciting listening as they work hard to aid the Dodds, father and son.

Frank, age sixteen, and Joe, age fifteen, are confronted with one of their most baffling cases. It becomes truly exciting to follow them as they seek a solution. Will they get it? If so, how? It becomes very exciting to follow them in their efforts as they try to live up to the exceptional detecting abilities of their professional detective father.

The Hardy boys looked at one another regretfully. They had just received a letter from their father, Fenton Hardy, an internationally famous detective, who had been called West but a fortnight previous on a mysterious mission. The letter gave the boys their first inkling of the nature of the case that had summoned their father from Bayport, on the Atlantic coast, to the mining country of Montana.

Part of a mystery series featuring renowned detective Fleming Stone. He is called on to decide whether it was suicide or murder in the case of a future college president. Stone has remarkable ingenuity for unraveling cases. Can he do it again? A young girl student is suspected. Was she guilty or was it just rumor? Several clues point both ways. Small footprints in the snow lead to a boarding house where the mystery girl is lodging and love letters between the two point to her guilt. Listening to the unusual tale will have you thinking both ways.

Once upon a time there were four men—all bad. That is, they were each bad, but none was entirely bad. Nobody is. The four were closely associated in their interests and were of varying types and varying degrees of badness. Basically, one was the Cat’s-paw; one was the Brutal Ruffian; one was the Arch Villain behind it all; and one was the Judas Iscariot, who carried the bag, and who betrayed the whole bunch. A millionaire is battered to death on an ocean liner by a bronze hand modeled from Rodin’s original.

The author once worked as a dairy farmer in Canada, but returned to his home in Kent, near London, and became a broadcaster, journalist, novelist, and short story writer. He specialized in tales of the supernatural and was described as “Unquestioned master of weird atmosphere,” as he told of incredible adventures. He often used first person narrations, as you will hear … and, very likely feel an abnormal phantom presence. Come along … If you dare!

This captures the spirit of the American west: It is a classic tale of heroism and romance, with a struggle to survive in a harsh and unforgiving environment. It has the breezy charm of “Cattleland,” as a young cowboy has a major task of saving his ranch from ruthless cattle rustlers. He has a romance as the fast-moving action makes its way through stampedes, shooting and bronc riding in the midst of the rugged and wild landscape of Wyoming.

A most unusual request for insurance was made to Lloyds of London. It was outre enough to bring on what can best be described as something of “improbable dimensions.” The request was made by a young Brirtish Lord. He was engaged to an American heiress and was worried she might back out. An added part of the story is a guarantee there would be a sizeable payout if the ceremony stalls. The story of same can easily be called a delightful romantic comedy and it wouldn’t be surprising if you laugh out loud, or at least chuckle frequently.