Showing results by narrator "Andrew Lawston" in All Categories

After the First World War, European powers decided that the small but affluent, and strategically important, Central European nation of Sokovia should become a monarchy. And so Boris, Count d'Esseck became Boris I of Sokovia. The dissolute philandering sovereign left a deputy to rule in his stead as Prime Minister, and now spends most of his time in Paris. But his debauchery grows ever more extreme and reckless, until in a fit of lecherous madness, he abducts the beautiful young artist Francine Gardannes!

All is not well on the mean streets of Barnes. A double homicide in trendy deli Bohemia is followed by a spate of mysterious thefts across Castelnau's parade of shops. And there are rumors. Whispers of supernatural beings stirring, of dark forces from the dawn of time. Only one PI can solve this baffling mystery. Only one hero can crack the case. The terror of sparrows. The prodigal snoozer. The esteemed and revered Detective Buscemi Daintypaws Twinklefur. The crime-solving cat.

When the Count de Roscanvel's body is found on the railway tracks, shot through the heart then hit by the Blue Train from Paris to Marseille, police accuse France's top young novelist and the count's beautiful wife is suspected of complicity. Harassed by the police and shunned by her family, there's only one place Countess de Roscanvel can turn to: a small house in Paris on Avenue de Verzy, home to Chantecoq, king of detectives, master of disguise.

The Mystery of the Blue Train: When the Count de Roscanvel's body is found on the railway tracks, police accuse France's top young novelist. The Haunted House: Artist Jean Lachesnaye lives an idyllic life with his family. But when a convivial dinner party gives way to a night of supernatural chaos, the dream unravels. The Aviator's Crime: Jacques Moret is the dashing man of the hour: a flying ace. But even as Moret celebrates, poison pen letters accuse him of lusting after the aircraft designer's wife.

Urged to solve the Murder on the Tesco Express, Buscemi gets to work at the crack of lunchtime. With the help of sassy streamwise duck Drake, Stanley the deathless guardian of Barnes Bridge, and the irrepressible cocker spaniel puppy Puddles, the forces of darkness don't stand a chance! Except something is wrong. Somehow, Buscemi is tasked with solving a murder which hasn't happened yet... or has it?

The shadowy head of an underground army fighting to liberate India from British rule, Zapata has brought their ruthless campaign of terror to the streets of Paris. Having assassinated the young journalist and explorer Jacques de Villers at his own engagement party, Zapata's next target is the Paris head of the British Intelligence Service. When an elite secret agent is being stalked, taunted, and pursued by an unseen foe, who can they turn to for help?

When ruthless American billionaire Jack Sorett's advances are rejected by the beautiful but virtuous Countess Michèle de Préfailles, he wreaks the most callous vengeance on her and her husband. Heartbroken and desperate, Michèle turns to the only person who can unravel the billionaire's schemes and prove her innocence.... Chantecoq. King of detectives, master of disguise.

Lucienne Vallauris, spurned former lover of Count Alain d'Aubenas, stands convicted of strangling the Count's infant daughter in her cradle. The sentence is death...by guillotine. With witnesses placing her at the scene of the crime, no alibi, and incriminating evidence found in her home, the evidence against her is overwhelming, and yet her lawyer, the idealistic Le Dignac is convinced she is not guilty.

Christmas is coming to the mean streets of Barnes. But, crime doesn't take a break over the holidays, so neither does the world's greatest crime-solving cat, Detective Buscemi Daintypaws Twinklefur. When a neighbor's Christmas cheese is stolen, our intrepid feline sleuth reluctantly accepts the help of a specialist. Tracker of socks...retriever of tennis balls...Puddles the puppy.

Paris, 1912. A German spy steals the plans for a revolutionary "combat aircraft". The inventor's daughter, Germaine Aubry, volunteers to bring them back. Disguised as a governess, Germaine infiltrates the highest levels of the German military. When she's finally unmasked and imprisoned, her father and her aviator fiancé call on the ultimate secret agent to help bring her home. But even the mercurial, theatrical Chantecoq will find his ingenuity stretched to the very limits to rescue Germaine Aubry from Spandau Citadel.

Jacques Moret is the dashing man of the hour: a fearless flying ace, devoted to furthering aviation. But even as he enjoys the ball that aeroplane designer Florent Avrillé throws in his honor, dark forces are at work. Poison-pen letters accuse Moret of lusting after Avrillé's wife, the stunning but faithful Belle Antoinette, and of trifling with the affections of Avrillé's debutante daughter. Accusations and suspicions mount up, until only one man can uncover the truth behind this aviator's crime. Chantecoq. King of detectives, master of disguise.

Up and coming artist Jean Lachesnaye lives an idyllic life with his wife Yvette and infant son in Ker-Yvette, his villa on Brittany's Quiberon coast. But when a convivial dinner party gives way to a night of supernatural chaos, the dream begins to unravel. His servants abandon him, and during the course of a second nightmarish evening of ghostly incidents, his baby son vanishes, replaced by a sickly child at death's door.

When German spies infiltrate French munitions factories for a sustained campaign of sabotage and terror, only one man can uncover their sinister plot. Posing as an engineer at the Douai powder mill, Chantecoq's investigation is quickly derailed by murder and intrigue. To uncover the enemy spy network, France's greatest bloodhound must reunite with old friends...and beware old enemies. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany has set a deadly plan in motion, but it's not his own plan.

With the death toll climbing daily, Chantecoq faces the greatest challenge of his long career. If he is to catch the Ladykiller, not only must he join forces with Paris's greatest medical expert, Professor Courtil, but he will also have to reach out to the regular police, his old colleagues from whom he has been estranged for so long.