ORION AUDIO – The Bell Bookshop

Magpie Murders

Emma — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

When editor Susan Ryeland is given the tattered manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has little idea it will change her life. She’s worked with the revered crime writer for years and his detective, Atticus Pund, is renowned for solving crimes in the sleepy English villages of the 1950s. As Susan knows only too well, vintage crime sells handsomely. It’s just a shame that it means dealing with an author like Alan Conway…

But Conway’s latest tale of murder at Pye Hall is not quite what it seems. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but hidden in the pages of the manuscript there lies another story: a tale written between the very words on the page, telling of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition and murder.

From Sunday Times bestseller Anthony Horowitz comes Magpie Murders, his deliciously dark take on the vintage crime novel, brought bang- up-to-date with a fiendish modern twist.

Read by Samantha Bond and Allan Corduner

The Crossing CDx 9 Unabridged

Emma — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Six months ago, Harry Bosch left the LAPD before they could fire him, and then hired maverick Defense Attorney Mickey Haller to sue the department for forcing him out. Although it wasn’t the way he wanted to go, Harry has to admit that being out of the game has its benefits. Until Mickey asks him to help on one of his cases, and suddenly Harry is back where he belongs, right in the centre of a particularly puzzling murder mystery. The difference is, this time Harry is working for the defense, aiming to prevent the accused, Da’Quan Foster, from being convicted. And not only does the prosecution seem to have a cast-iron case, but having crossed over to ‘the dark side’ as his former colleagues would put it, Harry is in danger of betraying the very principles he’s lived by his whole career.

Read by the star of BOSCH, Titus Welliver

Few Of The Girls CDx8 Unabridged

Emma — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 00:00:00 +0000

‘The Irish do love telling stories, and we are suspicious of people who don’t have long, complicated conversations. There used to be a rule in etiquette books that you should invite four talkers and four listeners to a dinner party. That doesn’t work in Ireland, because nobody knows four listeners’ Maeve Binchy

Maeve Binchy’s bestselling novels not only tell wonderful stories, they also give an insight in to how Ireland has changed over the decades, but how people remain the same: they still fall in love, sometimes unsuitably; they still have hopes and dreams; they have deep, long-standing friendships, and some that fall apart. From her earliest writing to her most recent, Maeve’s work has included wonderfully nostalgic pieces and also sharp, often witty writing which is insightful and topical.

But at the heart of all Maeve’s fiction are the people and their relationships with each other. A FEW OF THE GIRLS is a glorious collection of the very best of her writing, full of the warmth, charm and humour that has always been an essential part of all of Maeve’s writing.

Read by Kate Binchy with an introduction read by Gordon Snell

Moriarty Unabridged X9 Cds

Emma — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Sherlock Holmes is dead.

Days after Holmes and his arch-enemy Moriarty fall to their doom at the Reichenbach Falls, Pinkerton agent Frederick Chase arrives in Europe from New York. The death of Moriarty has created a poisonous vacuum which has been swiftly filled by a fiendish new criminal mastermind who has risen to take his place.

Ably assisted by Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard, a devoted student of Holmes’s methods of investigation and deduction, Frederick Chase must forge a path through the darkest corners of the capital to shine light on this shadowy figure, a man much feared but seldom seen, a man determined to engulf London in a tide of murder and menace.

Author of the global bestseller THE HOUSE OF SILK, Anthony Horowitz once more breathes life into the world created by Arthur Conan Doyle. With pitch-perfect characterisation and breath-taking pace, Horowitz weaves a relentlessly thrilling tale which teases and delights by the turn of each page.

The game is afoot…

Read by Julian Rhind-Tutt. This audio edition also includes THE THREE MONARCHS, a short story narrated by Derek Jacobi

Saints Of The Shadow Bible Audio

Emma — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Rebus is back on the force, albeit with a demotion and a chip on his shoulder. A 30-year-old case is being reopened, and Rebus’s team from back then is suspected of foul play. With Malcolm Fox as the investigating officer are the past and present about to collide in a shocking and murderous fashion? And does Rebus have anything to hide?

His colleagues back then called themselves ‘the Saints’, and swore a bond on something called ‘the Shadow Bible’. But times have changed and the crimes of the past may not stay hidden much longer, especially with a referendum on Scottish independence just around the corner.

Who are the saints and who the sinners? And can the one ever become the other?

Features a bonus interview with Ian Rankin and James MacPherson

Read by James MacPherson. JAMES MACPHERSON played DCI Jardine in Taggart for sixteen years, and has acted on stage in plays as diverse as The Taming of the Shrew and ART by Yasmina Reza. He has presented a regular books programme for Radio Scotland – for which he has interviewed Ian Rankin. He won a Spoken Word Gold Award for his reading of Strip Jack, a Crimefest Audible UK Sounds of Crime Award for Doors Open and has narrated all the Ian Rankin Rebus books. James lives in Glasgow.

Jerusalem The Biography CD

Emma — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of 3,000 years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and coexistence.

How did this small, remote town become the Holy City, the ‘centre of the world’ and now the key to peace in the Middle East? In a gripping narrative, Simon Sebag Montefiore reveals this ever-changing city in its many incarnations, bringing every epoch and character blazingly to life. Jerusalem’s biography is told through the wars, love affairs and revelations of the men and women – kings, empresses, prophets, poets, saints, conquerors and whores – who created, destroyed, chronicled and believed in Jerusalem.

Drawing on new archives, current scholarship, his own family papers and a lifetime’s study, Montefiore illuminates the essence of sanctity and mysticism, identity and empire in a unique chronicle of the city that many believe will be the setting for the Apocalypse. This is how Jerusalem became Jerusalem, and the only city that exists twice – in heaven and on earth.

Read by Andrew Sachs

Horrid Henry Rocks

Emma — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Four new stories read by Miranda Richardson:

Horrid Henry’s Invasion – Horrid Henry and Perfect Peter keep invading each other’s rooms.

Moody Margaret’s Sleepover – Moody Margaret invites all the members of the Secret Club for a sleepover, with catastrophic results.

Horrid Henry’s Autobiography – Miss Battle-Axe’s class all have to write their autobiographies, the best to be published in the local paper.

Horrid Henry Rocks – Horrid Henry wants to go to the Killerboy Rats concert while his family want to go to the Daffy and her Dancing Daisies concert.

Horrid Henry Meets The Queen

Emma — Thu, 01 Jul 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Four uproarious new stories enhanced by Miranda Richardson’s inspired reading and really horrid music and sound effects, in which the Queen visits Horrid Henry’s school and watches the children make wattle and daub; and Horrid Henry tries to hypnotise Moody Margaret, tricks Perfect Peter into doing his household chores, and gets his own way at bathtime.