Showing results by narrator "Charlotte Worthing" in All Categories

Post-university life doesn’t suit Phyl. Time passes slowly living back home with her parents, working a zero-hour contract serving Japanese food to holidaymakers at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. As for her budding plans of becoming a writer, those are going nowhere. That is, until family friend Chris comes to stay. He’s been on the path to uncover a sinister think-tank, founded at Cambridge University in the 1980s, that’s been scheming to push the British government in a more extreme direction. One that’s finally poised to put their plans into action.

One magical winter's night in Venice, Didi fell in love. But it ended - and he left without even saying goodbye. Now, 13 years on, Shay Mason is back. Of course the old spark is still there, but that's as far as it goes. Didi won't let the past unsettle her present: as manager of one of the most stunning hotels in the Cotswolds, she's happy at last and soon to be married. Anyway, Shay isn't staying. He's made a promise to his wayward father, that's all. He's going to keep it. And then he'll be gone.

It was an ordinary school day, the day I lost my little brother. One moment he was on the roundabout and then was gone. Gone. Missing. They all blamed me. I was in charge. Even though I was only ten years old. They sent me away. The hurt, the shame, the questions. The not knowing. I tried to move on. It’s been nineteen years in exile and now somebody wants me back. Someone with a dark secret.

Something happened to me when I was nine. My childhood memories before that fateful day are gone. Extinguished. The aftermath has become a living nightmare with a guilt that runs so deep that I’m not sure I can ever tell anyone. I fear I've left it too late. The burden of my secret and the hurt and pain that silence cost each and every member of my family is too overwhelming. But you can't avoid fate and now I have the opportunity to right the wrongs inflicted on us. There was no justice. Not then. Not now. But I can change that.

Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Jenny Starling is catering the 21st birthday party of upper-class twins Alicia and Justin. She arrives at their parents' country house and is immediately met by the police. A young man has drowned in the pond. Was it an accident or murder? But the birthday party goes ahead. Then, just after midnight, everyone gathers for a champagne toast...and one of the guests falls down dead. The police are baffled, and there is a whole party full of suspects.

Jenny Starling is spending Christmas in a snowed-in country house cooking all the traditional food she loves. But the family she’s working for are not full of the seasonal spirit. In fact, they seem to hate each other. On Christmas Eve, someone is found dead on the kitchen table. And the head of the family is blaming Jenny! But with an incompetent detective called in, and seemingly no motive for the murder, Jenny will have to give the police a hand. She will stop at nothing to clear her name and find the real murderer.

An ancient labyrinth of eerie subterranean ruins and creeping shadow, the dead city of Mordavia has long concealed a secret of unimaginable power. Now, as vast armies gather and war drums thunder, the perilous treasures of this cursed city are about to be unleashed. Lord-Celestant Kalyani Thunderblade leads her Celestial Vindicators into battle, determined to ensure that the city’s secrets remain forever under lock and key.

Beth Belmont runs every day, hard and fast on the trail near home. She knows every turn, every bump in the road. So when she spots something out of place - a slip of white paper at the base of a tree - she's drawn to it. On the paper are five names. The third is her own. Beth can't shake off the unease the list brings. Why is she on it? And what ties her to the other four strangers? Then she discovers that the first two are dead. Is she next?

As if my mum breaking her hip and being rushed to hospital isn’t shocking enough for one day, now in her post-operative delirium, she’s just told me I’m not her daughter. That she has never been able to have children. The nurse reassures me that people are often confused after a trauma. But I know this woman so well and I can tell there’s a grain of truth in what she says. Which begs the questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? When I dig into the truth, I suddenly stir up a hornet’s nest of secrets, lies – and possibly a crime so unfathomable – that stretches back decades.

The night my mum disappeared, after a panicked 3am phonecall, I knew something was wrong. The police tried to reassure me. There had to be a logical explanation they said – perhaps she’s taking a break after the tragic death of my father. But I know my mum. Or do I? She would never leave without telling me. Or would she? The harder I look, the more I discover deep, dark family secrets I was not privy to. Worrying secrets I was never meant to know. Which means my parents have lied to me my whole life.

For travel blogger Fiona, Japan has always been top of her bucket list so when she wins an all-expenses paid trip, it looks like her dreams are coming true. Until she arrives in vibrant, bustling Tokyo and comes face-to-face with the man who broke her heart 10 years ago, gorgeous photographer Gabe. Fiona can’t help but remember the heartache of their last meeting but amidst the temples and clouds of soft pink cherry blossoms, can Fiona and Gabe start to see life - and each other - differently?

Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Please note this book was first published as Just Not Cricket under Faith Martin’s pen name Joyce Cato. Jenny Starling is doing the catering for the village cricket match. But she’s not expecting one of the players to turn up dead. Everyone from the village has turned out to watch the match, and with this being the club’s centenary, Jenny Starling has been hired specially to provide her stunning food for the event.

One summer. One stranger. One killer.... Two bad things happened that summer: a stranger arrived. And the first girl disappeared. In the wake of the crime that rocked her hometown, Felicity fled, knowing more than she let on. But 16 years later, her new life is shattered by the news that a second girl has gone missing in Sidmouth.

Mum passed recently. It was sudden and unexpected. On the cusp of adulthood, my twin sister, Skye, and I are left with decisions to make that will change our lives forever. As identical twins, we’d normally stick together like glue, but anger and grief gets the better of us and we push and pull in different directions. At an impasse, each of us stubbornly gets our wish. Finding myself alone and without the other half of me, I’m desperately lonely. I need a friend. But, when I find that special someone, I know I’ve made a terrible mistake and trusted the wrong person.

Meet Jenny Starling: travelling cook and reluctant amateur detective. Jenny Starling is working at The Spindlewood Inn for the weekend. It’s hosting a Regency Extravaganza, involving historical costume, amateur dramatics and food. Leading actress of the amateur dramatic society and reputed man-eater Rachel Norman portrays a doomed noblewoman. But when she turns up actually drowned in the pond, there’s suddenly a murder to investigate. There’s been plenty of trouble at the idyllic country inn.

From the moment Lily Harper arrives at a remote retreat on the breath-taking Scilly Isles, she is itching to get back to civilisation - and her business. Slowing down simply isn't in her vocabulary, and so she quickly clashes with the gorgeous but dour Sam who runs the retreat. Just as Lily is about to give up and leave, she is involved in a spectacular boating accident. Rumours abound and her obituary is released online. But there are two problems: One: Lily doesn't like the person she's reading about. Two: Lily isn't dead.

Christmas has never been Katie Seddon’s favourite time of year. Whilst everyone else shares memories of families coming together and festive number ones, the soundtrack to Katie’s childhood wasn’t quite so merry. But since she moved to the village of Budbury on the gorgeous Dorset coast, Katie and her baby son have found a new family. A family who have been brought together by life’s unexpected roads and the healing magic of a slice of cake and a cupful of kindess at the Comfort Food Café.

Co-written by the writer of Sunday Times bestsellers The Asylum, The Convent, Silent Sisters and Abandoned, this is the harrowing emotional story of horrific sexual abuse at the hands of a father.

Maisie has always loved horses. She is also a talented artist. When the opportunity arises for her to study in Paris, her two worlds collide. There, in the heart of the city, Maisie finds the childhood diary of famous horse artist Rose Bonifait and meets the beautiful black stallion Claude. As the two girls’ stories emerge, tragedies unfold - both past and present - and Maisie realises that she can’t begin to imagine life without her forever horse.

On Emilia Morris's thirteenth birthday, her mother Rachel moves into a tent at the bottom of their garden. From that day on, she never says another word. Inspired by her vow of silence, other women join her and together they build the Community. Eight years later, Rachel and thousands of her followers around the world burn themselves to death.