Showing results by narrator "Stewart Crank" in All Categories

Patch Brightwater is a boy in disgrace. Thrown in jail for playing a forbidden spell, he is no one's idea of a hero. But then he discovers a deadly truth - the evil Piper of Hamelyn is on the loose. With the help of Wren, a girl cursed to live as a rat, and Barver, a fire-breathing dracogriff, Patch must stop the Piper sparking the biggest battle of them all. Three accidental heroes versus one legendary villain...an epic adventure is born.

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers. The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing.

Everyone has dreamed of being able to get a new brother or sister at one time or another - but for Jonny, the dream is about to become a reality with siblingswap.com! What could be better than someone awesome to replace Ted, Jonny's annoying older brother? But being matched to the perfect brother isn't easy, as Jonny discovers when Sibling Swap sends him a line of increasingly bizarre replacements: first a merboy, then a child raised by meerkats, even a ghost. What's coming next?! Suddenly Ted isn't looking so bad, but can Jonny ever get him back?

St Nazaire, 1.22 a.m. 28th March 1942. HMS Cambeltown, supported by seventeen wooden motor launches, approached the German-held port intending to smash into the lock gates of the largest dock in the world; the Normandie Dock-Operation Chariot was in full swing. Against vicious Nazi gunfire, the commandos stormed the docks, and within half an hour, succeeded in their chief demolition objectives, but in the heat of battle, the Royal Navy had lost nearly all of its small vessels intended to carry them back to England.

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

Using archival records, in this book, David Stahel presents a history of Germany's summer campaign from the perspective of the two largest and most powerful Panzer groups on the Eastern front. Stahel's research provides a fundamental reassessment of Germany's war against the Soviet Union, highlighting the prodigious internal problems of the vital Panzer forces and revealing that their demise in the earliest phase of the war undermined the whole German invasion.

It was Daisy's birthday, and Adam had the perfect gift for his fiancée. A dozen red roses? Jewellery? A weekend in Paris? Nope.... A set of bathroom scales. Sadly, Adam's poor judgement goes way beyond god-awful gifts. He's been cursed by a lack of common sense. Now, he's about to make the worst decision of his life and stands to lose the love of his life. Enter Mungo Thunk: an odd little man who claims he can fix Adam's thinking once and for all. Can Adam really trust the mysterious stranger's bizarre brand of therapy, or will he come to rue the day he met Mungo Thunk?

Ahren and his companions journey on to Evergreen, finding new courage after the traumas of the Green Sea. Setting off, then, to traverse the continent in search of the missing Paladin Yollock, it isn't long before they find themselves sucked into a maelstrom of adventures involving a woman who has been robbed, a desperate Cape Verstaad grandee, not to mention a cutthroat city which proves itself a veritable nest of ne'er-do-wells. Controlled by the brilliant assassin Reik Silvermantle, this hub of lawlessness and immorality presents Ahren and his friends with one of their greatest challenges.

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children. But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

A warrior with nothing to fight for is paired with a thieving assassin with nothing to lose. Together they must steal a treasure that no one can reach. The Crown Tower is the impregnable remains of the grandest fortress ever built and home to the realm’s most valuable possessions. But it isn’t gold or jewels the old wizard is after, and this prize can only be obtained by the combined talents of two remarkable men. Now if Arcadius can just keep Hadrian and Royce from killing each other, they just might succeed.

From an irresponsible baron whose body is discovered beneath a silver birch tree, to a classic detective duo solving a historic case as the lights go out across Europe, and an exclusive Tony Hill and Carol Jordan story, the characters McDermid conjures are enigmatic and dangerous. These evocative, atmospheric tales will shock and delight.

On a dark and stormy December night, my family are gathered at an isolated hotel in the English countryside. We're reuniting for the first time since the accident that shattered our lives ten years ago. It's a time for love and forgiveness. But more than one guest has an ulterior motive. As the clock strikes midnight, one member of our party is found dead at the foot of the grand marble staircase. Everyone is a suspect. But which one of us is a killer?

Follow the adventures of a local vet and the various farm animals who need his help and care over the course of one summer. Set against the wild and beautiful Yorkshire hills, these ten stories featuring farmyard favourites such as horses, goats, cows and more are sure to delight and inspire a love of animals from the youngest age.

DI George Wiley is calling in a favor. As head of a new unit tackling cold and unusual cases, he presents Gill McArdle with a bag of human teeth. His evaluation – a serial killer has been operating undetected in Scotland for decades. With no leads in the case, Wiley wants Gill to leverage his contacts. But Gill McArdle feels under no obligation as he has a puzzle of his own to solve. Roadworks in the Scottish Highlands have uncovered an old battlefield site, and now the race is on to complete an archaeological dig before the site is buried under tarmac.

Patch Brightwater and his friend Barver, the dracogriff, are trapped on a mysterious island full of monstrous beasts. Their shape-shifting friend, Wren, is being held prisoner by the Piper of Hamelyn, but she's working hard to escape. Clad in his suit of magical black armour and with dragons and a growing army on his side, the Piper of Hamelyn seems destined to bring chaos and destruction down on the world. Can anything stop him?

Join the brave friends Patch, Wren and Barver for another adventure of magic and music! Thrill as they meet the Pirates of the Eastern Seas! Marvel as they venture to the only city where dragons and humans live side by side! Gasp as they journey high into the snowy peaks, where the greatest secret of the griffins lies hidden! And tremble as they come face-to-face once more with the increasingly powerful and evil Hamelyn Piper....

Meanwhile, Gillan McArdle’s academic career is ending because of one stupid lapse of judgement. Offered a short-term contract, he lands on the Hebridean island of Harris to investigate obscure animal bones. Quickly dismissing the unicorn skull as a thinly disguised fake, he can’t deny there’s something unusual about these bones. Baited by rumors of a majestic tusked horse roaming the uplands, Gill begins to suspect someone is manipulating him. As he gradually unravels the mystery of the skull, he grasps a disturbing conclusion: If this creature does exist, the evidence suggests it’s a killer.

Suicide. Drugs. Murder. DI Braddick is put on the case when a hijacked drug deal has resulted in murder and an eyewitness goes missing. When victims are discovered strung up from the rafters of an abandoned fish factory on the Anglesey coastline, the police are baffled as to what went on. A deserted trawler found at the scene helps Braddick put the pieces together. Could this be the work of a notorious Russian crime family? When an undercover officer goes missing, everything points to an informer for the family, and it is clear they will stop at nothing to silence the leak.

I may have reached my breaking point. As if trying to graduate from a school for supernaturals isn’t stressful enough, my relationship status has gone from complicated to a straight-up dumpster fire. Oh, and the Bloodletter has decided to drop a bomb of epic proportions on us all...

This classic collection of animal stories follows the adventures of a local vet and the various animals who need his help and care. From a poorly cow who needs urgent treatment, a lost pony who needs rescuing or even a cheeky cat who keeps getting into mischief, this heartwarming collection of animal tales, set against the beautiful, snowy backdrop of the stunning Yorkshire landscape, is perfect to be shared together at this special time of year.