Showing results by narrator "Matthew Lloyd" in All Categories

In exchange for a vial of dragon's blood to save her brother's life, Melanie Hall offers herself up as a sacrifice to one of the British dragon-shifter clans. Being a sacrifice means signing a contract to live with the dragon-shifters for six months to try to conceive a child. Her assigned dragonman, however, is anything but easy. He's tall, broody, and alpha to the core. There's only one problem - he hates humans.

Tom Cheke's world is turned upside down when he is kidnapped from his home by Barbary corsairs during an audacious night raid. Sold into slavery in 17th-century Algiers, Tom carves out a promising, new life only to have it shattered once more. Another twist of fate throws him into the hands of a Scottish knight of the Order of St John and into a turbulent world of ciphers, spies, and assassinations.

Among his eccentric though strictly principled group of friends, Lord Richard Vane is the confidant on whom everyone depends for advice, moral rectitude, and discreet assistance. Yet when Richard has a problem, he turns to his valet, a fixer of unparalleled genius - and the object of Richard's deepest desires. If there is one rule a gentleman must follow, it is never to dally with servants. But when David is close enough to touch, the rules of class collide with the basest sort of animal instinct: overpowering lust.

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution now forms the basis for all the life sciences, but it ignited widespread controversy upon its 1859 publication. The idea that humans and animals might have evolved from a common source came as a shock to readers at the time, and people struggle with the implications of Darwin’s theory to this day. But Darwin foresaw this resistance and argued his case with extensive examples and rigorous logic - and his theory continues to push us toward a deeper understanding of life on Earth.

Told in her own words, this is the story of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who was portrayed in an Oscar-winning performance by Charlize Theron in the film Monster. There have been few female serial killers, but Aileen Wuornos, who was executed in 2002, was a remarkable example of this rare breed of death row inmate. All too often, female prostitutes have been the victims of male serial killers - Wuornos’ killings were the inverse of this pattern.

Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler collects more than 50 of his all-time favorite holiday crime stories - many of which are difficult or nearly impossible to find anywhere else. From classic Victorian tales by Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Thomas Hardy, to contemporary stories by Sara Paretsky and Ed McBain, this collection touches on all aspects of the holiday season, and all types of mysteries. They are suspenseful, funny, frightening, and poignant.

How does science work? Does it tell us what the world is "really" like? What makes it different from other ways of understanding the universe? In Theory and Reality, Peter Godfrey-Smith addresses these questions by taking the listener on a grand tour of 100 years of debate about science. The result is a completely accessible introduction to the main themes of the philosophy of science.

Music journalist Mike Barnes (MOJO, The Wire, Prog, and author of the acclaimed biography Captain Beefheart) goes back to the birth of progressive rock and surveys the cultural conditions and attitudes that fed into, and were in turn affected by, this remarkable musical phenomenon.

One moment, he was enjoying a breakfast of salmon trimmings in his home in South Wales. The next, he was teleported across time and space onto the cold stone floor of an evil warlock. Locked in the warlock's tower through day and night, Ben may have to serve him for a while. He'll hate this, especially having to hunt those infernal demon rats when the warlock doesn't feed him well at all.

Charlotte Sauvin has always seen the world differently. At home on 33 Place Brugmann, in the heart of Brussels, her father and her closest friends and neighbours – the Raphaëls from the fourth floor, and Masha from the fifth – have ensured her secret is safe. But when the Nazis invade Belgium, and Masha and the Raphaëls disappear, Charlotte must navigate her new world alone.

Hallik has been training his whole life to become a Grimnir, a magic-wielder who can aid in keeping their island safe from the monster hordes outside the shield protecting them. Hundreds of years ago, Grimnirs created a shield around their island. Hallik has waited his whole life to become one of the elite Grimnir who can keep their enemies at bay. But when monsters start showing up on the island, it appears they aren’t as safe as they thought.

When a client tells Sam Applewhite she’s seen ghosts in the nearby graveyard, Sam dismisses it as the ramblings of an old woman. She’s got bigger things to worry about. Keeping on top of her job at DefCon4 Security Services isn’t easy - particularly since her manager is a cactus, and no one will tell her what her job actually is. But when the ghost-spotting client goes missing, and only Sam suspects foul play, she is compelled to dig deeper.

Summer 1764. Alec and Selina anxiously await the birth of their first child at their estate in Kent. It should be a time of family celebration, but the death of a young poacher has Alec investigating murder. And when renovations to his sprawling manor unearth a secret burial chamber, a shocking family secret comes to light. Everything Alec thought he knew about his birth is again called into question, and with it the special bond with his irascible uncle Plantagenet.

For Lee "Kix" Thompson, life is about having fun - even when times are tough. Growing Out of It is the tale of one "nutty boy" not really growing out of it at all. From getting up to no good as a teenager to his many musical (mis)adventures in the 1970s, Lee's memoir of his formative years captures his enduring love for his north London stomping ground, where he first met the other members of Madness.

The Jules Verne Collection includes 8 of Verne's most beloved novels. Read by the award-winning duo of Matthew Lloyd Davies and Jonathan Keeble, this collection is the perfect opportunity to delve into some of Verne's most formative and iconic writings.

A decade ago, teacher Nathan Brookes saw four of his students walk up a hill and vanish. Only one returned, Olivia, starved, terrified, and with no memory of where she’d been. Questioned by the police but released for lack of evidence, Nathan spent the years trying to forget. When a body is found in the same ancient woodland where they disappeared, it is first believed to be one of the missing children but is soon identified as a Bronze Age warrior, nothing more than an archaeological curiosity. Yet Nathan starts to have horrific visions of the students, alive but trapped.

On the trail of an aristocrat's secret son, enquiry agent Mark Braglewicz finds his quarry in a music hall, performing as a trapeze artist with his twin sister. Graceful, beautiful, elusive, and strong, Pen Starling is like nobody Mark's ever met - and everything he's ever wanted. But the long-haired acrobat has an earldom and a fortune to claim.

DCI Adam Bishop has never seen anything like it. Five murder victims – all with numbers written above. And the spray-painted daubs reveal a horrific truth: the killer is counting down. When Dr Romilly Cole learns of the murders, they trigger memories of a traumatic past she has tried hard to forget. But getting involved with the case is a bad idea. She and Bishop have history – and working together could never end well. Adam and Romilly soon realise the truth lies in a decades-old case, and only Romilly holds the key.

The world’s last day has arrived. Hell itself has come to Earth. Streets of fire, rivers of blood, and the trains aren’t running on time. But Morag Murray isn’t going down without a fight. And as the mother to the anti-Christ, she feels a wee bit responsible.

From the ruins of Persepolis to lawless outposts of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, The Mesopotamian Riddle whisks you on a wild adventure through the golden age of archaeology in an epic quest to understand our past.