Showing results by narrator "Charlotte Worthing" in All Categories

When five-year-old Elsie Button was snatched from a garden in a sleepy town on the Welsh island of Anglesey, and a local man later confessed, it sent shockwaves through the tight-knit community. How could one of their own do such a thing? Especially when his own little girl was the same age – and the victim's best friend. Kathryn and her family left under the cloak of darkness one night, unable to bear the shame, and the anger of their neighbours. She hardly remembers that time. Now, she suffers the consequences of living under an assumed name, always looking over her shoulder.

Our dream home. A fresh start. But the house comes with secrets — and so do the neighbours. The moment we moved in, I knew something was wrong. A cracked stove. Scribbles on the wall. The lights flicking off every evening — always at the same time. Our daughter crying in the night, pointing at the corner of her room. "She has no face." Now the gifts are arriving. Notes through the door. A bottle left in the kitchen with no explanation. And my daughter won't stop screaming in her sleep. Everyone thinks I'm imagining it. But I know what I saw. What I heard.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kathleen Richards was just 17 when she and her sister Deirdre found themselves on the doorstep of 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, seeking lodgings from a seemingly friendly local couple: Fred and Rose West. While growing up in poverty-stricken Dublin in the 1960s, Kathleen was abused from a young age. A move to England allowed her to escape, but even so life remained difficult, forcing her to seek refuge. At first, Cromwell Street provided freedom for the sisters who were entertained by Fred's quirky behaviour and endless DIY.

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.

My name is Lucy Townsend. I was born on Friday the 13th, and I was the 13th girl living in the big house. Unlucky for some. But I was the fortunate one. I escaped. The only one who made it out alive. And now, 20 years after that fateful night, the secrets of the past and what happened in that house are pulling me back. I might not be so lucky this time.

In 2003, British police infiltrated a group of idealistic young environmental activists, forming sexual relationships and spying without warrant on hundreds of innocent civilians. Kate Wilson fought back. She took the Met to court, at times battling alone without funding or legal representation, enduring bullying, psychological intrusion and further state surveillance. It took her nearly twenty years to uncover the eerie truth about Britain' s secret political police.

Jen Cartwright returns from holiday to find her new next-door neighbour is Stacey Abbott, her childhood bully. It could be coincidence—but when Jen's close friends start to abandon her, and Jen's livelihood becomes threatened, it seems that the vendetta from the past has begun again. But why now, twenty years later? And if Stacey isn't to blame, then who is? Or is Jen inventing her own nightmares as her career and marriage seem to be foundering around her?

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.

Jenny Starling has her dream job cooking for Lord and Lady Avonsleigh in a genuine castle. Then one of the castle’s treasures, a fabulously jewelled dagger, is used to murder a staff member. The victim is found stabbed through the heart in the conservatory. Lady Avonsleigh insists that Jenny help the police find the murderer. But how can Jenny solve this case when the murder was committed in front of several reliable witnesses, none of whom saw a thing?

Jenny Starling has a job on a luxury paddle steamer working for a wealthy businessman. All she has to do is cook for his small number of guests. But things quickly turn sour. Then she discovers the body of one of the passengers in the store cupboard. Who wanted him dead and why? Jenny will have to ignore many red herrings and follow the clues to get to the bottom of a complex and intriguing murder mystery. This is the third of a series of enjoyable murder mysteries with a great cast of characters and baffling crimes which will keep you in suspense to the final second.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.