Alan Paton

Alan Pattullo

Alan Pauls

Alan Pollock is a playwright, translator and screenwriter. His numerous plays include One Night in November, Pigs and All Tomorrow's Parties.

Alan Pollock

Alan Root was born in London in 1937 but moved to Kenya as a young boy. He dropped out of school at sixteen but soon found himself behind the camera. He married Joan Thorpe in 1961 and together they produced an array of award-winning wildlife films including Baobab: Portrait of a Tree, commissioned by David Attenborough, Safari by Balloon, The Year of the Wildebeest and Castles of Clay, which was nominated for an Oscar. Alan won over sixty awards during his career, including an Emmy, three Lifetime Achievement Awards an OBE. Alan Root died in August 2017.

Alan Root

Alan Rosenthal

Alan Ruddock

Alan Rugman

Alan Rusbridger

Alan Ryan

Alan S. Blinder

Alan Shearer CBE  grew up in Newcastle, leaving home as a  teenager to pursue a career in professional football with his first  team, Southampton. He went on to  reach football stardom, winning the Premier League with Blackburn in  1995, breaking the world transfer record by signing to Newcastle United  in 1996 and achieving international success as the Captain of England.  Alan also holds the record for most goals scored in Premier League history.

Alan Shearer

Alan Siegel

Alan Simpson

Alan Spence

Alan Stewart

Alan Taylor

Alan Tennant

Alan Thompson

Alan Titchmarsh MBE is known to millions through his career as a television presenter of shows including Love Your Weekend, Love Your Garden, Ground Force, Gardeners' World, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Spring Into Summer. He has written more than forty gardening books, as well as twelve novels and three volumes of memoirs. He was made MBE in the millennium New Year Honours list and holds the Victoria Medal of Honour, the Royal Horticultural Society's highest award.

Alan Titchmarsh

Alan Unterman

Alan Watts was a British philosopher, writer and speaker who was best known for his expertise in Eastern philosophies including Zen Buddhism and Taoism. He wrote over 25 books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, higher consciousness, the meaning of life, concepts and images of God and the non-material pursuit of happiness.

Alan W Watts

Alan Warner is the author of eight novels: Morvern Callar, These Demented Lands, The Sopranos, The Man Who Walks, The Worms Can Carry Me to Heaven, The Stars in the Bright Sky, which was longlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize, The Deadman's Pedal and Their Lips Talk of Mischief. He is Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University.

Alan Warner

Alan Watts

Alan Weisman is an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including the global bestseller The World Without Us, which has been translated into 34 international languages and was nominated for numerous awards. His writing has appeared in Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, Vanity Fair, The Los Angeles Times Magazine and many other places. Alan has worked on all seven continent and reported from 58 countries, and lives in western Massachusetts.

Alan Weisman

Alanna Mitchell

Alasdair Fotheringham is a freelance journalist and writer based in Spain. He writes regularly on cycling for the ‘I’, The Independent.co.uk, The Express, ProCycling and Cyclingnews. He has been reporting on the Tour de France and other top road cycling events since 1992. His first book was The Eagle of Toledo, a biography of cycling’s greatest ever climber, Federico Martín Bahamontes. He has also written Reckless, a biography of the ill-fated Luis Ocaña, the 1973 Tour winner and considered Eddy Merck’s top Grand Tour rival, and The End of the Road, an account of the 1998 Tour de France.

Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Wickham

Alastair Campbell was born in Keighley, Yorkshire in 1957, the son of a vet. Having graduated from Cambridge University in modern languages, he went into journalism, principally with the Mirror Group. When Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party, Campbell worked for him first as press secretary, then as official spokesman and director of communications and strategy from 1994 to 2003. He continued to act as an advisor to Mr Blair and the Labour Party, including during subsequent election campaigns. He now splits his time between writing, speaking, politics in Britain and overseas, consultancy and charity, as chairman of fundraising for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, and a leading ambassador for the mental health campaign Time to Change. 
 
He lives in North London with his partner of thirty-five years, Fiona Millar. They have three children. His interests include running, cycling, bagpipes and Burnley Football Club. He has published six volumes of diaries, including the number one Sunday Times bestseller, The Blair Years, a memoir on depression, The Happy Depressive, and three novels.

Alastair Campbell

Alastair Nathan Cook was born in Gloucester, December 1984. He is an English cricketer. He plays for Essex County Cricket Club and previously for England. Cook is the fifth highest Test scorer of all time. 
 
He is regarded as England's most successful batsman ever and now he is an icon and role model in sport. 
 
Outside of cricket, Alastair has written columns in the Telegraph and Metro, he is a talented saxophone player and donates his time to raising money for cancer charities and the David Randall Foundation. He is now married with three children.

Alastair Cook

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Walter Mosley

On the shady side of LA in 1961, African-American private eye Easy Rawlins can go places a white detective cannot. So when Saul Lynx needs a missing woman found, he hires Easy to do his dirty work.   Elizabeth Eady - ‘Black Betty’ - is as dark as midnight and just as beautiful. An old acquaintance of Easy’s when he was a child back in Texas, she had been working for a rich white woman in Beverley Hills, but left her job with no forwarding address. Easy knows she always brings trouble in her wake, but he has a family to support and needs Lynx’s money.   With Martin Luther King in the news and a new young president in the White House, it’s a time of hope for most black Americans. But as Easy tries to unravel a case that sends him in search of his own past, he finds only death under the stones he is paid to turn over...   Starring Clarke Peters, John Guerrasio and Alibe Parsons and dramatised by Bonnie Greer, this was first broadcast as part of BBC Radio 4’s ‘American Noir’ season.   Warning: contains strong language.

Easy Rawlins Black Betty

Donald Stewart

‘The history of crime detection has produced no more famous name than that of Sexton Blake’  William Franklyn stars as paperback hero Sexton Blake, with David Gregory as his assistant Tinker, in four original BBC Radio dramatisations from 1967. Lost from the BBC archives for over 40 years, these rediscovered episodes are presented for the very first time.  ‘The Eight Swords’: When a woman is found dead at Paula’s hair salon, Sexton Blake is called in to investigate. ‘A Murder of Crows’: Over the past six weeks, two men have been murdered. And both shared the name George Crow.  ‘Double and Quit’: The top-secret Department 7 recruit Sexton Blake as a special agent.  ‘You Must Be Joking’: A friend from Blake’s club dies the day after receiving a sinister limerick.  Plus a special bonus episode - ‘Murder on the Portsmouth Road’. In one of Britain’s earliest surviving drama recordings (from 1930), Arthur Wontner stars as Sexton Blake, tracking down a killer on a stormy night.  WARNING: Due to the archive and off-air nature of some of the source material, the sound quality may vary.  Also, some of the language on this recording reflects the era in which it was first recorded.

Sexton Blake

The Eight Swords & Other Stories

Francis Durbridge

From 1938 to 1968 crime novelist and detective Paul Temple and his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve solved case after case in one of BBC Radio’s most popular series. Now the glamorous duo return to the airwaves to break a mysterious drug-running gang.   Post-war London is buzzing with speculation about the deaths of ten young drug addicts within the space of just one week. The police are desperate to cut off supplies of heroin and cocaine to the capital, but they are struggling. So Sir Graham Forbes turns to Paul Temple.   By fast car and police launch, on deserted houseboats and midnight beaches, in dodgy East End pubs and smart West End restaurants, braving booby traps, bullets and blazing houses, Paul and Steve pursue the ruthless and feared drug dealer known only as ‘Valentine’.   This new production for BBC Radio 4 uses the original scripts, vintage sound effects and much of the original incidental music from the missing 1946 production. As far as possible it is a technical and stylistic replica of how that production might have sounded if its recording had survived.

A Case For Paul Temple

Richard Pitt

Bert Coules

A BBC Radio 4 murder mystery set in India in 1709. 'Early Belt and the Present' was originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 6 April 2011.  A young servant, Early Belt, accompanies a group of superstitious English merchants as they transport a vast wagon train of goods to Delhi. The wagon train - known as The Present - is an incentive for the Indian Emperor to grant free trade throughout the land.  As the convoy crawls across India, a merchant is found murdered. Stories quickly spread of a sorceress locked inside an enchanted cabinet somewhere within the convoy. When a second merchant is killed, the rumours turn to hysteria. It falls to Early Belt to solve the mystery...  Starring James Anthony Pearson as Early Belt, David Hayman as John Surman and John Shedden as Dr Hamilton. Also featured amongst the cast are Ralph Riach, Kenny Blyth, Brian Pettifer, Mark McDonnell, Umar Ahmed and Lucy Paterson.

Early Belt And The Present

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation

Simon Passmore

A fast-paced psychological thriller from BBC Radio 4's 'Saturday Play' slot, originally broadcast 26 March 2011.  A city banker is found dead in an opulent apartment. At the funeral, his former girlfriend Helen is unexpectedly questioned about when she last saw him. Did he mention computer files, or give her anything as a keepsake? Helen's suspicions mount as she retraces his last movements. Her discoveries put her in the firing line...  A taut, character-driven conspiracy thriller, writhing with twists and heavy on menace, by one of radio's leading writers of thrillers, Simon Passmore. 'Leverage' stars Claire Foy, Blake Ritson, Charlie Cox, Sally Orrock, Joanna Monro, Nyasha Hatendi and Sean Baker.

Leverage (BBC Radio 4 The Saturday Play)

Charlotte Thompson

A frank and uncompromising BBC Radio 3 drama about a young woman in prison. Originally broadcast on 5 February 2011 as part of 'The Wire', a showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative.  Tomorrow 23-year-old Ronia will have the most important conversation of her life - her parole hearing. Ronia has been serving an 'Imprisonment for Public Protection' sentence ever since she was eighteen. With an IPP sentence there is no automatic release date: once a prisoner has served their full tariff, they still have to convince a parole board that they've changed. And that's what Ronia must do.  After five years, Ronia has long served her tariff, and is ready to persuade the parole board that she's no longer a danger to the public. As the night passes, Ronia takes us back to her younger self, having fun with her friend Tyson, hanging out on London streets, and trying to steer clear of violent girl gang, the Sykes Crew.  Starring Sophie Cosson and Holli Dempsey as the older and younger Ronia, Zaraah Abrahams as Tyson and Marian Kemmer as the Parole Judge. Also featured in the cast are Ben Crowe and Lloyd Thomas.

Story Of A Rude Gal

David Eldridge

A BBC Radio 3 production from the 'Drama on 3' series exploring the idea of a fascism of the mind.Nigel is bored. But then he meets the glamorous Liv and Tony and becomes part of their beautiful world; a beauty that hides a disturbing secretDavid Eldridge's 'The Secret Grief' stars Paul Chequer as Nigel, Frances Barber as Liv, and David Schofield as Tony. Also featured amongst the cast are Struan Rodger, Alex Tregear, Stuart McLoughlin and Nyasha Hatendi.

The Secret Grief

John le Carré

In the third year of perestroika, London publisher Barley Blair is sent a manuscript from Moscow. Exposing Russian nuclear threats as a sham, the information - if it’s genuine - could shatter East-West relations. Jazz-loving, hard-drinking Blair is hardly the spymasters’ idea of the perfect agent, yet they are forced to send him to Moscow to make contact. But the Cold War thaws when Barley meets Katya, the beautiful Russian intermediary who is equally sceptical of state ideology. Mere pawns in a deadly game of international espionage, they nevertheless represent the breakdown of hostilities and a future which poses a huge threat to the entrenched professionals on both sides... Both a gripping spy saga and a poignant love story, The Russia House delivers all the excitement and tension expected from the master of espionage fiction. This BBC Radio 4 adaptation was dramatised by René Basilico.

The Russia House

Simon Brett

Jeremy Front

Charles finds himself uncharacteristically employed in a film, having landed the part of Szabec, a middle management vampire in The Wreathing. 
 
His co-star is swimwear model turned actress Jodie Ricks and before long, Jodie is using Charles as a confidant. Poor Jodie is in terrible trouble - not only is she being blackmailed over some compromising photos, but she is also carrying the baby of the film's producer, Elliot Roth, who now wants nothing to do with her. Then things take an even nastier turn when it appears that someone is trying to kill Jodie. 
 Always keen to help a damsel in distress, Charles sets about trying to solve the mystery... 
 
Starring Bill Nighy and Martine McCutcheon and dramatised by Jeremy Front. 
 
Written by Jeremy Front, based on the novel by Simon Brett. 
 
Duration: 1 hr 50 mins approx.

Charles Paris: Cast in Order of Disappearance

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Magnus Pym, Counsellor at the British Embassy, is hosting a dinner party at his home in Vienna when he receives an unexpected telephone call that will profoundly affect his life. Once the guests have gone, Pym breaks the news to his wife, Mary: his father, Rick, is dead. In a state of shock, he says something Mary cannot understand - 'After all these years, I'm free.'   Magnus flies back to England to attend the funeral - and doesn't return. As Mary and MI6 spymaster Jack Brotherhood desperately try to find out his whereabouts, it soon becomes clear that Pym has been keeping secrets from both his family and his employers, the British Intelligence Service.   Hiding out in a remote cottage in Devon, where he goes by the name of Mr Canterbury, Magnus begins to write his memoirs - retracing his rise and fall and revealing how Rick led him step by step into a double life of deception, broken promises and betrayal...   This recording, adapted from the John le Carré novel by Rene Basilico, was believed lost from the BBC archive, but was rediscovered after almost twenty years and restored.

A Perfect Spy

Raymond Chandler

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. In Playback, Marlowe is awakened early in the morning by a phone call from a lawyer. Clyde Umney instructs him to meet the eight o’clock train from Chicago, and shadow one of the passengers. The lady in question, Eleanor King, is beautiful, classy and clearly unhappy. Obediently, Marlowe follows her – all the way to Esmerelda, where she’s going under the name Betty Mayfield and being leaned on by a cheap blackmailer. Stuck doing a sneaky job for people he doesn’t like, Marlowe feels even grubbier than usual: and he’s soon in more trouble than usual too as he comes up against gangsters, hard men and a hitman... Starring Toby Stephens, this exciting dramatisation retains all the verve of Chandler’s last novel.

Playback

Mark Wheatley

A BBC Radio 4 drama by Mark Wheatley, originally broadcast as the ‘Afternoon Play’ on 13 May 2010.  Fraser once tracked clients who jumped bail. Then he added a little twist to the business by helping people disappear instead, which is why Kathryn gives him a call.  Starring Lia Williams as Kathryn and Neil Pearson as Fraser. Also includes Tessa Nicholson, Michael Shelford and Miche Doherty in the cast. Produced by Eoin O'Callaghan.

So You Want To Disappear

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily. The Big Sleep finds the world-weary, wisecracking investigator consulted by a wealthy family man with two big problems: his children. Carmen Sternwood has got herself mixed up with a blackmailer, while Vivian has managed to mislay her husband, ex-bootlegger Rusty Regan. Old, ailing General Sternwood hires Marlowe to take care of things - but it’s not too long before the bodies start piling up, and Marlowe finds himself knee-deep in trouble... Starring Toby Stephens, this landmark dramatisation retains all the suspense and excitement of Chandler’s complex and compelling novel.

The Big Sleep

John Dryden

Three lives on three continents connected by one event - A young British schoolboy obsessed with school massacres, a radio journalist in India on the trail of a scoop for the BBC and the boss of an American church-owned clothing firm are the threads that run through this intricate, suspenseful three-part thriller from award-winning writer-director John Dryden.  At first the three lives seem totally unconnected but as the threads unravel they become tangled in a shocking heap of child labour, abuse and murder. A unique and compelling thriller, recorded on location in the USA, India and the UK.   Written and directed by John Dryden. A Goldhawk Essential Production.

Severed Threads

William Shakespeare

A BBC Radio 3 full-cast dramatisation of Shakespeare’s classic ‘Cymbeline’, starring Bill Wallis. Originally broadcast in December 2006 as part of the ‘Drama on 3’ collection.  Shakespeare's play, set during the Roman invasion of Britain, centres around the banishment of the man who has incurred the wrath of the king by secretly marrying his daughter. Confusion follows in an intricate plot in which nobody is quite who they seem to be.  Featuring Bill Wallis as Cymbeline, Nia Roberts as Imogen, William Houston as Posthumus, Siân Phillips as the Queen and Andrew Wincott as Iachimo. Also stars Russell Gomer, Joseph Kloska, Gareth Armstrong, Christian Shaw, Meilyr Sion, John Labanowski, Richard Elfyn, Dorien Thomas and Manon Edwards. Directed by Alison Hindell.

Shakespeare's Cymbeline

Michael Butt

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation by Michael Butt about the death of the poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe, originally broadcast in the ‘Afternoon Play’ slot on 17 August 2010.  In May 1593, the playwright Christopher Marlowe was killed. Apparently, it was because of an argument over a bill. Michael Butt's innovative drama dons the cloak of documentary to re-examine the unsolved case.  Starring Paul Rhys as the narrator, Blake Ritson as Thomas Walsingham, Harry Lloyd as Thomas Kyd and Burn Gorman as Robert Poley. Also included in the cast are Tim McMullan, Christine Kavanagh, Tony Bell, Sam Dale, Sean Baker and Lloyd Thomas. Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.

Unauthorised History: The Killing

Agatha Christie

Ten guests travel to an island at the invitation of someone named U.N. Owen. All are strangers, but they have two things in common: they have all been responsible for someone's death, and none will leave the island alive. Over the next two days and nights, each of the guests is killed off in a different manner in keeping with the nursery rhyme, 'Ten Little Soldier Boys'. As they are picked off one by one, who could possibly be responsible? The killers are forced to turn detective so they can find the unknown murderer, but one by one they become victims... Billed as 'the famous detective story without a detective', And Then There Were None is one of Agatha Christie's darkest and most enduring tales.

And Then There Were None

This BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation is a captivating thriller written by Simon Passmore, originally broadcast as the Afternoon Play on 29 June 2009.  What would you be prepared to do to escape the grind of a life going relentlessly downhill? For former City lawyer Alice, the price is getting higher by the minute.  Stars Claudia Harrison in the lead role of Alice, Emily Joyce as Hattie, Stephen Hogan as Patrick, Lizzy Watts as Marcy and Paul Rider as Stone. Directed by Toby Swift.

Accomplices

The tiny Caribbean island of St Honoré is a tropical paradise. But for Miss Marple, enjoying a well-earned rest from her busy life in the village of St. Mary Mead, it is a place where nothing ever seems to happen.   Then old Major Palgrave tells her the strange story of a suspected double murderer. As rumours begin to circulate, the elderly sleuth is not alone in suspecting that things are not as they seem.   And when a death that is indisputably murder occurs, Miss Marple finds an unlikey ally in the cantankerous crippled millionaire Mr Rafiel. Together, can the pair discover the truth?   June Whitfield stars as Miss Marple with Windsor Davies as Major Palgrave in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation from the world's best-known mystery writer.   'Throws off false clues and misleading events as only a master of the art can do' - New York Times.

A Caribbean Mystery

'A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30pm. Friends please accept this, the only intimation.' Nestled among the usual notices about dogs for sale and appeals for domestic help, the startling entry in the personal column of the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette has the entire village agog with curiosity. Is it a game? And who is meant to attend? The mistress of Little Paddocks, Letitia Blacklock, is also taken completely by surprise. Suspecting her nephew of a practical joke, she's sure of one thing: half the village will be converging on the house expecting a glass of sherry. Sure enough, the evening sees a crowd of residents standing expectantly in the drawing-room. Then the clock strikes the half-hour, the lights go out, and three gunshots ring in the dark. When the lights go back on, the promised murder has been committed. Can Miss Marple work out what has happened and why? One of Agatha Christie's most intriguing mysteries is dramatised with a full cast including Ian Lavender and Jamie Glover.

A Murder Is Announced

Ariadne Oliver, Queen of Crime Fiction, has been asked to devise a Murder Hunt for a fate at Nasse House, the home of Sir George Stubbs. But she begins to suspect that someone is manipulating the scenario of her game and fears that something very sinister is being planned.   She sends for her old friend Hercule Poirot. At first he is not inclined to take her very seriously but soon a series of events propels him to change his mind.   Then suddenly all Ariadne's worst fears are realised when the girl playing the part of the murder victim is found strangled in the boat-house. For Hercule Poirot, the Murder Hunt has become a grim reality.   John Moffatt stars as Hercule Poirot, with Julia McKenzie as Ariadne Oliver.

Dead Man's Folly

As Hercule Poirot sifts through his post one particular morning, he alights upon a letter from an elderly and (as it transpires), exceedingly rich spinster - Miss Emily Arundell. She is clearly in great distress and seeking his help, but doesn't say why. Her only specific mention is 'the incident of the dog's ball'. However, what intrigues Poirot is the date of the communication - it was written two months ago. He persuades Captain Hastings that they must visit the lady with all haste.   On arrival they discover that she has died, apparently of natural causes. But Bob, Miss Arundell's devoted wire-haired terrier, knows better. And so, soon, does Poirot.   John Moffatt, as ever, stars as Hercule Poirot with Simon Williams as Captain Hastings.   With music specially composed by Tom Smail.

Dumb Witness

Following an otherwise-enjoyable literary luncheon, the celebrated crime novelist Ariadne Oliver is accosted by a particularly formidable woman who engages her in conversation about one of her many god-daughters, whom Ariadne hasn’t seen since she was a child. She lands a bombshell with the question ‘What I want to know is this: did her mother kill her father, or was it the father who killed the mother?’   Affronted and bewildered by the assertiveness of this pushy busybody, Ariadne is nevertheless intrigued. There’s only one thing for it. She must contact her old friend Hercule Poirot.   Together they set about unravelling the mystery of a tragedy from the distant past – provoked in equal measure by hate and love.   As always, John Moffatt stars as Hercule Poirot, while Julia McKenzie stars as Ariadne Oliver – whom Agatha Christie based on herself.

Elephants Can Remember

'Some are born to sweet delight/Some are born to endless night' - William Blake. Agatha Christie wrote Endless Night in 1967, and it is one of her greatest - and most unusual - novels. Creepy, malevolent and claustrophobic, it is a story about choices, the nature of good and evil, and grim retribution. Mike Rogers had a childhood fantasy about what life would be like as an adult; he'd have a beautiful wife, they would live in a beautiful home, and this would be a peaceful and deserved reward for a turbulent early life. When he meets Ellie Gutman at a lovely, remote spot known as Gypsy's Acre, suddenly it is all within his grasp. However, things are not as idyllic as they seem - local legend has it that the land is cursed, and several terrible accidents have occurred there. Mike and Ellie pay no attention to these tales: but when they move into their new home, the curse suddenly seems to come to life and they find themselves in grave danger... Starring Jonathan Forbes and Lizzy Watts, this is a menacing drama that perfectly evokes the atmosphere of Agatha Christie's brooding, malevolent tale, infused with passion, hauntings and grim retribution.

Endless Night

An exclusive hotel on a tiny picturesque island seems to be the ideal retreat from the stresses of criminal detection for Hercule Poirot. But with the appearance of the beautiful Arlena Stuart, the quiet and peaceful atmosphere becomes charged with an indefinable erotic tension. And when she is found viciously strangled in a secluded cove, there are few, especially among the women, who seem to feel either surprise or regret.   As Poirot follows a twisting path of bizarre and bewildering clues, his only certainties are that the solution lies within Arlena herself, and that there is evil under the sun.   John Moffat as Hercule Poirot heads an all-star cast which includes Iain Glen, Fiona Fullerton, Robin Ellis, Wendy Craig, George Baker and Joan Littlewood.

Evil Under The Sun

Carla Lemarchant was a child of five when her mother was accused and convicted of poisoning her father, the famous painter Amyas Crale. After Caroline Crale dies in prison, Carla is sent to live with her uncle and aunt in Canada. Only on her twenty-first birthday does Carla learn of her family history when she reads a letter written by Caroline before her death, in which she denies murdering her husband.   But if her mother didn't kill Amyas Crale, who did? Carla needs to know, because she is planning to get married and wishes to start her new life without this terrible shadow hanging over her. Desperate to find out the truth, she consults the best detective money can buy.   With nothing to go on except five suspects who fit strangely into the pattern of a child's nursery rhyme, Hercule Poirot is faced with a formidable challenge to find the real killer...

Five Little Pigs

Tyrannical millionaire Simeon Lee has been estranged from most of his family for years. But now, on Christmas Eve, the old man calls them all together once more. Unable to disobey, the children gather uneasily and wonder what their father's intentions are. Does he want to clear up past misunderstandings or cause fresh mischief?   Before they can find out, a deafening crash is heard overhead. Rushing upstairs, they discover a shocking sight: Simeon Lee is lying in a pool of blood, his throat cut. But it is the strangest thing - the door has been locked from the inside and there is no trace of the murderer.   With so many possible suspects, it is lucky for Superintendent Sugden that the Chief Constable has his old friend Hercule Poirot staying with him. It seems to be an impossible case. But, as Poirot knows only too well, things aren't always as they seem.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas

In the sleepy little English country village of St Mary Mead, all is not as it seems. Under a seemingly peaceful exterior lurks intrigue, guilt, deception - and murder.   Colonel Protheroe, local magistrate and overbearing landowner, is the most detested man in the village. Everyone, even the vicar, wishes he were dead. And very soon he is - shot in the head in the vicar's own study.   A visiting artist confesses to the murder, but residents saw him elsewhere at the time the Colonel was shot. If he didn't do it, who did? Is he protecting the wife whom he loves?   Faced with a surfeit of suspects, only the inscrutable Miss Marple can unravel the tangled web of clues. A trap is set, and Miss Marple's theory is put to the test when the true killer is finally unmasked.   This full-cast dramatisation of Agatha Christie's very first Miss Marple mystery stars June Whitfield as the indomitable amateur detective, with Imelda Staunton and Nigel Davenport.

Murder At The Vicarage

Just as Amy Leatheran is about to return to England, she is hired by celebrated archaeologist Dr Leidner to work as a nurse/companion for his wife, who is subject to fits of nervous terrors. As they travel to an ancient site in the Iraqi desert, Amy finds herself in a situation stranger than she could ever have imagined, whilst Mrs Leidner proves to be a demanding yet fascinating woman. Gradually Mrs Leidner warms to Amy and, taking her into her confidence, she reveals the source of her terror. But as the oppressive tension in the air thickens, events come to a terrible climax and result in murder. With just one spot of blood as his only clue, Hercule Poirot must embark on a journey not just across the desert but into the darkest crevices of the human soul. There he hopes to unravel a mystery which taxes even his remarkable powers. 
 
2 CDs. 2 hrs 20 mins.

Murder In Mesopotamia

When Poirot arrives in France, following an urgent appeal for help, he finds he is too late. His client, a South American millionaire, has been stabbed to death and his body flung into a freshly dug open grave on the golf course adjoining the property.   Meanwhile the millionaire's wife is found bound and gagged in her room. Her wrists are badly cut and she seems to be in shock, but she agrees to speak to Poirot. She tells him that they were attacked by thugs who tied her up and forced her husband to leave the house, dressed only in his underwear, before brutally killing him.   Poirot is not sure whether to believe her story. Did she, as the sole beneficiary of her millionaire husband's estate, set the whole thing up? And if not, who did kill M. Renauld?   The suspects include the mysterious Dulcie Duveen and Renauld's son Jack, who had quarrelled violenty with his father. As Poirot investigates, the mystery begins to unfold - but not before another murder occurs...   John Moffatt stars as Poirot, with Jeremy Clyde as Captain Hastings, Madeline Smith as Dulcie Duveen and Stephen Tompkinson as Jack.

Murder On The Links

Fluffy

Folk Art

Football Academy

Football Skills

Forbidden Spaces Trilogy

Foul Play

DICK FRANCIS was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys and author of forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), the biography of Lester Piggott and his own autobiography (The Sport of Queens). He was rightly acclaimed as one of the greatest thriller writers in the world. 
 
 Since his death, his son FELIX FRANCIS has taken over the literary reigns from his father and Dick's legacy lives on through the Dick Francis novels. The Francis flair is clear for all to see in these national treasure thrillers, and readers will appreciate the sporadic reappearance of beloved series characters Sid Halley and Jeff Hinkley.

Francis Thriller

Frank Behr

Once a Detective Inspector in the Nottinghamshire Force, Frank Elder has retired to an isolated cottage in Cornwall, and is trying to live the quiet life. The past, however, is never far behind him.

Frank Elder

Fred

Free Collars Kingdom

Jean Plaidy combines imagination with facts to bring the French Revolution alive in this dynamic historical fiction series. From Louis XV’s debauchery to Marie Antionette’s demise, it is clear there was only one way this was going to end.

French Revolution

French Vintage Classics

Frieda Klein

Fright Club

From Scratch

Frontline Nurses Series

Frostheart

Fun With Ladybird

Funnybones

G.F. Newman’s The Corrupted

Gabriel's Inferno

The Roman grip on Britain is growing weaker and Druids are on the rise. Emperor Nero has turned away. Boudicca is preparing to lead tribes to war. 
 
Standing in her way is Gaius Valerius Verrens, commander of the veterans legion. In this battle he earns the accolade of Hero of Rome - but where will that title lead him next?

Gaius Valerius Verrens

Ganglands

Gargoylz

Garnethill

George and Flora

George's Secret Key to the Universe

Georgian Romance

From one of the most distinguished English authors of historical fiction comes a series that explores the lives of eleven Georgian figures. Beginning with the beautiful Sophia Dorothea, darling of Celle, and ending with Victoria's rise to become Queen of England.

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