Thrillers

THE 39 STEPS

by John Buchan

read by Sandy Morison

running time 4hrs 30mins

The classic thriller featuring Richard Hannay who goes on the run after a murder is committed in his flat. Once in his native Scotland he manages to keep one step ahead of his pursuers.

61 HOURS

by Lee Child

read by Jeff Harding

running time 14hrs 30mins

A tour bus crashes in a savage snowstorm and lands Jack Reacher in the middle of a deadly confrontation. In nearby Bolton, South Dakota, one brave woman is standing up for justice in a small town threatened by sinister forces. Reacher's original plan was to keep on moving. But the next 61 hours will change everything...

THE ABSENCE OF GUILT

by Mark Gimenez

read by Jeff Harding

running time 14hrs 30mins

An ISIS attack on America is narrowly averted when the FBI uncovers a plot to detonate a weapon of mass destruction during the Super Bowl. Omar al Mustafa, a notorious Muslim cleric known for his anti-American diatribes is arrested, but there is only one problem: there is no evidence against him. If Mustafa is innocent, newly appointed District Judge A Scott Fenney, must set the most dangerous man in Dallas free, with no idea who is really guilty...

A BABY'S BONES

by Rebecca Alexander

read by Ann Stutz

running time 11hrs 30mins

Archaeologist Sage Westfield has been called in to excavate a sixteenth-century well, and expects to find little more than soil and the odd piece of pottery. But the disturbing discovery of the bones of a woman and newborn baby make it clear that she has stumbled onto an historical crime scene, one that is interwoven with an unsettling local legend of witchcraft and unrequited love. Yet there is more to the case than a four-hundred-year-old mystery. The owners of a nearby cottage are convinced that it is haunted, and the local vicar is being plagued with abusive phone calls. Then a tragic death makes it all too clear that a modern murderer is at work.

CALL IN THE NIGHT

by Susan Howatch

read by Anna-Maria Vesey

running time 5hrs

Clare Sullivan obeys a desperate summons from her sister Gina and flies from her home in America to Paris. But when she arrives, there is no sign of her. Gina's trail leads Claire to London and to Garth Cooper - a boyfriend of Gina's - who seems to have a secret to hide. As time passes she can't help feeling something sinister is going on.

THE DA VINCI CODE

by Dan Brown

read by Jeff Harding

running time 14hrs

Robert Langdon, Harvard Professor, receives a late night call to say that the respected curator of the Louvre has been murdered, with a series of baffling ciphers beside the body. Langdon is called in but is treated as a suspect. With Sophie Neveu, he starts to unravel the clues which point to the works of Da Vinci and the Priory of Sion!

THE EAGLE HAS FLOWN

by Jack Higgins

read by Richard Ratcliffe

running time 7hrs

By the end of 1943, all the evidence of the abortive German attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill has been buried in a grave in Norfolk. However, two of the most wanted ringleaders are still alive, and Himmler is demanding the eagle's return.

F2F

by Phillip Finch

read by Richard Ratcliffe

running time 9hrs

A psychopathic computer genius is stalking potential victims on the Verbum computer network, seeking a face-to-face (F2F) meeting. Will Kate Lavin be lured to her death before her computer-whiz ex-husband tracks the killer down?

GAMBLE

by Dick Francis & Felix Francis

read by Michael Maloney

running time 9hrs

Nick 'Foxy' Foxton's career as a world class jockey is on a perfect track until a near fatal accident cuts his dream brutally short. But when he returns to Aintree years later, nothing can prepare him for what unfolds.

HALF BLOOD BLUES

by Esi Edugyan

read by Kyle Riley

running time 11hrs 15mins

In the aftermath of the fall of Paris, 1940, Hieronymous Falk, a rising star on the cabaret scene, was arrested in a cafe and never heard from again. Fifty years later Hiero's bandmate Sid,and the only witness that day, is going back to Berlin, bringing to the surface secrets buried since Hiero's fate was settled.

I FOUND YOU

by Lisa Jewell

read by Antonia Beamish

running time 9hrs 30mins

Alice finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement, she invites him into her home. But who is he, and how can she trust a man who has lost his memory?

JACK AND JILL

by James Patterson

read by Richard Ferrone

running time 13hrs 30mins

Washington D.C. is under siege. A controversial Senator is found murdered in his bed, and a little girl is savagely beaten to death. Detective Alex Cross is under pressure from two fronts. Faced with an impossible choice, Cross has to come up with something incredible – because right now, nobody in Washington is safe, and it’s only a matter of time before the killer sets their sights on the ultimate target…

KEEP ME CLOSE

by Clare Francis

read by Cecilia Laughton

running time 16hrs

Catherine has become a victim in her own home after frequent nuisance calls and then a vicious attack. As she comes to terms with her injuries two men seem anxious to uncover the truth.

LABYRINTH

by Kate Mosse

read by Maggie Mash

running time 24hrs 45mins

In 1209, as the Cathars are besieged in Carcassonne, a young woman is given a book by her father, which, he says, contains the story of the Grail. In 2005, Alice Turner is excavating in the area when she finds a tomb with two bodies, and sets in motion a terrifying sequence of events. Richard & Judy Bookclub

MACBETH

by Jo Nesbo

read by Derek Riddell

running time 17hrs

When a drug bust turns into a bloodbath it’s up to Inspector Macbeth and his team to clean up the mess. But he’s also an ex-drug addict with a troubled past. Plagued by hallucinations and paranoia, Macbeth starts to unravel. He’s convinced he won’t get what is rightfully his....unless he kills for it. Part of the ‘Hogarth Shakespeare’ series, where renowned authors adapt Shakespeare’s works for the present day.

THE NAKED FACE

by Sidney Sheldon

read by Richard Langley

running time 6hrs

Two murders, one victim murdered in the street in a gruesome but apparently arbitrary attack. The other brutally tortured and left to die in agony. Now it's the turn of psychoanalyst Dr Judd Stevens… In a chilling game of cat and mouse, Judd must become the hunter rather than the hunted if he wants to stay alive.

THE OATH

by Rankin Davis

read by Douglas Barber

running time 14hrs

A nail biting courtroom drama as 17 year old Rose Moody alleges systematic abuse at the hands of P J Rivers, a rich and charismatic cult leader. Is he a sinner or a saviour?

PACIFIC VORTEX!

by Clive Cussler

read by Ray Adamson

running time 9hrs

Dirk Pitt finds a communication capsule of the type used by submarines wishing to communicate with ships on the surface and finds inside a chilling message from the commander of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear submarine, the Starbuck, which had disappeared with all hands six months previously.

THE QUAKER

by Liam McIlvanney

read by Angus King

running time 11hrs

Glasgow, 1969. A serial killer is stalking the streets: the Quaker. He takes his third victim - from the same nightclub - and dumps her in the street like rubbish. The police are left chasing a ghost, with no new leads and no hope of catching their prey. From ruined backstreets to the dark heart of Glasgow, DI McCormack, a talented young detective from the Highlands, follows a trail of secrets that will change the city - and his life - forever....

RAGE

by Wilbur Smith

read by Gerald Sanctuary

running time 30hrs

It is 1952 and the Courtney family empire has come to dominate the lives of both white and black South Africans. Change, however, is on the way and Shasa will be forced to betray his ideals for a misguided dream of national unity.

THE SACRED BONES

by Michael Byrnes

read by Steve Hodson

running time 13hrs 15mins

A forensic scientist and an anthropologist are hired by the Vatican to examine a 2000 year old skeleton of a crucified man. Are these the bones of Christ? Will the Vatican allow the information to be known?

TATIANA

by Martin Cruz Smith

read by Andrew Cullum

running time 7hrs 50mins

When the brilliant and fearless young reporter Tatiana Petrovna falls to her death from a sixth-floor window in Moscow in the same week that notorious mob billionaire Grisha Grigorenko is shot in the back of the head, Renko finds himself on the trail of a mystery as complex and dangerous as modern Russia itself.

UNCLE TARGET

by Gavin Lyall

read by Harvey Ashby

running time 9hrs

This is the fourth thriller by Gavin Lyall to feature Major Maxim and it centres on a plot by a Jordanian army battalion to capture the prototype of Britain’s most sophisticated tank and reveal the secret to the Russians. Packed with action, suspense and authentic local colour.

VAGABOND

by Gerald Seymour

read by John O'Mahony

running time 18hrs 30mins

Danny Curnow, known in the army family by his call sign, Vagabond, ran agents - informers. Now he lives in quiet isolation and works as a guide to tourists visiting the Normandy's D-Day beaches. Violence in Northern Ireland is on the rise again and now, fifteen years later, the stakes are higher and the risks greater. Danny will have to prove that he is as hard and ruthless as before.

WAITING FOR SUNRISE

by William Boyd

read by Roger May

running time 13hrs 15mins

Moving from Vienna to London's West End, the battlefields of France, and the hotel rooms of Geneva, this is the story of young English actor Lysander Rief. He meets Sigmund Freud in a cafe´, begins to write a journal, enjoys secret trysts with Hattie Bull, and appears - miraculously - to have been cured of his neurosis.

YOU CAN'T SING WITHOUT ME

by Anne Worboys

read by Patricia Mumford

running time 12hrs 45mins

When Charlotte's twin sister is drowned, no one can really understand the extent of her loneliness. Her family fear that being left 'half a twin' will overwhelm her, but if they knew the truth would they believe her?

ZANZIBAR

by Giles Foden

read by Gerald Sanctuary

running time 14hrs 45mins

In 1998, Nick, a marine biologist, is working on a project off Zanzibar. On a trip to Tanzania he meets Miranda, an employee of the American Embassy. Their paradise is shattered when al-Qaida terrorists blow up the Embassy. With CIA agent Jack Quiller, Nick and Miranda attempt to catch the terrorists.