Antonia Beamish has narrated 54 audiobooks on Listento.it by 41 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.3★ across 497 ratings. The most-rated is The Truth About Melody Browne.
Beasts in Velvet
Summary
A Warhammer Horror novel On the mean streets of Altdorf, Guard Captain 'Filthy Harald' Kleindeist investigates a series of gruesome murders that take him into the upper echelons of Imperial society and expose horrors beyond imagining. Listen to it because It's a classic Warhammer murder mystery that delves into the darkness behind the Imperial aristocracy as well as the horrors to be found in the poorest districts of Altdorf. The story In the Imperial capital of Altdorf, a killer stalks the streets. Nicknamed 'The Beast' by those who have seen the remains of his victims, all evidence points to the haughty members of the Imperial court, the wealthy and privileged who are a law unto themselves. Written by Kim Newman. Narrated by Antonia Beamish.
©2020 Games Workshop Limited (P)2020 Games Workshop Limited
Daisy in Chains
Summary
Famous killers have fan clubs. Hamish Wolfe is no different. Locked up for the rest of his life for the abduction and murder of three young women, he gets countless adoring letters every day. He's handsome, charismatic and very persuasive. His admirers are convinced he's innocent and that he's the man of their dreams. Who would join such a club? Maggie Rose is different. Reclusive and enigmatic, a successful lawyer and best-selling true-crime writer, she takes on only cases that she can win. Hamish wants her as his lawyer; he wants her to change his fate. She thinks she's immune to the charms of a man like this. But maybe not this time.... Would you?
©2016 Sharon Bolton (P)2016 Random House Audiobooks
He Will Kill You
Summary
He Will Kill You: the new enthralling thriller from Charlie Gallagher. Maddie Ives’ toughest case yet. Grace Hughes: kicked to the bathroom floor by her partner, her back and side aching from where he slammed the door on her frail body, fighting to regain her breath, she can no longer ignore a simple truth: she must leave or he will kill her. Grace is a prisoner in her own home but she has a plan to get free. Detective Sergeant Maddie Ives is going to help her. Maddie now works with a team specialising in getting abused women to safety. She tells Grace to keep a diary, to write everything down so it forms part of the compelling evidence needed to send her abuser to prison. The detective doesn’t know how bad it’s got. Grace hasn’t been completely honest. But Grace wants to tell her everything, and Maddie will make her safe. Maddie has a lot on her mind. A dead boy in a bath, a car bomber who wants to make a statement and the return of a scarred DI Harry Blaker. Can he and Maddie stop the bomber, find a killer and get Grace to safety - whether she helps herself or not? Grace's time is running out. She must escape or die.
©2019 Charlie Gallagher (P)2019 Bolinda Publishing
The Girl in the Ragged Shawl
Summary
Heartbreaking and uplifting, the story of the workhouse orphan, Eliza, will touch your heart.... Eliza was left as a small baby at the workhouse in Whitechapel, wrapped in her mother’s shawl, which is all she has of the mother she never knew. At 11 years old, she has survived sickness, near starvation and harsh beatings. Master Simpkins and his cruel daughter rule the workhouse with a rod of iron, but when Romany boy Joe arrives at the workhouse, his spirit and courage give Eliza hope that another life is waiting for her outside. When she is sold into service, Eliza is relieved to be out of the workhouse and hopes her fortunes are changing for the better, but cruelty and unkindness are everywhere, and her salvation could become her ruin....
©2018 Cathy Sharp (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
Kick
Summary
Filled with a wealth of revealing new material and insight, the biography of the vivacious, unconventional - and nearly forgotten - young Kennedy sister who charmed American society and the English aristocracy and would break with her family for love. Encouraged to be "winners" from a young age, Rose and Joe Kennedy's children were the embodiment of ambitious, wholesome Americanism. Yet even within this ebullient group of overachievers, the fourth Kennedy child, the irrepressible Kathleen, stood out. Lively, charismatic, extremely clever, and blessed with graceful athleticism and a sunny disposition, the alluring socialite fondly known as Kick was a firecracker who effortlessly made friends and stole hearts. Moving across the Atlantic when her father was appointed as the ambassador to Great Britain in 1938, Kick - the "nicest Kennedy" - quickly became the family's star. Despite making little effort to fit in to British high society, she charmed everyone from the beau monde to Fleet Street with her unconventional attitude and easygoing humor. Growing increasingly independent, Kick would also shock and alienate her devout family by falling in love and marrying the scion of a virulently anti-Catholic family - William Cavendish, the heir apparent of the Duke of Devonshire and Chatsworth. But the marriage would last only a few months; Billy was killed in combat in 1944, just four years before Kick's own unexpected death in an airplane crash at 28. Paula Byrne recounts this remarkable young woman's life in detail as never before, from her work at the Washington Times-Herald and volunteerism for the Red Cross in wartime England to her love of politics and astute, opinionated observations to her decision to renounce her faith for the man she loved. Sympathetic and compelling, Kick shines a spotlight on this feisty and unique Kennedy long relegated to the shadows of her legendary family's history.
©2016 Paula Byrne (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers
Little Black Lies
Summary
Admittedly, it wasn't murder. A moment's carelessness, a tragic accident - and two children are dead. Yours. Living in a small island community, you can't escape the woman who destroyed your life. Each chance encounter is an agonizing reminder of what you've lost - your family, your future, your sanity. How long before revenge becomes irresistible? With no reason to go on living, why shouldn't you turn your darkest thoughts into deeds?
©2015 Sharon Bolton (P)2015 Isis Publishing, Random House Audiobooks
Death in Provence: A Novel
Summary
The first entry in a clever, lighthearted mystery series set in modern Provence - a delightful blend of Agatha Christie and Peter Mayle - featuring the irrepressible Penelope Kite, a young-at-heart divorcee with a knack for stumbling across dead bodies. It’s love at first sight when Penelope Kite sees Le Chant d’Eau - The Song of Water - the stone farmhouse tucked high in the hills above the Luberon valley, complete with a garden, swimming pool, and sweeping mountain vistas. For years, Penelope put her unfaithful ex-husband and her ungrateful stepchildren first. Since taking early retirement from her job in forensics at the Home Office in England, she’s been an unpaid babysitter and chauffeur for her grandchildren. Now, she’s going to start living for herself. Though her dream house needs major renovations, Penelope impulsively buys the property and moves to St. Merlot. But Penelope’s daydreams of an adventurous life in Provence didn’t include finding a corpse floating face down in her swimming pool. The discovery of the dead man plunges her headlong into a Provençal stew of intrigue and lingering resentments simmering beneath the deceptively sunny village. Having worked in the forensics office, Penelope knows a thing or two about murder investigations. To find answers, she must carefully navigate between her seemingly ubiquitous, supercilious (and enviably chic) estate agent, the disdainful chief of police, and the devilishly handsome mayor - even as she finds herself tempted by all the delicacies the region has to offer. Thank goodness her old friend Frankie is just a flight away...and that Penelope is not quite as naïve as her new neighbors in St. Merlot believe. Set against the exquisite backdrop of Provence, steeped in history, atmosphere, and secrets, Death in Provence introduces an irresistible heroine and a delightful new mystery series.
©2019 Serena Kent (P)2019 HarperAudio
Home Truths
Summary
International best-selling author Susan Lewis' riveting, unforgettable novel of a woman determined to protect her children - at all costs. A mother's worst nightmare becomes a reality.... Angie Watts once had what seemed like an idyllic life: a house in a small town in the English countryside with her beloved husband Steve and their three adored children. She never could have predicted how her life would one day turn out. When her oldest son, Liam, grows from a sweet-natured boy to a troubled teen, Angie's world begins to crumble. Expelled from school and disappearing from home for days on end, Liam falls in with a notorious local gang. After arriving home one day to find their five-year-old son with a syringe Liam has left lying around, Steve makes a rash decision that will have lasting repercussions on their family. Two years later, Steve is gone, Liam is missing, and with money running out, Angie and her other two children are on the brink of eviction. Then, Angie is called into the police station and informed that there’s been a murder - and Liam is a suspect. As Angie’s desperation to save her family leads her to take drastic measures, her daughter secretly devises her own plan to save the family...which could put everyone in danger. Alternating between Angie's blissful life as a young mother and her present-day nightmare, Home Truths is a searing exploration of the lengths one mother will go to survive and protect her children.
©2020 Susan Lewis (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
The Vanishing Point
Summary
One of the finest crime authors we have, Val McDermid’s heart-stopping thrillers have won her international renown and a devoted following of fans worldwide. In The Vanishing Point, she kicks off a terrifying thriller with a nightmare scenario: a parent who loses her child in a bustling international airport. Young Jimmy Higgins is snatched from an airport security checkpoint while his guardian watches helplessly from the glass inspection box. But this is no ordinary abduction, as Jimmy is no ordinary child. His mother was Scarlett, a reality TV star who, dying of cancer and alienated from her unreliable family, entrusted the boy to the person she believed best able to give him a happy, stable life: her ghost writer, Stephanie Harker. Assisting the FBI in their attempt to recover the missing boy, Stephanie reaches into the past to uncover the motive for the abduction. Has Jimmy been taken by his own relatives? Is Stephanie’s obsessive ex-lover trying to teach her a lesson? Has one of Scarlett’s stalkers come back to haunt them all? A powerful, grippingly-plotted thriller that will keep listeners on the edge of their seats until the end, The Vanishing Point showcases McDermid at the height of her talent.
©2012 Val McDermid (P)2012 W.F. Howes
Lara
Summary
The heartbreaking story of the love affair between Boris Pasternak, the author of Doctor Zhivago, and Olga Ivinskaya - the true tragedy behind the timeless classic. When Stalin came into power in 1924, the Communist government began persecuting dissident writers. Though Stalin spared the life of Boris Pasternak - whose novel in progress, Doctor Zhivago, was suspected of being anti-Soviet - he persecuted Boris' mistress, typist, and literary muse, Olga Ivinskaya. Boris' affair with Olga devastated the straitlaced Pasternaks, and they were keen to disavow Olga's role in Boris' writing process. Twice Olga was sentenced to work in Siberian labor camps, where she was interrogated about the book Boris was writing, but she refused to betray the man she loved. When Olga was released from the gulags, she assumed that Boris would leave his wife for her, but, trapped by his family's expectations and his own weak will, he never did. Drawing on previously neglected family sources and original interviews, Anna Pasternak explores this hidden act of moral compromise by her great-uncle and restores to history the passionate affair that inspired and animated Doctor Zhivago. Devastated that Olga suffered on his behalf and frustrated that he could not match her loyalty to him, Boris instead channeled his thwarted passion for Olga into the love story in Doctor Zhivago. Filled with the rich detail of Boris' secret life, Lara unearths a moving love story of courage, loyalty, suffering, drama, and loss and casts a new light on the legacy of Doctor Zhivago.
©2017 Anna Pasternak (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers
Stranded
Summary
Bruised from the breakdown of her marriage, Esther Lomax needs to get away, and Malaysia seems the perfect place. But a day's boat trip takes a desperate turn when Esther and six other holidaymakers are taken to a desert island and their guide doesn’t return. As the days pass, tensions erupt, secrets emerge, and time increasingly runs out, Esther must ask herself: Will she leave the island alive?
©2012 Emily Barr (P)2013 W F Howes Ltd
Catch Your Death
Summary
A terrifying enigma - with the power to destroy.... Twenty years ago Kate Maddox was a volunteer at a research centre where scientists hunted for a cure for the common cold virus. That summer Kate fell in love with a handsome young doctor, Stephen, but her stay ended in his tragic death, and Kate fled to a new life in the United States. Now Kate is back in England and on the run with her young son, this time from her vile husband. But a chance encounter sets her on a terrifying path of discovery. What really happened at the Cold Research Unit two decades ago? Pursued by both her estranged husband and a psychotic killer who is obsessed with his prey, Kate must fight to solve the puzzle of the past - uncovering a sickening betrayal and a truth more horrifying than she could ever have imagined.
©2012 Mark Edwards and Louise Voss (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
All Fall Down
Summary
Time to die... The explosive new thriller featuring Kate Maddox, from the writers of Catch Your Death and Killing Cupid. Two years on from uncovering a terrifying conspiracy of rogue scientists, all Kate Maddox wants is to lead a normal life with her partner, Paul, and son, Jack. But then a face from the past turns up, bringing chilling news. A devastating new strain of the virus that killed Kate's parents is loose in LA - and when a bomb rips through a hotel, killing many top scientists, it becomes clear someone will do anything to stop a cure from being found. While Paul goes on the hunt for answers, Kate finds herself in a secret laboratory in the heart of California, desperately seeking a way to stop the contagion. But time is running out, and soon it will be too late to save their loved ones, themselves, and the world.
©2012 Mark Edwards and Louise Voss (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
The Island Hideaway
Summary
Eleanor Blake, distraught after breaking up with her fiancé Will, decides to do what most would scarcely dare: Secretly follow him to the island hideaway where he's on holiday with the woman who took her place. But on the shimmering, sun-drenched Sicilian island of Panarea, distractions come in many forms and her fellow hotel guests Lewis and Frannie may not be all they seem either.
©2013 Louise Candlish (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd
Cross Stitch
Summary
Despite past heartache, Sarah Yates is finally marrying her true love, John Needler. But Sarah and John can't pretend they're an ordinary couple. They're time travellers, and where time travel is involved, nothing runs smoothly. One minute Sarah is saying her vows, and the next she is hurtled back in time to a country that is on the cusp of war. But when the past and the present collide, that's when the real problems start....
©2015 Amanda James (P)2015 W. F. Howes Ltd
The Boy with the Latch Key
Summary
Heartache and hardship in London's East End, from the best-selling author of The Orphans of Halfpenny Street. It's the 1950s, and the orphans of Halfpenny Street have found a new home in the Essex countryside at Halfpenny House. Meanwhile, back among the slum clearances of Bethnal Green, St Saviour's has now been partially given over to a home for disturbed girls, though it still serves as a reception centre for local children who are in desperate need. Amongst these are Archie and his sister, June. They've been 'latch key' kids, fending for themselves while their caring but harassed and careworn mum tries to make ends meet. Now she's been accused of theft, and prison seems inescapable. Archie has no intention of letting his mum go down. He knows she's innocent and will do anything to prove it. But can he help his mum before adoption, and the authorities, take him and June away forever?
©2017 HarperCollins Publishers (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers
Christmas for One
Summary
Single mother Meg is determined to give her four year old son a Christmas he'll never forget. As a child in foster care, Meg always dreamed of her perfect Christmas, now she can finally make it come true. But a chance meeting with a handsome stranger in New York unravels everything she's planned. Will Meg finally get the Christmas she deserves? Or will she be alone this Christmas after all?
©2014 Amanda Prowse (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd
A Mighty Boy
Summary
What would you do if a stranger told you your son was going to die? Silas is 10 years old when the headaches start. When the diagnosis arrives, his parents are told they have until Christmas...maybe. And so begins Sarah Pullen's battle to save her son, against doubting doctors and insurmountable odds. This story about love and loss traces her family's journey from that first day at the hospital, battling a tumour they named Bob, through Silas' death and beyond. This profoundly moving and honest account shows that it is possible to find the strength for a journey that no mother should ever go on; that it is possible to find a new way to live, even when death is knocking on the door. It is about confronting grief - raw, ugly, incomprehensible grief. It is a book about wrapping a small boy in love but still letting him get grubby knees. It is about learning to savour every moment of the here and now, yet also learning to let go. At its heart, A Mighty Boy is a story of the love between a mother and a son. It is a book about seizing the moment and somehow managing to survive the death of a child. But most of all it is a book about a small, mighty, smiling boy.
©2017 Sarah Pullen (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
The Barefoot Child
Summary
The heartbreaking and compelling new audiobook set in a Victorian workhouse from the author of The Orphans of Halfpenny Street. When Lucy and her brother, Joshua, are orphaned, it falls to Joshua to provide for them both, but he is barely into his teens and, in his naivety, falls prey to bad influences and drink. Lucy is desperate to avoid the workhouse, but when Joshua loses their meagre savings they are thrown out onto the street, and, in dire poverty, it isn’t long before Lucy finds herself at its gates - almost a fate worse than death. Inside the workhouse, Lucy meets with unkindness and cruelty, and she knows she must dig deep within herself if she is to survive, let alone thrive. What Lucy needs is a friend, and she is surprised to find one in the most unlikely place.
©2019 Cathy Sharp (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Death in Avignon
Summary
Set amidst the gorgeous backdrop of Provence, Serena Kent’s second book in the deliciously entertaining Penelope Kite series finds the amateur sleuth romantically linked with the mayor of St. Merlot and dashing to solve the murder of an expat artist - perfect for fans of Peter Mayle and Agatha Christie. After an eventful first few months in Provence, it seems Penelope is finally settling into her delightful new life, complete with a gorgeous love interest in the mayor of St. Merlot. When Penelope and the mayor attend a glamorous gallery opening, Penelope’s biggest worry is embarrassing herself in front of her date. But the evening takes a horrifying turn when a controversial expat painter, Roland Doncaster, chokes to death. A tragic accident? Or a malicious plot? Reluctantly drawn into the murder investigation, Penelope discovers that any number of jealous lovers and scheming rivals could be involved. And with dashing art dealers to charm, patisseries to resist, and her own friends under suspicion, Penelope will need to draw upon all her sleuthing talents to uncover the truth. Set against the stunning vistas of Provence, Serena Kent returns with the second installment of her charming mystery series featuring the unflappable Penelope Kite.
©2020 Serena Kent (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers