James Bryce has narrated 37 audiobooks on Listento.it by 6 authors, with an average listener rating of 4.2★ across 32 ratings. The most-rated is A Little History of Religion.
The Bad Fire
Summary
The gritty new mystery in Quintin Jardine's best-selling Bob Skinner series, set in Edinburgh and the Scottish countryside, not to be missed by readers of Ian Rankin and Peter May. Nine years ago, divorcee Marcia Brown took her own life. A pillar of the community, she had been accused of theft, and it's assumed that she was unable to live with the shame. Now her former husband wants the case reopened. Marcia was framed, he says, to prevent her exposing a scandal. He wants justice for Marcia. And Alex Skinner, Solicitor Advocate, and daughter of retired Chief Constable Sir Robert Skinner, has taken on the brief, aided by her investigator Carrie McDaniels. When tragedy strikes and his daughter comes under threat, Skinner steps in. His quarry is about to discover that the road to hell is marked by bad intentions....
©2019 Portador Ltd (P)2019 Headline Publishing Group Ltd
Slowly Down the Ganges
Summary
Slowly Down the Ganges is seen as a vintage Newby masterpiece, alongside A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush and Love and War in the Apennines. Told with Newby's self-deprecating humour and wry attention to detail, this is a classic of the genre and a window into an enchanting piece of history. On his 44th birthday, Eric Newby sets out on an incredible journey: to travel the 1,200-mile length of India's holy river. In a misguided attempt to keep him out of trouble, Wanda, his lifelong travel companion and wife, is to be his fellow boatwoman. Their plan is to begin in the great plain of Hardwar and finish in the Bay of Bengal, but the journey almost immediately becomes markedly slower and more treacherous than either had imagined - running aground 63 times in the first six days. Travelling in a variety of unstable boats, as well as by rail, bus and bullock cart, and resting at sandbanks and remote villages, the Newbys encounter engaging characters and glorious mishaps, including the non-existence of large-scale maps of the country, a realisation that questions of pure 'logic' cause grave offense and, on one occasion, the only person in sight for miles is an old man who is himself unsure where he is. Newby's only consolation: on a river, if you go downstream, you're sure to end up somewhere....
©2019 Eric Newby (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Autographs in the Rain
Summary
As Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner takes an evening stroll with Louise Banks, an old flame and now a film star, it seems his biggest worry is that a new colleague is scheming to enlarge his territory at Skinner's expense. But when a frightening shot-gun attack sends them diving for cover, it seems danger has chosen to zero in on him once again.
©2001 Quintin Jardin (P)2001 Isis Publishing Ltd
Cold Case
Summary
Is a killer still on the loose? The 30th gritty mystery in Quintin Jardine's best-selling Bob Skinner series, not to be missed by listeners of Ian Rankin and Peter May. Former Chief Constable Bob Skinner may have left the police service, but he's never far from a case. When his old mentor on the force, Jimmy Proud, finds himself in a desperate situation, Skinner gets pulled into a murder investigation that's been closed for 30 years. The Body in the Quarry case was well-known around Edinburgh at the time: a popular priest found dead in a frozen quarry; a suspect with a clear motive charged; a guilty verdict. But with a journalist uncovering new evidence, the cold case has come back to haunt Proud - and only Skinner can help him. With the clock ticking and his friend's reputation at stake, Skinner must uncover the truth to find out if an innocent man was convicted for murder. And if a killer is still on the loose....
©2018 Portador Ltd (P)2018 Headline Publishing Group Ltd
Last Resort
Summary
The twenty-fifth novel in the Bob Skinner series sees the Edinburgh cop undertake a very different assignment. After thirty years of service, former chief constable Bob Skinner faces the possible end of his police career at its pinnacle. A quiet trip to Catalunya to contemplate his future soon takes on a different flavour when Skinner is approached by an old friend, media owner Xavier Aislado, with an unusual request. One of his business' brightest talents, Hector Sureda Roca, has vanished without a trace. Now it's up to Skinner to track him down. But as he conducts his search, it soon becomes clear that another manhunt is also in progress and that he himself is the target. While his daughter, Alex, fights that battle on the home front, his search for Sureda takes one sinister turn after another until he is faced with the toughest question of all. Is natural justice sometimes the only answer?
©2015 Portador Ltd (P)2015 Headline Digital
Thursday's Legends
Summary
For Deputy Chief Constable Skinner, the Thursday night football game at a local gym has been an unbroken ritual for 25 years. Along the way, players have come and gone, but a hard core remains, with each match a little older, a little slower, but still as fiercely competitive as a gang of teenagers - until a former player is found murdered in a manner that shocks even a veteran like Skinner. Suddenly the Thursday Legends have more to worry about than aching backs and dodgy knees. Former Head of Special Branch Alec Smith made plenty of enemies during a long career, and there is no shortage of suspects. But as Skinner's investigation gathers pace, everything points to the Legends themselves. Is someone targeting this disparate group of colleagues and friends in some bizarre scheme of retribution? Or is the murderer one of them?
©2000 Quintin Jardin (P)2001 Isis Publishing Ltd
Smouldering Fire
Summary
Despite his passionate love for Ardfalloch, Iain has been driven to let his home and estate to Mr Hetherington Smith, a wealthy London businessman, and his kindly wife (who was, truth be told, happier when they were poor). MacAslan stays on in a cottage by the loch, aided by his devoted keeper Donald and Donald’s wife, Morag. But he finds himself irresistibly drawn to Linda Medworth and her young son, invited to Ardfalloch by Mrs Hetherington Smith.
©1966 D. E. Stevenson (P)2019 Soundings
A Rush of Blood
Summary
The horrific suicide of a successful Lithuanian entrepreneur shocks newly appointed Chief Constable Bob Skinner and his colleagues. Why would a man with everything to live for take his own life? As enquiries begin, a mystery girl, drugged and incoherent, is dumped in a health centre by a mysterious Galahad, who promptly disappears. Who is she, who is he, and where has he gone? Is it coincidence that most of the massage parlours in the city have suddenly closed overnight? A terrifying trail of deception and revenge leads Skinner and his people to a bloody encounter and a dramatic confrontation…
©2010 Portador Ltd (P)2011 Isis Publishing Ltd
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
Summary
A classic of travel writing, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush is Eric Newby’s iconic account of his journey through one of the most remote and beautiful wildernesses on earth. It was 1956, and Eric Newby was earning an improbable living in the chaotic family business of London haute couture. Pining for adventure, Newby sent his friend Hugh Carless the now-famous cable - CAN YOU TRAVEL NURISTAN JUNE? - setting in motion a legendary journey from Mayfair to Afghanistan, and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, northeast of Kabul. Inexperienced and ill prepared (their preparations involved nothing more than some tips from a Welsh waitress), the amateurish rogues embarked on a month of adventure and hardship in one of the most beautiful wildernesses on earth - a journey that adventurers with more experience and sense may never have undertaken. With good humour, sharp wit and keen observation, the charming narrative style of A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush would soon crystallise Newby's reputation as one of the greatest travel writers of all time. One of the greatest travel classics from one of Britain's best loved travel writers, this edition includes an epilogue from Newby's travelling companion, Hugh Carless, and a prologue from one of Newby's greatest proponents, Evelyn Waugh.
©1958 Eric Newby (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Aftershock
Summary
Still reeling from the tragic death of their much-loved colleague, Skinner's men are about to discover that a disturbed serial killer is still at large and very close to home. DCC Bob Skinner and his men get a call informing them that the body of a young woman has been found on a golf course. The way she has been laid out is uncannily familiar; the body has been "composed", just like the bodies of three other young women in a previous case. Could it be the work of a copycat killer?
©2008 Portador Ltd (P)2008 Isis Publishing Ltd
Pray for the Dying
Summary
The killing was an expert hit. Three shots through the head, as the lights dimmed at a celebrity concert in Glasgow. A most public crime, and Edinburgh Chief Constable Bob Skinner is right in the centre of the storm. The crisis finds Skinner, his private life shattered by the shocking end of his marriage, taking a step that he had sworn he never would. Tasked by Scotland's First Minister with the investigation, he finds himself quickly uncovering some very murky deeds... The trail leads to London, where national issues compromise the hunt. Skinner has to rattle the bars of the most formidable cage in the country, and go head to head with its leading power brokers…
©2013 Portador Ltd (P)2013 Isis Publishing Ltd
Gallery Whispers
Summary
With his boss recovering from a heart attack, Deputy Chief Constable Bob Skinner is filling his shoes - and that means more time behind a desk. But he's about to be provided with more drama than he could ever want. One of the world's most ruthless terrorists is on his way to Edinburgh - and he can only have one thing on his mind: the forthcoming conference of world heads of government. If Skinner doesn't pick up his trail fast, he could have a global disaster in his backyard. While all eyes are focused on the terrorist threat, a terminally ill woman is found dead, an apparent suicide. But a policewoman sees the subtle marks of an assisted death - and therefore, according to the law, murder. It is the beginning of an ominous pattern.
©1999 Quintin Jardin (P)2002 Isis Publishing Ltd
The Roots of Evil
Summary
The darkest deeds are hidden from sight.... Bob Skinner is back in the latest gritty mystery in Quintin Jardine's best-selling series, not to be missed by listeners of Ian Rankin and Peter May. New Year's Day and Edinburgh lies sleeping. But two men will never wake again.... When struggling ex-copper Terry Coats was discovered in bed with an air hostess, his excuse that he was 'going undercover' cut no ice with the force - or his wife. But now he's been brutally killed on Hogmanay night, it seems there may have been more to his plea. Dragged from the New Year celebrations, Special Constable Sir Bob Skinner is shocked to find Coats' body alongside that of Griff Montell: his erstwhile protégé and former lover of Skinner's own daughter, Alex. Could there be some dark truth under Coats' cock-and-bull story, after all? As the secrets start unravelling, Skinner realises he has gravely underestimated someone close to him - and the effects will cost him, and those he loves, dear....
©2020 Portador Ltd (P)2020 Headline Publishing Group Ltd
Game Over
Summary
Game Over is the 27th gripping Bob Skinner mystery from crime master Quintin Jardine, author of Hour of Darkness, Last Resort, Private Investigations and many more. When supermodel Annette Bordeaux is found battered and strangled in her Edinburgh flat, former chief constable Bob Skinner's old team instantly have a global case on their hands. The victim's husband, world-renowned footballer and recent Merrytown FC signing, is quickly discounted as a suspect. But there are others in the club with less watertight alibis.... Two years out of the game, Skinner can't help getting his hands dirty. And as his old team work to convict the prime suspect, his own daughter, Alex, is the lawyer tasked with leading the defense. The opposing sides must work to find the culprit while the press watch on. But in this game, no one can be trusted, and there are murkier deeds still to uncover before the final whistle blows....
©2017 Portador Ltd (P)2017 Headline Digital
Hour of Darkness
Summary
The body of a murdered woman is found washed up on Cramond Island near the mouth of the River Forth. Days later detectives are called to a flat in Edinburgh; the kitchen is covered in blood, and the occupier is missing. When the name of the woman from Cramond Island is revealed, it stirs unwelcome memories for those who knew her, Chief Constable Bob Skinner most of all. Now based in Glasgow, he has no reason to become involved in the linked cases. Yet he does, unwittingly setting in motion a course that will lead him into a personal nightmare and the toughest choice of his life....
©2014 Portador Ltd (P)2014 Isis Publishing Ltd
Fallen Gods
Summary
The heat is on for DCC Bob Skinner. His career hangs by a thread, as a recent illness has given his enemies a weapon to use against him. A body found in the detritus of a flood is identified as the hated brother whose existence he has kept hidden for years. And an incendiary device destroys a valuable painting in the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. As Skinner and his team tackle these crises, his wife Sarah, recovering from the loss of her parents, finds comfort with an old college lover. When fate leaves her staring at a seemingly inevitable murder conviction, Bob will need all his resources to sort out the tangled mess his life has become.
©2003 Portador Ltd (P)2003 Isis Publishing Ltd
State Secrets
Summary
A shocking murder at the Palace of Westminster draws Edinburgh's toughest cop into a complex new case.... Skinner is plunged into a web of politics and enemies in State Secrets, the 28th mystery in Quintin Jardine's best-selling crime series. Former Chief Constable Bob Skinner is long out of the police force, but trouble has a habit of following him around. So it is that he finds himself in the Palace of Westminster as a shocking act befalls the nation. Hours before the Prime Minster is due to make a controversial statement, she is discovered in her office with a letter opener driven through her skull. Is the act political? Personal? Or even one of terror? Skinner is swiftly enlisted by the Security Service to lead the investigation. Reunited with Met Police Commander Neil McIlhenney, he has 48 hours to crack the case - before the press unleash their wrath. There are many in the tangled web of government with cause to act. But the outcome will be one that not even Skinner himself could predict....
©2017 Portador Ltd (P)2017 Headline Publishing Group Ltd