Showing results by narrator "Karen Bartke" in All Categories

Jack loves his childhood toy Dur Pig. DP has always been there for him, through good and bad. Until one Christmas Eve something terrible happens - DP is lost. But Christmas Eve is a night for miracles and lost causes, a night when all things can come to life...even toys. And Jack’s newest toy - the Christmas Pig (DP’s annoying replacement) - has a daring plan: Together they’ll embark on a magical journey to seek something lost and to save the best friend Jack has ever known....

Detective Lola Harris returns from a miserable solo holiday – an effort to get over her useless ex – only to find herself in charge of a high-stakes investigation. She rushes to a crime scene in the historic Gallowgate neighbourhood. The smell in the basement is thick and sweet, even through Lola’s forensic mask. The old wooden chair and the rope hanging from its arms are stained red. The earth below is saturated with blood. Six candleholders, their lights burned out, lend the scene an air of a completed ritual. And yet there is no sign of a body.

A collection of radio readings of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fiction – plus two bonus programmes Over the years the BBC has broadcast readings of many of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels, novellas and short stories. This collection includes some of his most famous works alongside various...

When newly promoted DI Anna Vaughan is called to a case in remote Knapdale, on the Argyll coast, she welcomes the chance to escape her life in Glasgow - more specifically the mother-in-law from hell… Ellen McIver, Baldrishaig’s local busybody, has been found dead. Run over — repeatedly — by a tractor belonging to local farmer Glen Cameron. The most likely culprit is Old Wullie, Cameron’s elderly father, who, despite his dementia, still likes to drive the tractor about the lanes. But once at the crime scene Anna can tell something sinister is afoot…

Detective Lola Harris is persuaded to take a much-needed break in the remote Scottish Highlands. She’s expecting peace and quiet. But Ardaig Castle, an exclusive wellness retreat for the rich and famous, has its own dark secrets. Lola soon discovers that someone is sending poison pen letters to the staff. They’re growing more malicious each week. The latest reads: Why have you employed a killer among your staff?

Four full-cast dramatisations of classic Gothic novels, plus documentaries exploring the genre’s rise and enduring appeal Dark deeds, dastardly villains, innocent victims and supernatural happenings – these are the terrifying tropes that make up Gothic fiction, a genre that has captured our...

Detective Lola Harris is called to a murder scene on a cold October morning. The victim was seen just hours earlier, running through the darkness clutching a newborn. At 1am, a woman broke into Lawrence Dixon's home and kidnapped his ten-week-old son at gunpoint. Now Lola's chasing shadows through a maze of lies, secrets and stolen lives. And the truth is more twisted than Lola ever imagined.

Detective Lola Harris is called to a local park where the body of a woman has been pulled out of the river. On the victim’s wrist is a tattoo. A dolphin and a heart. Lola knows who she is instantly – the woman half the Glasgow force have been searching for: missing juror, Kathryn Main. Kathryn was on the jury that convicted reality TV star Carter Craig of a double murder. Just weeks later, the verdict was overturned. Carter walked free. Three jurors were arrested for misconduct. A fourth, Kathryn Main, disappeared. Then, a witness comes forward with shocking new information.

Detective Lola Harris is turning over a new leaf. She’s determined to get into shape. Her new personal trainer is merciless when it comes to fitness. Thankfully, he’s also charming and exceptionally good-looking, which helps on a cold early morning run. But as they puff round a corner in peaceful Pollok Park, Lola glimpses something that shouldn’t be there: a high-end BMW. Doors gaping. And a man and a woman, roped together. Lola’s early morning run is now a crime scene.

Vowing once again to remove herself from society, Annie is once more living alone in her little cottage by the shores of a loch. But when an old enemy – now locked up in a high-security hospital – comes calling, begging her to find the son that she was forced to give up at the age of 17, Annie is tempted out of seclusion. Annie and Lewis begin an investigation that takes them back to the past, a time etched in Scottish folklore, a period of history that may just be repeating itself.

Detective Lola is heading back over the river from a rare night out when she spots a crowd of people looking over the parapet. Someone’s gone in. A young man called Cammy witnessed everything. He swears it’s the work of the Clyde Pusher, but is terrified of the police. The Clyde Pusher is the stuff of urban legend. A hooded figure who throws men into the river to drown. Eight victims in five years. But according to the police, the Pusher doesn’t exist. There are no reliable witnesses, nothing to link the victims.

On the first morning of her new job at Heartfield House, a care home for the elderly, Annie Jackson wakens from a terrifying dream. And when she arrives at the home, she knows that the first old man she meets is going to die. How she knows this is a terrifying mystery, but it is the start of horrifying premonitions...a rekindling of the curse that has trickled through generations of women in her family - a wicked gift known only as 'the murmurs'... With its reappearance comes an old, forgotten fear that is about to grip Annie Jackson.

As the fragile negotiations of the international Peace Conference get underway, typist Stella Rutherford throws herself into her work and the mixture of glamour and devastation the City of Light reveals. Anything to escape the grief coming in waves for her beloved brother Jack. Her sister Corran is about to put her academic career to use among the troops in France, a chance to see what the experience was like for countless men, including her fiancé Rob.

Like half of all the young women living in the Scottish town Clydebankin early 1911, Ellen works at the sewing machine factory. So does her big sister, Bridget, Bridget's fiancé Malcolm, and her new friend Sadie, who has come to work at the factory after the death of her father. For Sadie, the factory is a way to make ends meet, but Ellen has sewing in her veins. She is even making Bridget's wedding dress on her beloved sewing machine. But after the excitement of the wedding dies down, everything changes.

Young, feisty, and beautiful, heads turn wherever Danica Campbell goes, even if she only has eyes for her fiancé, Ricky Fyfe. He might be 30 years older than her, but his job as a big-time club owner in Glasgow means he can afford to give Danica the life she deserves. Danica knows he has a history—after all, his adult daughter Teigan works at the club—and she knows that Teigan’s mum, Elle, disappeared decades ago. It doesn’t matter, because Danica knows that Ricky will do anything for her.

Lifelong friends Lori Graham and Stephanie Lyle are sitting on the balcony of Lori's flat in Glasgow, chatting, drinking, enjoying the summer's warmth. Until the peace is shattered by the sound of gunshots from a drive-by shooting. Running to investigate, the women find both their worlds shattered. One of their sons is the shooter, and one is the victim. As Lori and Stephanie try and pick through the pieces, they discover that they themselves hold the key to why their boys have turned on each other.

Forty years ago, the name Rachel McMahon was synonymous with evil. After killing four men in the most brutal of ways, the world rejoiced as she was locked up. Now Rachel has done her time, repented for her crimes, and is ready to live a quiet life back in Scotland under a new name.

This year's London Marathon is my last chance to win the final place on the Olympic team. The months of rehabilitation after my injury will feel worth it to cross that line. But I wasn't expecting the man who's been making my life a living hell to be there. Last I knew, my stalker was behind bars, but he says he's going to be at the race watching. I have 26 miles to figure out whether it's him, and what he wants, or I could lose more than just the race.

When the body of 17-year-old Jackie Shaw is found in a shallow grave, it sends shockwaves through her small West Yorkshire community. Rumours of murder and systematic sexual abuse are rife, and the town's MP, Samuel Stokes, is adding fuel to the fire with his campaign against a so-called 'Asian grooming gang'. Probation officer Rachel Collier deals with paedophiles on a daily basis: so when she hears that her teenage daughter, Chloe, has become friendly with 24-year-old Tariq, she's concerned where it might lead. But that's not her only worry.

Jane, Carly and Rose Savage are savage by name, savage by nature. Having lost their mum too young, and with a bedridden father too ill to work, the sisters learnt early to stand on their own two feet. The family's flat in the rough streets of Glasgow's Haghill is their fortress, but when Carly's ex-boyfriend Cole Alexander is released from prison, trouble soon comes knocking at their door. The Alexanders have beef with the Savages, so the girls call for back up in the shape of their uncle Eddie and his two gorgeous but dangerous sons, Harry and Dean.