Showing results by author "Ian Shimwell" in All Categories

Can a deadly and ferocious tiger really be stalking the fog-enshrouded streets of Edwardian London? Holmes and Watson decide to visit the local travelling Circus and are especially interested when a performing and very agile tiger bursts into the ring....

Toc Toc is a clockwork engine who holds the secret to the tick and the tock. Little Titch, Gideon, and Minnie Millie come to the Clockwork Village with a cog, spindle, and wheel to fix the Great Clock. But what lies behind the towering clock face? And why, for a clockwork village, is there neither a tick nor a tock?

Gideon is a big, kind engine with a huge crane arm. But when he meets an even bigger engine, Massive Mandy, she is always very rude to him. With the help of his friends, can Gideon somehow find the softer side of the bad-tempered engine?

Little Titch and Gideon snuggle up for a bedtime story. And Minnie Millie tells her engines a story of a clockwork engine coming to life and of a clockmaker trying to make the Great Clock work in time before the Clockwork Village itself runs out of its tick and its tock.

The Compound consists of 23 males and 23 females. The same Routines are rigidly followed every single 24 Hour Block. The Compound's Rules must always be obeyed. And Sexual Relief is only allowed to happen between the same sex. Male 13 slowly starts to quietly question the world of the Compound. He wonders if there could be more to life other than Work, Eat and Repeat. And, Compound-forbid, could he dare to risk everything, and ever attempt to have Sexual Relief with a female..?

Because of serious concerns raised, Doctor Watson is requested to take a residential trip to the Arcane Asylum in deepest Devon to complete a detailed report of the establishment. At the Asylum, the patients range from the disturbingly familiar to the dangerously psychotic. And the "treatment" such as sending thousands of volts to the brain, is suspect to say the least.

Say hello to Little Titch, the small engine with a big heart. Little Titch feels very small next to his good friend, the kind and very big engine, Gideon. But when Gideon forgets something important, it's up to the littlest of little engines to save the day....

The raven swoops and strikes. Its claws tearing at the flesh. Its victim paralyzed, with death quickly following. A long and complex plot is finally coming together for the Corvus Brotherhood, and unless Holmes, Watson, and a determined Inspector Gregson can somehow stop them, will achieve its chilling and audacious purpose by the claw of the raven.

For over 400 years, the Corvus Brotherhood has been plotting for vengeance. As their plans near completion, the brotherhood is, somehow, connected with: a spring-heeled tiger, a condemned murder suspect about to be hanged, the deathly communications of a society spiritualist, and even Mycroft's sudden disappearance.

A mystery in miniature… Ralph, Gardner and Buttercup are three wooden dolls who are also old friends of Trench. The dolls ‘decide’ to visit Trench for a while and soon become involved in a mysterious Victorian dolls’ house situated inside Stokeham Museum. The dolls explore the dolls’ house, but Buttercup senses something very bad happened there a long, long time ago. Buttercup sees that Trench and Old Tom are struggling, and decides that the three wooden dolls must help out once again…

A Musketeers feature-length special! The sequel to The Man in the Iron Mask... Seventeenth-century France, two years after D'Artagnan's death: Deep beneath the Palais de Versailles, Aramis is shocked and astonished by the directives of D'Artagnan's Legacy. To follow, he must betray his honour, his King and, perhaps most damning of all, his fellow Musketeers. The Sun King will be eclipsed by darkness once more...or can the ageing Musketeers really reunite, for one last time - for the glory of France?

The sequel to HG Wells' celebrated comic novel, The History of Mr. Polly. Time has moved on for Mr. Polly. Over 10 years have passed since the tragic loss of his beloved Nancy - "Nan" as he lovingly called her. Polly thinks he should now leave the Potwell Inn to allow Nan's daughter to rightfully inherit her home and fully live her own life.

Ten years… Countless mysteries… And it all comes down to this. The armchair detective has left this mortal coil, but there is still one more mystery to solve. As Trench chases figures from his past, he gradually realises that they will eventually lead him to finally finding Eleanor, and to discovering the astonishing secret behind the armchair detective himself…

Requested by a frightened Lady Elisabeth Montague, Holmes and Watson travel all the way to the Montague home, situated on a remote desolate island, to investigate her somewhat fanciful fears. Are the family in mortal danger? And why have the Montagues, once the darlings of London society, now shut themselves away from civilization in this bleak, god-forsaken retreat?

A curious Christmas cuckoo; a clockwork mystery; a capital investigation and a suspiciously helpful Mandrake... Be the armchair detective alongside Trench and Old Tom in four more cosy mysteries. Plus Extras: Play of the Month Guide & Planning The Armchair Detective

The shop around the corner… Following a clue to find Old Tom’s friend from the past, Eleanor, Trench visits The Stokeham Shop and can’t quite believe what he sees there. Why for a busy shop, does it seem to take little or no money? Why is there an abundance of security cameras? And what is the connection between a member of the shop’s staff and a particular awkward customer? What’s more, Trench and Debsy want to actually shop there, but find it to be… impossible.

First ever Armchair Detective two-parter: "Events cast shadows before them." Old Tom, most unlike himself, is suddenly fearful of the 'Old Days'. He eagerly looks into Trench's new mystery to take his mind off his worries. The investigation takes Trench and Debsy away from traffic duty to a detective agency who are monitoring the strange case of a wife who disappears every Tuesday night. And just who is watching Trench from afar? Old Tom slowly realises that he must solve the mystery before his past catches up with him...

It all comes back to my dearest Eleanor.... But that selfish, dreadful act by Thomas so long ago destroyed everything. It destroyed us. It destroyed me.... I know you understand why I need to enact a twisting revenge on Thomas—now calling himself Old Tom and his friend, Trench.

Little Titch, Gideon, and Minnie Millie discover that the mainland will, very soon, run out of coal. So, the three friends go on an exciting adventure through the tick and the tock of the Clockwork Village and search for the Lost Railway to try to find the lost coal before they run out of steam. Can Little Titch and friends be so bold and find that coal?

No one - friend or foe - has seen Robin Hood for over a year. The Sheriff and Gisborne then capture a hooded figure who could be their sworn enemy.... The last of the outlaws: Little John, Much and Alan A Dale must consider...do they risk everything to rescue this mysterious yet somehow familiar stranger? And if he isn't Robin Hood - then who is he and what is he planning?