Audiobooks narrated by Martin Shaw

The V.I. Warshawski: A BBC Radio Collection: Indemnity Only, Deadlock, Killing Orders & Bitter Medic

BBC radio productions of the first four bestselling V.I. Warshawski novels from Sara Paretsky - plus a short story featuring the hardboiled PI, read by Buffy Davis One of the most popular female sleuths in modern crime fiction, Chicago private eye V.I. Warshawski is a strong, smart, independent heroine in a male-dominated world. She tracks down corrupt businessmen, ruthless blackmailers and cold-blooded murderers - while trying not to get killed herself. Indemnity Only The first novel in the V.I. Warshawski series introduces one of the world's best-loved private detectives. V.I. meets an anonymous client on a sizzling summer night, but soon discovers that he has been lying to her. As she questions his motives, she sinks deeper into Chicago's underworld of gangsters, insurance fraud and contract killings. Read by Liza Ross. Deadlock At the funeral of her cousin, ice hockey hero Boom Boom, V.I. becomes suspicious that his death wasn't an accident. Her investigation leads her to the heart of Chicago's shipping industry, where someone powerful will stop at nothing to get her off the case. A full-cast dramatisation, adapted by Michelene Wandor and starring Kathleen Turner. Killing Orders When forged share certificates are discovered at a Dominican priory, V.I. really doesn't want to get involved. Because agreeing to investigate would mean doing a favour for Aunt Rosa, who hates her - and the feeling's mutual. A full-cast dramatisation, adapted by Michelene Wandor and starring Kathleen Turner. Bitter Medicine Private eye V.I. Warshawski suspects all is not well at a hospital after a young pregnant girl dies. A full-cast dramatisation, adapted by Michelene Wandor and starring Sharon Gless. Publicity Stunts V.I. Warshawski is being set up for a murder she didn't commit - of a woman she hardly knew. Can she find out the truth before the law closes in on her? Read by Buffy Davis.

Sara Paretsky (Author), Buffy Davis, Eleanor Bron, Kathleen Turner, Liza Ross, Martin Shaw, Sharon Gless (Narrator)

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The Profession of Violence: The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins

The Profession Of Violence; The Rise And Fall Of The Kray Twins. Heroes or villains? In the 1960's London's gangland was ruled by two men - Reggie and Ronnie Kray. Building an empire of crime by intimidation, extortion and terror on a scale never seen before or since, they feted stars of stage and screen, sportsmen and even politicians to gain the respectability they craved. Listen to the story of the rise and fall of the Krays. On the 17th March 1995, Ronnie Kray died suddenly of a heart attack while serving a life sentence for murder. His funeral was watched by over 50,000 people. Reggie died of cancer in 2000. Read by acclaimed actor Martin Shaw, probably most famous for his role as Doyle in The Professionals, he is hugely respected and talented and a regular favourite on TV and in the theatre.

John Pearson (Author), Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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Tess Of The D'Urbervilles

This masterpiece is beautiful constructed. 1. A QUESTION OF ANCESTRY. Most of the elements of the novel are set in place. From the moment Parson Tringham suggests to Tess's father that he may be descended from a noble family, Tess's life changes. She meets Angel for the first time at the May dance, where, to her slight irritation, he dances with other girls, missing her out. The section ends when Tess's negligence leads to the death of Price, the Durbeyfield horse - who is also the family's breadwinner. Listen for the description of price's of death and see how elsewhere in the novel-most notably in track 9, at Sandbourne - the image of blood comes up again and again. 2. AT TRANTRIDGE. Tess is persuaded by her family to go to Trantridge to find what they believe to be another branch of the family. Mrs Stoke d'Urberville offers work to Tess, who then encounters her seducer, Alec, for the first time. Hardy takes pains to point out that Alec is not related to Tess at all- his family merely acquired the d'Urberville name - a tragic irony in view of what is about to happen. 3. MAIDEN NO MORE. The seduction marks the end of a sustained campaign by Alec. The scene is full of power and pathos. Imagine 'the darkness and the silence' on The Chase that night with only the sound of Tess's breathing as she lies there asleep in white muslin, the birds roosting in the trees above them. No wonder Hardy asks: 'where was her guardian angel?' 4. AT TALBOTHAYS. Back at Marlott, Tess gives birth to the slickly Sorrow. Pathetically, because of his illegitimacy, Tess has to christen him herself - watched by her sister 'Liza-Lu and her other brothers and sisters - before he dies. Stifled at home and determined to make a new start, she takes a job as a milkmaid at Talbothays Dairy, where she meets Angel again. 5. HALCYON DAYS. Angel pursues Tess as earnestly as Alec did but in a more gentlemanly fashion. He kisses her for the first time and then proposes marriage. Aware of the effect knowledge of the past would have on him, Tess refuses. But as the section closes, she gives in to her need for a chance of happiness and in spite of her misgiving, she accepts him. 6. REVELATIONS. This is the centrepiece of the novel. Tess tries unsuccessfully to tell Angel of her past before the wedding but Angel brushes her aside. The marriage appears to be culmination of their love, but we are made aware that Tess's period of happiness is about to come to a close. Only on their wedding night, after Angel has confessed to a short period of debauchery, can she tell her story. The story is observed from Angel's point of view- and his reaction is made all the more sinister because we never hear it. He reacts by stoking the fire - a meaning act - before reply almost in monotone. He is unable to live with this revelation on her past, despite his own past sexual exploits. 7. FLASHBACK. Eight months later, Tess is penniless and is forced to search for Angel's parents for assistance. On her way to Emminster, she finds Alec, now a preacher, addressing his throng in a country barn. He is stunned to see her and genuinely shocked to hear of her situation. He is also immediately attracted to her again. 8. 'MAN AND WIFE'. Alec abandons preaching and wins Tess back with memorable, if chilling, words: 'I was your master once! I will be your master again'. Angel, now in South America, at last rethinks his position and decides to return to England. Tess's father dies, leaving her and the Durbeyfield family homeless. 8. THE FINAL RECKONING. Angel discovers Tess living with Alec at Sandbourne as man and wife. The image of blood reappears with the landlady see the red spot on her ceiling - the first sign that Tess has murdered Alec in the room above. She and Angel are briefly reunited at Stonehenge before their discovery by the police. She is tried and then hanged at Winchester Gaol as Angel, at Tess's bequest walks away with 'Liza-Lu.

Thomas Hardy (Author), Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture Of Dorian Gray is the novel of the decadent 1890's. Wilde's only full length novel, it is a thrilling, melodramatic tale of love, murder, thwarted revenge and final justice. But in its pages Wilde also expressed his own distinctive views on art, life and beauty through Lord Henry Wotton, the immoral aristocrat who corrupts Dorian Gray. In some ways both Dorian and Lord Henry are self-portraits of Wilde - not as he was but as he would have liked to appear. This adds to the novel's power and poignancy. 1. A WISH UTTERED. The book opens on a scene of typical luxury. Lord Henry Wotton, lolling on a divan, teases his friend Basil Hallward about his infatuation with the young Dorian Gray. Hallward, who is painting Dorian's portrait, warns Lord Henry against corrupting the youth. But when Dorian appears, he is overwhelmed by Lord Henry's daring views. Hallward completes his picture and Dorian, gazing at it, wishes that the portrait might grow old and ugly while he himself remained untouched by the passing years. 2. YOUNG LOVERS. A month later Dorian, a close friend of Lord Henry and much under his influence, reveals to him that he has fallen in love with Sibyl Vane, a young actress at a minor theatre. Lord Henry wonders what she is like when she is not on stage, but he consents to come to see her act that evening. Meanwhile, Sibyl tells her own family - her mother, a disappointed actress, and her brother James, who is going to sea - that she is in love with a young man whom she knows only by the name Prince Charming. James Vane swears that if this man ever harms his sister, he will find him and kill him. 3. A BRIEF ENGAGEMENT. That evening, while waiting for Dorian, Lord Henry tells Basil of Dorian's engagement to Sibyl. When Dorian arrives aglow with love, he relates how they fell into each other's arms, and how Sibyl makes him forget Lord Henry's poisonous ideas. Lord Henry protests, but at the theatre he is charmed by his first sight of Sibyl. She, however, appals Dorian by acting very badly. After the show, he is unimpressed by her explanation that she no longer feels that the theatre is worthwhile compared to the passion she feels for Dorian. Claiming that she has killed his love, he contemptuously abandons her. 4. THE PORTRAIT STARTS TO SNEER. After a night roaming the streets, Dorian returns to find something strange in his portrait: it now has a trace of cruelty not visible in his own face. Deeply shaken, he decides the next day to make amends to Sibyl. Lord Henry turns up to offer sympathy unaware that Dorian does not know of Sybil's suicide. When he does, he is grief-stricken for a moment but accepts Lord Henry's explanation that Sibyl never really lived as a person - only as an actress. The next day Basil is shocked to find that Dorian has spent the previous night at the opera and now dismisses the whole affair. Reluctantly accepting Dorian's conduct, Basil asks to see the portrait which is hidden by a screen. Dorian, terrified that Basil will notice the change, refuses him. 5. A PICTURE IS HIDDEN. Dorian asks Basil why he never exhibited the picture. Basil confesses that there is something extraordinary about his portrait. After he has gone, Dorian hides the picture in disused room. He then becomes entranced by a fantastic yellow book, which Lord Henry has sent him. 6. THE ROAD TO RUIN. Influenced by the yellow book, Dorian starts to live a life of secret debauchery, corrupting other young men and women. Soon, evil rumours start circulating about him but he still appears as fresh and pure as day his portrait was painted. That, however, grows steadily more menacing. One night, he meets Basil Hallward near his home and shows him the portrait. The shocked painter urges Dorian to repent but he refuses and, in a sudden fit of anger, kills Basil. The next day, Dorian summons Alan Campbell, a scientist and blackmails him into helping dispose of Basil Hallward's body. 7. THE COILS OF CRIME. Once the body and other evidences are destroyed, Dorian visits an opium den in the slum of the East End of London. There, his nickname. Prince Charming is overhead by James Vane, now back in England and intent on avenging his sister. Dorian saves himself by showing that he is far too young to have committed a crime 18 years old. Stunned, Vane lets him go. But women whom Dorian has ruined years before tells Vane the truth and he resumes his quest. 8. THE PICTURE RESTORED. Entertaining guests at his country house, Selby Royal, Dorian suddenly faints when he sees James Vane's face pressed against a window; he has been followed. But the next day Vane is killed in a shooting accident and Dorian can breathe easily again. He also seems to have escaped blame for the death of Basil Hallward. Back in London he started to finds his own ageless beauty intolerable and decides at last to give up his evil ways. Eagerly, he rushes upstairs and searches his own monstrous portrait for the first signs of his repentance. All he sees is look of cunning hypocrisy. Enraged by this, he picked up a knife to slash the picture - and a terrible cry is heard across London. When the room is finally forced open, his servants find on the wall a portrait of Dorian in his perfect youth - and a hideous old man stabbed to death on the floor, recognisable only by his rings.

Oscar Wilde (Author), Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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The Mayor Of Casterbridge

This epic work is one of the most tragic of Thomas Hardy's stories. The novel comes full circle as Michael Henchard rises from poverty and drunkenness to wealth and position, ultimately to die poor and bitter. The Mayor's own story is linked to the almost mythological struggle of the old with the new, as his power, his business and even his love for a woman are challenged by the young and thrusting Donald Farfrae. Progress must ultimately triumph over the old way of life, leaving Henchard defeated and disgraced. 1. DRINK AND DISASTER. Michael Henchard, with his wife Susan and their baby daughter, approaches a village, seeking work. A fair is in progress; the family enter a tent selling furmity (a milk drink) and Henchard has rum added to his. He becomes very drunk, and on seeing an auction puts Susan up for sale. A sailor buys her five guineas Henchard falls asleep. When he wakes, repentant, he swears that he will not drink for 21 years. Long after, Susan returns to the same spot with her grown-up daughter Elizabeth-Jane and learns that Henchard went to Casterbridge, Once there, she is amazed to find that he is Mayor. 2. FRESH STARTS. Donald Farfrae, a young Scot, is passing through Casterbridge at the same time as Susan arrives. He overhears the Mayor say that nothing can be done about the rotten wheat he has been selling and sends him a formula for saving it; Henchard is so impressed that he appoints Farfrae as manager of his business. Elizabeth-Jane calls on Henchard, who is moved by her revelation that his wife has returned, the sailor who brought her being presumed dead. He sends Susan a note containing five guineas to buy her back and arranges to meet her secretly. They agree not to reveal their past and to remarry. 3. PARTNERS QUARREL. Henchard confides in Farfrae, admitting both his past treatment of Susan and his liaison with, and subsequent engagement to, a woman in Jersey. Henchard re-remarries Susan who, like her daughter, enjoys life in their comfortable new home. The corn business also thrives under Farfrae's management, but the two men argue. Soon after, on a special day, Farfrae organises a fair. Piqued that he was not been consulted - and did not think of its first - Henchard organises his own fair, which is rained off. By contrast, Farfrae's is a success; he even dances with Elizabeth. In a fit of anger, he sacks Farfrae and forbids Elizabeth to see him again. The Scot then starts his own corn-dealing business. 4. TRUTH CONCEALED. Susan Henchard falls ill and dies, an event which draws Henchard and Elizabeth closer. He decides to tell her the truth - as he knows it - and explains that he is her father, to her great shock. However, Henchard discovers from a letter which Susan left that his own daughter died in infancy, and that Elizabeth's father is Richard Newson, the sailor who bought Susan, but his behaviour towards Elizabeth changes for the worse. Bewildered, she is weeping by her mother's grave when she meets a lady who invites her to live with her as her companion. 5. LOVES CROSSED CURRENTS. Henchard's ex-fiancée, Lucetta Templeman, send him a letter announcing her arrival in Casterbridge, then another saying that she has persuaded Elizabeth to live with her in High Place Hall. Henchard, feeling his old ardour rekindled, calls on her but is told to return the next day. He then writes to Farfrae, giving him to permission to woo Elizabeth again. Next day, Farfrae goes to High Place but sees Lucetta, not Elizabeth. She herself was expecting Henchard but, after meeting the Scotsman, falls in love with him instead. She than refuses Henchard's proposal of marriage. Henchard tells Farfrae that his former fiancée has now refused him, but the latter does not realise that she and his beloved are one and the same. 6. RUIN. To avenge himself on Farfrae, Henchard appoints a new manager, Jopp, and plans to corner the corn market, anticipating a poor harvest. But the harvest is good and Henchard is half-ruined. Soon after, the old furmity seller appears before Henchard in court and accuses him of having sold his wife years before. Lucetta when she hears the story is appalled. Henchard pressed for money, asks Lucetta to announce their engagement, so her wealth will secure his credit. She replies that she has already married Farfrae. Both Henchard and Elizabeth have lost the ones they love. 7. DISGRACE AND DEATH. Henchard's affairs go from bad to worse and he is bankrupted. Meanwhile, Farfrae is made Mayor, but rumours of Lucetta's past liaison spread rapidly and a 'skimmington-ride' is planed to humiliate her. When Lucetta sees the effigies of herself and Henchard hauled though the streets, she collapses and dies. 8. FINAL DECLINE. Elizabeth is asleep in Henchard's cottage - he has had to leave his large, expensive house - when a stranger calls. It is Newson; he has heard that Susan is dead and Henchard tells him that Elizabeth is too. Newson leaves Casterbridge, and Henchard and Elizabeth set up shop together. But Farfrae starts wooing Elizabeth again and Newson returns. Henchard making off before Elizabeth learns the truth. Henchard goes to Elizabeth's wedding party with a gift of a goldfinch, but she rejects him. Soon after, she is stricken with remorse and sets off with her husband to find him - but Henchard dies before they reach him.

Thomas Hardy (Author), Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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The Silmarillion

The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien's world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part.The tales of The Silmarillion are set in an age when Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in Middle-Earth, and the High Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils, the jewels containing the pure light of Valinor.Included in the book are several shorter works. The Ainulindale is a myth of the Creation and in the Valaquenta the nature and powers of each of the gods is described. The Akallabeth recounts the downfall of the great island kingdom of Númenor at the end of the Second Age and Of the Rings of Power tells of the great events at the end of the Third Age, as narrated in The Lord of the Rings.

J. R. R. Tolkien (Author), Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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V.I. Warshawski Killing Orders (BBC Radio Crimes)

Feisty Chicago private eye Vic 'V.I.' Warshawski is used to getting mixed up in complicated cases. But when three million dollars in share certificates are stolen from a Dominican priory, she really doesn't want to get involved. Because agreeing to investigate would mean doing a favour for Aunt Rosa, the priory's treasurer, and Vic has never forgiven Rosa for something she did a long time ago. Against her better judgement, Vic gets drawn in, only to be suddenly called off the case. But she doesn't give up easily and, despite a campaign of intimidation against her, starts to uncover a massive conspiracy involving the Mafia and the Catholic church... Starring Kathleen Turner as V.I. Warshawski, and with a star cast including Martin Shaw, Adjoa Andoh and Lorelei King, this gripping drama will appeal to all fans of Sara Paretsky's hardboiled heroine.

Sara Paretsky (Author), Adjoa Andoh, Kathleen Turner, Lorelei King, Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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The Last Legion (Film tie-in)

Valerio Massimo Manfredi's The Last Legion opens on the day that the Western Roman Empire collapses finally in 470AD, as the Last Emperor of Rome is encamped and protected by the Nova Invicta Legion. All is lost in the space of a few minutes as a horde of Barbarians sweep through the camp in the fog, kill the Imperial family and take the young Emperor captive. The Roman Empire is in ruins . . . But all is not lost. From the dust of battlefields emerges a small team of invincible warriors - The Last Legion. Their task is to rescue the Emperor and his enigmatic tutor and to try and resurrect the glory of Rome. All their strength of character and bravery come into play as they guide the last Caesar in a dramatic journey of escape through a devastated Italy and Northern Europe to their ultimate destinies in the land of the Britons . . . and the beginning of a new legend. Filled with myth, legend and gladiators, The Last Legion was made into a film starring Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley and directed by Doug Lefler.

Valerio Massimo Manfredi (Author), Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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The Mayor of Casterbridge

Thomas Hardy (Author), Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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The Man From St Petersburg

The Man From St Petersburg is a dark tale of family secrets and political consequences. Ken Follett's masterful storytelling brings to life the danger of a world on the brink of war. It is just before the outbreak of World War I and Britain must enlist the aid of Russia. Czar Nicholas's nephew is to visit London for secret naval talks with Lord Walden, who has lived in Russia and has a Russian wife, Lydia. But there are other people who are interested in the arrival of Prince Alexei: the Waldens' only daughter, Charlotte - wilful, idealistic, and with an awakening social conscience; Basil Thompson, head of the Special Branch; and, above all, Feliks Kschessinky, the ruthless Russian anarchist. No one could have foretold that Lydia should recognize Feliks, or that she might put her own daughter's life at risk for his sake. As the secret negotiations progress, the destinies of these characters become ineluctably enmeshed. And as Europe prepares for the catastrophe of war, the final private tragedy which will shatter the complacency of the Waldens is acted out.

Ken Follett (Author), Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Thomas Hardy (Author), Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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The Hobbit

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable and quiet life. His contentment is disturbed one day when the wizard, Gandalf, and the dwarves arrive to take him away on an adventure.Smaug certainly looked fast asleep, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. He was just about to step out on to the floor when he casught a sudden thin ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug's left eye. He was only pretending to sleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance!Whisked from his comfortable hobbit-hole by Gandalf the wizard and a band of dwarves. Bilbo Baggins finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon...

J. R. R. Tolkien (Author), Martin Shaw (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Martin Shaw