In her first YA novel, Costa short-listed Kit de Waal responds to classic Moby Dick by tearing the power away from obsessive Captain Ahab and giving it to a teenage girl. Dinah's whole world is upside down, dead things and angry men and cuts all over her head that are beginning to sting....Seventeen-year-old Dinah needs to leave her home, the weird...

When Fran the Fabulous Fairy turns up in Tiga Whicabim's shed to tell her she's a witch, Tiga doesn't believe her. Or at least not until Fran points out that TIGA WHICABIM is actually an anagram of I AM A BIG WITCH and magics her away down the drainpipes to compete in Witch Wars - the competition to crown the next Top Witch of Ritzy City.

What would happen if there were no bees in this world? It would be a disaster! Without bees, we would, of course, have no honey. But we'd also lose a lot of other foods and useful products like cotton produced by plants that bees pollinate. Around half the fruit and vegetables in our supermarkets would disappear! Not only that, we would also lose t...

Here are four stories by the most popular mystery writer of all time; stories told by Miss Marple and her friends and solved by that elderly white-haired lady with the faded blue eyes and quiet nature. They are read by Joan Hickson, who played Miss Marple in the television series based on the works of Agatha Christie. In The Thumbmark of St Peter M...

Summer has arrived in Barton-in-the-Dale and as a new term begins at the little primary school, it's not just the warm weather that's getting people hot under the collar. Meetings with the teachers from Urebank School to discuss the merger are producing more than a few fireworks, a disruptive new pupil arrives, set to cause trouble, and a surprisin...

In Boys Don't Cry, bestselling author Malorie Blackman explores the unchartered territory of teenage fatherhood. You're waiting for the postman - he's bringing your A level results. University, a career as a journalist - a glittering future lies ahead. But when the doorbell rings it's your old girlfriend; and she's carrying a baby. Your baby. You'r...

In late 1926, the newly married Daisy Dalrymple and Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard take an ocean voyage to America for their honeymoon. Daisy and Alec are accompanied by Daisy's childhood friend Phillip Petrie, his wife, Gloria, and Gloria's father, American millionaire industrialist Caleb P. Arbuckle, and all are looking...

It was a one-in-a-million chance. A bag crammed with cash comes tumbling out of the air and lands right at Damian's feet. Suddenly the Cunningham brothers are rich. Very rich. They can buy anything they want. There's just one problem - they have only seventeen days to spend all the money before it becomes worthless. And the crooks who stole the cas...

Penguin presents, the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Jolly Foul Play by Robin Stevens, read by Katie Leung. The fantastic new mystery from the author of Murder Most Unladylike. Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong have returned to Deepdean for a new school term, but nothing is the same. There's a new Head Girl, Elizabeth Hurst, and a team of...

It was planned as an act of charity: a new piano for the parish hall, an amusing play to finance the gift. But its execution was doomed when Miss Campanula sat down to play. A chord was struck, a shot rang out, and Miss Campanula was dead. Who in the quiet village of Chipping would kill wealthy spinster Idris Campanula? Plenty of people, among them...

The man they call 'Britain's Funniest Milton' stars in his smash-hit Sony Award-winning show "Another Case Of Milton Jones" co-starring Tom Goodman-Hill ('Ideal'), Lucy Montgomery ('Down The Line') & Dave Lamb (the voice of 'Come Dine With Me') In each episode, Milton is a complete and utter expert at something - Astronomer, Diplomat, Undercove...

The rugged Cornwall of days gone by is the scene for first Doctor William Hartnell's 1966 foray into the murky world of pirates and hidden treasure. The TARDIS lands on the seveneenth century Cornish coast, and its crew stumble upon a plot by the local Squire to receive and offload contraband goods. The Doctor meets the churchwarden, whose last wor...

Down Your Way was a BBC radio series from 1946 to 1992, on the Home Service and then on BBC Radio Four. It visited towns around the United Kingdom and spoke to residents . Sometimes being described as having portrayed an increasingly outmoded and rose-tinted view of Britain concentrating on market towns with pre-industrial roots and ignoring indust...

Armando Iannucci and his guests return with a heady mix of topical sketches, chat and lots of lies, in front of a live audience. Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive is a topical, events-driven radio comedy hosted by comedy guru Iannucci recorded in front of a live audience. With the sketchability of The Now Show, combined with the going-off-on-a-mad...

When mystery writer Harriet Vane is accused of the murder of her lover, the evidence seems pretty damning. But Lord Peter Wimsey is not convinced and when, five hours later, no verdict has been returned, it seems the jury may not be either. But if Harriet didn't murder Philip Boyes, who did?

On the Margin was a six part BBC 2 TV British satirical comedy sketch show written and performed by Alan Bennett and a regular cast including John "Strictly Come Dancing" Sergeant. produced by Sydney Lotterby of Yes Minister and Porridge fame. Each instalment featured a mixture of sketches (some foreshadowing Bennett's subsequent television dramas,...

This classic TV comedy sketch show launched the careers of Rowan Atkinson, Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith and Pamela Stephenson. Written by some of Britain's finest comedy writers including Richard Curtis, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, and David Renwick, the show was groundbreakingly irreverent, outrageous, innovative and rude. This compilation of mat...

A decomposed body washes up on a beach near Glasgow. The victim, Tracy Eadie. Junkie. Prostitute. Fourteen years old. Rosie Gilmour, tabloid journalist and crusader for justice, receives evidence linking police officials with Tracy's disappearance. Digging deeper, Rosie uncovers a sickening network of corruption and abuse, leading back to the very...

The language of sex and death, as Chaucer and others capture English speech of the time. Melvyn Bragg travels to the great mediaeval cathedral of Canterbury, with its shrine to the martyr, St. Thomas … Becket. It inspired the pilgrims described by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1395 in The Canterbury Tales, as they set out from the Tabard Inn in Southw...

The second book in this fabulously funny series by bestselling author Steven Butler and the wonderful Steven Lenton! Having just saved the hotel from a goblin prince, Frankie Banister and the guests are looking forward to enjoying themselves and celebrating the summer holiday of Trogmanay! But when a snow storm blows in (complete with Yeti family),...

Elisabeth Devine certainly rocked the boat when she arrived in Barton-in-the-Dale to take over as head teacher of the little primary school. Now it's a new term, and after winning over the wary locals, she can finally settle in to her role. Or so she thinks . . .For the school is hit by a brand-new bombshell: it's to be merged with its arch rival,...