Showing results by narrator "David Ashton" in All Categories

Scottish writer Edward Boyd was well known for his TV and radio plays, including The Corridor People and The View from Daniel Pike, and he also penned several episodes of Z-Cars. He specialised in the thriller genre, and this collection showcases six of his best radio crime dramas.

New Year's Day - and through the misty streets of Victorian Edinburgh, an elegant female figure walks the cobblestones with a certain vengeful purpose. Jean Brash, the mistress of the Just Land, brings her cool intelligence to solving a murder, a murder that took place in her own bawdy house (the best in Edinburgh and her pride and joy). A prominent judge, strangled and left dangling, could bring her whole life to ruin, and she didn't haul herself off the streets, up through low, dirty houses of pleasure and violent vicious men, to let that come to pass.

London had Sherlock Holmes. The dark alleys of Edinburgh had Inspector McLevy. Known as the father of forensics and a likely influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, real-life police inspector James McLevy is here reinvented by David Ashton in a thrilling mystery - the first in a series - set in dark, violent Victorian Edinburgh.

For fans of Elementary, Ripper Street and Sherlock Holmes - meet Jean Brash, a feisty, self-made woman turned sleuth in murky Victorian Edinburgh where crime and high society meet. After Mistress of the Just Land, the second adventure in David Ashton's Jean Brash series.... A theatre company arrives in Leith to perform King Lear. A robbery is planned, a gruesome murder committed, both of which set Inspector James McLevy on the prowl....

Known as the father of forensics and a likely influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, real-life police inspector James McLevy is here reinvented by David Ashton in a thrilling mystery - the second in a series - set in dark, violent Victorian Edinburgh. A burglary and murder at the home of Sir Thomas Bouch, the enigmatic architect of the ill-fated Tay Bridge, sets Inspector James McLevy off on a train of brutal killings, lethal liaisons, and double suicide which leads to a violent encounter with an old enemy, Hercules Dunbar.

London had Sherlock Holmes. The dark alleys of Edinburgh had Inspector McLevy. Known as the father of forensics and a likely influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, real-life police inspector James McLevy is here reinvented by David Ashton in a thrilling mystery - the fourth in a series - set in dark, violent Victorian Edinburgh. It's 1887. The streets of Edinburgh seethe with anarchy as two gangs of students rival each other in wild exploits.

London had Sherlock Holmes. The dark alleys of Edinburgh had Inspector McLevy. Known as the father of forensics and a likely influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, real-life police inspector James McLevy is here reinvented by David Ashton in a thrilling mystery - the third in a series - set in dark, violent Victorian Edinburgh. Halloween 1881, Edinburgh, and the dead are restless. In respectable Edinburgh society, beautiful young American spiritualist Sophia Adler is causing a furore with her dramatic séances.

Exclusive interview with David Ashton, author of the Inspector McLevy series.

New Year celebrations are underway in Edinburgh, and the Hogmanay crowd is baying for blood at an illegal boxing match at the Foul Anchor tavern. When ruthless Moneylender Donny Lapsley is found murdered after the fight, suspicions immediately turn to Boxer Rab Donnachie, whose unconscious body is found next to the victim. But Inspector McLevy is not convinced.

At the Old Ship in Edinburgh, New Year's Day celebrations are well underway. Nobody pays attention when Dutchman Isaac Caspar enters the tavern - until he collapses in the doorway, dead. Newly arrived in Leith on the good ship St Elmo, Caspar is a stranger in town. A search of his cabin reveals a curious item: a picture of the famous Hartjammer pearl, stolen in Amsterdam some months before. Is there a connection between the robbery and the murder? Inspector McLevy is determined to find out.

This series of puzzles is explored in a six-part thriller starring David Ashton, Stella Forge, Vivienne Dixon and Ian Stewart. From Edward Boyd, the author of The Same River Twice, The Candle of Darkness and Castles in Spain.

Every child in Leith knows the legend of Shelly Rock, home to a gigantic fiend who stalks the North Sands at night and wreaks lethal havoc. When the body of Englishman Richard Sawyer is found in the early hours of Christmas Day under the shadow of Shelly Rock, locals are quick to blame the mysterious creature. Was it a tragic accident? Or is there a sinister, supernatural reason for the lawyer's death? Inspector McLevy is determined to uncover the truth.

When the body of Thomas Forsythe, tobacco merchant and lay preacher, is discovered near the waters of Leith, Inspector James McLevy is called to investigate. As Christmas approaches, McLevy's investigations lead him to the dockside taverns of Edinburgh and deep into the belly of the beast himself.

At Waverley Station late at night, the body of a man is discovered in the corner of a train compartment. Inspector McLevy's investigations into the murder of the mysterious Count Borromeo, lead him to the Just Land, the best bawdy-hoose in Edinburgh and the pride and joy of Jean Brash.

When the body of a young woman is discovered in an alleyway, Inspector James McLevy recognises the victim immediately: Peggy Ambrose, former employee at Edinburgh's best bawdy hoose, the Just Land. Peggy had left the Just Land under a cloud, accused of theft, but no one knows where she went next. Working with the inimitable Jean Brash, Inspector McLevy investigates the murder, from the drinking dens of Edinburgh to a mysterious and secret society.

A thrilling short story featuring Inspector James McLevy and Jean Brash, available exclusively in audio. Suspected of poisoning her husband, a prominent judge, Judith Pearson writes to Inspector James McLevy begging for his help. With the evidence pointing overwhelmingly to the victim's wife and investigating Inspector Adam Dunsmore ready to make an arrest, McLevy is in a race against time to uncover the truth. You can enjoy more from the world of James McLevy with the Inspector McLevy series and the Jean Brash Mysteries, narrated by David Ashton and Siobhan Redmond.