Contention

With a witchfinder skulking about town, gifted healer Ann and a young Isaac Newton must be careful not to draw too much attention in this high-stakes story from Lindsay Galvin. 

 Will the discovery of the Elixir of Life lead to a death sentence for a talented young healer?

Ann Storer has inherited her grandmother’s mysterious gift of healing, which she shares through the special tinctures she dispenses in her family’s apothecary shop. When she combines her talents with the genius of a young Isaac Newton, recently arrived to board above the shop, the two create an incredible elixir with seemingly unlimited powers.

But seventeenth-century England is a dangerous place to display any special abilities, and Ann must hide all evidence when witchfinder Abel Geach arrives in town.

So when the plague starts to run rife and those she loves are in danger, will Ann risk everything to help them?

Particularly suitable for readers aged 9+ with a reading age of 8.

The Elixir, By Lindsay Galvin, Cover artwork by Kristina Kister, Read by Lauren Moakes

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'One of my favourite detectives…it reminded me of some of the old Sherlock Holmes cases' 

 November 1930

After accepting an invitation to attend the ballet in snowy Salzburg, Miss Atalanta Ashford is shocked when a convicted jewel thief is found dead in the concert hall where the theft occurred a decade ago.

Did he return to the scene of the crime because he wanted to prove his innocence? Is the real culprit among the high-society guests? In her quest for the truth, Atalanta uncovers dangerous secrets about the European elite that put her own life in mortal danger…

The smell of Glühwein and spiced Lebkuchen from the Austrian winter markets fill the air, but for Atalanta there’s an intriguing puzzle to be solved in this cosy historical mystery for 2024.

Look out for more Miss Ashford mysteries and get your passports ready as you travel with her to some of the most sought-after destinations on the continent…

Book 1: Mystery in Provence

Book 2: Last Seen in Santorini

Book 3: A Fatal Encounter in Tuscany

Book 4: Last Dance in Salzburg

Book 5: Death on the Rhine

Readers love this series!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'This is a series which allows me to enjoy the delights of travel from my armchair…For me, an easy five stars'

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A unique story and I enjoyed how good the characters were'

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Atalanta was a really interesting and smart character…The time period and place were perfect'

⭐⭐⭐⭐'A delightful mix of intrigue, romantic angst, looking back, wishing things had been different, finding oneself…And, I didn't even mention that murder is involved'

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A terrific series, filled with human emotion and interesting crimes to solve'

⭐⭐⭐⭐'Plenty of twists and turns with so many suspects that I wasn't sure who the guilty person was right until the end'

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A delightful blend of historical intrigue, picturesque European settings, and a fiercely independent protagonist'

⭐⭐⭐⭐'I couldn’t wait to find out the villain…There were twists & turns & I was kept guessing until all was revealed'

⭐⭐⭐⭐'Family secrets, lies and a good old fashioned murder mystery'

⭐⭐⭐⭐'What I love about this series are the glamorous settings and interesting people…This story really has you wondering who the murderer is and there are plenty of red herrings to confuse you'

Last Dance in Salzburg, By Vivian Conroy, Read by Jessica Whittaker

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Marriage Lie comes a brand new gripping domestic crime thriller from Kimberly Belle, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Shari Lapena 

 Rayna Dumont is getting a fresh start in Amsterdam. Following a nasty divorce, she takes a jet-setting new job and embraces the single life. All seems to be going well until she wakes up in the bed of Xander van der Vos, her one-night stand from the night before, only to find him brutally murdered in the room next door. To make matters worse, millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds are missing from his safe. Quickly, Rayna becomes the prime suspect and is thrown into a deadly game of cat and mouse with forces beyond her wildest imagination.

From her lavish home in the heart of the city, Willow Prins is enraptured by the case. The wife of Thomas Prins, CEO of the House of Prins and Xander’s former boss, Willow is too familiar with what it’s like to be the outsider in the elite world of luxury goods. But as the House comes under scrutiny, tensions rise in her already strained marriage and Willow starts to wonder if Rayna might be the solution she’s been looking for.

As both women dive into the dark underbelly of the diamond industry, their hope for survival hinges on navigating a web of power and revenge. And as Rayna fights to clear her name, will she unravel the truth or find herself another victim?

Readers LOVE Kimberly Belle!
'When a book catches your attention from page 1, you know it's going to be great. It was compelling to read until the very last page. A thriller unlike anything else' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'An absolute page-turner! Keeps you hooked' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'My favourite of hers yet! You won’t be able to put this one down as you zoom through Europe with them and follow the cat-and-mouse game of who the good folks are are who the bad are… Highly recommend!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'An irresistible, fast-paced read set in some of Europe’s most inviting locales… An intense story that leads the reader through mystery and danger' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'The search for answers kept me enthralled. The ending was perfect' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Twisty-turny thriller. Suspense, fear, love, heartbreak, mystery, confusion, betrayal, loyalty, danger, secrets, it’s all there' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Expat Affair, By Kimberly Belle, Read by Jennifer Jill Araya and Marni Penning

An Audio Described Introduction to The Royal Opera's production of Pimpinone.



Audio Introduction for The Royal Opera's Pimpinone

In this special episode for Mental Health Awareness Week, host Jade Hunter is joined by Professor John Tomaney, Dr. Dimitrios Panayotopoulos-Tsiros, and James Fildes, founder of Space North East. Together, they explore a growing public health crisis: rising rates of male suicide in the UK, particularly in post-industrial regions like the North East.

This conversation examines how non-clinical, community-led interventions are filling critical gaps in mental health support for working-class men in the North East of England. Drawing on lived experience, academic research, and grassroots activism, this episode highlights the importance of belonging, place-based identity, and social infrastructure in men’s mental wellbeing.
 
Featured in this episode:
Host: Jade Hunter – Coordinator, UCL’s Grand Challenge of Mental Health & Wellbeing
With special thanks to our guests: 
Professor John Tomaney – UCL Bartlett School of Planning, Pro-Provost for Regional Communities
Dr. Dimitrios Panayotopoulos-Tsiros – Research Associate and Honorary Research Fellow, UCL
James Fildes – Founder and Managing Director, Space North East
 
Resources:
Learn more about UCL Grand Challenges https://www.ucl.ac.uk/grand-challenges/
Visit Space North East https://spacenortheast.org/
Read about the project’s progress and future outputs via the Grand Challenges Mental Health and Wellbeing page https://www.ucl.ac.uk/grand-challenges/themes/mental-health-wellbeing

Local Solutions, National Crisis: New Insights on Men’s Mental Health from the North East

On sale May 20th, 2025

From the New York Times bestselling author of Washington's Spies, "a page-turning thriller" (James M. Scott) about ​one of the greatest heists in history: the U.S. Navy’s clandestine capture of a Nazi U-boat at the climax of World War II.

Shortly before noon on June 4, 1944, the sonar operator on a destroyer prowling off the coast of West Africa heard a sharp, metallic ping. The sound could mean only one thing: The German submarine that their hunter-killer group had been tracking, U-505, was lurking somewhere below. The ensuing struggle between exhausted hunter and venomous prey would make history when American sailors boarded an enemy warship at sea for the first time since the War of 1812.

That day’s victory was the culmination of an unrelenting campaign against the Nazi submarine threat by the U.S. Navy’s “Tenth Fleet”—a mysterious unit that could predict the locations and movement of Hitler’s U-boats. Run by Commander Kenneth Knowles, Tenth Fleet had guided Captain Dan Gallery to U-505; to repay the favor, Gallery was going to steal an Enigma machine for him.
 
Now all they had to do was to make an entire U-boat, its crew, and its secrets vanish into thin air . . .
 
In this swashbuckling adventure story, bestselling historian Alexander Rose draws on long-classified encrypted documents and intercepted German transmissions to reveal in full, for the first time, how an owlish egghead and a glory-seeking buccaneer teamed up to score the richest prize on the high seas.

Listen Here

Phantom Fleet By Alexander Rose, Read By Jonathan Todd Ross (Audiobook Excerpt)

On sale May 27th, 2025

Beauty and the Beast meets Supernatural in the first book of this new urban fantasy detective series!

Jericho James is in over her head. 

She's a Private Investigator famed for debunking mythical creature sightings, and she expects her latest case in Stillbridge, Maine to be just another instance of "town who cried wolf." But instead of finding a poorly judged animal in the Northeastern woods, Jericho discovers a family of reclusive scientists. Handsome scientists, no less, working on a cure for a mystery virus.

Intrigued by the virus and utterly captivated by Benjamin--a man with cheekbones that must have been chiseled by God himself--Jericho finds she's dying to learn more about the family and their work. 

And when she accidentally discovers the family's secret, she might just get her wish. 

Follow Jericho James as she solves cyrptid crimes, stops mythical misdeeds, and blocks otherworldly outrages. And maybe, if she has time, find love along the way. 

The Midnight Pack By Jasmine Kuliasha, Read By Sarah Beth Goer (Audiobook Excerpt)

On sale May 20th, 2025

Two workplace enemies find themselves in close proximity on a tropical company retreat that challenges their assumptions—and just might make them to fall for each other—in this romcom by a by a beloved TikTok author.
 
Engineer Trishara Malik once dreamed of being the first woman of color to smash the glass ceiling at WMC Purcell, but after years of dealing with white male privilege and blatant nepotism, she watches her hard-earned promotion go to her nemesis, Rafe Gallagher—the boss’s son. Teetering on the edge of burnout, Tris is stunned when she’s picked to attend WMC's corporate leadership retreat in Hawaii. It’s a chance to revive her stalled career and compete for a coveted spot in an executive training program—plus, three weeks in paradise! The only downside? Rafe is her co-attendee.

Tris plans to avoid Rafe entirely, but when she arrives in Maui, a booking error has them stuck sharing the honeymoon suite. Sure, it’s not all torture. Rafe is a smoldering ten—okay fine, an eleven—but after years of competition, they can barely stand being in the same time zone. As they vie against each other during aptitude tests and team-building exercises, Tris begins to realize Rafe might not be the villain after all. With her dreams at stake, can she learn to trust the man who might have been standing in her corner all along?

Not Safe for Work By Nisha J. Tuli, Read By Soneela Nankani (Audiobook Excerpt)

On sale May 20th, 2025

Rooted in the story of his own transformative journey, a monk and internationally beloved founder of Yoga of Immortals shares the methods he uses to help us tap into our unlimited potential.

Ishan Shivanand was born into an ancient lineage of yogis spanning twenty-one generations, and spent the first twenty years of his life in a Himalayan monastery. Grounded in the traditions of yoga, meditation, martial arts, storytelling, and herbal medicine, he developed the Yoga of Immortals (YOI) protocol, which is designed to help followers combat stress, anxiety, depression, and create healthy individuals and healthy communities. The Practice of Immortality shares these lessons and practices. ​In a world suffering the effects of fear, competitiveness, and anger, Ishan encourages us to take a step back.

Structured as a thoughtful narrative with practices based in the true intentions and meaning of yoga, The Practice of Immortality will help you achieve that which you never thought possible.

The Practice of Immortality By Ishan Shivanand (Audiobook Excerpt)

Award-Winning Composer-Pianist

Nu-Classical:  Modern concert music with the essence of jazz, rock, funk, Latin, and beyond.

"For several decades now, the culture of the so called 'art music' genre, which, in most cases might more aptly be called 'academic music', has been to shun anything which might be construed as being accessible enough to be sold to the general public. Becker KB (composer and piano virtuoso) is a refreshing exception to this trend… [His music] displays a lot of theoretical, compositional, and performance mastery, while avoiding the common pitfall of being out of touch with what people want to hear."
-Philip Cornell, Asterisked Music Journal

"Mr. Becker's style is evidently steeped in multiple genres but is not mere eclecticism. Rather, his compositions are a clear distillation of very personal musical impulses...I think music like that [of Becker's] is worthwhile to the masses of listeners on the fringe of [classical] music because it challenges definitions and breaks down barriers between the music they are familiar with and that which they have never heard (most [classical] music)…[It] is undeniably evident that Becker KB is a uniquely talented musician."
-Garrett Schumann, Sequenza21.com

"Becker coined his mishmash of classical structures and popular inclinations 'nu-classical,' but not in the traditional sense of executing one style in another one's framework. Becker's nu-classical is a genuine blend that results in a sound that seems not to be associated exclusively to conventions of the past. Rather, it reinvents what it means to fuse these elements synergistically." 
-Joel Luks, CultureMap

Contention

Becker KB | Composer-Pianist

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