A big and rather beautiful tree grew a couple of hundred yards from the verandah just below us. There was a crash and rustle amongst the leaves. And then, suddenly, it seemed as though the whole tree had burst into bloom, a bloom of monkeys. They were Red and Black Colobus, and they were the most breathtaking sight. Read More...

Gerald Durrell's adventurous spirit and his spontaneous gift for narrative and anecdote mark him as a rare bird indeed. Here he describes a collecting expedition to the Cameroons, where, with the assistance of a pack of African enthusiasts and mongrel dogs, he captureed almost everything from flying mice to booming squirrels. Read More...

Gerald Durrell searches windswept Patagonian shores and tropical forests in the Argentine for additions to his private zoo. Penguins and elephant seals make way for an absurd family of foxes who dance gracefully with a roll of lavatory paper, and we see the author baiting a trap for a recalcitrant vampire bat with one of his own toes. Read More...

If you looked you would think that his mind was full of beautiful, poetic thoughts.. A ball of food would make its appearance at the base of his long neck and would travel upwards with all the majesty of a department store lift. The ball was generally the size of a coconut and would end its travels by rolling into his mouth. A satisfied expression would replace the look of thoughful genius and peter's lower jaw would recommence its monotonous movement. Read More...

Spilsbury is Jim Spilsbury - pioneer, painter, aviator, inventor and matchless raconteur. Spilsbury's Coast is eighty years' worth of memories from a shrewd, funny, outrageous 'coast rat'... Read More...

We are in Oxford in the 1660s' a time, and place, of great intellectual, scientific, religious and political ferment. Robert Grove, a fellow of New College, is found dead in suspicious circumstances. A young woman is accused of his murder. We hear about the events surrounding his death from four witnesses: .... Read More...

Detective Inspector John Rebus and DS Siobhan Clarke uncover evidence that a serial killer is on the loose... Read More...

A brutally tortured body is discovered in one of Edinburgh's ancient subterranean streets and marks on the corpse cause Rebus to suspect the involvement of sectarian activists. Read More...

From suburban murders to the sinister workings of a killer's mind, this collection of Rebus stories explores the blood-soaked streets of Edinburgh's old town. Read More...

A few days into a murder inquiry following the brutal death of an Edinburgh art dealer, Rebus blows up at DCS Gill Templer. He is sent to the Scottish Police College for 'retraining'. Read More...