Books

UNPUBLISHED

An unsolved murder, a coded message, three hidden treasures. And always a step ahead … the Ghost.

CURSED BE HE WHO SLAYS A RAVEN

Welcome to Ravenspur, a grim Scottish castle with a vast collection of weird and wonderful curiosities, a secret underground tunnel, three hidden treasures, an ancient curse and several ghosts.

Ella Lee and Lachie, the new young Raven laird, must solve cryptic clues left by Lachie’s dead father to locate the mysterious treasures hidden somewhere in the castle.

These treasures appear to have cost Lachie’s father his life, and Ella’s his freedom. However, somebody else is searching too, roaming the castle at night disguised as the raven-faced ghost of family legend. Somebody who murdered Lachie’s father.

Ella and Lachie are drawn into a dangerous contest with the increasingly ruthless Ghost, who always seems to be a step ahead of them. And time is running out.

If you love novels with spooky Gothic settings and dangerous quests like WORMWOOD MIRE, FROST HOLLOW HALL and A STORM OF SISTERS, you will love A Conspiracy of Ravens, once it is out into the world.

UNPUBLISHED

Owls are the only creatures that can live with ghosts - Traditional Orkney Lore

Luna and Aurora are twins, as different as night and day, the moon and the sun. They are drifting apart … until the witch comes for one of them.

When Luna accompanies her family to Orkney to pack up Gran’s ancient cottage overlooking the lore-laden island of Eynhallow, strange things begin to happen, especially to her twin sister. Aurora is followed by owls, tormented by frightening dreams, and talks of “a woman with evil eyes”. Luna discovers her grandmother has awoken an ancient and malevolent presence, the spirit of a powerful weather witch. Perhaps Gran’s death was no accident after all.

Each day, the ghost grows in power, sucking the life force from Aurora, seeking to return to the world. Luna must work with local magic-weavers to try to discover the identity of the malevolent witch and find a way to banish it back into the spirit world, before its hold over her sister becomes complete. But the old magic is lost and the witch is growing mad with guilt and a thirst for revenge. The witch who is now inside Aurora.

THE WITCH OF EYNHALLOW SOUND is a chilling Middle-Grade Ghost Story. If you enjoyed the ghostly presences in THE FORGOTTEN GIRL, the sinister darkness of THE NIGHT GARDENER and the lyrical setting of THE STORM KEEPER’S ISLAND, this book is for you (once it gets out into the world).

The Rowbottom family consists of twelve-year-old twins Olivia and Cassiopea and their cousin Dorrigo, who is two months younger. They have all lived together with Reginald Rowbottom, better known as Dad, since the twins’ mother and Dorrigo’s parents died in an unexpected volcanic eruption five years ago.

They live happily in a converted church by a river in rural New South Wales with a variety of pets and are home-schooled by a brilliant, but absent-minded young man, who spends his spare time inventing a time-travel machine. Dad travels widely for his work as a photographer of wild places and animals, and the children usually accompany him on these “educational field-trips”. Each child has an obsession, about which they are extremely knowledgeable and passionate.

Ollie is an expert in piracy. She dresses as a pirate, speaks her own made-up version of pirate language and has a talking kookaburra called Captain Ironstone (Cappy). She believes there are many valuable caches of treasure still hidden around the world – and she is just the girl to find them.

Cassie is a genius with codes, ciphers and puzzles of all kinds. She often talks in riddles, which are far too complicated for anyone else to understand.

Dorrigo’s heroes are Charles Darwin, Sir David Attenborough and Steve Irwin. He is the only Rowbottom who uses his full name as shortened versions are not suitable for someone destined to become the world’s greatest biologist.

UNPUBLISHED

Book 1: The Pirate’s Lost Cipher

Ollie’s birthday present is an extremely old metal chest her father found in an antique shop in Paris. It contains a few gold coins, a dagger, a spyglass, a bottle that has something inside, a wishbone broken in two, a necklace, and a letter written in some strange language or code. And so the fun begins! With the help of her sister’s special interest in codes and ciphers, and her brother’s encyclopedic knowledge of living creatures, the family sets out on a quest for a long-lost treasure – an extremely dangerous quest as things turn out.


Book 2: The Curse of the Hidden Labyrinth

Cassie’s special present – a deck of antique tarot cards takes the family to Prague, where secrets linger and the quest for the Philosopher’s Stone is still very much alive in some quarters. When one of their own is kidnapped, the family is drawn into a deadly race against time.


Book 3: Island of Thieves and Dragons

Dorrigo’s birthday gift is a family trip to the Galápagos Islands and the Rowbottom’s are secretly breathing a sigh of relief, looking forward to a leisurely holiday. However, they soon find themselves caught up in the activities of animal smugglers, people who will stop at nothing to protect their illegal and lucrative trade.