A darkly comic Dickensian ghost story from Blue Peter Award winner Gareth P. Jones: it's not the dead you'll need to worry about!

Sam Toop lives in a funeral parlour, blessed (or cursed) with an unusual gift. While his father buries the dead, Sam is haunted by their constant demands for attention. Trouble is afoot on the 'other side' - there is a horrible disease that is mysteriously imprisoning ghosts into empty houses in the world of the living. And Sam is caught in the middle - will he be able to bring himself to help?

Blue Peter Award winner Gareth P. Jones has woven a darkly comic story, a wonderfully funny adventure that roams the grimy streets of Victorian London.

A darkly comic Dickensian ghost story from Blue Peter Award winner Gareth P. Jones: it's not the dead you'll need to worry about!

About the Author
Gareth divides his time between writing books, visiting schools, producing TV programmes and annoying his friends and family by playing the ludicrous number of stringed instruments in his front room. He won the Blue Peter Book of the Year Prize 2012 for THE CONSIDINE CURSE, and THE CASE OF THE MISSING CATS, the first book in The Dragon Detective Agency series, was nominated for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize. THE THORNTHWAITE INHERITANCE won seven children's book awards, and his previous books for Hot Key Books, CONSTABLE & TOOP and THE SOCIETY OF THIRTEEN, were extremely well-received. Follow Gareth at www.garethwrites.co.uk or on Twitter: @jonesgarethp

Reviews
Funny, gruesome and scary, with the great setting of a funeral parlour, this is an action packed adventure full of the darker and dirtier details of life in Victorian London. -- Julia Eccleshare * Lovereading4kids *
With an appealingly gothic setting, this pacey and exciting mystery perfectly blends comedy with the dark, spooky and supernatural. There are plenty of funny and gruesome moments that will appeal to young readers; but this is also a well-researched, thoughtful and compassionate novel, that takes inspiration from the Victorian preoccupation with mourning and death. Jones skilfully manages a complex series of interlocking storylines and an engaging cast of characters in this witty, action-packed and hugely entertaining ghost story. * Booktrust *
This is a wonderful tale of crime, retribution and spiritualism, set in a richly historical London full of Fagin-like thieves and bent policemen. Jones balances the razor-sharp wit and huge cast of characters with a genuinely gory and chilling underbelly that asks questions about life and death. And is very funny... * Daily Mail *
Constable & Toop is the perfect blend of belly laughs and supernatural scares * The Week Junior *
Lost Stars is a really lovely, sweet book which I recommend for anyone looking for a reminder of what it was like to be a teenager in the 1980's but also, on a more serious note, a book about the tragedy of death and loss in the family unit and how we choose to deal with it * Swirl and Thread *



Book Information
ISBN 9781471400117
Author Gareth P. Jones
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint Hot Key Books
Publisher Hot Key Books
Weight(grams) 280g
Dimensions(mm) 195mm * 128mm * 20mm