Synopses & Reviews
Something mysterious and terrible is happening throughout Victorian London: Ghosts are disappearing. When this reaches the attention of the Ghost Bureau, the diligent but clueless Mr. Lapsewood, a paranormal paper-pusher, is sent to investigate, and what he discovers is grave. The Black Rot has arriveda voracious spiritual infestation whereby empty haunted houses suck in unsuspecting ghosts and imprison them. Lapsewoods investigation weaves through the plotlines of several other memorable charactersboth living and deadincluding an undertakers son who can see ghosts, a serial throat-slasher reminiscent of Jack the Ripper, an evangelical exorcist, and many more. The living and dead must work together if they hope to destroy the Black Rotbefore it destroys both the ghost and human worlds.
This highly atmospheric and bitingly funny ghost story by successful British author Gareth P. Jones will delight fans of Eva Ibbotson and Neil Gaiman.
Praise for Constable and Toop
STARRED REVIEWS
"Jones has crafted a menacing, spooky Victorian London full of criminals and unfinished business, which is well balanced by the biting satire and buffoonery of the Bureau. Add to that a cast of fascinating, well-wrought charactersfrom the smarmy and threatening Jack, to the precocious, pot-stirring aspiring journalist, Claraand its a winning combination of macabre atmosphere, whimsical antics, and heartfelt, earnest friendship."
--Booklist, starred review
"This story is sure to tickle the funny bone and satisfy the taste for some gruesome adventure while appealing to both girls and boys. A fun read that includes intrigue, murder, mystery, and a young damsel who rescues them all."
--School Library Journal, starred review
"Both spine-chilling and raucously funny, this ghostly Victorian mystery knits humor and horror into a lively supernatural escapade for confident readers."
--Library Media Connection, highly recommended
"Jones is interested in giving readers more than spooky thrills; his characters have moral heft and are concerned with issues such as culpability, whether people can be considered good if they have done bad things, and the importance of living life to its fullest."
--Kirkus Reviews
"British author Jones offers a witty take on Victorian ghost stories that mixes dark humor and satire with an almost traditional boys adventure format."
--Publishers Weekly
"It is part mystery, part adventure, and thoroughly delightful."
--VOYA
Review
"First-class...an outrageous sequence of events charmed together with skillful wordwork." --Booklist, starred review
Synopsis
Blossom Culp is the outspoken outcast of Bluff City, always getting into trouble. No one wants to cross her, especially now that she's revealed that she can see the Unseen. Then Blossom herself is stunned, because her lie turns out to be truth. She actually does have second sight...and she is "on board" the sinking Titanic.
Synopsis
“Some people won’t believe any of this story. You might be one of them. But every single word is true. Tony DiMarco does catch a murderer, solve a mystery, and find a treasure—all in the first few days after he moves, unexpectedly, to 13 Hangmen’s Court in Boston. The fact that he also turns thirteen at the same time is not a coincidence.”So begins the story of Tony and his friends—five 13-year-old boys, all of whom are living in the same house in the same attic bedroom but at different times in history! None are ghosts, all are flesh and blood, and somehow all have come together in the attic room, visible only to one another. And all are somehow linked to a murder, a mystery, and a treasure.
Praise for 13 Hangmen"Fascinating tale. Ghostly fun in old Boston."--Kirkus Reviews
"The book’s design nicely differentiates Tony’s story, set in 2009, from the past narratives. Recommend this engaging historical mystery to readers who devoured Dan Gutman’s Baseball Card Adventures series and are ready for a longer, more complex adventure."
--Booklist
"Corriveau merrily ransacks historical episodes and figures (e.g., the Great Molasses Flood, the Underground Railroad, Boston mayor John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald) and spins, twists, and manipulates their stories to advance the DiMarco family mystery. The result is a novel that agilely balances humor and tension."
--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"This is an exceptionally good story, with a wry, humorous tone that has particular boy appeal. It covers baseball, history, sibling rivalry, girls, and mystery, and folds in the space-time continuum."
--School Library Journal
About the Author
Art Corriveau holds an MFA in writing from the University of Michigan. His writing has received great reviews from School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, and many others. Booklist praised How I Got a Life and a Dog, his first middle-grade novel, for its “vividly drawn” characters. He lives in Vermont.