The Whale Tattoo


Book Description

When a giant sperm whale washes up on the local beach it tells Joe Gunner that death will follow him wherever he goes. Joe knows that the place he needs to go is back home. Having stormed out two years ago, it won't be easy, nor will returning to the haunted river beside the house where words ripple beneath the surface washing up all sorts of memories. Joe turns to his sister, Birdee, the only person who has ever listened. But she can't help him, she drowned two years ago. Then there's Tim Fysh, local fisherman and long-time lover. But reviving their bond is bound to be trouble. As the water settles and Joe learns the truth about the river, he finds that we all have the capability to hate, and that we can all make the choice not to. Ransom's fractured, distinctive prose highlights the beauty and brutality of his story, his extraordinarily vivid sense of place saturates the reader with the wet of the river, and the salty tang of the sea.




Hardy Boys 43: the Mystery of the Aztec Warrior


Book Description

The handwritten will of a deceased world-traveler is strange and mysterious. Its cryptic instructions are to deliver “the valuable Aztec warrior to the rightful owner, a descendant of an Aztec warrior.” Frank and Joe Hardy have only one slim clue to work with: the name of a complete stranger who can help. Despite the harassments, the threats, and the attacks made upon them, Frank and Joe unravel clue after clue in their adventure-packed search for the living descendant of the mighty Aztec nation which once ruled in Mexico. It takes as much high courage as clever deduction for the young detectives to defeat their ruthless foes and to decipher the fascinating secrets of the strange and mysterious will.




The Secret Agent on Flight 101


Book Description

Frank and Joe, the Hardy boys, solve a mystery involving a magician, American secret agents, and international spy ring, and a Scottish castle.




Strandings


Book Description

'Wild and wonderful ... I doubt anyone will ever match Strandings for its sheer bravura, its wry insight, and its absolute, engulfing, and brilliantly enlivening whaleheadedness' PHILIP HOARE, ALBERT AND THE WHALE 'Addictive and scandalously fascinating' Caught by the River When Peter Riley was thirteen, a woman with blue hair and a comet tattoo asked him to help load the jaw of a sperm whale into the back of a Volvo 245. The encounter set Riley on a decades-long quest to make sense of what had happened. Enter the secretive world of whale scavengers. When a whale washes up on one of Britain's coasts, a fugitive community descends to claim trophies from the carcass. Some are driven by magical beliefs. Some are motivated by profit: there is a black market for everything from ambergris to whaletooth sex toys. But for others, the need goes much deeper. Join Riley on a tour of a stranded kingdom's weird outer reaches, where nothing is as it seems. Meet witches, pedlars, fetishists, conspiracy theorists and fallen aristocrats. And prepare for a final revelation, as the mystery of the comet woman tangles with the enigmatic symbol of Leviathan itself, beached on Britain's fatal shore.




Hardy Boys 47: Mystery of the Whale Tattoo


Book Description

One exciting event follows another when Frank and Joe Hardy are hired to apprehend the pickpockets who have been plaguing Solo’s Super Carnival. When their friends Tony Prito and Biff Hooper exhibit a stuffed whale dug up at a construction project, they all but put the carnival out of business. In this thrilling mystery the young detectives pit their wits against a gang of thieves whose bizarre identification, a three-part whale tattoo, proves to be a nearly insolvable riddle.







Nancy Drew 20: The Clue in the Jewel Box


Book Description

An antique dealer’s revelation about a former queen’s priceless heirloom starts Nancy on a trail of exciting adventures. Madame Alexandra, now living incognito in River Heights, asks Nancy to find her missing grandson. With only one clue to go on – a faded photograph of the prince at the age of four – the young detective begins her search. Nancy’s investigation unmasks a slick imposter and reunites the long-separated family in this suspense-filled story.




Hardy Boys 41: The Clue of the Screeching Owl


Book Description

When dogs and men suddenly disappear, and strange screams fill the night, fantastic stories of vengeful ghosts are almost believable. It is these strange happenings which bring Frank and Joe Hardy to the Pocono Mountains to help their father’s friend solve the mystery of Black Hollow. But when the Hardy boys and Chet Morton arrive at Captain Thomas Maguire’s cabin on the edge of the hollow, he has disappeared. Frank and Joe are determined to find the captain, despite Chet’s misgivings after a night of weird and terrifying screams. Strangely, it is a small puppy that discloses a most unusual and surprising set of circumstances, involving a mute boy, an elusive hermit, and a fearless puma trainer.




Hardy Boys 61: The Pentagon Spy


Book Description

First valuable antique weather vanes are stolen in Pennsylvania Dutch Country and Frank and Joe are hired to catch the thieves. Meanwhile, their father is asked to find a missing Navy employee and a top-secret government document. What is the connection between the missing weather vanes and the Pentagon spy? The final chapters of this thrilling mystery uncover a stunning revelation!




Nancy Drew 21: The Secret in the Old Attic


Book Description

Nancy Drew races against time to unravel the clues in a dead man’s letters. If she succeeds, Philip March and his little granddaughter can be saved from financial ruin. Following obscure clues, Nancy undertakes a search for some unpublished musical manuscripts which she believes are hidden in the dark, cluttered attic of the rundown March mansion. But someone else wants them enough to put many frightening obstacles in Nancy’s way. Will she outwit a trio of ruthless thieves and solves the Marches’ problems?