John Brownjohn

"On her sixtieth birthday, Auntie Poldi retires to Sicily, intending to while away the rest of her days with good wine, a view of the sea, and few visitors. But Sicily isn't quite the tranquil island she thought it would be, and something always seems to get in the way of her relaxation. When her handsome young handyman goes missing--and is discovered murdered--she can't help but ask questions. Soon there's an investigation, a smoldering police inspector,...

"There's only one Auntie Poldi: bewigged, cursing in Bavarian, and knocking back a wee shot of grappa as a pre-breakfast aperitif . . . or is there? No one is as they seem (and sound) in this hilarious new mystery featuring Sicily's sultriest sleuth"--

Optimus Yarnspinner inherits a manuscript by an unknown writer. To track down the author, he goes to Bookholm, the City of Dreaming Books, where book-related attractions abound.

An eighteenth-century figurehead, the journal of a ship's quartermaster, and supernatural occurrences at a seaside resort lead twelve-year-old Vicki and her friend Peter on a quest to lift a curse and set right a horrible deed committed two hundred and thirty years in the past.

"Malaisea is the unhealthiest town in the whole of Zamonia, home to Echo the Crat, a multi-talented creature that resembles a cat but is capable of speaking any language under the sun. When his mistress dies and Echo finds himself starving on the street, he is compelled to sign a contract with Ghoolion the Alchemaster, Malaisea's evil alchemist-in-chief. This fateful document gives Ghoolion the right to kill Echo at the next full moon and render him...

Two mighty kingdoms have been engaged in endless, merciless war, but change appears imminent. King Philip is meeting his arch-enemy, King Theodo, to sign a peace treaty. But King Philip and his men are tricked and consigned to the squalid dungeons of King Theodos castle. Soon, 12-year-old Prince Florin is lured to the castle, where the same horror awaits him. On a whim, King Theodo decides to make the crown prince his second fool, trained by Mimus,...

A rare book dealer is hired to locate the remaining copies of a demonic manuscript that can summon the devil.

"It has been more than two hundred years since Bookholm was destroyed by a devastating fire, as told in Moers's The City of Dreaming Books. Optimus Yarnspinner, hailed as Zamonia's greatest writer, is on vacation in Lindworm Castle when a disturbing message reaches him, and he must return to Bookholm to investigate a mystery. The magnificently rebuilt city has once again become a metropolis of storytelling and the book trade. Yarnspinner encounters...

A timeless adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic romance. Tess Darbeyville, a beautiful young peasant, seeks her fortune with the wealthy D'Urbervilles, whom her family believes to be distant relatives.