S.C.R.E.A.M - The Mummy's Revenge by Andrew Beasley, reviewed by Dawn Finch

First some blurb...

Charlie Steel and Billy Flint are top-secret investigators of Supernatural Crimes, Rescues, Emergencies and Mysteries – aka S.C.R.E.A.M. 

In this first book of a new series they track down no ordinary burglar. This burglar is a 3,000 year old Egyptian mummy on the search for precious jewels for his evil master, and he’s out to destroy all who stand in his way....

I am a big fan of a classic adventure yarn, and this new book from Andrew Beasley ticks all the boxes. The characters are instantly likeable and believable, and the story has all the elements of adventure that will grip a young reader.

Charlie and Billy are intelligent, brave and funny, and the mystery is just enough to keep a child puzzled but not baffled. The story moves on rapidly with spooky mummies, missing jewels and lots of chasing and escaping through dark and sinister Edinburgh streets.

I feel that I should mention that one of the characters, Charlie, is in a wheelchair due to polio. I feel reluctant mentioning it because, while it is mentioned in the text, and obviously some of Charlie's movements are restricted due to her chair, it really is not a big part of the plot and certainly does not define her. I found this very positive and wish that every writer managed to include disabled characters with such subtlety and grace.

The book is not too long, and I think it would be particularly suited to any children who are perhaps less engaged as readers because the chapters are short and the pace is rapid. No waiting around ages for things to happen in this book! The mysterious events come thick and fast as Billy and Charlie are hot on the trail of the jewel thieves. That said, I think that all young readers who enjoy a fast-paced book with a more traditional feel would enjoy this a lot.

Billy is cheeky and street-smart, and Charlie is the brains of the outfit, With additional characters like Doogie the Scottish servant boy and a whole set of strange adults, mysterious butlers and maids, and shuffling stinky mummified creatures - this is cracking Victorian-period adventure that will please all fans of spooky mysteries.

S.C.R.E.A.M - The Mummy's Revenge is published in the UK by Usborne (1 April 2017)
ISBN - 978-1474906920

Reviewed by Dawn Finch
www.dawnfinch.com
@dawnafinch

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THE DEVIL IN THE CORNER by Patricia Elliott. Reviewed by Adèle Geras

Over the years, at both Arvon and Ty Newydd, I've taught courses where I met writers who were very talented.  There were a few who, I could see, would be published sooner or later. I'm very happy to be part of the beginning of their writing lives, and every time one of them brings out a new book, I feel pleased all over again. I'm talking about writers like Lynda Waterhouse, Gill Vickery, Caroline Pitcher and in this review, most particularly, Patricia Elliott.  I often review books by novelists I know and I've stopped explaining and sort of apologising... You'll have to take it on trust that I wouldn't review a book I didn't genuinely think was worth drawing to people's attention. 

Patricia has written historical novels, and fantasies and whatever she publishes is always both stylish and interesting. She's good at slightly fantastical tales set in the past, like one of my favourites,  Murkmere.  In The Devil in the Corner, she's produced a book that will be enjoyed by all lovers of Victorian Gothic. It's a YA novel, and perfectly suited to that age group, but I don't think an adult reading it would feel in any way short-changed. There's enough plot to keep everyone who picks it up turning the pages, anxious to see what will happen next.

Maud, an orphan, is summoned to Windward House in Suffolk by her cousin Juliana. It's an old house, with all the appropriate shivery elements in place: slightly sinister servants, a very disabled young man called Sly who might or might not be the Devil of the title.  Then there's Edie, a fourteen year old girl whose cunning and mischief is driven by thwarted passion and whose actions and feelings constantly surprise both Maud and the reader. Then there's a painter called John, who's been commissioned by Juliana to restore the Doom Painting in the local village church.  (The painting is based, we are told by the author, on the Doom in St Peter's at Wenhaston in Suffolk. I am keen to see it.)  John and Maud meet on a train and the scene is set for a story of whispers, glances, poison, guilt, sexual assaults, drug addiction and murder. 

Many themes run through the novel, but it is mainly a love story and love wins through in the end. There is no slapdash element in Elliott's style. It is the very opposite of casual and colloquial.  Every word is both carefully chosen and appropriate. Nothing, anywhere, jars.  Elliott can also set a scene and take us into  someone's emotional turmoil better than many more well-known writers.

If you're an adult and enjoy novels like those by Essie Fox, for instance, this book is one you'd like. And any young person who relishes a spooky and  emotionally charged story will love it. Hodder Children's are to be congratulated for producing a very attractive paperback original with a cover that has more significance for the novel than you might realise at first. 

THE DEVIL IN THE CORNER: a paperback original.
published by Hodder Children's  £6.99
ISBN: 9780340956786





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