Meet the wonderfully weird Otherhand family and their faithful guardian, Edgar the raven, and discover the dark secrets of Castle Otherhand. Edgar is alarmed when he sees a nasty looking black tail slinking under the castle walls. But his warnings to the inhabitants of the castle go unheeded: Lord Valevine Otherhand is too busy trying to invent the unthinkable and discover the unknowable; his wife, Minty, is too absorbed in her latest obsession - baking; and ten-year-old Cudweed is running riot with his infernal pet monkey. Only Solstice, the black-haired, poetry-writing Otherhand daughter, seems to pay any attention. As the lower storeys of the castle begin mysteriously to flood, and kitchen maids continue to go missing, the family come ever closer to the owner of the black tail...First in a brand new six book series of tales of mystery (with a touch of goth-froth) for 9 year olds from bestselling author, Marcus Sedgwick. With quirky black and white line illustrations from new talent, Pete Williamson. Dedicated website on Raven Mysteries: www.ravenmysteries.co.uk
‘Rurk!’ I said, expressing my doubts at our plan. ‘Yes, Edgar,’ she said, standing nose to beak, ‘It is exciting, isn’t it? Come on then! Let’s find these tracks.’ Ah well, I thought, I tried.
There are strange things going on at Castle Otherhand. Housemaids seem to go missing, the cellar keeps flooding, and there are mysterious tracks in the rhubarb patch, but none of the inhabitants seem to notice.....except the castle's resident raven - Edgar.
This was a great little story - quite dark but sweet in a gothic sort of way.
I have a soft spot for ravens and the illustrations of Edgar in this one were lovely.
