The Black Book Of Secrets

"My name is Ludlow Fitch and I have a shameful confession..."

Set against the backdrop of murder, mischief and the macabre, 'The Black Book of Secrets' is a terrifically twisted tale from a wickedly witty new children's author.

When Ludlow Fitch's parents cruelly betray hi, he steals away in the back of a carriage and leaves behind the stinking City. He arrives in the dead of night at a remote village, where he crosses paths with the tall and limping figures of Joe Zabbidou -- a pawnbroker with a difference: Joe trades secrets, not goods, for cash.

Employed as Joe's assistant, Ludlow records the villagers' fiendish confessions in an ancient leather-bound volume. The Black Book of Secrets. There's the gravedigger who has been resurrecting bodies; the butcher who made a mouse-meat pie for his bullying father, with fatal consequences; the wizened bookseller who went to murderous lengths to get her hands on a priceless tomb.

Ludlow longs to trust his mysterious master, but he senses Joe has much to hide. But then Ludlow Fitch has his own, very dark secrets...