Send for Octavius Guy Series

1852. With the business of the Moonstone diamond finally laid to rest, Mr. Franklin Blake and his wife Rachel are now happily married, living in London, and blessed with a healthy baby daughter named Julia. Mr. Blake has taken his late father’s seat in Parliament, and his party’s fortunes are on the rise—in fact they are about to overthrow the coalition government of the day. But then the inexplicable occurs. Miss Rachel and her elderly aunt are attacked in the street by a gang of feral children, whose only purpose, it seems, is to plant a photographic portrait of a young, rich Indian lad in the old lady’s handbag. Enter the Blakes’ lawyer’s office boy, Octavius Guy—better known as Gooseberry—who once helped the family bring the mystery of the Moonstone to a close. Join Gooseberry, the fourteen-year-old Victorian boy detective, as he and his ragtag bunch of friends descend into London’s demi-monde and underworld to ferret out the truth, while spending as much of his employer’s money as they can along the way! Based on characters from Wilkie Collins’s “The Moonstone”. First published in 2014 as a weekly serialization on Goodreads. The time had come to own up to my past. I’d been thinking about how best to present it, and it seemed to me that what was called for here was a judicious mixture of remorse, honesty, and diffidence. ‘Though it shames me to say it,’ remorse, ‘there was no swifter, slipperier pickpocket in all of London,’ honesty, ‘than...well, me, miss—your humble servant—Octavius Guy.’ Diffidence dispensed in a generous measure. Mrs. Blake burst out laughing. ‘Please, Mrs. Blake, it’s true.’ ‘Gooseberry, you really mustn’t joke.’ ‘I’m not joking, miss.’ ‘I don’t believe it for a moment!’ Mr. Bruff gave a cautious lawyer’s cough that managed to get everyone’s attention. ‘He’s telling the truth,’ he said quietly, and shot Mrs. Blake a meaningful look. ‘But this is Gooseberry we’re talking about! Our Gooseberry! He’s no thief!’ ‘If he’s telling us the truth, then I think he should be made to prove it,’ said Mr. Blake, a mischievous grin breaking out on his face that even his thick, black beard couldn’t hide. ‘I propose a challenge. Gooseberry, come and try to pick my pocket!’ ‘Please, sir—I don’t want to pick your pocket.’ ‘But I insist,’ he said, stepping closer and closer till there was barely a foot between us. With everyone watching (save for the good Mr. Bruff, whose features plainly registered his disapproval), Mr. Blake leaned forward so that our noses were practically touching. On reflex, I found myself stumbling backwards, a move that Mr. Blake took as a sign of defeat. ‘So much for the swiftest, slipperiest pickpocket in all of London,’ he laughed and, like a performer taking his curtain call, turned and bowed deeply to his wife. ‘Franklin, look,’ she advised him, pointing her finger at me. Mr. Blake looked. His mouth dropped open. He stared, blinking in amazement, at the silver cigarette case in my hand. Cover photograph “The Cheap Fish of St. Giles’s” by John Thomson. Cover design by Negative Negative. Published by Seventh Rainbow Publishing, London.

Gooseberry, the fourteen-year-old Victorian boy detective, is having his fair share of problems. Not only must he juggle the task of being Mr Bruff’s newly-appointed chief investigator with the unwanted responsibility of managing London’s entire criminal underclass, he also has to decide whether a drunken wretch of a man—who turns up on his doorstep claiming to be his father—is who he says he is. But when the leading actress dies in mysterious circumstances on stage during a performance of The Duchess of Malfi at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Gooseberry feels duty-bound to investigate. It is, after all, a great deal more exciting than the last case he was assigned to: the tracking down of a rich old lady’s errant cat! Join Octavius (AKA Gooseberry, AKA Octopus) and his ragtag bunch of friends on their latest adventure, a revenge tragedy (of sorts) in (roughly - very roughly!) three acts.

Christmas is coming, and yet surely Mr Crabbit—yes, he who rules over the petty cash at Mr Bruff’s law practice—cannot be so distracted by its approach that he fails to berate Gooseberry for presenting him with a water-stained receipt. Something is clearly amiss, and the Victorian boy detective vows to find out what. Join Octavius (AKA Gooseberry, AKA Octopus) and his ragtag bunch of friends as they investigate a shadowy spiritualist medium recently arrived from Massachusetts, only to discover that somebody desperately wants her dead.

Octavius Guy and the Case of the Quibbling Cleric. London, 1853. The well-heeled residents of Highbury have a problem: the Reverend Allaston Burr, the rector who’s been foisted upon their congregation by an ancient yet legally-binding right known as an advowson. When a final appeal to Queen Victoria—as the head of the Church of England—fails to remove him from his post, they turn to Gooseberry for help. Join fifteen-year-old Octavius and his ragtag bunch of friends as they investigate the detested cleric, only to discover that someone has a far more permanent form of removal in mind.