Haarville (Kelpies) 23rd February 2023 UK/ 6th June US/AUS/NZ
Welcome to Haarville — if you’ve arrived, you’ve survived. Off the grid and not on the maps, it’s a place shrouded in fog and steeped in pungent pongs. Everything here smells fishy, especially the town’s suspicious new arrivals.
Twelve-year-old Manx Fearty is an orphan (his family has a terrible habit of dying, terribly), and now he’s about to lose their perpetual device shop to sinister newcomers claiming to be long-lost relatives. As he sets out to prove them wrong, Manx finds himself on the trail of a murky, mist-muddled mystery — and it’s one he needs to solve fast, otherwise Haarville is doomed.
With the help of his fiercely protective drag-queen guardian Father G (aka the fabulous Gloria in Excelsis), loyal best friend Fantoosh, and oystercatcher-with-attitude Olu, Manx wades through secrets, schemes and some stomach-churning seafood. Can he save both his family’s legacy and his town?
Darkly comic but full of heart, this quirky middle-grade mystery adventure from Justin Davies, award-winning author of Help! I Smell a Monster and Whoa! I Spy a Werewolf (Orchard Books), is perfect for fans of Malamander and A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Available anywhere books are sold, including:
Help! I Smell a Monster ( 2019, Orchard Books, Hachette Children’s Group)
This book STINKS . . . of monsters! A hilariously funny debut, perfect for fans of Pamela Butchart and David Solomons.
When Alice is sent to stay with her Uncle Magnus, she soon realises that his job agency isn’t quite … normal. It helps monsters find work that makes the most of their unique talons – er, talents. Alice is shocked to discover that monsters are EVERYWHERE. There’s even a Cyclops working in the castle as a pastry chef! But when he suddenly disappears, Alice smells something fishy. Can she and her uncle sniff out the missing monster before it’s too late?
Available from several online bookshops, including these – take your pick!
Or, if you have a favourite independent bookshop, pop in and ask them to order it for you. Use this handy button to locate your nearest indie bookshop:
Or, why not try Hive where every online purchase supports a local independent bookshop! Brilliant!
Don’t forget to check out your local library too!
Whoa! I Spy a Werewolf (2020, Orchard, Hachette Children’s Group)
A celebrity shapeshifter takes the werewolf world by storm in this frightfully funny read.
In Help! I Smell a Monster, Alice MacAlister saves the world and finds out that she’s a monster. Now, the twelve-year-old werewolf is back and thrilled to be nominated for a Nessie award in the Bravest Monster category. She can’t wait to meet the ceremony’s host, celebrity werewolf vlogger, Kiki. But Kiki isn’t at all how Alice imagined she’d be. In fact, she doesn’t seem like a werewolf at all . . .
Alice and her new friend, a young French werewolf named Louis, smell a rat. But when an ancient shapeshifter steals Alice’s body and goes on a crime spree, she finds herself in trouble with the human police AND vampire secret agents!
Can Alice and her monster friends prove her innocence and stop the shapeshifter from destroying the world?
Purchase from here:
Justin Davies 