Flood and fang

FLOOD AND FANG is the first of The Raven Mysteries, a series of adventures set in and around Otherhand Castle, featuring the odd doings of the strange Otherhand family, their acquaintances and servants.

The stories are narrated by Edgar, an old, grumpy, but essentially good-natured, raven who is the guardian of the castle and has witnessed many comings and goings.

Edgar is alarmed when he sees a nasty looking black tail slinking under the castle walls.

Lord Valevine Otherhand will have his head in his books trying to invent the unthinkable and discover the unknowable.

His wife Euphemia (Minty for short) will be busy being a spectacularly uninvolved parent - which leaves 10-year-old Cudweed at the mercy of Solstice his thin, black-haired teenage sister.

Luckily for Cudweed and, as it turns out for Edgar, Solstice is also quite smart so she may be able to help.

As the lower storeys of the castle begin mysteriously to flood, the habitable portion of the castle shrinks, bringing the family ever closer to the owner of the black tail...