Tom-All-Alone's
by Lynn Shepherd
The name of the book is the name given to a graveyard where people can have their loved ones buried cheaply, or in the case of those dead who have no family or friends, chucked in one on top of the other. One of the first scenes in the book takes place here, but it is bodies of babies that are unearthed. The place is London 1850, and here begins a brilliantly written murder mystery, led by ex-detective Charles Maddox. He is led into a world of bribery, corruption, prostitution and murder. Will he himself come out of this unscathed? The murders are gruesome but the storytelling gripping.
Ben Kingdom - The Claws of Evil
by Andrew Beasley
Victorian London - but not quite as you might have learnt it in school! Ben's mother died during childbirth, and he, his father and his brother all live in a tiny room in a shared house, with no heating. But what Ben doesn't know yet is that he is the chosen one of a prophecy, and many of the characters around him are actually 'Watchers' looking after him making sure he is not recruited by the evil underground people. Ben comes into possession of an ancient Roman coin which the evil people would also like to have. So begins a cat and mouse chase game, followed by a tug-of-war between the do-gooders and the claws of evil to see who can keep Ben.
The second in The Battles of Ben Kingdom series is out in September 2013.
