Tom Marlowe Adventures

Series · 3 books · 2003-2005

By Chris Priestley

Books in series

Death and the Arrow

2003

Fifteen-year-old Tom lives in the murky city of London where he helps his father run a print shop. Among the customers is wise old Dr. Harker, a retired physician and seafarer, whose patient demeanor and fascinating tales endear him to Tom. Both Tom and Harker become intrigued by a murder in the city where the victim is pierced by an arrow and left holding an illustrated card of "Death and the Arrow." The mystery deepens after more "Death and the Arrow" victims are discovered, and Tom cannot rest until he has uncovered the truth behind the murders. This atmospheric venture into the 18th-century will fascinate young adult readers.

The White Rider

2004

Another gripping historical murder mystery – the thrilling sequel to Death and the Arrow. London, 1716: The streets are full of spies and buzzing with intrigue. Jacobite rebels are being rounded up and hanged at Tower Hill, and on the outskirts of London, a mysterious Highwayman stalks the roads, a robber so fierce that he kills his victims simply by pointing at them! Tom Marlowe, caught in the fascinating heat of events is resolved to get to the bottom of them, with the help of his mentor, Dr Harker, and discover who is behind the White Rider’s gruesome mask. But Dr Harker seems to be keeping secrets of his own. Who is the stranger with the Scottish accent seen at his house, and why does the Doctor lie when questioned about him?

Redwulf's Curse

2005

Tom and Dr Harker are back and this time their adventure takes them outside London. They visit a friend in Norfolk, Mr Gibbs, who has recently unearthed fabulous Anglo-Saxon treasures from an archaeological excavation. They are believed to have belonged to the East Anglian king, Redwulf. Local legend tells of a ghostly guardian of the king's tomb and a curse against anyone who threatens it. When not one but two murders occur in the household, it is hard to dismiss the legend. As everyone feels threatened and the atmosphere of hostility increases, Tom and Harker investigate. Discovering in fact that Gibbs' wife is behind the attacks seems to explain what's been happening. But then Tom sees an unidentifiable figure in the mist- An exciting and atmospheric story set in the eighteenth-century and delving into our Anglo-Saxon past.

Author

Chris Priestley

Author · 23 books

His father was in the army and so he moved around a lot as a child and lived in Wales. He was an avid reader of American comics as a child, and when he was eight or nine, and living in Gibraltar, he won a prize in a newspaper story-writing competition. He decided then “that my ambition was to write and illustrate my own book”. He spent his teens in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, before moving to Manchester, London and then Norfolk. He now lives in Cambridge with his wife and son where he writes, draws, paints, dreams and doodles (not necessarily in that order). Chris worked as an illustrator and cartoonist for twenty years, working mainly for magazines & newspapers (these include The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Economist and the Wall Street Journal) before becoming a writer. He currently has a weekly strip cartoon called 'Payne's Grey' in the New Statesman. Chris has been a published author since 2000. He has written several books for children & young-adults, both fiction and non-fiction, and has been nominated for many awards including the Edgar Awards, the UKLA Children's Book Award and the Carnegie Medal. In recent years he has predominantly been writing horror. Ever since he was a teenager Chris has loved unsettling and creepy stories, with fond memories of buying comics like 'Strange Tales' and 'House of Mystery', watching classic BBC TV adaptations of M R James ghost stories every Christmas and reading assorted weirdness by everyone from Edgar Allen Poe to Ray Bradbury. He hopes Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror will haunt his readers in the way those writers have haunted him.