Genre: Middle
Grade/Paranormal Mystery/Ghosts
Description:
“When Theresa and her little brother Joey tour The Tower of London
with their good friend Kerry, the kids expect to see a ghost or two, but they
never imagined they’d find themselves involved in one of history’s most
infamous missing person cases. They’ve got a pair of very impatient spirits on
their hands and for good reason. The two 15th-century English princes have been
forced to haunt The Tower for more than five-hundred years, all because someone
else is buried in their Westminster Abbey tomb.”
Author:
“Diana Corbitt is a retired elementary school teacher living in
northern California. Her work has appeared in Bewildering Stories and
Encounters Magazine. She had a podcast on Manor House and one of her short
stories was anthologized in Wax and Wane:
A Gathering of Witch Tales.”
To learn more about Ms. Corbitt check out her website.
Appraisal:
In this addition to the Ghosters series, Theresa, Kerry, and Joey get
to take a hop across the pond. Theresa and Joey Martinez’s father is an author
who is invited to do a two-week book tour in the United Kingdom. It would be an
educational trip for the kids, and a shame for them to miss out on. It would
also be a bummer if they had to traipse their father around to all the book
tour stops. Luckily, their good friend and fellow ghost chaser, Kerry Addison,
is from England and her grandmother lives in London. Grandma is more than
willing to have the three kids stay with her while dad is gallivanting around
the countryside on his book tour. It’s been a year since Gran has seen Kerry,
so she’s overjoyed about the visit. Gran happens to be a retired history
professor and an ex-tour guide at the Towers of London, so she knows the best
attractions to get the kids tickets for. She is also ghost savvy.
Not two days into their visit Gran suffers an appendicitis attack and
ends up in the hospital. Luckily Aunt Ginny lives right next door to Gran. The
kids are allowed to tour London on their own during the day since Gran has it
all planned out for them, then they’ll report back to Aunt Ginny’s every
evening for dinner.
When a small boy appears to Joey in the Bloody Tower, he and the girls
are curious. When they see the boy’s likeness in the portrait gallery, they are
off and running to try to figure out why he and his brother are stuck in a
small Bloody Tower room instead of properly buried in Westminster Abby, where
their bones belong. They learn that there was scuttlebutt back in the day that
the two young princes were murdered and their bodies hidden in an unmarked
grave. No one knows whose bones are actually in the Abby in their place.
It’s a fun and educational adventure. As you can imagine there are
lots of ghosts around London, some are new and some hundreds of years old, many
of which are friendly and helpful or in need of help. Each encounter is
different and engaging.
Poor Kerry has to lug around her electronic thingamajigs just to see
and hear the blasted ghosts. And it’s always entertaining when Joey, who has Asperger syndrome, often takes words,
rules, and common phrases quite literally. He also doesn’t like to be touched,
so strangers aren’t allowed in his bubble. However, his sister, Theresa or
Kerry, are always close by to protect, or explain situations and phrases for
him. I especially enjoyed the times Theresa and Kerry tried to explain rule
breaking to Joey, so he’d understand that sometimes rules have to be broken for
the greater good.
Secrets
of the Bloody Tower is a delightful romp through London with a big
finale that makes this trip even more memorable. Don’t miss out on this story.
FYI:
Secrets
of the Bloody Tower is book 3 in Diana Corbitt’s, GHOSTERS Series.
Format/Typo
Issues:
A small number of proofing misses, such as missing, extra, or wrong
words.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 60-65,000 words
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