F. E. Higgins

THE BONE MAGICIAN I bought this book because it was cheap and the cover had great images and a tactile feel. Set in Victorian Dickensian times I knew I would like it. It is about an abandoned boy, Pin Carpue, Pin's mother is dead and his father is on the run after being accused of murder. Pin watches corpses for a living. It was common in these times for people to rob the corpse of eyeballs, teeth etc to on sell or to be buried alive. Pin finds a job working for the local undertaker as a show more body watcher, making sure people are really dead before they’re buried.
While watching a corpse, Pin is drugged and as he comes to, the body he’s supposed to be watching is currently surrounded by three people engaged in a most unusual ceremony. An old man, a bone magician, and his young female assistant are waking a woman so her grieving fiancé can have one last goodbye with her. Pin can’t believe it will work, but then the dead woman sits up and speaks.
Pin is determined to discover how the magic works. He cannot believe they are raising the dead. He cannot believe his father is a murderer. Then Pin himself nearly becomes the killer’s (The Silver Apple Killer) next victim.
As this story unfolds with all its creepiness, Pin learns more about the bone magician, the girl Juno and a hideous creature called the Gluttonous Beast that is kept in a local tavern where people pay for a glimpse.
The story is from various characters points of view, taken from Pin's Journal, some from Pin's point of view, some from Juno's, some of the book is taken from newspapers, etc.
I really enjoyed this story as I like relating it to how people lived in those times through poverty and yet they survive, they are resilient. Books of this type show a person true integrity, where characters struggle against poverty and despair bringing a sense of enlightenment into the dark world they live in.
Due to my enjoyment in reading this book I purchased the first book, The Black Book of Secrets which was also well worth the read. These two books can be read independent of each other. I've yet to read The Eyeball Collector and The Lunatic's Curse. show less

This is one of those books that bedclothes and flashlights were invented for. Young pickpocket Ludlow Fitch escapes his frightful parents in the City and finds himself in the remote village of Pagus Parvus. There he's taken in as apprentice by another newcomer to the village, Joe Zabbidou (as in "Zabbi Zabbi Dou!" this erstwhile Flintstones fan kept thinking), who's a pawnbroker of secrets -- that is, people tell him their deepest secrets while Ludlow records them in Joe's mysterious black show more book, and then Joe pays them. At first Ludlow naturally thinks the purpose is blackmail, but that isn't it at all . . .

I assume there's a paperback of this by now, but I haven't seen it. The hardback, though, is only $14.95, and I would say worth every penny. Not only is this a book you'll probably want to read again yourself, you're likely to find yourself forcing it on your friends. But that's not the only reason you might want to opt for the hardback. Whoever designed this (Susan Walsh for the book and Rich Deas for the cover, it says here) was obviously as nuts about the novel as I am, because everything about the production looks, feels and even smells appropriate for what's essentially a modern rendering of those books that have had generations of kids reading them obsessively and clandestinely. My only quibble with The Black Book of Secrets is that Higgins seems to be setting herself up at the end for a sequel or even a series, and this is a book that should be left to stand alone as the wonderful creation it is; any sequel can only, by its very existence, detract. show less

Ludlow runs away from his parents in the city when they try to pull his teeth out so they can have more gin money. He immediately hops on the back of a carriage and ends up in small mountain village where things are very wrong. The local lord has everyone in debt to him and he is using that debt to perform illegal activities. Ludlow ends up working for Joe Zabidou a pawn broker who also deals in secrets. Ludlow wants to trust Joe but he also feels like should do something about the land lord show more but he wants it to be legal. Ludlow is torn but it quickly becomes clear that the town can't take much more.

Quick, dark mysterious read. Very enjoyable. show less

Hector Fitzbaudly is fascinated by the bad side of town until his wealthy father is ruined by a one-eyed blackmailer. Forced to sell everything they own, Hector is soon left an orphan and has to live among the desperate people he had been so curious about. He finds friends, but he swears to avenge his father by making the man responsible pay. As it turns out, the villain is currently living among the depraved local nobility, and Hector finds there's a job opening. Living among them, he can show more observe and carry out his revenge.
A grim and well-written tale of revenge set in a fictional version of the Victorian era. show less