Books with author Blackwood Gary

Introducing private investigator Charley Field, the true-life inspiration behind Charles Dickens’ Inspector Bucket, in an intriguing new Victorian mystery series. December, 1853. Having found fame as the inspiration behind Inspector Bucket in Charles Dickens’ recent bestselling serialization, Bleak House, former Detective Inspector Charley Field has set himself up as a private enquiry agent – so far without success. Matters become personal however when the body of a local prostitute is found floating in the Serpentine in Hyde Park. Having often enjoyed Rosa’s company, Charley is disinclined to believe the official verdict of suicide. Convinced Rosa was murdered, he determines to track down the mysterious client who visited her the day she died. But when he finally encounters the man he believes responsible for her death, Charley discovers that there’s more to Rosa’s murder than even a veteran sleuth like himself could imagine.

At 14 years old, Ryan Waite is not a bad actor -- in fact he’s quite a good one. Good enough to have had several years’ experience on various stages of Toronto, where he lives with his mother. When Ryan messes up an audition for a part in Les Miz, he makes contact with a bulky character named Burton who launches the boy into the most challenging role of his lifetime. Burton turns out to be a private investigator who’s out to make some big money through arranging for Ryan to impersonate a boy who is the long-lost son of a millionaire desperate to re-establish the relationship with his son before he dies. Suddenly Ryan finds himself performing a part considerably beyond his depth, having to improvise emotions and understandings and make up complicated lies just in order to stay ahead of the game.Ryan knows discovery is inevitable and when the moment arrives, he has to dig deep to find the most graceful and honourable way of making his exit.

"You will come into a fortune..." But what the fortune-teller doesn't tell Widge, the -orphan-boy-turned-actor in Will Shakespeare's company, is who is stealing from the company. Things are disappearing mysteriously, and it looks like an inside job. Everyone's eyes are on Widge, the former thief. Widge knows better than anyone that Shakespeare's plays must be protected at all costs. In order to prove his innocence and clear his name, Widge must learn a new role: spy. But can he dig through the suspects and skulduggery and catch the true culprit?

Timothy's not the outdoorsy type-he has no desire to even wander around a park, let alone a wilderness preserve. Camping is bad enough, but when Timothy gets lost in the woods, his life becomes a nightmare. Stranded in the unforgiving forest far from civilization, armed with only a hatchet and a battered copy of Lord of the Flies, it will take a determination Timothy doesn't know he has to survive alone, and somehow make it home. Back in print in paperback, this novel is a compelling and exciting survival story from a rising star. "A suspenseful and philosophical survival story. . . . A cut above." (School Library Journal)