Books with author F.E. Higgins

A boy arrives at a remote village in the dead of night. His name is Ludlow Fitch, and he is running from a most terrible past. In this village is the life he has dreamed of: a safe place to live and a job, as the assistant to a mysterious pawnbroker who buys people's deepest, darkest secrets. Ludlow transcribes the confessions in an ancient leather-bound tome: the Black Book of Secrets. He yearns to trust his mentor, who refuses to disclose any information on his past experiences or future intentions. But what the pawnbroker does not know is, in a town brimming with secrets, the most troubling may be held by his new apprentice.

The Giant, the Huntress, the Rich Girl, the Thief: these haphazard heroes will save us from grief—a twisted adventure of intrigue, magic, and superstition from the author of the series Tales from the Sinister CityDon't go down to the tar pits, children—for their shores are lined with the wretched wraiths of all the traitors and murderers who have drowned in its bubbling depths. In the shadows of this putrid place, an unlikely new alliance is being formed: they call them The Phenomenals, and only they can save us from a hideous fate that will befall the town if the wraiths escape their tarry shackles. Meet The Phenomenals: Citrine Capodel—heiress to a corrupt empire who will seek the truth at any cost; Folly Harpelaine—a merciless destroyer of the ghastly entities called Lurids, who dabbles in the dark arts; Jonah Scrimshander—a deadly harpoonist, who has already cheated death; and Vincent Verdigris—a brazen-faced, metal-handed cutpurse and expert picklock.

A drug lord with a powerful secret…Alvaro Gutiérrez is the most dangerous drug trafficker in Mexico, the head of a vast criminal network that DEA special agent Rainn Darson has vowed to bring down. Yet, despite her best efforts, her superiors have refused to make him a priority. That is until the mutilated body of a British soldier washes up on the shore at Veracruz. Now, all fingers point to Gutiérrez, bringing the drug boss to the attention of both the White House and Downing Street. Darson is sent to Mexico to lead a joint agency task force to find Gutiérrez and get him extradited onto U.S. soil. But Gutiérrez holds a dangerous secret, one that, if revealed, could shake the very foundations of the U.S. government.Just outside of Langley, four influential men gather for a discrete meeting and come to one conclusion ─ Gutiérrez has to be eliminated. They hire ex-Foreign Legionnaire turned mercenary, Devon Crane, to find and assassinate Gutiérrez before he falls into the hands of the authorities. Across South America, Crane and his band of mercenaries wage a vicious guerrilla campaign against Gutiérrez’s organization, while Darson and her team struggle to find evidence that could bring Gutiérrez to justice…and they aren’t the only parties willing to take extreme measures to win this prize. Join J.E. Higgins — author of The Sauwa Catcher Series and The Montevideo Game — on this action-packed race to a deadly finish.

The thief, the seeker, the rich girl, the brute—The Phenomenals are backAn earthquake has rumbled through the twisted city of Degringolade, stopping the town Kronometer and the infamous Phenomenals in their tracks. Legend has it that if the ancient clock stops ticking a terrible fate will befall the people of Degringolade, and there's no denying that the super-mundane entities of the tar-pits are behaving strangely. They know something that the townspeople don't: deep below the city, something has woken up—and it's hungry.

Pin Carpue is on his own in the world. His mother is dead and his father is missing after being labeled a suspect in a rash of murders. Pin finds a job working for the local undertaker as a body watcher, making sure people are really dead before they're buried. The body he's supposed to be watching tonight 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 next victim. As this mysterious tale unfolds with delicious creepiness, Pin will learn 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 of it.

Although Hector Fitzbaudly has always lived a plush life on the posh side of the River Foedus, he's yearned to slip away from his comfortable home and see the seedy side of Urbs Umida. Unfortunately, he gets his chance when a blackmail artist confronts his father with a terrible secret from his past, and Hector finds himself penniless and on the streets. He is determined to get his revenge against the man responsible, who has been a pauper, a gentleman, and an Eyeball Collector―stealing jewels from the wealthy to make false eyes to replace his missing one. He is a master of disguise, and a swindler who moves from place to place. Hector trails the Eyeball Collector to the small village of Pagus Parvus and the foreboding Withypitts Hall, run by the eccentric Lady Mandible who has a strange taste for the macabre. He takes a job incubating butterflies for Lady Mandible, and places himself in the perfect position to take revenge. Hector is so close to the Eyeball Collector, but will he be able to go through with his plan?Once again, F. E. Higgins takes readers into her world filled with grand balls and hairy-backed beasts, plotting nobility and clever orphans, and creates a spine-tingling story that is her most eerie yet.

The town of Opum Oppidulum is home to the freezing Lake Beluarum and its rumored monster. On an island at the center of the lake is an asylum; no one has ever escaped it. So how will Rex, whose father, Ambrose Grammaticus, has been imprisoned there under false pretenses, prove that Ambrose is not insane? And if Rex can free his father, will his evil stepmother drive them both to madness? Higgins' fans will devour this deliciously scary tale, a "polyquel" to her previous books, all of which can be read singly or together. But not in the dark . . .

When his butterfly-collector father is swindled to within an inch of his life, a vengeful Hector leaves the city of Urbs Umida in pursuit of a fiendish villain with a glass eye. The trail leads to Withypitts Hall, a forbidding Gothic mansion as warped as its inhabitants and their secret schemes. Soon Hector finds himself embroiled in mysterious deeds more poisonous than his worst imaginings, but every twist and turn brings him closer to his revenge . . .

Pin Carpue is on his own in the world. His mother is dead and his father is missing after being labeled a suspect in a rash of murders. Pin finds a job working for the local undertaker as a body watcher, making sure people are really dead before they’re buried. The body he’s supposed to be watching tonight 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 next victim.As this mysterious tale unfolds with delicious creepiness, Pin will learn 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.Once again, F.E. Higgins delivers a story that is full of intrigue and suspense.

A boy arrives at a remote village in the dead of night. His name is Ludlow Fitch--and he is running from a most terrible past. What he is about to learn is that in this village is the life he has dreamed of--a safe place to live, and a job, as the assistant to a mysterious pawnbroker who trades people's deepest, darkest secrets for cash. Ludlow's job is to neatly transcribe the confessions in an ancient leather-bound tome: The Black Book of Secrets.Ludlow yearns to trust his mentor, who refuses to disclose any information on his past experiences or future intentions. What the pawnbroker does not know is, in a town brimming with secrets, the most troubling may be held by his new apprentice.

Since his father disappeared under a dark cloud of scandal, Pin Carpue has been alone in the world. His work for the local undertaker keeps him busy, but his life is bleak. Then Pin encounters the Bone Magician, a man who can raise corpses and make the dead speak. As Pin pieces together the secrets of Bone Magic, his own life becomes fraught with grave danger . . .

When Ludlow Fitch's parents cruelly betray him, he steals away on the back of a carriage and leaves behind the stinking City. He arrives in the dead of night at a remote village, where he crosses paths with the tall and limping figure of Joe Zabbidou - a pawnbroker with a difference. For Joe trades secrets, not goods, for cash. Ludlow is employed to record the villagers' fiendish confessions in The Black Book of Secrets. Bodysnatching; thievery; murder. The people of Pagus Parvus have much to hide. But is Ludlow Fitch ready to release his own skeletons? And will he ever learn to trust his mysterious master?