Books with author Gareth P Jones

Larkin Mills: The Birthplace of Death! Larkin Mills is no ordinary town. It's a place of contradictions and enigma, of secrets and mysteries. A place with an exquisite ice cream parlour, and an awful lot of death. An extraordinary mystery in Larkin Mills is beginning to take shape. First we meet the apparently healthy Albert Dance, although he's always been called a sickly child, and he's been booked into Larkin Mills' Hospital for Specially Ill Children. Then there's his neighbour Ivor, who observes strange goings-on, and begins his own investigations into why his uncle disappeared all those years ago. Next we meet Young Olive, who is given a battered accordion by her father, and unwittingly strikes a dreadful deal with an instrument repair man. Make sure you keep an eye on Mr Morricone, the town ice-cream seller, who has queues snaking around the block for his legendary ice cream flavours Summer Fruits Suicide and The Christmas Massacre. And Mr Milkwell, the undertaker, who has some very dodgy secrets locked up in his hearse. Because if you can piece together what all these strange folks have to do with one another . . . well, you'll have begun to unlock the dark secrets that keep the little world of Larkin Mills spinning . . .

Eddie thinks nothing ever happens in his small, boring town. Every day is exactly the same, down to what the bus driver will say when he picks each kid up in the morning. But then, one day, someone new, and very pretty, walks onto the bus. At least, Eddie thinks she’s new, but there is something oddly familiar about Scarlett. Intrigued (and smitten), Eddie starts to follow Scarlett—and what he discovers is odder still. Scarlett is a Senior Echo Time Agent from the future, come to his town to investigate the origin of time travel, which, unbeknownst to Eddie, was invented right in his hometown, by someone he knew. Soon Eddie is swept up in the investigation and in time. But time travel is a dangerous business, and Eddie will learn more than he wants to know about his long-dead mother. This psychologically rich thriller redefines the time travel novel for a teen audience.

When Dirk Dilly gets a call from Holly asking him to help her find her missing cat, he thinks that the case will be very tedious. However, soon he and the intrepid Holly are engaged in a life or death struggle in which the missing cats play only a small part. This is a case that will seriously test Dilly's detective skills as he finds himself up against some very dangerous foes!

Wanted: Dead or Alive! (Or smashed into little bits and delivered in boxes.) The Steampunk Pirates jump at the chance to earn a handsome reward in return for doing some snooping. But when they find themselves sandwiched between the Dread Captain Inky beard and a spider on the attack, it's time to beat a retreat. Can they escape without a scrape or have the robotic rebels ticked their last? This hilarious new series from Gareth P. Jones, author of Ninja Meerkats, is sure to delight young readers with its madcap humour and larger-than-life robot pirate crew.

Something mysterious and terrible is happening throughout Victorian London: Ghosts are disap­pearing. When this reaches the attention of the Ghost Bureau, the diligent but clueless Mr. Lapsewood, a paranormal paper-pusher, is sent to investigate, and what he discovers is grave. The Black Rot has arrived―a voracious spiritual infestation whereby empty haunted houses suck in unsuspecting ghosts and imprison them. Lapsewood’s investigation weaves through the plotlines of several other memorable characters―both living and dead―including an undertaker’s son who can see ghosts, a serial throat-slasher reminiscent of Jack the Ripper, an evangelical exorcist, and many more. The living and dead must work together if they hope to destroy the Black Rot―before it destroys both the ghost and human worlds. This highly atmospheric and bitingly funny ghost story by successful British author Gareth P. Jones will delight fans of Eva Ibbotson and Neil Gaiman. Praise for Constable & Toop STARRED REVIEWS "Jones has crafted a menacing, spooky Victorian London full of criminals and unfinished business, which is well balanced by the biting satire and buffoonery of the Bureau. Add to that a cast of fascinating, well-wrought characters―from the smarmy and threatening Jack, to the precocious, pot-stirring aspiring journalist, Clara―and it’s a winning combination of macabre atmosphere, whimsical antics, and heartfelt, earnest friendship." --Booklist, starred review "This story is sure to tickle the funny bone and satisfy the taste for some gruesome adventure while appealing to both girls and boys. A fun read that includes intrigue, murder, mystery, and a young damsel who rescues them all." --School Library Journal, starred review "Both spine-chilling and raucously funny, this ghostly Victorian mystery knits humor and horror into a lively supernatural escapade for confident readers." --Library Media Connection, highly recommended "Jones is interested in giving readers more than spooky thrills; his characters have moral heft and are concerned with issues such as culpability, whether people can be considered good if they have done bad things, and the importance of living life to its fullest." --Kirkus Reviews "British author Jones offers a witty take on Victorian ghost stories that mixes dark humor and satire with an almost traditional boy’s adventure format." --Publishers Weekly "It is part mystery, part adventure, and thoroughly delightful." --VOYA

Told with Gareth's signature wit, humour and thoughtfulness, this story examines the way stories shape our past, present and futureEddie is pretty certain nowhere could be more small-town, more boring, and more inconsequential than his home town of the Wellcome Valley. Unfortunately, he is about to be proved spectacularly wrong. Eddie's problems start with the arrival of Scarlett, a new girl in town who seems rather too confident and mysterious for your average schoolgirl. She attracts trouble (and Eddie) like a magnet, and she's apparently only interested in two very strange things - protecting the town's local crackpot scientist, and telling Eddie absolutely nothing about what on earth is going on. And why is she so interested in Eddie's long-dead mother? Things quickly go from weird to worse for Eddie, as he finds himself right in the middle of a dangerous mystery - one with consequences not just for him and Scarlett, but time itself.

Wanted: Dead or Alive! (Or smashed into little bits and delivered in boxes.) Causing chaos wherever they sail, the robotic Steampunk Pirates are roaming the high seas, hunting for gold! But the evil Iron Duke has other ideas… He's determined to capture the pirates in return for a handsome reward from the King. Can the mechanical marauders stay one wave ahead of their enemy? This hilarious new series from Gareth P. Jones, author of Ninja Meerkats, is sure to delight young readers with its madcap humour and larger-than-life robot pirate crew.

In prison, accused of murdering President Vorlunar, things are not looking good for Stanley. But when he is released, matters get even worse! He discovers that his assumed crime has given him not only notoriety, but value.How can a boy who lives above a pub in south-east London cope with bounty hunters with beards on their foreheads, lawyers who specialise in Intergalactic Law, Pan-Dimensional Litigation and Criminal Prosecution, and the terrifying bird-headed space pirates, the Marauding Picaroons.

Over the last few decades, economists and psychologists have quietly documented the many ways in which a person's IQ matters. But, research suggests that a nation's IQ matters so much more. As Garett Jones argues in Hive Mind, modest differences in national IQ can explain most cross-country inequalities. Whereas IQ scores do a moderately good job of predicting individual wages, information processing power, and brain size, a country's average score is a much stronger bellwether of its overall prosperity. Drawing on an expansive array of research from psychology, economics, management, and political science, Jones argues that intelligence and cognitive skill are significantly more important on a national level than on an individual one because they have "positive spillovers." On average, people who do better on standardized tests are more patient, more cooperative, and have better memories. As a result, these qualities―and others necessary to take on the complexity of a modern economy―become more prevalent in a society as national test scores rise. What's more, when we are surrounded by slightly more patient, informed, and cooperative neighbors we take on these qualities a bit more ourselves. In other words, the worker bees in every nation create a "hive mind" with a power all its own. Once the hive is established, each individual has only a tiny impact on his or her own life. Jones makes the case that, through better nutrition and schooling, we can raise IQ, thereby fostering higher savings rates, more productive teams, and more effective bureaucracies. After demonstrating how test scores that matter little for individuals can mean a world of difference for nations, the book leaves readers with policy-oriented conclusions and hopeful speculation: Whether we lift up the bottom through changing the nature of work, institutional improvements, or freer immigration, it is possible that this period of massive global inequality will be a short season by the standards of human history if we raise our global IQ.

When Detective Dirk Dilly gets a surprise visit from a Sea Dragon in need of his sleuthing skills, at first he dismisses the case. After all, dragons are extremely high risk and they rarely pay well. But soon Dirk is stuck - from his horny head to the tip of his scaly tail - right in the thick of a dramatic new mystery full of unexpected danger. His trusty friend Holly has made some startling discoveries too, and it's not long before Holly and Dirk are together involved in perhaps their slipperiest mystery yet, involving the strange disappearance of a sister, a dodgy billionaire and some very powerful dragons. Not to mention they will make some unlikely friends along the way in this compelling and plot-driven story full of exciting and unusual twists and turns.

Legend tells of the Clan of the Scorpion, four mighty meerkats who are armed to the teeth with ninja-know-how. They are sworn to protect the world from their longtime nemesis, the Ringmaster. The meerkats receive strange reports from the Australian outback. They fly down under to investigate, and discover strange goings-on in the desert and who else could be behind it but that top-hatted menace, the Ringmaster. He is building missiles to take control of the world. With boxing kangaroos and killer koalas, not to mention the Ringmaster's crew of deadly circus goons, this is one deadly desert mission.