Books published by Frouse Books

A riddle in the skies. A puzzle spanning worlds. A prize, locked behind seven keys... Serena Carterett leads a team of masqueraders, shapeshifters and reformed thieves. Fighting crime's their job; solving ancient mysteries, not so much.But when the seven dreams riddle lights up the skies, that's got to change. The riddle speaks of treasure; better yet, a door, protecting an unimaginably dangerous power.In the wrong hands, this power will threaten the future of the Seven Realms - and the distant past.As treasure-hunters spread across the worlds, Serena musters her band of misfits for the greatest mission of their career. To win could be everything; to lose, unthinkable. The challenge is on. Who will unlock the door?

''You may have noticed,'' said Maut, ''that the Tree is on the move.''On the edge of the town of Kottow stands the tallest (and oddest) Tree in the land. It''s a staid and solid arbour - until the Tree picks up its mighty old roots and wanders off, taking its resident band of misfits away with it. Whither goes the Tree? Not even the wizard can say.''There is something mighty fey about all this, or my name ain''t Diggory Stokey.''Far away from Kottow, a forest lies lost in the mists of a dream. There''s much to mend in this hoary old wood, for the Summer''s been swept from the glittering skies, and no one''s keeping an eye on the Winter...''Enchanted forests,'' Mudleaf spat. ''Bah. Like it''s been raining magic this long age through.''The good folk of Kottow aren''t used to so wayward a magic - not even Maut Fey, the one with the sunlight behind her eyes. But magic will have its way with them, whether they will or no.Summertide''s waiting. Can the folk of the Tree bring it back, or will the wild magic wash them away?"If you mixed elements of the Faraway Tree, Narnia, Frozen and A Midsummer Night''s Dream together, you might get something like Summertide. Maybe." - The Author''Almond tarts for her MAJESTY!'' someone else roared. ''Apple ice-wine for her majesty!''

Detective. Judge. Executioner.Konrad Savast is the Malykant: foremost and most secret servant of the God of Death. His job? To track down the foulest of murderers and bring them to The Malykt's Justice. No mercy. No quarter. The Zolin Conspiracy: Out in the deep snow lies the body of a gentleman - missing his head. Bogdan Zolin's death proves a mystery difficult to solve, for nobody seems to know anything about him at all. Konrad must delve deep into the hidden secrets of the aristocratic world - a challenge that may prove dangerous indeed...The Tarasov Despite: Verinka Tarasovna dies alone in the street on a cold morning, cursing her brother's name. Was he her killer? Unhappy secrets lie buried beneath the semblance of a happy family, and the truth proves elusive. What's more, Verinka's ghost is not quite gone...The Malefic Curse: The body of a homeless man lies under a bridge, torn to pieces. His death was violent, merciless - and delivered by something inhuman. The trail leads into the Spiritlands, and Konrad must follow, whatever dangers await. For something ancient and evil stalks the city at night...Shandral: Reeling in the aftermath of the malefic curse, the city of Ekamet knows no peace, for a new killer strikes. Two men lie dead, gaping holes where their eyes used to be; but Konrad is adrift in the wake of disaster. The Malykant must save the city once again, but can he first save himself?The Malykant faces four stone-cold killers in Death's Executioner, the concluding volume in the dark tales of Konrad Savast.

Distantly upon the horizon, bejewelled light shone like stars; tantalising, inviting.Then the palace-in-glass was gone, fading away into the velvet night like a snuffed lamp.Between the sands and the starlight, ancient powers rise, and the oldest of tales become new. An old sorcerer travels the starlight bazaars: cursed and magic-blighted, he has glass where his heart should be.A half-jinni enchantress seeks her missing son: daughter of a fallen king, hers is a great and daunting power.A trio of camels walks the sands: sisters in service, loyal, ensorcelled, there is more to their past than meets the eye. What unites these tales (and many more) is a marvel of sorcery and beauty: a great palace of ensorcelled glass, glimpsed only under the stars, and vanishing with the dawn...The third Wonder Tale from Charlotte E. English combines the magic and colour of ancient stories with her trademark wit and whimsy. A fresh journey into the strange lands of fairytales.

Once upon a chime...Every day at four o' clock, an enchanted twilight sweeps over Vale Argantel. Strange things happen under its eldritch influence: mists boil up out of the ground, rain pours out of a cloudless sky, and the roses grow wild and fey. Such is the way of things.But when her friend falls through a magic mirror and disappears, Margot realises something's changed. An ancient enchantment has gone awry, and chaos quickly spreads. Magic-drunk, confused and hampered at every turn, Margot must find a way to reclaim Oriane - and before anybody else disappears.But for Oriane, things are stranger still. Lost in a topsy-turvy world, how can she ever find her way home? For she's adrift in a place very like Argantel - eerily familiar, yet strangely different; a place which follows none of the usual rules…Get drunk on magic with this atmospheric fantasy fairytale... From the author of the Tales of Aylfenhame and Faerie Fruit.

From the author of the Tales of Aylfenhame comes a new fairy tale, replete with "large helpings of wit and whimsy" (Publisher's Weekly¿)When the centuries-barren orchards of Berrie-on-the-Wyn suddenly bear fruit, it is clear that something strange is afoot - and something fey, for this is no ordinary harvest. To partake of the fruits of Faerie is to be changed for good, but not necessarily for the better.Whence come the golden apples, the moonlit silver pears? Who is the motley piper who walks the streets of Berrie, drawing forth magic and mayhem with his music? And how can half of the town vanish into thin air?There may be chaos aplenty in Berrie, but all that's needed to set things straight is a touch of the right light - and maybe just the right pair of Boots...

Detective. Judge. Executioner.Konrad Savast is the Malykant: foremost and most secret servant of the God of Death. His job? To track down the foulest of murderers and bring them to The Malykt's Justice. No mercy. No quarter. The Corpse Thieves: Danil Dubin is a murderer. He knows this because he's been told - by the many witnesses to his crime. Only, he has no memory of it himself. It's part of a spate of similar killings, and Konrad must act. But how can he deliver The Malykt's justice to a man with no reason to kill, and no knowledge of his crime?The Spirit of Solstice: Solstice Eve, and Konrad is dragged from his bed to investigate the murder of a local wine merchant. The man's as dead as they come, but his spirit seems oddly unperturbed by his passing. Is it just the Solstice spirit, or is there something darker afoot?The House at Divoro: Hauled away to a post-Solstice house party, Konrad is unenthusiastic. Their host might have a taste for theatricals, but Konrad emphatically does not. But when a corpse turns up, mutilated and hidden in a pantry cupboard, Konrad learns that the house at Divoro harbours many a dark secret…Snowbound: Konrad may be finished with the coven at Divoro - but are they finished with him? Forced to return to Divoro, Konrad does so with trepidation - for murderers tend to run away from the Malykant, not towards. What dark purpose does the coven have in mind, and is he walking straight into a trap? With four dangerous new cases to solve, Death's Avenger pits the Malykant against new challenges and darker foes.

Old Magick. New World.In the 21st century, little remains of magick save scattered, beleaguered pockets of magickal community and scholarship - and a vast, but rapidly decaying, heritage. How can any of it survive the pace of modern life? As an agent of the Society for Magickal Heritage, Cordelia "Ves" Vesper has an important job: to track down and rescue endangered magickal creatures, artefacts, books and spells wherever they are to be found. It's a duty that takes her the length and breadth of Britain, and frequently gets her into trouble. But somebody's got to keep magick alive in the modern world, and Ves is more than equal to the job. The Road to Farringale: In this first adventure, Ves meets her new partner, the Waymaster Jay. Their mission? Find the source of a magickal disease that's decimating Britain's troll enclaves - and fix it. Simple in theory, tricky in practice, for the only place that might hold the information they need is the ancient and inconveniently lost enclave of Farringale... Toil and Trouble: Having rescued a valuable book from a long-lost library, Jay's joy turns to dismay when it proves to be unusually... chatty. What manner of enchantment created such a powerful book is a mystery Ves is determined to solve. She's not the only one, for the organisation known as Ancestria Magicka badly wants the book... The Striding Spire: Fresh from an involuntary crash course in the Stranger Arts, Ves has a new mystery to solve: the inexplicable reappearance of an extinct species. The Dappledok Pup has not been seen in the flesh since the eighteenth century - so how does one come to be found, weak but alive, over two hundred years later? Where did the pup come from - and is there something sinister afoot? Animated Architecture introduces the vivid characters, wild adventures, and unique magical Britain of Modern Magick. The collection also includes a step back in time with Let the Chips Fall Where They May, a Cordelia Vesper origin story.

Detective. Judge. Executioner. Konrad Savast is the Malykant: foremost and most secret servant of the God of Death. His job? To track down the foulest of murderers and bring them to The Malykt's Justice. No mercy. No quarter. The Rostikov Legacy: When Konrad discovers the body of a wealthy society hostess lying in the cold, mist-shrouded reaches of the Bone Forest, the pressure is on to find her killer. Can he catch the killer without revealing himself as the Malykant? The Ivanov Diamond: When three people turn up dead, their immortal souls missing, Konrad's got a strange case on his hands. And it's clear that it's got something to do with the theft of a great and valuable diamond from one of Ekamet's wealthiest citizens… Myrrolen's Ghost Circus: When a corpse turns up in the middle of Myrrolena's famed circus, Konrad must uncover the weird truth behind the mysterious travelling show - and without falling foul of its enigmatic Ringmistress, Myrrolena herself. Ghostspeaker: When a wealthy young woman takes her own life, Konrad is sent to investigate. Was it suicide, or murder? Or... both? To discover the truth, Konrad must navigate the combined perils of society gossip, an unregistered Ghostspeaker and a host of unquiet spirits. Dark fantasy meets gaslight meets murder mystery in this first volume of the Malykant Mysteries, containing Konrad Savast's first four cases.

Lincoln, 1812. Grieving for a long-dead sister, Ilsevel is elated to learn that her twin may yet have survived - and angry, for at the centre of this decades-old tale is the traitor Wodebean. A cheat he may be, but he holds the key to her sister's life, and Ilsevel will travel the length and breadth of England to find him. But can she do it alone?Son of a disgruntled baker, Phineas Drake slaves away his days in his father's pastry shop, dreaming of a better life. Delivering plum-cakes in the dark of a winter's dawn, he sees a mysterious lady darting through the snow - alone, and in trouble. What can he do but follow?Caught up in the chaos of Ilsevel's quest, Phineas is far out of his depth - or is he? For the baker's boy is clever, and fiercely loyal. Already a force to be reckoned with, My Lady Silver's nigh-on unstoppable with Phineas at her side. And she'll need to be, for her quest will take her deep into the lawless depths of the Hollow Hills... A dreamy historical fantasy from the author of Faerie Fruit.

Tilby, Lincolnshire, 1811. Miss Sophia Landon is the unremarkable daughter of an impoverished clergyman. Her father's health is failing fast, but who wants to marry a woman without birth, beauty or wealth? Her prospects are limited indeed - until her friendship with the town's fae denizens earns her passage to the otherworldly realm of Aylfenhame. Could her fate truly lie beyond the shores of England? There she meets Aubranael, a young man with a warm heart and a ruined face. In Sophy he sees the answer to his loneliness, but how can a disfigured Aylir hope to win her heart? When a mysterious witch offers him the temporary gift of beauty, he eagerly accepts: and so begins an adventure that could change his life, and Sophy's, forever.

Tilby, Lincolnshire, 1812. Born into modest wealth and impeccable respectability, Miss Isabel Ellerby is expected to make an advantageous marriage. But an encounter with a Faerie Rade brings changes thick and fast, and Isabel's safe and conventional life changes forever.When she meets the handsome Ferryman of Aylfenhame, Isabel knows there is no going back. Condemned and forgotten as he is, Isabel is his only hope − for she alone possesses the heart, the will and the strength to unravel the dark curse which binds him.

The Lincolnshire Wolds, 1812. When housemaid Bessie Bell is thrown out into a cold October night, her prospects could scarcely seem worse. With nowhere to go and no one to help her, how will she survive? But on the road she meets a mysterious gentleman, and her fortunes take an immediate turn for the… strange. For the nightmare horse Tatterfoal stalks the fog-drenched Wolds, and Mr. Green is determined to catch him. But why?Caught up in a dark adventure, Bessie is swept far beyond the shores of England and into Faerie Aylfenhame. Dangers untold await the unwary in the Goblinlands, though the greatest dangers of all may lie right behind her. For Tatterfoal answers only to his master, the Goblin King…