The Murrian

by Robert Dodds

Ben and Clare are staying with Aunt Gwen in Antmouth for the summer. They've been told the coast there is haunted by the ghosts of smugglers, but they are soon much more alarmed by the living residents of the village. There's the tall thin fellow in charge of the Insect Zoo, who acts like the worst kind of mad scientist. And then there are all the fish-eyed golfers who seem to be spying on them. Why do their golf balls seem to get everywhere—even into the cottage itself? And what is going on in the big estate at the top of the hill, where a mysterious dome rises above the trees? Most frightening of all, why do people from the village keep vanishing? The thin curtain of normality is ripped aside, plunging the reader into a bizarre world of hidden terror!

152 pages, Paperback

First published October 2, 2008

About the author

Robert Dodds writes for both adults and children. His work is not easy to categorize, as he does not stick to a single genre. However, recurring characteristics are the humorous and the macabre.
His four novels for adults are: 'The Art School Murders' and 'Sitting Duck' - both blackly comic murder stories; 'Paradise Por Favor' - a humorous novel set in Spain, and the historical novel 'The Garden of Earthly Delights', inspired by the work of the 15th Century artist Hieronymus Bosch. His two short story collections are 'Rattlesnake and Other Tales' (Polygon) and 'Secret Sharers'. Many of his short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio Four.
For children, 'The Midnight Clowns' (Andersen Press) was short-listed for the Kathleen Fidler Award, and is also published in France by Flammarion. His other children's novels are 'Nightland' (Andersen Press), 'The Secret of Iguando' (Andersen Press, also published in USA by Mondo, and serialised on BBC Radio Four), and 'The Murrian' (Andersen Press, also published as an audio book by Oakhill). He has two books in Bloomsbury's 'Wired' series for struggling teenage readers: 'The Haunted Mobile' and 'Pitch Dark'.
In addition to writing fiction, he has had a stage play produced, and has written and directed several short films shown on television and at film festivals.