Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol investigates a shocking murder—before he becomes the next victim—in this playful mystery in a new series from a New York Times bestselling author. Scrooge considers himself a rational man with a keen sense of deductive reasoning developed from years of business dealings. But that changes one night when he’s visited by the ghost of his former boss and friend, Fezziwig, who mysteriously warns him that three more will die, and ultimately Ebenezer himself—if he doesn’t get to the bottom of a vast conspiracy. When he wakes the next day, Scrooge discovers that not only is Fezziwig dead, but he’s under arrest as all evidence points toward himself: Scrooge’s calling card was found in the cold, dead hand of Fezziwig’s body, and someone scribbled “HUMBUG” in blood on the floor nearby. Now, Scrooge must race against the pocket watch to clear his name, protect his interests, and find out who killed his last true friend—before the “Humbug Killer” strikes again. Joining Scrooge in his adventures is a spunky sidekick named Adelaide, who matches his wits at every turn, plus the Artful Dodger, Fagin, Belle, Pickwick, and even Charles Dickens himself as a reporter dealing in the lurid details of London’s alleyway crimes. Full of action and wry humor, The Humbug Murders is a fun take on a classic character—Scrooge as you’ve never seen him before.

Sheltering from a summer downpour, you encounter the ghost of Charles Dickens. Join him for a chat in the inn beloved by Mr Pickwick and be swept away by his vigour, warmth and humanity. You’ll feel as if you’ve known him all your life. The great novelist Charles Dickens attracted international adulation on an unprecedented scale. He cultivated a genial intimacy with his readers, and after he died many of his admirers felt that they had lost a personal friend. Sit back and listen to this master conversationalist talk about everything from work in a boot-polish factory to lecture tours in America. Who could possibly ask for more?

A FRESH LOOK ATA TIMELESS CLASSIC A redeeming mixture of old and new, How to Keep Christmas Well refreshes the oft trodden path of Scrooge from miser to mercy by gifting the reader a peek under Dickens' renowned wrapping. Weighed down by the hustle and bustle of the modern Christmas season, it has become harder than ever to keep Christmas well. This, added to the tattering repetition of an old tale of redemption, has caused the jovial flavor of A Christmas Carol to lose its haunting spark. Catchings' reflections and poetry dust off the original 1843 text and present it, with revived ghostliness, to the modern reader. Page by page, the reader is drawn back into the slippers of Scrooge so that they can, again for the first time, learn How to Keep Christmas Well.