Tobias Greengage is not having a quiet Yuletide. The cantankerous owner of
Greengage's Goods-purveyor of highly questionable merchandise on the edge of The Shambles-is about to have a visitor. Several, in fact. First through the spectral revolving door is his late grandpappy, Marley Greengage, long deceased due to an unfortunate incident involving a ball hammer, a load-bearing wall, and a tragic misunderstanding of basic physics.
Marley has returned in ghostly form to warn Tobias: his habit of flogging everyday tat with wildly inventive claims is wreaking more havoc than he realises. (His bestsellers include a slow cooker* and an anti-noisy neighbour device**, the less said about the usefulness of both, the better.
But that's not all. Tobias is told he'll be visited by three spirits before morning. And they're not the sort he can fob off.
Will he change his ways? Learn a valuable lesson? Feel feelings? Or will he just try to sell the ghosts back their own chains as limited-edition novelty scarves? It's Tobias. Honestly, all bets are off.
A Christmas Carol for Tobias is the gloriously irreverent conclusion to the
Tales of The Rook series.
There is
no map. There are
no morals. There are, however, three extremely angry ghosts.
Quite frankly, anything could happen - and probably will!
*A saucepan and a candle. Place food in the pan and the candle under the pan. Light it and wait. Wait a bit more...
**Two small balls of cotton wool. Place in ears firmly. Watch out for carriages if you go outside.
