A quirky, creepy fantasy set in Eerie-on-Sea finds a colorful cast of
characters in hot pursuit of a sea monster thought to convey a
surprising gift.
It's winter in the town of Eerie-on-Sea, where the mist is thick and the
salt spray is rattling the windows of the Grand Nautilus Hotel. Inside,
young Herbert Lemon, Lost and Founder for the hotel, has an unexpected
visitor. It seems that Violet Parma, a fearless girl around his age,
lost her parents at the hotel when she was a baby, and she's sure that
the nervous Herbert is the only person who can help her find them. The
trouble is, Violet is being pursued at that moment by a strange
hook-handed man. And the town legend of the Malamander -- a part-fish,
part-human monster whose egg is said to make dreams come true -- is
rearing its scaly head. As various townspeople, some good-hearted, some
nefarious, reveal themselves to be monster hunters on the sly, can
Herbert and Violet elude them and discover what happened to Violet's
kin? This lighthearted, fantastical mystery, featuring black-and-white
spot illustrations, kicks off a trilogy of fantasies set in the seaside
town.