Cirrus@Austlit

'The police have finally caught the evil murderer Sir Mason Green. The third casket and whatever treasure it contains can remain a secret just as the Fraternity wished. And Gerald can relax and enjoy his billions.

'Or can he?

'At his trial, Green drops dead in the dock. Forensics show he was poisoned by a dart—and Gerald's DNA is on the blowgun.

'Then a mysterious cat woman steals the ruby, the key to the third casket. A mysterious woman with a store of poison darts, who happens to be Sir Mason Green's niece, Charlotte.

'Now Gerald is on the run, with Ruby and Sam, wanted for murder. Can they beat Charlotte to the ruby casket and prove that she killed Green?

'It's a quest that takes them to caverns beneath the island castle of Mont St Michel in France, locked rooms in the Vatican and the ancient hidden city of Delphi in Greece to discover the secret of the three caskets and the great power they hold.' (From the publisher's website.)

'What do you do when you're a billionaire, you're thirteen and you've just discovered your family tree goes back a thousand years to a pact made by three brothers to carry three caskets to three secret locations and to protect them for centuries to come?

'What do you do when you know a bloodthirsty criminal holds the contents of one of those caskets and will stop at nothing to discover the others?

'Gerald, Sam and Ruby fly to India in Gerald's private jet for a holiday at the home of Alisha Gupta, looking forward to getting away from the exhausting business of stolen gems, bejewelled caskets, thieves and bumbling police officers. But their holiday soon turns to a desperate quest to outwit a deadly cult, and to beat Mason Green to the Emerald Casket in a fast-paced race against time and tide.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Someone has stolen the world's most valuable diamond and a constable lies unconscious in the British Museum, two sedative darts protruding from his backside.

'Not something Gerald Wilkins knows or cares anything about. Not until he finds himself on a private luxury jet heading for London to attend the funeral of a great aunt he has never met. Not until he inherits her estate, worth twenty billion pounds. Not until he opens a bundle of envelopes from his dead great aunt.

'Was she murdered? Who stole the diamond? And what is the mysterious casket that everyone seems to be looking for?

'With the help of the Valentine twins, the rat-fearing Sam and the gymnastic champ Ruby, Gerald's got a mystery to solve. A mystery that will take them into secret passageways, a musty bookshop, an ancient crypt, a ruined tower and a colossal cavern where the secret of a priceless treasure lies protected by deadly booby traps.

'The Billionaire's Curse is an irresistible adventure story with an array of curious characters, ancient folklore and a whodunnit. Young and not-so-young adults, get ready to stay up late.' (From the publisher's website.)