Phyllis Wong and the Return of the Conjuror (The Phyllis Wong Mysteries, Book 2) by Geoffrey McSkimming

Release date: August 7, 2018
Subgenre:  Children's mystery

About Phyllis Wong and the Return of the Conjuror:

 

Phyllis Wong, that keen young magician with a talent for sleuthing and getting to the bottom of the strangest mysteries, is back! Incredibly valuable first editions of Shakespeare’s collected plays are appearing for sale, and Chief Inspector Barry Inglis of the Fine Arts and Antiques Squad suspects foul play. These rare First Folios are in mint condition, but seemingly are not forgeries. Where on Earth could they have come from? Has a crime been committed?

Luckily Phyllis is on the case. She suspects villainy dating back to the time of Shakespeare himself, which seems to be seeping into the 21st century. How can she convince Chief Inspector Inglis what’s going on? And how can she do this without giving away the greatest magical secret of all time?

As Phyllis herself says: ‘Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen … the ride will get bumpy!’

The most intriguing story yet from the ever-popular author Geoffrey McSkimming.

The second Phyllis Wong: Time Detective Mystery.

 

Excerpt:

 

The Conjuror of Wonder started running, holding Phyllis’s hand and pulling her close to him, in the direction of a small, bright yellow truck that had driven in at the eastern edge of the courtyard and which was now travelling straight through the middle. It was moving at a swift speed, bumping and jerking across the uneven stone pavers.
‘What?’ yelled Phyllis—Wallace was leading her directly into the truck’s path, towards a crashing head-on collision!
‘Quickly!’ he urged.
The bristly men saw what was happening, and they slowed their paces, wondering what was going on.
Wallace didn’t slow down, but, rather, he began to run more quickly. Straight towards the oncoming vehicle. Phyllis wanted to stop, to pull up suddenly, but she couldn’t—Wallace’s grip was too strong.
Then, just in the last moments before he and Phyllis were to be hit by the truck, Wallace pulled his great-granddaughter to the side.
What happened in the next moment happened so quickly that it seemed truly magical. When Wallace and Phyllis were hidden from their attackers by the truck, Wallace, with no break in his speed, turned around, turning Phyllis with him, so that they were now facing the same direction in which the truck was heading. Then, hidden by the truck, he and Phyllis ran peltingly fast alongside it as it disappeared into a laneway at the western side of the courtyard.
His timing was perfect.
To the angry scimitar-wielding brothers it looked as if Wallace and Phyllis had disappeared without a trace!
‘What devilry is this?’ bellowed one of the brothers, his whiskers standing on end with rage.
‘They are gone!’ declared another, lowering his scimitar sulkily.
‘Arrrr,’ seethed another brother, the one named Keith.
As soon as Wallace and Phyllis were in the laneway, they veered off, up a narrow side passage, and the truck squeezed onwards, clattering and bumping away.
Wallace slowed down, and Phyllis did likewise. Together, they huffed and puffed and leant against the wall.
When Phyllis had got her breath back, she said, panting, ‘Th-that was brilliant! You were amazing, W.W.!’
‘W.W.,’ repeated Wallace. ‘I like that.’
Phyllis pulled her hair back, holding it like she was going to tie it in a ponytail. ‘Man, I hope we don’t come across those guys again. They meant business!’
‘Yes. Funny business,’ puffed W.W.
‘I’ll show YOU funny business!’ came a loud snarl from the end of the laneway.
Phyllis and W.W. turned to see one of the brothers blocking the entrance, his scimitar brandished high above his huge head. It was Keith, the meanest-looking of all the brothers in his family!
‘Die, dogs of deceit!’ he bellowed, running at Phyllis and W.W. with a murderous expression on his hairy face.
Wallace grabbed Phyllis and they took off up the laneway. ‘Ahead!’ Wallace urged. ‘Look! Stairs! Phyllis, do you have something from home?’
‘Huh?’ she gasped, running hard next to him.
‘Something from the basement? Something to hold on to?’
Keith was gaining on them, his footsteps coming after them like battering rams crashing against a fortress door.
Phyllis fumbled around in her coat pocket as she kept running. Her fingers brushed across some chocolate wrappers and what felt like a bus ticket and a scrunchy for her hair and some rubber bands and a packet of breath mints and then—a small ball, one of the red, sparkly balls she used when she rehearsed her cups and balls routines.
‘Yes!’ she exclaimed.
They were at the foot of the stairs. Wallace grabbed her and pushed her up. ‘Hold it, hold it now. There is a Pocket here, I see it! Ascend, my great-granddaughter, run quickly up, to the sixteenth step. It begins there. I am right behind—’
‘AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!’ Keith’s bellow was so loud, Phyllis thought it was right in her ear. She heard the cold, lightning-like swiiiiiiiiiish of the scimitar blade.
There was no time to turn and look. Wallace was behind her; she could sense him there.
The heavy battering-ram footsteps were right behind him, relentlessly rising on the stairway.
She bounded up the steps two at a time, the sweat flying off her brow, running down into her eyes, almost blinding her with its saltiness.
Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish came the blade’s hiss again.
She heard Wallace make a noise—a harsh noise, a startled noise. Once she had heard Daisy make a noise like that when she had cut the pad of her paw on a piece of broken glass …
‘Do … not … stop,’ Wallace urged, his words breathy and strange.
‘W.W., are you—?’ she began over her shoulder.
‘Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,’ she heard him counting, gasping.
Phyllis felt his hand on her shoulder.
She pelted towards the sixteenth step and saw the dimness and the encrustations of brightness bordering the blackness beyond.
Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish came the blade.
There was a cry, and a falling sound, and then the soft, high, vibrating hum.
And the thick, stretching, whizzing blurriness of the Pocket engulfed her.

 

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About Geoffrey McSkimming:

Geoffrey McSkimming is the author of the bestselling 19 volume Cairo Jim chronicles (published worldwide from 1991 -- 2008) and now the new Phyllis Wong mysteries, featuring the brilliant young magician and clever sleuth, Phyllis Wong. Phyllis Wong and the Forgotten Secrets of Mr Okyto, Phyllis Wong and the Return of the Conjuror, Phyllis Wong and the Waking of the Wizard and Phyllis Wong and the Girl who Danced with Lightning have appeared to widespread acclaim and much enjoyment. The sixth Phyllis Wong mystery will be published in 2018.

All of the Cairo Jim chronicles are now being e-published by 9 Diamonds Press, available through Amazon's Kindle platform. A brand new Cairo Jim story will appear in 2018.

When he is not writing stories of magic, mystery and adventure, Geoffrey appears at Phyllis Wong author shows with his wife, world-renowned magician Sue-Anne Webster. Together they bring the magic of story and the story of magic to life before their audiences' very eyes!

Author Website | Series Website | 9 Diamonds Press | Facebook | YouTube 

 

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