About the Author

Catherine Jinks was born in Brisbane in 1963 and grew up in Sydney and Papua New Guinea. She studied medieval history at university, and her love of reading led her to become a writer. She lives in the Blue Mountains in NSW with her Canadian husband and her daughter, Hannah.

Catherine Jinks is the author of over twenty books for children and adults, including the award-winning Pagan series, The Stinking Great Lie, and Eglantine, the first book in the 'ghost story' series.

Reviews

Gr 5-8-Allie has never been a big believer in hauntings, but now she seems to run into spooks everywhere. She and her family have just moved into a run-down old house, and the 11-year-old figures that the writing covering the bedroom walls was left by squatters. However, even after the walls are painted, the writing returns-over and over again. When the "psychic investigators" whom her mother calls in aren't able to stop the repeated scrawls, Allie decides to take matters into her own hands. Researching the history of the property, she learns about Eglantine, an 18-year-old Victorian author who died of anorexia. Allie suspects that her ghost keeps rewriting her story, wanting it to be completed. In the second book, while on a school camping trip to the Australian gold fields, Allie encounters more ghosts-three-year old Eustace, a spectral hospital nurse, and a mysterious old prospector. Then two classmates disappear while exploring the mining ghost town. Allie wonders if the danger comes from the ghosts-or from something-or someone-else. These mildly suspenseful tales feature well-drawn settings, especially the historic Hill End gold fields. The dialogue is authentic, with considerable Australian slang and some minor crude language. The text includes middle-school body humor, as well as references to (offstage) underage alcohol use. (Adult characters drink to the hangover point.) Additional purchases where there is strong demand for supernatural fiction.-Elaine E. Knight, Lincoln Elementary Schools, IL Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

From Catherine Jinks of Evil Genius renown, the Australian series Allie's Ghost Hunters series follows young Allie Gebhardt, who moves to a new town and finds herself inundated with ghostly visitors. In the first title, Eglantine, Allie attempts to rid her home of the ghost of a girl who used to live there. Eustace takes Jinks's heroine to Hill End on a school trip, where she meets two ghosts, and two classmates vanish. In Eloise, Allie helps a friend's aunt communicate with a dead relative; Elysium takes Allie on her most dangerous adventure yet, when she finds herself hunted by something otherworldly. (Allen & Unwin [IPG, dist.], each $7.95 paper ages 9-12, Eglantine 144p ISBN 978174114-658-5; Eustace 168p ISBN 978174114-660-8; Eloise 180p ISBN 978174114-659-2; Elysium 180p ISBN 978174114-081-1; Oct.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.