The Death Collector

Book: The Death Collector
Author: Justin Richards
Audience: Grades 5 to 9
In a Nutshell: The Victorian London X-Files

George Archer works a quiet job at the British Museum until a scrap of paper and a zombie plunge him into a world of murder, monsters, and a megalomaniacal industrialist (that's fun to say). George has recently been offered a transfer to the Museum's Department of Unclassified Documents, a sort of Victorian X-Files, and what's happening definitely falls under their jurisdiction. His friend, Albert Wilkes, shows up at home for tea and dog walking four days after his own death. The Museum receives a set of diaries from a famous scientist named Glick. They seem like a minor thing until George's friend in Archives is murdered when armed thugs break in and try to steal the diaries. George ends up with the burned remains of the final diary page, and now rich industrialist Lorimer will do anything to get it. The young pickpocket Eddie Hopkins and aspiring actress Elizabeth Oldfield also get tangled up in the hunt for the truth about Glick's research and what Lorimer has in store for the world. There's also George's recently-deceased friend, the giant monster Eddie sees in the darkened fog, a (not entirely) phony séance, and a warehouse full of exoskeletons meant for no good.

Creepy, quick-paced tale with horror, adventure, dinosaurs, zombies- what more is there?

Engaging reading of the audio book by Steven Pacey.