With the publication of Mermedusa Thomas Taylor brings his gothic mystery series Eerie-on-Sea, to a thrilling close.

If you’re looking for a creepy place for a holiday, Eerie-on-Sea has it all – mysterious creatures in the waves, strange figures prowling at night, and an end of the pier show to top it all. Fortunately, in the company of the Grand Nautilus Hotel’s lost-and-found boy Herbie Lemon and his best friend Violet, the spooky goings-on are tinged with just the right amount of fun.

Thomas Taylor is as good at creating characters as he is at conjuring up spooky settings and thrilling adventures, which is very good indeed. Newcomers to Eerie and regular visitors are in for tricks and treats!

Dear Reader,

I’ve always lived near the sea, but it was only a few years ago that I finally came to live by the sea. And there’s a secret life to seaside towns that you don’t discover if you only go there in the summer – a secret life that is packed with potential for mystery and adventure. Beachcombing is a real joy, and the best season for that is winter, when storms and wild seas stir up things that have lain buried and forgotten beneath the silt and sand and throw them onto the beach. Right here on England’s south coast I find sea glass gems, strange pieces of driftwood, the bones of prehistoric monsters, and – yes – even fossilized dinosaur poo. And while it’s endlessly fascinating to discover what those things are in reality, it’s also interesting to wonder what they might be in a story. For example, is this the shell of a saddle oyster? Or a gleaming iridescent scale from the legendary malamander? So when people ask me where I got the story of the malamander, this is the simplest and truest answer I can give: I found it on the beach. I do hope you enjoy reading it and visiting Eerie-on-Sea.

Best wishes,

Thomas Taylor

Nobody visits Eerie-on-Sea in the winter. Especially not when darkness falls and the wind howls around Maw Rocks and the wreck of the battleship Leviathan, where even now some swear they have seen the unctuous Malamander creep...

Malamander, is the title of the first in the series and the name of a legendary sea beast that haunts Eerie-on-Sea. Eerie is a wonderfully edgy place and inhabited by some unusual people, including our heroes Herbert Lemon, who lives in the gloriously gothic Grand Nautilus Hotel, and Violet Parma whose parents disappeared twelve years ago. Fortunately Herbert is skilled in returning things to their rightful owner and sets about helping his friend follow clues to find Violet's missing parents - coming closer to the Malamander than they could ever have expected...

Gargantis follows, and Herbie and Violet are again defending Eerie-on-Sea from menacing forces. Following a ferocious storm, cracks appear in the buildings of Eerie and fears grow that the Gargantis, a huge and formidable sea creature has woken. Can our plucky pair save Eerie from the waves?

Shadowghast is the third book in Thomas Taylor’s series and our heroes Herbie Lemon, Lost and Founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel – great name, great job – and best friend Violet, have to face the Shadowghast, a terrifying horned spirit, permanently hungry for shadows. 

In Festergrimm, the fourth book, Herbert and Violet edge closer to the secrets that are buried deep in Eerie, secrets that may reveal how Herbie came to be washed up on the seashore in an empty lemon crate. With the visitor attractions empty and mist rolling in from the sea, Eerie is always creepy, but the return of Herbie and Violet’s arch enemy Sebastian Eels ups the fear factor considerably, especially when he sets about reopening the town’s long-abandoned waxworks, Festergrimm’s.....

Mermedusa is the spectacular final chapter in the Eerie-on-Sea series. It’s Midwinter’s Night, one year since Violet arrived, a year that’s seen the two friends tackle the Gargantis, the Shadowghast and explore Festergrimm’s Eerie Waxworks; now it’s time again to take on the terrifying Malamander just as it emerges to find its mate. Who could guess that so many of the town’s mysteries involve the Malamander and the equally strange and magical Mermedusa?

Is it really the end of these adventures? Let’s hope not, and like Herbie, we reckon that a town that has a talking cat in it has surprises still in store.

Find out more about The Eerie-on-Sea Mysteries, the books, the author and some truly sinister video trailers! eerie-on-sea.com