The tin princess

Jim Taylor, consulting detective, gambler, bodyguard, writer and friend of Sally Lockhart, has been looking for Adelaide Bevan for a long time he last saw her as a poor penniless waif disappearing into the smoky mists of London (at the end of Ruby in the Smoke).

So imagine his surprise when he does find her at last - a beautiful young woman and in the company of no less a personage than Prince Rudolf of Eschtenburg, heir to the throne of Razkavia.

Razkavia is a tiny independent kingdom at the heart of Europe with high mountains and dark forests.

The legend says that while the Red Eagle flag flies above the Rock of Eschtenburg, Razkavia will be free.

But dark forces are circling and the Prince and Adelaide and the kingdom itself are in peril.

Adelaide, Jim and their new friend Becky soon find themselves travelling to Razkavia - into the heart of the danger.

By the Whitbread award winning author Philip Pullman.