Gareth P. Jones is the author of the Dragon Detective Agency series. Gareth's first novel, The Case of the Missing Cats, was shortlisted for the Waterstone's Book Prize. He lives in London.

Ovid and Lorelli Thornthwaite have been trying to kill each other for so long that neither twin can remember which act of attempted murder came first.

But whoever struck first, trying to take each other's lives is simply what they do. Until one day a lawyer arrives at their house to take stock of its contents, and his accompanying son attracts their attention.

Soon a new battle evolves - one in which the twins have to work together to solve the mystery of their parents' deaths.

Can Lorelli and Ovid overcome their old animosities, and will they ever get to finish that game of chess?

'Beautifully simple comic ideas that children instantly love . . . This is a book certain to make family holidays go with a bang'

'Blackly comic, with its compelling cover and all the fun of taking sibling rivalry to a fantastical extreme, this book is surely material for a film'

'Unputdownable story with a cracking mixture of humour, menace and adventure'

'Permeated by an ironic and original humour . . . there is much for a young reader to relish'

A gothic novel featuring twins with a deadly rivalry, mysterious deaths, a fortune to be inherited and any amount of dodgy dealings