Gooseberry — Michael Gallagher

1852. With the business of the Moonstone diamond finally laid to rest, Mr Franklin Blake and his wife Rachel are now happily married, living in London, and blessed with a healthy baby daughter named Julia. Mr Blake has taken his late father's seat in Parliament, and his party's fortunes are on the rise -- in fact they are about to overthrow the coalition government of the day.

But then the inexplicable occurs. Miss Rachel and her elderly aunt are attacked in the street by a gang of feral children, whose only purpose, it seems, is to plant a photographic portrait of a young, rich Indian lad in the old lady's handbag.

Enter the Blakes' lawyer's office boy, Octavius Guy -- better known as Gooseberry -- who once helped the family bring the mystery of the Moonstone to a close. Join Gooseberry, the fourteen-year-old boy detective, as he and his ragtag bunch of friends descend into London's Victorian demi-monde and underworld to ferret out the truth, while spending as much as they can of his employer's money along the way!

A Seventh Rainbow ebook; also available in paperback.