The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Twelve-year-old Peter Schock is anticipating a day of fun in town with his workaholic dad—so he’s bitterly disappointed when he’s sent off to visit the Dyer family on their Derbyshire farm. It’s not until physicist Dyer takes Peter and his eldest daughter, Kate, through his private laboratory that things begin to look up. But a freak accident involving an ultra-top-secret machine and the family dog sends Peter and Kate hurtling through time, landing squarely in a nearby field…243 years in the past.

Their troubles have only just begun, for two long-time enemies have witnessed the pair’s startling arrival: cutpurse Gideon Seymour and the fearsome cutthroat known as the Tar Man. Astounded by the contraption that appears along with the children and guessing its value to his noble employer, the Tar Man makes off with the time machine, leaving Peter and Kate stranded in the 18th century.

More gentleman than thief, Gideon befriends the hapless duo, vowing to do whatever he must to help them recover their stolen property. While their worried parents launch a massive police hunt back in the 21st century, the two youngsters entrust their fate to a reformed criminal, who guides them on a harrowing journey through confusing Georgian mores and encounters with notorious highwaymen, deep into the lairs of London’s foulest villains, and to the court of King George III himself. But can they reclaim the time machine before Gideon’s dark past catches up with him? (403 pp.) 2006.