The Boggart is back again in Castle Keep residing with the Castle's new owner, James Urquhart Maconochie. The ancient spirit is up to his old tricks with a new dog to tease and a whole castle full of mischief to create.

In the same land, at the bottom of Loch Ness, another boggart slumbers...

Emily and Jessup Volnik, high above the Atlantic, are on their way to stay with Mr Mac while their parents visit the Edinburgh festival. Harold Pindle is on the same plane and Emily and Jess soon learn that he is to lead a new expedition to find the famous Loch Ness monster. Emily is non too impressed. Jessup is extremely interested in the hi-tech world of underwater exploration and, much to Emily's disgust, spends the whole flight talking techno-jargon with Mr Pindle. Emily is much more concerned with thoughts of Castle Keep and the Boggart.

Reunited with Tommy Cameron, Emily, Jess and Mr Mac head off on a camping trip to Loch Ness to see Harold Pindle's expedition to find Nessie. The Boggart, rolled in a blanket, accidentally hitches a ride. Escaping his confinement at the side of the Loch, the Boggart senses the return of long forgotten memories - of family, of home and of his cousin... his cousin, the boggart slumbering at the bottom of the loch, Nessie!

Calling for Nessie, the Boggart wakes him from his slumber beneath the waters of the loch. As he rises to the surface to greet his cuz, Nessie is spotted by an excited expedition team. Ecstatic at finding his family, the Boggart is, however, horrified to learn that Nessie has lost his ability to shift shape and his unable to go invisible. After sighting Nessie Harold Pindle and the members of the expedition step up their efforts to prove the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. In desperation The Boggart communicates with Tommy, Emily, Jess and Mr Mac.

When the Boggart and the group concentrate, Nessie can take a new shape and it falls to them all to save Nessie from capture...

This is truly enjoyable and touching companion to Susan Cooper's earlier novel, The Boggart. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting The Boggart again and his new-found cuz, Nessie. As I started the novel I realised that I knew that the Loch Ness Monster was a boggart. How could I know such a fact? I looked again at 'The Boggart' and found the answer. In her earlier book, Susan tells us that Nessie is a boggart and in doing so, she sowed the seed for this new story.

This is the first of Susan's books that has been published since launching this site and I was doubly excited at reading it and sharing my enthusiasm about it through these pages. Three thousand miles away and sensing my impending enthusiasm, Kathy Muldoon, the children's book reviewer at the Toronto Star in Canada, mailed me:

"Is it OK to include a reference to the web site in my review on March 29th?" she asked.

"Of course," I replied, "I'm flattered. I would also love to read your review as the book is not published in the UK for some time yet."

I went on to tell her that I had ordered the book from a bookstore in the USA and that it would take a while to arrive. A few mailings later and the review from the Toronto Star was on the site, waiting for my own words to appear. Several days later I received my copy of The Boggart and the Monster, not from the bookstore, but from Kathy in Toronto (thankyou!). So here, if you like, is my first truly global sharing of Susan's work with people like you, people like me; those of us who are truly hooked on Susan Cooper's work.