G C Blair - Author of the Miss Fitz book series
What do a vampire who is afraid of blood, a ticklish skeleton and a ballet-dancing pirate have in common? They all live at the Miss Fitz Agency.
It helps find work for unwanted storybook characters. It is owned by Cid Fitz's Aunt Fenula. Unfortunately the Agency is heading for level 10 on Cid's own Trouble Scale.
Cid, her aunt and the Miss Fitz characters have one week to stop ruthless crooks taking over the agency. They are up against ridicule, ferocious pirates, a billionaire TV executive and the Curse of Blind Hugh.
The odds aren't good, but Cid has never let that put her off before.
Prologue
(Or Chapter Minus One)
Have you ever wondered where the story characters that nobody wants go? The ones that never get picked for books, plays or films? The Sleeping Beauties who snore? The ghosts that are afraid of people? The Rumpelstiltskins whose real names are Dominic or Nigel? Groups of eight or more dwarves? Fairy tale princesses who do their own stunts? Like Princess PJ, for example.
PJ lost her starring role in the film Towering Hero. It was another one of those totally predictable Rapunzel-type stories:
- Witch casts spell over princess.
- Witch locks princess in very high tower.
- Princess waits for Prince Charming to come to the rescue.
- Prince Charming climbs up princess’s hair (seriously?) and rescues her.
- They live happily ever after (except for the witch, but that bit is often left out).
Unfortunately, Prince Charming got himself tied up in tangles halfway up PJ’s hair extensions, so she took a pair of scissors and cut them off. Charming plummeted to the ground. (I like the word ‘plummeted’. It sounds like what it is: a sudden, heavy drop.) PJ, stunt princess, was sacked. Not that she minded - she hated the whole Prince Charming thing. Like she said, any self-respecting princess would simply make her bedsheet into a parachute and jump, not hang around waiting to be rescued.
So PJ, stunt princess, came to the only place for characters that don’t fit in with what people expect: The Miss Fitz Character Agency. And it’s my aunt, Fenula Fitz, who runs it. She takes characters that no one wants, that don’t quite fit in, and helps them.
