Peter is cleaning out an old Tudor water butt at his great aunt's house when he finds a reddish stone and imagines it might be an old ruby lost - according to family tradition - centuries before. He takes the stone to an antiques shop where they offer to keep it till an expert arrives for an antiques roadshow at an hotel in a few days' time. But Peter doesn't like the look of the people at the shop, and refuses to leave it. He decides to take the stone to the expert himself.

With his new friend Katya, he sets off across Exmoor. But night falls, they are miles from home - the whole idea seems suddenly crazy - and a nightmare journey stretches ahead......

Look out for FAIR GAME, the next story about Peter and Katya

There are 112 pages in this book. This book was published 2000 by Hachette Children's Group .

Josephine Poole was born in London. Her first children's book, A Dream in the House was published by Hutchinson in 1961, after the birth of her second child, and she has continued to published highly acclaimed children's book ever since. She lives in Somerset with her husband. Angela Barrett studied illustration at the Royal College of Art and after graduating in 1980, she began an acclaimed career in children's book illustration. Angela was winner of the Smarties Award in 1988. She lives in London.