The Montfort children thought they had left mystery behind when their parents moved them to a quieter corner of the Forest of Dean. But the woods are never truly quiet, and secrets have a way of finding them.
On their very first day at the new school, Mira and Eli meet Carmina-a quiet girl in a red hoodie who keeps herself apart. She seems haunted, unwilling to explain where she comes from or why she won't look the teachers in the eye. The Montforts sense something unusual about her, though they can't decide if she needs help... or if she's hiding a dangerous truth.
Beyond the playground fences, the forest presses close. Eli begins to notice movement in the trees: a shadow that lingers too long, a figure that seems to vanish when approached. Others whisper of a boy called Luca, always at the edge of things, half-real, half-legend. Mira catches glimpses too, though she can never be sure if it's the same presence-or something worse.
And then there is the man in the long brown coat. Tall, watchful, he appears on the lanes near school, on the paths through the woods, always just out of reach. No one admits to knowing him, yet his presence seems woven into Carmina's story. Teacher? Stranger? Hunter? The children can't agree, but they all sense one thing: he is waiting for something.
As the days shorten and the forest grows restless, Mira and Eli are drawn further into Carmina's troubles. Petty school rivalries give way to darker questions: What is she running from? Who can be trusted? And what secrets lie in the shadows of Cinderford, where folklore warns of beasts that are neither man nor animal?
Caught between friendship and fear, the Montforts must decide how much they are willing to risk for the truth. The line between hunter and hunted blurs, and every choice could draw them closer to the heart of a story too strange to be ignored.
A Furry Tale is a chilling new entry in the Montfort Mystery series, blending school drama with folklore, friendship with fear. It asks how far you would go to protect someone you barely know, and whether the real monsters are found in the shadows-or closer to home.
Parker, Mj: - "
MJ Parker is a British author writing interconnected mystery-fantasy stories for middle-grade readers and the young-at-heart.
His work forms the Montfort Mysteries, a shared fictional world where ordinary childhood lives brush against the uncanny - where folklore seeps into playgrounds, woods, and family homes, and where the things adults dismiss have a habit of being uncomfortably real. His stories centre on curiosity, loyalty, sibling bonds, and the moment when imagination turns out to be dangerously close to truth.
His debut novel, The Hollow Path, introduced readers to the Montfort world through a quiet, unsettling mystery rooted in local legend and half-remembered warnings. This was followed by A Furry Tale, which expands the universe with new characters, stranger edges, and a growing sense that the world is wider - and darker - than it first appears.
He lives in the Forest of Dean, where ancient woodland, abandoned paths, and lingering stories continue to influence his writing. He is a single dad, balancing family life with writing, game development, and tabletop storytelling - all of which feed back into the Montfort Mysteries. When he isn't writing, he is usually designing systems, running role-playing games, or taking notes on ideas that refuse to stay quiet.
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