Abie Longstaff wrote the Tally and Squill books because she wanted to feature an intelligent, inquisitive heroine who solves crimes by the power of her brain!
She was also inspired by her parents' house in France. The house is big and old, with lots of rooms and outbuildings. In one of the bedrooms, there is a secret entrance hidden in a fireplace. It leads to a room that was used by the French Resistance during the war. It was the perfect idea for a set of books!
Abie Longstaff is the eldest of six children and grew up in Australia, Hong Kong and France. She knows all about squabbling and bossing younger sisters around so she began her career as a barrister. She started writing when her children were born. Her books include The Fairytale Hairdresser series and The Magic Potions Shop books. She has a life-long love of fairy tales and mythology and her work is greatly influenced by these themes.
Abie lives with her family by the seaside in Hove.

The second book in The Trapdoor Mysteries, a series about Tally, a code-breaking, animal-loving servant girl and her best friend, a squirrel named Squill, who solve mysteries with the help of a secret library...
Orphan Tally is the servant girl at Mollett Manor - and she's also the Secret Keeper of the magical library hidden beneath a trapdoor, underneath the manor's grounds. Along with Squill the squirrel, she uses the enchanted books to solve crimes. So when Lady Mollett's new puppy, Widdles, is kidnapped, Tally and Squill head straight to the library. But will they be able to catch the dognapper or is it already too late?