Danger in the Dark

by Tom Lalicki

Overview

Harry Houdini - the world's greatest escape artist - is in need of a new hat. That is what brings him to Bennett & Son, Gentlemen's Hatters of Fifth Avenue, where young Nathaniel G. Makeworthy Fuller is working for the summer. A surprising friendship develops between the world-famous daredevil and the boy clerk, and it comes in the nick of time. A suspicious stranger has recently wheedled his way into the confidences of Nate's wealthy great-aunt, with whom the boy and his widowed mother live. Now their house is filled with spooky late-night gatherings, the purpose of which is kept secret from Nate. Houdini is just the man to tackle this tangled mystery - and help Nate and his family escape the grasp of an interloper more cunning and dangerous than Nate could have imagined.

A truly captivating historical adventure, Danger in the Dark launches the Houdini & Nate Mystery series with fast-paced plotting and a colorful blend of fact and fiction.

Danger in the Dark is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429930703
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	05/21/2025
Series:	Houdini & Nate Mysteries , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	210
Lexile:	850L (what's this?)
File size:	825 KB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

TOM LALICKI is the author of three acclaimed nonfiction books for young readers, including Grierson's Raid: A Daring Cavalry Strike Through the Heart of the Confederacy. He lives in Westchester County, New York. Danger in the Dark is his first novel.

Enjoyed equally by adults and kids, Houdini: The Ultimate Spellbinder plunged Tom Lalicki so deeply into Houdiniana that he followed up the award-winning biography with three Houdini & Nate crime novels. They are Danger in the Dark, Shots at Seas, and Frame-Up on the Bowery, also available as ebooks.

A real-life Bruce Wayne, Houdini was the first American superhero. The world’s greatest entertainer was a secretive philanthropist who used his nearly supernatural physical and mental powers to unmask villainy and capture criminals.

Read an Excerpt

From Danger in the Dark
"Man-to-man, Nate - your aunt is in danger. This villain Trane means to take her fortune, to throw you and your mother out of her house, to make you beggars. It has happened many times before, even in this city. I will not allow it to happen to you."
The force and speed of Houdini's statement hit like the quick punches a street bully throws when his victim isn't ready. Fighting to catch his breath, Nathaniel sputtered,
"But . . . but . . . what do you mean?"
"This creature wants everything your aunt possesses. I have never laid eyes on David Douglas Trane, yet I know that he will not stick at killing your aunt - or you or your mother. He wants your aunt to change her will to make him, not you, her beneficiary. Thank your lucky stars that your aunt has resisted. But when she finally gives in, Trane will no longer need her, or your mother."
Nathaniel was choking on a rising tide of anger, rage, confusion.
"Breathe deeply, through your nose," Houdini counseled. "I just threw you into a bathtub filled with ice water. It will be easier now."