12-year-old Jordan Warden is not very happy. He has rich, uncaring parents and is virtually a prisoner in the huge family mansion, Thattlebee Hall. Worst of all, though, is his granny. Not only is she physically repulsive, she's horribly mean. Even so, Joe is shocked by the malicious gleam in her eye as she gives him a Christmas present fit for a two-year-old. It's the look of a predatory crocodile - and Joe starts to suspect that Granny has unpleasant designs on him. But what are they and how can he foil them? Anthony Horowitz's previous books include Groosham Grange (winner of the 1990 Lancashire Book Award), The Falcon's Malteser and South by South East.