J. W. Wells & Co. Books In Publication Order
- The Portable Door (2003)
- In Your Dreams (2004)
- Earth, Air, Fire and Custard (2005)
- You Don’t Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps (2006)
- The Better Mousetrap (2008)
- May Contain Traces of Magic (2009)
- Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages (2011)
J. W. Wells & Co. Book Covers
J.W. Wells & Co Books Overview
The Portable Door
Starting a new job is always stressful particularly when you don’t particularly want one, but when Paul Carpenter arrives at the office of J.W. Wells he has no idea what trouble lies in store. Because he is about to discover that the apparently respectable establishment now paying his salary is in fact a front for a deeply sinister organisation that has a mighty peculiar agenda. It seems that half the time his bosses are away with the fairies. But they’re not, of course. They’re away with the goblins. Mister Tom Holt, Master of the Comic Fantasy Novel, cordially invites you to join him in his world of madness by reading his next hilarious masterpiece. Dress: informal. RSVP to Orbit Books. Bring a bottle.
In Your Dreams
Ever been offered a promotion that seems too good to be true? The kind where you snap their arm off to accept, then wonder why all your long serving colleagues look secretly relieved, as if they’re off some strange and unpleasant hook? It’s the kind of trick that deeply sinister companies like J.W. Wells & Co. pull all the time. Especially with employees who are too busy mooning over the office intern to think about what they’re getting into. And it’s why, right about now, Paul Carpenter is wishing he’d paid much less attention to the gorgeous Melze, and rather more to a little bit of job description small print referring to ‘pest’ control.
Earth, Air, Fire and Custard
J.W. Wells seemed to be a respectable establishment, but the company now paying Paul Carpenter’s salary is, in fact, a deeply sinister organization with a mighty peculiar management team. Paul thought he was getting the hang of it particularly when he fell head over heels for his strangely alluring colleague, Sophie but death is never far away when you work at J.W. Wells. Our love struck hero is about to discover that custard is definitely in the eye of the beholder. And that it really stings.
You Don’t Have to Be Evil to Work Here, But it Helps
Colin Hollinghead is a young man going nowhere fast. Working for his dad might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but starting at the bottom in the widget making industry has, predictably, lost its appeal. And now the business is in trouble. At least his father has a plan to turn things around a new work force that will improve profit margins and secure the company’s future for all eternity. The deal looks great on paper, but they do say that the devil is in the detail and the arch fiend definitely seems to be involved in some capacity. Colin needs help. Perhaps his new friend from J.W. Wells & Co. Practical and Effective Magicians, Sorcerers and Supernatural Consultants can help Sparkling with wit and oozing charm, Tom Holt’s new comic caper proves once and for all that going to work actually can be hell.
The Better Mousetrap
It touches all our lives; our triumphs and tragedies, our proudest achievements, our most traumatic disasters. Alloyed of love and fear, death and fire, and the inscrutable acts of the gods, insurance is indeed the force that binds the universe together. Hardly surprising, therefore, that Frank Carpenter, one of the foremost magical practitioners of our age, felt himself irresistibly drawn to it. Until, that is, he met Jane, a high flying corporate hero*ine with an annoying habit of falling out of trees and getting killed. Repeatedly. It’s not long before Frank and Jane find themselves face to face with the greatest enigma of our times: When is a door not a door? When it’s a mousetrap.
May Contain Traces of Magic
From the master of comic fantasy, a new reason to find technology terrifying There are all kinds of products. The good ones. The bad ones. The ones that stay in the garage moldering for years until your garden gnome makes a home out of it. Most are harmless if handled properly, even if they do contain traces of peanuts. But some are not not the ones that contain traces of magic. Chris Popham wasn’t paying enough attention when he talked to his SatNav. Sure, she gave him directions, never talked back to him, and always led him to his next spot on the map with perfect accuracy. She was the best thing in his life. So was it really his fault that he didn’t start paying attention when she talked to him? In his defense, that was her job. But when ‘Take the next right’ turned into ‘Excuse me,’ that was when the real trouble started. Because sometimes a GPS isn’t a GPS sometimes it’s an imprisoned soul trapped inside a metal box that will do anything it can to get free. And some products you just can’t return.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Sausages
Polly is a real estate solicitor. She is also losing her mind. Someone keeps drinking her coffee. And talking to her clients. And doing her job. And when she goes to the dry cleaner’s to pick up her dress for the party, it’s not there. Not the dress the dry cleaner’s. And then there are the chickens who think they are people. Something strange is definitely going on and it’s going to take more than a magical ring to sort it out. From one of the funniest voices in comic fiction today comes a hilarious tale of pigs and parallel worlds.