This priceless work of alchemy has disappeared in baffling circumstances – stolen from a locked and empty room in an underground library known as the labyrinth. What’s more, the work is no ordinary book, for it is reputed to be cursed: many creatures have tried to steal it over the centuries, and all have perished in the attempt. Leaving his own cosy home in the roots of an old oak tree, Monty sets off to investigate.

Dragging cynical Nettle with him, he heads to the ginormous, red-leafed tree that houses the library. But as they sail across the Lake – a huge body of water dotted with wooded islands – they are swept up in a dangerous adventure, featuring pirates, mazes, boobytraps, kidnaps, boat chases and knife fights. Along the way, they meet the motley cast of characters who live on the Lake, from a rakish pirate otter to a kindly police badger, from a sinister and wealthy toad to a meek hedgehog astronomer.

But who stole The Feathered Book? Will Monty the fox manage to catch the thief? And how was the impossible crime committed in the first place?