JONATHAN STROUD is the author of the first two Lockwood & Co. books, The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull, and the internationally best-selling Bartimaeus books: The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye, Ptolemy’s Gate, and The Ring of Solomon, as well as the novels Heroes of the Valley, The Leap, The Last Siege, and Buried Fire. He lives in England with his wife and three children. For more information, visit his Website, www.jonathanstroud.com.