The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise, Stuart Julia

Balthazar Jones has lived in the Tower of London with his loving wife, Hebe, and his 120-year-old pet tortoise for the past eight years. Thats right, he is a Beefeater (they really do live there). Its no easy job living and working in the tourist attraction in present-day London.

Among the eccentric characters who call the Towers maze of ancient buildings and spiral staircases home are the Towers Rack & Ruin barmaid, Ruby Dore, who just found out shes pregnant; portly Valerie Jennings, who is falling for ticket inspector Arthur Catnip; the lifelong bachelor Reverend Septimus Drew, who secretly pens a series of principled erot-ica; and the philandering Ravenmaster, aiming to avenge the death of one of his insufferable ravens.

When Balthazar is tasked with setting up an elaborate menagerie within the Tower walls to house the many exotic animals gifted to the Queen, life at the Tower gets all the more interest-ing. Penguins escape, giraffes are stolen, and the Komodo dragon sends innocent people running for their lives. Balthazar is in charge and things are not exactly running smoothly. Then Hebe decides to leave him and his beloved tortoise runs away.