Inkbound by Philippa Leathley

On her tenth birthday, Meticulous Jones – known to her friends as Metty – receives her fate, as all children do, in the form of a magical tattoo on her hand. She hopes for something exciting: a tattoo that will symbolise travel, or discovery, or adventure. What she gets is a skull, balanced in the palm of a violet glove. Metty’s fate is to become a murderer.

Metty is swiftly hidden away by her father, Moral Jones, in a remote Welsh farmhouse, with only a miserable housekeeper (who’s terrified she’ll become Metty’s first victim) for company. But when Moral goes missing, his sister – Aunt Magnificent – arrives to sweep Metty off to the glittering city of New London. Metty is mesmerised by the magic and enchantment of the city. But when she starts to hear rumours of a mysterious and dangerous organisation known as the Black Moths, she wonders if they might be connected to her father’s disappearance – and to her own fate . . .