Skulduggery Pleasant

Meet the great Skulduggery Pleasant: wise-cracking detective, powerful magician, master of dirty tricks and burglary (in the name of the greater good, of course). Oh yeah. And dead. Then there's his sidekick, Stephanie. She's… well, she's a twelve-year-old girl. With a pair like this on the case, evil had better watch out… “So you won't keep anything from me again?"He put his hand to his chest. "Cross my heart and hope to die.""Okay then. Though you don't actually have a heart," she said."I know.""And technically, you've already died.""I know that too.""Just so we're clear." Stephanie's uncle Gordon is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction. Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source – the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard. When all hell breaks loose, it's lucky for Skulduggery that he's already dead. Though he's about to discover that being a skeleton doesn't stop you from being tortured, if the torturer is determined enough. And if there's anything Skulduggery hates, it's torture… Will evil win the day? Will Stephanie and Skulduggery stop bickering long enough to stop it? One thing's for sure: evil won't know what's hit it.

Praise for Derek Landy: ‘Landy [has the] ability to craft an engaging story from start to finish.’ Inis ‘Derek Landy has been something of a publishing phenomenon.’ Irish Post Praise for Skulduggery: 'A gripping debut.' Phil Hogan, Observer ‘Landy's witty style will win him fans of all ages … It's a good job Harry's [Potter] resigning before he's forcibly retired.’ Irish Mail on Sunday 'Hugely enjoyable – a thrill-a-minute adventure.' Jonathan Stroud, author of the BARTIMAEUS TRILOGY 'It's exciting, pacy, nicely handled and fun. I sincerely hope Landy revisits these characters.' Philip Ardagh, Guardian 'Skulduggery Pleasant serves up a thoroughly satisfying blend of humour, magic and adventure. Once you've met Stephanie and Skullduggery, you'll be clamouring for a sequel.' Rick Riordan, author of the PERCY JACKSON series ‘A remarkably accomplished debut with wonderful dialogue.’ Robert Dunbar, Irish Times ‘A rip-roaring adventure.’ Irish Sunday Independent

Derek Landy lives near Dublin. Before writing his children's story about a sharply dressed skeleton detective, he wrote the screenplays for a zombie movie and a murderous horror film. "I think my career-guidance teacher is spinning in her grave," he says, "or she would be if she were dead."

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