I’ve read something else from Mr. Landy – Mortal Coil.

In 2007, a new middle-grade series about a feisty 12-year-old girl who partners with Skulduggery Pleasant — the wise-cracking skeleton of a dead sorcerer — to solve mysteries hit U.S. bookstores. But while the series enjoyed worldwide success, only the first three books of the series were released here. Now, HarperCollins is bringing the entire series (all 10 books) back to the U.S. with new covers.

The manuscript was thick and heavy, like all of Gordon’s books. She’d read most of them, and the odd splash of pretension aside, had quite enjoyed his work. His stories tended to be about people who could do astonishing and wonderful things, and the strange and terrible events that invariably led up to their bizarre and horrible deaths. She noticed the way he would set up a strong and noble hero, and over the course of the book systematically subject this hero to brutal punishment in a bid to strip away all his arrogance and certainty so that by the end he was humbled and had learned a great lesson. And then Gordon killed him off, usually in the most undignified way possible. Stephanie could almost hear Gordon laughing with mischievous glee as she’d read.

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.

Meet the characters…

Sorcerer. Detective. Dead.’Embrace your inner lunatic, fun times Guaranteed.’	Warrior. Detective. Teen.’Don’t call me sweetheart.’	Warrior. Rogue. Sister.’Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough’	Tailor. Boxer. Friend.’Fashion – it’s life or death’

…and some more

Schoolboy. Sorcerer. Barely.’I’m not really the Darkly you want.’	Curator. Collector. Spymaster.’War is a delicate thing.’	Texan. Mercenary. Killer.’Purveyor of cruel and unusual punishments, at your service.’	Killer. Princess. Unstoppable.’You’ve never faced anyone like me before.’

The Young heroine in this case actually seems to be reasonably competent from the start, with glimpses of huge future potential and a refreshing lack of whining, while the characters around her are all well-fleshed out (if you can say that about a talking skeleton) and believable, even the villains.

As for the Hero of the title – A perfect creation. Wise-cracking while being tortured, cunning plans that usually consist of “lets see what happens”, and the sharpest-dressed undead in town.

Magic without requiring to wave a twig around, excellent fight scenes you can really visualize, there is nothing not to like about this book.

Devoured this one in an evening, finished late into the night even knowing I would regret the lack of sleep at work next day.