Take a photo of a barcode or cover
remkosiak 's review for:
Skulduggery Pleasant
by Derek Landy
6th booktalk
This book, like most good mysteries, starts off with the sudden death of a beloved man. Gordon Edgely, famous fantasy writer, was seven words into the twenty-fifth sentence of the final chapter of his new book when he died. Unlike most good mysteries, Gordon’s death was not entirely suspicious. There was, however, a strange visitor at his funeral – a man in a tan coat, buttoned up all the way with a scarf wrapped around his face. Strange visitors are usually in good mysteries… this seems promising.
The strangeness really starts, though, at the reading of Gordon’s will. It seems that his niece Stephanie, the least greedy and demanding and downright unpleasant of Gordon’s relatives (discounting her parents), was willed all of Gordon’s property and possessions, his assets and royalties. Quite a large responsibility for a girl of twelve. But Stephanie Edgely is no ordinary twelve-year old girl. And this is no ordinary mystery.
That night, a set of mystery-story circumstances (a broken-down car, a rainstorm, a flood, and a “there’s no way I’m leaving you in a strange house by yourself, Stephanie” from Mrs. Edgely) leave Stephanie alone for the night in Gordon’s mansion – not a strange house to her, by any means. Unworried, Stephanie settles in for the night. And then the phone rings – a very angry man on the other end warning her not to “mess up my master’s plans” and “don’t talk to me like that.” She began to feel uneasy. And that was before the pounding on the front door and voices demanding she let them in. Stephanie was just beginning to feel quiet unsafe (as the man, who of course had broken in through the door, had wrapped his hand around Stephanie’s throat and had begun to squeeze) when the strange funeral visitor appeared.
Stephanie remembered that his name was Skulduggery Pleasant. She saw him quickly dispatching the two intruders, knocking them out after beating them quite soundly. She thought she saw his scarf fall down from his face, and she thought she saw that all he had was a skull for a head. Confused, Stephanie watched as Skulduggery began to clean up the mess he’d made beating up the intruders.
And thus begins their partnership. Skulduggery Pleasant is, as you might have guessed, a skeleton. A skeleton detective, to be more precise. And when I said that Gordon Edgley’s death may not have had any mysterious circumstances… I may have been lying. This series is one you absolutely should not miss – not if you love fantasy, or mystery, or humor, or … really books in general.
This book, like most good mysteries, starts off with the sudden death of a beloved man. Gordon Edgely, famous fantasy writer, was seven words into the twenty-fifth sentence of the final chapter of his new book when he died. Unlike most good mysteries, Gordon’s death was not entirely suspicious. There was, however, a strange visitor at his funeral – a man in a tan coat, buttoned up all the way with a scarf wrapped around his face. Strange visitors are usually in good mysteries… this seems promising.
The strangeness really starts, though, at the reading of Gordon’s will. It seems that his niece Stephanie, the least greedy and demanding and downright unpleasant of Gordon’s relatives (discounting her parents), was willed all of Gordon’s property and possessions, his assets and royalties. Quite a large responsibility for a girl of twelve. But Stephanie Edgely is no ordinary twelve-year old girl. And this is no ordinary mystery.
That night, a set of mystery-story circumstances (a broken-down car, a rainstorm, a flood, and a “there’s no way I’m leaving you in a strange house by yourself, Stephanie” from Mrs. Edgely) leave Stephanie alone for the night in Gordon’s mansion – not a strange house to her, by any means. Unworried, Stephanie settles in for the night. And then the phone rings – a very angry man on the other end warning her not to “mess up my master’s plans” and “don’t talk to me like that.” She began to feel uneasy. And that was before the pounding on the front door and voices demanding she let them in. Stephanie was just beginning to feel quiet unsafe (as the man, who of course had broken in through the door, had wrapped his hand around Stephanie’s throat and had begun to squeeze) when the strange funeral visitor appeared.
Stephanie remembered that his name was Skulduggery Pleasant. She saw him quickly dispatching the two intruders, knocking them out after beating them quite soundly. She thought she saw his scarf fall down from his face, and she thought she saw that all he had was a skull for a head. Confused, Stephanie watched as Skulduggery began to clean up the mess he’d made beating up the intruders.
And thus begins their partnership. Skulduggery Pleasant is, as you might have guessed, a skeleton. A skeleton detective, to be more precise. And when I said that Gordon Edgley’s death may not have had any mysterious circumstances… I may have been lying. This series is one you absolutely should not miss – not if you love fantasy, or mystery, or humor, or … really books in general.