
Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Synopsis
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.
Is Skulduggery Pleasant appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 10 and up.
Twelve-year-old Stephanie teams up with an undead skeleton detective to battle dark forces in this action-packed urban fantasy with humor and moderate magical violence including torture references; appropriate for middle grade readers comfortable with supernatural peril.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, no sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include torture, death of parent, and violence.
Who'll love this
Kids will love the witty banter between a smart girl and her wisecracking skeleton partner as they solve magical mysteries and fight evil forces.