Landy, Derek. Skulduggery Pleasant. New York : HarperCollins, 2007.
Plot: Much to the shock of all her relatives, Stephanie becomes the primary heir to her rich uncle's vast fortune, including his house. After managing to convince her mother that she is safe at the house by herself, she is visited by an dark stranger and a suit-wearing skeleton. The skeleton is the good guy. After rescuing her from the unknown thief, the skeleton, known as Skulduggery Pleasant, explains she also inherited a staff of great power from her uncle. Unfortunately, neither of them know where he hid it. They do know, however, several powers would kill for it to usher evil, magical overlords toward their goal to reshape the world.
Genre: Adventure, Mystery, Fantasy, Horror
Reading Level: Grades 4-9; however, some fight scenes are graphic and macabre, so caution sensitive readers.
Personal Thoughts: The first book in a currently five-novel series presents its plot and its characters excellently. Both Stephanie and Skulduggery exhibit popular intelligent-sarcastic personalities while showing genuine concern for their fellows. However, according to reviews the books progressively focus more on the macabre/Lovecraftian, so exercise discretion when recommending it.
A movie based on the book was scheduled, but was postponed indefinitely due to author/screenwriter conflict.
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