But what if the greatest threat to Valkyrie is just a little closer to home!? With Baron Vengeous after the deadly armour of Lord Vile, and pretty much everyone out to kill Valkyrie, the daring detective duo face their biggest challenge yet.

At least, that's what Valkyrie and Skulduggery think, until the notorious Baron Vengeous makes a bloody escape from prison, and dead bodies and vampires start showing up all over Ireland. With Serpine dead, the world is safe once more. 'Please forgive me,' Skulduggery said, then aimed the gun at the girl and pulled the trigger. 'Just do what you have to do.' Valkyrie parted her tunic, and Skulduggery pointed the gun at the vest beneath. 'Yes.' He hesitated, then took his gun from his jacket. Just when you think you've saved the world! 'You will kill her?' the Torment asked. 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. Though he's about to discover that being a skeleton doesn't stop you from being tortured, if the torturer is determined enough. When all hell breaks loose, it's lucky for Skulduggery that he's already dead. Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source - the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction. '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. Though you don't actually have a heart,' she said. 'Cross my heart and hope to die.' 'Okay then. 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. She's! well, she's a twelve-year-old girl. 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).

Skulduggery pleasant by derek landy