Mallory Vayle and the Curse of Maggoty Skull

We first meet Mallory Vayle at her parents’ funeral, where they stand either side of her in ghostly form and try to comfort her, but Dad gives the funeral 3 out of 10, complains at the inept priest, and wishes he had died in more comfortable footwear.  Mum’s sister Hilda, whom she hadn’t seen since she was 15, appears in deepest black, declares that she is now known as Lilith, and claims to be psychic, though she has no idea that the ghosts of her sister and brother-in-law are there, so we know from the beginning that she is a fraud, but she is now all the only family that Mallory has. Lilith whisks Mallory off to Carrion Castle, which is as spooky as it sounds, and that night Mallory’s parents’ ghosts disappear. She is led by a mysterious voice into the basement of the castle and there discovers Maggoty Skull, the remains of Matthew, servant to the wonderfully named Hellysh Spatzl, from 500 years ago. He is a gloriously camp character, demanding, among other things, a wig.  He does have some answers though, and is able to help Mallory to accept that she is a necromancer, so she is obliged to find him a wig, but draws the line at dangly earrings…. She knows that she can talk to the dead, and can feel and use the magic inside her, but he explains that she can send her own shadow to walk elsewhere, and encourages her to be more ambitious, advice she does not always accept. She doesn’t let him call her Mallsy-Boo, or any of the other silly names he invents, but he guides her to the Diary of Hellysh Spatzl, which proves to be important. Mallory’s genuine ability to communicate effectively with the dead is something that Hilda/Lilith wants to exploit, but Mallory is reluctant, until she learns that she has little choice if she is to free her parents, and the plot builds up to a tremendous finale.

The tongue-in-cheek humour continues throughout: this is spookiness with laughs, particularly from Maggoty Skull’s dialogue, (which is not at all ancient, and includes ‘Whatevs’) and is slightly reminiscent of the Skulduggery Pleasant books but for younger readers. As this story comes to an end, we realise that some questions about Hellysh and the Castle have not been answered, and it is clear that there must be at least one sequel, which should be fun…