Skulduggery Pleasant - Hardcover

Derek Landy lives near Dublin. Before writing his children's story about a sharply-dressed skeleton detective, he wrote the screenplays for a zombie movie and a murderous horror film. "I think my career-guidance teacher is spinning in her grave," he says, "or she would be if she were dead."

This production is exactly the reason young adult fantasy fare can work so well as audio entertainment. Narrator Rupert Degas will be known to fans of Philip Pullman as Pantalaimon in the audios of His Dark Materials, and he does a bang-up job here as well. This is dark comic fantasy, and Degass timing and complete grasp of the main characters personality couldnt be better. Skulduggery is the ultimate undead; in fact, hes just a skeleton. This does not stop him from being a deadly fighter or a snappy dresser. In this first episode, Skulduggery steps in to help the niece of an old friend who unwittingly has something a group of evil magicians badly needs. What sets the story apart is Degass deadpan delivery with a hint of rumbling laughter. Here is a hero we soon find ourselves immensely attached to. Bring us more Skulduggery! D.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine