Mallory Vayle and the Curse of Maggoty Skull
Martin Howard, illustrated by Pete Williamson
Nosy Crow

After the death of her parents in a strange accident Mallory Vayle has moved in with her Aunt Lilith who lives in the ruined Carrion Castle and by masquerading as a psychic manages to scrape together just enough to get by.. Hitherto Mallory has kept her own psychic talents under wraps, preferring to read pony stories than think about dead people. Making matters worse, her aunt’s house is haunted by the evil spirit of an old hag, Hellysh Spatzl; said spirit snatches Mallory’s parents and threatens to bestow on them endless torture if Mallory doesn’t use her talents to bring the hag back to life.

Enter Maggoty, a haunted skull with a penchant for wigs of the dashing sort who blithely reveals that Mallory is not only a psychic but a necromancer. Moreover the skull is, to Mallory’s despair, the only being able to teach her how to make use of her necromancer’s skills. This is only on condition Mallory gets him the wonderful wig he so desires and promises to break the curse he’s under.
As Mallory embraces her powers, she’s troubled by the possibility of doing harm

but she and her aunt plan a Halloween spectacular. Can she defeat Hellysh and save her parents?

This atmospheric and chilling tale is infused with humour thanks in no small part, to Maggoty’s frequent use of such words as ‘Mallsy-Ballsy-Boooo-di-Buttcrack’, ‘bumcrack’ and ‘Wee-Wee Pants’. Enormously exciting it’s way too much fun to be read only around Halloween Readers will be eagerly awaiting further spine-tingling adventures of Mallory and Maggoty – such terrific characters these wonderfully portrayed in Pete Williamson’s stylish illustrations.