Mallory Vayle and Maggoty Skull in The Beast from Beneath
Martin Howard, illustrated by Pete Williamson
Nosy Crow

This story is the sequel to Mallory Vayle and the Curse of Maggoty Skull. Mallory is now becoming accustomed to her recently discovered powers as a necromancer and this 2nd book is full of dark humour.

It begins with Mallory and Maggoty out together; Maggoty walks past the Les Wigs shop, the result being that Maggoty, who has a particular penchant for wigs, demands that she finds the money to purchase Eleganza, the hairpiece with ostrich feathers on display in the window. The problem is it’s way too expensive and he doesn’t want to take her ‘no’ for a answer.

Aunt Lilith (the fake medium) with whom Mallory now lives, suggests that they hold a Grand Séance and charge those attending to receive messages from the spirit world. Said aunt decides to try and boost her invented psychic powers beforehand and things go disastrously wrong. By accident, she summons an evil Nightmare that refuses to leave Carrion Castle; in addition it intends to terrorise humanity in its entirety. It’s going to take a lot of effort on Mallory’s part to sort that out.

With Pete Williamson’s dark creepy illustrations, this is a very funny book overflowing with gothic gruesomeness that older readers will relish.