Lockett & Wilde’s Dreadfully Haunting Mysteries: The Ghosts of the Manor by Lucy Strange & Pam Smy

September 2024

Anything by Lucy Strange is guaranteed to be deliciously creepy and completely unputdownable. Combine her gothic style with Pam Smy’s brilliant chracterisations and you have a wonderfully delightful, illustrated mystery that will pull readers age 9+ under its spell. With the most charming laugh-out-loud moments and gentle teasing of the most earnest characters, this story will entertain young and old alike.

Matilda Lockett is the assistant to spirit medium Signora Valentina (who is actually her Aunt Evelyn) and Uncle Barnabus (her aunt’s dear friend). When Matilda isn’t disguised as the “darling ghost girl” who shows up at seances to terrify the audience, she loves trying to solve mysteries and puzzles.

Of course there aren’t any real ghosts at her aunt’s seances. With a little bit of “pageantry and flimflam”, Aunt Evelyn manages to convince her audiences that ghosts really are reaching out from beyond the grave. But one night, Matilda wonders if she did actually see something (or someone) during the key moment of the act. Were they visited by a ghost afterall?

When Aunt Evelyn is invited to the haunted Beauchamp Manor, Matilda wonders if her aunt will be able to pull off an actual exorcism. They find themselves in the middle of a real mystery – a gothic folly with a towering, twisty turret and an unusual collection of paintings, a strange art critic who plays the violin (badly) to repel ghosts and a missing diamond. Matilda and their spiritually sensitive parrot, Colin, make friends they never expected and discover what it means to be tethered to something of real value.

Lockett & Wilde’s Dreadfully Haunting Mysteries takes readers on an brilliantly atmospheric treasure hunt full of supernatural sleauthing and charming humour. Amidst all the clues, danger and trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes, they realise that friendships are more important than anything else.

I’m thrilled this is the first in a new series and can’t wait for the next instalment! Challenging vocabulary (like ethereal, superfluous and foreboding) keep readers on their toes while the incredible illustrations draw everyone in. This will be a fantastic story to read aloud and an excellent model to inspire children to create their own illustrated mysteries.

Thank you to Walker Books & NetGalley UK for an early read of this wonderful mystery!

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