The Screaming Staircase

This is my first read by Mr. Stroud and it won't be my last. 

A friend recommended this to me on audiobook for a long drive and it was the perfect read. 

Plenty of intrigue and mystery. Great witty banter between the characters. Great fun trying to guess the twists and turns ahead of time and trying to work out how the characters would get out of their scrapes. 

Excellent narrator. 

Clean writing, as in no swearing. A few violent moments but that is to expected when dealing with the supernatural and it wasn't graphic or gratuitous. 

Good for the middle grade set and up. 

AMAZON

A sinister problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren't exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see - and eradicate - these supernatural foes. Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.

In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood and Co., a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision. After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their sarcastic colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of Combe Carey Hall, one of the most haunted houses in England. Will Lockwood and Co. survive the Hall's legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day?

Listeners who enjoyed the action, suspense, and humor in Jonathan Stroud's internationally bestselling Bartimaeus books will be delighted to find the same ingredients, combined with deliciously creepy scares, in his thrilling and chilling Lockwood and Co. series.