One of the most interesting things about this book is that even though it's set in modern day London, it never feels like a novel set in a hi-tech city and a world of Facebook and celebrity reality shows, but an older, period that could be anything from Dickensian times to Edwardian England to the post-war years, evoking the atmosphere of the likes of MR James or Agatha Christie or any number of old black and white BBC children's programmes. This gives the book a certain timeless quality that fits well with the ghost-riddled world it inhabits.

Lockwood & Co are ghost hunters, and there are lots of ghosts around nowadays and they're very dangerous and only children can see them so only children can hunt them. Lucy Carlyle is the Company's newest employee, bringing the grand total to three, including the dashing Lockwood himself and the gnomish George. Most of their cases so far have not been triumphs, and their current case ends in a flaming disaster that threatens to finish the Company for good. Lockwood struggle to make the best of a bad lot by pushing to find the person responsible for an old murder in the hopes that the publicity will bring more business. It does. They are invited to spend the night in the most haunted house in England. They're not expected to survive.

The Screaming Staircase is incredibly well written, and it is the style of writing and Lucy's narrative voice that contributes most to the timeless quality. The set-up is intriguing and mysterious, the types and behaviours of ghosts and the rules and methods of ghost hunting are well constructed, the plot is extremely clever, the pace is quick and exciting and the characters are lovable in the extreme. I was a big fan of Stroud's Bartimeus Trilogy. If he keeps this up, Lockwood and Co could be even better.