Lucy's on the outs with Lockwood & Co and working hard to persuade herself that she prefers the independent life of a freelance operative, but when the opportunity presents itself to work with Lockwood, George and Holly, she jumps at it, monstrous cannibal shade and all. There's more going on than that, though. Someone's buying up ghostly objects on the black market, even objects that were supposedly destroyed, and when they kick Lucy's door in and steal her whispering skull, they've messed with the wrong ghost hunter. Meanwhile, a small village is experiencing an immense outbreak of hauntings, all seemingly triggered by a strange hulking figure stirring spirits out of the their graves. Lockwood thinks the black market and the outbreak might be linked but how, and will the gang survive long enough to do something about it?

As the series draws on we're circling gradually closer to the heart of the mystery - what caused the Problem? By the end of this book we're no nearer an answer, but we're beginning to get some idea of who was involved. Lockwood & Co carries on as witty and gruesome and spooky as ever.