Skulduggery Pleasant: Books 1 - 3

Skulduggery Pleasant: Books 1 - 3
Derek Landy

Together for the first time, books 1, 2 and 3 in the Skulduggery Pleasant – the biggest, funniest, most thrilling comedy-horror-adventure series in the universe! From number-one-bestselling author Derek Landy.Book 1: SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT. Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: detective, sorcerer, warrior. Oh yes, and dead.Book 2: PLAYING WITH FIRE. Vengeous. Dusk. Sanguine. Three of the deadliest killers alive are in town to resurrect an unstoppable creature of horrifying power… and only Skulduggery and Valkyrie stand in their way.Book 3: THE FACELESS ONES. You’ve seen it all before: some bad guy wants to bring about the end of the world. A few people get hurt, sure, but everything’s all right in the end. Well… not this time.

Skulduggery Pleasant 1-3

Derek Landy

Copyright (#uc30a8e78-de4c-5f83-8c05-6fffd9f7d42b)

HarperCollins Children’s Books

A division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2014.

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2007 (Skulduggery Pleasant), 2008 (Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire), 2009 (Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones)

Copyright © Derek Landy 2007 (Skulduggery Pleasant)

Copyright © Derek Landy 2008 (Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire)

Copyright © Derek Landy 2009 (Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones)

Cover illustration © Tom Percival;

Illuminated letters © Tom Percival;

Skulduggery Pleasant™ Derek Landy; Skulduggery Pleasant logo™ HarperCollins Publishers

Derek Landy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Source ISBN: 9780007279005 (Skulduggery Pleasant), 9780007302123 (Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire), 9780007318285 (Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones)

Ebook Edition © 2014 ISBN: 9780007520749

Version: 2018-09-04

Table of Contents

Cover (#u6a10ec88-8a65-50eb-a99f-eabb3593d459)

Title Page (#u3c1c498e-77fa-5006-a485-d8eed347b8ce)

Copyright

Skulduggery Pleasant

Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire

Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author

By the Same Author

About the Publisher

(#uc30a8e78-de4c-5f83-8c05-6fffd9f7d42b)

DEREK LANDY

Skulduggery Pleasant

Dedication (#uc0cf2925-679b-5137-b0eb-2046d781b6d1)

This book is dedicated to my parents, John and Barbara.

Dad – this is for your bizarrely unwavering support and unflinching faith.

Barbs – this is for that look on your face when I told you the good news.

I owe you absolutely everything and, y’know, I suppose it’s entirely possible that I feel some, like, degree of affection towards the two of you…

Contents

Title Page (#u0a09132d-8322-55ee-9183-5f30f5ce1ae6)Dedication (#u7fdcaa96-91e2-5857-a168-40838f0e4353)Chapter One: Stephanie (#u8a9e4a46-a855-570c-aedd-649282250e6d)Chapter Two: The Will (#u02d8e63d-dc50-5ef7-a8ad-9a6649275d95)Chapter Three: Little Girl, All Alone (#u56ba679b-0df9-5a64-8172-a0a675f02562)Chapter Four: The Secret War (#uc62258cd-20f7-5270-a01f-9d1c03688671)Chapter Five: Meeting China Sorrows (#ud22a8f4e-e5c5-5a0a-98e0-06d50cbb404f)Chapter Six: A Man Apart (#u6881e2b2-120a-5e2c-b91d-744c0398d103)Chapter Seven: Serpine (#ubf09f6ef-079c-59d4-aa1b-bd59f113d192)Chapter Eight: Ghastly (#u52433323-e72b-5284-8ba0-4983a1b16d77)Chapter Nine: The Troll Beneath Westminster Bridge (#u060f2189-5915-5295-aad8-e13679d78046)Chapter Ten: The Gal In Black (#u8e8bf643-c529-55e4-8fc0-c1915fe055d5)Chapter Eleven: The Little Bit Of Crime (#u9738ddee-ad4e-5f7b-bb92-c19dbd631a48)Chapter Twelve: Vampires (#u397e3e90-6c1e-5bff-af87-8df369e0b13a)Chapter Thirteen: The Red Right Hand (#u6c4843f3-bfaa-5554-996b-c6c829e8decc)Chapter Fourteen: Elemental Magic (#ubb11b4a8-2b38-595e-b02a-b56d19743bd5)Chapter Fifteen: The Torture Room (#u84f65ca1-d610-5ba0-bd1e-6e3dd44ef1f5)Chapter Sixteen: What’s In A Name? (#ue3414440-3897-550b-981f-a0da4fbc0711)Chapter Seventeen: A Fabulous Rescue Indeed (#u34d3588f-a337-5c9a-8822-056c0daabbb0)Chapter Eighteen: On The Roof, At Night (#ub1791142-5e89-5dd1-95a3-de2d604f9f3f)Chapter Nineteen: The Experiment (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty: The Family Curse (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty One: The Cave (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty Two: The Sceptre Of The Ancients (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty Three: Thoughts On Dying Horribly (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty Four: Planning For Murder (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty Five: The White Cleaver (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty Six: The Last Stand Of… (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty Seven: No Calm Before The Storm (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty Eight: Carnage (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Twenty Nine: Deep In Dublin, Death (#litres_trial_promo)Chapter Thirty: An End, A Beginning (#litres_trial_promo)

1 (#uc0cf2925-679b-5137-b0eb-2046d781b6d1)

STEPHANIE

ordon Edgley’s sudden death came as a shock to everyone – not least himself. One moment he was in his study, seven words into the twenty-fifth sentence of the final chapter of his new book And The Darkness Rained Upon Them, and the next he was dead. A tragic loss, his mind echoed numbly as he slipped away.

The funeral was attended by family and acquaintances but not many friends. Gordon hadn’t been a well-liked figure in the publishing world, for although the books he wrote – tales of horror and magic and wonder – regularly reared their heads in the bestseller lists, he had the disquieting habit of insulting people without realising it, then laughing at their shock. It was at Gordon’s funeral, however, that Stephanie Edgley first caught sight of the gentleman in the tan overcoat.