Skullduggery Pleasant

If you like Irish accents, for sure listen to this audiobook...fantastic reading. I actually picked this up on a whim, really really needing something to read on a thirteen plus hour drive from Maryland to Chicago. Stephanie is a twelve year old girl bored with her life when her uncle dies unexpectedly leaving her the majority of his fortune. At the reading of the will, a strange man completely covered in overcoat, scarf, hat, and sunglasses is there and receives a piece of advice from Uncle Gordon's will. It turns out that this strange man is actually a living skeleton named Skulduggery who manages to save Stephanie's life several times in one evening.

Stephanie is drawn into an underworld of magic in which Skulduggery is a detective and an evil man named Serpine is out to destroy the world. Skulduggery is an egotistical but incredibly witty character and Stephanie is a rather independant girl whose desire for a break from the monotony is at first her driving force. However, the deeper she delves into crazy magical happenings with Skulduggery, she grows up and finds better motivations for putting herself in mortal danger.