First published in Great Britain by
HarperCollins Childrenâs Books in 2014
Reissued in this edition in 2017
HarperCollins Childrenâs Books is a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd,
HarperCollins Publishers
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London SE1 9GF
The HarperCollins website address is:
www.harpercollins.co.uk
Skulduggery Pleasant rests his weary bones on the web at:
www.skulduggerypleasant.co.uk
Derek Landy blogs under duress at
www.dereklandy.blogspot.com
Text copyright © Derek Landy 2014
Illuminated letters copyright © Tom Percival 2014
Skulduggery Pleasant logo>TM HarperCollinsPublishers
Skulduggery Pleasant © >TM Derek Landy
Cover design © blacksheep-uk.com
Cover illustration © Tom Percival
Derek Landy asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of the work.
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Source ISBN: 9780007489282
Ebook Edition © ISBN: 9780007489299
Version: 2017-05-25
This book is dedicated to me.
Derek, without you, I would not be where I am today.
Words cannot convey how much I owe you for the guidance youâve shown me â for your wisdom, your wit, your keen insight and your keener intelligence, your taste, your strength, your integrity and your humility. I wonât mention the charity work you do, or the political activism youâre involved in, or the ecological work youâve spearheaded. And itâs not just because you wonât talk about it â itâs because no one else does, either.
You have taught me how to be a better person.
Nay â you have taught us all.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Dylan Thomas
ive in the morning and Danny is up, rolling slowly out of bed, eyes half open as his bare feet touch the floorboards. Getting up this early is worse in the winter, when the cold threatens to push him back under the covers. Colorado winters are something to behold, as his dear departed dad would say, and Danny isnât one to argue with his dear departed dad. But the summers are warm, and so he sits on the edge of his bed without shivering, and after a dull minute he forces his eyes open wide, stands up and dresses.