If, like me, you’re still lamenting the cancellation of Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. adaptation, you’re in luck. For once, you’ll be able to know how the story ends. You can find out what’s hidden behind that door on the landing, the skull’s identity, and what the head of the Fittes Agency is up to. Lockwood, Lucy, and George are involved in so many more mysterious and ghostly cases you won’t want to miss out on.
If you’ve never seen the Netflix show and just want to find a great YA horror-adjacent story, you’ve also come to the right place. Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. book series is a great read—funny, mysterious, dark, twisting, and sometimes downright terrifying, the Lockwood & Co. books have got it all. There are five in total—the Netflix show combined the first two novels for its first and only season—plus an exciting bonus story. So, what are you waiting for?
Here’s how to read all the Lockwood & Co. books in order. Happy reading!
The Screaming Staircase (2014)
For over half a century, the U.K. has been plagued by ghosts—but only the young can see and defeat them. Lucy Carlyle, a talented agent with an extraordinary ability to hear the dead, arrives in London after a harrowing ordeal during a mission gone awry. Once in London, she’s hired by a small, independent psychical agency known as Lockwood & Co., run by the charming Anthony Lockwood and his friend and researcher extraordinaire, George Cubbins.
When, after a fateful mishap, Lockwood & Co.’s only chance to redeem themselves is by taking on an incredibly dangerous case, Lockwood, Lucy, and George must work together to save their reputations—and themselves—during a night in the most haunted house in the country.
The Whispering Skull (2015)
As Lucy, George, and Lockwood try to unravel the mystery of their horrifying ghost jar, they’re called to work an incredibly dangerous case—strange apparitions and ghosts have been seen around the grave of an old Victorian physician, and the agency is sent to make it safe. Of course, everything goes wrong—a terrifying phantom is released, and a sinister artifact goes missing. Will they be able to save London from this terrible ghost? And will they be able to do so before their obnoxious rivals from the Fittes agency beat them to it?
The Hollow Boy (2015)
Lockwood & Co. may be the most chaotic agency in London, but they get the job done. So, when they’re excluded from investigating the plague of ghosts terrifying the London neighborhood of Chelsea, a plague which has Scotland Yard completely baffled, Lockwood, Lucy, and George set out to investigate it themselves. Though they may be able to find the source of the outbreak—they are, all three, very Talented, after all—they soon realize they may not be able to handle it all by themselves. But who will help them? And who would want to cause a massive outbreak like that in the first place?
The Creeping Shadow (2016)
Though Lockwood & Co. managed to fix the Chelsea Outbreak, not everyone got out unscathed. Lucy Carlyle has left Lockwood & Co. to become a freelancer, lending her considerable Talents to other, lesser agencies. But when Penelope Fittes, the head of the esteemed Fittes agency, turns to Lockwood & Co. for help, Lucy finds herself pulled back in, unable to resist Lockwood’s offer of friendship and the chance to work on another compelling case. But not everything is as it seems, and the assignment becomes more dangerous the closer they get to the truth.
The Empty Grave (2017)
In the final Lockwood & Co. installment, Lucy has officially rejoined the agency as they fight to find out the truth of the ghostly epidemic that has plagued the country for decades. Their research leads them to Penelope Fittes, who’s hiding a secret so gruesome and cruel that it changes everything. Their battle against the most powerful woman in London leads them to the Other Side, where they discover more about the dead than they ever thought possible—or ever wanted to.
BONUS: The Dagger in the Desk (2015)
The Dagger in the Desk is an additional Lockwood & Co. story that can be read by itself—but it’s one you won’t want to miss. A fatally mysterious ghost is haunting the halls of the prestigious St Simeon’s Academy for Talented Youngsters—a ghost that carries a very sharp and very real dagger. Will Lockwood & Co. be able to subdue it before it gets the chance to strike again?
(featured image: Netflix)
