Like millions of other people, I watched “Lockwood & Co” when it debuted on Netflix and got hooked. Once I found out that it was based on a YA book series, I immediately put in a hold request for the first two books.

“The Screaming Staircase” by Jonathan Stroud is the first in the five book series, “Lockwood & Co.” Set in London, they follow the adventures of a group of teen psychic agents who battle the ghosts that have been terrorizing the country for the past fifty years.

In this book, we meet three main characters—Lucy Carlyle, the narrator, George Cubbins, and of course, Lockwood. Lucy is a grumpy but competent heroine and has remarkable psychic talent that unfolds over the course of the book. She adjusts to life working for the relatively new agency, Lockwood & Company, working under the leadership of the charming Anthony Lockwood and working with the peculiar George Cubbins. 

“The Screaming Staircase” sees the team solving the mysterious haunting of an ancient house and also sets the stage for a larger mystery that will stretch across the series. It was a great first book, and I couldn’t wait to pick up the second book, “The Whispering Skull!”

For those that are interested, the first half Netflix series covers “The Screaming Staircase” and is very accurate to the book’s plot.