Lockwood & Co. Book Series by Jonathan Stroud

The Lockwood & Co. book series was written by Jonathan Stroud.  It was published by Little, Brown Books.

1.  The Screaming Staircase, 2013
2.  The Whispering Skull, 2014
3.  The Hollow Boy, 2015
4.  The Creeping Shadow, 2016
5.  The Empty Grave, 2017

Publisher's summary of The Screaming Staircase:

A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren't exactly friendly.  Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see and eradicate these supernatural foes.  Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.

In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co, a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision.  After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their sarcastic colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of Combe Carey Hall, one of the most haunted houses in England.  Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall's legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day?

This is an upper middle-grade series.  It's not quite young adult, but it's definitely not for younger children.  At times, the books are quite creepy and scary.

The time period in which this series is set is never stated, but it appears to be an alternative modern reality.  Spirits began appearing in England approximately 60 years before.  Though never stated in the books, the onset of the spirit infestation apparently hindered the development of modern technology.  The characters have no cell phones and no computers.  Most all technology is never mentioned.  

The youth carry rapiers, which they use to fight ghosts.  Vehicles do exist and are used, both automobiles and trucks.  The books are modern but without the more modern developments of the last 30 to 40 years.  It's like the books are set during the 1970s.

This series is has quite a few typical series book tropes.  Even some of the titles are reminiscent of series books, especially The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull.  Throughout the series, the skull is most commonly referred to as "skull" as if a proper noun but not capitalized, but it is also sometimes called the "talking skull."  That is reminiscent of a Three Investigators book title.

The main trio consists of three characters, a girl and two boys.  One member of the trio is overweight with the typical jibes made about his eating habits.  

And of course, the skull.  The skull is an important character, and in fact, he's my favorite character.  I love him.

The trio has a rival, who is very annoying near the beginning of the series.  The relationship changes somewhat later in the series, which is interesting.

The trio spends a lot of time investigating before attempting to dispatch the spirits.  They need background information in order to come up with a proper plan of attack.  Typically, the site of each haunting had a traumatic event occur years before, like a murder or suicide, and that event is the cause of the haunting.

The spirit problem is part of an overarching story spanning all five books.  Clues are gradually doled out as the series progresses to its conclusion.

This is an extremely good series.  I greatly enjoyed reading the books, and I felt a bit lost after I finished the last one.

The series was also adapted to Netflix and aired for one season.  I watched the Netflix show soon after I read the books. The show is good, but the books are far scarier.  

I also watched the Netflix series The Irregulars, which is another show in the same vein.  I really enjoyed The Irregulars.