Lockwood & Co. is a paranormal investigative team comprised of three teens: Anthony Lockwood, George Cubbins and Lucy Carlyle. Because only children can see and hear ghosts they are ideal hunters of the paranormal. In The Whispering Skull, second in the Lockwood and Co series by Jonathan Stroud, the team is hired for what seems a simple job in the cemetery. But nothing is ever simple for this trio. What's found in and stolen from the cemetery leads to a fast-paced and thrilling investigation into the late Dr. Edmund Bickerstaff, and his methods for contacting the dead. The skull jar introduced in The Screaming Staircase holds a vital clue in solving the mystery of Bickerstaff's experiments.
Lucy, Anthony, and George are easy to relate to and likable characters. Stroud does an excellent job in providing some comic relief to the eerie tone of the book, keeping it from becoming too dark or gory.