Lockwood & Co.: The Whispering Skull

In this second adventure in the Lockwood & Co. series, rivals clash and friendships are tested as the agency investigates a Victorian occultist. Six months after surviving a night in England's most haunted house, Anthony, Lucy, and George find their progress hampered by rival agent Quill Kipps and his Fittes team. Anthony challenges Kipps to a contest: the losing agency must publicly admit defeat in the Times newspaper. When a new client, Mr. Saunders, hires Lockwood & Co. to oversee the excavation of Edmund Bickerstaff—a Victorian doctor who attempted to communicate with the dead—the team's fortunes seem to improve. The coffin must be sealed with silver to prevent supernatural disturbance. However, George's curiosity unleashes a dangerous phantom. Back at Portland Row, tensions rise as Lockwood criticizes George's mistakes and Lucy becomes distracted by whispers from a skull in their ghost jar. The team is then summoned to DEPRAC headquarters, where Kipps is also present. Bickerstaff's coffin has been raided, and a strange glass object buried with the corpse has vanished. Inspector Barnes considers the relic highly dangerous and demands it be found.