Dial-a-Ghost — Eva Ibbotson

The Dial-a-Ghost Agency finds good homes for ghosts. Bloodstained brides, headless warriors, bloblike ghouls -- ghosts of every sort are matched with living families. There are two doors to the agency's offices: one marked GHOSTS, the other marked PEOPLE. Through the first door come the Wilkinsons, a nice family of spooks who are fed up with haunting a knicker shop (the lacy slips and rudely named tights are not good for ghost children to be around!). Through the second door comes Fulton Snodde-Brittle, who wants the wickedest ghosts available for his grand home, Helton Hall.

Luckily the agency ladies, Miss Pringle and Mrs. Mannering, have just the right match for each customer. They send the Wilkinsons off to a tranquil old abbey and promise Fulton Snodde-Brittle a pair of appalling spooks, the Shriekers, who wear rotten meat as jewelry and like to strangle children in their sleep. What the kindly ladies don't know is that Fulton has an evil scheme to frighten his young cousin, the heir to Helton Hall, to death. Poor Oliver doesn't stand a chance against the Shriekers, but maybe the agency isn't as well organized as it seems.

This delicious ghost story by the author of The Secret of Platform 13 and Which Witch? is filled with funny and frightening moments. It is sure to satisfy Eva Ibbotson's many fans, as well as those discovering her wonderful books for the first time.