DEAD GOOD DETECTIVES

English best friends Sid and Zen and their phantom pirate companion, Bones, return for a second outing of helping ghosts resolve their unfinished business and pass over.

This time, a nefarious figure is harvesting luminous dust from the spirits, leaving only days to solve the ghosts’ earthbound mysteries before they become soulless wraiths. To complicate matters further, Sid and Zen have a quirky new Welsh classmate named Mo, who might be a perfect friend for the two oddballs—if they can keep her from realizing they see (and talk to) ghosts. As before, the ghostly content tends more toward whimsy than horror, with stylized black-and-white illustrations reinforcing the levity; this factor, combined with the straightforward plotting, will make this work accessible for younger or more sensitive readers. With charm and enthusiasm, McLachlan successfully juggles the central mystery of the bad guy with the storylines of each spirit who needs help to pass over, including Olive Buckmore, a World War II land girl who’s worried about her now-ancient fiancé, and Mei Huang, an aviator who yearns to prove that her attempt to circumnavigate the globe didn’t end in failure; both offer an appealing swagger that Sid increasingly adopts. The illustrations depict Sid as a white girl with large glasses and Zen as a Black boy with short twists.

A buoyant sequel for readers who prefer their ghosts more bighearted than scary.