Skulduggery Pleasant
novel series by Derek Landy
Skulduggery Pleasant is a series of dark fantasy novels written by Irish author Derek Landy. Tom Percival is the series' illustrator. The books revolve around the adventures of fledgling detective Valkyrie Cain and her mentor Skulduggery Pleasant, along with other friends and allies. The central story concerns Valkyrie's struggle to stop evil forces threatening the world and her internal struggle to resist the darkness within.
The novels are broken up into three phases with multiple prequels and short tales. Since the release of the first novel in 2007, Skulduggery Pleasant, the series has been praised by both readers and critics.
History
The first novel was published in April 2007. The following novels were released each year afterward, with the exception of the fourth and fifth novels, Dark Days and Mortal Coil, which were both released in 2010. Landy was initially contracted to write three books, with any further books depending on how well the first trilogy sold. The success of the first novels ensured that the deal was extended first to six books and in 2011, HarperCollins signed the deal for the third and final trilogy.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Skulduggery Pleasant” is novel series by Derek Landy. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Skulduggery, Pleasant and novel, not as a finished interpretation.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15262674. VIAF identifies the subject as 176893841. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2007, 2010 and 2011.
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This entry incorporates text from “Skulduggery Pleasant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.