Lockwood & Co. #1: The Screaming Stairs by Jonathan Stroud

This book is a 2013 Cybils finalist in speculative fiction. Lucy has the ability to see, sense, and especially hear ghosts. She joins up with Lockwood and George, and they work together to rid homes of ghostly spirits. It's a dangerous job; a ghost's touch is deadly. During their first case together, the trio almost burns down a house, and Lucy accidentally traps the powerful ghost of Annabel Ward in a locket. The company starts to lose business, and they must find sixty thousand pounds in the next four weeks to save it. Then, an offer almost too good to be true arises. A client will take care of all the money if they'll investigate the most haunted house in the country. The house has centuries of ghosts haunting it, and other people have died while searching it. Solving the ghost problem may save the life of the company, or it may end the lives of Lucy, Lockwood, and George.

The plot was surprisingly interesting, I didn't expect much from a ghost story, and it also became a mystery. The kids needed to find Annabel's killer, and the killer knew it. In the setting, ghosts were common, and many companies existed to handle them, kind of like calling a plumber. The encounters with ghosts created suspense and provided action. I highly recommend this book if it tweaks your interest at all.