The Screaming Staircase

Written by Jonathan Stroud, Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase is a young adult dystopian horror-fantasy novel. Stroud wrote a total of six books in the series, with The Screaming Staircase being its first. Originally published in 2013 and adapted into a Netflix series in 2023, Stroud’s novel has received and been nominated for several awards, including the Goodreads Choice Award 2013, the Cybils Award 2013, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize 2014. The story follows Lucy, Lockwood, and George as they investigate and hunt ghosts in a post-disaster version of London.

This guide utilizes the 2023 Hachette Book Group paperback edition of the novel.

Plot Summary

Lucy Carlyle and her friend and work partner, Anthony Lockwood, investigate a haunting in a woman’s home. Lucy and Lockwood, along with their friend George, run Lockwood & Co., a youth-run business dedicated to hunting ghosts. Far from being a hindrance, the characters’ young age allows them to be more sensitive to detecting spiritual activity, and they use this specialized skill to help others in a quasi-post-apocalyptic world filled with spirits. Lucy has the ability to hear paranormal activity, while Lockwood can see residual energy. The children are initially called in by a woman named Mrs. Hope, who believes that the spirit of her recently deceased husband now haunts her home. They spend the night investigating the home and attempt to evict the spirit, but they ultimately discover that the spirit is a vengeful young girl, and not Mr. Hope at all. The ghost says it is lost and cold and attacks Lucy and Lockwood, who force it to dissipate. After the incident, they discover the body of the girl inside a wall, and the ghost confronts them again. It hovers over Lockwood, and Lucy throws a magnesium firebomb at it. Lucy notices a gold necklace on the girl’s body and takes it before escaping out the window with Lockwood.

After this action-packed opening, the novel’s narration goes back in time to relate the nature of Stroud’s world and Lucy’s past history. The narrative states that in the mid-20th century, ghost encounters increased, and eventually people accepted the new norm. Lucy was hired by an agency at age eight and trained there for several years. On a mission, Lucy’s cohort of child agents is killed by a spirit while her boss sits complacently. Lucy quits and leaves for London, where she applies for Lockwood & Co. and gets the job. On her first mission with Lockwood & Co., they visit a haunted garage containing a Type One (non-interfering) ghost. Lucy believes that George dislikes her, but Lockwood assures her that George does like her and professes his confidence in their future success.

Back in the present moment, Lucy and Lockwood sit outside the Hope home. Lucy is injured, and when she returns home, George reprimands her for failing to Plan and Prepare and laments that the disastrous incident could have been prevented if they were aware of his research about the spirit they encountered, Annabel Ward. Lucy realizes that she acted rashly and apologizes. The next morning, an inspector from the Department of Psychic Research and Control (DEPRAC) visits and announces that Lockwood is being sued by the Hope family. He blames Lockwood’s recklessness and professes that DEPRAC will not support him. Lockwood hopes they can find bigger cases to earn enough money to deal with the lawsuit.

That night, Lucy awakens paralyzed and realizes that there is a ghost in her room. She fights through the ghost-lock and rolls onto the floor as the ghost approaches her bed. She runs to Lockwood’s room for help as the ghost pursues her. The trio subdue the ghost, whom Lucy realizes is the ghost of Annabel Ward. The necklace she took from the Hope house is its Source. George isolates the necklace in a silver-glass jar. In the morning, Lockwood interrogates Lucy about her decision to not only steal an object that was clearly the Source but also refrain from telling him. She asks to examine it and notices a Latin inscription that George translates to mean “torment and bliss.” Next, Lucy hears and feels the relationship that led to Annabel’s murder: a vicious cycle of torment and bliss that ended with an argument and a blood-curdling silence. Lucy is certain that Annabel was murdered by her lover. Meanwhile, news has spread about the Hope fire, and Lockwood has been getting cancellations. He decides to use the discovery of Annabel’s ghost to draw positive attention to the agency. The trio visits the newspaper archives and discovers that Annabel was involved with a man named Hugo Blake who was questioned but never charged.

After another typical ghost investigation, the trio returns home to find a DEPRAC agent waiting to take them to Scotland Yard, where Lucy is asked to observe Hugo through a one-way mirror. When she stares into his eyes, Hugo stares right back through the mirror and smiles at her. When they get back to 35 Portland Row, they find an intruder in the trophy room downstairs and attempt to corner him, but he narrowly escapes. Lockwood suspects that he wanted the locket, but Lucy has it safely around her neck. Inspecting the necklace further, they find a code that might reveal something about the case and decide to hand it over to DEPRAC. Soon after, they receive a visit from the owner of Fairfax Iron, who offers to pay for their lawsuit and much more if they can resolve the haunting at one of his mansions. The mansion contains two haunted areas of note: the Red Room, in which everyone who enters dies, and a Screaming Staircase that howls with the screams of the dead.

Lockwood promises to be at the mansion in Fairfax’s requested two days. When he goes out to inspect the mansion, Lucy is left alone and decides to summon Annabel and confirm her killer, but this plan meets with no success. Two days later, they head to Combe Carey Hall. On the train, George reveals his research: The mansion was built in the 1200s by monks who turned to dark rituals and were burned alive. Since then, the house has been filled with death. The children arrive at the mansion and receive a tour of the grounds by the caretaker, who tells them horrific stories. Fairfax greets them at the door and gives them a tour that ends at the Red Room. He confesses that he believes the Red Room to be the Source of the murderous hauntings. Lucy hears voices whispering there. Fairfax heads to his wing of the mansion.

Lockwood pulls out flares that he hid in the toilet. Before long, apparitions and death-glows begin to appear. They bravely enter the Red Room, creating an iron circle around themselves. Lucy and Lockwood begin searching for a hidden passage, but bloody plasma fills the room. They rush back to the circle, but the plasma forces them to the door, which is locked. Lucy opens a secret passageway, and George and Lockwood rush in behind her. They follow a dark corridor to a winding staircase, and Lucy hears the screaming and running of the monks who were burned.

They finally reach the bottom and tumble into a small room where they are accosted by countless shadowy spirits of monks. In the midst of the action, Lockwood confesses that he did more research on Fairfax and found out that the man was close with Annabel when they were both actors. He suspects that Fairfax is the murderer. He knows that Fairfax brought the trio here to kill them and retrieve the necklace. The children break through the wall and into a final cellar and are met by Fairfax and his assistant, who is holding a gun. He confesses Annabel’s murder and confirms that the necklace is a reference to a scene from Hamlet, which he and Annabel acted in together. He then demands to know the location of the necklace, and Lucy decides to use the opportunity to release Annabel, who immediately targets Fairfax and kills him. The children escape and find Barnes and a crew of agents.

A week passes, and Lucy believes that Annabel is at rest. The bodies of the monks are found at the bottom of the well and removed, and the hauntings cease. An article is published on the success of Lockwood & Co., and they celebrate with a party. Lucy goes downstairs to get some doughnuts and accidentally knocks over the ghost-jar, which begins taunting her, but she refuses to succumb to it and goes back upstairs to join Lockwood and George—her new family and source of light.