Skulduggery Pleasant (also known as Skulduggery Pleasant: Scepter of the Ancients, or simply The Scepter of the Ancients) is the debut novel of Irish playwright Derek Landy, published on 2 April 2007. It is the first of the Skulduggery Pleasant novels. The novel crosses the horror, comedy, mystery, and fantasy genres. The story follows the characters Skulduggery Pleasant — a skeleton, sorcerer and detective — and his partner Stephanie Edgley, who also goes by Valkyrie Cain. They and their numerous magic-wielding allies try to prevent the necromancer Nefarian Serpine from unleashing a powerful weapon called The Sceptre of Ancients. The book was re-titled Sceptre Of The Ancients for the 2009 paperback release in the US and Canada. HarperCollins Audio also publishes the unabridged CD sets of the books read by Rupert Degas. It won the Red House Children's Book Award and the Hampshire Book Award in 2008. Warner Bros. considered creating a live-action film based on the book. Source: Wikipedia (en)