Combine a quintet of homesick Scottish ghosts, a Texas millionaire and his sickly daughter, the impoverished last scion of the Clan MacBuff, and a trio of fascistically inclined malefactors, and you get a terrifically tongue-in-cheek outing, originally published in the UK in 1987. When 12-year-old Alex MacBuff sells Carra Castle to oil tycoon Hiram Hopgood, he must guarantee its freedom from ghostly liability—it seems that Mr. Hopgood’s frail daughter Helen would not be able to withstand the shock of a haunting. He duly sends them away, but a series of misadventures results in the inevitable convergence of castle, ghosts, criminals, and heroes in the most unlikely of settings: Granite Falls, Texas. A rollicking farce ensues, in which Alex brings both health and friendship to Helen, the ghosts foil a kidnap plot, and all live—or haunt—happily ever after. Ibbotson has made a name for herself by writing fast-paced, smart, and funny fantasies, and this offering is no exception. The narrative moves back and forth from ghosts—each a fully realized character—to humans, cheerily demanding the suspension of disbelief. Readers will be happy to comply. (Fiction. 8-12)
