The Sword in the Grotto (Araminta Spook) by Angie Sage

 In this second book by Ange Sage in the Araminta Spook series, it's Sir Horace's five-hundredth birthday and Araminta  wants to give him a surprise party. Only problem is that there is considerable angst in the spooky household at this particular point in time as Uncle Drac has had a nasty fall from his bat turret, and it seems he has inadvertently squashed his favourite bat, Big Bat. So someone has to do the bat manure run out to the local mushroom farm in his place. Araminta is one of the volunteers along with her "wizzard" friend Wanda. Whilst exploring the beach area, they discover a grotto and inside it an amazing medieval sword which would make the perfect present for the aging ghostly suit of armour, Sir Horace. Only problem is they can't quite locate the entrance. Amazingly enough, when they return home they find that there is a secret entrance from their house, how convenient! Anyway, it is not long after this discovery, that the two friends find themselves trapped in a very unenviable position and face the prospect of being drowned. Can the Edmund ghost do anything to help them? The amazing ink work illustrations by Jimmy Pickering are really what make this book, which is pretty much what I said about the first book in the series.

My Haunted House by Angie Sage

This is an enchantingly beautifully, but straight forward, little hard back that is aesthetically pleasing to hold and which focuses on Araminta Spook, affectionately known as Minty who lives with her Aunt Tabby. The ink drawings are certainly a winning point in the book. Her aunt  Tabby is definitely not right in the head and spends a large part of the novel  yelling at and complaining about the boiler in the basement of the humungus, gothic house which they share with Sir Horace, a somewhat boring, but secretive,old suit of armour. Araminta's uncle Drac, who is also somewhat dysfunctional, sleeps upside down in a sleeping bag suspended from the ceiling along with some random bats. We don't hear a great deal from him I might add.  Why is Araminta there? Well, it seems that her parents have strangely disappeared whilst hunting for vampires in Transylvania. Her aunt desperately wants to sell the house and to a find a  more comfortable and less sooty abode. This is a very quirky story which has some simplistic elements of a Tim Burton production. Araminta  is reminiscent of Wednesday Adams and spends the majority of her spare time searching for ghosts and laying traps for unsuspecting visitors who come to inspect the house. Araminta attempts to sabotage the house sale and much to her delight, discovers a strange key which leads the reader on through the rest of the plot to the balconie!. This is a basic and reasonably satisfying read but not much decoding is required. Truthfully, it was  the illustrations by Jimmy Pickering which kept me turning the pages.