Novel hopes

According to The Guardian Irish screenwriter Derek Landy (Dead Bodies, Boy Eats Girl) has penned a young adult novel, entitled Skulduggery Pleasant, which hits the bookshops in Ireland and the UK on April 2.

Landy's publishing advance - said merely to be "in seven figures" - is one of the highest paid to an author of children's fiction and covers three books, aimed at children between eight and 13.

"It's horror with gothic sensibilities, fast talking characters and martial arts - all the things that are fun in life," he said.

The backdrop for the stories is Landy's native north County Dublin; he lives in Lusk just inland from the coast.