In the fifth installment of National Book Award winner M.T. Anderson's Pals in Peril series, the intrepid heroes are home from their Delaware crime-stopping excitement, only to discover that Lily's mom has become possessed by a menacing zombie who wants to take over the world (Or, at least, the world of stage and screen.)

When Lily's mother returns from a little vacation to Todburg--the most haunted town in America--she seems different. She can no longer speak French. She makes better pancakes. And also she no longer recognizes Lily, her own daughter. What if she was taken over...and is now something dangerous and undead?

So our intrepid heroes--Lily Gefelty, Katie Mulligan, and Jasper Dash, Boy Technonaut--blast off on another rollicking adventure, this time to the world of ghosts, ghouls, bats, tarantulas, web-footed vampires, sad-sack magicians, and ninja prep-school girls with love and fashion on their side. The night is dark and the enemies are fierce. You won't know whether to laugh or scream