Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer is a young adult fantasy novel written by Irish playwright Derek Landy and published in September 2011. It is the sixth of the Skulduggery Pleasant series and sequel to Skulduggery Pleasant: Mortal Coil.
The story follows the sorcerer and detectives Valkyrie Cain and Skulduggery Pleasant as they deal with the supposed emergence of the Death Bringer, the return of Lord Vile and the growing coming of Darquesse. The book was released in the US and Canada in 2018. HarperCollins Audio publishes the unabridged CD sets of the books read by Rupert Degas.
Plot summary
Vandameer Craven has Melancholia trapped in the lower levels of the Temple undergoing the surge, and is in pain, but Craven insists soon she will be strong enough to be the Death Bringer.
Kenny Dunne, a reporter finds himself embroiled in a murder case after Paul Lynch, the homeless man with sensitive powers he was going to interview, is found dead. He is interrogated by Detective Inspector Me (Skulduggery) and a girl (Valkyrie), who start out with honest questions but they change to Skulduggery's wit, however they find out that Paul Lynch was in contact with Bernadette Maguire. Upon the Detectives leaving the room with Fletcher, another officer comes in and tells him there is no Detective Inspector Me.
Meanwhile, Valkyrie attends the christening of her sister Alison (sometimes referred to as Alice for short) and talks with the Toxic Twins about magic until Fletcher arrives and tells her Skulduggery has found Bernadette's cottage, and the two teleport there to find her dead, and Skulduggery picks up traces of Adept Magic with Rainbow Dust. They catch sight of the killer, a bald man with a stupid goatee beard, but before they can give chase, he drops a box containing the unbeatable Jitter Girls to distract them while he escapes.
In the Necromancer Temple, Cleric Vandameer Craven is late to a meeting in the high priest's office and he recounts how he hates them all, except for Nathanial Quiver, who has done nothing wrong to him. Wreath discusses Valkyrie's rise to become the Death Bringer, but Craven suggests Melancholia St Clair and is laughed at, and they continue to hope Valkyrie is Death Bringer. Craven is shown to be slightly unstable as he returns to the lower levels and begins to free Melancholia as he thinks showing her the abilities he gave her would grant her to be the Death Bringer.
Meanwhile, back at the Cottage, Skulduggery and Valkyrie desperately hold off the Jitter Girls, until one manages to stick her hand in Valkyrie's brain, and unleashes Darquesse, who attacks the Jitter Girls and forces them to retreat back to their box. Skulduggery attempts to talk to Darquesse, and Valkyrie returns as Fletcher arrives ready to fight. They tell him it's over and she and Fletcher teleport back to her home where they step out from behind a tree all muddy, to have all the Christening guests stare at them.
China Sorrows is called to the Church of the Faceless Ones to meet Prave, but instead her old friend Eliza Scorn emerges and tells her when she murdered Remus Crux because of her secret that she led Skulduggery's family to death, Prave snuck after them and heard her secret and has told Eliza. Eliza decides to use the information to blackmail her into helping lift the religion of the faceless back to its notoriety once more. China agrees and leaves, thinking how to kill them both. Back at her library, Skulduggery and Valkyrie arrive and they discuss the man in possession of the Jitter Girls, until conversation turns to the Requiem Ball, and ultimately to Valkyrie's relationship with Fletcher and the other man in her life. China then tells the two of them the Necromancers believe they have their Death Bringer, Melancholia St Clair.
Wreath is observing Melancholia after she is revealed and discusses how weak she looks with Quiver.
Valkyrie and Skulduggery travel to Roarhaven to visit the Sanctuary and Valkryie saves an American Tourist family from a horrible shop keeper who despises Mortals. They continue to the Sanctuary and meet the Elders.They discuss Melancholia being the Death Bringer and Elder Mist says that the Necromancers pose as no threat toward them. However, Grand Mage Ravel and Elder Ghastly agree that it is worth checking out as they need to stop people from dying. The Sanctuary gives them more resources to find out what they need to know about the Passage .