Jackaby

Jackaby is a 2014 young adult fantasy novel by William Ritter. It is the first in a series by the same name and follows paranormal investigator R. F. Jackaby, and his new assistant Abigail Rook, as they investigate a series of supernatural murders. The novel draws on a range of world mythologies and classic detective fiction like Sherlock Holmes, Inspector Dupin, and the works of Raymond Chandler.

Plot Summary

In 1892, a young Englishwoman named Abigail Rook arrives in the American town of New Fiddleham. She is searching for adventure—and a job. After responding to an advertisement, she comes into the employ of a paranormal investigator named R. F. Jackaby. Jackaby has the gift of second sight, allowing him to see the supernatural world. He brings her to a crime scene where a journalist has been murdered in his apartment building. Among the police officers are Chief Inspector Marlowe and a young man named Charlie Cane, to whom Abigail is immediately attracted. Jackaby notes that although the dead man is covered in blood, much of the blood seems to be missing. They visit the man’s neighbor, Mr. Henderson, who claims to be hearing unbearable screams that no one else can hear. Jackaby loans him a special tuning fork to alleviate his distress. At the next apartment, they meet a fiery Irish woman and her elderly relative, Mrs. Morrigan, who is ill with silent screams. Jackaby claims she is a banshee predicting Henderson’s impending death.

As Jackaby and Abigail leave, Abigail sees the police commissioner Swift arrive, a pompous man with metal braces on his legs. Swift is pressuring Marlowe to catch the killer. Meanwhile, Jackaby breaks back into the apartment to look for more clues. Abigail returns to Jackaby’s house, exploring its oddities and feeling an unseen presence. Jackaby returns home with a stolen map the dead man was using, and they consider its possible meanings. They go out again so Jackaby can send a telegram, and Abigail meets a woman without a home, and a friend of Jackaby’s, named Hatun. Hatun has a mental illness and can see some aspects of the other world. She tells them how she saw the killer sneaking out of the building.

Back at the house, Abigail meets Jackaby’s roommates, Jenny and Douglas. Jenny is a ghost, and Douglas is Jackaby’s previous assistant, magically transformed into a duck. Douglas lives in a pond they keep on their third floor. Once Jackaby receives his return telegrams, they deduce that the man was murdered because he was tracking the killer’s prior victims. Abigail arranges to stay with Jackaby and borrows some of Jenny’s old clothes. The next morning, Charlie arrives to tell them Mr. Henderson is dead. Charlie explains that he guarded his room all night but could not save him.

Marlowe arrests Jackaby and Abigail for questioning. They wait in prison cells, and Marlowe questions each in turn. Swift arrives and tells Marlowe to keep them in prison until the killer is found. As Abigail and Jackaby wait in their cells, they realize that they, and everyone around them, can hear the banshee’s scream—a portent of a mass murder. As they prepare to face their doom, the screaming suddenly stops. Charlie arrives to tell them Mrs. Morrigan has been killed. Knowing that they could not have committed the murder from prison, Marlowe allows their release.

Jackaby puts the pieces together and asks Marlowe to assemble all the town’s policemen in the square. When he confronts them, he announces that he believes the killer is a member of the police. Just as he begins to put his reveal into action, the crowd is distracted by the sight of Charlie losing control of himself and transforming into a dog. Charlie runs away, and Swift sends his men after him. As Abigail and Jackaby follow, they become separated, and Abigail gets lost. She sees one of the policemen dead and Commissioner Swift leaning over him. Swift is revealed to be the monster, a goblin known as a redcap who soaks his hat in his victims’ blood. He attacks Abigail but is diverted by Charlie in his dog form. The two fight, and Charlie is badly injured. Finally, Jackaby arrives and shoots Swift. When Marlowe arrives, he thinks Charlie is the monster responsible. Jackaby insists the key to stopping the killer is to burn Swift’s hat. They argue, and Jackaby throws the hat onto a fire. Both the hat and Swift burn.

At Jackaby’s house, Abigail and Charlie heal, and Jackaby explains that Charlie is a member of an old shapeshifting family. He adds that Henderson was killed because Swift mistakenly believed he had information about the murders, and Mrs. Morrigan was killed because she was warning others of their deaths. Marlowe comes by and says it’s no longer safe for Charlie in New Fiddleham, so he’s arranged for him to begin a new life elsewhere. Swift will be honored as a victim alongside the others. At the memorial, Jackaby announces that he won’t be taking Abigail on any more adventures. However, she is adamant that the damage to her sensibilities has already been done. Jackaby relents and gifts her with her own detective’s notebook. In the novel’s Afterword, Jackaby recounts the history of his special tuning forks.