Gloomy Clawstone Castle is an ancient, rundown edifice in the middle of nowhere. Its two elderly owners barley manage to keep the place going by opening it to tourists, but few people want to pay good money to see a boring old ruin.

Enter young Rollo and Madlyn who come to stay with their old Uncle George and incompetent Aunt Emily. The youngsters come up with a plan to save the castle from disaster.

Madlyn and Rollo round up a motley crew of ghosts who jump at the idea of turning Clawstone into a genuine haunted castle. Before you can say 'ghostbusters', droves of tourists are flocking to Clawstone Castle to get a glimpse of its promised horrors.

There's a dead bride dripping with blood, a pair of disembodied feet with a mind of their own, an old man who keeps his coat on because a rat is permanently chewing away at his chest, and a young girl who was sawn in half during a circus act that went wrong.

The ghosts are a laughable lot and their attempts to spook the tourists are the best bits of the book.

But Clawstone Caste's other residents - apart from comic ghosts - are a herd of wild white cattle that made their home at the grounds of the castle centuries ago.

Just when Madlyn and Rollo get their ghost show up and running, a terrible thing happens to the Clawstone cattle, leading the story to rush off in another direction.

The story cranks up into overdrive with plots and counterplots, evil neighbours, car chases and mad scientists all getting in on the act. But Ibbotson is a clever storyteller who carefully keeps the plot under control instead of letting it spin off and collapsing in a terrible mess.

The book does get a bit serious halfway through, but Ibbotson is experienced enough to prevent the story's moral from sinking her comedic caper.

The story is told with great humour and is an amusing, light-hearted read that will put any reader into a very good mood.

The Beasts Of Clawstone Castle

By Eva Ibbotson

Published by MacMillan Children's Books

ISBN 1 405 04889 1