No.13 Books in Order

The No.13 books are where Brandreth lets ordinary family life collide with the supernatural in the silliest possible way. The hero is Hamlet Orlando Julius Caesar Brown, which is already a lot for one child to carry around before the ghosts, witches, mermaids, and monsters start appearing. His home address, No. 13, tells you the rest.

This is a series built on the idea that one house can become a magnet for the impossible. In The Ghost at No.13, Hamlet finds that the frightening thing in his room is not frightening at all, but unexpectedly helpful. In The Hiccups at No.13, a very human problem, unstoppable hiccups, causes escalating domestic chaos. In Mermaid at No.13, the absurd arrives in the bathroom. Later books widen the joke with a pantomime mix-up in Hullabaloo at No.13, a witch at the door, and a one-eyed monster causing mayhem in The Monsters at No.13.

What makes the series work is that the setting never stops feeling like a family home. The parents, the sister, the front door, the kitchen, schoolwork, neighbours, all of it stays solidly ordinary even when the plots turn wild. That gives the books a grounding point. Hamlet is not stepping through a portal into a fantasy kingdom. He is dealing with bizarre interruptions to normal life, which is much funnier.

The tone is spooky, but only lightly spooky. These are comic shivers, not horror stories. A ghost may turn up, but it can also become a friend. A monster may appear, but the bigger problem might still be what your family is doing or how you are going to explain the mess. Even when there is a stronger plot, as in The Monsters at No.13, where a cemetery dispute and a monster collide, the series keeps its sense of play.

Hamlet himself is an appealing centre because he is neither fearless nor hopeless. He is curious, exasperated, sometimes overwhelmed, and often stuck trying to make sense of events that adults would not believe even if he explained them well. His long name becomes part of the comedy, but it also fits the books' general mood. Everything here is a bit more than it needs to be, and that is the point.

At heart, these are stories about what happens when home turns magical.

So expect short middle-grade adventures with strong premises, friendly chills, and a lot of household nonsense. They are especially good for readers who like the idea of supernatural visitors but do not want anything too dark or heavy.