The Keymaster Legacy
Middle-grade gothic · ages 8 to 12

Leo & Elspeth inThe Keymaster Legacy

A breathing house. A black door with no handle. A one-eyed doll who says the house remembers everything. To find his way out, Leo has to go all the way in.

Start with Volume I → Meet the household
A small black door with no handle in the corner of a dark attic, warm golden light shining through its single round keyhole

The Books

Three volumes so far. Volume I is a complete story on its own, and the doorway into everything after it.

The Household

Not everyone in Great-Aunt Mildred's house is a person. Not everyone is on Leo's side. Some of them are, though.

Elspeth, a cracked porcelain doll in a faded dress with one blue glass eye, sitting on an old attic trunk
The one-eyed guide

Elspeth

A cracked porcelain doll who opens her one blue eye and tells Leo the truth about the house. She may or may not be his friend.

Murgle, a small round creature covered in green moss with one big yellow eye and a red knitted scarf, beneath a willow
The moss-seer

Murgle

Round, mossy, one enormous yellow eye and a tiny red scarf. Panics out loud. Comes along anyway.

Great-Aunt Mildred, a silver-haired woman in a green cardigan, reading in a wicker chair in the garden with a glass of lemonade
The lady of the house

Great-Aunt Mildred

Pouring lemonade. Pretending not to notice.

Uncle Silas, a stern gentleman in a dark coat inside a gilt-framed oil portrait on a stair landing
The watcher

Uncle Silas

The gentleman in the painting on the stair landing. Portraits in this house do not always stay still.

And Leo, who came for a long, dull summer and found a rusty iron key instead.

For Grown-ups

The Keymaster Legacy is written for readers ages 8 to 12 who love a house full of secrets and a story that is cozy and creepy in equal measure. If a young reader in your life was kept up past bedtime by Coraline, Doll Bones, or The House with a Clock in Its Walls, this is the next door to try.

The monsters are the kind that ask Leo to put down what he's carrying and let someone else hold the weight. Volume III opens with the loss of Leo's parents, and grief runs through that book, so it's worth knowing before you hand it over.

Ages
8 to 12, middle grade
Read in order
Volume I, then II, then III
Formats
Paperback and Kindle
Questions
hello@elawrenceanderson.com
For parents & teachers

Keymaster News

New volumes and series news for the grown-ups who share these books with young readers. Only when there's something worth sending.

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