Charlie Bone's life with his widowed mother and two grandmothers undergoes a dramatic change when he discovers that he can hear people in photographs talking.

Back at Bloor's Academy after Christmas vacation, Charlie finds himself confronted with a new problem when young Henry Yewbeam, who vanished during a game of marbles in 1916, suddenly appears and needs help to find his family.

When Asa Pike, a Bloor's Academy student with the ability to change into a beast at dusk, goes missing, twelve-year-old Charlie Bone suspects a new classmate, the magically gifted Dagobert Endless, of foul play.

Dando, a young dragon who cannot fly, is captured by dangerous humans, but a kind slave-girl, an orphaned bird, and the melancholy son of the dragon's captors help him escape his imprisonment and learn to fly.

Magically-gifted Charlie Bone, accompanied by his best friend's dog, Runner Bean, comes to the rescue when the enchanter Count Harken takes revenge on the Red King's heirs by kidnapping and imprisoning Charlie's ancestors in the dark, forbidding land of Badlock.

Charlie and the Children of the Red King must call upon all of their strength to defeat the darkness and finally learn the fate of Charlie's family, the evil intentions of the Bloors, what has become of Septimus Bloor's will, and the destiny of the Red King's heirs.

It is years since King Timoken, his sister Zobayda, and his friends settled in the enchanted Red Castle, but now they are all threatened by the evil beyond the castle's protective spells and it will be up to two of Timoken's nine children, Petrello and Tolomeo, to find out which of their siblings is the traitor in their midst, and defeat their enemies.

Timoken has been living in apparent safety at Castle Melyntha with his sister, Zobayda, but when he is betrayed and attacked, he is forced to flee into the forest with his magic camel and the wizard Eri, leaving his sister behind.

Charlie and his friends unite to rescue Ollie, a boy who was turned invisible and made to live in the attics at Bloor's Academy more than a year ago, but they are hindered by a mysterious new student who lives with Charlie's aunts.

When Asa Pike, a Bloor's Academy student with the ability to change into a beast at dusk, goes missing, twelve-year-old Charlie Bone suspects a new classmate, the magically gifted Dagobert Endless, of foul play.