The series of books are centred on Charlie Bone, a young boy and descendant of The Red King, who reluctantly possesses a powerful endowment, along with many of his friends who he meets at a special school he attends called Bloor's Academy. His family, the Yewbeams, have many dark secrets and Charlie Bone embarks on a series of mysterious adventures to find out the truth about his past.

In the dark laboratory deep within Bloor's Academy, Manfred and Ezekiel are brewing up a nasty kind of trouble for Charlie Bone.