Goosebumps 13 – Piano Lessons Can Be Murder

R. L. Stine's Piano Lessons Can Be Murder is a spooky Goosebumps story for 8 year olds about a piano that plays itself in the middle of the night.

What happens

Jerry is twelve and he's the family joker. On moving day he rolls two balls of dust into fake mice and screams the house down. His dad goes after them with a broom.

The new house is big, old and very creaky. Up in the attic Jerry finds a shiny black piano somebody left behind. That night he hears slow, sad music coming from up there. He goes up to look. Nobody's at the keys, but the piano bench is still warm.

Of course his mum and dad think it's another one of his jokes. That's what you get for being the boy who cried mice!

So the piano comes downstairs and Jerry starts lessons with Dr. Shreek. He looks a lot like Father Christmas with a white moustache, and he's very keen on Jerry's hands. A bit TOO keen. "Excellent hands," he keeps saying. And when Jerry mentions his name at school, a girl called Kim runs off in horror.

Jerry is good company. He's cheeky, a bit of a show-off and he can never resist a prank. That makes it even creepier when the jokes stop being funny and nobody will listen to him.

There's a great run of night-time scenes too. Jerry creeps downstairs in the dark, heart thumping, to catch whoever is playing. You'll be holding your breath with him.

It's worth knowing about two things. Jerry really can't stand the family cat, Bonkers (she does keep clawing him). He hopes she'll run away and isn't sorry when she nearly ends up under the piano. And when he finally sees who's playing, it's a grey ghost whose face melts away to a skull. That's a vivid scene for this shelf.

If your reader loves a creepy old house and a mystery that keeps them guessing, they'll be glued to it.

What to read next

For another boy hearing strange noises in a brand-new home, The Werewolf of Fever Swamp is a good next read. Grady's family has moved to the edge of a Florida swamp, and something out there howls every night.