Gilbert Ford

"Eleven-year-old Maria Russo is trapped under the thumb of Madame Destine, her supposedly psychic mother. Destine is a bona fide con artist who will stop at nothing to swindle her customers into believing she can communicate with the dead. But Maria, unlike her mother, has a big secret -- she really can communicate with the dead, at least with a ghost named Edward, who has been her only friend since she was a child. It's not long before this clairvoyant...

Cass and Max-Ernest discover the Museum of Magic, unscramble more coded messages, and solve new mysteries in their attempt to thwart the Terces Society's ambitions of discovering immortality.

Describes the process of decomposition, discussing the role of decomposers such as sharks, vultures, and earthworms, and includes experiments demonstrating how decomposition supports new life.