Verbal Irony
There is a verbal irony when Lucy says her employee wanted to steal her Whispering Skull. However, Lucy knows the Whispering Skull is magical, meaning it cannot be stolen. In addition, the Whispering Skull can only communicate with Lucy. Therefore, stealing the Whispering Skull from Lucy is pointless.
Dramatic irony
The novel has dramatic irony because the author lets readers know that Rotwell Agency is incompetent and envious of Lucy. Still, she needs to get information about the intentions of the agency. When Rotwell Agency agrees to work with Lucy in Emma Marchment’s ghost case, she quickly agrees, hoping it will be helpful. Later, Lucy discovers that Rotwell Agency is useless because it fails to locate the Fittes Furnace that contains the Source of the ghost.
Situation irony
At first, Lockwood fails to recognize the significance of Lucy in the company, and he does not worry when she leaves to be a freelance investigator. Lockwood tells Lucy that her significance in the company is invisible. However, when Lucy leaves the company, Lockwood starts losing its cases. On the contrary, Lucy becomes a very successful freelance investigator. There is situational irony because, initially, Lockwood does not expect to lose cases in the absence of Lucy. It is ironic when Lucy starts winning all cases because Lockwood expected her to fail miserably. At last, Lockwood is forced to look for Lucy and request her to join the company for it to win cases again.
