The new children's novel from David Walliams is to be a comic horror story called Demon Dentist. It will feature a "drilling-crazed villain" with "an over-the-top devotion to teeth extractions".

Walliams said: "Demon Dentist is my very first horror story, with an unspeakably evil villainness at its centre. I hope children of all ages will love the new book's combination of chills, action and of course comedy."

Publisher Ann-Janine Murtagh said the novel was "gloriously original and flamboyantly dark".

She said: "David's imaginative flair takes readers on an epic adventure with a super-villain so rotten, fans will be hooked from page one."

The book will be published in hardback in September.

A TV adaptation of Walliams' earlier children's novel Gangsta Granny is scheduled to be broadcast later this year.