In the first illustrated chapter book in this early reader series, a tween vampire and three friends solve the mystery of who put a royal wedding party and their guests on ice.

Twelve-year-old Ellie Spark, christened by her sister “Scaredy Bat” for her fears of spiders, monsters, and more, is excited to be attending the royal wedding of vampire Prince Bennett to his human bride Ayanna. Her mother hurries her along because if the prince isn’t legally wed by 7 p.m., the crown passes to his brother, who has announced he’ll reverse the Fang and Flesh Peace Treaty and Ellie’s parents’ mixed marriage will be invalid.

At the venue, Ellie sees her friend Jessica, and the two dash off to find a cool spot on this hot, muggy night. When they return to the room where the ceremony will occur, they find it and its inhabitants frozen solid. A 9-1-1 call ends with the operator laughing at the “joke” and hanging up. An aspiring detective, Ellie enlists Jessica and two boys, Fez and Tink, in her investigation. Together they brave the dark, spider-webbed corners of this venue to save the day.

Young mystery fans will relate to Ellie and her friends as average tweens excited by a wedding and scared of the creepy crawlies. They’ll delight in the vampire angle’s gross elements (Ellie discovers spiders are quite tasty; Tink asks, “Do you actually drink blood?… And if so, where do you get it?”). The mystery is well-plotted with numerous viable suspects and motives to investigate; its solution and resolution are creative (if not exactly credible).

The author includes checklists at the back that help readers track the suspects’ motives and opportunities, as well as questions based on the text and illustrations by Yevheniia Lisovaya to help build observation skills.

In all, young sleuths will enjoy this amusing mystery, and be thrilled to learn that there are many more installments of Ellie’s adventures to savor.

Also available in hardcover, ebook and audio book.

Featuring a young vampire detective and her loyal friends, Scaredy Bat and the Frozen Vampires is a lighthearted mystery novel.

In Marina J. Bowman’s fantastical mystery novel Scaredy Bat and the Frozen Vampires, a bighearted heroine learns about acceptance and bravery.

Ellie knows that she was made to be a detective. The only problem is that solving mysteries can be scary, and Ellie is scared of just about everything. The fact that she turns into a bat whenever she gets scared—part of her vampire heritage—doesn’t help either. Still, when a royal wedding goes awry, Ellie and her friends face their fears to save the Fang and Flesh Peace Treaty and restore vampire-human harmony.

The book features a colorful cast of both humans and vampires. Ellie is a delightful lead, eager to save the day. She is kind, encouraging her newfound friends Tink and Fez that they too can be detectives even as she wrestles with her own doubts. Tink is eager to prove himself and help his foster mom run the wedding. Fez loves food and is always up for a laugh. Ellie’s best friend Jessica, also a vampire, is brave and fiery, and helps Ellie to be brave: she convinces Ellie to crawl through a dark vent to melt the ice that’s trapping the wedding guests. This bravery is a major theme of the book, and the story takes care to make it clear that courage is not the absence of fear but perseverance despite it.

Acceptance is another important theme. Since the Fang and Flesh Peace Treaty was signed long ago, vampires and humans have lived in peace and even fallen in love, as with Ellie’s parents. While the two species still often stay separate, both human and vampire children accept each other with ease. The children’s compassion and respect for one another is refreshing, and their determination to stop those who are trying to destroy it is inspiring.

The packed narrative includes a bevy of twists, each of which holds interest. The black-and-white illustrations are charming and cartoonish, conveying Ellie’s emotions well throughout. And the story is appended by educational resources, including information on arachnophobia, suspect lists for note-taking while reading, and observation quizzes.

Introducing a young vampire detective and her loyal friends, Scaredy Bat and the Frozen Vampires is a lighthearted mystery novel about overcoming fear to save the day.

A quirky vampire detective springs into action when chaos ensues at the Royal Vampire Wedding in Bowman’s supernatural middle-grade mystery.

Twelve-year-old Ellie Spark is half human, half vampire and an aspiring detective; she got the nickname Scaredy Bat because she sometimes turns into a bat when she’s frightened. She’s thrilled when she learns that she’ll be able to attend the Royal Vampire Wedding that’s taking place at her middle school—the first place that allowed both human and vampire students. Human-vampire relations are tricky, and this is a momentous occasion; if the nuptials don’t go as planned, a new prince will ascend to the throne and curtail a number of vampire civil rights. After a mysterious force freezes nearly everyone at the wedding, it’s up to Ellie; her fanged best friend, Jessica; and their new human pal, Fez, to find the cause and rescue vampire-human relations before it’s too late. In doing so, Ellie must battle her arachnophobia. The story is straightforwardly written and cleanly paced, introducing new characters intermittently, injecting doses of humor, and providing Ellie with a simple but effective narrative arc. The discussion of marriage and citizenship rights for vampires is surprisingly timely and operates subtly in the background. The text is supplemented by Lisovaya’s full-color illustrations, which lack depth and finesse but contribute charm all the same; in them, Ellie, Jessica, and Fez are portrayed as White, and Tink, a major supporting character introduced in the novel’s second half, is depicted as Black. This book would do well on bookshelves alongside early chapter book series like David A. Adler’s Cam Jansen (1980) and Jack Chabert’s Eerie Elementary (2014). An appendix includes suspect-list worksheets, trivia, and discussion questions as well as facts about spiders.

A fun and ambitious first entry in a fantasy series about tween investigators.