Elvira Vance is struggling to learn to control her newfound compulsion powers as a half-siren. When a chupacabra goes missing from Elvira’s father’s trailer park, along with the crown for the Marfa Monster festival, human suspicion falls on every monster living in Marfa, Texas.
Naturally, the human mayor and a new detective want to pin the crime on a monster, but Elvira knows better. With the help of her best friends, she launches her own investigation, leading her to question a banshee, vampire, werewolf and ghosts. But once other monsters begin to disappear, Elvira discovers secrets both monsters and humans would prefer remain hidden.
Elvira Vance and the Monster Mystery is a fast-paced mystery read with humor and exciting twists and turns. I appreciated the dynamic between the friends as well as Elvira’s relationship with her firm, yet supportive parents. Elvira’s tendency to do the wrong thing and make mistakes in pursuit of the truth rang true to me and made her an interesting detective and a complicated character. As a Texan myself, I really appreciate the backdrop of Marfa and Terlingua, tow very real, very unusual West Texas towns.
Despite the inclusion of spooky monsters, they are treated with humor and compassion and won’t put off young readers who shy away from scares. I only wish we had gotten to know the many colorful characters of Marfa a bit better. Kacy Ritter has created an intriguing world here and I hope to have the opportunity to visit it again.
Thank you to Harper Collins Children’s and NetGalley for providing the e-arc for my honest review.

As the title suggests, this is a middle grade contemporary fantasy with a mystery plot. Titular Elvira is a half-human half-monster (half-siren) girl living on her parents' trailer park for monsters. When one of the residents goes missing and a crown for an important festival contest goes missing at the same day, the local human authorities immediately assume one of the monsters stole the trophy and ran off with it. Elvira is unconvinced that this is the truth and thinks humans just want to pin crimes on monsters to oust them from their spaces as too dangerous to public peace. Therefore she decides to solve the mystery herself and clear the name of the accused monster. Together with her chupacabra monster friend and a Black human boy they create a diverse trio going on sleuthing, adventuring and getting into all sorts of trouble.

The monsters here were an apt metaphor for racial minorities, and the human treatment of them like immediately jumping to suspicion of crime or wanting to get rid of them from their land showcased racial tensions and discrimination in an age-appropriate way for a middle grade novel. Elvira herself is a "halfie" as she describes herself and struggles to fit in, which resembles struggles of bi-racial children.

What I loved was that the novel avoided typical black-and-white thinking of clear division between evil human oppressors and innocent oppressed monsters. The situation is much more complex, nuanced and morally grey, which is a delight to see in middle grade instead of heavy handed clear cut moral lessons.

Elvira herself is mischievous and carefree, and also struggles with controlling her monster powers as she's tempted to use them to "cheat" her way through the situation or get what she wants, and I found it really relatable she had to face decisions between being selfish and doing the right thing. I think it's very normal for children to be tempted to get their way if they can cheat the system, and ultimately it's not just about "what parents forbid" or "what will be the consequences for breaking rules" but also how will you feel about yourself knowing you picked the easy way out that also wasn't very honorable.

The mystery plot itself was a good vehicle to introduce various monsters and create interesting mishaps and plot twists. Action-packed short chapters and effortless dash of humour should make this book accessible to a young reader. While it tackles harder subjects like law enforcement biases, there's nothing drastic in the story, so I would recommend it to any child ready to consume full-length novels (the ARC was 200 pages for me, so I estimate the length at 50-60 thousand words), so probably ages 9+ but also every child's reading journey is individual.

Also I appreciated the portrayal of Elvira's parents as loving and supportive, and wishing to teach her kindness and tolerance.

I fully recommend this book to fans of supernatural middle grade mysteries, and people who want to see more insight into how racial tensions and stereotypes affect local communities in an accessible, non-preachy, age-appropriate manner.

Thank you Netgalley, Storytide and HarperCollins Children's Books for the ARC!

I WANTED TO LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH. I LOVED premise and ate through the first half, but started really struggling as Elvira continually crosses boundaries, ignores the consent of her friend/love interest, and acts selfishly without any seeming repentance or remorse. It's hard to empathise with her when she keeps disrespecting those she investigates (monsters and humans alike) and blames others for being rude instead of ever taking responsibility for her own actions. She keeps making the same mistakes without seeming to learn or grow from it, and lacks a lot of self awareness. I couldn't get myself to finish it, so maybe this happens at the end, but I feel like the book could do more to interrogate and call out her behavior to make clear how not OK it is throughout, and maybe help us understand her perspective more so we can feel why she might do these things. The way it is, it just felt like we were only seeing Elvira's ugly sides.

The real-world analogy is powerful but I think it would be much more compelling and haunting if it was understated and complexified. Just making fun of the enemy doesn't invite actual solution-making, or model for kids how to be change-makers.

I do love the compelling siren power, and the addiction it becomes. But I worry that Elvira might not fully take ownership and responsibilities over the unique challenges she faces? I'd be curious to hear how other readers felt.

Trailer park for monsters? Ok. A mystery about a few disappearances? Alright. A half-siren on the case? Of course.

The elements here are a fun set up for a Scooby-type mystery mixed with elements of Hotel Transylvania. I loved the premise. I think the target audience will find it to be fun.

I appreciate that Elvira struggles to fit in, not monster enough for some monsters and not human enough for most humans. On a personal level, I can feel that, living somewhere in the in-between and looking rather ambitious myself. Elvira, though, maybe had that othering manifest in a less than desirable way. I struggled with her as a character at times because she didn't seem to listen well and came off as a little selfish.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I actually did. I thought the premise sounded like a lot of fun, but instead I just found myself wondering why I should care about Elvira as a character. She's a little spoiled and selfish and if there is a bad way to do something she is sure to choose that way. You are given the impression that she is great at solving mysteries but all I saw was someone with a knack for making everything worse. She plunges full steam ahead into her plans without listening to anyone else, taking into account the risks, or thinking about how her actions will impact others. I guess that's supposed to be part of her siren-personality, but instead it just makes her seem selfish and not as great an investigator as she thinks. You also realize that, in the end, everything she did had little to do with actually solving the mysteries. And if ever a family needed some counseling it is Elvira's - I am not sure how her father could ever fully trust her again (partly because she was not really that remorseful over what she did). With the ending, I do not understand what changed to make people suddenly accepting of the monsters - it was still a monster that almost caused mass casualties (on both sides) and no one really did or said anything to create a bridge between the two groups. I know other people really liked this book, but I thought it was just okay.

An action-packed, epic monster adventure that raises big discussion questions around identity and discrimination. Marfa, Texas hosts the best monster festival with treats, decorations, music, and all sorts of fun. But some humans still don’t accept monsters, and there is even bigotry within the community like what half-siren, half-human Elvira experiences. When the festival crown is stolen, humans use the crime as a pretext to cancel the festival setting Elvira and her friends off on a mission to solve the case and save the event. I loved meeting all the supernatural beings – seeing how they use their monster skills was thrilling and suspenseful. There are also issues around how we are each responsible for how we use our power for good and must not take advantage of our friends. I think Elvira’s struggles not to compel those around her using her voice will lead to interesting discussions for young readers.

This is a fun Scooby-Doo like mystery--except the monsters are the victims and the ones solving the mystery! Elvira Vance is a feisty half-monster half-human who is intensely devoted to her friends, family, and home. She'll do anything to protect them--sneak out when she's grounded, make a deal with a ghost (never make a deal with a ghost!), and sneak into a deadly werewolf's lair. Action packed and full of spunk, readers will love going on this wild ride with Elvira Vance as she fights for monster rights and against discrimination all while solving a whodunnit-type mystery. Loved it!

Kacy Ritter has done it again with a wonderful sophomore novel. Elvira Vance is a half-siren and the daughter of Vince Vance of Vince Vance’s Vintage Trailer Park Inn for Monsters. She has a big mystery to solve when the crown for the Marfa Monster Festival disappears and monsters begin going missing. The humans are blaming the monsters for all the problems, and anti-monster sentiment is growing. Elvira knows that it is up to her to use her powers as a siren to find out what is really going on and keep the monster community from being destroyed. With the help of her two best friends, she collects evidence from all kinds of interesting, unusual creatures. This fast-paced page-turner will have readers rooting for Elvira from the very beginning, and it is sure to be a favorite of all who enjoy stories full of mystery and adventure.