Reggie Rabbit: Robbery at the Masqued Ball

By Author / Illustrator

Becka Moor, Swapna Reddy

Genre

Mystery & Detective

Age range(s)

Publisher

Oxford University Press

ISBN

9780192788351

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

01-05-2025

Synopsis

It's time for the GRANDEST event in Bearburgh: the Masque family's Masqued Ball! And this year it's even more exciting because famous pop star KITTY QITA is going to perform!

Young detectives Reggie Rabbit and Pipsquark are there-as waiters for Auntie Hibiscus's catering company. But not everything goes to plan. In the middle of Kitty Qita's big act, the lights go out, and the guests' jewels are stolen. It's a tough case, but Reggie and Pipsquark are on it! Does the answer lie in the mean streets of Dog Lane as the clues suggest? Or is there more to this mystery than meets the eye?

Also in the series: Reggie Rabbit: The Great Carrot Heist! Reggie Rabbit: The Ghost of Seagull Rock

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Reviews

Natalie J

Robbery at the Masqued Ball is the third title in the series about Reggie Rabbit, a would-be detective and his parrot Sidekick Pipsquawk who get caught up in a jewellery heist at a ball hosted by their nemesis, the Masques, the recurring villainous family of raccoons.

Written by the author of series such as Ballet Bunnies and Bad Panda, Reggie Rabbit: Robbery at the Masqued Ball is a clever crime caper with clues scattered along the way for the reader to pick up and help solve the whodunnit mystery.

format is an intriguing mix of cartoon and narrative interwoven together which may well appeal to those who enjoy graphic novels. With the predominance of pink and grey, the illustrations have a nostalgic feel to them which fits with the sense of classic comic strips like Dick Tracy and Batman, which the author says she was inspired by.

The story is fun and amusing, it reminded me of the film Zootropolis with the central rabbit detective and the menagerie of various animals in different roles like the fox detective and cat popstar. However, there is no mention of this being the third in the series anywhere in the book so I was confused and kept being drawn out of the story by repeated remarks about previous cases and why Pipsquawk is new to the family.

Overall, this is a book with an attractive and distinctive format set in a world of humour, adventure, and mystery. This is a fun series to introduce the mystery crime-solving genre.

128 pages / Reviewed by Natalie J McChrystal Plimmer, librarian