The Vampire's Visit by David A. Poulsen is the first of the Salt and Pepper Chronicles. Salt and Pepper are best friends and on a trip with brother Hal to London. The home they are staying with, though, has garlic hanging from the windows. Soon the suspect that their host might know a vampire or two.

Turns out, they're right. While trying to decide what to do about this problem, Hal is kidnapped. The remainder of the book centers on getting Hal back.

The vampires aren't the evil blood thirsty things that you might expect. Instead, there are factions to them — those that are friends with non-vampires and those who prefer to stick to their own kind. The children are introduced to a London underground inhabited by these creatures and get a glimpse into the vampiric history of the city.

I happened to listen to the book on audio. The narrator was an exceedingly chipper reader — to the point of distraction. This was the type of reading where I could just hear the forced smile. ( )