Serafina and the Black Cloak

Serafina and the Black Cloak is a 2015 American historical fiction and fantasy novel written by Robert Beatty. It is the first novel in the Serafina Series and the prequel to Serafina and the Twisted Staff. This book follows the spooky adventures of twelve-year-old Serafina, Chief Rat Catcher of the Biltmore Estate, as she works with friend Braeden Vanderbilt, a fictitious member of the historical Vanderbilt family, to uncover the true identity of The Man in the Black Cloak who is responsible for the mysterious disappearance of several of the estate's youngest guests.