The Brave family is a courageous circus family with one nervous member; little Ingebrigt. One day they nearly run over a hedgehog which is every bit as scared as Ingebrigt himself. The hedgehog, Karsten, is so afraid of stinging someone with his pins that he keeps them tight to his body – which makes everyone believe that Karsten is a hamster. Karsten and Ingebrigt become best friends.

One day, peculiar things start to happen in the circus. The conjuror’s rabbit is missing, and it has not been spirited away! The clowns’ make-up has disappeared. The circus loses many of its acts, the spectators fail to show up, and the ringmaster is furious; he thinks there is a saboteur among the employees. The twin sisters decide to found a detective agency. Ingebrigt and Karsten work as their assistants, and the two of them, who are afraid of just about everything, are sent on the most dangerous missions and ordeals. A good thing they’re together!

The respected German website for serious childrens’ books critique, librikon.de, named SCARY one of the four best international childrens’ books of 2008. In their official statement, the jury declared:

“SCARY brings something genuinely literary into childrens’ literature […] The simple, well considered sentences alternate with enthusiastic speech: Stylistically the authors move along paths that are completely their own, and the reader’s experience moves about in the same style. SCARY goes down well with children because it doesn’t care for our daily celebration of the winners, but instead gives a voice to the world that the children themselves experience.”