[3] Bunce's first novel A Curse Dark as Gold received the American Library Association’s inaugural William C. Morris Award,[4] and was named a Smithsonian Notable Book.

[17] A full-time writer since earning her degree in English and anthropology from the University of Iowa in 1996, Bunce has presented workshops on writing and storytelling techniques for both professional writers and kids, appeared as a panelist for her fans at San Diego Comic-Con,[18] Planet Comicon, Bouchercon, Malice Domestic, the World Fantasy Convention, WisCon, and other pop culture conventions, and she was Guest of Honor at Archon 45.

[21] Bunce is a fan of Gothic fiction, ghost stories, mystery tropes, pop culture references, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Veronica Mars, and the works of Daphne Du Maurier, Sharon Shinn, and Charles Dickens.

Publishers Weekly referred to her Myrtle Hardcastle mystery series as “the best thing to happen to youth mysteries since Trixie Belden.”[23] The Wall Street Journal said “Younger Holmes fans (and older ones too) should be charmed by Elizabeth C. Bunce's Cold-Blooded Myrtle.”[24] The Buffalo News called Premeditated Myrtle a “hugely entertaining, well-crafted Victorian whodunnit.”[25] The Kansas City Star called Premeditated Myrtle "loaded with energy that propels the reader forward in the tradition of all the most addictive of children’s books mysteries.”[26] Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn, said "Elizabeth Bunce is the real thing, no question about it.

Her heroine/narrator is immensely appealing; the atmosphere of a world on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution is completely believable; and the suspense of the story builds so craftily that I started taking notes on just how she does it.