Sammy Keyes

While looking out the window with her grandma's binoculars, Sammy witnesses a crime across the street at the Heavenly Hotel. What's worse, the thief saw her spying! As Sammy attempts to find the burglar who has made several other hits in the neighborhood, she finds herself trying to keep him from uncovering her - or worse, the police discovering that she's living illegally with her grandmother in the seniors-only housing!

Sammy and her friends are startled when they interrupt what seems to be an attempted murder on Halloween. While trick-or-treating at a spooky old, house, they find the door open, and inside a man is tied to a chair while a fire rages on the floor. A robbery? But what valuable could be missing from the home of a reclusive old man?

While serving school detention in the soup kitchen at St. Mary's Church, Sammy finds herself the prime suspect in the theft of Father Mayhew's ivory cross. But there have been other robberies at the church recently, and as Sammy attempts to discover the real thief, all the suspects appear to be religious figures who are above suspicion. That is, until Sammy cuts through disguises to uncover an enormous heist!

It's Christmas, but leave it to Sammy Keyes to find trouble even in the midst of the holiday parade. Trying to help a friend, she reluctantly volunteers on the Canine Calendar float, only to have the famous cover dog dog-napped on her watch! The animal's owner orders Sammy to find the dog before the $50,000 ransom being demanded comes due.

On a quiet weekend in the country, Sammy and her friends meet Lucinda Huntley and her 200-pound pig, and become involved in a centuries old family feud involving Lucinda's great grandma Moustache Mary. When Mary's pioneer cabin burns to the ground, it's up to Sammy to dig up the cause as the past collides with the present in this highly combustible mystery!

When Sammy's mother dumped her with Grams to go to Hollywood and become a star, Sammy dealt with it. But when she discovers that Lady Lana has changed her name, dyed her hair, and shaved 10 years off her age, Sammy hops a bus to Hollywood and finds her mom in deeper trouble than she expected. One of Lana's biggest competitors is found dead in the room next door. Is Sammy's mother the next victim...or the prime suspect?

In her most dangerous mystery to date, Sammy runs into a strange girl trying to escape from a scary looking guy at the mall. When the girl asks Sammy to watch her shopping bag and then flees, Sammy is alarmed to discover that inside the bag is a baby! In her seventh adventure, the intrepid detective puts her life on the line as she confronts the seamy gang life of her hometown in her search for the baby's mother and the evil man who is threatening them all in this edge-of-your-seat mystery.

When Sammy attends a fancy reception at an art gallery (wearing high-tops, of course) she ends up tackling a gun-wielding art burglar who crashes the party. But is he the real criminal? As always, Sammy's instinct guides her through the many layers of the mystery to uncover the real crime and criminal. And this time, the determined detective gets a little help from her gutsy grandmother, who, Sammy realizes, is a person in her own right.

Cats are disappearing and Sammy is finding some of them in neighborhood garbage cans - dead! Miss Kitty, a local psycho cat lady, blames Sammy. Meanwhile, there's something fishy going on with one of the students from Slammin' Dave's Pro Wrestling School that just opened up next door to Sammy's friend Holly.

Sammy accidentally makes a deadly mistake, but all clues point to her nemesis, Heather, and she gets blamed. As Sammy struggles with her conscience, she should confess, but there's a certain justice in Heather finally getting what she deserves, and she gets distracted helping an ailing senior citizen in her fight against urban renewal.

Sammy Keyes finds herself in the wilderness helping eco-friendly Girl Scouts save the endangered condor. Leaving behind the city life of her grandma's senior complex and shopping malls, Sammy encounters scorpions, poison oak, and biting flies, along with clues that help her uncover the culprit who shot the baby condor and kidnapped its mother. Once again, Sammy's story is a satisfying mix of adolescent issues and fascinating mystery that will thrill listeners.

In her latest mystery, Sammy Keyes feels responsible for the death of an old man whom she discovers on the fire escape and who, with his dying breath, begs her to take his wads of cash and throw them away!

In this 13th mystery, Sammy is entering eighth grade with more than the usual angst - add to it being a bridesmaid in Officer Borsch's wedding, dealing with the break-up of her friend Marissa's parents, and her own mother dating the father of arch-enemy Heather. How will she be able to solve the mystery of who's making death threats against the history teacher that nobody likes (especially with her name at the top of the suspect list?) With wit, style, and spirit as usual!

In this 14th title in the popular series, Sammy is hoping for a fun Halloween for a change. But dressing up as zombies and cutting through the cemetery assures that the teenage sleuth and her pals are soon immersed in a satisfyingly suspenseful adventure full of secrets and surprises - not the least of which is a trick-or-treat bag with human skulls!

In this 15th book about the irrepressible Sammy Keyes, she deals with the zaniest character to come out of her town yet - Justice Jack, Santa Martina's very own superhero. Dressed in spandex and a mask, he drives around on a dirt bike hoping to fight crime. Though everyone else seems taken with Jack, Sammy's not so sure and now that she has a real mystery to solve her detective skills are pushed to the limits by Jack's antics.

To celebrate her 14th birthday, Sammy’s newly found, long-lost father takes her and best friend Marissa on a cruise. As Sammy navigates her feelings about this new relationship, she and Marissa become involved in another family’s bizarre drama which includes the mysterious disappearance of the wealthy matriarch and suspicious activity by the greedy heirs.

In the final mystery of this series, one of the bad guys has finally caught up with the skateboarding sleuth of Santa Marina and worse, landed her in the hospital out cold. This time Sammy’s family and friends must solve the crime - who did this to her and why? In a heartwarming, fitting finale the people whose lives she has impacted over the years come together to help uncover the truth and save their beloved Sammy.