My words

Hi!
I'm Webster, creator of this blog. Sammy's story starts with Hotel Thief, then winds through Halloween and the holidays in Skeleton Man, Sisters of Mercy and Runaway Elf. Then comes The Curse of Moustache Mary, a sort of Wild West story which twists and turns around the Edge of the World. Next is Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy, where Sammy and Marissa hop the Greyhound to Los Angeles to shake some bubbles out of the Gas-Away Lady's head (you know who I'm talking about, right? Her mom!) and come face to face with a real live mummy! In Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes, Sammy's got a new neighbor (who falls off toilets) to deal with, the Junior Sluggers' Cup tournament to compete in (with Heather!), and Gangster Girls to avoid. You won't believe what Sammy gets into!
The next book is Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception. Think bad art, a renaissance faire, and (back by popular demand) Casey. Which, of course, is gonna fry that vicious Heather to a crisp! But fish are flying (right into Ms. Acosta), bandits are hiding, and Grams is teaming up with Sammy to dig up clues.
The ninth book is Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen. It’s Sammy’s birthday book, but gee, what a birthday—Dorito (Sammy’s cat) goes missing, Sammy discovers dead cats in Dumpsters around town, and Sammy’s mother returns to break some very bad news. Add a pro-wrestling school (where Sammy learns moves that she can use on You-Know-Who!) a good-luck charm from Heather’s brother, and you’ve got non-stop teen-angst action.
The tenth in the series (and the half-way point!) is Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway. It’s the end of 7th grade, and for once Heather gets blamed for something Sammy did. Will Sammy confess? Or let Heather stew in the sweet juices of revenge? Add to this moral dilemma an end-of-the-year dance which Casey asks Sammy to, a band of teen-pirates, eminent domain (of all things) and a mystery so deadly and, uh, stinky, that even Sammy’s never uncovered anything like it. A real page-turner!
The latest book, just recently released, is Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things. In this backpacking adventure, Sammy’s first mistake is trading in her high-tops for hiking boots, but blisters become the least of her worries as she and a friend get lost in the woods and have to face rattlesnakes, ticks, scorpions, killer trees, boys, and oh, yeah…a dangerous condor poacher.
If you’ve never tried a Sammy Keyes adventure/mystery—pick up any one that sounds good to you—you don’t have to read them in order. And if you’ve already read all of them, let me introduce the Shredderman, another book series written by Wendelin Van Draanen, you can find out more about the shredderman series in my other blog.
So keep reading, 'cause readers rock!

Who is Sammy Keyes?

Well, first off, Sammy is not a boy, but a girl, and a real spitfire to boot. Sammy is daring and brash, yet cool-headed when faced with danger. She's a self-proclaimed tomboy, mystery-solver and one tough cookie! In this series, author Wendelin Van Draanen brings us the adventures of this feisty 13 year-old girl and her friends.
Sammy certainly has an unconventional life --- she lives with her grandma in a senior citizen's complex while her mother is off finding her true calling in Hollywood. Sammy has already found her niche --- she solves crimes, foils bad guys and saves the day. Read on as Kidsreads.com brings you all the info on this detective, her friends and her crazy capers!

Booklist

1.Sammy Keyes and the hotel thief
2.Sammy Keyes and the skeleton man
3.Sammy Keyes and the sisters of mercy
4.Sammy Keyes and the runaway elf
5.Sammy Keyes and the curse of moustache mary
6.Sammy Keyes and the hollywood mummy
7.Sammy Keyes and the search for snake eyes
8.Sammy Keyes and the art of deception
9.Sammy Keyes and the psycho kitty queen
10.Sammy Keyes and the dead giveaway
11.Sammy Keyes and the wild things

Characters

Sammy Keyes - the main character
Marissa - Sammy's best friend
Dot - Sammy's friend
Holly - Sammy's friend
Grams - Sammy's grandma
Hudson - Sammy's favourite old guy
Lady Lana - Sammy's mum
Officer Borsch - A police officer
Mrs Ambler - Sammy's teacher
Heather - Sammy's archenemy
Tenille - Heather's lackey
Monet - Heather's lackey

About Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief

With this debut book of a new mystery series, Wendelin Van Draanen establishes Samantha Keyes as a crime fighter to watch. Though, actually, the book opens with Sammy watching...a crime in progress. And when the man with the wad of cash in one hand and the open purse in the other catches Sammy watching him, the chase is on--but is Sammy on the trail of the thief, or is he on hers? If the police don't believe Sammy's story about a thief with black gloves, black glasses, and a black beard, she isn't too surprised. Vice principal Caan didn't exactly believe her either when she explained that she couldn't possibly have broken Heather's nose. Well, Sammy's not putting up with this. Does she look like a liar? She knows what she saw and how hard she can hit. And somehow she's going to prove it.

About Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man

Now in Knopf Paperback, seventh-grade gumshoe Sammy Keyes returns in her second mystery--a Halloween intrigue involving Frankenstein and a skeleton man in a tale of greed, grudges, and getting even.

About Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy

While serving a detention in the soup kitchen at St. Mary's Church for an infraction committed during her last case, Sammy Keyes becomes the prime suspect in the disappearance of Father Mayhew's prized ivory cross. Ace detective that she is, Sammy manages to prove her innocence but soon discovers that, under its calm exterior, St. Mary's is abuzz with gossip, jealousy, and intrigue--just like junior high! Meanwhile, back at school, Sammy's beloved catcher's mitt--her only connection to her father--disappears just when her team makes the semifinals. Add to this mix: a dog who eats everything in sight, a lesson in safe cracking from a homeless girl who bears a striking resemblance to Sammy, and an exuberant trio of gospel-singing nuns called the Sisters of Mercy, and you've got one wild ride of a mystery--or just another week in the life of Samantha Keyes.

About Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf

And this new adventure is Wendelin Van Draanen's most complex and compelling yet! It's Christmas time in Sammy's hometown of Santa Martina, but some people are being very, very naughty. Pranksters dressed as wise men sabotage the Christmas Parade. In the ensuing chaos, some thugs dognap a prize Pomeranian. Then the Pom's owner blackmails Sammy into finding the dog so she won't have to pay the ransom. Sammy doesn't have to check her list twice to know that these people belong in the naughty column!
But in the course of her search for the doggone dog, Sammy also comes across some characters who are harder to figure: a runaway elf, an embittered old biddy, a puffed-up policeman, and a sneaky Secret Santa. Still, someone's got that dog and whoever it is had better watch out--'cause Sammy Keyes is nosing around...and she's willing to be pretty naughty herself to make sure the bad guys pay.

About Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary

What's supposed to be a quiet weekend in the country turns into a crossroads adventure when Sammy and her friends meet Lucinda Huntley walking her 200-pound pig down the middle of the road. She tells them a true tale of the Wild West, a story of tough times, wagon trains, her great-grandma Moustache Mary, and a century-old family feud.
But this feud is hardly ancient history. Past and present collide -- and combust! -- when Mary's pioneer cabin burns to the ground. Sammy thinks the cause of the fire may be a hundred years old, but still, the gas can she finds near the scene of the crime is shiny and new. . . .

About Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy

The elusive Lady Lana (a.k.a. Sammy’s mom) ran off to Hollywood nearly a year ago to get “discovered.” But when Sammy discovers that her mom has changed her name, dyed her hair, and told everyone she’s only 25, she decides Lana needs a little reality check. I mean, it’s one thing to have her mom ditch her. But it’s another to find out she’s created a life for herself where Sammy can’t possibly exist.
But Hollywood is a shock. Everyone is pretending here. No one is who or what they seem in this starlet-eat-starlet world. So when a woman is killed in the room next door, Sammy’s hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t have a motive . . . including her own mom.

About Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes

Sammy’s softball team is in contention for the Junior Slugger’s Cup, and all she wants to do is hunker down behind home plate and catch strikes. But Heather Acosta brings new meaning to the term “foul ball” as she schemes to get Sammy kicked off the team. And Sammy is thrown a wild pitch by a frantic girl in the mall. She begs Sammy to watch something for her and then dashes off before Sammy realizes that the bag she’s left holding contains a baby! Now there are some pitches that you shouldn’t even try to catch, but Sammy’s a take-it-in-the-chest-protector kind of player. So when the girl doesn’t return for her baby, Sammy decides to go find her. And her search leads her into situations that are just not covered in a softball playbook.

About Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception

Sammy Keyes has a lot of nerve. Wearing high-tops to a fancy reception at an art gallery. Asking why a framed orange splot is worth $10,000. Eyebrows rise. Noses turn up.
But then Sammy tackles a thief who tries to break up the soiree with a stickup. Now the patrons of the arts are glad she has a lot of nerve. Or are they? Sammy may have stopped a criminal, but the real crime has yet to be discovered. The real crime is more subtle, more artful, than anything Sammy’s ever seen. She had no idea art could be so dangerous. . . .
This edition also includes a free cd including an interview with Wendelin, a reading from Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes, and "The Sammy Keyes Song".

About Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen

Sammy’s never been what you might call lucky. But finding a dead cat on her birthday? That ranks up there in her top-10 unluckiest moments. And not just because it was the ugliest dead thing she’d ever seen. No, it was more the chain of events that happened after.
Like getting hosed down by a crazy cat lady who blames Sammy for her pet’s violent end. And being chased through an alley by a guy with a cleaver. And being thrown in the ring by a cranky pro-wrestler called El Gato—oh, no wait, that was the good part of her day.

About Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway

The bad news: Sammy’s made a deadly mistake.
The good news: No one knows she did it.
The delicious dilemma: Everyone thinks her archenemy Heather is to blame.
Now Heather’s in a major jam, and in some ways it’s only fair–Heather’s pinned more than a few crimes on Sammy. Besides, there are distractions galore to keep Sammy from confessing. Like the end of the school year. And the Farewell Dance. Especially the dance, because she’s going with Heather’s brother, Casey. But Sammy knows that the truth has an uncanny way of resurfacing, and when it does, the stench can be more vile than the junior high cafeteria. . . .

About Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things

Sammy Keyes trades in her hightops for hiking boots—and winds up with blisters.
This is not the summer camping trip of Sammy's dreams. She imagined shady glades, meandering streams, a deer or two. What she gets are scrubby shrubs, blazing sun, rattlesnakes, ticks, and scorpions. Her fellow campers are desperate to catch a rare glimpse of an endangered condor. To Sammy, the trip is nothing more than the painful in pursuit of the unspeakably ugly.
But when she and two other girls find an injured condor, Sammy's intrigued at last. As they track down a clue, they stumble onto two classmates and wind up lost. Which leaves three girls and two boys in a canyon with one tent and six billion biting flies. Oh—and an armed and dangerous highstakes poacher.
S'mores anyone?

Sammy Keyes Song

Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy, Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf
There’s Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes, but there’re some other titles on
the shelf
There is the Hotel Thief and the Skeleton Man, they’re the ones that tell you where the
story began
Then there’s the Curse of Moustache Mary ‘bout the wild, Wild West
And in the Hollywood Mummy a sarcophagus, You say you love a mystery,
Read Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy, Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf,
Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary, see if you can solve them yourself.
Heather Acosta is a redheaded monster who’s got nothing but vengeance on her mind
But Marissa and Hudson, Dot and Holly and Grams are gonna help Sammy keep that girl
in line
Then there’s Lady Lana, down in La-La Land who’s left Sams so she could be a movie
star
But the Gas-Away Lady’s got a boss who’s shady, and the Pitchfork Mummy’s never far
Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy, Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf
Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, see if you can solve ‘em yourself
Officer Borsch acts like his squad car’s a Porsche, and thinks that all kids are delinquent
juveniles
But he’ll change his mind when he gets in a bind and Sammy wrestles down a nasty
crocodile
There are bad guys lurkin’, one thing’s for certain, sinners like to slither out of sight
But Sammy tracks ‘em down and when the truth is found, she’s gonna stand tall for what
is right
Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy, Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf
Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary, see if you can solve ‘em yourself
There is the Hotel Thief and the Skeleton Man, in the Art of Deception Casey’s back
again
They will twist you and turn you to the edge of your seat, so come join the adventure and
read…
Read Sammy Keyes!

My checklist

What I read finished:
Sammy Keyes and the hotel thief
Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of mercy
Sammy Keyes and the runaway elf
Sammy Keyes and the hollywood mummy
Sammy Keyes and the search for snake eyes
Sammy Keyes and the art of deception
Sammy Keyes and the psycho kitty queen
Sammy Keyes and the dead giveaway

What I haven't read:
Sammy Keyes and the skeleton man
Sammy Keyes and the curse of moustache mary
Sammy Keyes and the wild things