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The accidental junior high detective Sammy Keyes is back in her twelfth hysterical mystery adventure!
Sammy has three wads of cold hard cash in her hot little hands. An old guy gave them to her. Well, actually, he told her to throw them away. Begged her. With his last dying breath. Which he was taking because Sammy had just scared the life right out of him.
So . . . she's got to get this man some help. She's got to do it without being seen. And she's got to figure out how to stash that cash.
Aw, c'mon! You'd keep the money too, right? No one ever needs to know. . . .
Gr 6-8
Sammy Keyes is back, living her second 13th summer because her mother lied on her birth certificate to get her into school early. After two years of sneaking up and down the fire escape at the seniors-only residence where she lives with her grandmother, one would suppose that Sammy would not meet misadventure on her unique entrance to her home. But that's what happens when she assumes she has scared an elderly man to death after he has her toss three bundles of money into the bushes below. That event provides the mystery, and Sammy is off sleuthing again. The money is both trouble and a temptation as she retrieves it, keeps it secret, and spends it at the mall, buying her friend Marissa a bathing suit and giving some to Gram. Sammy is a whirlwind of activity, and the pacing is uneven as she spies on her friends from previous books, spies on elderly suspects, purchases a camera for sleuthing purposes, and gets a disguise. All of her old friends and enemies are back, and her budding romance with Casey Acosta continues. Van Draanen again deals with social issues with wit as Sammy charges through another mystery and walks a narrow line between opportunism and honesty.-Kathryn Kosiorek, formerly at Cuyahoga County Public Library, Brooklyn, OH
Wendelin Van Draanen was a teacher for many years before turning to writing full-time. Her first Sammy Keyes mystery, Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief, won the Edgar Alan Poe Award. She lives in Central California with her husband and two sons.
Holly Janquell is one of my best friends, and she happens to live right across Broadway from the Senior Highrise in an apartment above the Pup Parlor. I love going over to the Pup Parlor. You never know what crazy canine creation you'll find getting groomed there.
As far as the Pup Parlor humans go, you can expect to find either Meg or Vera, or both. Meg is Vera's daughter, and they were both friends of mine way before they adopted Holly. Grams describes them as "salt of the earth," but I don't really get that expression. I just know that they're hardworking and kind and trustworthy. They put it together about me living with Grams back when the only other person who knew was my friend Marissa. They never made a peep about it, either. They just minded their own business.
When I first met her, I thought Vera was, like, ninety. She's got wrinkles galore, she's missing teeth, and she's wiry. Her forearms look like stretched-out, over roasted chicken legs. You know, where all the fat's been burned away and what's left are tendons, shrively muscles, wrinkly skin, and bones.
But I don't think anyone who's ninety could wrestle a bulldog into a bathing tank the way Vera does. It's like seeing an Italian greyhound take down a mastiff. Those wiry arms go into action, and watch out! She'll have a dog tubbed and sudsed before you can get across the shop to offer help.
Meg's taller and stockier than her mom, but they let the world know they're related by the way they do their hair. They both have pouffy poodle dos decorated with little clip-on bows: red, pink, purple, polka-dotted. . . . They seem to have a different pair of bows for every day of the month.
I used to go hang out at the Pup Parlor just to kill time before going home, but now I go there because Holly lives there and it's fun to do homework together or help around the shop.
This time, though, I hadn't just dropped by. And, it being summer and all, I sure wasn't there to do homework.
This time I was there by official invitation.
Holly had called me at home Tuesday morning and said, "Hey! I'm inviting everyone over tonight to see pictures of our trip. Seven-thirty to nine-thirty. Can you come?"
I squinted at the phone. "You've got two hours of pictures?"
"No! It's a party. We're having pizza and salad, and dessert, too." Then she laughed. "But Vera did get a new digital camera before the trip, so expect to be bombarded."
I laughed, and after I cleared it with Grams, I said, "I'll be there!"
Holly also invited Marissa and Dot, so it was a real best friends reunion. "Sammy!" they cried when I entered the apartment. I hadn't seen Dot all summer because she and her family had been in Holland visiting relatives. She sorta blinked at me and said,"You're so tan!"
"Just my arms and face. It's a total backpacker tan."
She bounced up and down a little. "Did you bring pictures of your camping trip? I heard you saw condors!"
I snorted. "And snakes and scorpions and ticks and a dead boar and—"
Her face pinched up. "Eew."
I grinned. "So be glad—no pictures."
Dot shrugged, then looked kinda embarrassed as she said, "I brought some pictures of our trip to Holland." Then real fast, she added, "Meg and Vera said it was fine."
I eyed Marissa and asked, "Did you bring pictures of Las Vegas?" because her family had already taken three trips there this summer. Marissa scowled. "You can't take pictures in Las Vegas. Everything's too . . . big."
The doorbell rang. "Pizza's here!" Meg called from the kitchen. So we all swarmed downstairs, got the pizzas, and pounded back up to the family room, where Vera was setting up a slide show on a laptop computer.
Meg brought in a salad, more drinks, and plates, and we all got comfy on the floor around their oversized coffee table and dug in. Meg usually gives off a pretty serious vibe, but having an apartment full of teenagers seemed to agree with her. She sat back in a recliner with a piece of pepperoni pizza, reclipped one of her royal blue bows, and let out a happy sigh. "Ready, Mother?"
"I believe so," Vera said, then started the slide show.
"Bombarded" doesn't even begin to describe it. We saw pictures of Holly in the motor home, Holly at a meteor crater, Holly in the Painted Desert, Holly at the Grand Canyon, Holly cooking dinner, Holly next to a buffalo, Holly nose to nose with a chipmunk, Holly asleep, Holly waking up, Holly watching a Wild West show, Holly shopping for arrowheads, Holly standing by a pack of Harley-Davidsons, and Holly at Mount Rushmore. Fifty gazillion pictures of Holly at Mount Rushmore.
It might have been a real snooze, only luckily, Vera clicked through the shots fast and Holly had enough funny stories to go with the pictures to keep us entertained.
Plus, it was really good pizza.
Pretty much the average Sammy Keyes book. Though it was funny, it was all expected, so not as interesting as it could be.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 6, 2011
it was an okay book. not the normal ending that sammy keyes books normally have. i mean was it umexpected yes but not the best ending. but it is still a really good book.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 17, 2009
Sammy Keyes, a thirteen-year old girl with a wild imagination, illegally and secretly lives at the Senior Highrise with her grandma. Usually, life there is pretty boring, until Sammy accepts over 3,000 dollars from a man she scared to death! Then, when her next-door neighbor, Rose Wedgewood, (Otherwise known as the blackmailing sweet-talking whale.) gets asked on a date to the expensive Monte Carlo by a complete stranger, Sammy knows something is going on! This book is both mysterious and hilarious. I would recommend it to anyone who likes Nancy Drew but wants something more modern.
By: Kallen
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 16, 2009
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This was by far, my favorite book in the series. I don't know what it was about it, but I loved it. (: This one is just amazing, I loved it with a firey passion. And I loved the advances with Casey. (:
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 29, 2008
Ive read a lot of mystery books and they were just okay but when i read sammy keys it was fantastic shes funny, shes got spunk and shes a great detective!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 26, 2008
i love the sammy keyes series! but i will say that there are some parts that aren't right for kids under, say, 12 or 13. but they're still good books with lot of mystery, fun, and adventure!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 16, 2013
This book is so funny! I couldn't put it down! If you like mysteries and comedy,then this would be a great book for you.
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Posted May 15, 2013
This book is extremly amazing! Although l think it is kind of sad when you actually find out who did it and why... But it was totally hilarious when casey sees sammy dressed up in her old lady outfit-costume thing! That was totally my fav scene from the entire book. And also in the pool l can really feel how sammy felt... Well l hope you enjoy!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The first book in this series (Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief) was on
my daughter’s summer reading list between 4th and 5th grade. We read it
together and were hooked. Inquisitive and resourceful, Samantha (Sammy)
Keyes makes a great tween protagonist. We read another book in the
series (Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary) as a family,
including my husband in the fun. We listened to Sammy Keyes and the Wild
Things and this book on CD in the car as we travelled for summer
vacation. We learned a lot about how you can tell if money is real or
counterfeit, and I noticed my daughter checking all of the bills we
passed and received on vacation. I recommend reading this series in
order because the characters and relationships develop from one book to
the next.
Anonymous
Posted April 15, 2012
All the sammy keyes books afre funny.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted August 8, 2011
Must read!!!!! Couldn't put it down
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 23, 2011
i love sammy keyes books,they usually are suspenceful but this one was only okay. not bad ad not great
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Posted May 20, 2012
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Overview
The accidental junior high detective Sammy Keyes is back in her twelfth hysterical mystery adventure!
Sammy has three wads of cold hard cash in her hot little hands. An old guy gave them to her. Well, actually, he told her to throw them away. Begged her. With his last dying breath. Which he was ...