Wendelin Van Draanen

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.

What does Frankenstein have that a skeleton wants?

Sounds like a bad Halloween joke. But Sammy Keyes isn't laughing. She's the one who collided with the skeleton while he was making his getaway. And she's the one who discovered Frankenstein tied to a chair with his head twisted around. Someone's taken "trick or treat" way too far.

In this fifth Sammy Keyes mystery, the normally unflappable heroine encounters a corpse, an arsonist, and an irate policeman - and her first real experiences with adolescent angst.

This is the third entry in the Shredderman series, which features short chapters and lighthearted, fast-moving stories, starring Nolan Byrd, cyber-hero.

When his favorite television superhero, The Gecko, comes to town, Nolan not only befriends the star but helps him expose a sleazy tabloid reporter known as the Mole.