Sammy Keyes & the Moustache Mary
Wendelin Van Draanen's funny, fast-paced girl-detective series hit the  ground running withSammy Keyes  and the Hotel Thief, winner of the 1999 Edgar Allan Poe Award for best  children's mystery. After four more Sammy stories, we've officially befriended  the strong, spunky, skateboarding seventh grader who can't help but plant  herself in the middle of the action.Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache  Marystarts innocently enough when Sammy decides to spend New Year's Eve  weekend at a friend's house in the country. The next thing she knows, she's made  friends with an elderly woman named Lucinda Huntley, owner of a 200-pound pet  pig and heir to a Wild West story about a century-old family feud involving her  great-grandmother "Moustache Mary," who came west from Missouri in 1845. When  Mary's historic cabin burns to the ground, Sammy wastes no time in plunging  headlong into the mystery--and into a few serious scrapes.Sammy is growing up, and with her years come the rumblings of romance,  confrontations with kids who use (and manufacture) drugs, and plenty of  decisions about who she should trust... including herself. Van Draanen captures  Sammy's honest, funny, fresh voice in an always-engaging first-person narrative  that accompanies the rapid-fire action and adventure. Sammy Keyes is a person  your favorite bookworm will want to get to know, and fortunately, more  adventures are on the way. (Ages 10 and older)--Karin Snelson--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.