Sammy Keyes laces up her high tops and takes on a brand new case. But this time, the seventh-grade sleuth isn't tracking down whodunit. She's hiding the fact that she's the one whodunit!
In Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway, the 10th book in the popular mystery series by Wendelin Van Draanen, Sammy covers up her part in the disappearance of her teacher's lovebird. The teacher pins the blame on Sammy's archenemy, Heather Acosta. Will Sammy (a) confess her involvement or (b) let her archenemy take the fall?
Before Sammy can decide on a plan of action, a new mystery begins to unravel. Now she must solve the mystery and her moral dilemma.
"What I like most about Sammy is that she's flawed," Van Draanen told TFK. "She doesn't always do or say the right thing, and that makes her feel very real to me."
On sale September 27, the book marks the end of the seventh grade for Sammy. Will readers stick with her as she completes eighth grade in the series' final 10 books? Van Draanen believes she knows how to hold kids' attention.
"I promised myself I would never torture my audience with endless descriptions about, say, the beauty of a tree," Van Draanen told TFK. "My view is, if there's a tree, put a vulture in it, man. Or a monkey. Something!"
Van Draanen does not disappoint. The latest installment is packed with edge-of-your-seat adventure. Sammy faces a sneaky city councilwoman, a murder mystery and an invitation to the eighth-grade dance. Through it all, Sammy never loses her head or her high tops. Van Draanen's cool character will endure for generations. Case closed.