She has held many jobs: teacher, forklift driver, even rock 'n' roll singer. But it's no big mystery that the job WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN likes most is writing books about seventh-grade detective Sammy Keyes.
"Sammy is the friend I wish I'd had in junior high school," says the author. The spunky sleuth is on the case again in Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception. In her eighth adventure, on sale this week, Sammy stumbles on a crime at a gallery.
If a new mystery is music to your ears, there's more! The author drew on her past experience to record a Sammy Keyes theme song. The first 20,000 copies of the new book come with a CD. Why? Says Van Draanen: "I think that readers rock!"