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Zusatztext Praise for the Sammy Keyes series: “Van Draanen offers such an explosive combination of high-stakes sleuthing! hilarity! and breathlessly paced action that it’s impossible to turn the pages fast enough.” — Kirkus Reviews “There’s no stopping Sammy.”— Publishers Weekly “An intelligent! gutsy! flawed! and utterly likable heroine.”— Booklist "Move over! Nancy Drew—a new sleuth is on the scene.”— Girls’ Life "Think a combination of Carl Hiaasen’s Flush and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books and you’ll be right on target.” — School Library Journal “A high-quality! high-amp mystery series.” — The Horn Book “This funny! clever series is NOT for kids only. I challenge the most seasoned mystery reader to guess ‘who done it.’” — Cozies! Capers! and Crimes “Sammy Keyes comes armed with attitude.” — Orlando Sentinel “Sammy doesn’t find mysteries to solve—they find her.” — Arizona Republic “Humor! romance and adventure; this story is an absolute blast.” —Chicago Tribune “If you haven’t met Sammy Keyes yet! now is the time.” — Children’s Literature Informationen zum Autor WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN was a classroom teacher for many years before becoming a full-time writer. The books in the Sammy Keyes mystery series have been embraced by critics and readers alike, with Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief receiving the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best children’s mystery. Wendelin is also the author of many award-winning novels, including Flipped, The Running Dream, Runaway, Confessions of a Serial Kisser, Swear to Howdy, The Secret Life of Lincoln Jones, and Wild Bird. You can find her online at WendelinVanDraanen.com and @WendelinVanD, and you can follow Sammy Keyes on Facebook. Klappentext Sammy's mom comes to town with a birthday bombshell... "A strong female character looking for more than just a boyfriend. Highly recommended." -- Children's Literature It's Sammy's birthday, which should be a good thing, right? Not when her mom lets her cat out and now he's missing. Not when Sammy finds three dead cats while she's looking for him. And not when a psycho cat lady blames Sammy because one of the dead cats belonged to her. Add a suspicious pro-wrestler named El Gato, a public cat-fight with her arch-enemy Heather, and a bombshell of a secret from her mom, and you've got a recipe for Sammy's worst birthday ever. Better luck next year, Sammy.One I have to admit that it didn't start with my mother. It started on Hudson's porch. Hudson Graham is my favorite old guy in the whole wide world because he's got great stories, great advice, and he knows how to listen. He's also got the coolest porch you'd ever want to hang out on, and when Hudson's home, it's usually equipped with iced tea and cake. "Sammy!" he said when he saw me turn up his walkway on my skateboard. "How are you?" "Starved!" I grabbed my board and trotted up the steps, eyeing the crumbs on his plate. In a flash I knew it had been a piece of his mega-maple upside-down cake. He took one look at my face and laughed. "Your grandmother let you out of the house without breakfast?" "She was preoccupied. And besides, I wasn't hungry then--now I am!" "Why don't I fix you some eggs and toast. Then cake." "Aw, come on, Hudson. It's Saturday." I plopped down in the chair beside him. He looked doubtful. "Somehow I don't think your grandmother would approve. And you know I've been working hard to get out of her doghouse..." "Forget the doghouse. If she asks, I'll just tell her it was an early piece of birthday cake." "Birthday cake? When's your birthday?" "Tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" H...
