Paolo calls Rufus “a Mack truck with no one driving.” Rufus is the O’Neil family dog, and he shows up one morning with part of a twenty-dollar bill in his teeth.Paolo, age twelve, figures that there must be more where that bill came from, and since his cousin Billy needs to repair a bent wheel on his bike, there’s a reason for looking. He, Georgie, and Billy end up in the monsignor’s garden behind the Cathedral of San Joaquin, but it’s not exactly treasure they find, it’s a hand that shoots out of the undergrowth to grab Paolo’s neck. The search for the stash leads the boys — sometimes scared spitless — on many a byway around Orange Grove City, California, in the summer of 1951. And onto the byway of conscience.”Suppose you found a treasure. Couldn’t you keep it?” Paolo asks his uncle. “I mean, say you know who it belongs to, and they probably need it….But when you find it, nobody has it. Isn’t nobody’s property in particular, then,” he reasons. “Well, maybe somebody has it, but it isn’t theirs. It would be yours, wouldn’t it?”No answer. “How in the heck is a guy supposed to be somebody in this world without any money?”
Mystery and Thriller
Mystery genre
Vanishing Girl: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Third Case
The third case in the compelling Boy Sherlock Holmes series is full of as many twists and turns as the backstreets of Victorian London. When a wealthy young girl vanishes as if by magic in Hyde Park, Sherlock is once again driven to prove himself. In a heart-stopping race against time, an innocent boy’s survival depends on Sherlock’s ability to solve the mysterious puzzle of the Vanishing Girl. As complex as the maze that protects the missing girl’s hiding place, this case takes Sherlock racing to the countryside, the coast, and into the lair of a menagerie of exotic, dangerous creatures. Haunted by memories of his shattered family, goaded by his enemies, driven to heal the fragile relationship between him and the beautiful Irene Doyle, Sherlock makes an almost fatal mistake. In the end, his brilliant powers of deduction and the steadfast eccentric Sigerson Bell save the day. Soon, very soon, the world will come to know him as the master detective of all time.
Framed
A few things to know about Dylan. He is the only boy in his entire town. His best friends are two pet chickens. Criminal instincts run in his family. And one more small thing about nine-year-old Dylan—the crime of the century has just fallen into his lap.
Blackbriar
Danny can feel something sinister about his new home, Blackbriar, an old, abandoned cottage in the English countryside. The residents of a nearby town refuse to speak of the house and can barely look Danny in the eyes. Then Danny begins to have strange dreams of fires and witches, and awakes to shrieks of laughter that seem to come from another time and place.With help from his friend, Lark, Danny begins to unravel the mysteries of Blackbriar and its frightening past,through the discovery of an ancient doll and a chilling list of names and dates carved on the cellar door. But what might be most terrifying of all is the mystery that does not lie in the past but in the here and now. . . .
The Ruby In The Smoke: A Sally Lockhart Mystery (Sally Lockhart)
“BEWARE THE SEVEN blessings . . . ” When she first utters these words, 16-year-old Sally Lockhart doesn’t know their meaning. But when an employee of her late father hears them, he dies of fear. Thus begins Sally’s terrifying journey into the seamy underworld of Victorian London, in search of clues to her father’s mysterious death.
The Shadow In The North: A Sally Lockhart Mystery (Sally Lockhart)
WHEN ONE OF Sally’s clients loses a large sum of money in the unexpected collapse of a British shipping firm, Sally sets out to investigate. But as she delves deeper into the identity of a wealthy and elusive industrialist, she uncovers a plot so diabolical, it could subvert the entire civilized world.
Crocodile Tears: An Alex Rider Novel
It’s just another day in the life of Alex Rider. A con artist has realized there is big money in charity– the bigger the disaster, the greater the money flow! So that is what he will produce: the biggest disaster known to man, all thanks to genetically modified wheat that can release a virus so potent it can knock out an entire country in one windy day. But Alex Rider will face whatever it takes–gunfire, explosions, hand-to-hand combat with mercenaries– to bring down his most dangerous adversary yet. Series
The Tiger In The Well: A Sally Lockhart Mystery
Unlike most Victorian women, Sally is completely independent, with her own successful business and a comfortable home for her young daughter, Harriet. But Sally’s whole world is about to collapse. A stranger emerges, claiming to be both her husband and Harriet’s father and threatening all that she has.
The Tin Princess: A Sally Lockhart Mystery
After witnessing a mysterious explosion, three young Londoners–Becky, Jim and Adelaide–journey to a tiny country high in the mountains of Central Europe in 1882. They’re an unlikely trio to lead a country, but when Adelaide’s husband, the new king, is assassinated, she finds herself fighting for the crown–and for her very life.
The Pharaoh’s Secret (Amelia’s Notebook Series)
Filled with intrigue and surprises, The Pharaoh’s Secret includes Marissa Moss’s original illustrations throughout. The novel skillfully weaves history with a personal story full of heartache and family tensions that will entice and enthrall readers. When Talibah and her younger brother, Adom, accompany their father, an academic, to his homeland of modern Egypt on his research assignment, they become involved in a mystery surrounding an ancient, lost pharaoh—a rare queen ruler. Someone has tried to wipe her from the record, to make it appear as if she never existed! She needs Talibah to help her and her high priest, Senenmut, reclaim their rightful place in history. Exotic locales, mysterious strangers, and a sinister archaeologist round out an adventure that is full of riddles, old tales, and, most surprisingly of all, a link to Talibah’s and Adom’s mother, who died mysteriously.