October 1, 2011
Grades 5-8 Sammy Keyes' fourteenth adventure begins on a dark Halloween night in a graveyard filled with zombies (Sammy and her gang), a vampire (in a mustard yellow car), a bag of skulls, grave robbers, gravediggers, and thugs of many shapes and sizes. The action is crisp and smartly plotted as Sammy tries to untangle the many strange happenings, and though she and her friends face a variety of personal challenges, this develops the characters rather than distracting from the mystery. Sammy's indefatigable quest for truth, justice, and harmony is upbeat, spooky, entertaining, and heartwarming.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2012
Grave robbers, vampires, murderers, and human skulls might seem over the top for most trick-or-treaters, but not for Sammy Keyes. The eighth-grade super sleuth and her friends find themselves in the midst of another mystery while navigating the usual challenges of family, friendship, and school. Fans will welcome this fourteenth series entry with its familiar well-developed characters and page-turning suspense.
(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)