Animal Mysteries

It's spring in Shady Hollow, and romance is in the air. Even reporter Vera Vixen is caught up in the season as her relationship with new police chief Orville Braun blossoms. But true love is not always smooth sailing, as two of the hollow's young residents come to find. Jonah Atwater and Stasia von Beaverpelt find themselves battling their families in order to be together. And when Alan's father, Shelby, goes over the top of Twilight Falls, all signs point to Stasia being the murderer.

Welcome to Twilight Hollow, WA, a small forest town with three resident witches. Adelaide O’Shea runs the Toasty Bean, imbuing her coffee and tea with warm, cozy magic. When a black cat crosses her path, she worries her new pet might be unlucky, and her suspicions are confirmed when the next thing in her path is a dead man with her phone number in his pocket.

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny are off to the rain forests of Sumatra, where a protected piece of land is home to endangered animals such as orangutans, elephants, and tigers. But when part of the forest gets cut down, the Aldens have to figure out who is responsible, not only to protect the rain forest, but also the animals within.

Gordon Korman knows the types of books kids like to read, considering he published his first novel at the ripe old age of 12. Since then, his unique brand of offbeat humor has helped him become a New York Times best-selling author. In this third tale featuring Griffin “The Man with the Plan” Bing, a tough new principal gets on Griffin’s last nerve, and the feeling is mutual. When a valuable ring is stolen from a school display case, Griffin realizes he’s been framed for the crime.

Persuaded by Polly Duncan, his beloved companion, to join her in a group tour of Scotland, Qwill expects to revel in his Scottish heritage while keeping Polly safe from the Pickax Prowler. Instead, his trip is cut short when a thief swipes a suitcase, the bus driver disappears, and a fellow tourist is found dead—all in the same day. Although the town of Pickax is in a tizzy over the recent events, Qwill has other, more puzzling worries on his mind: Who is the fellow still following Polly?

Katie’s new puppy, Koko, has run away, and now the white doggie is lost! Pedro and Katie pair up to investigate. They are hot on Koko’s trail, but some clues lead nowhere. Still the detectives won’t give up.

Lawyer Andy Carpenter is surprised when Willie Millier, Andy's partner at their dog rescue operation, the Tara Foundation, calls to say the alarm has gone off at the foundation building. There has clearly been a break-in, and a dog has been stolen.

Change is afoot in Shady Hollow, with an unusually tense election shaping up between long-serving Chief of Police Theodore Meade and Vera's beau, Deputy Orville Braun. But the political tension takes a back seat when resident eccentric Dorothy Springfield becomes convinced her beloved husband, Edward, is dead, and that the rat claiming to be him is actually a fraud.

Back in Pickax, Jim Qwilleran expects to resume a quiet life, but the people and animals of Pickax have other ideas. A noisy cardinal wakes him every morning. Nosy neighbors drop by uninvited, and the Siamese misbehave, even sneezing on guests. As if they weren't bad enough, Qwill's long-time companion acts as though she is in love, with another man. But worst of all, Qwill finds a body in his apple orchard.

How in the name of the goddess’ favorite sports bra am I going to do this Magical Librarian job? I have no idea what I’m doing. And the woman who’s supposed to be training me is...well, let’s just say she’s distracted and leave it at that. I guess I’ll bumble through. It’s become something of a trademark move for me. My name is Naida Griffith, and I’m a sorceress.

Lawyer Andy Carpenter and his wife, Laurie, enjoy walking their dogs, Tara and Sebastian. By this point in their marriage, it’s routine. When out for one of their strolls, their simple ritual isn’t so simple anymore. Across the street, a man is mistreating his dog. Three things happen at once: Andy yells, Laurie runs to stop the abuse, and so does a closer passerby, who so thoroughly beats the owner that both are arrested when the cops arrive.

Politicians fight like cats and dogs, but when things take a deadly turn at the Virginia House of Delegates, Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen calls on her beloved pets to help her crack the case and stop the fur from flying in this latest mystery from Rita Mae Brown and her feline co-author Sneaky Pie Brown.

Lost: one little boy. When Little Alfred runs away from home and winds up in the Dark Unchanted Forest being trailed by a bobcat, Hank the Cowdog knows that it's up to him to save his young master. So, mustering up all the courage that a Head of Ranch Security can come up with, he bravely makes his way into the forest.

In the dead of night, a farmer confronts the intruders of a break in, having no idea that the encounter will leave him dead. What’s more chilling is the truth of what the perpetrators were willing to kill for. At the scene, DS Roy Grace senses that this is no mere botched robbery; it’s the tip of the iceberg of a nationwide crime epidemic. Ruthless gangs, operating with military precision, have discovered a new black market flourishing in the shadows – an unthinkable source of wealth even more profitable than drugs.

'Tis the season in Paterson, New Jersey: Lawyer Andy Carpenter and his golden retriever, Tara, are surrounded by holiday cheer. It’s even spread to the Tara Foundation. The dog rescue organization, not used to having puppies, has their hands full with a recent litter. Eight puppies are a lot to handle, and Andy is relieved when his co-worker Chris Myers agrees to foster them. Myers, a newer employee at the Tara Foundation, did time for a crime he swears he didn’t commit. When Myers discovers a key witness against him lied on the stand, he goes to Andy to ask for representation.

Every journey might start with a single step, but where does it end? Albert Smith and his faithful dog, Rex Harrison, have been on the road for far longer than they ever expected, but they can’t go home yet. Not until they solve one final case.

Suspecting that someone is stealing from him, the aging and eccentric James Delacorte wants Charlie to do an inventory on his rare book collection. Soon after they begin, Delacorte is found dead at his desk, leaving Charlie with the bigger task of solving his murder. Immediately Charlie is suspicious of Delacorte's own family, and relies on the help of Diesel to paw around for clues. The cat and mouse game heats up after a highly valued copy of Edgar Allan Poe's Tamerlane goes missing and a second murder occurs.

Each day of Advent, a different animal shows children its own amazing way to meet the dark and cold. Wood Frog freezes into a frog-shaped cube of ice! For six months, Painted Turtle doesn’t breathe! Woodchuck can’t be wakened, even if shaken! With each creature, children hear the refrain: The dark is not an end. It’s a door. It’s the way a new beginning comes.

When a water leak repair results in a body being found behind the walls of the store run by the artists' co-op that Kathleen's friend, Maggie, is part of everyone is completely mystified as to whose body it is and who hid it there. But as the dust settles, her boyfriend, Detective Marcus Gordon, begins to suspect the body could belong to a young woman who disappeared more than thirty years ago.

The head of ranch security and his first lieutenant, Drover, are finishing up an exhausting morning of patrols when a mysterious caravan of trucks rumbles past headquarters. Going in for a closer look, Hank the Cowdog apprehends a large red box bearing a mysterious label: "WARNING! MONKEY! DO NOT OPEN THIS BOX!"