Humorous Fiction Mysteries

The man in the photo is so blurry it's impossible to make out what he really looks like. And that was before he was run over by a steamroller! His name was Lenny Smile and he ran a children's charity called Dream Time, financed by millionaire author Joe Carter. Now Carter wants to know just what happened to Smile - and to the money. Unfortunately for him, he's hired the Diamond Brothers - Tim, the world's worst private detective, and his wise-cracking younger brother Nick - to solve the mystery!

Even after an exhausting morning defending the ranch against a vicious one-eyed robot, Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security, still has energy left to supervise Little Alfred's fishing trip.

When 15-year-old Beck Phillips travels by train to the secluded village of Kingsplot to live with his wealthy but estranged uncle, Beck discovers some dark family secrets. A buried basement, a forbidden wall, an old book of family history with odd references to...dragons? Beck's life is about to be changed forever in this suspenseful tale about the destructive nature of greed and the courage to make things right.

The ever-suspicious students at Bailey School lose control of their imaginations again when they meet new school nurse Mrs. Redding, who they come to believe is a Martian spying on Earth kids.

Pull on your boots! It's winter in Peabody, Wisconsin, and there is plenty of excitement afoot at the Derwood household. Wise-cracking siblings Jack and Penny become entangled in an international smuggling operation and the nonstop adventure of cracking a dangerous case. At times, however, it is hard to decide which is a greater threat: seasoned criminals or neighborhood bullies.

Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has inherited a "lucky" bottle from her Uncle Pip. Problem is, Uncle Pip didn't specify if the bottle brought good luck or bad luck.

In an abandoned mineshaft, they discovered a lost journal that once belonged to William, a legendary explorer who has gone missing. The first journal took them on a daring adventure to a secret temple deep in the desert. Now they have the second journal, and they're more determined than ever to find the missing explorer.

Cam's box camera disappears from the science fair, and valuable gold coins are missing from a coin shop. Can Cam's mental camera help catch the thief?

Chet Gecko loves a good mystery. Almost more than he loves his fee: Stinkbug pie. So when fellow fourth grader Shirley Chameleon asks him to find her missing brother, Billy, Chet expects the case to be as easy as pie. But Billy's disappearance is part of a larger plot, one that involves the Rat Sisters, a riddling junkyard dog, and a vicious Gila monster named Herman. If Chet doesn't solve the case fast, the entire school could be humiliated. Worst of all, Chet might not get his fee. And Chet's hungry...

Farrah "Digit" Higgins may be going to MIT in the fall, but this L.A. high school genius has left her geek self behind in another school district so she can blend in with the popular crowd at Santa Monica High and actually enjoy her senior year. But when Farrah, the daughter of a UCLA math professor, unknowingly cracks a terrorist group's number sequence, her laid-back senior year gets a lot more interesting. Soon she is personally investigating the case, on the run from terrorists, and faking her own kidnapping - all while trying to convince a young, hot FBI agent to take her seriously.

Steve Brixton is America’s next great kid detective (and now he has his own agency to prove it)...When 12-year-old detective Steve Brixton gets a call that the Fairview diamond has gone missing, there are only two things to do: Grab his new business cards and take the case! But Steve quickly learns there’s an even bigger mystery afoot. MacArthur Bart, a.k.a. Steve’s hero, a.k.a. the author of the Bailey Brothers Mysteries series, has been kidnapped!

It's scrap day on the ranch, and Hank is looking forward to a delicious feast of juicy, fatty bacon scraps. But just as Little Alfred is doling out the goods, two very unusual-looking creatures fly overhead, and what was promising to be a glorious day takes a dramatic turn for the worse. Suddenly the scraps have vanished, and the Head of Ranch Security finds himself dealing with an invasion by a couple of ancient dinosaur birds! Can Hank get to the bottom of this latest mystery...before it's too late?

When Hank the Cowdog hears suspicious sounds coming from near Sally May's clothesline, it leads to a midnight investigation of the ranch. Before he knows it, Hank finds himself caught up with his old friend Eddy the Rac - and face-to-face with one of a dog's greatest enemies: the dreaded Laundry Monster!

When Bick and Beck Kidd find a hidden trove of pirate treasure, it includes a map with clues to an even bigger score: the lost Incan city of Paititi. But treasure hunting is never easy - and when the map is stolen, the Kidds must rely on Storm's picture-perfect memory to navigate the dangerous Amazon jungle. Watch out for that nest of poisonous snakes!

Rex Dexter is cursed...with brains...and daring...and more than his fair share of devilish good looks. But also with an actual curse: dead animals keep showing up in his bedroom, wanting him to solve their murders. After successfully sleuthing a series of endangered animal assassinations, Rex is pretty sure he's home free, spiritually speaking. But that's when he finds a 2,000-pound narwhal in his beanbag chair. And this tough guy is dead. And super crabby about it.

Missing shoes, stolen paperclips, and stalkers. Oh, what an afterlife! Bridget finally gets her first assignment as an Independent Authority agent: The not-so-glamorous case of The Paperclip Theft. Regardless, she is determined to close the matter quickly and move on to something more challenging. And then, the dead body of the Afterlife Arrivals commander topples out of the stationery cupboard.

Small towns have rules. One is, you got to stay who you are - no matter how many murders you solve. When Miss Lana makes an accidental bid at the Tupelo auction and winds up the mortified owner of an old inn, she doesn't realize there's a ghost in the fine print. Naturally, Desperado Detective Agency (aka Mo and Dale) opens a paranormal division to solve the mystery of the ghost's identity. They've got to figure out who the ghost is so they can interview it for their history assignment (extra credit). But Mo and Dale start to realize that the Inn isn't the only haunted place in Tupelo Landing.

Nurse Cherry Aimless's first vacation from her hectic career in a big-city hospital takes her to visit her spinster Aunt Gertrude in thrilling San Francisco. Wistfully trading her starched white cap and dress for a bright yellow poplin frock with a flared skirt, young Cherry takes to the highway, never imagining the gay adventures that await her. Imagine her surprise to learn that Aunt Gertrude has been kidnapped! Armed only with the contents of her purse, and with the help of new chums, Cherry must save her aunt.

Witch-in-training Emma Hart is preparing for one of the worst days of her life...the marriage of fallen angel Daniel Starr to the spoiled fairy, Elsa Knightsbridge. Fortunately for Emma, distractions are easy to come by in Spellbound when a troll is found dead near a bridge and an overzealous werewolf is arrested for indecent exposure. Will these incidents be enough to keep Emma from falling apart? Or will one of these situations be her undoing?

Changes are afoot for Emma Hart now that her secret is out and her love life has taken a dramatic turn. With a mayoral election looming and a murderer on the loose, will life suddenly be a bed of roses for the plucky heroine or will she get pricked by the thorns?