Humorous Fiction Mysteries

Hank the Cowdog could have told Slim that bringing an orphaned raccoon back to the ranch was not the best idea. But since Slim never pays any attention to Hank, Loper, and Sally May soon find themselves housing an adolescent coon with a mischievous streak a mile wide.

Scarlett Martenson and her friends are total zombie fans! With Ross as the brains, Annie as the makeup artist, Owen as the fright master, and Scarlett as their leader, the group is unstoppable as they terrorize their unsuspecting neighbors. But when Granny Z moves into the creepy, old, abandoned house at the bottom of the hill, things get rotten for the zombie club. Can Scarlett find a way to save herself and her friends, or will things continue to decay?

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.

It all starts with Hank the puppy enjoying his family's backyard home. Feathers start to fly when Hank defends his backyard against invading...phantom ducks? Hank's mother says it's a good time for him to go out on his own before the dogcatcher arrives. So Hank makes his way to the Twitchell Livestock Auction. Will he join up with Slim, the cowboy he meets there? Or will the dogcatcher provide his new home?

Harriet, Jack, and Toby are treasure hunters, searching the Minecraft world for its most valuable hidden secrets. In an abandoned mineshaft, they discover what they hope is an enchanted book. But what they've found turns out to be much more valuable. William is one of Minecraft's most renowned explorers. He's a legend in the world of Minecraft, but, under suspicious circumstances, he's gone missing.

The last freelance PI on earth, Zach Johnson has been hired to track down a young beauty who happens to be a deadly secret weapon for the World Council. Figuring girls just want to have fun, he follows Natasha to various vacation destinations, but she eludes him, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. Zach, however, isn’t surprised to discover that things aren’t what they seem, and to save the world, he’s going to have to find a way to team up with the woman he’s supposed to destroy....

Rebekah Daniels is just your ordinary spunky 9 year old girl living in the small town of Curtis Bay...EXCEPT she is determined NOT to be ordinary at all! Her small town is filled with mysteries and Rebekah is sure that she, along with her best friend Mouse, will be able to solve every last one of them.

The trial of the century has come to Tupelo Landing, North Carolina. Mo and Dale, aka the Desperado Detectives, head to court as star witnesses against Dale's daddy - confessed kidnapper Macon Johnson. Dale's nerves are jangled, but Mo, who doesn't mind getting even with Mr. Macon for hurting her loved ones, looks forward to a slam dunk conviction - if everything goes as expected. Of course nothing goes as expected.

After a life long battle with his inner demons, Alan Reed must face his after a girl is abducted, and the cops think he may have something to do with it.

Flowers, favors, and a cake with a body in it...what a way to start a wedding! Diana already regrets saying yes to her neighbor's ridiculous wedding flower demands, but when she discovers a body in the middle of the multi-tiered centerpiece...it's really taking the cake! The man in the cake has been murdered. Diana suspects that one of her neighbors may be the killer. And she already knows that some of them are keeping skeletons in their closets. Sometimes literally.

When the Crown Jewels go missing from inside a locked room, Mac's spy skills are put to the test. How did the thief break in? Where did the jewels go? And will Mac be able to solve this locked-room mystery before the thief escapes? This mystery isn't just a whodunit...it's a howdunit! The action in this adventure is nonstop as Mac travels to an ancient Irish castle to solve the mystery. There, he encounters everything from killer king cobras to bizarre ice sculptures...and even a revenge plot dating back hundreds of years! Will you be able to solve the mystery before Mac does?

What’s Mac B.'s newest top-secret mission? Travel to Iceland and retrieve the ravens that were stolen from the Tower of London...before Britain is ruined. In Iceland, he discovers secret submarines, hungry polar bears, mysterious blueprints...and his old archnemesis! Is the KGB man behind this birdnapping? Can Mac get the ravens to safety? It's time for an epic top-secret smackdown between these two secret agents!

Taylor McFadden is willing to go against any monster thrown at him. But something Niki threw at him has got him off his game. Niki must build a consultant team to figure out if she has a problem with another company. But will Dr. Salinger Jacobs of Heavy Metal take her call? Does she have the clout to get him to believe her if he picks up the phone?

The ranch is in the grip of a sweltering summer heat wave, and to make matters worse, Bruiser the Rottweiler is on the loose. First Bruiser attacks a defenseless fawn, then he threatens to come after Hank the Cowdog, the Head of Ranch Security!

Mac must crack a secret code that has been recovered from a double agent. A series of clues leads Mac to France and then to Japan, where he comes face-to-face with his arch-nemesis, the KGB man...and the world headquarters of Nintendo! Is the KGB Man secretly behind all of this? And are Mac's video-game skills good enough to face down his enemy at the Video Game World Championships?

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.

Stephanie Plum may not be the best bounty hunter in beautiful downtown Trenton, but she's pretty darn good at turning bad situations her way . . . and she always gets her man. In To the Nines, her cousin Vinnie (who's also her boss) has posted bail on Samuel Singh, an illegal immigrant. When the elusive Mr. Singh goes missing, Stephanie is on the case. But what she uncovers is far more sinister than anyone imagines and leads to a group of killers who give new meaning to the word hunter.

When a funny turn of events brings a parrot to the ranch, Hank is not worried. After all, what harm can one copycat bird do? So he decides to go about his business. The only problem is, Loper and Sally May don't seem to appreciate his heeding their requests to bark louder and dig up the flowers. What's really going on here? Hank's not sure, but he's determined to find out! Picknickers sing "Because Thy Loving Kindness," and Drover sings a little number called "There Once Was a Doggie".

Dark Reading Matter is the 8th and final novel in the New York Times bestselling Thursday Next series, following 2012’s The Woman Who Died a Lot.

The Kidd siblings have grown up diving down to shipwrecks and traveling the world, helping their famous parents recover everything from swords to gold doubloons from the bottom of the ocean. But after their parents disappear on the job, the kids are suddenly thrust into the biggest treasure hunt of their lives. They'll have to work together to defeat dangerous pirates and dodge the hot pursuit of an evil treasure-hunting rival, all while following cryptic clues to unravel the mystery of what really happened to their parents - and find out if they're still alive.