Humorous Fiction Mysteries

When Wahoo Cray’s dad - a professional animal wrangler - takes a job with a reality TV show called Expedition Survival!, Wahoo figures he'll have to do a bit of wrangling himself to keep his father from killing Derek Badger, the show's inept and egotistical star. But the job keeps getting more complicated: Derek Badger insists on using wild animals for his stunts; and Wahoo's acquired a shadow named Tuna - a girl who's sporting a shiner courtesy of her father and needs a place to hide out.

When Sally May and Loper head out of town for a wedding, Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security, knows it's up to him to keep things under control. After subjecting strawberry ice cream to rigorous product testing, test-driving a mysterious spaceship, and thwarting a sneak attack from a couch monster, Hank faces the fight of his life.

This is a darkly hilarious coming-of-age novel and a richly plotted suspense tale told through the distinctive voice of its heroine, Blue van Meer. After a childhood spent moving from one academic outpost to another with her father, Blue is clever and possessed of a vast lexicon of knowledge. But when a drowning and the shocking death of a teacher lead to a confluence of mysteries, Blue is left to make sense of it all with only her gimlet-eyed instincts and cultural references to guide - or misguide - her.

When Hank the Cowdog sticks his nose where it doesn't belong - into an old pipe behind the machine shed - he gets more than he bargained for. Before he can say "boy howdy", Hank gets a nip that sets his eyes a-watering and his snouta-throbbing.

There's a murderer on the loose - but that doesn't stop the girls of St. Etheldreda's from attempting to hide the death of their headmistress in this rollicking farce. The students of St. Etheldreda's School for Girls face a bothersome dilemma. Their irascible headmistress, Mrs. Plackett, and her surly brother, Mr. Godding, have been most inconveniently poisoned at Sunday dinner.

Everyone loves Drover, Hank's trusty sidekick. But have you ever wondered what the little, white, stub-tailed dog's life was like before he came to the ranch? Well, it's all here, in Drover's own words. Scratching his story out in the dirt on the machine shed floor, Drover comes clean about his secret life--from his early days as runt of the litter, to his frustrating search for a job, to his ultimate position as Hank's right-paw man.

Timmy Failure is not just any detective - he is the greatest detective in his town, perhaps the nation. He is so famous that there have been seven books written about his life. Plus a movie. And so he has agreed to provide the world with his extraordinary origin story, as dictated to his biographer and best friend, Charles "Rollo" Tookus.

There's a burglar on the loose, and he's robbing houses with the help of a supersneaky, super-stinky, secret weapon. When this character comes sniffing around Slim's bachelor shack, Hank the Cowdog heads right into action. But does Hank have what it takes to save the day even after getting caught in the spray of some very unsavory artillery?

Lenny Marks is excellent at not having a life. She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit (currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has to a friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friends reruns. And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The day a voice in the back of her mind started whispering, You did this.

People in Adenville are breathing a sigh of relief. It seems that Tom D. Fitzgerald, the Great Brain, has truly reformed. For months, not one kid has been swindled and not one stunt has been pulled. But when he gets a new bike for Christmas, the Great Brain heads full speed into his old ways. And this time his ideas are bigger than ever. He puts all of Adenville in fear of a prehistoric beast from Skeleton Cave, solves a mysterious bank robbery, and captures the ghost of Silverload Mine.

You know it's going to be a rough summer when you spend Father's Day visiting your dad in the local lockup. Noah's dad is sure that the owner of the Coral Queen casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the harbor, which has made taking a dip at the local beach like swimming in a toilet. He can't prove it though, and so he decides that sinking the boat will make an effective statement. Right. The boat is pumped out and back in business within days and Noah's dad is stuck in the clink.

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and Trenton vice cop Joe Morelli join forces to find the madman killer who shot and barbecued the youngest son of international black-market arms dealer Alexander Ramos. Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, is caught on video just minutes before the crime occurs. He's at the scene, he's with the victim, and he's the number-one suspect. Ranger is former special forces turned soldier of fortune. He has a blue-chip stock portfolio and no known address. He moves in mysterious circles.

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.

One fateful day Lucy is invited to study at the prestigious Overworld Academy. The academy offers her the opportunity to learn all of the secrets of the Overworld - and it's an opportunity she can't miss. She's sad to leave behind her friends, Henry and Max, but it's time for her to have an adventure on her own. At Overworld Academy she meets two new friends, Jane and Phoebe. Jane is an expert fighter, and Phoebe is a talented alchemist. With Lucy's own knack for treasure hunting, the trio makes an incredible team.

Unhappy Penelope Lumley is trapped in unhappy Plinkst! Even the beets for which Plinkst is inexplicably famous fail to grow in this utterly miserable Russian village. Penelope anxiously counts the days and wonders how she will ever get back to England in time to save all the Ashtons - who, she now knows, include herself and the Incorrigible children, although their precise location on the family tree is still a mystery - from their accursèd fate. Her daring scheme to escape sends her on a wildly unexpected journey.

Vampires do not exist. Everyone knows this. So it's particularly annoying when they start popping up around Manchester. Nobody is pleased about it. Not the Founders, the secret organisation for whom vampires were invented as an allegory, nor the Folk, the magical people hidden in plain sight who only want a quiet life. And definitely not the people of Manchester, because there is nothing more irksome than being murdered by an allegory run amok. Somebody needs to sort this out fast before all hell really breaks loose - step forward the staff of The Stranger Times.

Some facts about Billy Dickens: He once saw a biker swerve across the road in order to run over a snake. Later, that motorcycle somehow ended up at the bottom of a canal. Billy isn't the type to let things go. Some facts about Billy's family: They've lived in six different Florida towns because Billy's mom insists on getting a house near a bald eagle nest. Billy's dad left when he was four and is a total mystery. Billy has just found his dad's address - in Montana.

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 this series opener, Koko Dodo the cookie chef has a big problem. Today is the day of the royal cookie contest, and someone has stolen his top-secret fudge sauce! Luckily, a spy enters the scene just in time (or rather, crashes in on her roller skates): Didi Dodo! This might be Didi's first case ever, but she has a daring plan to help Koko. Koko would prefer a safe, simple, sure-to-work plan, but without another option, he and the amateur sleuth take off on a wacky caper full of high-speed chases and big belly laughs....

Fourteen years after her last adventure, Thursday Next, literary detective, finds herself in an unusual situation her job policing the fictional characters of the BookWorld has been downgraded since her previous escapades are now themselves in print. However, a pressing threat may call her back into action: first Sherlock Holmes and then Miss Marple are found dead, stopping their series in their tracks.