Humorous Mysteries

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.

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.

Isobel Avery is on her second assignment as an undercover poison taster for Los Angeles's rich and famous. And she's actually enjoying herself. Until her sweet, agoraphobic client mysteriously leaves the safety of his apartment and winds up dead. When crucial evidence goes missing, investigator Connor Stiles will need Izzy's inside knowledge to help track down the killer. But despite three months of absence to make Connor's heart grow fonder, he doesn't seem pleased to be working with her again.

Take an exit off the Jersey Turnpike to the irresistible world of Stephanie Plum, America's favorite bounty hunter, where she gets into more trouble than ever. This time, she faces a notorious gang in Trenton who wants her dead. Morelli warns that she's in too deep, and Stephanie more than agrees.

Sammy Keyes finds herself in the wilderness helping eco-friendly Girl Scouts save the endangered condor. Leaving behind the city life of her grandma's senior complex and shopping malls, Sammy encounters scorpions, poison oak, and biting flies, along with clues that help her uncover the culprit who shot the baby condor and kidnapped its mother. Once again, Sammy's story is a satisfying mix of adolescent issues and fascinating mystery that will thrill listeners.

There's something spooky going on at the ranch! When Halloween arrives, Hank - the self-appointed Head of Ranch Security - has got his hands full of adventure. First there's a problem with the Tricker Trees. Then the ranch is invaded by two skeletons, a witch, and a pirate. And when Hank goes to investigate a strange sound in the cake house, he's sure it can only be one thing...a ghost. Can Hank rid the ranch of this unwanted visitor? Or is he destined to be spooked for good?

When Emily and Jess Volnik's family inherits a remote, crumbling Scottish castle, they also inherit the Boggart - an invisible, mischievous spirit who's been playing tricks on residents of Castle Keep for generations. Then the Boggart is trapped in a rolltop desk and inadvertently shipped to the Volniks' home in Toronto, where nothing will ever be the same - for the Volniks or the Boggart. In a world that doesn't believe in magic, the Boggart's pranks wreak havoc. And even the newfound joys of peanut butter and pizza and fudge sauce eventually wear thin for the Boggart. He wants to go home....

After Pete the Barncat starts a rumor about a Phantom Dog in the machine shed, Hank the Cowdog - the head of ranch security - decides that he better check it out. And sure enough, when Hank takes a peek into the shadows, he sees the meanest, toughest, stupidest dog he's ever seen.

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 students in class 6B become nervous when their teacher receives an anonymous note claiming someone in the room is a witch. For in this society, witches are outlawed, whether they are good or bad. In fact, witches are burned at the stake, because that's the law.

Gameknight999 was sucked into the world of Minecraft when one of his father's inventions went haywire. Trapped inside the game, the former griefer learned the error of his ways. He transformed into a heroic warrior and defeated powerful endermen, ghasts, and dragons to save the world of Minecraft and his NPC friends that live in it.

The ghast king Malacoda and the terrible enderman Erebus have led their monster army to the server that houses the Source: a virus with plans to destroy Minecraft and all the digital lives on its servers before escaping once and for all into the real world. Only Gameknight999, the user-that-is-not-a-user, and his small army of NPCs can stop them. But the monster horde is growing bigger by the day, as if they are being helped by an unknown someone...or something.

Lord Fredrick Ashton may not feel ready to be a father, but with a little Ashton on the way he's sure about one thing: The wolfish curse on his family must end soon, before the child is born. Penelope willingly takes on the challenge; when Lady Constance's doctor prescribes a seaside holiday, Penelope jumps at the chance to take the three Incorrigible children to Brighton, where she hopes to persuade the old sailor Pudge to reveal what he knows about the Ashton curse.

After their adventures in China and Germany, the Kidd family is ready for some rest and relaxation. But when you're an ace treasure hunting team, there's always another adventure waiting around the corner! This time the Kidds head to Russia, where a set of priceless paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt has gone missing. Hot on the trail of the daring thieves, the Kidds race through the sinister streets of St. Petersburg and the wild Arctic tundra to track down the stolen treasure.

Eddie's great aunt Mathilda is sick and he has to help take care of her. But when Eddie and his friends visit Mathilda's house, strange things start to happen. Howie sees someone staring at him from the attic window and, when his back is turned, his garlic potato chips are used to spell the word attic on the ground. During later visits, the kids hear noises from the attic, but Great Aunt Mathilda swears there's nothing up there.

On a tip from Pete the Barncat, Hank the Cowdog and his faithful second-in-command, Drover, go in search of the fabled pot of chicken at the end of the rainbow. But before they can find it, Rip and Snort find them. There's only one way out - Hank challenges the coyote brothers to the Deadly Ha-Ha Game.

After leaving Fathoms of Fun, the kids are on their way to the next odd summer destination their aunt has chosen for them. This time, they find themselves dropped off at the Sanguine Spa in the “little Transylvania Mountains.” There they meet the owners: Mina, her mysterious little sister, Lucy (who is extremely pale, can’t go in the sunlight, and has an affinity for hanging upside down from the ceiling), and their intimidating guardian, the Count.

Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a fiesty old neighbor with a most unusual chore—typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town.

His name is Failure. Timmy Failure. And his detective agency is on the verge of global domination. Global riches. Global fame. And yet the gods keep throwing him curveballs: for starters, academic probation. The coveted Miracle Report is the key to everything, including a good grade. It’s dirty business. It’s best you know nothing. But one thing is for sure: Timmy Failure will be triumphant again!

Pen Davis just lost her internship to a robot. As supercomputers take over all the jobs in the world, the lonely teen doesn't see a future. Desperate to escape the coming robo-pocalpyse, she devises a plot to steal millions from her former boss. It's payback for laying her off, and the only way Pen can see how to scrape together enough cash to survive. But her plan takes a crazy turn when she fumbles the hijacking of a self-driving truck and accidentally sets it free.