Humourous Mysteries

The New York Times best selling cartoonist behind the nationally acclaimed comic strip Pearls Before Swine, Stephan Pastis has won raves for Timmy Failure, the hilarious first book in a new series for young listeners. With the help of a polar bear named Total, Timmy Failure hopes to strike it rich by running the best detective agency around. The only problem is that our supremely confident hero is often more bumbling than brainy.

A bizarre chain of events begins when 16 unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual stranger - and a possible murderer - to inherit his vast fortune, one thing's for sure: Sam Westing may be dead...but that won't stop him from playing one last game!

RJ Spencer is a lucky 12-year-old. He lives in the big city and his parents are landlords of the high-rise apartment building that is his home. The many tenants in the building, along with the endless possibilities of adventures in the city itself, are the perfect setting for the young detective as he sets out to solve every case he can get his hands on. RJ is getting caught up in disgusting green goo everywhere he goes. After seeing some strange bright lights at the park one night, he and Joey are determined to catch the aliens before they get what they are seeking...possibly RJ and Joey!

It's going to be a great weekend because RJ is coming to Curtis Bay to hang out with his fun detective cousin Rebekah and her best friend Mouse. What RJ doesn't know is that they are planning to introduce and invite him to join Mouse's Secret Club...introduce him to it with a funny prank that is on him until it looks like it might be on the whole town! Yikes! It looks like the gang might have some explaining to do!

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.

Teddy Fitzroy's back for another zoo mystery this time it's a koala caper in this action-packed follow-up to Belly Up, which Kirkus Reviews called great fun. School troublemaker Vance Jessup thinks Teddy Fitzroy's home at Fun Jungle, a state-of-the-art zoo and theme park, is the perfect place for a cruel prank. Vance bullies Teddy into his scheme, but the plan goes terribly awry. Teddy sneaks into the koala exhibit to hide out until the chaos dies down.

While Freddy the pig relaxes in his best cowboy outfit and sings a song, he decides that he needs a vacation. He will ride his pony, Cy, out West. He'll see some wide-open spaces and maybe find some excitement. But before Freddy can leave, the excitement finds him first. Uncle Ben races up to the farm and asks Freddy for help. A pack of sneaky spies is trying to steal Uncle Ben's plans for building a flying saucer.

Returning from a riding trip through New England, Freddy the pig, Jinx the cat, and Samuel Jackson the mole are surprised at the cool reception they get from the people of Centerboro. It seems that some animals have been raiding gardens, stealing bicycles, and breaking into houses. And they'e led by a pig that matches Freddy's description!

After an escaped kangaroo starts a fire that burns down his house, Teddy Fitzroy accepts an invitation to go to Malibu with his girlfriend, Summer, and her mother, Kandace. He’s hoping to spend some time relaxing on the beach, but wherever Teddy goes, trouble isn’t far behind. First, a massive dead whale has washed up on the beach—and before anyone can determine what killed it, it explodes. Doc, the head vet from FunJungle, suspects something fishy is going on and ropes Teddy and Summer into helping him investigate.

In Deep Voodoo is a rollicking romantic mystery! Start with bad mojo, add a pinprick of revenge, and watch things boil over…A woman receives a voodoo doll of her lying cheating ex-husband as a gag gift at her divorce party, and vents her frustration by stabbing it with a pin. But later when he's found stabbed to death, she doesn't have to be told she's managed to land herself In Deep Voodoo!

Zara Riddle signs up for a patch of land in the Wisteria Community Gardens. She's hoping for a bumper crop of pumpkins, but grows a dancing skeleton instead. That's not going to work in a pie. Soon she finds out that the only place more magical than Wisteria is the subterranean city below, the network of tunnels known as The Wilds.

For a policeman, there can be few things worse than a serial killer loose in your city. Except, perhaps, a serial killer who targets coppers, and a city on the brink of bloody revolution. For Commander Sam Vimes, it all feels horribly familiar. Caught on the roof of a very magical building during a storm, he's found himself back in his own rough, tough past without even the clothes he was standing up in when the lightning struck. Living in the past is hard, especially when your time travel companion is a serial killer who knows where you live.

The Chicken Squad is back for its sixth (mis)adventure, and this time, there's a headless bear on the loose, and the Chicken Squad's beloved Barbara has gone missing!

Holiday Recipe for Madcap Merrymaking in Jackrabbit Junction: Start with a bawdy night sprinkled with tinsel tassels and jingle balls, toss in a missing pair of underwear, and top it all off with plenty of sugary shenanigans. Serve with a side of naughty and nice. Claire Morgan and her sisters are a tad twitchy. Their father is on his way for their first Christmas in Arizona, but the tidings of joy are few and far between. For one thing, their mother is pissed about her ex-husband flying in to play Santa. For another, their mother is just pissed. Period.

Meet the Chicken Squad: four fuzzy little chicks who should fill their days pecking chicken feed and chasing bugs, but instead spend most of their time looking for trouble, and finding it.

Author of The Big Splash and Emmy®-winning writer for PBS’s WordGirl, Jack D. Ferraiolo delivers the uproarious adventure of a different kind of hero. Behind every superhero stands a trusty—though less glamorous—sidekick. For Phantom Justice there is (drumroll, please) Bright Boy! Superfast and superstrong!

Charlie Thorne is a genius. Charlie Thorne is a renegade. Charlie Thorne isn’t going down without a fight. After tracking down incredible discoveries by Einstein and Darwin, Charlie is back. This time, the great ruler Cleopatra has left behind an extremely valuable and powerful treasure, its location encoded on an ancient stone tablet.

Valdez Jones VIII calls himself Wrecker because his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather salvaged shipwrecks for a living. So is it destiny, irony, or just bad luck when Wrecker comes across a speedboat that has run hard aground on a sand flat? The men in the boat don't want Wrecker to call for help—in fact, they'll pay him to forget he ever saw them. Wrecker would be happy to forget, but he keeps seeing these men all over Key West—at the marina, even in the cemetery. And now they want more than his silence—they want a lookout.

New York Times best-selling author Stephan Pastis is the creator of the award-winning comic strip Pearls Before Swine. Now Look What You' ve Done finds comically clueless kid detective Timmy Failure on the cusp of cracking the biggest case of his generation. The school globe' s been stolen and a $500 reward is up for grabs. But before claiming the prize, Timmy and his polar-bear sidekick Total will have to trip up a rascal trying to scam the system.

The Chicken Squad is back for their fourth (mis)adventure, and this time they're facing their darkest mystery yet: shadows!