Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash

By Wendelin Van Draanen

"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book Review

Sammy Keyes has three wads of cold hard cash in her hot little hands. An old guy gave them to her. Well, actually, he told her to throw them away. Begged her. With his last dying breath. Which he was taking because Sammy had just scared the life right out of him. So . . . she’s got to get this man some help. She’s got to do it without being seen herself. And she’s got to figure out how to stash that cash. Aw, c’mon! You’d keep the money too, right? No one ever needs to know. . . .

The Sammy Keyes mysteries are fast-paced, funny, thoroughly modern, and true whodunits. Each mystery is exciting and dramatic, but it's the drama in Sammy's personal life that keeps readers coming back to see what happens next with her love interest Casey, her soap-star mother, and her mysterious father.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 14, 2008
• ISBN: 9780375891489

Wendelin Van Draanen

Wendelin Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes series—often called “The new Nancy Drew”—and wrote Flipped, which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by School Library Journal and became a Warner Brothers feature film, with Rob Reiner directing. A classroom teacher for fifteen years, Wendelin resides in California where she can be spotted riding shopping carts across parking lots. She and her husband, Mark Parsons, have two sons and enjoy the three R’s: Reading, Running, and Rock’n’Roll.

Reviews for Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash

[mutantpudding · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The money storyline made me uncomfortable and its wildly fatphobic >:(

[rvolenti · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my favorite series! It is suspenseful, funny, interesting, well-written, entertaining, and marvelous! This is definitely a great addition to the series. Everyone should read them.

[kikistina · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is one of my favorite Sammy Keyes books. Some parts were a little slow, but they're made up for by others. Sammy is such an amazing character; she's relatable and not a perfect person. I love the Sammy/Casey interaction, and I absolutely can't wait for the next book! It's too bad that there's only going to be eight more books in the series.