The Virginia Mysteries Series

Do you remember your first real adventure? When summer was filled with magic and anything seemed possible? "Magic Tree House meets The Hardy Boys...A perfect summer reading adventure!" When young brothers Derek and Sam move with their family to Virginia, they have no idea what adventures the summer will bring. As they explore their creaky old house and the deep surrounding woods, they uncover a sixty-year-old mystery of a valuable coin collection stolen from the local museum. Join the boys as they spend their summer running from danger and searching the woods, secret caves, rushing waters, and hidden passageways for treasure and the rare 1877 Indian Head cent coin! Summer of the Woods is the first book in The Virginia Mysteries series. If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you'll love author Steven K. Smith's exciting middle-grade series. The stories are modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from Virginia history. These fast-paced books are popular with both boys and girls ages 7-12, appealing to even reluctant readers!

Ghosts from the Civil War seemed like just a legend until they saw the lights over the water. Brothers Sam and Derek can’t wait to explore historic Belle Isle during the 150th anniversary of the Fall of Richmond and the end of the Civil War. But that’s before they learn how the wooded park along the James River once held Union soldiers in a terrible prisoner-of-war camp. Legend says that the haunting lights over the rapids at night are the ghosts of long-dead soldiers still fighting the Civil War.  The discovery of a haunting mural in the island’s crumbling ruins leads the boys and their friend Caitlin into danger. To find the truth, they must brave menacing bullies and an encounter with a Confederate biker gang led by the notorious Mad Dog DeWitt. But some ghosts may be more alive than they ever expected. Join the kids as they face their fears across suspended bridges, secret hideouts, and graveyard ceremonies, while discovering names and places from the our country’s tumultuous past like Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Hollywood Cemetery, and Tredegar Iron Works.  Ghosts of Belle Isle is the third book in The Virginia Mysteries series, but it can easily be read as a standalone. If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you’ll love author Steven K. Smith’s exciting middle-grade series. The stories are modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from Virginia history. These fast-paced books are popular with both boys and girls ages 7-12, appealing to even reluctant readers!

A visit to historic Maymont estate is anything but a walk in the park. Sam, Derek, and Caitlin have tackled countless mysteries together, but a visit to Maymont, Richmond’s Downton Abbey-like turn-of-the-century estate, brings danger at every turn. A chance meeting with a mysterious stranger suddenly becomes a frantic chase and reveals a desperate message to “save the eagles.”  When Sam receives an ominous warning in the middle of the night, Derek and Caitlin devise a plan that leads them high into the Blue Ridge Mountains. To save Maymont’s stolen eagles, the kids must find a secret abandoned palace, survive the wilds of the Appalachian Trail, and avoid capture by criminals, all before midnight. Midnight at the Mansion is the fifth book in The Virginia Mysteries series, but it can also be read as a standalone. If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you’ll love author Steven K. Smith’s exciting middle-grade series. The stories are modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from Virginia history. These fast-paced books are popular with both boys and girls ages 7-12, appealing to even reluctant readers!

Something's lurking beneath the Jefferson Hotel’s famous staircase. If Sam and Derek have to get dressed up for a fancy wedding weekend, at least it’s at the Jefferson, Richmond’s famous downtown hotel. The brothers and their friend Caitlin love exploring the extravagant corridors, long elegant staircase and grand Rotunda of Lewis Ginter’s historic structure. When the hotel opened back in 1895, real alligators roamed free in the courtyard fountains. But that was ages ago...or was it? A bellman’s mysterious tales of missing items and creepy sounds and shadows make the danger seem much more real. After the wedding rings disappear and Sam is blamed, there’s no time to waste to learn the truth and recover the rings. But who is the real culprit? The friendly bellman, the disgruntled young son of the groom, or could it really be an alligator? To save the wedding and clear Sam’s name, the kids must follow clues through secret passageways and hidden rooms deep within the hotel. But if they're not careful, they might become dinner for the Jefferson’s most unusual guests. Secret of the Staircase is the fourth book in The Virginia Mysteries series, but it can also be read as a standalone. If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you’ll love author Steven K. Smith’s exciting middle-grade series. The stories are modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from Virginia history. These fast-paced books are popular with both boys and girls ages 7-12, appealing to even reluctant readers!

Liberty or death is just the beginning in this hunt for secrets left by the Founding Fathers. When sleuthing brothers Sam and Derek visit Richmond’s historic St. John’s Church for a reenactment of Patrick Henry’s famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech, something’s hidden in the basement. Something important.  As the brothers and their classmates dig deeper, they find clues from Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, and other Founding Fathers in a quest for a priceless document hidden over the centuries. But they’re not the only ones searching, and if they don’t solve the puzzles fast, a cunning adversary named Jerry may steal this precious piece of our nation’s history. Secret inventions, hidden passageways and tales of murder are all part of this high-stakes chase from the cemeteries of Richmond to the streets of Colonial Williamsburg.  Mystery on Church Hill is the second book in The Virginia Mysteries series, but it can also be read as a standalone. If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you’ll love author Steven K. Smith’s exciting middle-grade series. The stories are modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from Virginia history. These fast-paced books are popular with both boys and girls ages 7-12, appealing to even reluctant readers!

Dead drops, cyphers, and invisible ink are all part of a mystery that even spymaster George Washington would love. Sam, Derek, and Caitlin love solving mysteries, and when they visit Washington, DC, spies are lurking. What starts out as a fun game of pretend on the National Mall turns all too real when they follow a mysterious man to a meeting deep within the Capitol. To keep government secrets from falling into the wrong hands, the kids must work with federal agents and travel to historic Mount Vernon for a state dinner with the president and his son. Dead drops, cyphers and spy chases are all part of what might be their most dangerous adventure ever—if it isn’t their last. Spies at Mount Vernon is the seventh book in The Virginia Mysteries series, but it also makes a great standalone read. The story is the perfect complement to social studies units covering George Washington as well as field trips and family vacations to Washington, DC and Mount Vernon.  If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you’ll love author Steven K. Smith’s exciting middle-grade series. The stories are modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from Virginia history. These fast-paced books are popular with both boys and girls ages 7-12, appealing to even reluctant readers!

Who could be stealing artifacts from historic Jamestown? Four hundred years ago, colonists voyaged across the Atlantic Ocean to discover a new world. Today, an amazing archaeological dig at historic Jamestown promises to uncover new secrets from those earliest English settlers.  Sam, Derek, and Caitlin can’t believe their luck when they are invited by Professor Evanshade to help with the archaeological digs for a week at Jamestown’s Field School. Maybe they’ll uncover something spectacular that traces all the way back to Captain John Smith and Pocahontas! But when one of the priceless artifacts dug from the Jamestown Fort is labeled a fraud, it threatens to upend the entire archaeological project. Can the kids expose the secret conspiracy or have they finally gotten in over their heads? Journey back with them to America’s beginnings and a mystery in the shadows of Jamestown. Shadows at Jamestown is the sixth book in The Virginia Mysteries series, but it also makes a great standalone read. The story is the perfect complement to Jamestown social studies units, field trips, and family vacations. If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you’ll love author Steven K. Smith’s exciting middle-grade series. The stories are modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from Virginia history. These fast-paced books are popular with both boys and girls ages 7-12, appealing to even reluctant readers! Named a Virginia Readers' Choice Elementary title for 2019-20 by the Virginia State Reading Association!

Who will be the first to find Thomas Jefferson’s missing collection? Letters in a mysterious journal between two sisters describe a lost collection and a missing treasure. As Sam, Derek, and Caitlin realize the letters were between Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughters, they set out to do what they do best—solve the mystery! When the journal is stolen, the kids are forced to hunt down clues by following Jefferson’s footsteps to The University of Virginia, his mountaintop home of Monticello, and a little-known retreat called Poplar Forest. But this isn’t a typical walk through history. Someone from the kids’ past is lurking in the shadows, bent on revenge and threatening to take much more than just the treasure. Escape from Monticello is the eighth book in The Virginia Mysteries series. The story is the perfect complement to social studies units, field trips, and family vacations related to Thomas Jefferson, Monticello, and Jack Jouett. If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you’ll love author Steven K. Smith’s exciting middle-grade series. The stories are modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from Virginia history. These fast-paced books are popular with both boys and girls ages 7-12, appealing to even reluctant readers!

In 1959, the Prince Edward County, Virginia public schools closed. For five years. Back then, it wasn’t over a health pandemic, but because county leaders refused to desegregate white and Black schools. So when long-hidden photographs surface from the student protests along Main Street in Farmville, Sam, Derek, and Caitlin are on the case to help identify the brave teenagers who stood for justice nearly sixty years ago. Their search winds through Virginia’s checkered racial past of Jim Crow and Massive Resistance, sending them to key sites like the Moton Museum, Evergreen Cemetery, Jackson Ward, and the Virginia State Capitol, and courageous voices like Barbara Johns, Oliver Hill, and Maggie Walker.  But when protests over Confederate monuments and cries for social justice ignite their city, will the kids use their lessons from history to take a stand in the present? How far will they go to support new friends while confronting faces from the past?   Pictures at the Protest is the ninth book in The Virginia Mysteries series. The books make perfect complements to social studies units, field trips, and family vacations. If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you’ll love author Steven K. Smith’s exciting middle-grade series—modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from Virginia history for ages 7-12. 

Could the race to solve a mysterious on-stage accident spell curtains for Sam, Derek, and Caitlin? When the brothers join Caitlin and her parents on a weekend trip to the southwest Virginia town of Abingdon, they can’t wait to watch their favorite actor perform at the historic Barter Theatre. But in the middle of a performance of Red Riding Hood, something goes terribly wrong. When the theater is shut down, the kids must get to the bottom of a sinister plot. What’s the connection to the threatening letters? Was it the ghost of Robert Porterfield, who opened the Barter back in 1933 when he offered shows to local patrons in exchange for produce? Is the Martha Washington Inn, the Civil War–era hotel across the street, really haunted? Do wolves still roam The Virginia Creeper Trail, where Daniel Boone’s hunting party was attacked in 1760? Secrets from the past are hiding just off stage in the shadows. Can the kids uncover the truth before the theater’s final act, or will their names be next on the hit list? Danger on the Stage is the eleventh book in The Virginia Mysteries series, but it can easily be read as a standalone. The story is the perfect complement to social studies units, field trips, and family vacations related to southwest Virginia, early American pioneer Daniel Boone, The Virginia Creeper and Appalachian Trails, theater, trains, forestry, and more. If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you’ll love author Steven K. Smith’s exciting middle-grade series. The stories are modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from history. These fast-paced books are popular with both boys and girls ages 7-12, appealing to even reluctant readers!

In the Golden Age of Piracy, none was more dreaded than Blackbeard.  Sam, Derek, and Caitlin head for a week’s vacation at Virginia Beach, where three hundred years ago, pirates sailed the waters off the Atlantic Coast. As the kids explore the beach, they find suspicious activity from the neighboring military base that points to the discovery of a historic shipwreck—maybe even lost pirate treasure!  When they meet a mysterious stranger named One-Eyed Jack, they’re captivated by the tale of Edward Teach, better known as the notorious pirate Blackbeard. Legend says he may have left valuable plunder buried in the nearby dunes before his final battle and violent death. Could the treasure still be out there, waiting to be discovered?  But as the clues lead them on a perilous trip across the Chesapeake Bay, danger lurks at every turn. Will they find a hidden bounty, or will competing treasure seekers, or even Blackbeard’s ghost, send them to a watery grave at the bottom of the sea?   Pirates on the Bay is the tenth book in The Virginia Mysteries series, but it can easily be read as a standalone. The story is the perfect complement to social studies units, field trips, and family vacations related to Virginia Beach, First Landing State Park, Cape Henry Lighthouse, Colonial America, and piracy of the early 1700s.  If you enjoy mystery and adventure like the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Magic Tree House, or National Treasure, you’ll love author Steven K. Smith’s exciting middle-grade series. The stories are modern-day fictional mysteries with twists of real locations and events from history. These fast-paced books are popular with both boys and girls ages 7-12, appealing to even reluctant readers!

3 more exciting middle grade mysteries - Box Set #3, Book 7-9. Spies at Mount Vernon - When Sam, Derek, and Caitlin visit Washington, DC, spies are lurking. What starts out as a fun game of pretend on the National Mall turns all too real when they follow a mysterious man to a meeting deep within the Capitol. To keep government secrets from falling into the wrong hands, the kids must work with federal agents and travel to historic Mount Vernon for a state dinner with the president and his son. Dead drops, cyphers and spy chases are all part of what might be their most dangerous adventure ever—if it isn’t their last. Escape from Monticello - Letters in a mysterious journal between two sisters describe a lost collection and a missing treasure. As Sam, Derek, and Caitlin realize the letters were between Thomas Jefferson’s granddaughters, they set out to do what they do best—solve the mystery! When the journal is stolen, the kids are forced to hunt down clues by following Jefferson’s footsteps to The University of Virginia, his mountaintop home of Monticello, and a little-known retreat called Poplar Forest. But this isn’t a typical walk through history. Someone from the kids’ past is lurking in the shadows, bent on revenge and threatening to take much more than just the treasure. Pictures at the Protest - In 1959, the Prince Edward County, Virginia, public schools closed for five years when county leaders refused to desegregate white and Black schools. So when long-hidden photographs surface from the student protests along Main Street in Farmville, Sam, Derek, and Caitlin are on the case to help identify the brave teenagers who stood for justice nearly sixty years ago. But when protests over Confederate monuments and cries for social justice ignite their city, will the kids use their lessons from history to take a stand in the present?

This box set includes the first three books in The Virginia Mysteries series! Magic Tree House meets The Hardy Boys..."A perfect summer reading adventure!" Summer of the Woods When young brothers Derek and Sam move with their family to Virginia, they have no idea what adventures the summer will bring. As the boys explore their creaky and the deep surrounding woods, they uncover the mystery of a valuable coin collection stolen from the local museum sixty years earlier. Join the boys as they spend their summer running from danger and searching the woods, secret caves, rushing waters, and hidden passageways for treasure and the rare 1877 Indian Head cent coin! Mystery on Church Hill Brothers Sam and Derek have a knack for uncovering mystery and adventure. When they visit Richmond's St. John's Church for a reenactment of Patrick Henry's famous liberty speech, they stumble upon a hidden piece of history. As the boys and their friends dig deeper, they find clues from America's founding fathers and a secret plot to steal a treasure from our nation's past. Join in the mystery as the search races from the cemeteries of Richmond to the streets of Colonial Williamsburg. Ghosts of Belle Isle Legend says that the haunting lights over the rapids on the James River at night are the ghosts of long-dead soldiers still fighting the Civil War. Just past the water lies historic Belle Isle, the former Union soldier prisoner-of-war camp, now a city park filled with crumbling ruins and dark wooded trails. When brothers Sam and Derek explore the island and local monuments to Richmond's past on the 150th anniversary of the Civil War with their friend Caitlin, some ghosts may be more alive than they expected! Join the adventure as the kids face their fears and a confederate biker gang led by the notorious Mad Dog DeWitt.

3 exciting middle grade mysteries...Adventures with a twist of history. Magic Tree House meets The Hardy Boys - Box Set #2, Book 4-6. Secret of the Staircase Something's lurking beneath the famous staircase at The Jefferson, Richmond's historic downtown hotel. Back in 1895, when the hotel opened, real alligators roamed free in the courtyard fountains. That was ages ago ... or was it? When young brothers Sam and Derek arrive at The Jefferson for an elegant wedding weekend with their parents, they love exploring the old hotel. But when the wedding rings go missing and Sam is blamed, the boys and their friends must hunt down the truth no matter where it leads. Midnight at the Mansion - Sam, Derek and Caitlin have encountered many mysteries together, but when they visit Maymont, Richmond’s historic estate, danger is lurking at every turn. A chance meeting with a mysterious stranger leads to a frantic chase and a desperate message to save Maymont’s bald eagles. When Sam receives an eerie warning in the middle of the night, Derek and Caitlin devise a plan that leads them high into the Blue Ridge Mountains. Shadows at Jamestown - Four hundred years ago, colonists voyaged across the Atlantic Ocean to discover a new world. Today, an amazing archaeological dig at Historic Jamestown promises to uncover new secrets from those earliest English settlers. Sam, Derek, and Caitlin can’t believe their luck when they are invited by Professor Evanshade to help with the archaeological digs for a week at Jamestown’s Field School. Maybe they’ll uncover something spectacular tracing all the way back to Captain John Smith and Pocahontas! But when one of the priceless artifacts dug from the Jamestown Fort is labeled a fraud, it threatens to upend the entire archaeological project.