Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary
"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book Review When Sammy and her friends meet Lucinda Huntley walking her 200-pound pig down the middle of the road, their quiet weekend in the country quickly becomes an adventure. Lucinda tells them a true tale of the Wild West, her great-grandma Moustache Mary, and a century-old family feud. But this feud is hardly ancient history. Past and present collide—and combust!—when Mary's pioneer cabin burns to the ground. Sammy thinks the cause of the fire may be a hundred years old, but still, the gas can she finds near the scene of the crime is shiny and new. . . . 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.
While each mystery functions as a self-contained case, the series tracks Sammy's personal growth and evolving family dynamics across her middle school years, making chronological reading beneficial for following her character arc.
The fictional town of Santa Martina is modeled after the real city of Santa Maria, California, and incorporates local landmarks and street names from that area.
This installment shifts into more mature territory by introducing heavier themes, including the discovery of an underground meth lab and the presence of drugs and alcohol at a party.