Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash

While sneaking into her grandmother's seniors-only apartment, the titular 13-year-old sleuth gets the fright of her life when she scares a man to death on the fire escape. With his dying words, the stranger tells Sammy to "get rid of it," referring to the bundles of twenty-dollar bills stuffed in his pockets. Sammy's newfound wealth leads her into more trouble than she expects. Life with Sammy and her friends is never dull, and narrator Tara Sands ramps up the energy in this fun and engaging reading. While her adult characters often come across as forced, Sands excels at joyfully capturing teenage nuances. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine