Sammy Keyes
Sammy Keyes is a series of mystery novels written by Wendelin Van Draanen for children aged 9-15. The series focuses on Sammy's adventures as an amateur sleuth. Sammy begins her adventures in the first book as a 7th grader, and the series will end when she completes the 8th grade. [Twenty books are planned for the series.]
Published books
The currently published books in the Sammy Keyes series are (in chronological order):
- Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief
- Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man
- Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy
- Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf
- Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary
- Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy
- Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes
- Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception
- Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen
- Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway
- Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things
Book Synopsis
Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief Published: Aug 18, 1998 Paperback: 176 Awards: 1999 Edgar Award for best Children's Mystery Synopsis: Sammy Keyes is perusing the neighborhood through binoculars when she spots something fishy at the Heavenly Hotel. She's sure she's just seen a robbery, now she just has to prove it.
Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man Published: 1998 Paperback: 172 Synopsis: On Halloween, Sammy Keyes gets run over by a man dressed like a skeleton carrying a bag of stolen goods. The goods are from a house that the skeleton just set fire to. Sammy must figure out who just stole from the "Bush Man" and why.
Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy Published: 1999 Paperback: 240 Synopsis: While Sammy Keyes is working off community service hours at St. Mary's Church, Father Mayhew's ivory cross is stolen. Now Father Mayhew believes that Sammy is the one who stole it.
Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf Published: 2000 Paperback: 208 Hardcover: 186 Synopsis: When a snobby lady's dog is kidnapped and held for ransom, Sammy is blackmailed into getting it back.
Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy Published: 2002 Paperback: 288 Synopsis: Traveling to Hollywood to visit her movie-star mother, Sammy realizes that someone is ready to murder for a perfect movie part. Prime suspect? Her mother.
Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes Published: 2002 Paperback: 299 Synopsis: Sammy finds herself with a baby, thrust into her arms by a mother fleeing from a former gang, out to kill her. Sammy gets herself in deep, and uncovers some very dangerous secrets...
Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception Published:2003 Hardcover:272 Synopsis: As usual, Sammy finds herself in the middle of the action when she captures a would-be painting thief at an art gallery. Her adventure doesn't stop there as she uncovers more than she ever expected.
Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen Published:2004 Hardcover:293 Synopsis: While visiting her good "old" friend (Hudson Graham) before her birthday, Sammy encounters a Barbie-looking lady named Katherine Brown (who wants people to call her Miss Kitty). Miss Kitty says that her cats have started to disappear. Sammy is suspicious. She begins to find dead cats in trash-cans all over town and is convinced that there is a cat-killer on the loose. She also notices that there is something fishy going on with the new wrestling school. In addition to all that, her mother tells her a shocking secret about her birthday; she shares the same birthday with her archenemy; and her own cat is on the loose!
Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway Published:2005 Hardcover:277 Synopsis: Sammy is walking a disabled lady's dog when she finds herself entangled in a town controversy over eminent domain. She makes a deadly mistake in school, and Heather is blamed for it. Sammy is also going to the Farewell Dance with Casey. She is plagued with guilt, confusion, and a crush.
Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things Published:2007 Hardcover:292 Synopsis: Sammy is stuck in the woods camping with a friend's wilderness group and gets lost with two other girls in the woods with two other boys, lots of bugs, and a dangerous condor poacher.
Setting
The Sammy Keyes novels are based in the fictional town of Santa Martina, which is located in California (as mentioned in the book). Santa Martina has a good side and a seedy side. (In Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes, Sammy finds herself in that seedy side.) In Book 6, Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy, Samantha and her friend Marissa McKenze travel to Hollywood, California on a presumed 3 to 3.5 hour bus ride down south. Santa Martina is closely based on the real city of Santa Maria, California, down to names of streets used throughout the series, and well known landmarks, such as the Santa Martina Town Center Mall. (Santa Maria Town Center Mall). Other cities frequently mentioned are Santa Luisa (San Luis Obispo), and Sisquane (Sisquoc). The city of Pomloc is also mentioned once, a reference to the city of Lompoc. All of these places are located near to the real city of Santa Maria.
Main characters
Sammy Keyes, 13-year-old girl who is sent to illegally live with her grandmother while her mother decides to achieve her dreams as an actress in Hollywood. Later in the 9th book , she finds out by her mom that she is only 12, about to turn 13 . She, along with her friends, Marissa McKenze and Dot DeVries, play on the school softball team. In Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy, Sammy rescues a homeless girl, Holly Janquell. She goes to a dance with Casey Acosta in Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway.The series starts with Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief at the beginning of Sammy's first year in William Rose Junior High as a seventh-grader. The books, which are narrated in the first-person perspective by Sammy, involve detective fiction as well as comedy.
Grams, full name Rita Keyes, is Sammy's grandmother and guardian, as Sammy's mother is away trying to make it big in Hollywood. She never ceases to worry about Sammy when Sammy gets involved in her adventures. However, the two of them are very close, much closer than Sammy is to her mother. As long as they don't lie to each other, they're okay. No children are allowed to live in the Senior Center, so Sammy is frequently forced to lie about her home address and living situation.
Lana Keyes, Sammy's mother, appears to be a rather irresponsible woman in the series. She constantly keeps secrets from her only daughter, and leaves Sammy with Grams while she becomes an actress in Hollywood. Up to the ninth book in the series, she is still unwilling to reveal Sammy's father's identity, something which constantly irritates Sammy. She has also kept her daughter's true age away from Sammy and changed her identity and age to seem younger. Sammy is not happy with her mother's decision to abandon her, and holds a grudge against her for this. Sammy sometimes refers to her mother as Lady Lana when she is upset. She has acted in a television commercial for an antacid called GasAway (which greatly embarrasses Sammy) stars as Jewel, an "amnesiac aristocrat" in the soap opera The Lords of Willow Heights. Sammy is very mortified when Lana takes a liking to Mr. Acosta. Before Lana left Sammy, she used to be a waitress.
Hudson Graham can be interpreted as Sammy's mentor and good friend throughout the series. He is 72 years old, and is always wearing a fancy pair of boots, usually made out of reptile hide, or the like. Sammy often visits Hudson and sits on his porch, a place which she considers excellent for sorting things out in her head, getting advice, and eating a snack. Hudson offers Sammy advice and explanations, usually focused around dealing with her archenemy, Heather, or the mystery currently playing out in that particular book. Hudson has a 13-year-old dachshund called Rommel, accused in Book #9, Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen, of mauling cats. Hudson's excellent advice usually plays a pivotal point in Sammy's unraveling of the story's mystery. In later books, Hudson and Grams develop something of a mutual crush with each other.
Marissa McKenze, Sammy's best friend, is extremely rich and has more independence than Sammy because of her workaholic parents. She has a younger brother named Mikey who seems to adore junk food and sweets. When she is nervous, Marissa will do the "McKenze Dance", which involves biting of her fingernails and bobbing up and down on her toes. Marissa also has a crush on Danny Urbanski, an eighth-grader who takes a slight interest in Marissa in Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception. Actually, Marissa loves him so much that she gets mushy brained every time she's around him. Marissa downplays her wealth heavily, however, sometimes criticizing her parents for working too hard and not paying enough attention to their children. Marissa lives on East Jasmine, presumably a posh neighborhood on the outskirts of Santa Martina. Her weak spot is her parents' money.
Margaret "Dot" DeVries was introduced in the second book, Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man. Her nickname is derived from a beauty mark she has on her cheek. This mark is apparently hereditary, as it also appears on her family members. Dot first lived in a "skinny" two-story house which could barely fit her large family; by the fifth book, Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary, she has moved to a larger house in Sisquane. She's in the school softball team along with Sammy and Marissa.
Holly Janquell was introduced in the third book, Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy. During Sammy's volunteer time (to work off her detentions for misusing the school's public address system), she spots a girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to herself. Her curiosity aroused, Sammy tries to find out as much as she can about this girl. Eventually, Sammy finds that Holly is a homeless, orphaned girl who ran away from her foster home due to mistreatment. Sammy finds a home for Holly at the Pup Parlor, a dog grooming salon run by the mother-and-daughter duo Vera and Meg Talbrook. In return for the Talbrooks' kindness, Holly works after school in the Pup Parlor. Later on, Holly also starts working at the Humane Society. In the beginning, Holly seems to have a penchant for rummaging through garbage; however, later in the series she seems to have shaken off the habit. Draanen later releases a book called Runaway which is a series of journal entries written by Holly that tells about her life on the run.
Heather Acosta is Sammy's archenemy. From the minute they meet each other, sparks fly. Heather tries to take advantage of Marissa's wealth by asking her to lend her some money, and then jabs Sammy in the behind with a pin. Enraged, Sammy punches Heather on the nose, and Heather pretends that her nose is broken. As punishment, Sammy is suspended from school for a day. Later, however, Sammy is able to uncover Heather's bid for sympathy (including a spurious charity called the "Help Heal Heather Fund") and Heather is punished. Heather has two friends who seem to be extremely stupid and exist to do her bidding, Tenille Toolee and Monet Jarlsberg. Heather and her friends have been known to smoke cigarettes and drink beer. Heather has a brother called Casey, and their parents Warren Acosta and Candi Acosta are divorced. Heather lives with Candi Acosta in town, and Casey with Warren in the urban area of Sisquane. She also happens to have the same birthday as Sammy, and the two of them were born a mere two minutes apart, a fact which horrors both girls greatly. In Book 10 (Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway), Heather, thanks to Sammy, was caught rigging the Class Personality elections (otherwise she would have won Most Popular, Friendliest and Most Unique [sic] Style).
Casey Acosta seems to be the complete opposite of his sister. He is good friends with Sammy, and was introduced to the series in the fifth book Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary. He sticks up for her a lot. Sammy is often unsure of her relationship with Casey, who took a liking to her before she even knew him. This is something which Dot and Marissa constantly tease Sammy about, especially after he gave her a lucky horseshoe for her birthday. Casey also went to a school dance with her in Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway.His favorite color is green; and he also loves eating macaroni and cheese with salsa. When Sammy first met him, in Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary, his best friends were Taylor Briggs and someone named Jake, but later on in the series [Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception and Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway] he seems to be hanging out more with Danny Urbanski, Billy Pratt, and another friend Nick. He protects Sammy from Heather, even though Sammy tells him not to. Casey lives with his dad in Sisquane.
Officer Gil Borsch, the figure of the law in the series, is constantly pursuing Sammy for jaywalking and thinks that she is a criminal. However, when Sammy helps him out in a case during Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf, he changes his mind about her and they become friends over time. In Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary, a pet pig named Penny follows him all over town, an incident which Sammy and her friends refer to as "Oinkers in Love". In the later books, he is promoted and Sammy doesn't see him as often.
Supporting characters
Mrs. Rothhammer, coach of William Rose Junior High's softball team, which Sammy and most of her friends play on.
Mrs. Ambler, Ms. Pilson, Mr. Tiller, Mr. Holgartner, Mr. Pence, Miss Kuzkowski, Sammy's seventh grade Homeroom, English, Math, History, Science and Art teachers at school, respectively.
Vera & Meg Talbrook are Holly's foster parents. They take care of her in exchange for her assistance in the pet grooming shop they own, called the Pup Parlor. Vera is Meg's mother.
Madame Nashira, also known as Gina; she is introduced in the first book. Owns Madame Nashira's House of Astrology. Occasionally offers Sammy advice in the form of astrological prophecies, which Sammy accepts as her friend, but does not take too seriously, due to her skeptical outlook on astrology.
Mr. Caan, Vice Principal at William Rose Junior High. In the first book, his perception of Sammy is somewhat in line with a juvenile delinquent when she gets into multiple fights with Heather. However, over time, he accepts her as a worthwhile person and starts to realize that Heather is not as well-behaved as she would like to appear to him.
Brandon McKenze, Marissa's cousin. In earlier books is admired by Sammy (it is also hinted that Sammy has a crush on Brandon). He is described as a tan, good looking high school student on the school's swim team.
Karl Briggs, older brother of Taylor Briggs and former best friend of Brandon McKenze.
Taylor Briggs, Karl's younger brother and friend of Heather Acosta. Also likes Marissa in "Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Mustache Mary".
Billy Pratt, an obnoxious, albeit lovable classmate of Sammy's. Billy was held back; he is supposed to be an 8th grader. This perhaps contributes to his depiction in the series as the school clown.
Danny Urbanski, an 8th grader at William Rose Junior High. Marissa has a huge crush on him, yet the feelings are not entirely mutual.
Dorito, Sammy's pet cat who is an orange tabby, and a white front paw. Sammy describes him as an orange speckled cat.
T.J., son of Maynard. Usually seen running the cash register of his father's market, called Maynard's Market. He is often seen eating a Double Dynamo, which is a huge drumstick ice cream cone. Ironically, Maynard's is normally out of Double Dynamos, much to the chagrin of Sammy. Maynard's Market is a takeoff of Menards, also a family-run business.
Cisco, the head custodian at William Rose Junior High. Admired by Sammy for his encouraging and likable demeanor.
Mrs. Tweeter, the secretary of William Rose Junior High.
Dr. Morlock, the principal of William Rose Junior High.
Note: Characters mentioned only in one book - those that are specific to the mystery of that book - are not listed.