Sammy Keyes and the Hotel ThiefPaperback, 18 August 1998

With this debut book of a new mystery series, Wendelin Van Draanen
establishes Samantha Keyes as a crime fighter to watch. Though, actually, the
book opens with Sammy watching...a crime in progress. And when the man with the
wad of cash in one hand and the open purse in the other catches Sammy watching
him, the chase is on--but is Sammy on the trail of the thief, or is he on hers?
If the police don't believe Sammy's story about a thief with black gloves,
black glasses, and a black beard, she isn't too surprised. Vice principal Caan
didn't exactly believe her either when she explained that she couldn't possibly
have broken Heather's nose. Well, Sammy's not putting up with this. Does she
look like a liar? She knows what she saw and how hard she can hit. And somehow
she's going to prove it.