SAMMY KEYES AND THE HOTEL THIEF

In this first in Wendelin Van Draanen's series, Sammy inadvertently witnesses a burglary when she's spying out her Grams's window with binoculars, panics and waves at the burglar (oops), then sets out to figure out what's really going on. Preteens will identify with sassy sleuth Sammy as the next-generation Nancy Drew gets into (and out of) one scrape after another. Tara Sands clearly has fun with the outrageous details and characterizations, some of which are curiously dated and sound as if they belong in a 1930s gumshoe flick. Sands makes Sammy easy to get hooked on--which is good news, since there are many more volumes in the series and many more mysteries for Sammy to solve. J.M.D. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 02]