Humorous Mysteries

When Sally May and Loper head out of town for a wedding, Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security, knows it's up to him to keep things under control. After subjecting strawberry ice cream to rigorous product testing, test-driving a mysterious spaceship, and thwarting a sneak attack from a couch monster, Hank faces the fight of his life.

Melody is certain that her new basketball coach, Mr. O'Grady, is a leprechaun. Bailey School Elementary's new gym teacher is short, and Irish, and carries a bag filled with special stones. Soon, Melody and the other children are keeping an eye on him. When will they get lucky and catch a leprechaun?

Omar is going on his biggest adventure yet - a trip to Pakistan! But his excitement about the trip is interrupted by some shocking news: his amazing teacher is not coming back to school, and no one will say why. When Omar and his friends start investigating, the hints they overhear and clues they find lead them to an alarming conclusion - it must be aliens!

Get ready for laughs when you listen to these excerpts from ten of Hank's stories. Performed in the style of an old-time radio show, complete with sound effects and a unique voice for each character! You will hear Hank as he bargains for a priceless corncob, learns about manners from Wallace the Buzzard, runs into Rip and Snort the coyote brothers, taunts a raging rottweiler, gets into trouble with Sally May the rancher's wife, and more!

Rebecca Zamolo is on a mission to save her summer. Instead of going to camp like she’d planned, she’s been stuck in summer school. But today is the day! She’s going to present her final science assignment—using her Nana’s borrowed vintage zoetrope—and then she’ll be free to have fun. But as Becca and her classmates wait for her teacher to arrive, a menacing voice comes over the intercom claiming to be the Game Master! They've locked the doors, scared off the teachers, and demanded that Becca and her friends solve the clues that have been left behind.

Ronan Boyle may be the youngest and lowliest recruit to the secret Garda, but he’s determined to save his captain from the harpy that dragged her into Tir Na Nog at the end of book one. He may not be the strongest, or the smartest, or the best looking, or the most dexterous...so why was he picked for this mission? He’s not entirely sure. But he may be the captain’s only hope - if he can escape man-eating elves, escape a job in a unicorn’s lounge act, and find the captain before she’s sacrificed to a spooky cult trying to resurrect its leader.

When Emily and Jess Volnik's family inherits a remote, crumbling Scottish castle, they also inherit the Boggart - an invisible, mischievous spirit who's been playing tricks on residents of Castle Keep for generations. Then the Boggart is trapped in a rolltop desk and inadvertently shipped to the Volniks' home in Toronto, where nothing will ever be the same - for the Volniks or the Boggart. In a world that doesn't believe in magic, the Boggart's pranks wreak havoc. And even the newfound joys of peanut butter and pizza and fudge sauce eventually wear thin for the Boggart. He wants to go home....

The Bailey School kids find their imaginations running wild when yet another strange-looking individual joins the education staff, this time in the personage of bus driver Mr. Stone, who resembles the city library's sixth gargoyle.

Dark Reading Matter is the 8th and final novel in the New York Times bestselling Thursday Next series, following 2012’s The Woman Who Died a Lot.

The students in class 6B become nervous when their teacher receives an anonymous note claiming someone in the room is a witch. For in this society, witches are outlawed, whether they are good or bad. In fact, witches are burned at the stake, because that's the law.

The Bailey School Kids need to do a report on England. Howie picks Camelot as his topic, which is how he knows the new assistant at the library, Mr. Merle, looks just like the ancient wizard Merlin! The kids discover a crystal ball in Mr. Merle's office and learn that he has a huge goldfish named Arthur, just like the ancient king. Then Mr. Merle transforms the library into a medieval castle and starts mesmerizing kids with the magic of reading! Something strange is definitely going on. Could Mr. Merle really be a wizard?

Hank makes a foolish bet with his archenemy, Pete the Barncat, that he can catch the Lumberpile Bunny. He loses the wager, his job, his pride, and even his gunny sack bed under the gas tanks. Hank begins to plot revenge. He must dispose of the cat. That sounds simple. But without Pete, Hank discovers scrap time has lost all its joy and meaning.

Cam is taken aback when she stumbles upon a murdered neighbor behind her sister's shop, Dog Diggity. The timing couldn't be worse, as it's only a week until the store's grand opening during Canal Days, the biggest festival of the year. When the police arrest her handyman, Cameron knows they have the wrong suspect, so she and the rest of her Metamora Action Agency set out to crack the case.

After James gets a pen-and-ink set for his birthday, Marvin the beetle surprises him by creating an elaborate miniature drawing. James gets all the credit for the picture and before these unlikely friends know it they are caught up in a staged art heist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that could help recover a famous drawing by Albrecht Dürer. But James can't go through with the plan without Marvin's help. And that's where things get really complicated (and interesting!)

What will Gameknight999 do when his own friend is infected with the evil Herobrine virus? With the destruction of the infected Ender Dragon, the monster kings were forced to retreat. Herobrine's poisonous XP has been captured in an obsidian box and sealed tightly. Gameknight999 and his friends know that the obsidian box will have to be destroyed to eliminate the evil virus once and for all. But how? And who will be brave enough to do it?

The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency was supposed to be a secret constabulary, but after the success of their first case, all of London knows that Lady Ada and Mary are the girls to go to if you have a problem. Their new case is a puzzle indeed. It involves a horrible hospital, a missing will, a hasty engagement, and a suspiciously slippery servant. But Mary's stumbled onto a mystery of her own. She spotted a ghostly girl in a grey gown dashing through the park. A girl who is the spitting image of their new client.

Walter's family is holding a yard sale, but there are few customers. Walter, farting contentedly near Father, wonders why. When a man offers ten dollars for Walter, Father readily agrees. Walter wonders why. Walter is sad to leave his family behind but relieved to discover that his new owner is a clown. Walter figures he will help the clown bring joy to children on their birthdays. But the clown has a dastardly plot: He will use Walter's gas to inflate balloons and then pop them to stun guards during bank robberies. Will Walter turn to the dark side? Of course not! He comes out a hero and is reunited with his family by doing what he does best.

Ruby Redfort’s not your average kid. She’s super-smart, always ice-cool, not to mention a gadget-laden secret agent with a talent for breaking codes. And she can keep her mouth shut…can’t she? Ruby and her butler, Hitch, work for an undercover crime-busting organization, where break-ins, daring rescues, and life-or-death situations are all in a day’s work. But always remember Rule #1: You can never be completely sure what might happen next.

It's summertime, and the weather on Hank's West Texas ranch is hot and dry. So dry, in fact, that everyone is on the lookout for prairie fires. So Hank bravely adds the title of Head of Fire Safety to his already impressive list of responsibilities and gets to work. But patrolling for fires is dull, and it's hard to do on an empty stomach. Despite the distractions - desperate hunger, a cruel trick at the hands of Pete the Barncat - Hank somehow manages to stay focused on the job at hand.

Glitches are appearing across the Minecraft server. Blocks are flickering unexpectedly and randomly disappearing. To make matters worse, villagers are claiming that their entire villages have mysteriously vanished, and they desperately need Gameknight999's help. What's causing the server to overload and glitch, and where have all the NPCs gone? The User-that-is-not-a-user suspects the two questions are related, and that somehow Herobrine's henchmen are responsible.