What Sam Knew

When a climber suspiciously falls to his death and a local artist has her dog stolen, both cases fall into the lap of local sleuth, Patricia Fisher ... ... but they should have come with a warning. No sooner does she start to investigate, than a mysterious underworld figure issues a confusing threat. What has she uncovered? Local boy, Sam Chalk, wants to help, his antics amusing but seemingly nothing more than a distraction. Does he know something though? With time running out to save the dog, and the climber's death looking like nothing more than a terrible accident, a chance discovery will rock Patricia's world. If only she had listened to Sam. Get ready for a new series of thrills!

'When Steve Higgs writes, he hits it out of the park. I find myself laughing out loud and often.' When a climber suspiciously falls to his death and a local artist has her dog stolen, both cases fall into the lap of local sleuth, Patricia Fisher ... ... but they should have come with a warning. No sooner does she start to investigate, than a mysterious underworld figure issues a confusing threat. What has she uncovered? Local boy, Sam Chalk, wants to help, his antics amusing but seemingly nothing more than a distraction. Does he know something though? With time running out to save the dog, and the climber's death looking like nothing more than a terrible accident, a chance discovery will rock Patricia's world. If only she had listened to Sam. Get ready for a new series of thrills! 'This series has it all; everything I want in a story and series ... humour, suspense, and colourful characters. It's one of my top all-time favourite series.'

An Instant New York Times Bestseller! If I Stay meets Your Name in Dustin Thao's You've Reached Sam, a heartfelt novel about love and loss and what it means to say goodbye. Seventeen-year-old Julie Clarke has her future all planned out—move out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city; spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. And everything changes. Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his belongings, and tries everything to forget him. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces memories to return. Desperate to hear him one more time, Julie calls Sam's cell phone just to listen to his voice mail recording. And Sam picks up the phone. The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam's voice makes Julie fall for him all over again and with each call, it becomes harder to let him go. What would you do if you had a second chance at goodbye? A 2021 Kids' Indie Next List Selection A Cosmo.com Best YA Book Of 2021 A Buzzfeed Best Book Of November A Goodreads Most Anticipated Book

Meet Sam, his annoying but amazing sister, and their parents on a family's journey through Sam's transition.

When Patricia returned the missing sapphire of Zangrabar she had no idea the Maharaja would consider himself eternally in her debt. Hardly surprising then that she has been invited to his son's coronation as the new Maharaja. There's intrigue and mystery afoot though; the Marahaja's invite suggested he had a mystery for her to solve, but in true Patricia style, it's nowhere near that simple. Someone in Zangrabar wants her dead but they didn't count on the tenacity of her friends and the loyalty of her butler. Beware wrongdoers, Patricia is getting used to ruining nefarious plans. However, with her friends going missing, secretive servants, lies and unexplained events, it's soon time for Patricia to ditch the willing smiles and go full sleuth-mode. Get ready for adventure in the desert as Patricia and her entourage take on a secret mission that will place them in the middle of a perilous conspiracy and may cost them more than they want to pay.

“Deeply smart and considerate.” —BCCB “An absorbing mystery.” —Kirkus Reviews “A strong addition to help diversify realistic fiction collections to include neuroatypical characters and heroines.” —School Library Journal Jesse is on the case when money goes missing from the library and her dad is looking like the #1 suspect in Edgar Award­–winning author Susan Vaught’s latest middle grade mystery. I could see the big inside of my Sam-Sam. I had been training him for 252 days with mini tennis balls and pieces of bacon, just to prove to Dad and Mom and Aunt Gus and the whole world that a tiny, fluffy dog could do big things if he wanted to. I think my little dog always knew he could be a hero. I just wonder if he knew about me. When the cops show up at Jesse’s house and arrest her dad, she figures out in a hurry that he’s the #1 suspect in the missing library fund money case. With the help of her (first and only) friend Springer, she rounds up suspects (leading to a nasty confrontation with three notorious school bullies) and asks a lot of questions. But she can’t shake the feeling that she isn’t exactly cut out for being a crime-solving hero. Jesse has a neuro-processing disorder, which means that she’s “on the spectrum or whatever.” As she explains it, “I get stuck on lots of stuff, like words and phrases and numbers and smells and pictures and song lines and what time stuff is supposed to happen.” But when a tornado strikes her small town, Jesse is given the opportunity to show what she's really made of—and help her dad. Told with the true-as-life voice Susan Vaught is known for, this mystery will have you rooting for Jesse and her trusty Pomeranian, Sam-Sam.

From the critically acclaimed author of This Burns My Heart comes a “luminous mother-daughter saga” (Entertainment Weekly) about a young woman who is forced to flee 1980s Brazil for California, and in doing so unearths the hidden life of her enigmatic mother. Mara Alencar’s mother Ana is her moon, her sun, her stars. Ana, a struggling voice-over actress, is an admirably brave and recklessly impulsive woman who does everything in her power to care for her little girl in perilous 1980s Rio de Janeiro. With no other family or friends her own age, Ana eclipses Mara’s entire world. They take turns caring for each other—in ways big and small. But who is Ana, really? As she grows older, Mara slowly begins to piece together the many facets of Ana’s complicated life—a mother, a rebel, and always, an actress. When Ana becomes involved with a civilian rebel group attempting to undermine the city’s cruel Police Chief, their fragile arrangement begins to unravel. Mara is forced to flee the only home she’s ever known, for California, where she lives as an undocumented immigrant, caregiving for a dying woman. It’s here that she begins to grapple with her turbulent past and starts to uncover vital truths—about her mother, herself, and what it means to truly take care of someone. A “lovely and heartbreaking” (People) story that is “simultaneously dreamlike and visceral” (The Atlantic), The Caregiver is “a beautiful testament to Samuel Park’s extraordinary talents as a storyteller…that reads, in some moments, like a thriller—and, in others, like a meditation on what it means to be alive…A ferocious page-turner with deep wells of compassion for the struggles of the living—and the sins of the dead” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

Sam Hill always saw the world through different eyes. Born with red pupils, he was called "Devil Boy" or Sam "Hell" by his classmates; "God's will" is what his mother called his ocular albinism. Her words were of little comfort, but Sam persevered, buoyed by his mother's devout faith, his father's practical wisdom, and his two other misfit friends.