Murder is going to the dogs. . . Bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Claire Malloy has donned another hat (or is that a collar?)-as a petsitter extraordinaire. Her furry charges are Miss Emily Parchester's beloved basset hounds, Nick and Nora, and two very good dogs they are. Everything is just ducky...until they vanish. Other neighbors' pets have also disappeared, and no doubt a dognapper is on the prowl. . . Switching to her sleuthing chapeau, Claire quickly locates the shabby abode of Newton Churls, who runs a black market in stolen animals. But instead of a pen filled with purloined pooches, Claire finds one very dead Newton-and it appears his own pit bull terriers did him in. Or did they? Claire smells a human rat behind the brutal murder. And mysteriously, Nick and Nora are still missing. Now Claire is doggedly determined to find them...and run a killer to the ground.

Troubled by her mother's death, a distant father, and cruel classmates, Faye nonetheless finds new hope when she falls in love with Simon.

Charles Wood, a new student at North Hill Academy, and his roommate, Maxwell Templeton, an amateur detective, investigate a student's disappearance

Something strange is going on in the turret room of the old house she's just moved into, and 15-year-old Kate, who has never believed in ghosts, is forced to reconsider.

Sick of school Chris Pattinos decides to quit, move in with her cousin, Mila, and find a job, but she finds out being independent isn't so easy.

Lucy Bloom faces confusion and mixed emotions when her parents split up and her father heads for California with his girlfriend.

Mouse, a high school student, is embarassed when Buddy Tait, a classmate she hasn't even met, begins going to outrageous extremes to proclaim his love.

In order to help a friend, Val DeSantis takes on a tough street gang known as the Black Orchids.

Lang Devereaux faces a difficult time getting over the death of her friend, Stu, until she meets her best friend's cousin Chris, a cheerful, motorcycle-riding student who bears a strong resemblence to Stu

April investigates the mysterious circumstances behind her grandfather's death when she and her mother spend the summer in Sand Canyon, a small town in the middle of the Majave Desert.

Allan Antottle starts his junior year at Ocotillo High with a new image and a job as feature editor of the school newspaper, but his search for a girlfriend leads to complications and a lot of trouble

One of the few 80's teen romances told from a boy's point of view, Bummer Summer chronicles one summer in the life of Stuart Carpenter, a typical teen boy trying to get in to Mountain adventure training camp by performing silly stunts to annoy his parents. At the same time, he pines for pretty neighbor Veronica, his dream girl.