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Sammy Keyes #12
Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash
"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book Revie w
Sammy Keyes has three wads of cold hard cash in her hot little hands. An old guy gave them to her. Well, actually, he told her to throw them away. Begged her. With his last dying breath. Which he was taking because Sammy had just scared the life right out of him. So . . . she’s got to get this man some help. She’s got to do it without being seen herself. And she’s got to figure out how to stash that cash. Aw, c’mon! You’d keep the money too, right? No one ever needs to know. . . .
The Sammy Keyes mysteries are fast-paced, funny, thoroughly modern, and true whodunits. Each mystery is exciting and dramatic, but it's the drama in Sammy's personal life that keeps readers coming back to see what happens next with her love interest Casey, her soap-star mother, and her mysterious father.
From the Hardcover edition.
Sammy Keyes has three wads of cold hard cash in her hot little hands. An old guy gave them to her. Well, actually, he told her to throw them away. Begged her. With his last dying breath. Which he was taking because Sammy had just scared the life right out of him. So . . . she’s got to get this man some help. She’s got to do it without being seen herself. And she’s got to figure out how to stash that cash. Aw, c’mon! You’d keep the money too, right? No one ever needs to know. . . .
The Sammy Keyes mysteries are fast-paced, funny, thoroughly modern, and true whodunits. Each mystery is exciting and dramatic, but it's the drama in Sammy's personal life that keeps readers coming back to see what happens next with her love interest Casey, her soap-star mother, and her mysterious father.
From the Hardcover edition.
304 pages, Library Binding
First published October 14, 2008
21 people are currently reading
475 people want to read
About the author
Wendelin Van Draanen
46 books2,172 followersWendelin Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes series, and wrote Flipped which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by SLJ, and became a Warner Brothers feature film with Rob Reiner directing. Her novel The Running Dream was awarded ALA’s Schneider Family Award for its portrayal of the disability experience.
Van Draanen's latest book, Hope in the Mail, is part memoir, part writing guided, designed to encourage aspiring writers to pursue their dream.
Van Draanen is also the author of two short chapter-book series. The Gecko & Sticky books, are fun read-alouds, perfect for reluctant readers, and the Shredderman books—featuring a boy who deals with a bully—received the Christopher Award for “affirming the highest values of the human spirit” and became a Nickelodeon made-for-TV movie.
Van Draanen was a classroom teacher for fifteen years. She and her husband reside in California and have two sons.
Van Draanen's latest book, Hope in the Mail, is part memoir, part writing guided, designed to encourage aspiring writers to pursue their dream.
Van Draanen is also the author of two short chapter-book series. The Gecko & Sticky books, are fun read-alouds, perfect for reluctant readers, and the Shredderman books—featuring a boy who deals with a bully—received the Christopher Award for “affirming the highest values of the human spirit” and became a Nickelodeon made-for-TV movie.
Van Draanen was a classroom teacher for fifteen years. She and her husband reside in California and have two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
February 11, 2020
I am back again with another Sammy Keyes book. I am trucking through this series for several reasons. They are always such a light read for me to cleanse my palette so to speak. But also, I am nosy and I need to know how the author ended the series.
While I am a big fan of Sammy and her sassy self, I did not care for this book at all. The author really focused on the size of one of the characters and took several disrespectful digs at her weight and I did not like that at all. And that is all I have to say about that.
December 23, 2022
I get that it’s realistic for a 13 year old to fat shame but theres a lot of it
October 27, 2008
I started reading Sammy Keyes books when I was in the fourth grade. By now I find the writing a little simple. There are still many ironic lines that I enjoy in Wendelin Van Draanen's writing style and this book has many.
I liked this new Sammy Keyes. I always enjoy how the plot speeds up at the end so that the mystery clicks for Sammy before I understand what happened and why. Which is part of why I initially liked the series. Unlike other mysteries I hadn't figured out the mystery before the detective. That used to annoy me about the Nancy Drew series.
The middle school drama aspect has never interested me and I disliked it more in this book.
A subtitle for this particular book could be "Sammy gains a conscience" as she does start to think through lying and betraying the trust of her friends. I am interested in how the relationship between Sammy and Casey and then the relationship between their parents. There was a slight twist to the Heather relationship but I still find that part of the series dull.
There are some interesting parts about Marissa and a few very sweet lines that Sammy and Marissa exchange.
Reading Sammy Keyes at 15 I do realize that I enjoy the part about how she gets along so well with adults. She has Hudson who is a mentor type figure and is friendly with the guy who works at the hotel next door.
The book ends with some commentary about money not being important which could have been left off in my opinion since that is an obvious theme of the book.
I liked this new Sammy Keyes. I always enjoy how the plot speeds up at the end so that the mystery clicks for Sammy before I understand what happened and why. Which is part of why I initially liked the series. Unlike other mysteries I hadn't figured out the mystery before the detective. That used to annoy me about the Nancy Drew series.
The middle school drama aspect has never interested me and I disliked it more in this book.
A subtitle for this particular book could be "Sammy gains a conscience" as she does start to think through lying and betraying the trust of her friends. I am interested in how the relationship between Sammy and Casey and then the relationship between their parents. There was a slight twist to the Heather relationship but I still find that part of the series dull.
There are some interesting parts about Marissa and a few very sweet lines that Sammy and Marissa exchange.
Reading Sammy Keyes at 15 I do realize that I enjoy the part about how she gets along so well with adults. She has Hudson who is a mentor type figure and is friendly with the guy who works at the hotel next door.
The book ends with some commentary about money not being important which could have been left off in my opinion since that is an obvious theme of the book.
November 27, 2008
I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of Sammy Keyes.
August 31, 2017
My middle-school self started this series. My adult self will FINISH this series.
October 25, 2022
I liked this one a lot better than the previous book, Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things. That one felt a little over-the-top, but this was a real return to form, back to the Heavenly and everything.
January 9, 2009
I really like this series. Teen mysteries have always been around, but often with mysteries which are just too difficult to believe. These are not about spies or elaborate murder mysteries, just simple, low-key crimes that a teen might stumble across. Well, maybe not so simple in this case, with a victim or a culprit dropping dead at her feet, leaving no clue as to which he is.
The moral and practical issues centering around money are at the heart of this story, and there are plot threads hinting at the sequel, and this author rarely drops a hint without it meaning something.
I do recommend starting with the first volume [Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief:], which introduces the key characters, and especially introduces Sammy's personality.
The moral and practical issues centering around money are at the heart of this story, and there are plot threads hinting at the sequel, and this author rarely drops a hint without it meaning something.
I do recommend starting with the first volume [Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief:], which introduces the key characters, and especially introduces Sammy's personality.
March 14, 2010
It is impossible not to love Sammy Keyes. She truly makes the best of situations & learns valuable lessons from her mistakes, but not in a forced, cheesy after-school-special kind of way. This particular book raises a lot of interesting questions about the nature of money - having it, not having it, & what you'll do to get or keep it.
December 1, 2008
Although I loved the plot and I LOVE the series, I read it for the Casey. Gotta love him. And I absolutely hated the awkwardness between Sammy and Casey! I don't want awkwardness- I want romance!
April 5, 2009
Love this series
May 25, 2011
Nice re reading time passer!
January 6, 2023
the stepsister plotline was kinda wild but at least it wasnt cassanda-clare-stepsister-plotline™
January 28, 2022
This was not a good installment in the Sammy Keyes series. I have a long list of grievances with this book. To start off, I thought that Sammy was acting incredibly out-of-character from the very beginning. Taking money that doesn’t belong to her, keeping it, spending it, these are not things that Sammy would ever do. She is not a greedy person, nor has she ever done something so morally wrong and stupid before. It didn’t make any sense. She knew that this money was shady, that the dying man had to get rid of it, that she had no right or reason to keep it. I felt like I was reading about a completely different kid, someone dumb and ignorant and not at all logical and clever.
My next problem is the way fat people are portrayed in this book. I am not a crusader for body positivity but I’m disgusted at how obvious it is that the author equates being overweight with being a bad person. Mikey is portrayed as a whiny and annoying brat whose one and only distinguishing feature is how big he is and how much candy he eats and how those things are interconnected. The fact that after his morality camp at Hudson’s he gets a personality transplant that makes him a nice boy and he loses ten pounds at the same time. Basically saying that fat kids are fat because they’re bad; if you act nice and be good then the weight will magically fall off! This makes me sick. Same thing with Mrs. Wedgewood, who’s portrayed as a manipulative blackmailer who lives to inconvenience other people and take advantage of them as a direct result of being obese. Give me a break.
Third, how did the old lady disguise ever work on anyone? That was so far-fetched.
Fourth, I am shocked at how little consequence there was for what Sammy did. After blurting out the truth in the final 10 pages of the book - which was extremely anticlimactic - she barely gets a slap on the wrist. She stole and spent counterfeit money that was in the possession of a man who had just died. Hello?? I built up so much anticipation for when she would get busted and nothing at all happened. In fact, the entire ending was incredibly rushed and disappointing. I don’t know what’s going on but I hope this book is an anomaly in the series and that this isn’t a preview of what the rest of the series will be like because this was a letdown on so many levels, especially after how good the last few books have been.
My next problem is the way fat people are portrayed in this book. I am not a crusader for body positivity but I’m disgusted at how obvious it is that the author equates being overweight with being a bad person. Mikey is portrayed as a whiny and annoying brat whose one and only distinguishing feature is how big he is and how much candy he eats and how those things are interconnected. The fact that after his morality camp at Hudson’s he gets a personality transplant that makes him a nice boy and he loses ten pounds at the same time. Basically saying that fat kids are fat because they’re bad; if you act nice and be good then the weight will magically fall off! This makes me sick. Same thing with Mrs. Wedgewood, who’s portrayed as a manipulative blackmailer who lives to inconvenience other people and take advantage of them as a direct result of being obese. Give me a break.
Third, how did the old lady disguise ever work on anyone? That was so far-fetched.
Fourth, I am shocked at how little consequence there was for what Sammy did. After blurting out the truth in the final 10 pages of the book - which was extremely anticlimactic - she barely gets a slap on the wrist. She stole and spent counterfeit money that was in the possession of a man who had just died. Hello?? I built up so much anticipation for when she would get busted and nothing at all happened. In fact, the entire ending was incredibly rushed and disappointing. I don’t know what’s going on but I hope this book is an anomaly in the series and that this isn’t a preview of what the rest of the series will be like because this was a letdown on so many levels, especially after how good the last few books have been.
January 22, 2018
This is the perfect formula fiction young adult mystery novel. Thirteen-year-old Samantha, or Sammy is not your typical teenager. Sammy lives with her grandmother, although she is living their ‘illegally’ considering her grandma lives in a senior only living center. Sammy is forced to be secretive and sneaky as she carefully comes and goes to the place where she is living. Sammy uses the fire escape to come and go, because it makes it easier for her not to be seen. One night while Sammy is coming home she sees the door open, she runs into an old man who gets scared… scared to death. The old man collapses, as he lies their dying, he tells Sammy to take the cash out of his pocket and get rid of it. He yells at Sammy to throw it out, and get rid of the cash. Sammy is very confused by this because she doesn’t understand why someone would want to get rid of 3 big wads of cash; she throws them down anyways to fulfil this dying man’s last wish. After restlessly lying in bed that night, Sammy decides to go get the cash from the bushes where she thew it. Once Sammy has the cash, she goes through this long lasting internal battle with herself, deciding if it is right or wrong to be spending this old man’s cash. She becomes very curious and starts to wonder where the cash came from, and why this old man had $3,000 of cold hard cash in his pocket. She starts to explore this mysterious old dead man and his story. She wants to get to the bottom of who this mysterious old man was, and where the cash came from, or why he had so much cash on him, but didn't want to be found with it on him. As Sammy starts to investigate, weird things surrounding this man’s death and the cash, start to happen and things get even more mysterious as it seems she’s not the only one who may now about the cash.
March 15, 2024
While so much is wonderful about Sammy Keyes books, there are sometimes issues. Mrs. Wedgewood is particularly prickly in this book but the way that her character is written and that Sammy and Grams deal with their frustrations around her is through a fat phobic lens. Descriptions of her move from humorous situations toward cruelty and bias that I would like to hope is a product of its time. Some of the way that Mikey is discussed is in the same tenor. If your children are going to be reading this book, I would have some conversations around bodies, that all bodies have fat, that thin bodies are not morally good and fat bodies are morally bad, and the dark side of diet culture. Still a good mystery, a good story, but there should be additional context and conversations to think critically about problematic characterizations. Mikey’s problems with bullying aren’t going to be solved simply by losing weight. Neither are his absent parents, loneliness, and likely disordered eating, which are all important factors of his mental and emotional health in addition to the problems with bullying and social strife.
November 3, 2019
Sammy Keyes is mixed up into so much trouble after she scares a man named Buck Ritter to death. When Buck gives Sammy a large stack of money worth several thousand dollars, and tells her to get rid of it, how can she? It's a big stack of cold hard cash, how can anyone get rid of so much money? So Sammy keeps it, until she understands it's fake. She finds out that Buck Ritter and several of his friends wanted to make Uncle Sam pay them more because he barely gave them any money, even though Buck Ritter and his two friends were war vets. From here on she just lets the police figure it all out. 'Cuz Why would a teenager want to be mixed up into all of this? She doesn't. But if you know Sammy, you know she just cannot help it!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2025
I wish with everything in my heart of hearts that, as well-written as this book is, we could leave the fatphobia of Mrs. Wedgewood's character out of it. I hate that she's solely used as a laughingstock, though we do also see Marissa's brother's negative experience with fatphobia. It's a horrible reminder that this came out in the 2000s in an otherwise compelling story, which I was really surprised .
Reveal:
Reveal:
October 21, 2017
Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash by Wendelin Van Draanen is an amazing book and I hope to enjoy the series. I recommend this book to all people and especially dare devils! One of the main events is when an old man gives her WADS of cash and tells her to get rid of them! Like who the heck would do that?! Sadly, right after, the old man dies. Sammy is left clueless with what to do...well not really. She decided to keep it but she wondered, why did he want her to throw it away? Well, I guess you’d have to read the book to find out! ;)
March 9, 2024
I swing that fake leg like a baseball bat and hit the Jackal in the head as hard as I can.
He staggers, and his eye pops out and lands in my lap.
“Aaaaaaah!” I scream again, ’cause now there’s a glass eye staring up at me from the skirt of my granny dress, and I am totally freaked out about everything—the eye, the leg, these old guys who are falling apart in front of me…everything!
24.03.09
LMAO WHY IS SAMMY DOING THE MOST INSANE THINGS
September 7, 2023
Another great mystery from Van Draanen.
I read it super quickly as I just love the writing style and Sammy's voice. How she refers to everything and where her brain jumps to. I like how the last few books have had a continuous story running through it and I'm keen to know more... though I also don't want to reach the end of the series because that means it's over forever!
I read it super quickly as I just love the writing style and Sammy's voice. How she refers to everything and where her brain jumps to. I like how the last few books have had a continuous story running through it and I'm keen to know more... though I also don't want to reach the end of the series because that means it's over forever!
October 7, 2021
Another lesson learned by Sammy, the amateur sleuth! I have to remember not to read these stories in public - other riders look at you funny when a person is sitting alone and laughing so hard! Even when that person is reading a book!!!
December 5, 2024
I love Sammy Keyes but the blatant fat shaming and fatphobia wasn’t cute. Even if this was written back in 2008 before the body positivity movement took off, it still feels inappropriate for a tween series. No wonder I have body image issues when I grew up reading this series.
May 25, 2025
Love the internal conflict in this one + themes of class inequality and envy, but the motives underpinning the mystery and thus the reveal fell pretty flat for me. But fun read nevertheless. I miss summer vacation!!
August 17, 2018
We listened to this book in the car and both my kids rate this book 5 stars. The narrator had a delightful voice to listen to and the kids really laughed whenever Rose came into the narration.
July 9, 2019
Second favorite Sammy Keyes.
December 7, 2019
Comapring to Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys it isn't as great in my opinion. It was worth the read.
December 7, 2019
I love me some Sammy Keys
January 27, 2021
I love these books. You get intricate mysteries, amazing characters, and emotional life lessons. It’s the best. This is a good one that deals with the complexities of money.
September 21, 2022
Sammy, I love you, but the fatphobia REALLY jumped out in this one.
February 28, 2023
Waffling between a 3 and a 4. Overall this was a solid entry in the Sammy Keys canon, but the constant cracks about weight got to me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews