Best Selling Books by Joan Lowery Nixon

Susan, with the help of her brothers, finds out who has sent her an anonymous valentine.

DIVWhen the circus comes to town, a clown and his monkey get into trouble/divDIV Kid detectives Brian and Sean Quinn are on their way home when they see a clown causing a commotion outside the mall. The Star-Spangled Circus has just rolled into town, and Crackers the clown and his faithful monkey are there to promote it. But just as Sean is about to get a good look at the monkey, it escapes its collar and runs off, leading a frantic chase through the mall. and while the primate runs wild, someone uses the distraction to rob the stores. To the Quinn kids, it looks like this clown is pretty serious—about crime./divDIV /divDIVBut that night, the clown’s son asks Brian and Sean to help him prove that his father wasn’t even at the mall, and that the stores were robbed by an imposter. To get to the bottom of this big-top mystery, the Casebusters will learn that under their makeup, not all clowns are smiling./div

David finds all sorts of missing items for other people but cannot locate his own possessions.

Andrea didn''t want to accompany her aunt and a group of privileged people on a boat trip to the Bahamas to look at a valuable artifact. But she''s stuck there now, and angry when she realizes that this is a stolen artifact. All the adults want to own it, but Andrea knows it should be retumed to the Peruvian government. Then the object disappears... and someone is found murdered. Who will be next?

Lisa and her three friends find themselves unwilling players in a cat-and-mouse game with a murderous magician whose identity and motivation baffle them.

Stacy Champagne returns to her hometown to help out at her family''s Silver Ridge Hotel. She did not plan on getting involved in solving the murder mystery of the unpopular Will Knight. The coauthor is Kathleen Nixon Brush.

When the writer Duncan Tyler is found dead, the question is who was that upset by his new book and why was he blackmailing people?

Agatha Mae Vaughn is 12 years old in 1866, and she lives in the Asylum for Homeless Waifs, where she''s always in trouble or in the way. So when she''s told she''s being sent west on the orphan train, Aggie isn''t sad. She''s looking forward to starting fresh and finding the family she''s never had. But instead of young parents and maybe even a little brother or sister, Aggie gets the Bradons. Bertha and Eldon Bradon are an elderly couple who live on a farm with their two older children--Leon, a budding inventor, and Penelope, a crusader for women''s right to vote. This is not the family Aggie had in mind. Will she ever fit in?

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes Playing for Keeps from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon. Rose Ann can’t believe her good luck. Her grandmother, Glory, needs a last-minute roommate for her bridge-tournament cruise to the Caribbean. But Glory doesn’t really need a companion. She’s eager for Rosie to meet her friend’s grandson, Neil, a brainy guy full of facts about baseball, among other things. Once Rosie is aboard the ship, though, someone else catches her eye—a boy her own age, who introduces himself as Ricky Diago. But after the ship sails, something doesn’t seem quite right. Rosie sees only Ricky’s uncle, Mr. Diago. Even stranger, Neil swears that Mr. Diago is actually a famous Cuban baseball player from the Cincinatti Reds. Then, after a day excursion in Paradise Beach, Rosie is approached by another boy who claims he’s Ricky Diago. She’s certain he’s not the person she met at the beginning of the trip. Suddenly Rosie finds herself caught in a high-stakes game of international intrigue with life-or-death consequences. Who is the real Ricky Diago? And how far will Rosie go to help him? With her trademark expertise, Joan Lowery Nixon interweaves politics, baseball, and romance in a masterful novel of suspense on the high seas. “[An] engaging mystery.” –Kirkus Reviews “[A] fast-paced combination of suspense and romance.” –Booklist “Satisfactory teen mystery.” –VOYA

Ann, a young girl in eighteenth-century Williamsburg, wants to become a doctor like her father, but she is not allowed even to study Latin or mathematics.

Paul, with his Indian ancestry, not only guesses what is in Michael John''s box, but knows how to find it when it escapes.

DIVWhile working on a local TV news show, Brian gets the scoop of a lifetime/divDIV Brian Quinn signed up for journalism class expecting an easy A. But as he quickly finds out, there’s nothing simple about reporting the news. Brian is nervous when his teacher asks him to appear on That’s News 2 Me—a local news program run by children—but he goes along with it, hoping for a chance to hang out with Estella, the class’s star student. But when he starts reporting his story, this kid reporter stumbles on a very grown-up crime./divDIV /divDIVA burglar has been raiding Redoaks, breaking into houses and making off with expensive electronic equipment. And when Brian tries to report on the High-Tech Burglar, his producer tells him to stay away from the story. But when a clue to the burglar’s identity falls into his lap, Brian is faced with a tough decision. Should he disobey the producer and break the news to the world, or let a criminal go free?/div

DIVWhen a spoiled kid disappears, the Casebusters go spelunking with a pirate’s ghost/divDIV Sean and Brian Quinn have never liked Lester Hopper. The seven-year-old is spoiled rotten, and looks down on every kid he knows—even the ones who are taller than him! But one night, Lester disappears and a ransom note warns the Hoppers not to contact the police. The Casebusters are going to need to solve their most serious mystery yet—a possible kidnapping./divDIV /divDIVBefore he disappeared, Lester was diagnosed with a lung infection, and he needs to take his medicine again soon or he’ll get very sick indeed. But was Lester kidnapped, or did he run away? Whatever the answer, all the clues point to one destination: the town’s oldest cave, which is said to be haunted by the ghost of a dead pirate. To save Lester, Brian and Sean will have to match wits with a swashbuckler who’s been dead for centuries./div

DIVWhile on vacation at a dude ranch, the Casebusters chase a horse thief/divDIV Sean and Brian Quinn can’t think of anywhere cooler than the Austin Dude Ranch. Although neither has ever ridden a horse, they’re positive that playing cowboy is going to become their favorite pastime. But before they can learn to rope and ride, they’re going to have to practice their other favorite hobby: solving mysteries./divDIV /divDIVA racehorse has been stolen from the neighboring farm, and the ranch’s owners think that their horses may be the next to disappear. To find the missing pony, Brian and Sean will have to confront something even more scary than horse thieves: the ghost of the crazy old gold prospector who is said to haunt a nearby abandoned mine. Whether the culprit is living or dead, Brian and Sean must catch him faster than they can say, “Giddy-up!”/div

DIVThe Casebusters investigate accidents at an abandoned theater—where a ghost is the chief suspect!/divDIV Ever since the new mall opened on the other side of Redoaks, the area around the historic Culbertson Theater has been abandoned. But when a local developer wants to bulldoze the area and turn it into a shopping center, someone inside the theater decides to take matters into his own hands—hands that may be alive or dead./divDIV /divDIVAfter a sandbag falls on a building inspector’s shoulder—the latest in a string of suspicious accidents—kid detectives Brian and Sean Quinn decide to investigate. Sean’s friend Sam suspects it is the work of the ghost of Horatio Hamilton, an actor who died in the theater decades before, but Miss Beezly—the strange old woman who runs the theater—says that Horatio’s ghost is too polite for such misbehavior. Someone is pulling these dangerous pranks, and Brian and Sean better find out fast—in case the next sandbag falls on a detective!/div

A teenage girl is kidnapped, but when freed, is accused of masterminding the scheme to extort money from her wealthy grandmother.

DIVOn an island in the Mississippi River, a ghost and his dog stand guard/divDIV When their aunt buys an old, run-down inn on the banks of the Mississippi, Chris and Amy Holt go south to help her fix up the place. They lend helping hands during the day, but at night, they wonder about the island in the middle of the river—a mysterious place where the townsfolk will not set foot. The island was created by an earthquake which shook the ground so fiercely that the river ran backwards, destroying the house of a bitter old miser named Joshua Hanover, and carrying away his precious hoard of silver coins. And according to legend, Hanover’s ghost still roams the island, his phantom dog, Shadow, at his side, searching eternally for his lost treasure./divDIV /divDIVUnable to resist the treasure’s lure, Chris and Amy journey to the island to find out if the stories are true. There they find danger, and a mystery that is far more frightening than they could have ever imagined./div

Shirley and Claude move across Texas in their covered wagon, looking for a peaceful place to settle down.

DIVThe sons of a private detective investigate a crazy art museum caper—and try to avoid a spooky statue!/divDIV Ever since they were very young, Brian and Sean Quinn have helped their father solve mysteries. Even though their dad is a professional detective, he always likes to hear his kids’ opinions. Sometimes they even help him catch a crook! But when a pair of priceless Leonardo da Vinci drawings disappears from the local art museum, their father is stumped, and only the boys can crack the case./divDIV /divDIVThe robbery was an inside job, which means the drawings could be anywhere—even inside the museum. Sean and Brian inspect the premises and get to know the staff. And everything goes fine until they get to the Anubis Room, where the famous Egyptian statue is rumored to come alive at night. The Quinn boys will nab the thief—as long as the statue doesn’t catch them first!/div

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes Secret, Silent Screams from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon. Is Barry’s death the latest tragedy in a string of suicides at Farrington Park High School? Or is it murder? Marti is sure her friend Barry didn’t take his own life, but no one will believe her except Police Officer Prescott. But opening an investigation takes time, and Marti is determined to find her friend’s killer soon. Because even now he could be planning his next crime… “Enthralling suspense…satisfying[,]…[and an] intricate plot.” –Publishers Weekly

In 1879 seventeen-year-old Sarah travels from Chicago to the violent town of Leadtown, Colorado, to locate her missing father, but she finds that the mention of his name brings her strange looks and an attempt on her life.

A defensive twelve-year-old comes to understand her father, a busy Hollywood director planning to remarry, after she is exiled for the summer to the everyday life of her grandmother''s house in Houston.

With a robot''s help two children search for a relative who has been kidnapped by the king on the planet Astarr and accused of making secret war weapons.

DIVOn a walk in the woods, Sean and Brian find a scary footprint/divDIV Sean Quinn does not like the sound of spending a weekend in a neighborhood named Grizzly Hill. Although his friend Alan assures him the development has been bear-free for a century, Sean is not convinced. The woods are thick and dark, and there’s an old grizzly den not far from Alan’s house. And when Brian discovers a strange footprint on a forest path, Sean starts to wish he had stayed at home with Mrs. Peabody, the babysitter. She’s not any fun, but at least she’s not a bear!/divDIV /divDIVBrian decides the print is too small to be a full-grown grizzly, but it could be a cub. Against Sean’s wishes, they follow the tracks into the forest. If there are bears in the woods, Brian wants to know. And if the animal is something even stranger, he can’t wait to find out!/div

After eleven-year-old orphan-train rider David Howard settles with a strict Texas farm family, his best friend, an ex-slave, is threatened by the growing presence of the Ku-Klux Klan.

Two agreeable cousins, Debbie and Jeff, brave an old abandoned house to solve a mystery that has plagued the neighborhood for several generations.

When Shirley convinces her husband Claude to help fulfill their adopted daughter''s dream of a visit from Santa, she doesn''t reckon on the real Santa Claus showing up at their place in Texas.

When Casey, an ardent 12-year-old feminist, sets out to help victims of discrimination, whether they want her help or not, she finds her ideas don''t always work as planned.

Ten-year-old Lucy Griggs''s mother has just died, leaving Lucy orphaned and living on the streets of 1866 New York City. Then Lucy hears about the Children''s Aid Society, a group that sends orphans out West to new homes. Lucy knows she''ll never replace her mum, but maybe now she''ll find a family--and even a little sister--to love. But the family that takes her in is far from ideal. Mr. Snapes seems kind, but Mrs. Snapes is a bitter, angry woman. And Emma isn''t the sister Lucy has dreamed of. Emma is a girl who people call "simple." Can Lucy learn to love this less-than-perfect family?

Danny and his younger sister, Peg, are placed in St. Joseph, Missouri, with kind Alfrid and Olga Swenson. Danny is thrilled to have a "real" father again, but when Olga suddenly dies, he is devastated—until he thinks of an ingenious plan to find Alfrid a new wife.

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes Ghost Town: Seven Ghostly Stories from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon. In the old towns of the Wild West, there’s more to hear than the paint peeling from the deserted storefronts, more than the tumbleweeds somersaulting down the empty streets. If you listen hard, you can hear voices whispering stories. Stories like the one about the lost mine in Maiden, Montana, or how Wyatt Earp won the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. And don’t forget about the Bad Man from Bodie, California—he’s still searching for his lost finger! Can you hear them? “An entertaining collection.” –School Library Journal “Combining history and mystery…[Ghost Town: Seven Ghostly Stories] recalls classic campfire tales.” –Booklist “A well conceived (and titled) collection…[of] chilling short stories.” –Kirkus Reviews

Super Sleuths Brian and Sean Quinn are on holiday at a ranch in the mountains when they find out an expensive race horse has disappeared. Thanks to tips picked up from their private investigator dad, they outwit the thief who tries to trap them.

Deeply unhappy about her family''s separation because of poverty, Megan gradually finds contentment and purpose in her new home on the Kansas prairie with a kind and loving adopted family.