It is now 1939, two years after Sam and Howie solved the GIANT HORSESHOE MYSTERY. Sam, age 13, and Howie, age 12, are now involved in another hazardous adventure. They explore an empty, dilapidated house on their grandfather’s farm. Under the creaky stairs they fi nd three metal tools with the letters X Y Z forged on the ends. Beneath the house, in a secret underground room and tunnel they discover a skeleton holding a metal box. This box, plus two others, contains clues that perhaps will help Sam and Howie as they attempt to solve the X Y Z mystery. When they follow the clues Sam and Howie discover the remains of an illegal “moonshine” operation. Also, they learn about a historic naval map stolen from a museum in England. Dr. I. Yanky, who serves as a dentist in a prison, is very interested in this map. Two men dressed in black constantly harass Sam and Howie as they try to solve the X Y Z mystery. Follow Sam and Howie on this exciting journey. Will they be able to follow the clues and fi nd the solution to the X Y Z mystery before the two men dressed in black? What about the strange Dr. I. Yanky? Will the priceless naval map be found? You won’t know the answers to these intriguing questions until you read every chapter.

Sisters Xande, Yolande, and Zoe Calhoun make up XYZ Investigations in 1974 Miami. The oldest, Xande, is a young hiippie with blonde dreadlocks, Yolande is a pistol-packing, curly-haired lesbian, and Zoe, well, Zoe is missing. These six connected stories are not only unique and lively murder mysteries, they also tell the story of the three sisters within the context of a very odd time in America's history. Drugs, male hustlers, music, spousal abuse, and even horses find their way into Yolande's secret files. By the author of the popular Small Town Series.

It is now 1939, two years after Sam and Howie solved the GIANT HORSESHOE MYSTERY. Sam, age 13, and Howie, age 12, are now involved in another hazardous adventure. They explore an empty, dilapidated house on their grandfather's farm. Under the creaky stairs, they find three metal tools with the letters X Y Z forged on the ends. Beneath the house, in a secret underground room and tunnel they discover a skeleton holding a metal box. This box, plus two others, contains clues that perhaps will help Sam and Howie as they attempt to solve the X Y Z mystery. When they follow the clues Sam and Howie discover the remains of an illegal "moonshine" operation. Also, they learn about a historic naval map stolen from a museum in England. Dr. I. Yanky, who serves as a dentist in a prison, is very interested in this map. Two men dressed in black constantly harass Sam and Howie as they try to solve the X Y Z mystery. Follow Sam and Howie on this exciting journey. Will they be able to follow the clues and find the solution to the X Y Z mystery before the two men dressed in black? What about the strange Dr. I. Yanky? Will the priceless naval map be found? You won't know the answers to these intriguing questions until you read every chapter.

“X Y Z: A Detective Story” is an 1883 detective novella by American novelist and poet Anna Katharine Green (1846–1935). Among the first writers of detective fiction in America, she is considered to be the “mother” of the genre for her legally-accurate and well-thought-out plots. A Government agent is assigned a case involving counterfeiting, but ends up head first in an active criminal investigation, with many twists along the way and accidently stepping inside the shoes of the ones being investigated, this fun, action packed mystery will keep you guessing. A gripping tale of mystery and intrigue that will not disappoint fans of classic detective fiction. Contents include: “The Mysterious Rendezvous”, “The Black Domino”, “An Unexpected Calamity”, “In the Library”, and “The Yellow Domino”. Other notable works by this author include: “The Leavenworth Case” (1878), “A Strange Disappearance” (1880), and “The Circular Study” (1900). Read & Co. Classics is proudly republishing this vintage detective novel now in a brand new edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.

Mystery writer Dani Quinn hasn't been home for years. Once she put Casper, Wyoming, in her rearview mirror, she expected it to stay a distant childhood memory. But when her second marriage ends and a University teaching job in her hometown is offered, the single mom loads her three children in her Suburban and heads west. Casper, which many locals refer to as the "Ghost Town," holds its own ghosts that emerge when Dani returns home. When human skeletal remains are unearthed during renovations on campus, the University tries to keep the story buried. But skeletons and secrets are too irresistible for any mystery writer to ignore, and Dani finds herself in the center of a decades old mystery. She gets help from Chris Gorham (aka Gorm) her parents' hot new neighbor, who follows the Code of the West and offers to help the newly divorced damsel in distress. But Gorm has hidden secrets that Dani unintentionally unburies along with the skeleton. Dani recognizes the Greek letters, XYZ, on the fraternity ring found with the skeletal remains, and the mystery suddenly hits too close to home. Why the ring and the bones have been shelved by the University is just one of the many questions she has. The answers may cost not only her job, but her life.

XYZ by Anna Katharine Green will shock you to your very core with its twists, turns, and dark and spooky secrets. An unnamed detective must uncover the mystery of a counterfeiting crime, without getting implicated in the process. Excerpt: "Sometimes in the course of his experience, a detective, while engaged in ferreting out the mystery of one crime, runs inadvertently upon the clue to another. But rarely has this been done in a manner more unexpected or with attendant circumstances of greater interest than in the instance I am now about to relate."