• Grade: 2 to 5

Jennie Levinsky has an amazing secret --- and only her best friend, Beth, knows about it. Jennie can “hear” what her neighbor's sheepdog, Sam, is thinking! And what Sam is usually thinking is how to find fame and fortune as a world-famous detective. With Sam: Dog Detective as their fearless leader, the girls snoop their way into trouble, but quick thinking and swift action always lead them to safety.

In The Ghost of Captain Briggs, Sam and Beth join Jennie's family on their summer vacation at an old mansion built by a fierce pirate. Sam's convinced that where there's a pirate, there must be a buried treasure and a ghost!

Mary Labatt is an editor and writer. She is the author of the Dog Detective Sam mystery series, the Sam and Friends graphic mystery novels, the Puppy Sam level one early readers and a novel called A Puppy is for Loving. With all these dog books you can guess what Mary does on her Clear Creek, Ontario farm. She breeds and raises Rough Collies and Welsh Springer Spaniels. In the picture you can see Mary with two of her collie mothers, Annabel and Chloe.

Mary Labatt's profile page

The level of spookiness is just right for young mystery readers.

School Library Journal