Bruce Hale

Detective Chet Gecko and his associate, Natalie Attired, take a case tailing what they think is a cheating boyfriend but are instead led to a school mystery that involves blackmail and robots.

Best friends Benny and Carlos risk their lives to investigate when AJ reports seeing one of Monterrosa Elementary's beloved lunch ladies change into a giant mantis.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when the North Pole's Peppermint Post Office is anything but quiet! Postmaster Buck and his crew of penguins can't rest until all of Santa's letters and gifts are sorted and on Santa's sleigh. But what happens when Buck discovers a lost?letter after the reindeer already left the North Pole? An amusing, hilarious, epic adventure quickly ensues to deliver a little girl's Christmas gift before?midnight. Bruce Hale's...

Publisher Annotation: From the Edgar-nominated author Bruce Hale comes a hilarious story about a kid who likes to break the rules . . . until the rules try to break him.

A crime has been committed that strikes at the heart of Chet's very own family. Some slippery sneak has stolen his mother's beloved pearls, leaving Chet angrier than a nest of hornets on eviction day. When additional items go missing, Principal Zero turns up the heat by hiring Chet to flush out the thief. Will our gecko hero deliver the goods before it's too late? He'd better. Because this time, it's personal. This thirteenth entry in Chet and Natalie's...

Get ready for muckraking time at Emerson Hicky Elementary. The race is on for student council president, but it's quickly getting fishier than the bottom of a pelican's lunch box. Someone is sending candidates ominous threats and posting signs with messages like FIR IS FIRST! and DOWN WITH FEATHERS. Could someone be trying to rig the election? Good thing Chet and Natalie are around to expose the filthy frauds!

Nate's best friend Jeremy is missing, and Nate seems to be the only one worried that he's been captured by hideous creatures that live in the sewers. A short story from Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka.

Chet Gecko's investigations often show him the seamy underbelly of school life, but this case throws him for a loop. A deadly stink bomb is unleashed, a school building falls to rubble, money goes missing from the principal's office, and that's just a start. Chet's endurance for trouble is tested, but so is his loyalty: Someone is trying to get his mongoose janitor pal Maureen DeBree fired. A true-blue P.I. doesn't take that kind of monkey business...

Danger may be Chet Gecko's business, but dessert is his delight.... Chet Gecko's hunger for mystery is matched only by his appetite for cockroach casserole, mosquito marshmallow surprise, and stinkbug pie. So when the cafeteria needs help nabbing a food thief, Chet digs into the case with a passion he usually reserves only for dessert. But this time Chet may have bitten off more than even he can chew. Someone has framed him, and now everyone at...

Right in the middle of a run-of-the-mill case, the powers that be finger Chet's fine-feathered partner, Natalie Attired, as a no-goodnik blackmailer and boot her out of Emerson Hicky quicker than you can say, "Boot her out of Emerson Hicky." Chet, of course, tackles the case for free. Mess with his partner, mess with-well, somebody. (Natalie's the brains of the outfit.) But just when Chet thinks he might clear her name, Natalie disappears, leaving...