Originally published in 1998, Wendelin Van Draanen’s Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief is the first book in a middle grade mystery series that introduces Sammy Keyes, a sharp-witted, curious, and mischievous 13-year-old detective. Sammy’s life takes an unexpected turn when, using her binoculars, she witnesses a burglary in progress at the hotel across the street from her grandmother’s apartment. Determined to uncover the thief’s identity, she finds herself navigating a web of danger, clues, and unexpected twists. The novel won an Edgar Award and explores themes of justice, critical thinking, and family. Van Draanen’s other works include The Running Dream, a young adult novel about a teenaged track athlete who loses her leg in a bus accident, and the young adult romance Flipped, which won the California Young Reader Medal and was adapted into a film by Rob Reiner.

This guide refers to the e-book edition released by Random House in 2017.

Content Warning: The source material and guide contain depictions of bullying and ableism. In particular, a key plot twist in this novel is that the titular hotel thief pretends that he is blind and hard of hearing. In reality, many individuals who are legally blind retain some degree of vision, and the idea that people “fake disabilities” for personal gain is a harmful stereotype.

Plot Summary

Samantha Josephine “Sammy” Keyes’s mother, Lana, leaves her daughter at her elderly mother’s apartment and moves to Hollywood. Children aren’t allowed in the apartment building because it’s subsidized by the government as a residence for seniors, so Sammy and her grandmother, Rita “Grams” Keyes, must carefully conceal the fact that she lives there. To pass her time cooped up indoors, the curious seventh grader uses a pair of binoculars to observe her neighborhood. One day, she looks into a room in the Heavenly Hotel across the street and sees a man steal money out of a purse. The thief looks oddly familiar to the girl, but she can’t identify him. Sammy considers calling 911 but decides not to because she doesn’t want to worry Grams. Later that evening, she sees police cars parked in front of the hotel and goes inside to investigate. Sammy learns that the thief stole $4,000 from a woman named Gina. She knows that she should avoid the police so that they don’t find out that she’s living with her grandmother, but she tells Gina, Officer Borsch, and his partner everything she can about the thief. When the police ask where she lives, she gives them the address of her best friend, Marissa McKenze.

On Sammy’s first day at William Rose Junior High School, a girl named Heather Acosta mocks her worn high-top sneakers and blames her when a teacher reprimands her for her rude behavior. Heather bullies Sammy throughout the day until Sammy eventually punches Heather in the face. The vice principal suspends Sammy for one day but doesn’t punish Heather. After school, Marissa tries to cheer Sammy up by buying her an ice cream cone from Oscar, an ice cream vendor who is blind and hard of hearing. The girls encounter Gina, who goes by the name Madame Nashira when conducting her work as an astrologer.

When Sammy returns home, Grams’s nosy neighbor, Mrs. Graybill, is waiting for her. However, the woman is unable to find any evidence that proves that Sammy lives in the apartment and leaves in a huff. Grams isn’t upset with Sammy about the suspension, but she suggests that Sammy leave the apartment for a bit to reduce Mrs. Graybill’s suspicion. The girl visits Graham Hudson, an elderly man with an extensive personal library. Graham’s current renter is a taciturn man named Bill Eckert. Sammy and Graham discuss the recent string of burglaries, and Graham’s dog finds a stolen purse in the backyard. Graham calls the police, and Sammy heads home to avoid another encounter with the police.

Back at the apartment, an irate Mrs. Graybill accuses the girl of putting a threatening note under her door. Sammy realizes that the message is from the burglar and was intended for her. The day’s events begin to take a toll on Grams’s trust in her granddaughter. Before Sammy can explain herself, Marissa calls to say that the police are looking for Sammy at her house. Sammy rushes to the McKenzes’ home and answers the officers’ questions. She had promised to hurry home, but she forgets, infuriating her worried grandmother. Grams tells Sammy to spend the night at the McKenzes’ house and then ignores Sammy’s calls. Marissa tells Sammy that she’s lucky to have her grandmother because Marissa rarely sees her parents.

The next morning, Sammy comes home and is anxious to find her grandmother gone, something that has never happened before. She goes to Madame Nashira’s House of Astrology and learns that the mall’s roof is a good place for stargazing. Sammy brings her binoculars to the mall’s roof. She sees Oscar off by himself cleaning his glasses and Grams visiting with Graham. Back at the apartment, Grams explains that she wanted to get to know Graham because Sammy spends so much time with him, and Sammy tells her grandmother all about the burglary at the hotel. Officer Borsch comes to the apartment in response to the threatening note that Mrs. Graybill received, and Sammy hides in the closet while Grams assures him that her granddaughter is innocent and doesn’t live with her.

That evening, Sammy and Marissa visit Gina at the Heavenly Hotel and learn that her room was the only one burglarized. Sammy suspects that someone overheard Gina telling a friend about the money and that the thief may be another resident of the hotel. As the girls exit the hotel, they discover a napkin with Gina’s room number on it stuffed into the fire-escape exit so that the door won’t lock. When Sammy shows the napkin to Officer Borsch, he accuses her of manufacturing evidence to throw suspicion off of her threat to Mrs. Graybill. The officer gives Sammy a stern warning to stay away from the investigation and drives away, and she begins to fear that he’ll blame her for the robbery unless she can identify the thief. One of Sammy’s suspects is Graham’s new renter, Bill, but she removes him from her list of suspects when she learns that he is a popular radio DJ. Another suspect is T.J., a grouchy man who works at the local corner store and is in debt due to some bad investments in the commodities market.

When Sammy returns to school the next day, she discovers that Heather is claiming that Sammy broke her nose. When Sammy exposes this lie to the vice principal and her fellow students, Heather tries to attack her and is suspended for three days. After school, Marissa and Sammy buy ice cream cones from Oscar to celebrate the clearing of Sammy’s name. As Sammy holds the napkin that came with her ice cream, she suddenly realizes the thief’s identity. To test her hypothesis, she borrows some money from Marissa and plants it as bait for the hotel thief while she hides nearby. As Sammy deduced from seeing Oscar clean his glasses, the ice cream vendor can see. After he picks up the money that Sammy planted, he spots the girls. While Marissa runs to the police station, Sammy follows Oscar to his hiding spot outside the hotel, where he puts on a disguise. Oscar chases Sammy to the mall, but she manages to trap him in a dumpster until Marissa arrives with Officer Borsch. Oscar’s real identity is Daniel Lewis, a dangerous man on probation. The police recover the stolen valuables, and Gina thanks Sammy for catching the thief. Sammy heads home so that she can tell Grams all about her adventures.