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Hannah West: Sleuth in Training
Hannah West is not your average sixth grader. Ever since her mom got laid off and started house-sitting, Hannah has been living all over Seattle―and solving mysteries along the way! With her trusty sketchbook and doggy pals in tow, Hannah is always ready for adventure. So when she and her mom move into a swanky high-rise where a valuable piece of art has just been stolen, Hannah immediately gets in the “frame” of mind for sleuthing to track down the art thief. Then it’s lights…cameras…and lots of action after Hannah and her mom move into a houseboat. Not only is the crew for a TV show taking over the dock but dead fish are also washing up nearby. Once Hannah and her best friend, Lily, become extras on the show, Hannah is on the set―and on the case! Hannah Sleuth in Training is a compilation of two previously published volumes, Hannah West in the Belltown Towers and Hannah West in Deep Water .
- GenresMiddle Grade
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 5, 2016
11 people are currently reading
444 people want to read
About the author
Linda Johns
67 books104 followersLibrarian at the Seattle Public Library's downtown library (in the Fiction Department) and a children's book author.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 10, 2024
2 stars ✨ (Middle-Grade Mysteries 2 books-in-1 // separating the content for the books in this one since they can also be found separately)
Book 1- Hannah West in the Belltown Towers - 2 stars ✨
After accidentally reading the third book in this series first, I thought it would be best to go back and read the first two books to get more backstory on our amateur sleuth.
Definitely got introduced to her, those in her life, and such, but I didn’t care for some parts of this first book. I don’t think it’s the best reading option for middle-grade readers, but for the avid reader that fly through books might enjoy them. It’s not one I would highly recommend or suggest, though, but based off of this first book. The third one was better, but there’s still little things I don’t care for—nothing major, but odds and ends. Like I experienced in the third book, this mystery’s culprit and motive are also very obvious and the ending wasn’t very satisfying. I did like all the dog parts, though.
Main Content-
Spiritual: Hannah says she’s a Good Samaritan for doing something for a neighbor; Hannah calls a speeding cyclist a “speed-demon”; Hannah eavesdrops and hears someone say “making a witch” or “making a switch” (she isn’t sure which one); Mentions of superstitions (such as the number thirteen); A couple mentions of a vicarage and vicar in a book; A couple mentions of a Buddha statue in a school art class; A mention of people worshiping an artist.
Language: Hannah’s mom says “ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!” and Hannah recalls her grandmother calling someone a “bigot” (see below); Otherwise there’s nothing strong than bloody good (x1), drat (x1), darn (x4) duh (x1), geesh (x8), gosh (x1), idiot (x2), sucker (x1), ‘yee gads’ (x1), heck/what the heck (x4) and an unfinished ‘what the…’; Some sarcasm & eye rolling (including when Hannah is sarcastic to a classmate and the classmate laughs at it—not realizing Hannah was being sarcastic—Hannah hates herself for being sarcastic to the girl).
Hannah braces herself for an old woman to ask “what are you?” about her ethnicity, but when the woman doesn’t ask that, Hannah is reminded of her grandmother saying that she’s being an “ageist” by assuming that someone over sevnity is going to be a “culturally insensitive bigot”.
Hannah explains to the reader that her and her mother are technically homeless due to her mom being laid off a few years ago and they ran out of money, so now they are professional home-sitters (Hannah has a little pity party once in a while about hating being homeless though she knows it could be much worse); Because of schooling regulations, Hannah and her mom keep it quiet about not having a permanent address so Hannah won’t be pulled from her school; Hannah and her best friend act like she still lives in the same neighborhood to trick others from catching on and this includes lying (Hannah is impressed by her friend’s acting skills and it’s not called lying, but Hannah games it her “game of deception”); Hannah tells us about a mom who doesn’t want her children to go to school with homeless kids; Hannah has a cell phone and her mom makes her call her often when going places (which Hannah does); Hannah and Lily call each other’s parents by the adult’s first names; Hannah’s mom has eleven ear piercings; Hannah draws in a manga/anime style; Hannah’s school is a “model environmental school” and if you bring a lunch from home, it has to be in reusable containers.
Pop culture references such as TV shows, movies, fictional characters, car brands, and (Monk, CSI, Law & Order, Columbo (Hannah enjoys watching all of these on The Crime Network), Homer Simpson, Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Grease, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Reader’s Digest, Agatha Christie and a book, Mary Wollstonecraft and Frankenstein, Bill Gates and Microsoft, Honda, BMW, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Cheetos, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Prismacolor pencils, American Express cards, & Amazon); Hannah’s best friend Lily wants to be an actress; Hannah has an alarm clock that has a disco alarm telling her to “GET UP AND SAKE YOUR BOOTY” multiple times; Hannah draws a new girl like Medusa after getting off on the wrong foot with her and her and Lily come up with a code name for her “Nasty Joran”; Lily practices what to say to her parents to leave her alone and let her read in her room (so she doesn’t have to play a game with them) and comes up with saying she’s doing trigonometry homework.
All about & many mentions of stealing, stolen items, thieves, burglaries/robberies, & frauds; (*Spoiler about ending* ); Mentions of yoga (often); A few mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of a divorce; A mention of Halloween; A mention of a vampire; A mention of the possibility of a woman having multiple personalities and each one painting differently; A mention of an adult smoking.
A new girl at school tells Hannah about her stepfather having an affair with a 22-year-old art student and that her mom and him then got a divorce; Lily covers for Hannah in a conversation by saying “you mean you saw your cousin and her boyfriend right in the middle…” and leaves it off there; Hannah notices a guy who is kind of cute, but too old for her and too young for her mom; Hannah’s mom and her friend call a guy cute and a hottie; Hannah goes to talk to a man at his apartment and the man keeps the door open so they can talk in the doorway (Hannah notes this is probably because he recognized her mom would go absolutely ballistic if she went into a stranger’s apartment); A few mentions of Hannah’s mom’s best friend liking a guy and having a “hot date”.
LGBTQ content: Possibly with a mention of a bookstore being owned by two men both named Michael (M Coy Books in Seattle, when researching online I couldn’t find out one way or the other, but the bookstore was owned by a Michael up to a few years ago).
Book 2- Hannah West in Deep Water - 2 stars ✨
This one felt more of environmentally friendly plotline, but I do appreciate that I don’t feel like I’ve been beaten over the head with warnings and demands to not use plastic or pollute the public water like this kind of plot usually is like. Not a very exciting plot, however. The ending was lackluster.
Main Content-
Spiritual: Hannah comments on being pretty sure she could get used to this “walking-on-water” business when referring to the houseboat; A few mentions of a Hebrew Academy that used to be a convent with nuns; A mention of a church that Hannah passes in a walk.
Language: Nothing stronger than blasted (x1), darn (x6), drat (x1), geesh (x1), heck (x1), stupid (x2), suckers (x1), & wimp (x2); Eye rolling & Sarcasm.
Hannah thinks that a TV show could use some diversity on it with all the white people she saw on set.
Hannah is specifically told by her mom to not go out kayaking by herself, but Hannah justifies it because a dog will be with her (no consequences or punishments for this).
Hannah explains to the reader that her and her mother are technically homeless, so now they are professional home-sitters; Because of schooling regulations, Hannah and her mom keep it quiet about not having a permanent address so Hannah won’t be pulled from her school; Hannah has to swallow a jealous thought as she has tendency to be jealous of people with money for “the simple fact that they have money. And we don’t.”; Hannah has a cell phone and her mom makes her call her often when going places (which Hannah does); Hannah knows her mom would have her hide if Hannah let someone into the house when she wasn’t there; Hannah and Lily call each other’s parents by the adult’s first names; Hannah thinks she’s pretty independent, but in no position to deal with “some random adult’s mental illness or emotional breakdown” when she sees a woman having a hard time.
Pop culture references such as TV shows, movies, fictional characters, car brands, and (Full House (Lily enjoys watching reruns), Sleepless in Seattle, HBO, Showtime, Hello Kitty, Honda, Tide, Cheer, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy!, People magazine, Cap’n Cruch, Nalgene water bottles, Sharpies, & a book titled ‘Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls’); Hannah’s best friend Lily wants to be an actress.
All about & many mentions of dead fish in the water, someone possibly dumping harmful things in the water, & pollution; Mentions of yoga (often); A few mentions of peeing & pooping (dogs); A couple mentions of an ax murderer (about opening the door and Hannah thinking that asking who it is really doesn’t protect you from danger); A couple mentions of a wine cellar & beer cans; A mention of deaths in a car accident; A mention of throwing up.
Hannah stares at boys in a boat, but looks away quickly so her mom doesn’t think she was checking out boys; Hannah and her mom are house-sitting for a man who is going on a trip with his girlfriend (she also see him give her a kiss); Hannah notices a man wink at a woman and her blushing.
Additional note:
At the end of this 2-in-1 book in the bonus content, the author recommends a series about a psychic investigator.
Book 1- Hannah West in the Belltown Towers - 2 stars ✨
After accidentally reading the third book in this series first, I thought it would be best to go back and read the first two books to get more backstory on our amateur sleuth.
Definitely got introduced to her, those in her life, and such, but I didn’t care for some parts of this first book. I don’t think it’s the best reading option for middle-grade readers, but for the avid reader that fly through books might enjoy them. It’s not one I would highly recommend or suggest, though, but based off of this first book. The third one was better, but there’s still little things I don’t care for—nothing major, but odds and ends. Like I experienced in the third book, this mystery’s culprit and motive are also very obvious and the ending wasn’t very satisfying. I did like all the dog parts, though.
Main Content-
Spiritual: Hannah says she’s a Good Samaritan for doing something for a neighbor; Hannah calls a speeding cyclist a “speed-demon”; Hannah eavesdrops and hears someone say “making a witch” or “making a switch” (she isn’t sure which one); Mentions of superstitions (such as the number thirteen); A couple mentions of a vicarage and vicar in a book; A couple mentions of a Buddha statue in a school art class; A mention of people worshiping an artist.
Language: Hannah’s mom says “ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!” and Hannah recalls her grandmother calling someone a “bigot” (see below); Otherwise there’s nothing strong than bloody good (x1), drat (x1), darn (x4) duh (x1), geesh (x8), gosh (x1), idiot (x2), sucker (x1), ‘yee gads’ (x1), heck/what the heck (x4) and an unfinished ‘what the…’; Some sarcasm & eye rolling (including when Hannah is sarcastic to a classmate and the classmate laughs at it—not realizing Hannah was being sarcastic—Hannah hates herself for being sarcastic to the girl).
Hannah braces herself for an old woman to ask “what are you?” about her ethnicity, but when the woman doesn’t ask that, Hannah is reminded of her grandmother saying that she’s being an “ageist” by assuming that someone over sevnity is going to be a “culturally insensitive bigot”.
Hannah explains to the reader that her and her mother are technically homeless due to her mom being laid off a few years ago and they ran out of money, so now they are professional home-sitters (Hannah has a little pity party once in a while about hating being homeless though she knows it could be much worse); Because of schooling regulations, Hannah and her mom keep it quiet about not having a permanent address so Hannah won’t be pulled from her school; Hannah and her best friend act like she still lives in the same neighborhood to trick others from catching on and this includes lying (Hannah is impressed by her friend’s acting skills and it’s not called lying, but Hannah games it her “game of deception”); Hannah tells us about a mom who doesn’t want her children to go to school with homeless kids; Hannah has a cell phone and her mom makes her call her often when going places (which Hannah does); Hannah and Lily call each other’s parents by the adult’s first names; Hannah’s mom has eleven ear piercings; Hannah draws in a manga/anime style; Hannah’s school is a “model environmental school” and if you bring a lunch from home, it has to be in reusable containers.
Pop culture references such as TV shows, movies, fictional characters, car brands, and (Monk, CSI, Law & Order, Columbo (Hannah enjoys watching all of these on The Crime Network), Homer Simpson, Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Grease, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Reader’s Digest, Agatha Christie and a book, Mary Wollstonecraft and Frankenstein, Bill Gates and Microsoft, Honda, BMW, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Cheetos, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Prismacolor pencils, American Express cards, & Amazon); Hannah’s best friend Lily wants to be an actress; Hannah has an alarm clock that has a disco alarm telling her to “GET UP AND SAKE YOUR BOOTY” multiple times; Hannah draws a new girl like Medusa after getting off on the wrong foot with her and her and Lily come up with a code name for her “Nasty Joran”; Lily practices what to say to her parents to leave her alone and let her read in her room (so she doesn’t have to play a game with them) and comes up with saying she’s doing trigonometry homework.
All about & many mentions of stealing, stolen items, thieves, burglaries/robberies, & frauds; (*Spoiler about ending* ); Mentions of yoga (often); A few mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of a divorce; A mention of Halloween; A mention of a vampire; A mention of the possibility of a woman having multiple personalities and each one painting differently; A mention of an adult smoking.
A new girl at school tells Hannah about her stepfather having an affair with a 22-year-old art student and that her mom and him then got a divorce; Lily covers for Hannah in a conversation by saying “you mean you saw your cousin and her boyfriend right in the middle…” and leaves it off there; Hannah notices a guy who is kind of cute, but too old for her and too young for her mom; Hannah’s mom and her friend call a guy cute and a hottie; Hannah goes to talk to a man at his apartment and the man keeps the door open so they can talk in the doorway (Hannah notes this is probably because he recognized her mom would go absolutely ballistic if she went into a stranger’s apartment); A few mentions of Hannah’s mom’s best friend liking a guy and having a “hot date”.
LGBTQ content: Possibly with a mention of a bookstore being owned by two men both named Michael (M Coy Books in Seattle, when researching online I couldn’t find out one way or the other, but the bookstore was owned by a Michael up to a few years ago).
Book 2- Hannah West in Deep Water - 2 stars ✨
This one felt more of environmentally friendly plotline, but I do appreciate that I don’t feel like I’ve been beaten over the head with warnings and demands to not use plastic or pollute the public water like this kind of plot usually is like. Not a very exciting plot, however. The ending was lackluster.
Main Content-
Spiritual: Hannah comments on being pretty sure she could get used to this “walking-on-water” business when referring to the houseboat; A few mentions of a Hebrew Academy that used to be a convent with nuns; A mention of a church that Hannah passes in a walk.
Language: Nothing stronger than blasted (x1), darn (x6), drat (x1), geesh (x1), heck (x1), stupid (x2), suckers (x1), & wimp (x2); Eye rolling & Sarcasm.
Hannah thinks that a TV show could use some diversity on it with all the white people she saw on set.
Hannah is specifically told by her mom to not go out kayaking by herself, but Hannah justifies it because a dog will be with her (no consequences or punishments for this).
Hannah explains to the reader that her and her mother are technically homeless, so now they are professional home-sitters; Because of schooling regulations, Hannah and her mom keep it quiet about not having a permanent address so Hannah won’t be pulled from her school; Hannah has to swallow a jealous thought as she has tendency to be jealous of people with money for “the simple fact that they have money. And we don’t.”; Hannah has a cell phone and her mom makes her call her often when going places (which Hannah does); Hannah knows her mom would have her hide if Hannah let someone into the house when she wasn’t there; Hannah and Lily call each other’s parents by the adult’s first names; Hannah thinks she’s pretty independent, but in no position to deal with “some random adult’s mental illness or emotional breakdown” when she sees a woman having a hard time.
Pop culture references such as TV shows, movies, fictional characters, car brands, and (Full House (Lily enjoys watching reruns), Sleepless in Seattle, HBO, Showtime, Hello Kitty, Honda, Tide, Cheer, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy!, People magazine, Cap’n Cruch, Nalgene water bottles, Sharpies, & a book titled ‘Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls’); Hannah’s best friend Lily wants to be an actress.
All about & many mentions of dead fish in the water, someone possibly dumping harmful things in the water, & pollution; Mentions of yoga (often); A few mentions of peeing & pooping (dogs); A couple mentions of an ax murderer (about opening the door and Hannah thinking that asking who it is really doesn’t protect you from danger); A couple mentions of a wine cellar & beer cans; A mention of deaths in a car accident; A mention of throwing up.
Hannah stares at boys in a boat, but looks away quickly so her mom doesn’t think she was checking out boys; Hannah and her mom are house-sitting for a man who is going on a trip with his girlfriend (she also see him give her a kiss); Hannah notices a man wink at a woman and her blushing.
Additional note:
At the end of this 2-in-1 book in the bonus content, the author recommends a series about a psychic investigator.
April 16, 2016
So pleased these are back in print!
December 16, 2019
Smart and Fun
These mysteries are smart and fun. Hannah is an engaging heroine, and secondary characters are well imagined. Pacing is fast but there's a lot packed in to each tale. There are no cutesy false steps; the writing is crisp and the narration is both to the point and subtly good humored. Even the local color feels authentic. These may be a bit old school, but the Hannah West mysteries are satisfying and entertaining.
These mysteries are smart and fun. Hannah is an engaging heroine, and secondary characters are well imagined. Pacing is fast but there's a lot packed in to each tale. There are no cutesy false steps; the writing is crisp and the narration is both to the point and subtly good humored. Even the local color feels authentic. These may be a bit old school, but the Hannah West mysteries are satisfying and entertaining.
September 10, 2015
Hannah West is back!!!! So happy to follow her and try to solve the mysteries she encounters in Belltown and Lake Union. If I can't lead an the exciting life of a dog-sitter and amateur sleuth, at least I can live vicariously through Hannah!
September 19, 2020
Love the Hannah West series. I thought this was a fifth book by the same author, so imagine my surprise to pick it up and find out it's actually the first two in the series which I've already read... Been there, done that. So, same rating as the others, but this time I got to learn a little more about Linda Johns' process in her interview with Nancy Pearl as bonus material at the end!
February 23, 2016
wow what a book just got done reading this book called Hannah West : Sleuth in Training by the author Linda Johns I won this book from GOODREADS FRIST READ I would have to give this a 5 star rating and I would recommend this book to everyone. thank you to GOODREADS FRIST READ and to the author Linda Johns for this book. can't wait to read more from this author.
March 12, 2016
I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway. I have a daughter that is the same age as the character in this book, so she was very excited to read it. She loved the book and is now asking to read the others in the series. We definitely recommend this book!
June 15, 2016
I received this as a first read. This was a great fun read. This is the first two Hannah West mysteries. I really love Hannah and the quirky characters found in the series. I also like the mysteries here. Just a truly good read.
February 22, 2016
Very fun book and great stories which I can't wait to pass this one to friends!
Want to read
March 7, 2016I really enjoyed the book. It was unusual with the 12 year old girl earning and her mother and her had an unusual job without having to pay rent.
March 12, 2016
this was a very good book. I had a hard time putting it down.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews