Murder at Hollywood High — Bruce Kimmel

Teenager Adriana Hofstetter is quite possibly one of a kind. She hates all things nowincluding MySpace, cell phones, and anything trendyand she has no use for partying, getting wasted or being stupid. She dresses in clothes from her favorite decadesthe 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70smuch to the derision of her fellow students at Hollywood High, who think she is a joke. Shes on her way to becoming the star of her journalism class. Her teachers adore her, just as much as her fellow students abhor her. She has one loyal and true friend, Billy Feldman, who is as much of an outsider as she is.  She has a mother who listens to Pink Floyd, Cream, and Isaac Hayes at ear splitting levels, a peculiar cat named Furball, and an ancient, ineffectual computer that crashes if she happens to glance in its direction. 


Then, one day, someone from Hollywood High is found murdered. A suspect is arrested and charged. And Adriana Hofstetter finds herself forced to become a pint-sized amateur sleuth, who, in the guise of doing a story for the school newspaper, must put all her journalism lessons to use in order to solve a murder she knows the accused didnt commit. 


Murder at Hollywood High is a very funny, suspenseful mystery, replete with colorful Los Angeles locales, disbelieving detectives, suspects lurking around every locker, and a fifteen-year-old heroine who is off-the-wall, endearing and not to be messed with.