Olivia lives in a penthouse in San Francisco with her chauffer, Willie, and her housekeeper, Mrs. Fridgeflake. Her wealthy parents live there, too, but they are often traveling and are rarely home. When her best friend, Taffy, moves away, Olivia is lonely. She buys herself a pet owl named Hoot, but that still doesn’t completely help. Olivia realizes that she is good at keeping secrets and at helping people with their problems, so she decides to busy herself running a service to help people with their secret problems. She has a bunch of flyers made and hangs them up around town saying that she is an agent for secrets and will help people.

Some of the books are like mysteries, but others are more general fiction or humor as Olivia helps her friends to sort out the odd problems they create for themselves.  Olivia is something of a cross between a detective and therapist, figuring out what makes people tick and helping them to change for the better.  Her solutions don’t always work the first time around, and often depend heavily on Olivia using her money to buy things for people (as a rich kid, she can buy pretty much anything she wants).  But in the end, Olivia manages to make things work out. The books are funny and are written in a tone somewhat resembling a hard-boiled detective story.

The authors of this series, Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Mitchell Sharmat, also wrote the Nate the Great series.  Olivia is actually Nate’s cousin, and they occasionally appear in stories together.

Books in the Series:

The Pizza Monster (1989)

A boy named Duncan, who Olivia knows from school, asks her to help him with his friend, Desiree. He says that they were together at the pizza parlor when she suddenly got angry and walked out.  What could have made her so angry, and can their friendship be saved?

The Princess of the Fillmore Street School (1989)

Desiree, who has always been a bit prissy, tells Olivia that she has decided that she wants to be princess of their school. She plans to prove that she is a perfect princess by trying to make the school and the other kids perfect.  Can anything stop the princess of Fillmore Street School before she drives everyone crazy?

The Sly Spy (1990)

Someone has been trying to steal Olivia’s business by covering up her flyers with ones that say E.J.’s Spy Service. At the same time, Olivia’s friends are trying to keep Desiree’s birthday present a secret even though she has been snooping at their houses to find out what it is.  What will Olivia do when it looks like Desiree has hired E.J. to find out what her present is?

The Green Toenails Gang (1991)

Taffy, a friend of Olivia’s, wants to join a special club at her new school, but the other girls won’t accept her.  Is there anything that Olivia can do to help?