E.l. Konigsburg

Up from Jericho Tel E.l. Konigsburg Reprint edition

Long before there was Dolly the sheep, Jeanmarie Troxell dubbed the look-alike, think-alike girls in her school "clones" and decided she wanted nothing to do with them. That's how Jeanmarie forms an unlikely friendship with another outsider, Malcolm Soo, over an equally unlikely activity -- burying dead animals at the remote spot they name Jericho Tel.
It's at Jericho Tel that Jeanmarie and Malcolm encounter Tallulah, a famous actress who happens to be dead -- although not too dead to send them on a magical quest to find out who stole the famous Regina Stone. But their search leads Jeanmarie and Malcolm to something far more valuable than a missing diamond -- adventure, friendship, and self-knowledge.