Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
I just finished reading all the books that I know of that are in this series, which is 7 total, and I loved them!! Artemis Fowl is a criminal mastermind, and he's only, like, 12! During one of his schemes, Artemis captures a fairy, or to be more specific, a LEP recon (Leprechaun, get it?) officer, the only female officer in the whole underground fairy world. A kidnapped fairy is no joke, and Artemis Fowl is the most wanted criminal in fairyland, which is all high-tech and top secret, not sugar plumbs and candy land. Going up against the best officers in the LEP, Artemis proves just how smart he is. He demands a lot of fairy gold as a ransom, and is put under attack as soon as the fairies send the gold in. Not really feeling very threatened, Artemis boasts that he knows how to survive the high-powered explosion the fairies want to send at Fowl Manor. Boasts or not, Artemis compromises and sends out the fairy gold with the fairy he kidnapped, who's name...