Pages and Information

December 12, 2011

Books for kids and teens who like mysteries, thrillers, and whodunits

Juvenile Fiction

The Postcard    by Tony Abbott
ABBOTT
While in St. Petersburg, Florida, to help clean out his recently-deceased grandmother's house, thirteen-year-old Jason finds an old postcard which leads him on an adventure that blends figures from an old, unfinished detective story with his family's past.

Whales on Stilts    by M.T. Anderson
ANDERSO
Racing against the clock, shy middle-school student Lily and her best friends, Katie and Jasper, must foil the plot of her father's conniving boss to conquer the world using an army of whales.

Murder at Midnight    by Avi
AVI
Falsely accused of plotting to overthrow King Claudio, scholarly Mangus the magician, along with his street-smart servant boy, Fabrizio, face deadly consequences unless they can track down the real traitor by the stroke of midnight.

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen    by Eric Berlin
BERLIN
Puzzle-crazy, twelve-year-old Winston and his ten-year-old sister Katie find themselves involved in a dangerous mystery involving a hidden ring. Puzzles for the reader to solve are included throughout the text.

Masterpiece    by Elise Broach
BROACH
After Marvin, a beetle, makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday gift for James, a human with whom he shares a house, the two new friends work together to help recover a Durer drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Room One: A Mystery or Two    by Andrew Clements
CLEMENT
Ted Hammond, the only sixth grader in his small Nebraska town's one-room schoolhouse, searches for clues to the disappearance of a homeless family.

The London Eye Mystery    by Siobhan Dowd
DOWD
When Ted and Kat's cousin Salim disappears from the London Eye ferris wheel, the two siblings must work together--Ted with his brain that is "wired differently" and impatient Kat--to try to solve the mystery of what happened to Salim.

Running Out of Time    by Margaret Peterson Haddix
HADDIX
When a diphtheria epidemic hits her 1840 village, thirteen-year-old Jessie discovers it is actually a 1995 tourist site under unseen observation by heartless scientists, and it's up to Jessie to escape the village and save the lives of the dying children.

The Golden Goblet    by Eloise McGraw
MCGRAW
A young Egyptian boy struggles to reveal a hideous crime and reshape his own destiny.
Ranofer struggles to thwart the plottings of his evil brother, Gebu, so he can become master goldsmith like their father in this exciting tale of ancient Egyptian mystery and intrigue.

Reality Leak    by Joni Sensel
SENSEL
Train noises without trains and mysterious explosions baffle the residents of South Wiggot as eleven-year-old Bryan and his friend Spot try to connect the strange happenings with the town's newest industry and its president, Mr. Keen.


Teen/Young Adult Fiction

Down the Rabbit Hole: An Echo Falls Mystery    by Peter Abrahams
ABRAHAM
Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls.

The Traitors’ Gate    by Avi
AVI
When his father is arrested as a debtor in 1849 London, fourteen-year-old John Huffman must take on unexpected responsibilities, from asking a distant relative for help to determining why people are spying on him and his family.

The Red Blazer Girls   by Michael Beil
BEIL
Catholic-schooled seventh-graders Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca, and Leigh Ann help an elderly neighbor solve a puzzle her father left for her estranged daughter twenty years ago.

The Sign of the Scales   by Marianne Brandis
BRANDIS
Sixteen-year-old Emma, an orphan, finds work in Ontario in 1830 and investigates a mystery at the shop where she works.

Desert Crossing    by Elise Broach
BROACH
A summer trip across the New Mexico desert turns nightmarish for fourteen-year-old Lucy, her older brother Jamie, and his best friend Kit, as they become involved in the suspicious death of a young girl.

Things Hoped For    by Andrew Clements
CLEMENT
Seventeen-year-old Gwen, who has been living with her grandfather in Manhattan while she attends music school, joins up with another music student to solve the mystery when her grandfather suddenly goes missing.

Half-Moon Investigations    by Eoin Colfer
COLFER
Twleve-year-old private investigator Fletcher Moon, nicknamed “Half Moon” because of his shortness, must track down a conspiracy or be framed for a crime he did not commit.

Phoning a Dead Man    by Gillian Cross
CROSS
When John, a British demolitions expert, is supposedly killed blowing up a building in Siberia, his fiancee Annie insists on investigating, despite being in a wheelchair, and John's teenage sister Hayley goes along and finds that the Russian Mafia is involved.

The Thief Lord    by Cornelia Funke
FUNKE
Two brothers, having run away from the aunt who plans to adopt the younger one, are sought by a detective hired by their aunt, but they have found shelter with Venice's “Thief Lord”.

Who Killed Mr. Chippendale: a Mystery in Poems    by Mel Glenn
GLENN
A murder mystery told in free verse poems, describing the reactions of students, colleagues, and others when high school teacher Mr. Chippendale, loved by some, hated by others, is shot as the school day begins.

The House on the Gulf    by Margaret Haddix
HADDIX
A sixteen-year-old boy arranges a housesitting job for the summer, but he starts acting strangely after his family moves in, and his sister begins to suspect they are not supposed to be there.

Closed for the Season    by Mary Downing Hahn
HAHN
When thirteen-year-old Logan and his family move into a run-down old house in rural Virginia, he discovers that a woman was murdered there and becomes involved with his neighbor Arthur in a dangerous investigation to try to uncover the killer.

Cold Skin    by Steve Herrick
HERRICK
In a rural Australian coal mining town shortly after World War II, teenaged Eddie makes a startling discovery when he investigates the murder of a local high school girl.

The Demon in the Teahouse     by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler
HOOBLER
In eighteenth-century Japan, fourteen-year-old Seikei, a merchant's son in training to be a samurai, helps his patron investigate a series of murders and arson, each of which is associated in some way with a popular geisha.

Bad Kitty    by Michele Jaffe
JAFFE
While vacationing with her family in Las Vegas, seventeen-year-old Jasmine stumbles upon a murder mystery that she attempts to solve with the help of her friends, recently arrived from California.

Lulu Dark and the Summer of the Fox    by Bennett Madison
MADISON
When a mysterious person called the Fox begins to threaten young starlets, Lulu Dark investigates, even though she suspects that her own mother--an aging actress--might be behind it all.

Close to a Killer    by Marsha Qualey
QUALEY
Seventeen-year-old Barrie finds herself involved in a string of murders that are somehow connected to her mother's hair salon.

Rebel    by Willo Davis Roberts
ROBERTS
When her grandmother decides to ditch assisted living and start a boarding house, fourteen-year-old Amanda Jane Keeling, or Rebel, signs on for the work crew, where she just happens to meet a teenaged boy taller than she is and to embroil them both in a mystery.

Finding Lubchenko    by Michael Simmons
SIMMONS
When his father is framed for murder and bioterrorism, high-school junior Evan, using clues from a stolen laptop, travels from Seattle to Paris with two friends to find the real culprit.

Finding the Forger    by Libby Sternberg
STERNBE
Teen sleuth Bianca Balducci gets involved in a mystery concerning a series of thefts from an art gallery, where the original paintings are replaced by fakes, and the clues point to her friend Sarah's potential beau. Sequel follows.

Mystery series

Series: The 39 Clues     by Various Authors
(Shelved by Author in YA collection)
Amy and Dan Cahill compete with other family members as they search for 39 clues mentioned in their grandmother’s will.

Series:  The A to Z Mysteries     by Ron Roy
J Fiction Series-A
Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose solve mysteries in Green Lawn, Connecticut.

Series:  The Boxcar Children     by Gertrude Chandler Warner
J Fiction Series-BOXCAR
Orphans Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny solve mysteries while living in an old boxcar.

Series: Cam Jansen     by David Adler
J Fiction Series-CAM
Cam Jansen uses her photographic memories to solve mysteries.

Series: Hank the Cowdog     by John Erickson
J Fiction Series-COWDOG
Hank the Cowdog, head of security, protects the M-Cross ranch with his sidekick Drover.

Series: Forensic Mystery    by Alane Ferguson
YA-FERGUSO
High school student Cameryn works as an assistant coroner and becomes involved in solving murders.

Series: Geronimo Stilton    by Geronimo Stilton
J Fiction Series-GERONIMO
Geronimo Stilton, a talking mouse and newspaper editor, solves mysteries with the help of friends and family.

Series: The Hardy Boys    by Franklin W. Dixon
J Fiction Series-HARDY BOYS
Brothers Joe and Frank Hardy help their father, a detective, solve mysteries.

Series: Young Bond    by Charlie Higson
YA-HIGSON
James Bond before he became a super spy. Bond is young boy whose inquisitive mind and determination set him on a path that will someday take him across the globe, in pursuit of the most dangerous criminals of all time.

Series: Jigsaw Jones Mysteries    by James Preller
J Fiction Series-JIGSAW
Jigsaw Jones and his friend Mila Yeh solve mysteries in their second grade classroom.

Series: Nancy Drew   by Carolyn Keene
J Fiction Series-NANCY
Teen sleuth Nancy Drew solves mysteries in the fictional town of River Heights.

Series: Mysteries in Our National Parks   by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson
J Fiction Series-SKURZYN
Jack and his younger sister Ashley visit national parks with their parents, solving mysteries and saving animals.

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