Mysteries

 

Crimes, Clues and Capers…Mysteries for Middle School Readers

 

Gilda Joyce by Jennifer Allison (YA FIC All)
Ever since her father died two years ago, Gilda has been working on sharpening her psychic skills, both in an attempt to communicate with him and to solve spooky mysteries.

 

The Red Blazer Girls by Michael Beil (YA FIC Bei)
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 in the first adventure.

 

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley (J FIC Buc)
When orphaned sisters, Sabrina and Daphne, are sent to live with their mysterious grandmother, Relda Grimm, who lives in a strange town in New York state, known for its extraordinary number of unexplained and unusual crimes, they begin to unravel a mystery that leads to their ancestors' magical beginnings.

 

Final Four Mysteries by John Feinstein (J FIC Fei)
Series of sports themed mysteries taking place at the NCAA finals, Wimbledon and the Super Bowl.

 

Cat Royal Adventures by Julia Golding (YA FIC Gol)
One adventure leads into the next, taking Cat through the colorful streets of late 18th century London. The exciting mysteries—filled with fascinating characters, lots of incident, theatrical spectacles and even a bit of political intrigue—will thrill readers.

 

The Diamond Brothers by Anthony Horowitz (YA FIC Hor)
Thirteen-year-old Nick is the younger (and brighter) half of the Diamond Brothers, the world's worst detective agency.

 

Traces by Malcolm Rose (YA FIC Ros)
Forensic Investigator Luke Harding is called to investigate his first real case--a young student has been mysteriously shot and killed by an arrow. The boy's murder is followed in swift succession by two more grisly deaths in this first installment in the Traces series.

 

Enola Holmes by Nancy Springer (J FIC Spr)
Sherlock Holmes' 14-year-old sister, Enola Holmes, has keen powers of observation that she uses to solve Victorian era mysteries.

 

The Invisible Detectives by Justin Richards (YA FIC Ric)
Who is the Invisible Detective? To the people of London, 1936, he’s a shadowy crime fighter whose face has never been seen. Truth is, he’s the creation of four extraordinary kids who solve mysteries in his name. And neither an army of murderous zombie mannequins nor a subterranean monster can stop the Invisible Detective once the kids are on the case.

 

Sammy Keyes by Wendelin Van Draanen (J FIC Van)
Thirteen-year-old Sammy, who has penchant for speaking her mind and getting in trouble, finds herself investigating various crimes and mysteries.

 

Stand Alone Mystery Titles

 

Behind the Curtain by Peter Abrahams (YA FIC Abr)
An avid Sherlock Holmes fan, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill is kidnapped while investigating mysterious happenings in her home town.

 

Max Cassidy: Escape From Shadow Island by Paul Adam (YA FIC Ada)
British fourteen-year-old Max Cassidy calls on his skills and training as a professional escape artist when he attempts to clear his mother of murdering his father, who disappeared two years earlier in the Central American country of Santo Domingo.

 

The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen by M.T. Anderson (J FIC And)
Looking forward to a vacation, Katie, Lily, and Jasper attach their flying Gyroscopic Sky Suite to the Moose Tongue Lodge and Resort, where they mingle with other child heroes found in books, and where they become embroiled in a mystery involving lederhosen-clothed quintuplets and a screaming ventriloquist.

 

Traitor’s Gate by Avi (J FIC 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 Calder Game by Blue Balliet (J FIC Bal)
When seventh-grader Calder Pillay disappears from a remote English village--along with an Alexander Calder sculpture to which he has felt strangely drawn--his friends Petra and Tommy fly from Chicago to help his father find him.

 

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin (J FIC Ber)
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.

 

Shakespeare’s Secret by Elise Broach (YA FIC Bro)
Named after a character in a Shakespeare play, misfit sixth-grader Hero becomes interested in exploring this unusual connection because of a valuable diamond supposedly hidden in her new house, an intriguing neighbor, and the unexpected attention of the most popular boy in school.

 

Truth About Truman School by Dori Hillestad Butler (YA FIC But)
Tired of being told what to write by the school newspaper's advisor, Zibby and her friend Amr start an underground newspaper online where everyone is free to post anything, but things spiral out of control when a cyberbully starts using the site to harass one popular girl.

 

Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer (YA FIC Col)
Twelve-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.

 

The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney (YA FIC Coo)
A young girl is shocked to discover the face on a milk carton is her face when she was young. Are her parents her real parents, or was she kidnapped as a young child?

 

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd (J FIC Dow)
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.

 

Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs (J FIC Gib)
Twelve-year-old Teddy investigates when a popular Texas zoo's star attraction--Henry the hippopotamus--is murdered.

 

Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham (YA FIC Gri)
With two attorneys for parents, thirteen-year-old Theodore Boone knows more about the law than most lawyers do. But when a high profile murder trial comes to his small town and Theo gets pulled into it, it's up to this amateur attorney to save the day.

 

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix (J FIC Had)
When thirteen-year-olds Jonah and Chip, who are both adopted, learn they were discovered on a plane that appeared out of nowhere, full of babies with no adults on board, they realize that they have uncovered a mystery involving time travel and two opposing forces, each trying to repair the fabric of time.

 

13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison (J FIC Har)
Bedeviled by evil fairies that only she can see, thirteen-year-old Tanya is sent to stay with her cold and distant grandmother at Elvesden Manor, where she and the caretaker's son solve a disturbing mystery that leads them to the discovery that Tanya's life is in danger.

 

Flush by Carl Hiaasen (YA FIC Hia)
With their father jailed for sinking a river boat, Noah Underwood and his younger sister, Abbey, must gather evidence that the owner of this floating casino is emptying his bilge tanks into the protected waters around their Florida Keys home.

 

Scat by Carl Hiassen (YA FIC Hia)
Nick and his friend Marta decide to investigate when a mysterious fire starts near a Florida wildlife preserve and an unpopular teacher goes missing.

 

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass (J FIC Mas)
Just before his thirteenth birthday, Jeremy Fink receives a keyless locked box--set aside by his father before his death five years earlier--that purportedly contains the meaning of life.

 

Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller (YA FIC Mil)
Life becomes more interesting for Ananka Fishbein when, at the age of twelve, she discovers an underground room in the park across from her New York City apartment and meets a mysterious girl called Kiki Strike who claims that she, too, wants to explore the subterranean world.

 

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (J FIC Ras)
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.

 

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman (YA FIC Shu)
Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the "New-York Circulating Material Repository," and when she gains coveted access to its Grimm Collection of magical objects, she and the other pages are drawn into a series of frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods.

 

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (J FIC Ste)
As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space. 

 

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (J FIC Ste)
"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests, however just four very special children succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete.

 

To check the status of a book or to place your name on the waiting list, please use the Library Catalog or call the library at 789-1555.

 

List created by for the South Kingstown Public Library by Brandi Kenyon. Updated 05/11.