Mystery and Detective Stories for Kids

More challenging puzzles for mystery lovers to track down.

Updated December 18, 2024
C
CU Catalog Champaign Children's Team
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Three times lucky
Turnage, Sheila.
Paper Book
Meet Miss Moses LoBeau-rising sixth grader natural born detective, borderline straight-A student, and goddess of free enterprise. Mo washed ashore in Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, eleven years ago during one of the meanest hurricanes in history, and she's been making waves ever since. ...
The case of the time-capsule bandit
Spencer, Octavia.
Paper Book
Meet Randi Rhodes, the world's first ninja detective! Mystery abounds in this delightful new middle grade series from Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer. Deer Creek is a small town whose only hope for survival is the success of their Founder's Day Festival. But the...
The curse of the pharaoh
Stevenson, Steve.
Paper Book
Agatha: Girl of Mystery is a fanciful and fabulous new mystery series about a headstrong girl detective who jets off on exotic and international adventures with the help of her hulking bodyguard and loyal cat named, aptly, Watson. The first mystery in this series sees young detective Agatha...
Andi unexpected : an Andi Boggs novel
Flower, Amanda.
Paper Book
After the sudden death of their parents in the jungles of Central America, twelve-year-old science geek Andora "Andi" Boggs and her diva teenaged sister, Bethany, move to rural Killdeer, Ohio to live with their eccentric twenty-something aunt. And while the timeworn house has been home to the...
Chasing Vermeer
Balliett, Blue
Paper Book
This bewitching first novel is a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, disguised as an adventure, and delivered as a work of art. Chasing Vermeer joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content! When a book of...
The case of the case of mistaken identity
Barnett, Mac.
Paper Book
National treasures, criminal masterminds, and...secret agent librarians? Steve Brixton wants to be a crime-busting detective--just like his favorite crime-busting detectives, the Bailey Brothers. Turns out, though, that real life is nothing like the stories. When...
Shakespeare's secret
Broach, Elise.
Paper Book
Hero changed into a T-shirt, grabbed a book, and padded barefoot into her sister's room. The large windows overlooked the backyard. She could see the moonlight streaming over the trees and bushes, making long, crazy shadows across the grass. Was there a diamond hidden out there somewhere? She...
Half-Moon investigations
Colfer, Eoin.
Paper Book
Fletcher Moon has never been like other kids. For one thing, he has had to suffer the humiliating nickname "Half Moon" because of his short stature. But the real reason Fletcher is different is that ever since he was a baby, he's had a nose for sniffing out mysteries. And after graduating at the top...
The trouble with chickens : a J.J. Tully mystery
Cronin, Doreen.
Paper Book
* Online discussion guide * Paperback giveaway of at 2012 TLA or 2012 IRA
From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Konigsburg, E. L.
Paper Book
A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) Run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with E. L. Konigsburg's beloved classic and Newbery Medal­-winning novel From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler! When Claudia decided to run away, she...
The case of the missing marquess : an Enola Holmes mystery
Springer, Nancy.
Paper Book
When Enola Holmes, the much younger sister of detective Sherlock Holmes, discovers her mother has disappeared--on her 14th birthday nonetheless--she knows she alone can find her. Disguising herself as a grieving widow, Enola sets out to the heart of London to uncover her mother's...
Encyclopedia Brown. No. 1, Boy detective
Sobol, Donald J.
Paper Book
Leroy Brown, aka Encyclopedia Brown, is Idaville neighborhood's ten-year-old star detective. With an uncanny knack for trivia, he solves mysteries for the neighborhood kids through his own detective agency. But his dad also happens to be the chief of the Idaville police department, and every night...
The name of this book is secret
Bosch, Pseudonymous.
Paper Book
Read the series that's sold more than 2 million copies--if you dare! Warning: this description has not been authorized by Pseudonymous Bosch. As much as he'd love to sing the praises of his book (he is very vain), he wouldn't want you to hear about his...
Chomp
Hiaasen, Carl.
Paper Book
In this hysterical #1 New York Times bestseller, one kid has to wrangle gators, snakes, bats that bite, and a reality show host gone rogue! This is Carl Hiaasen's Florida--where the creatures are wild and the people are wilder!    When Wahoo Cray's...
Regarding the fountain : a tale, in letters, of Liars and Leaks
Klise, Kate.
Paper Book
The Dry Creek Middle School drinking fountain has sprung a leak, so principal Walter Russ dashes off a request to Flowing Waters Fountains, Etc. asking "...We need a new drinking fountain. Please send catalog. " Florence Waters responds: "I'd be delighted. . . But please understand...
The maze of bones
Riordan, Rick.
Paper Book
The first book in the #1 bestselling phenomenon sends readers around the world on the hunt for the 39 Clues!Minutes before she died Grace Cahill changed her will, leaving her decendants an impossible decision: "You have a choice - one million dollars or a clue."Grace is the last matriarch of the...
The fairy-tale detectives
Buckley, Michael
Paper Book
With the winning combination of Nancy Drew meets Shrek, this first book in the new Sisters Grimm series will entertain with a hilarious mix of mysteries and fairy tale twists.In the tradition of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events and The Spiderwick Chronicles comes a new humorous mystery...
The deadliest stunt
Lobdell, Scott.
Paper Book
When a mysterious saboteur infiltrates the Miss Teen Stunt Americana competition, Joe and Frank are assigned to back up one of the contestants... Lind'Z Rider, the most flamboyant and impulsive A.T.A.C. agent ever! As if the competition stunts weren't dangerous enough, Frank and Joe must stop the...
Tiger counter
Petrucha, Stefan.
Paper Book
Nancy and her BFFs Bess and George ecnounter lions, tigers, and scares -- oh, my! -- when they investigate a missing cat mystery. But when the authorities learn exactly how many cats eccentric old Mrs. Eartha keeps in her house, they are foced to removed most of them because of the health code...

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