Mystery and Detective Books for Kids

Go beyond Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Encyclopedia Brown with these mysteries for kids.
Updated September 19, 2022
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The Westing game
Raskin, Ellen.
For twenty-five years, Ellen Raskin's Newbery Medal-winning The Westing Game has been an enduring favorite and is now being reissued with a brand-new jacket by Kevin Hawkes and an introduction by Ann Durell. This highly inventive mystery involves sixteen people who are invited to...
Harriet, the spy
Fitzhugh, Louise.
It's no secret that Harriet the Spy is a timeless classic that kids will love! Every day can be an adventure if you just look carefully enough! Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. In her notebook, she writes down everything she knows about everyone, even her classmates and her best...
NATE THE GREAT
SHARMAT, MARJORIE WEINMAN
Join the world's greatest detective, Nate the Great, as he solves the mystery of the lost picture! Perfect for beginning readers and the Common Core, this long-running chapter book series will encourage children to problem-solve with Nate, using logical thinking to solve mysteries!  ...
The absent author
Roy, Ron
CAM JANSEN AND THE MYSTERY OF THE STOLEN DIAMONDS
ADLER, DAVID
No mystery is too great for super-sleuth Cam Jansen and her amazing photographic memory!  Can Cam help catch the diamond thief? Cam and her friend Eric are sitting at the mall when the jewelry store is robbed. Cam sees the thief, but the police arrest the wrong person. Now...
The case of the missing marquess : an Enola Holmes mystery
Springer, Nancy.
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...
Liar & spy
Stead, Rebecca.
The instant New York Times bestseller from the author of the Newbery Medal winner When You Reach Me: a story about spies, games, and friendship.   The first day Georges (the S is silent) moves into a new Brooklyn apartment, he sees a sign taped to a door in...
Mistakes were made
Pastis, Stephan.
Want to aspire to greatness? Check out this edition of Timmy Failure's first adventure--featuring the bonus section "How to Draw Timmy and Total." He may be clueless, but the comically self-confident Timmy Failure is CEO of the best detective agency in town, perhaps even the...
The Falcon's Malteser
Horowitz, Anthony
Murder is bad manners
Stevens, Robin
Two friends form a detective agency--and must solve their first murder case--in this "sharp-witted debut" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) that is the first adventure in a brand-new middle grade mystery series set at a 1930s boarding school. Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong...
Precious and the Monkeys
Alexander McCall Smith
THE NO. 1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY - Young Readers Fans around the world adore the bestselling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the basis of the HBO TV show, and its proprietor Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's premier lady detective.  In this charming series, Mma ...
Mac undercover
Barnett, Mac
A thrilling, hilarious fully-illustrated spy adventure series, from the esteemed New York Times bestselling and multi-award-winning author Mac Barnett!A New York Times bestsellerAn Amazon Best Book of 2018Before Mac Barnett was an author, he was a kid.And...
Premeditated Myrtle : a Myrtle Hardcastle mystery
Bunce, Elizabeth C.
A 2021 Edgar® Award Winner, Best Juvenile A BookPage Best Book of 2020: Middle Grade A Mighty Girl's 2020 Books of the Year Introducing Myrtle Hardcastle, your favorite new amateur detective: a wickedly smart...
The body under the piano
Jocelyn, Marthe
A smart and charming middle-grade mystery series starring young detective Aggie Morton and her friend Hector, inspired by the imagined life of Agatha Christie as a child and her most popular creation, Hercule Poirot. For fans of Lemony Snicket and Enola Holmes. Aggie...
Sherlock Sam and the missing heirloom in Katong
Low, A. J.
An exciting new update of the classic Sherlock Holmes detective stories in which Sherlock is a 10-year-old kid living in Singapore and Watson is his trusty robot companion! Introducing the Sherlock Sam series by A.J. Low--a fresh, cross-cultural twist on the classic...
Drew Leclair gets a clue
Bury, Katryn
In this modern take on Harriet the Spy, twelve-year-old Drew uses her true crime expertise to catch the cyberbully in her school--only to discover that family, friendship, and identity are the hardest mysteries to solve. Drew Leclair knows what it takes to be a great detective. She's pored...
Homer on the case
Cole, Henry
A homing pigeon teams up with a parrot and their human owners to investigate an animal crime spree in this action-packed, illustrated detective story from Henry Cole. Homing pigeon Homer and realizes something is afoul when he witnesses four-legged criminals stealing valuables...
ALICE FLECK'S RECIPES FOR DISASTER
DELANEY, RACHELLE
When Alice agreed to appear in a reality cooking show with her father, she had no idea she'd find herself in the middle of a mystery! Will Alice and her new friends be able to save the show? A light-hearted and funny middle grade novel for fans of Rebecca Stead and Lynda Mullaly Hunt. ...

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