Kids: Mysteries and detective stories

Are you ready to solve a mystery? Pick out one of these books and enjoy some mysterious happenings, daring detectives, and super sleuths!

Updated July 28, 2025
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Wellington City Libraries Children's team at Wellington City Libraries
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Kids: Mysteries and detective stories

Are you ready to solve a mystery? Pick out one of these books and enjoy some mysterious happenings, daring detectives, and super sleuths!

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Amari and the night brothers
Alston, B. B.
Paper Book
New York Times bestseller! Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this exhilarating debut middle grade fantasy, the first in a series filled with #blackgirlmagic. Perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor. Amari Peters has...
Los Cinco y el tesoro de la isla
Blyton, Enid
Paper Book
The Famous Five go on a treasure hunt, but they are not alone. Will they find it first?
Look into my eyes
Child, Lauren.
Paper Book
Hey, buster! Crack open this new series starring Ruby Redfort — Clarice Bean's favorite all-action heroine — and you will literally be on the edge of your wits. Everyone knows that Clarice Bean is exceptionordinarily keen on the Ruby Redfort books. Now in her own...
The lost twin
Cleverly, Sophie
Paper Book
When shy Ivy's troublemaking twin Scarlet vanishes from Rookwood boarding school, Ivy is invited to "take her place." But when Ivy arrives, she discovers the school's true intention; she has to pretend to be Scarlet. Ivy must think like Scarlet, act like Scarlet, become Scarlet. What on...
Framed
Cottrell Boyce, Frank.
Paper Book
A few things to know about Dylan He is the only boy in his entire town—so forget about playing soccer. His best friends are two pet chickens. His family owns the world's only gas station/coffee house—their pies are to die for, but profits are in the hole. ...
Max in the house of spies
Gidwitz, Adam
Paper Book
An acclaimed Best Book of 2024! Instant New York Times bestseller . Wall Street Journal Best Books of the Year . Booklist Editors' Choice . Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year . School Library Journal Best Books of the Year . Common Sense Best Books...
The thieves of Ostia : a Roman mystery
Lawrence, Caroline.
Paper Book
It is A.D. 79, and Flavia Gemina, daughter of a successful Roman sea captain, is about to celebrate her birthday. Then the dogs in her neighborhood start dying mysteriously, and there are rumors of burglary in the houses on Flavia's street. Set in the graveyards, houses, and alleyways of an...
Mistakes were made
Pastis, Stephan.
Paper Book
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...
Ottoline and the yellow cat
Riddell, Chris.
Paper Book
Meet Ottoline Brown and her best friend, Mr. Munroe. No puzzle is ever too tricky for the two of them to solve.
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...
Rooftoppers
Rundell, Katherine.
Paper Book
Embrace possibility in this luminous novel about a girl in search of her past who discovers a secret rooftop world in Paris. Everyone thinks that Sophie is an orphan. True, there were no other recorded female survivors from the shipwreck that left baby Sophie floating in the...
Friday Barnes, girl detective
Spratt, R. A.
Paper Book
"A must-have series for middle-grade readers." --Booklist A Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, 2017 Imagine if Sherlock Holmes was an eleven-year-old girl! When Friday Barnes, girl genius, solves a bank robbery, she uses the...
When you reach me
Stead, Rebecca.
Paper Book
"Like A Wrinkle in Time (Miranda's favorite book), When You Reach Me far surpasses the usual whodunit or sci-fi adventure to become an incandescent exploration of 'life, death, and the beauty of it all.'" --The Washington Post This Newbery Medal winner...
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