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
Ellen Raskin
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
Louise Fitzhugh
Soon to be an Apple TV+ animated series starring Golden Globe nominee Beanie Feldstein and Emmy Award winner Jane Lynch, it's no secret that Harriet the Spy is a timeless classic that kids will love! Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. In her notebook, she writes down...
Nate the Great
Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
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,
Help Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose solve mysteries from A to Z! Kids love collecting the entire alphabet and super editions! With over 8 million copies in print, the A to Z Mysteries have been hooking chapter book readers on mysteries and reading for years. Now this classic kid...
Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds
David A. Adler
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
Nancy Springer
Now a Netflix original movie starring Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, and Helena Bonham Carter! Meet Enola Holmes, teenaged girl turned detective and the younger sister to Sherlock Holmes. When Enola Holmes, sister to the detective Sherlock Holmes, discovers her...
Liar & Spy
Rebecca Stead
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...
Timmy Failure: Mistakes were made
Stephan Pastis
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...
Murder Most Unladylike
Robin Stevens
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 (Mac B., Kid Spy #1)
Mac Barnett
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 while he...
Premeditated Myrtle
Elizabeth C. Bunce
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
Marthe Jocelyn
Aggie Morton lives in a small town on the coast of England in 1902. Adventurous and imaginative but deeply shy, Aggie hasn't got much to do since the death of her beloved father... until the fateful day when she crosses paths with twelve-year-old Belgian immigrant Hector Perot and discovers a dead...
Pedro's Mystery Club
Fran Manushkin
With a new clubhouse in his yard, Pedro decides to start a mystery-solving club. Will he and his friends find the clues to crack the case? A simple plot, relatable characters, and reader-support tools are delivered with the young reader in mind.
The Amelia Six
Kristin L. Gray
"A cozy whodunit that cheerfully affirms girls' and women's contributions to aerospace." --Kirkus Reviews "Comparisons with Nancy Drew and Sammy Keyes come to mind, but this satisfying mystery seems more like the works of Ellen Raskin, E.L. Konigsburg, and Gennifer...
Sherlock Sam and the Missing Heirloom in Katong
A.J. Low
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
Katryn Bury
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...
The Crown Heist
Deron R. Hicks
In another "suspenseful mystery romp with art appreciation" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Art and Camille head to London to find her estranged father, and soon find themselves embroiled in a heist involving a long-dead monarch.  Packed with fascinating facts about real places and pieces of...
Mystery on Magnolia Circle
Kate Klise
Rear Window meets Nancy Drew in this middle-grade novel by Kate Klise about a girl who believes she has witnessed a crime What happens when two best friends take on the world's worst summer? On the first day of vacation, ten-year-old...
The Case of the Missing Cheetah (Secret Spy Society)
Veronica Mang
"This book is a delight. Fun. Funny. And full of adventure." --AndreaBeaty, #1New York Timesbestselling author ofRosie Revere, Engineer The first book in a highly illustrated new chapter book series about three delightfully mischievous young girls and some of the most...
Homer on the Case
Henry Cole
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
Rachelle Delaney
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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