Picture Books
Base, Graeme The Eleventh Hour
At an elephant's birthday party, the birthday feast has disappeared. The reader is invited to guess the thief.
Kellogg, Steven Mystery of the Stolen Blue Paint
When her can of blue paint mysteriously disappears, Belinda is determined to find out which one of the children took it.
Titus, Eve Anatole and the Thirty Thieves
Anatole, the mouse, returns from vacation to find he is sorely needed to help solve the mystery of the Great Cheese Robbery which has closed his good friend’s cheese factory.
Yolen, Jane Piggins (Piggins Series)
During a dinner party, the lights go out and Mrs. Reynard's beautiful diamond necklace is stolen, but Piggins the butler quickly discovers the real thief.
Easy Readers
Adler, David Young Cam Jansen and the Dinosaur Game (Young Cam Jansen Series)
When fifth-grader Cam Jansen and her friend Eric go to a birthday party, she uses her photographic memory to solve the puzzle of the dinosaur count.
Rylant, Cynthia The Case of the Fidgety Fox (High-Rise Private Eyes Series)
When the fluffy dice of Melvin the bus driver turn up missing, Bunny and Jack, two animal detectives, investigate the case.
Juvenile
Adler, David Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds (Cam Jansen Series)
A fifth-grader with a photographic memory and her friend Eric help solve the mystery of the stolen diamonds.
Arthur, Robert Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators in the Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot (Three Investigators Series)
In searching for a lost parrot who recites Shakespeare with a stutter, Jupiter Jones' firm of young detectives becomes involved with a missing masterpiece.
Avi Windcatcher
While learning to sail, Tony follows a couple who seem to be making a mysterious search for something.
Bellairs, John The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring
Following clues in a deathbed letter, Rose Rita and a friendly witch are lured into a sinister world.
Byars, Betsy The Dark Stairs (Herculeah Jones Series)
The intrepid Herculeah Jones helps her mother, a private investigator, solve a puzzling and frightening case.
Christopher, Matt Penalty Shot
Jeff, a hockey player, suddenly finds himself the victim of sabotage in the form of forged papers.
Christopher, Matt Pressure Play
Travis starts receiving anonymous threats warning him to spend more time on baseball.
Clifford, Eth Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library
Two girls spend an adventurous night trapped inside the public library during a terrible blizzard.
Coleman, Michael Escape Key (Internet Detectives Series)
Solve crime online.
Erickson, John The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog (Hank the Cowdog Series)
Head of Ranch Security, Hank uses his cowdog smarts and a hero's heart to fend off storms, rustlers, and all sorts of critters while solving mysteries.
Farley, Walter The Black Stallion Mystery
Three colts resembling the Black lead Alec on a search to see if the Black Stallion's sire is still alive.
Hale, Bruce The Mystery of Mr. Nice: From The Tattered Casebook of Chet Gecko, Private Eye (Chet Gecko Series)
When hired by a fellow fourth-grader to find her missing brother, Chet Gecko uncovers a plot involving a Gila monster’s revenge upon the school football team.
Hildick, E.W. The Case of the Invisible Dog (McGurk Mystery Series)
At first these were classic whodunits. In the 1980s they became fantasies with a strong mystery component.
Howe, James Bunnicula (Bunnicula Series)
If only Chester could convince his human owners that the new baby rabbit is a vampire!
Howe, James What Eric Knew (Sebastian Barth Series)
After Eric moves away he sends cryptic notes to Sebastian and David, who attempt to make sense of them by investigating a mysterious death.
Jones, Elizabeth McDavid Secrets on 26th Street (American Girl History Mysteries Series)
In New York City in 1914, 11-year-old Susan encounters a mystery through an independent-minded female boarder and becomes involved in the growing suffrage movement.
Konigsberg, E.L. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Claudia and Jamie run away to live in the Metropolitan Museum, where they discover a mysterious statue.
Lisle, Janet Taylor The Gold Dust Letters (Investigators of the Unknown Series)
When nine-year-old Angela and her friends begin investigating the letters she has received from her fairy godmother, it helps take Angela's mind off her strained relationship with her father.
Paulsen, Gary The Case of the Dirty Bird
Dunc Culpepper and his best friend Amos, acting on a tip from a pet shop parrot, set off in search of buried treasure.
Simon, Seymour Einstein Anderson Shocks his Friends (Einstein Anderson Series)
Readers have a chance to solve the several mysteries in each book ahead of Einstein, who uses his knowledge of science to do so.
Sobol, Donald J. Angie's First Case
Angie tracks a gang of teenage thieves and becomes dangerously involved with counterfeiters.
Sobol, Donald J. Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective (Encyclopedia Brown Series)
Encyclopedia uses his vast knowledge to solve crimes in his hometown, where his father is police chief.
Titus, Eve Basil and the Pygmy Cats
Mouse detective Basil lives in the basement of Sherlock Holmes' house and finds his investigative help required by mice the world over.
Wallace, Barbara Brooks The Twin In the Tavern
A young orphan tries to solve the mystery surrounding his past and a missing twin. Also by this author: Peppermints In the Parlor.
Wallace, Bill Danger in Quicksand Swamp
Ben and Jake battle alligators, quicksand, and a murderer as they search for buried treasure in the swamp.
Warner, Gertrude Chandler The Boxcar Children (The Boxcar Children Series)
Four children run away and live in a boxcar, and continue to solve mysteries after being reunited with their grandfather.
Tween
Abrahams, Peter Down the Rabbit Hole (Echo Falls Series)
Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her hometown of Echo Falls. Welcome to Echo Falls.
Allison, Jennifer Gilda Joyce Psychic Investigator (Gilda Joyce Series)
During the summer before ninth grade, intrepid Gilda Joyce invites herself to the San Francisco mansion of distant cousin Lester Splinter and his thirteen-year-old daughter, where she uses her purported psychic abilities and detective skills to solve the mystery of the mansion's boarded-up tower.
Edgar Allan Poe investigates the disappearance of Edmund's family, whose story suggests a new Poe tale.
DeFelice, Cynthia The Missing Manatee
While coping with his parents' separation, eleven-year-old Skeet spends most of Spring Break in his skiff on a Florida river, where he finds a manatee shot to death and begins looking for the killer.
George, Jean Craighead The Missing 'gator of Gumbo Limbo (Ecological Mystery Series)
Sixth-grader Liza K., one of five homeless people living in an unspoiled forest in southern Florida, searches for a missing alligator destined for official extermination and studies the delicate ecological balance keeping her outdoor home beautiful.
Hahn, Mary Downing The Dead Man In Indian Creek
Matt and Parker learn the body they found in Indian Creek is a drug-related death.
Hamilton, Virginia The House of Dies Drear
A family moves to a house where strange sounds and events make the family believe they are in danger. Followed by The Mystery Of Drear House.
Hautman, Pete and Logue, Mary Snatched (Bloodwaters Mystery Series)
Too curious for her own good, Roni, crime reporter for her high school newspaper, teams up with Brian, freshman science geek, to investigate the beating and kidnapping of a classmate.
Horowitz, Anthony The Falcon’s Malteser (Diamond Brothers Mystery Series)
After his older brother, a fledgling private detective, agrees to safeguard a package for a dwarf who does not live long, thirteen-year-old Nick scampers to solve the mystery while also trying to stay one step ahead of an assortment of thugs.
Klause, Annette Curtis Alien Secrets
On a journey to a distant planet, Puck becomes involved in a mystery involving a precious artifact.
Nixon, Joan Lowery Laugh till You Cry
Thirteen years old and a budding comedian, Cody has little to laugh about after he and his mother move from California to Texas to help his sick grandmother and he finds himself framed by his jealous cousin for calling in bomb threats to their school.
Raskin, Ellen The Westing Game
Heirs of a millionaire must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance.
Scrimger, Richard From Charlie’s Point of View: a Mystery
Best friends Bernadette and Charlie begin seventh grade and help unravel the mysterious case of the Stocking Bandit and prove Charlie’s Dad’s innocence.
Skelton, Matthew Endymion Spring
Having reluctantly accompanied his academic mother and pesky younger sister to Oxford, twelve-year-old Blake Winters is at loose ends until he stumbles across an ancient and magical book, secretly brought to England in 1453 by Gutenberg's mute apprentice to save it from evil forces, and which now draws Blake into a dangerous and life-threatening quest.
Skurzynski, Gloria Buried Alive (Mysteries in our National Parks Series)
While their parents study why wolverines are disappearing from Alaska’s Denali National Park, Jack and Ashley are stranded in a remote area with their mysterious new foster brother when a hit man’s bullet triggers an avalanche.
Stevenson, James Bones in the Cliff
Pete, a lonely and timid 11-year-old who has just made friends with an adventurous girl named Rootie. He hides out on Cutlass Island with his alcoholic father, waiting for the gunman his father fears will kill him.
Van Draanen, Wendelin Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man (Sammy Keyes Series)
On Halloween night, seventh grader Sammy stumbles onto a mystery involving a twenty-year-old family feud and some heirlooms stolen by a man in a skeleton costume
Wallace, Bill Trapped in Death Cave
Gary sets out to find buried treasure and his grandfather's killer.