Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
Like her idol Sherlock Holmes, eighth grader Ingrid Levin-Hill uses her intellect to solve a murder case in her home town of Echo Falls. 375 pages.
Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison
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. 321 pages.
The Last Treasure by Janet Anderson
Thirteen-year-old Ellsworth leaves his father to visit the relatives he has never met and eventually joins forces with Jess, his distant cousin, to uncover family secrets and search for their ancestor's hidden treasure. 257pages.
Captain Hawaii by Anthony Dana Arkin
While vacationing in Hawaii, sixteen-year-old Arron becomes involved with a tour guide, his beautiful daughter, and a ruthless developer who seeks an ancient secret hidden on the island of Kauai. 242 pages.
Wolf Rider: A Tale of Terror by Avi
After receiving an apparent crank call from a man claiming to have committed murder, fifteen-year-old Andy finds his close relationship with his father crumbling as he struggles to make everyone believe him. 202 pages.
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett
When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal. 254 pages.
The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt by John Bellairs
Twelve-year old Johnny Dixon and his friend Professor Childermass look for the hidden will left by an eccentric cereal tycoon who wished to make life difficult for his heirs after his own death by suicide. 168 pages.
The Three Detectives and the Knight in Armor by Simon Brett
Three young detectives suspect someone of trying to steal medieval suits of armor from Scalethorpe Castle. 164 pages. -See also other books in the Three Detective series.
The Case of the Prank That Stank by Laura Burns
Seventh-graders Agatha Wong and Orville Wright, who has Asperger's syndrome, try to prove that the prank they organized did not cause the fire that burned down their rival school's field house. 182 pages
Do You Know the Monkey Man? by Dori Butler
While searching for the father who left her and her mother ten years ago, thirteen-year-old Samantha begins to believe that the twin sister who supposedly died when they were three years old is still alive. 193 pages
Half-Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer
Twleve-year-old private investigator Fletcher Moon, nicknamed "Half Moon" because of his shortness, must track down a conspiracy or be framed for a crime he did not commit. 290 pages.
Grave Doubts by Scott Corbett
Two sixteen-year-old boys, suspicious of the sudden death of an eccentric millionaire, look for a clue to the mystery in the last crossword puzzle the old man worked on. 157 pages.
The Big Smith Snatch by Jane Curry
When their pregnant mother gets sick on the eve of their move from California to Pennsylvania, the four younger Smith children find themselves in the custody of an unscrupulous couple who force them to steal. Their twelve-year-old sister Boc, with the help of an eccentric bag lady, tries to trace their whereabouts and get the family back together again. 220 pages.
The Missing Manatee by Cynthia DeFelice
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. 181 pages.
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
When Ted and Kat's cousin Salim disappears from the London Eye ferris wheel, the two siblings must work together--Ted with his brain that is "wired differently" and impatient Kat--to try to solve the mystery of what happened to Salim. 322 pages.
The Fire Bug Connection by Jean Craighead George
Twelve-year-old Maggie receives European fire bugs for her birthday, but when they fail to metamorphose and grow grossly large and explode instead, she uses scientific reasoning to determine the cause of their strange death. 148 pages.
Getting Lincoln's Goat: An Elliot Armbruster Mystery by E.M. Goldman
Tenth-grader Elliot wants to be a detective when he grows up, and when he discovers that Lincoln the goat, the school mascot, is missing, he and some of his classmates get a taste of what their chosen careers would really be like. 216 pages.
The Chinese Puzzle by Harriet Graham
In London of the 1890s, two children set out to find their guardian who has disappeared along with his friend, a master magician, and find themselves captive in an opium den with very dangerous characters. 179 pages.
The House on the Gulf by Margaret Peterson Haddix
A sixteen-year-old boy arranges a housesitting job for the summer, but he starts acting strangely after his family moves in, and his sister begins to suspect they are not supposed to be there. 201 pages.
Doppelganger by Pete Hautman
High school newspaper reporter Roni finds an age-progressed photograph on a missing children's website of a boy that looks just like her sidekick Brian, throwing the pair into an investigation of Brian's past and family heritage. (The Bloodwater Mysteries)
The Trouble with Lemons by Daniel Hayes
Tyler and Lymie, eighth grade misfits, discover a dead body in a quarry and work to uncover the mystery behind it. 187 pages.
Following Fake Man by Barbara Ware Holmes
During his summer in Maine, twelve-year-old Homer, together with his new friend Roger, is determined to find the truth about himself, his long-dead father, and a mysterious costumed man. 228 pages.
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Thomas Hoobler
While attempting to solve the mystery of a stolen jewel, Seikei, a merchant's son who longs to be a samurai, joins a group of kabuki actors in eighteenth-century Japan. 214 pages.
The Original Freddie Ackerman by Hadley Irwin
Twelve-year-old Trevor Frederick Ackerman refuses to spend another summer with his extended family of divorced parents, step-parents, and step-brothers and step-sisters, so he is sent up to Maine to stay with two eccentric great aunts and there gets involved with some interesting people and an unexpected mystery. 183 pages.
Hannah West in Deep Water: A Mystery by Linda Johns
Pre-teen sleuth Hannah West investigates an environmental mystery while staying in a houseboat on Seattle's Lake Washington. 151 pages.
Abduction! By Peg Kehret
Thirteen-year-old Bonnie has a feeling of foreboding on the very day that her six-year-old brother Matt and their dog Pookie are abducted, and she becomes involved in a major search effort as well as a frightening adventure. 215 pages.
Fell Down by M.E.Kerr
Seventeen-year-old Fell's determination to investigate his best friend's death in a car crash leads him to a ventriloquists' convention and an unsolved disappearance from almost twenty years ago. 191 pages.
Dragons in the Waters by Madeleine L'Engle
A thirteen-year-old boy's trip to Venezuela with his cousin culminates in murder and the discovery of an unexpected bond with an Indian tribe, dating from the days of Simon Bolivar. 293 pages.
The Case of the Dead Winner by Ralph McInerny
As her health declines, elderly Mrs. Mortimer's greedy family becomes increasingly interested in her estate, raising the suspicions of Father Dowling and a teenage trio.149 pages. –See also The Case of the Constant Caller.
The Case of the Baker Street Irregular by Robert Newman
Brought to London under mysterious circumstances by his tutor, a young boy seeks the help of Sherlock Holmes when his tutor is kidnapped and he himself is threatened with the same fate. 216 pages. -See also other books from the Baker Street Irregular series.
How to Disappear Completely & Never Be Found by Sara Nickerson
Margaret finds three clues she's convinced are related to unraveling her father's mysterious death; a key, a swimming medal, and an odd comic book. 281 pages
The Name of the Game Was Murder by Joan Lowery Nixon
When she visits her great-uncle, a successful and self-centered author, at his fortress-like home on Catalina Island, fifteen-year-old Samantha becomes involved in his manipulative game that leads to murder. 182 pages.
Spirit Seeker by Joan Lowery Nixon
To prove that her friend did not kill his parents, Holly enlists the help of a clairvoyant. 197 pages.
The Weekend Was Murder! by Joan Lowery Nixon
Sixteen-year-old Liz's summer job with an expensive hotel involves her in a staged murder mystery weekend and a real murder. 193 pages.
Someone Was Watching. by David Patneaude
When his baby sister disappears from the river near their summer home, eighth grader Chris fights the assumption that she has drowned and uncovers evidence that something entirely different has happened to her. 240 pages.
Eye of the Crow by Shane Peacock
A woman is found stabbed to death in London. Thirteen-year-old Sherlock Holmes is drawn to the scene to investigate the murder and becomes a suspect himself. (Sherlock Homes: His First Case). 251 pages. Followed by Death in the Air.
The Freshman Detective Blues by P.J Petersen
Eddie, age fourteen, and Jack, age seventeen, find a skeleton weighted down in Muir Lake, and Jack thinks it just might be his father who's been missing for nine years. 205 pages.
Liars by P. J. Petersen
Life in the remote town of Alder Creek, California, is boring for eighth-grader Sam and his friends, until his newly awakened ability to tell when a person is lying involves him in a series of mysterious events. 169 pages.
The Mystery of the Greek Icon by Mary Tyson Pickering
With her only clue a small Greek icon, Marty's search for her father, who is very ill and has disappeared, takes her to Portugal, Switzerland, and Greece. 160 pages.
Close to a Killer by Marsha Qualey
Seventeen-year-old Barrie finds herself involved in a string of murders that are somehow connected to her mother's hair salon. 182 pages.
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim an inheritance. 185 pages.
Ghost Ship by Dietlof Reiche
An eighteenth-century figurehead, the journal of a ship's quartermaster, and supernatural occurrences at a seaside resort lead twelve-year-old Vicki and her friend Peter on a quest to lift a curse and set right a horrible deed committed two hundred and thirty years in the past. 313 pages.
Double Life by Justin Richards
After finding a mysterious stone and an old casebook, fourteen-year-old Arthur finds himself remembering the 1936 adventures of a boy named Art who, under the identity of the Invisible Detective, works with three friends in London to solve the mystery of sinister puppets who are replacing real people. 204 pages. (The Invisible Detective; book one) Followed by: Shadow Beast.
Caught! by Willo Davis Roberts
After a bus journey in search of their father, thirteen-year-old Vickie and her younger sister discover that he is missing and may need their help. 151 pages.
Nightmare by Willo Davis Roberts
When a falling body strikes Nick's car as he drives under an overpass, the police call the death a suicide, but Nick suspects murder and finds his life in danger when he investigates. 216 pages.
Scared Stiff by Willo Davis Roberts
When their mother disappears, two brothers go to stay with a great uncle in a mobile home park next to an abandoned amusement park and begin a search which puts them in danger. 188 pages.
Twisted Summer by Willo Davis Roberts
Fourteen-year-old Cici hopes for a romantic summer at the beach but instead finds herself trying to solve a murder which had occurred there the previous year. 156 pages.
The View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
Rob admits having seen a murder, but no one believes him – except the murderer. 181 pages.
Wolf Stalker by Gloria Skurzynski
Twelve-year-old Jack, his younger sister, and the family's teenage foster child Troy go to Yellowstone National Park, where Jack's mother, a wildlife veterinarian, is investigating the report that wolves reintroduced to the park have killed a dog there. (National Parks Mystery; book one) 147 pages.
The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer
Enola Holmes, much younger sister of detective Sherlock Holmes, must travel to London in disguise to unravel the disappearance of her missing mother. 216 pages.
Lord of the Kill by Theodore Taylor
Excitement shares the spotlight with information about big cats and environmental issues in a riveting story of 16-year-old Ben Jepsen, who searches for a killer after the body of a young woman is found in the jaguar compound of a California animal preserve. 246 pages.
The Spirit Line by Aimee Thurlo
When the special rug Crystal Manyfeathers is weaving for her kinaaldá, the traditional Navajo womanhood ceremony, is stolen from her loom, there are any number of suspects. 216 pages.
Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen
Thirteen-year-old Sammy's penchant for speaking her mind gets her in trouble when she involves herself in the investigation of a robbery at the "seedy" hotel across the street from the seniors' building where she is living with her grandmother. 163 pages.
The Vandemark Mummy by Cynthia Voigt
When their father a professor at Vandemark College, is made responsible for a collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts, twelve-year-old Phineas and his older sister Althea try to find out why the collection is the target of thieves, especially when the mummy disappears. 234 pages.
Missing Abby by Lee Weatherly
As the last one to see thirteen-year-old Abby, Emma is determined to discover the truth about her mysterious disappearance, spurred in part by her feelings of guilt over ending their friendship in order to ensure popularity at her new school. 198 pages.
The Boy in the Burning House by Tim Wynne-Jones
Trying to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance from their rural Canadian community, fourteen-year-old Jim gets help from the disturbed Ruth Rose, who suspects her stepfather, a local pastor. 213 pages.
Elmhurst Public Library 2008 sck/je |
