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Big Splash
Author: Jack D. Ferraiolo
Matt Stevens, an average middle schooler with a glib tongue and a knack for solving crimes, uncovers a mystery while working with "the organization," a mafia-like syndicate run by seventh-grader Vincent "Mr. Biggs" Biggio, specializing in forged hall passes, test-copying rings, black market candy selling, and taking out hits with water guns. Ages 9-12
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Bones and the Roller Coaster Mystery
Author: David A. Adler
Junior sleuth Jeffrey Bones and his grandfather enjoy a day at the amusement park until their tickets to ride the giant roller coaster mysteriously disappear. Ages 6-8
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Brixton Brothers: The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity
Author: Mac Barnett
Steve Brixton’s essay topic is B-O-R-I-N-G, but when he is attacked by SWAT-team government librarians he learns he is the only detective with the skills to find the missing top-secret item! Age 9-12
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Case Closed?: Nine Mysteries Unlocked by Modern Science
Author: Susan Hughes
Old mysteries are examined anew, using modern scientific techniques. Ages 10 & up
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Case of the Left-Handed Lady: an Enola Holmes Mystery
Author: Nancy Springer
Pursued by her much older brother, famed detective Sherlock Holmes, fourteen-year-old Enola, disguised and using false names, attempts to solve the kidnapping of a baronet's sixteen-year-old daughter in nineteenth-century London. Series. Ages 9-12
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Case of the Lion Dance
Author: Laurence Yep
When $2000 is stolen during the opening of a restaurant, Lily and her aunt, a Chinese-American movie actress, search for the thief throughout San Francisco's Chinatown. Ages 9-12
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Case of the Monkey Burglar
Author: John R. Erickson
Hank learns about a tool thief on the loose who uses a monkey to help him do his dirty work. And before long, Hank finds himself face-to face with the pilfering primate! Series. Ages 9-12
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Cry of the Loon: a Samantha Mystery
Author: Barbara Steiner
In June 1907, twelve-year-old Samantha looks forward to a happy summer with Nellie and her younger sisters at Grandmary's country home in the Adirondacks, but a series of mysterious accidents on the property lead Samantha to suspect that someone is deliberately causing trouble. Series. Ages 9-12
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Curse of the Ancient Mask and Other Case Files
Author: Simon Cheshire
Each of the three mysteries in this book invites the reader to solve the case along with the protagonist, Saxby Smart, by asking questions as the evidence accumulates. Ages 7-11
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Disappearing Acts
Author: Betsy Byars
Herculeah stumbles onto the trail of her friend Meat's long-lost father while she and Meat are investigating the disappearance of a dead body from the men's room of a comedy club. Series. Ages 9-12
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Explorer: The Mystery Boxes
Author: Edited by Kazu Kibuishi
An anthology of short graphic works on the theme of a mysterious box and the marvels, or mayhem, inside. Ages 9-12
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Fairy-Tale Detectives
Author: Michael Buckley
Orphans Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with an eccentric grandmother that they have always believed to be dead. Series. Ages 9-12
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Flying Beaver Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan
Author: Maxwell Eaton
Two beavers thwart an evil plot by penguins who plan to turn Beaver Island into a frosty resort. Series. Ages 7-10
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Framed
Author: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Dylan and his sisters have some ideas about how to improve the family business, but it is not until some strange men arrive in their small town in Wales with valuable paintings, and their father disappears, that they consider turning to crime. Ages 9-12
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Ghost Canoe
Author: Will Hobbs
"No survivors", the authorities say about the shipwreck at Cape Flattery, Washington, but Nathan thinks otherwise. While fishing with the Makah Indians, he looks for the missing man, finds clues to a lost treasure, and faces a killer. Ages 9-12
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Ghost of Poplar Point
Author: Cynthia DeFelice
Allie Nichols,"Ghost Magnet", has her share of ghostly adventures and is ready for a break. But when a new spirit seeks her help, Allie and best friend, Dub, uncover a centuries old secret about their town and must find a way to share it. Ages 9-12
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Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator
Author: Jennifer Allison
During the summer, 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. Ages 9-12
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Girl’s Best Friend
Author: Leslie Margolis
Meet Maggie, the dog-walking detective of Brooklyn. In addition to her sleuthing activities, she interacts with friends, family, an ex-friend and a crush. Ages 10 & up
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Gus & Gertie and the Missing Pearl
Author: Joan Lowery Nixon
Arriving for a vacation on Holiday Island, penguins Gus and Gertie stumble into a hotel full of Bad Guys and have a beautiful, valuable deep-sea pearl stolen from them. Ages 6-8
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Guys Read: Thriller
Author: Jon Scieska
Collected short stories from some of today’s best youth writers. All thrilling, there are ghost stories, monster stories, crime stories, and just plain mysterious stories! Read about a body on the tracks, a teenage terrorist, a mysterious wish-granting machine and the world’s worst private detective. Age 9 & up
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Half-Moon Investigations
Author: Eoin Colfer
Twelve-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. Ages 9-12
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Hold Fast
Author: Blue Balliet
When 11-year-old Early’s father disappears and her family becomes homeless, it’s up to her to figure out what happened and why. Ages 9-12
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Horton Halfpott, or, The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor...
Author: Tom Angleberger
Once the corset strings are loosened, the action begins. Angleberger’s book is a lighthearted romp through a vaguely Victorian world. Ages 9 & up
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Invention of Hugo Cabret
Author: Brian Selznick
When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toy-seller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized. Ages 9-12
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Kidnappers: a Mystery
Author: Willo Davis Roberts
No one believes eleven-year-old Joey, who has a reputation for telling tall tales, when he claims to have witnessed the kidnapping of the class bully outside their expensive New York City private school. Ages 9-12
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Letters from Camp
Author: Kate Klise
Sent to Camp Happy Harmony to learn how to get along with each other, pairs of brothers and sisters chronicle in letters home how they come to suspect the intentions of the singing family running the camp. Ages 9-12
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Liar & Spy
Author: Rebecca Stead
Seventh grader Georges moves into a Brooklyn apartment building and meets Safer, a twelve-year-old self-appointed spy. Georges becomes Safer's first spy recruit and his assignment is to track the mysterious Mr. X who lives in the apartment upstairs but as Safer becomes more demanding, Georges starts to wonder: what is a lie, and what is a game? Ages 9-12
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Midnight Tunnel: A Suzanna Snow Mystery
Author: Angie Frazier
Zanna wants to be a detective. Her famous uncle already is one, but he will not listen to her hunches when a child goes missing from the hotel her parents manage. Ages 9-12
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Missing on Superstition Mountain
Author: Elise Broach
Explore the desert as the Barker boys investigate the mystery of Arizona’s Superstition Mountain. Ages 9-12
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Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Mr. Chickee, the genial blind man in the neighborhood, gives nine-year-old Steven a mysterious bill with 15 zeros on it and the image of a familiar but startling face. Could it be a quadrillion dollar bill? Could it be real? Ages 9-12
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Mysterious Benedict Society
Author: Trenton Lee Stewart
After passing a series of mind-bending tests, four children are selected for a secret mission that requires them to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules. Series. Ages 9-12
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Nancy Drew Sleuth Book: Clues to Good Sleuthing
Author: Carolyn Keene
Fans of Nancy Drew will enjoy learning some of her investigative techniques, such as cracking a secret code, examining shoe prints, and looking at maps. Ages 8-12
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Ottoline and the Yellow Cat
Author: Chris Riddell
Ottoline and her strange-looking friend Mr. Munroe don clever disguises to try to solve the mystery of the disappearing lapdogs. Ages 8-12
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Pie
Author: Sarah Weeks
Alice’s Aunt Polly is the Pie Queen of Ipswitch and her best friend. When Aunt Polly dies she leaves her award-winning secret recipe for pie crust to her cat Lardo, and leaves Lardo to Alice. Now all the women in town are baking pies and someone is trying to catnap Lardo. Ages 8-12
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Romeo and Juliet Code
Author: Phoebe Stone
A British girl, Felicity, is sent to a house in coastal Maine during World War II. During her stay, mysterious letters begin to arrive but she is not allowed to read them; and yet, Felicity is determined to uncover her family’s secrets. Ages 8-12
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Room One: A Mystery Or Two
Author: Andrew Clements
Ted Hammond, the only sixth grader in his small Nebraska town's one-room schoolhouse, searches for clues to the disappearance of a homeless family. Ages 9-12
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Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash
Author: Wendelin Van Draanen
Thirteen-year-old Sammy meets a mysterious man who dies of a heart attack after telling her to get rid of the large amount of money he is carrying, leading her to investigate who the man was and how he came to be carrying so much cash. Series. Ages 9-12
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Sensible Hare and the Case of Carrots
Author: Daren King
When Mazy Rabbit arrives at the Hare Detective Agency, she asks Sensible Hare to find her missing suitcase of carrots. Ages 6-8
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Smells Like Dog
Author: Suzanne Selfours
Inspired by the story of the Odyssey, 12-year old Homer undertakes a quest for treasure, aided by a dog bequeathed to him by his uncle. Ages 9-12
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The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls
Author: Claire Legrand
Practically-perfect twelve-year-old Victoria Wright must lie, sneak, and break the rules when her investigation of the disappearance of her best--and only--friend, Lawrence, reveals dark secrets about her town and the orphanage run by the reclusive Mrs. Cavendish. Ages 10 & up
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The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe’s Very First Case
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Adult fans of McCall’s No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series will be thrilled to introduce kids to the young Precious, who starts her career by figuring out who is stealing treats from her friends at school. Ages 8-12
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The Potato Chip Puzzles: The Puzzling World of Winston Breen
Author: Eric Berlin
Winston and his friends enter an all-day puzzle contest to win fifty-thousand dollars for their school, but they must also figure out who is trying to keep them from winning. Puzzles for the reader to solve are included throughout the text. Ages 8 & up
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The Sixty-Eight Rooms
Author: Marianne Malone
Sixth-grader Ruthie is on a class visit to Chicago’s Art Institute, where she sees the Thorne Rooms filled with incredible miniatures. Then she finds a key that shrinks her and friend Jack, allowing them to get inside the small spaces and find something important that has been lost. Ages 9-12
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The Witch’s Guide to Cooking with Children
Author: Keith McGowan
When Sol and Connie Blink move to Grand Creek, one of the first people to welcome them is an odd older woman, Fay Holaderry, and her friendly dog, Swift, who carries a very strange bone in his mouth. Sol knows a lot more than the average eleven-year-old, so when he identifies the bone as a human femur, he and Connie begin to wonder if their new neighbor is up to no good. Ages 9-12
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Three Times Lucky
Author: Sheila Turnage
Washed ashore as a baby in tiny Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone’s business is fair game and no secret is sacred, Mo LoBeau and her best friend Dale turn detective when amnesiac Colonel, owner of the cafe and co-parent of Mo with his cook, Miss Lana, is implicated in a murder. Although she hopes someday to find her “upstream mother”, Mo will do everything to save the only family she’s ever known.
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Time Stops for No Mouse: a Hermux Tantamoq Adventure
Author: Michael Hoeye
Hermux Tantamoq is caught up in a dangerous search for Linka Perflinger, one of his customers who brought a watch into his shop for repair, and then disappeared. Series. Ages 9-12
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Trouble Is My Beeswax
Author: Bruce Hale
Chet Gecko and his partner, Natalie Attired, investigate a cheating ring at Emerson Hicky Elementary school. Series. Ages 9-12
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Trouble with Chickens: A J. J. Tully Mystery
Author: Doreen Cronin
J. J. Tully is a retired search & rescue dog who lives on a farm in this tongue-in-cheek quick read. When some chicks on the farm go missing, the mother chicken knows who to hire. Ages 6-8
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We the Children
Author: Andrew Clements
Sixth grader Ben Pratt’s life is full of changes that he doesn’t like – his parents’ separation and the demolition of his seaside school to build an amusement park – but when a school janitor gives him a tarnished coin with some old engravings and then dies, Ben is drawn into an effort to prevent his school’s destruction. Series. Ages 7-12
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Westing Game
Author: 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 their inheritance. Ages 9-12
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What Really Happened to Humpty: (From the Files of a Hard-Boiled Detective)
Author: Jeanie Franz Ransom
Detective Joe Dumpty rushes to investigate the mysterious circumstances under which his older brother, Humpty, fell from a wall on his first day as captain of the new Neighborhood Watch program. Ages 6-9
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Who Could That Be At This Hour?
Author: Lemony Snicket
In a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, a young Lemony Snicket began his apprenticeship in an organization nobody knows about. He started by asking questions that shouldn't have been on his mind. Now he has written an account that should not be published, in four volumes that shouldn't be read. This is the first volume. Ages 9-12 J Snicket
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Wizard of Dark Street: An Oona Crate Mystery
Author: Shawn Thomas Odyssey
When Oona relinquishes her post as the Wizard’s apprentice in favor of an investigative career, her uncle the Wizard goes missing. She must use both magical knowledge and detecting skills to solve the mystery. Ages 8-12
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