Mystery and Thriller

Mystery genre

Time Snatchers

The year is 2061, and Caleb’s world is crashing down around him. The small group of orphans who were also “adopted” by Uncle used to feel like family, but both the competition to be the top time snatcher and the punishment for failure have gotten fierce. Time traveling to steal priceless objects can be a thrill, but with bully Frank trying to steal his snatches, his partner Abbie falling for Frank’s slimy charms, and Uncle planning to kidnap innocent kids to grow his business, Caleb starts thinking about getting out.

But there is not place on earth, past or present, that is safe from Uncle’s tentacles, and runaways get the harshest punishment of all. Will Caleb risk everything to fight for the future he dreams about?

Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo Murders

Neil Flambé is a world-renowned chef and restaurant owner. He’s also a kid. And, in his spare time, Neil uses his super-sensitive nose to help the local police solve mysteries. Now, though, the city’s crime scene has taken a turn for the personal: some of the best chefs in town are turning up dead. The cops are stumped; the only real clues are a mysterious smell and some equally mysterious notes that seem to have something to do with Marco Polo. As more chefs fall prey to the killer, Neil can’t imagine how things can get any worse–until he becomes the prime suspect!

Neil Flambé and the Aztec Abduction

Fresh off his success in solving the Marco Polo murders, Neil FlambÉ heads to Mexico City to take part in the Azteca Cocina — a two-week battle of the chefs. But things start to go wrong at the very first battle: Neil’s box of secret ingredients contains a note inside, telling him that Isabella has been kidnapped. He must lose in the final, or else she’ll be killed! To save Isabella, Neil will need Larry’s knowledge of Mexican history and Spanish, Sean Nakamura’s portable forensic lab, and Angel Jicama’s mentorship. He’ll have to delve into Aztec history, symbolism, and even into the real ruins that are buried under the modern city.

Unraveling Isobel

A darkly comic novel that blends paranormal mystery and romance with humor, from the author of The Education of Hailey Kendrick and Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood. Isobel’s life is falling apart. Her mom just married some guy she met on the internet only three months before, and is moving them to his sprawling, gothic mansion off the coast of nowhere. Goodbye, best friend. Goodbye, social life. Hello, icky new stepfather, crunchy granola town, and unbelievably good-looking, officially off-limits stepbrother. But on her first night in her new home, Isobel starts to fear that it isn’t only her life that’s unraveling—her sanity might be giving way too. Because either Isobel is losing her mind, just like her artist father did before her, or she’s seeing ghosts. Either way, Isobel’s fast on her way to being the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.

Amos Daragon #2: The Key of Braha

Amos survived his first mission as Mask Wearer, but soon after that, an encounter with a mysterious girl brings his life to an end– and sends him on his way to Braha, the City of the Dead, where soulds await judgment.  To get there, Amos, now a spirit himself, boards a boat, on which he meets Jerik, a decapitated criminal who must carry his head everywhere.

Jerik tells Amos that Braha is overcrowded with spiritsl the gods have shut the doors that lead to paradise and to hell.  A key is said to unlock the doors–but it’s whereabouts are unknown.  Only soneone who dies and comes back to life can find it.

Will Amos be that someone?  Will his ingenuity and intellegence be enough to restore order in Braha?  Or will he unknowingly serve those who are using him for their own gain?

Most importantly, even if Amos finds the key, will he ever return to the land of the living?

The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll & Mademoiselle Odile (A Shadow Sisters Novel)

In this prequel to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” set in 1870s Paris during the Prussian siege, an orphaned sixteen-year-old girl whose knowledge of witchcraft includes transformation spells meets a young medical doctor from London.

Cross My Heart

When Laura della Scala’s older sister drowns, Laura leaves the shelter of the convent where she has spent the last six years and enters the upper echelons of sixteenth-century Venetian society, while she searches for the truth about what happened to her sister.

The Book of Blood and Shadow

While working on a project translating letters from sixteenth-century Prague, high school senior Nora Kane discovers her best friend murdered with her boyfriend the apparent killer and is caught up in a dangerous web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all searching for a mysterious ancient device purported to allow direct communication with God.

Horton Halfpott

Tom Angleberger’s latest, loopiest middle-grade novel begins when M’Lady Luggertuck loosens her corset (it’s never been loosened before!), thereby setting off a chain of events in which all the strict rules of Smugwick Manor are abandoned. When, as a result of “the Loosening,” the precious family heirloom, the Luggertuck Lump (quite literally a lump), goes missing, the Luggertucks look for someone to blame. Is it Horton Halfpott, the good-natured but lowly kitchen boy who can’t tell a lie? Or one of the many colorful cast members in this silly romp of a mystery.

Ruby Redfort Look into My Eyes

Ruby, a genius code-cracker and daring detective, along with her sidekick butler, Hitch, work for a secret crime-busting organization called Spectrum. Ruby gets into lots of scrapes with evil villains, but she’s always ice-cool in a crisis. Just take a classic screwball comedy, add heaps of breathtaking action, and multiply it by Lauren Child’s writing genius, and what have you got? Only the most exciting new middle-grade series since, like, ever.