Mystery and Thriller

Mystery genre

Stories To Solve: Folktales From Around The World

Brief folktales in which there is a mystery or problem that the reader is invited to solve before the resolution is presented. How can a thirsty crow drink from an almost-empty pitcher? How does arresting a stone help a judge find a boy’s stolen money? This artfully illustrated book presents fourteen intriguing mysteries from world folklore. Each brain-teasing tale is followed by a simple explanation of the solution, while notes at the back of the book describe the origins of these classic mysteries.

Stop, Thief!

“Max,” said the farmer to his dog one day, “can you catch a thief?” Of course! He can catch anything! And Max eagerly sets off on a quest to find the culprit who has been stealing the farmer’s fruits and vegetables. Within moments, the dog is confident he has spotted the thief — a tiny blue bug, working on a carrot top. “Stop, thief!” Max cries as the bug flies away.

The Killing Woods

When her father, an ex-soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, is arrested for murder, Emily’s efforts to exonerate him take her into the woods to play the Game, an extreme version of childhood games.

A Spark Unseen

When Katharine Tulman foils an attempt to kidnap her Uncle Tully, she finds herself caught up in international intrigue. Aware that there are people who want to turn her uncle’s mechanical fish into an explosive device, and unsure of who to trust, she decides to fake her uncle’s death and flee to Paris in search of Lane Moreau, her uncle’s assistant.

Knightley and Son

The once highly in-demand detective Alan Knightley has just woken up after an unexplained incident kept him asleep for four years. While he was out cold, his son, Darkus, took it upon himself to read of all his dad’s old cases, and he’s learned a lot about the art of detection. It’s a good thing too—because suddenly the duo find themselves caught up in a crazy conspiracy that involves a group of villainous masterminds (who keep appearing and then vanishing), some high-speed car chases (that will have everyone fastening their seat belts), and a national, bestselling book with the power to make people do terrible, terrible things. But because Alan is still suffering the effects of his coma, he tends to, well, fall asleep at the worst possible moments, Meaning that young Darkus might just have to solve this mystery by himself.

Girl Defective

This is the story of a wild girl and a ghost girl; a boy who knew nothing and a boy who thought he knew everything. It’s a story about Skylark Martin, who lives with her father and brother in a vintage record shop and is trying to find her place in the world. It’s about ten-year-old Super Agent Gully and his case of a lifetime. And about beautiful, reckless, sharp-as-knives Nancy. It’s about tragi-hot Luke, and just-plain-tragic Mia Casey. It’s about the dark underbelly of a curious neighborhood. It’s about summer, and weirdness, and mystery, and music. And it’s about life and death and grief and romance.

The Missing Chancleta and Other Top-Secret Cases/La Chancleta Perdida y Otros Casos Secretos

Flaca’s chancleta, or flip flop, has gone missing! She prepares to investigate the theft: “Pencil and notepad: in hand. Straw hat for disguise: on. Magnifying glass: Check.” She interviews each of her family members, all of whom are suspects. Oddly, their stories check out, so Flaca will have to dig deeper to find the culprit.

The Sultan’s Tigers

As in the middle grade series debut Island of Thieves, scrappy twelve-year-old Tom Trelawney and his swashbuckling Uncle Harvey are a dynamite combination—in the dangerous, explosive sort of way. This time around, they impulsively fly from Ireland to India in hot pursuit of a small bejeweled tiger that yet another Trelawney, a British soldier, allegedly plundered in 1799. They’re pretty sure they can get a couple million dollars for it too, if they can make it past a gun-happy Aussie and a pit of man-eating tigers.