This list was a little trickier than you would think it should be. Do I only include books that are intended to be a mystery and nothing else, or do I include all books that involve some sort of mystery, be it family secrets, the reason something has happened, or who really committed a crime? I chose to include them all. If anyone (I guess that could be a character or the reader as well!) is trying to figure something out, I figure that counts as a mystery so you'll find it here.
Clicking on the book title will take you to the review/mini-review if I have one. Also, be sure to read my note about reading and age appropriate levels at the bottom of the page.
A Green and Ancient Light by Frederic S. Durbin
(MG+) (grandmothers & grandsons, WWII, otherworldly creatures, mystery)
A
Northern Light
by Jennifer Donnelly
(4.5)
(UG) (early 1900’s, family, murder, mystery)
Abandon
by Meg Cabot (series)
(5.1)
(UG) (the underworld, mythology in modern times, romance, mystery)And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich
(/) (UG) (urban legends, family secrets, paranormal happenings)
After the Snow by S.D. Crockett
(UG)
(murder mystery, mother-daughter relationships, foster care, mental illness)
Ask the Dark by Henry Turner
(4.9)
(UG) (kidnapping, mystery, juvenile delinquents)
Behold the Bones by Natalie C. Parker
(/) (UG) (friendship, mystery, family secrets, magic, ghosts)
Ask the Dark by Henry Turner
Behold the Bones by Natalie C. Parker
(/) (UG) (friendship, mystery, family secrets, magic, ghosts)
Being
Henry David by Cal Armistead
(5.0) (MG+) (amnesia, homelessness, friendship)
(5.0) (MG+) (amnesia, homelessness, friendship)
Beneath by Roland Smith
(4.3)
(MG) (brothers, mystery, cults, transients)
Between by Jessica
Warman
(4.0)
(UG) (ghosts, mystery, anorexia, relationships)
Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker
(5.4) (UG) (brothers & sisters,
Louisiana, folklore, magic, mystery)
Birthmarked by Caragh
O’Brien (series)
(5.4/4.6/5.2)
(UG) (family, mystery, death, dystopian, romance)
Blackbird
by Anna Carey
(4.8)
(UG) (amnesia, murder, action/adventure, mystery, suspense)
Blackwood by Gwenda Bond
(/) (MG+) (Roanoke, mystery, magic, family secrets, cults)
(/) (MG+) (Roanoke, mystery, magic, family secrets, cults)
Blind Spot by Laura Ellen
(/) (UG) (murder mystery, blindness)
(/) (UG) (murder mystery, blindness)
Blink
Once
by Cylin Busby
(4.7)
(UG) (comas, mystery, paranormal)
Bone
Gap by Laura Ruby
(4.9)
(UG) (mystery, supernatural, abductions, family relationships)
By
These Ten Bones
by Claire Dunkel
(5.3)
(MG) (mystery, horror, werewolves)
Canned by Alex Shearer
(4.4) (UG) (family secrets, twins, stepmothers,
supernatural abilities)
Circle
of Secrets
by Kimberly Griffiths Little
(5.0)
(MG) (Louisiana, family secrets, mystery, mothers and daughters)
City
of Orphans
by Avi
(3.5)
(MG) (1800’s, family, friendship, mystery, immigrants, New York)
Cold
in Summer
by Tracy Barrett
(4.7)
(MG-) (ghosts, mystery)
Crispin:
the Cross of Lead
by Avi (series)
(5.0/4.8/4.8)
(MG) (Middle Ages, secrets)
Cryer’s
Cross
by Lisa McMann
(3.9)
(UG) (OCD, mystery, secrets, ghosts, disappearances)
Dead
Connection
by Charlie Price
(4.6)
(UG) (Down Syndrome, friendship, delinquents, fathers & sons, mystery, abuse)
Doll
Bones by Holly Black
(5.4)
(MG) (friendship, mysteries, magic)
Eleven by Patricia
Reilly Giff
(4.1) (MG) (orphans, family,
friendship, secrets, learning disabilities, boys)
Emily’s
Dress and Other Missing Things by Kathryn Burak
(3.7) (UG) (grief, missing children, Emily Dickinson)
(3.7) (UG) (grief, missing children, Emily Dickinson)
Fake
I.D. by Walter Sorrells
(MG+)
(romance, paranormal/supernatural, mystery, medical conditions)
Following
Fake Man
by Barbara Ware Holmes
(3.7)
(MG) (family secrets, mystery, friendship)
Forget Me by K. A. Harrington
(4.2) (MG+) (mystery, family
relationships, murder, romance)Graveminder by Melissa Marr
(UG) (dead & undead, supernatural contracts, mystery)
Hell & High Water by Tanya Landman
(MG+) (family secrets, indentured servants, 1700’s, murder mystery)
Here
Lies Linc
by Delia Ray
(5.2)
(MG) (family, friendship, mystery, cemeteries, secrets)
I Am the Messenger
by Marcus Zusak
(3.9)
(UG) (friendship, family, mystery)
(3.9)
(UG) (family, murder, mystery, family secrets, stereotypes, coming of age)
Midnight
Magic
by Avi
(4.7)
(MG) (Middle Ages, mystery, murder)
Miss
Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
(5.7)
(MG) (orphans, paranormal abilities)
Mojo by Tim Tharp
(5.3)
(UG) (mystery, missing persons)
Of Monsters and Madness by Jessica Verday
(4.7) (MG+) (mystery, serial killers, 1800’s, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Edgar Allen Poe)
(4.7) (MG+) (mystery, serial killers, 1800’s, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Edgar Allen Poe)
Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff
(5.9) (UG) (serial killers, mystery)
Picture
the Dead
by Adele Griffin
(5.2)
(MG+) (Civil War, mystery)
Pretty Girl - 13 by Liz Coley
(4.3) (UG) (kidnapping, multiple
personalities)Project 17 by Laurie Stolarz
(4.8)
(MG+) (mystery, abandoned mental hospitals)
Railsea by China Mieville
(/) (MG) (steam-punk,
Moby Dick, mystery)
Ripper
by Stefan Petrucha
(5.0)
(MG+) (detectives, Jack the Ripper)
Ruined by Paula Morris
(6.0) (UG)
(mystery, ghosts, New Orleans)
Shadowcry
by
Jenna Burtenshaw
(6.1) (UG) (magic, mystery, death)
Shadowlands by Kate Bryan
(4.7)
(UG) (serial killers, mystery, family, ghosts)
Shallow
Graves by Kali Wallace *
(4.9)
(MG+) (death, mystery, cults, supernatural)
Six
Days
by Phillip Web
(4.7)
(MG-) (steam-punk, mystery, friendship, space travel)
Smith by Leon
Garfield
(6.1) (MG) (1700’s, pickpockets, murder, mystery,
Dickens)
Splendors
and Glooms
by Laura Amy Schlitz
(5.1)
(MG) (Victorian era, orphans, mystery, kidnapping, magic)
Splinter by Sasha Dawn
(/) (MG+) (family secrets, murder mystery, family relationships)
Stolen
by Vivian VandeVelde *
(5.6)
(MG) (mystery, amnesia, witches)
Straw
into Gold
by Gary Schmidt
(4.1)
(UG) (family, terminal diseases, friendship, abuse, supernatural, mystery, *)
The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin
(/) (UG) (Mara Dyer series, paranormal abilities, mystery, death, romance)
The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin
(/) (UG) (Mara Dyer series, paranormal abilities, mystery, death, romance)
The
Black Book of Secrets by F. E. Higgins
(5.9)
(MG-) (secrets, orphans, Dickens)
The
Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci
(5.3)
(UG) (mystery, social outcasts, missing children)
The
Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman *
(5.5)
(UG) (murder, secret societies, mystery)
The
Book of Dead Days
by Marcus Sedgewick
(4.7)
(MG+) (friendship, mystery, magic)
The Butterfly Clues by Kate Ellison
(5.0) (UG) (OCD, murder, grief, family relationships, runaways)
The
Caged Graves by Diane Salerni
(5.7) (MG+) (mystery, 1800's, family relationships)
The
Dark Flight Down
by Marcus Sedgewick
(4.9)
(MG+) (1500’s, friendship, mystery)
The
Dark Unwinding
by Sharon Cameron
(5.8)
(MG) (family, mystery, autism/eccentricism)
The
Emerald Atlas
by John Stephens (series) *
(4.9/5.2/5.9)
(MG-) (orphans, siblings, magic, mystery, adventure, time travel)
The False Prince by Jennifer Neilsen (series)
(5.1/5.0/5.6)
(MG-) (orphans, royalty, mystery, palace intrigue, adventure)
The
Game of Sunken Places by M. T. Anderson
(4.6)
(MG-) (mystery, quests)
The
Girl Behind the Glass by Jane Kelley
(3.3)
(MG) (ghosts, mystery, twins)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman *
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman *
(5.1)
(MG) (orphans, vampires, family, murder, ghosts, mystery)
The Great and Terrible Quest by Margaret Lovett *
(/) (MG-) (family secrets, mystery, knights, Middle Ages)
The Hanging Girl by Eileen Cook
(/) (MG+) (psychic abilities, con artists, kidnapping, murder mystery)
The Hollow Ground Natalie S. Harnett
(/)
(UG) (family relationships, murder mystery, coal mining towns, 1960’s)
The
Humming Room
by Ellen Potter
(5.2)
(MG-) (orphans, mystery, Secret Garden remake)
The
Joy of Spooking: Fiendish Deeds by P. J. Bracegirdle
(6.1) (MG-) (humor,
mystery, horror)
The
Keeper’s Tattoo
by Gill Arbuthnott
(5.3)
(UG) (mystery, fantasy)
The
Kneebone Boy
by Ellen Potter
(5.5)
(MG) (family, secrets, mystery, mental illness)
The Last Good Place of Lily Odilon by Sara Beitia
(6.0)
(UG) (missing persons, abuse)
The
Last Treasure
by Janet S. Anderson
(4.1)
(MG) (family, mystery, secrets)
The
Lost Children
by Carolyn Cohagan
(5.0)
(MG) (adventure, mystery, dimensional travel)
The Magician’s Elephant by Kate Di Camillo
(5.0) (MG-) (orphans, family, dreams,
mystery)
The
Maze Runner
by James Dashner
(5.3)
(UG) (mystery, confinement, dystopian, survival)
The
Musician’s Daughter by Susanne Dunlap
(6.5) (MG+) (mystery,
murder, Austria, 1700's)
The
Neddiad
by Daniel Pinkwater
(/) (UG) (family relationships, secrets,
paranormal/supernatural, murder mystery)
The
Path of Names
by Ari Goelman
(4.5)
(MG) (friendship, Jewish mysticism, mystery)
The
Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood
(5.1)
(UG) (1700’s, England, apothecaries, fathers & daughters, mystery, romance)
The
Presence
by Eve Bunting
(4.0)
(UG) (ghosts, death, mystery)
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (series) *
(5.4/5.0/5.1/5.7) (UG) (prophecies, friendship, magic, mystery, *)
The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes
(5.2) (UG) (religious cults, disabilities, prison, family relationships, murder mystery)
The
Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt
(5.4)
(MG-) (Middle Ages, mystery)
The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis
(4.7)
(UG+) (murder, mystery, siblings, survival, friendship, romance)
The Stranger Game by Cylin Busby
(5.2) (UG) (missing
persons, sisters, amnesia, mystery)The Stranger Game by Cylin Busby
The
Thief Lord
by Cornelia Funke
(4.8)
(MG) (Italy, orphans, magic, mystery)
The
Tilting House
by Tom Llewellyn
(4.5)
(MG+) (family, moving, mystery, magic)
The
Vanishing Game
by Kate Myers
(5.2)
(MG) (siblings, orphans, mystery, death)
The
Visconti House
by Elsbeth Edgar
(4.5)
(MG) (friendships, mystery, secrets) (E)
These
Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
(4.7)
(UG) (Victorian era, murder, social classes, romance, mystery)
(5.0)
(MG+) (immortality, death, mystery, orphans, friendship)
Trash by Andy
Mulligan
(4.9) (UG) (malevolent spirits, action/adventure,
mystery, secret societies)
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
(5.7) (UG) (brothers, friendships, missing persons)
(5.1)
(UG) (mystery, friendship, romance, secrets)
Note: Lists are arranged with Title, Author, Reading Level, Age Appropriate Level, and Descriptive Tags.
(Age appropriate level denotes the youngest readers that the book is appropriate for. That doesn't mean that older readers will not enjoy the book!)
* = books that I thought were GREAT
UG = upper grades (contain sex, drugs, and/or very graphic violence; deal with mature subject matter such as rape, prostitution, child abuse, etc. )
MG+ = junior high (may contain some profanity or sexual references; may deal with subject matter too mature for younger audiences)
MG = 4th through 6th grades (nothing inappropriate for children, but may not keep the interest of younger readers)
MG- = all ages (perfect for bedtime stories or read-alouds, or for precocious readers in the lower grades)
* = LGBTQ themes - characters, situations, or references to same-sex couples
Books included in this list are all ones that I have read myself and given a rating of at least 3 out of 5 Stars (why would I recommend anything less?) When a book is part of a series, only the first title is listed, but the reading level for all books in the series is shown. Lists will be updated periodically as I read new books.
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