LibraryAware CHAPTER BOOKS: Mystery and Crime Solving

Here are some of our favorite mystery and crime solving books for children! Please note that these titles can be found in the Juvenile section of the library, unless otherwise noted.

The Midnight Children
by Dan Gemeinhart

Making a friend in newcomer Virginia, one of seven mysterious kids to move into his neighborhood, outcast Ravani Foster must keep Virginia safe when he learns she is in danger or lose the only person who has ever understood him.

The Friendship Feature
by Stacia Deutsch

Jessie Alden likes her new role at the student newspaper, but when a new boy at school comes to her with information about strange things taking place at his parent's business, she realizes her story is much bigger than she thought

Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit
by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Inheriting a grieving fox spirit named Kai after his older brother Jamie dies, Theo Tan and Kai must cast aside their differences to solve the mystery surrounding Jamie's death, which is linked to a mysterious corporation.

Catastrophe
by Sherri Winston

Amateur sleuths Wednesday and her service dog Woof must employ their keen skills of detection when Mrs. Winters cat goes missing right before her big trip to Paris.

The Mystery Monster
by Amy Marie Stadelmann

Paige loves facts! She records interesting information in her facts journal and shares it with anyone who will listen. Wombats' poop is cube-shaped! Her street's buildings have seventy-three windows. And a boy named Penn lives next door. The two couldn't be more different. The craziest thing Paige believes is that bananas are actually berries (scientifically proven!), but Penn thinks there's a monster in the neighborhood! Paige will prove Penn wrong and that monsters aren't real, one fact at a time.

The In-Between
by Rebecca K. S. Ansari

Cooper is lost. Ever since his father left their family three years ago, he has become distant from his friends, constantly annoyed by his little sister, Jess, and completely fed up with the pale, creepy rich girl who moved in next door, who won't stop staring at him. So when Cooper learns of an unsolved mystery his sister has discovered online, he welcomes the distraction. It's the tale of a deadly train crash that occurred a hundred years ago in which one young boy among the dead was never identified. The only distinguishing mark on him was a strange insignia on his suit coat, a symbol no one had seen before or since. Jess is fascinated by the mystery of the unknown child -- because she's seen the insignia. And, she tells Cooper, he has too. It's the symbol on the jacket of the girl next door. As they uncover more information -- and mounting evidence of the girl's seemingly impossible connection to the tragedy -- Cooper and Jess begin to wonder if a similar disaster could be heading to their hometown.

The Case of the Nibbled Pizza
by Tadgh Bentley

When sister and brother duo Dino Detective and Awesome Possum discover Grandma Thunderclaps's pizza is missing all its pepperoni, they jump into action to find out who is to blame.

The Case of the Missing Cheetah
by Veronica Mang

It's a dark and stormy night when three sleuthing little girls get pulled into a web of mystery. They have mistakenly uncovered a secret society of some of the most famous female spies in history. A glamorous spy named Josephine Baker enlists the girls to find out who has kidnapped Chiquita, her precious pet cheetah. Do the girls have what it takes to become spies themselves?

Winterhouse
by Ben Guterson

Elizabeth, eleven, spends Christmas break at Winterhouse Hotel under strange circumstances, where she discovers that she has magic, and her love of puzzles helps her solve a mystery.

Zebra at the Zoo
by Patricia Reilly Giff

Sneaking into the local zoo through a broken fence opening, Alex revels in visits with favorite animals, including a beloved red panda, before an animal’s escape compels him to come forward.

Audacity Jones to the Rescue
by Kirby Larson

Longing for excitement, eleven-year-old Audacity Jones, a resident at Miss Maisie's School for Wayward Girls, accompanies the mysterious Commodore Crutchfield to Washington D.C. before discovering his plot against the president.

Samantha Spinner and the Super-Secret Plans
by Russell Ginns

Samantha's uncle mysteriously disappears, leaving behind extravagant gifts for her siblings and an old, rusty, red umbrella for Samantha that may contain clues to his whereabouts.

The Name of This Book is Secret
by Pseudonymous Bosch

Small vials of smelly ingredients, the diaries of a dead magician, and a secret story about immortality have two less-than-sociable kids on the hunt to solve a strange mystery, in a challenging middle reader filled with word-games, anagrams, and black-and-white illustrations throughout.

Clueless McGee
by Jeff Mack

Using skills learned through video games to solve mysteries and make his absent father proud, awkward fifth grader Clueless McGee investigates the school bully who has been framed for filling the orchestra teacher's tuba with macaroni and cheese.

The Ghostwriter Secret
by Mac Barnett

Twelve-year-old Steve is investigating a diamond heist but the case suddenly changes when the author of the Bailey Brothers detective novels writes him a letter to say that he fears for his life.

Midnight in the Piazza
by Tiffany Parks

After moving to Rome with her father, thirteen-year-old Beatrice witnesses a shadowy figure steal the turtle sculptures from a fountain located outside her window and is determined to solve the crime herself when no one believes her story.

The Lemonade Crime
by Jacqueline Davies

When money disappears from fourth-grader Evan's pocket and everyone thinks that his annoying classmate Scott stole it, Evan's younger sister stages a trial involving the entire class, trying to prove what happened.

The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit
by Octavia Spencer

Twelve-year-old Randi, unhappy about moving from Brooklyn to Deer Creek, Tennessee, after her mother's death, soon finds new friends and a case to solve surrounding a stolen time capsule and rumors of a centuries-old treasure.

The Lifters
by Dave Eggers

After moving to Carousel, Gran discovers that the town is built upon an underground world full of mysterious forces that have it out for the town above it.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E. L. Konigsburg

Having run away with her younger brother to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, twelve-year-old Claudia strives to keep things in order in their new home and to become a changed person and a heroine to herself.