Mysteries for children and young adults: Young adult
This guide lists selected mystery fiction for children and young adults to be found in the Cubberley Library collections.
Young adult
Invisible son by Kim Johnson
Publication Date: 2023HL650L; Ages 14-17; Gr.9-12.
Life can change in an instant. When you're wrongfully accused of a crime. When a virus shuts everything down. When the girl you love moves on. Andre Jackson is determined to reclaim his identity. But returning from juvie doesn't feel like coming home. His Portland, Oregon, neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying, and COVID-19 shuts down school before he can return. And Andre's suspicions about his arrest for a crime he didn't commit even taint his friendships.A long stretch of bad days by Mindy McGinnis
Publication Date: 2023Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
A lifetime of hard work has put Lydia Chass on track to attend a prestigious journalism program and leave Henley behind--until a school error leaves her a credit short of graduating. Bristal Jamison has a bad reputation and a foul mouth, but she also needs one more credit to graduate. An unexpected partnership forms as the two remake Lydia's town history podcast to investigate the Long Stretch of Bad Days--a week when Henley was hit by a tornado, a flash flood, as well as its first, only, and unsolved murder.The night in question: an Agathas mysteryThe Night in Question by Kathleen Glasgow; Liz Lawson
Publication Date: 2023Lexile measure HL660L; Ages 14 and up; Gr.9-12.
Last October, Alice Ogilvie's ex-best friend, Brooke Donovan, was killed--and if it weren't for Alice's unlikely alliance with her tutor, Iris Adams, and her library of the complete works of Agatha Christie, the wrong person would almost certainly be sitting in prison for the crime. The Castle Cove police aren't exactly great at solving crimes. In fact, they're notorious for not solving crimes. Which is why, on the night of Castle Cove High's annual Sadie Hawkins dance, Alice takes the opportunity to explore Levy Castle--the site of one of Castle Cove's most infamous deaths.Promise boys by Nick Brooks
Publication Date: 2023Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
The prestigious Urban Promise Prep school might look pristine on the outside, but deadly secrets lurk within. When the principal ends up murdered on school premises and the cops come sniffing around, a trio of students--J.B., Ramón, and Trey--emerge as the prime suspects. They had the means, they had the motive . . . and they may have had the murder weapon. But with all three maintaining their innocence, they must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested.This is the way the world ends: a novel by Jen Wilde
Publication Date: 2023Ages 12 and up.
As an autistic scholarship student at the prestigious Webber Academy in New York City, Waverly is used to masking to fit in--in more ways than one. While her classmates are the children of the one percent, Waverly is getting by on tutoring gigs and the generosity of the school's charming and enigmatic dean. So when her tutoring student and resident "it girl" asks Waverly to attend the school's annual fundraising Masquerade disguised as her, Waverly jumps at the chance--especially once she finds out that Ash, the dean's daughter and her secret ex-girlfriend, will be there.
2022
The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow; Liz Lawson
Publication Date: 2022Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
Who killed Brooke Donovan? It's the biggest mystery of the summer, and everyone in Castle Cove thinks they know what happened. But they're wrong. Two unlikely friends come together to solve the case in this fast-paced, fun, modern Agatha Christie inspired thriller.The final gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publication Date: 2022To inherit billions, all Avery Kylie Grambs has to do is survive a few more weeks living in Hawthorne House. The paparazzi are dogging her every step. Financial pressures are building. Danger is a fact of life. And the only thing getting Avery through it all is the Hawthorne brothers. Her life is intertwined with theirs. She knows their secrets and they know her. But as the clock ticks down to the moment when Avery will become the richest teenager on the planet, trouble arrives in the form of a visitor who needs her help--and whose presence in Hawthorne House could change everything.Five survive by Holly Jackson
Publication Date: 2022Lexile measure HL670; Ages 14-17 Gr.9 and up.
Red Kenny is on a road trip for spring break with five friends: her best friend - the older brother - his perfect girlfriend - a secret crush - a classmate - and a killer. When their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, they soon realize this is no accident. They have been trapped by someone out there in the dark, someone who clearly wants one of them dead.Go hunt me by Kelly deVos
Publication Date: 2022Lexile measure HL690; Ages 12 and up; Gr.9 and up.
This spine-tingling thriller follows seven horror buffs as their dream trip to a remote Romanian castle turns into a nightmare when they begin to be killed one by one.Murder for the modern girl by Kendall Kulper
Publication Date: 2022Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
Gatsby-era glamour, a swoon-worthy love story, and an indomitable heroine dazzle in this romp that captures the extravagance of the Roaring Twenties and the dangers of vigilante justice.Pretty dead queens by Alexa Donne
Publication Date: 2022Ages 13 and up; Gr.9 and up; Edgar award nominee.
After the death of her mom (screw cancer), seventeen-year-old Cecelia Ellis goes to live with her estranged grandmother, a celebrated author whose Victorian mansion is as creepy as the murder mysteries she writes. On the surface, life is utterly ordinary in the California coastal town . . . until the homecoming queen is murdered. And she's not Seaview's first pretty dead queen. With a copycat killer on the loose, Cecelia throws herself into the investigation, determined to crack the case like the heroines in her grandmother's books.The red palace by June Hur
Publication Date: 2022Gr.8 and up.
To enter the palace means to walk a path stained in blood... Joseon (Korea), 1758. There are few options available to illegitimate daughters in the capital city, but through hard work and study, eighteen-year-old Hyeon has earned a position as a palace nurse. All she wants is to keep her head down, do a good job, and perhaps finally win her estranged father's approval. But Hyeon is suddenly thrust into the dark and dangerous world of court politics when someone murders four women in a single night, and the prime suspect is Hyeon's closest friend and mentor. Determined to prove her beloved teacher's innocence, Hyeon launches her own secret investigation.
2021
The box in the woods by Maureen Johnson
Publication Date: 2021Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she's back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer. But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls--the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders.Firekeeper's daughter by Angeline Boulley
Publication Date: 2021Gr.9 and up.
Eighteen-Firekeeper's Daughter, is a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community. Daunis, who is part Ojibwe, defers attending the University of Michigan to care for her mother and reluctantly becomes involved in the investigation of a series of drug-related deaths.One great lie by Deb Caletti
Publication Date: 2021Lexile measure HL800L; Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
When Charlotte wins a scholarship to a writing workshop in Venice with the charismatic and brilliant Luca Bruni, it's a dream come true. Writing is her passion, she loves Bruni's books, and going to that romantic and magical sinking city gives her the chance to solve a long-time family mystery about a Venetian poet deep in their lineage, Isabella Di Angelo, who just might be the real author of a very famous poem.They'll never catch us by Jessica Goodman
Publication Date: 2021Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
From rising star Jessica Goodman, author of They Wish They Were Us, comes a new fast-paced thriller about two sisters vying for the top spot on their cross-country team-until a teammate's disappearance throws their lives off course.
2019-2020
All your twisted secrets by Diana Urban
Publication Date: 2020Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
What do the queen bee, star athlete, valedictorian, stoner, loner, and music geek all have in common They were all invited to a scholarship dinner, only to discover it's a trap. Someone has locked them into a room with a bomb, a syringe filled with poison, and a note saying they have an hour to pick someone to kill...or else everyone dies.Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3618 .I233 P38 2019Ages 14 and up; Gr.10 and up.
Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story.Two can keep a secret by Karen M. McManus
Publication Date: 2019Lexile measure HL730L; Ages 14- and up; Gr.9-12.
Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery's never been there, but she's heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows. The town is picture-perfect, but it's hiding secrets.The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3610 .O3657 V36 2019Lexile measure HL670L; Ages 14 and up.
No answer is given freely, and someone will pay for the truth with their life. The Truly Devious case--an unsolved kidnapping and triple murder that rocked Ellingham Academy in 1936--has consumed Stevie for years. It's the very reason she came to the academy. But then her classmate was murdered, and her parents quickly pull her out of school. For her safety, they say. She must move past this obsession with crime. Stevie's willing to do anything to get back to Ellingham, be back with her friends, and solve the Truly Devious case.
2018
Cadaver and Queen by Alisa Kwitney
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3611 .W58 C33 2018Ages 12 and up; Gr.9 and up.
When Elizabeth Lavenza enrolled at Ingold as its first female medical student, she knew she wouldn't have an easy time. From class demands to being an outsider among her male cohorts, she'll have to go above and beyond to prove herself. So when she stumbles across what appears to be a faulty Bio-Mechanical--one of the mechanized cadavers created to service the school--she jumps at the chance to fix it and get ahead in the program. Soon Elizabeth realizes that it is Victor Frankenstein--a former student who died under mysterious circumstances.The Case for Jamie by Brittany Cavallaro
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3603 .A89895 C37 2018Ages 12 and up; Gr.9 and up.
It's been a year since the shocking death of August Moriarty, and Jamie and Charlotte haven't spoken. Jamie is going through the motions at Sherringford, trying to finish his senior year without incident, with a nice girlfriend he can't seem to fall for. Charlotte is on the run, from Lucien Moriarty and from her own mistakes.Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3610 .A35478 M66 2018Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable--more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn't turn up for the first day of school, Claudia's worried. When she doesn't show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong.Sadie by Courtney Summers
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PR9199.4 .S86 S23 2018Gr.9 and up.
A missing girl on a journey of revenge and a Serial--like podcast following the clues she's left behind. Sadie hasn't had an easy life. Growing up on her own, she's been raising her sister Mattie in an isolated small town, trying her best to provide a normal life and keep their heads above water. But when Mattie is found dead, Sadie's entire world crumbles. After a somewhat botched police investigation, Sadie is determined to bring her sister's killer to justice and hits the road following a few meager clues to find him.Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3610 .O3655 T78 2018Gr.8 and up.
Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. "A place," he said, "where learning is a game." Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym "Truly, Devious."
2017
Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3612 .A8686 D74 2017Gr.8 and up.
When seventeen-year-old Rowan Chase finds a skeleton on her family's property, she has no idea that investigating the brutal century-old murder will lead to a summer of painful discoveries about the past... and the present.Nearly one hundred years earlier, a misguided violent encounter propels seventeen-year-old Will Tillman into a racial firestorm. In a country rife with violence against blacks and a hometown segregated by Jim Crow, Will must make hard choices on a painful journey towards self discovery and face his inner demons in order to do what's right the night Tulsa burns.Little Monsters by Kara Thomas
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3620 .H62865 L58 2017Lexile measure HL700L; Ages 14 and up; Gr.10 and up.
When Kacey moves in with her estranged father and his new family, her new friend goes missing and Kacey finds herself at the center of the investigation.One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3613 .C5852 O54 2017Lexile measure HL730L; Ages 14 and up; Gr.8 and up.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. & Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app. Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom.Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PR6106 .O953 S64 2017Gr.9 and up.
One stormy Irish summer night, Olive and her best friend, Rose, begin to lose things. It starts with simple items like hairclips and jewelry, but soon it's clear that Rose has lost something much bigger, something she won't talk about, and Olive thinks her best friend is slipping away.The Takedown by Corrie Wang
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3623 .A4566 T35 2017Lexile measure HL740L; Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
Kyla Cheng doesn't expect you to like her. For the record, she doesn't need you to. On track to be valedictorian, she's president of her community club, a debate team champ, plus the yummy Mackenzie Rodriguez has firmly attached himself to her hip. She and her three high-powered best friends don't just own their senior year at their exclusive Park Slope, Brooklyn high school, they practically define the hated species Popular.
2016
Julia Vanishes by Catherine Egan
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3605 .G35 J85 2016Lexile measure HL790L; Ages 14 and up; Gr.8 and up.
Possessing an ability to hide on the edge of perception, Julia conceals her talents in a city where magic is banned and poses as a grand lady's housemaid alongside an eccentric band of fellow housemates who have ties to a powerful killer.Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3618 .O368 L37 2016Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
Flynn's girlfriend, January, is missing. The cops are asking question he can't answer, and her friends are telling stories that don't add up. All eyes are on Flynn--as January's boyfriend, he must know something. But Flynn has a secret of his own. And as he struggles to uncover the truth about January's disappearance, he must also face the truth about himself.Pasadena by Sherri L. Smith
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3619 .M5937 P37 2016Lexile measure HL630L; Ages 14 and up; Gr.9-12.
When Jude's best friend is found dead in a swimming pool, her family calls it an accident. Her friends call it suicide. But Jude calls it what it is- murder. And someone has to pay. Now everyone is a suspect-family and friends alike.A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3603 .A89895 S78 2016Lexile measure HL750L; Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson descendants, Charlotte and Jamie, students at a Connecticut boarding school, team up to solve a murder mystery.These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3604 .O563 T48 2016Lexile measure HL630L; Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
A young woman in nineteenth-century New York City must struggle against gender and class boundaries when her father is found dead of a supposed suicide, and she believes there is more than meets the eye, so in order to uncover the truth she will have to decide how much she is willing to risk and lose.With Malice by Eileen Cook
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PR9199.4 .C65845 W58 2016Lexile measure HL730L; Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron wakes up in a hospital, unable to remember the past six weeks, including the accident that killed her best friend, if it was, in fact, an accident.
Before 2016
Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3615 .L58635 V36 2015Lexile measure 890; Ages 14 and up; Gr.9 and up.
Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before--before Dara kissed Parker, before Nick lost him as her best friend, before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred. Now the two sisters, who used to be so close, aren't speaking. In an instant, Nick lost everything and is determined to use the summer to get it all back.Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3619 .E685 O98 2014Lexile measure HL590L; Ages 14 and up; gr.10-12.
Josie, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a French Quarter prostitute, is striving to escape 1950 New Orleans and enroll at prestigious Smith College when she becomes entangled in a murder investigation.The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3557 .R4886 U54 2014Lexile measure HL760L; Ages 13 and up; Gr.10-12
From the moment she burst into the downtown art scene, 17-year-old Addison Stone was someone to watch. Her trademark subversive street art and her violent drowning left her fans and critics craving to know more about this brilliant wild-child who shone so bright and was gone too soon.The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3601 .N434 V36 2014Lexile measure 850; Ages 12-18; Gr.9-12.
Girls started vanishing in the fall. For Maggie Larsen, the town of Gill Creek is only a stopgap before college and freedom. Until she meets Pauline and Liam. What starts as an uneventful year suddenly changes. Someone is killing teenaged girls, and the town reels from the tragedy. As Maggie's and Pauline's worlds collide and change around them, they will both experience love and loss.Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3625 .O99 P37 2013Lexile measure 970; Ages 14 and up; Gr.9-12.
Followed everywhere by the ghost of her recently deceased best friend, Hannah investigates the serial murders of young girls in her community.The Diviners by Libba Bray
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3602 .R3957 D58 2012Lexile measure HL730L; ages 13 and up; Gr.8-12; Guided reading Z.
Seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill is thrilled when she is exiled from small-town Ohio to New York City in 1926, even when a rash of occult-based murders thrusts Evie and her uncle, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, into the thick of the investigation.The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks
Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PR6102 .R67 R63 2006Lexile measure 700; Ages 14 and up.
On a storm-ravaged night, a 19-year-old girl is kidnapped, raped, and killed. Three days later, her two younger brothers set out in search of her murderer. Cole, 17, is a dark-eyed devil who doesn't care if he lives or dies, while Ruben, 14, is a strange child who sometimes, inexplicably, experiences sensations above and beyond his own.
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