Teen Mysteries

 

Have you read any good mysteries lately?  Here are a few teen mysteries that we absolutely loved! We talked about the award-winning Firekeeper’s Daughter a few weeks ago, which we are still reeling from; here are a few others that we can’t stop thinking about:

Jackaby                William Ritter

(series) Richly atmospheric with a supernatural twist!  It is 1892 and Abigail Rook has just stepped off the boat, looking for adventure in America.  She is badly in need of a job and when she meets a man named Jackaby, an investigator in need of an assistant.  On her first day, they are caught up in a murder mystery with some odd elements.  Warned by many townsfolk to stay away from her employer Jackaby, Abigail realizes that Jackaby can see supernatural beings that are invisible to others. That along with his autism and cluelessness about social norms, makes it unlikely anyone will believe Jackaby’s claim, but in order to catch the killer, Jackaby must convince the police chief that the killer is on the police force…

Study in Charlotte           Brittany Cavallero

(series) Jamie Watson has always been curious about Charlotte Holmes. Their grandfathers (Sherlock Holmes & Watson) were a pretty famous duo after all.  Jamie was raised in the U.S. by his mother, but when he chooses to attend a boarding school in England near his father, he finally gets to meet Charlotte. She is quite aloof with some rather odd habits and they probably would not have talked much except someone has reenacted a scene from their grandparents’ books and they are both framed for murder.

I am Princess X                 Cherie Priest and Kali Ciesemie

Libby and May were best friends who created a comic book character together named Princess X. Libby passed away in a car accident and May was heartbroken.  A few years later, however, she stumbles across a poster for Princess X with the same character she and Libby had drawn.  May is sure they haven’t told anyone about it.  Is Libby alive?  Or how has someone found the character they created?

One Came Home             Amy Timberlake

(set in Wisconsin! Historical fiction that is also a murder mystery.)  Georgie refuses to believe it when her mother says her older sister Agatha is dead.  Agatha had run away with the pigeoneers and the sheriff brings back a body wearing her sister’s dress, but the body is too mutilated to make identification certain.  Georgie is known for shooting abilities and her straight talk, and she decides to go to where the body was found to investigate.  Georgie knows there was something odd about her sister’s recent engagement and love triangle, and when one of her sister’s love interests insists on coming along, Georgie is not at all happy.  The combination of a humorously straight talking narrator with an unusual murder mystery and a detailed look at how passenger pigeons changed the frontier landscape, makes this is a highly memorable book.