Children's Mystery
Children’s Mystery Balliet, Blue | Chasing Vermeer (Hyde Park) When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal. Level S Barrett, Tracy | Hundred-year-old Secret (The Sherlock Files) Xena and Xander Holmes, an American brother and sister living in London for a year, discover that Sherlock Holmes was their great-great-great grandfather when they are inducted into the Society for Preservation of Famous Detectives and given his unsolved casebook, from which they attempt to solve the case of a famous missing painting. Level P Beil, Michael D. | The Ring of Rocamadour (The Red Blazer Girls) Catholic-schooled seventh-graders Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca, and Leigh Ann help an elderly neighbor solve a puzzle her father left for her estranged daughter twenty years ago. Level Q Berk, Josh | Strike Three You’re Dead Lenny Norbeck and his friends, “The Mikes” set out to investigate the suspicious death of a young pitcher at a Phillies game. Level S Berlin, Eric | The Puzzling World of Winston Breen (series) Puzzle-crazy, twelve-year-old Winston and his ten-year-old sister Katie find themselves involved in a dangerous mystery involving a hidden ring. Level P Buckley, Michael | The Fairy Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm) Orphans Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with an eccentric grandmother that they always believed to be dead. Soon after their arrival they become involved in a mystery of “gigantic” proportions. Level R Buckley, Michael | NERDS (series) While running a spy network from their elementary school, five unpopular misfits combine their talents and use cutting edge gadgetry to fight evil around the world. Level V Clements, Andrew | Room One: A Mystery or Two Ted Hammond, the only sixth grader in his small town’s one-room schoolhouse, searches for clues to the disappearance of a homeless family. Level U Dionne, Erin | Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking: A 14 Day Mystery Instead of spending a carefree summer exploring downtown Boston with best friend Ollie, thirteen-year-old Moxie must solve a famous art heist in order to protect those she loves from her ailing grandfather's gangster past. Includes facts about the 1990 Gardner Museum art theft. Level U Dixon, Franklin | The Tower Treasure (Hardy Boys) After a dying criminal confesses that his been stashed “in the tower”, the Hardy boys make an astonishing discovery. Level T
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Dowell, Frances O’Roark | Dovey Coe When accused of murder in her North Carolina mountain town in 1928, Dovey Coe, a strong-willed twelve-year-old girl, comes to a new understanding of others, including her deaf brother. Level X Feinstein, John | Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery (series) After winning a basketball reporting contest, eighth graders Stevie and Susan Carol are sent to cover the Final Four tournament, where they discover that a talented player is being blackmailed into throwing the final game. Level T Giff, Patricia Reilly | Eleven: A Mystery When Sam, who can barely read, discovers an old newspaper clipping just before his eleventh birthday, it brings forth memories from his past, and with the help of a new friend at school and the castle they are building for a school project, his questions are eventually answered. Level P
West Des Moines Library (9/15)
Grisham, John| Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer (series) With two attorneys for parents, thirteen-yearold Theodore Boone knows more about the law than most lawyers do. But when a high profile murder trial comes to his small town and Theo gets pulled into it, it's up to this amateur attorney to save the day. Level T Gutman, Dan | The Million Dollar Strike (series) Best friends Ouchie and Squishy, who love bowling and horror movies respectively, meet the eccentric owner of a local bowling alley and try to help him save BowlA-Rama from the wrecking ball and a destructive psychotic lunatic. Level S Haddix, Margaret Peterson | The House on the Gulf A sixteen-year-old boy arranges a house-sitting job for the summer, but he starts acting strangely after his family moves in, and his sister begins to suspect they are not supposed to be there. Level U Howe, Deborah and James | Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery (Bunnicula) Though scoffed at by Harold the Dog, Chester the cat tries to warn his human friends that their foundling baby bunny must be a vampire. Level R Horowitz, Anthony | The Falcon’s Malteser (Diamond Brothers Mystery) After his older brother, a fledgling private detective, agrees to safeguard a package for a dwarf who does not live lone, thirteen-year-old Nick scampers to solve the mystery while staying one step ahead of an assortment of thugs. Level P Kirby, Matthew J. | The Arctic Code (series) The Earth is in the grip of a new Ice Age, and when twelve-yearold Eleanor's scientist mother disappears in the Arctic, Eleanor sets off on a dangerous journey to find her-and uncovers a mystery, a crime, and evidence that Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials. Level T Paulsen, Gary | Mudshark Principal Wagner confidently deals with a faculty washroom crisis, a psychic parrot, and a terrorizing gerbil, but when sixty-five erasers go missing, he enlists the help of the school’s best problem solver and locator of lost items, twelve-year-old Lyle Williams, aka Mudshark. Level T Raskin, Ellen | The Westing Game The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. Level V Sobol, Donald | Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective (series) Encyclopedia Brown solves crimes for his friends and helps his father crack Idaville’s hardest police cases. Level P Springer, Nancy | The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes) Enola Holmes, much younger sister of detective Sherlock Holmes, must travel to London in disguise to unravel the disappearance of her missing mother. Level W Turnage, Shelia | Three Times Lucky Washed ashore as a baby in tiny Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, Mo LoBeau, now eleven, and her best friend Dale turn detective when the amnesiac Colonel, owner of a café and co-parent of Mo with his cook, Miss Lana, seems implicated in a murder. Level O Van Drannen, Wendlin | Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception (series) Seventh-grade sleuth Sammy Keyes investigates mysterious happenings at a local art gallery. Level T Voigt, Cynthia | Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things When Max's parents leave the country without him, he must rely on his wits to get by, and before long he is running his own--rather unusual—business. Level U Winerip, Michael | Adam Canfield of the Slash (series) While serving as co-editors of their school newspaper, middle-schoolers Adam and Jennifer uncover fraud and corruption in their school and in the city’s government. Level U West Des Moines Library (9/15)
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Dowell, Frances O’Roark | Dovey Coe When accused of murder in her North Carolina mountain town in 1928, Dovey Coe, a strong-willed twelve-year-old girl, comes to a new understanding of others, including her deaf brother. Level X Feinstein, John | Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery (series) After winning a basketball reporting contest, eighth graders Stevie and Susan Carol are sent to cover the Final Four tournament, where they discover that a talented player is being blackmailed into throwing the final game. Level T Giff, Patricia Reilly | Eleven: A Mystery When Sam, who can barely read, discovers an old newspaper clipping just before his eleventh birthday, it brings forth memories from his past, and with the help of a new friend at school and the castle they are building for a school project, his questions are eventually answered. Level P
West Des Moines Library (9/15)
Grisham, John| Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer (series) With two attorneys for parents, thirteen-yearold Theodore Boone knows more about the law than most lawyers do. But when a high profile murder trial comes to his small town and Theo gets pulled into it, it's up to this amateur attorney to save the day. Level T Gutman, Dan | The Million Dollar Strike (series) Best friends Ouchie and Squishy, who love bowling and horror movies respectively, meet the eccentric owner of a local bowling alley and try to help him save BowlA-Rama from the wrecking ball and a destructive psychotic lunatic. Level S Haddix, Margaret Peterson | The House on the Gulf A sixteen-year-old boy arranges a house-sitting job for the summer, but he starts acting strangely after his family moves in, and his sister begins to suspect they are not supposed to be there. Level U Howe, Deborah and James | Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery (Bunnicula) Though scoffed at by Harold the Dog, Chester the cat tries to warn his human friends that their foundling baby bunny must be a vampire. Level R Horowitz, Anthony | The Falcon’s Malteser (Diamond Brothers Mystery) After his older brother, a fledgling private detective, agrees to safeguard a package for a dwarf who does not live lone, thirteen-year-old Nick scampers to solve the mystery while staying one step ahead of an assortment of thugs. Level P Kirby, Matthew J. | The Arctic Code (series) The Earth is in the grip of a new Ice Age, and when twelve-yearold Eleanor's scientist mother disappears in the Arctic, Eleanor sets off on a dangerous journey to find her-and uncovers a mystery, a crime, and evidence that Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials. Level T Paulsen, Gary | Mudshark Principal Wagner confidently deals with a faculty washroom crisis, a psychic parrot, and a terrorizing gerbil, but when sixty-five erasers go missing, he enlists the help of the school’s best problem solver and locator of lost items, twelve-year-old Lyle Williams, aka Mudshark. Level T Raskin, Ellen | The Westing Game The mysterious death of an eccentric millionaire brings together an unlikely assortment of heirs who must uncover the circumstances of his death before they can claim their inheritance. Level V Sobol, Donald | Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective (series) Encyclopedia Brown solves crimes for his friends and helps his father crack Idaville’s hardest police cases. Level P Springer, Nancy | The Case of the Missing Marquess (Enola Holmes) Enola Holmes, much younger sister of detective Sherlock Holmes, must travel to London in disguise to unravel the disappearance of her missing mother. Level W Turnage, Shelia | Three Times Lucky Washed ashore as a baby in tiny Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, Mo LoBeau, now eleven, and her best friend Dale turn detective when the amnesiac Colonel, owner of a café and co-parent of Mo with his cook, Miss Lana, seems implicated in a murder. Level O Van Drannen, Wendlin | Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception (series) Seventh-grade sleuth Sammy Keyes investigates mysterious happenings at a local art gallery. Level T Voigt, Cynthia | Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things When Max's parents leave the country without him, he must rely on his wits to get by, and before long he is running his own--rather unusual—business. Level U Winerip, Michael | Adam Canfield of the Slash (series) While serving as co-editors of their school newspaper, middle-schoolers Adam and Jennifer uncover fraud and corruption in their school and in the city’s government. Level U West Des Moines Library (9/15)
