LibGuides: Readers' Advisory: Mystery &amp; Adventures

Lists of Recommended Titles to Read

Scared Stiff Horror

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas
The Cheerleaders is Kara Thomas' edge-of-your-seat thriller about an eerie sequence of seemingly unrelated events that leaves five cheerleaders dead. There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook. First there was the car accident – two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night.
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed. Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short.
Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis
Lola Nox is the daughter of a celebrated horror filmmaker – she thinks nothing can scare her. But when her father is brutally attacked in their New York apartment, she's swiftly packed off to live with a grandmother she's never met in Harrow Lake, the eerie town where her father's most iconic horror movie was shot.
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi is set in a utopian city, Lucille, where evil people, also called “monsters” no longer exist, but have been replaced by “angels”, good people who try to establish justice and peace. Pet explores a world which may look peaceful and perfect on the outside, but is in fact full of monsters.
The Haunted by Danielle Vega
The Haunted follows the story of a girl called Hendricks Becker-O'Malley whose family moves into a new town because of something unsettling lurking in her past. She settles quickly and makes new friends, but soon she finds out that the house she lives in is where a young girl was brutally murdered.

Living Dangerously List - Featured Titles

The Finisher by David Baldacci
Vega has never left the village of Wormwood. Nobody has ever left the village. At least not until Quentin vanishes into the unknown. Vega is determined to uncover the truth. But the closer she gets, the more she risks her life.
Skyjacked by Paul Griffin
Five teenagers on their way back from a camping trip realize something has gone wrong; their plane has been hijacked--and even if they can overpower the hijacker, they have no idea how to fly the plane, much less land it.
City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende
Alexander accompanies his grandmother, a magazine reporter for International Geographic, on an expedition to the remote world of the Amazon to document the legendary Yeti known as The Beast
The Reader by Traci Chee
Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is murdered, she flees with her aunt Nin. But when Nin is kidnapped, the only clue to her aunt's disappearance and her father's murder is the rectangular object her father left behind, an object she realizes is a book--an item unheard of in her illiterate society.

Thrillers

Mysteries & Crime Solving List - Featured Titles

The Hidden Memory of Objects by Danielle Mages Amato
Megan's brother, Tyler, is dead, but the cops are killing him all over again. They say he died of a drug overdose suicide -- something Megan cannot accept. Determined to figure out what happened Megan turns to the things he left behind.
Cold Calls by Charles Benoit
While on suspension, Shelly, Eric, and Fatima, who have nothing else in common, try to identify and stop the person who blackmailed each of them by phone to perform very specific acts of bullying at their high schools.
The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin
Nosy new student Annie is determined to find out what really happened to two of her best friend Henry's last six girlfriends, who both died in mysterious ways, before history repeats itself.
Borrowed by Lucia DiStefano
Linnea, a heart transplant recipient, and Maxine, the twin sister of Linnea's heart donor, are brought together in terrifying ways when messages begin appearing on Linnea's body and Maxine believes her sister's drowning was no accident.

Spy Stories List - Featured Reads

Killing November by Adriana Mather
November is trapped at the mysterious Academy Absconditi, a school completely off the grid, no electricity, no internet, and a brutal punishment system. Classes include knife-throwing, poisons and the art of deception, the other students? Children of the world's most elite strategists, training to become assassins and spies. November Adley doesn't know why she's been sent to this place, but she'll quickly discover that allies are few.
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
After the death of the uncle who had been his guardian, fourteen-year-old Alex Rider is coerced to continue his uncle's dangerous work for Britain's intelligence agency, MI6.
Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger
In an alternate England of 1851, spirited Sophronia is enrolled in a finishing school where, she is surprised to learn, lessons include not only the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but also diversion, deceit, and espionage.
The Shadow Project by Herbie Brennan
A young English thief stumbles on, and subsequently is recruited for, a super-secret operation that trains teenagers in remote viewing and astral projection techniques in order to engage in spying.

Survival Stories

Wildfire by Carrie Mac
Annie and Pete have been best friends since they were little. They know each other better than anyone, and they've been on more adventures than they can count–they even have a notebook filled with all the times they've almost died. But they always survive, because together, they're invincible.
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
“Set at a girls boarding school off the coast of Maine, Wilder Girls explores the lengths to which a group of teen girls will go to survive their own mutating bodies and the vicious wilderness on the island where they are quarantined due to a mysterious contagion called the Tox.
People Like Us by Dana Mele
The dead girl has left Kay a computer-coded scavenger hunt, which, as it unravels, begins to implicate suspect after suspect, until Kay herself is in the crosshairs of a murder investigation. But if Kay's finally backed into a corner, she'll do what it takes to survive.
Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl
In NEVERWORLD WAKE, Beatrice Hartley is in search of the truth about her boyfriend Jim's death, and it's a terrifying trip to that truth. A year after graduating from a tony New England prep school, she and four estranged high school friends reunite at Wincroft, an isolated mansion on the Rhode Island coast.
Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart
From the author of the unforgettable New York Times bestseller We Were Liars comes a masterful new psychological suspense novel-the story of a young woman whose diabolical smarts are her ticket into a charmed life. But how many times can someone reinvent themselves? You be the judge.

Popular YA Mystery Authors

Sara Shepard – YA drama, mystery, thriller writer; see author’s website here. Most notable series include Pretty Little Liars and The Heiresses.

Libba Bray- In The Diviners series, Evie O’Neill becomes wrapped up in the investigation of a string of occult murders in 1920s New York City.

Carl Hiaasen - His series of environmental themed mysteries will entertain and educate readers about environmental issues. See the author's website here.

E. Lockhart - With her suspenseful novels We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud, there are plenty of twists and turns to keep readers excited. See the author's website here.

Maureen Johnson - The Shades of London series features Rory as she tries to investigate Jack the Ripper copycat murders. See the author's website here.

Readers Advisory for Teens & Young Adults

Fantastic Fiction

Bibliographies for over 40,000 authors. Use the browse menu on the left to find an author by surname, or use the search box above to search for an author or book. Information on over 500,000 books. Throughout the site, just click on a book to see its cover picture, description and publication details.

WhichBooks

Whichbook enables millions of combinations of factors and then suggests books which most closely match your needs.

All Readers

AllReaders.com contains detailed book and movie reviews from many different genres of books!

Comics Worth Reading:

Provides reviews of recently published comics.

No Flying, No Tights

Offers reviews of comics, graphic novels, and manga aimed at librarians and teachers so they can better serve their students or patrons.

American Indians in Children's Literature

Established in 2006, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society. Scroll down for links to book reviews, Native media, and more.

Read.gov/teens

Encouraging everyone to discover the world of books. Find a variety of free teen reading resources to explore and enjoy.

YALSA's Book Awards & Booklists

Books selected for teens from 12 to 18 years of age, these award-winning titles and the titles on YALSA's selected lists span a broad range of reading and maturity levels. We encourage adults to take an active role in helping individual teens choose those books that are the best fit for them and their families.

Mystery Resources

The Hidden Staircase

A website is committed to providing readers and collectors of mysteries, thrillers, suspense and crime novels with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, books, and series.

StopYou'reKillingMe.com

A resource for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books. We list over 5,000 authors, with chronological lists of their books (over 58,000 titles), both series (5,900+) and non-series.

Mystery Writers of America

Mystery Writers of America is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre.