Library Mysteries

Serge is back with a bullet, torn between homicide and souvenirs. So is Coleman, torn between getting hammered and getting more hammered. Then there's good ol' Jim Davenport, the E-Team, the Diaz Brothers, and Johnny Vegas, the Accidental Virgin, cranking up the fevered action as the pot boils over on a street called Lobster Lane.

Greta Plank, library director in the small lakeside town of Larkspur, Wisconsin, prefers her rose-tinted glasses extra rosy, thank you very much. It's how she copes with the hard stuff in life . . . like her sister's death and her ex-boyfriend's deception. But Greta's cheery resolve takes a hit when she stumbles upon a dead body on her way home from work. What she assumes is a terrible accident Greta soon learns is something more sinister, and to make matters worse, a new-to-town detective cites her as not only his primary source for the case, but his top suspect.

Down at the bottom of the tall buildings of New York City, Magnolia Wu sits inside her parents’ laundromat. She has pinned every lost sock from the laundromat onto a bulletin board, in hopes that customers will return to retrieve them. But no one seems to have noticed. In fact, barely anyone has noticed Magnolia at all. What she doesn’t know is that this is about to be her most exciting summer yet. When Iris, a new friend from California arrives, they set off across the city to solve the mystery of each missing sock.

It wasn't Tillie's choice to leave Philadelphia. But after everything that happened junior year, her mom insisted the quiet suburb of Willow Creek was the perfect place to get a fresh start, to put the trauma and rumors behind them. Madison Frank is the perfect distraction. Beautiful, fun, and from the wealthy side of town, Madison is the kind of girl who has a pull stronger than gravity. She commands attention, even inspires obsession. And by the end of summer, Tillie's forgotten everything―everyone―she left in Philadelphia. Almost. Then Madison goes missing.

In the class of the high school English teacher she has been haunting, Helen feels them: for the first time in 130 years, human eyes are looking at her. They belong to a boy, a boy who has not seemed remarkable until now. And Helen, terrified, but intrigued, is drawn to him. The fact that he is in a body and she is not presents this unlikely couple with their first challenge.

Bookshop assistant Aurora "Rory" Hawthorn thinks reality will never be as interesting as fiction. It turns out her dad was keeping a secret or two...most importantly, that he was a wizard and that Rory has a hidden magical family she's never met. Juggling a new family and job would be enough of a challenge without also having to deal with a murder mystery, cranky familiars, and the attention of the local reaper - even if he is the hottest guy in town.

With 128 athletes competing in dozens of matches for millions in prize money, you expect drama. You expect blistering serves, smashed returns, and sliced shots that kiss the line. You do not expect kidnapping.

At St. Aidan the Great School, or S.T.A.G.S., new things - and new people - are to be avoided. The prestige of the students' bloodlines seem surreal to Greer MacDonald. A scholarship student who recently transferred to S.T.A.G.S., Greer is ignored at best and mocked at worst by the school's most admired circle of friends, the Medievals. Greer is taken by surprise when the Medievals send her an invitation to an exclusive weekend retreat at a private family estate. But beyond the weekend's luxurious trappings, predators are lurking.

Mike and Kate arrive in Colorado to a ballpark covered in snow! Luckily, the stadium has a heater that can melt the fluffy flakes in time for next day's game. But when the ballpark engineers get a mysterious note saying that someone may tamper with the scoreboard, the snow becomes the least of the cousins' problems. It's time for Mike and Kate to switch into sleuth mode and solve a mystery that will take them underground, a mile above sea level, and even face to face with a dinosaur!

LOS ANGELES, 1932: Lulu Wong, star of the silver screen and the pride of Chinatown, has a face known to practically everyone, especially the Chow sisters—May, Gemma, and Peony—Lulu’s former classmates and neighbors. So the girls instantly know it’s Lulu when they discover a body one morning in an out-of-the-way stable, far from the Beverly Hills home where she lived after her fame skyrocketed. The sisters suspect Lulu’s death is the result of foul play, but the police don’t seem motivated to investigate. Even worse, there are signs that point to a cover-up.

Descendants of the Fates are always born in threes: one to weave, one to draw, and one to cut the threads that connect people to the things they love and to life itself. The Ora sisters are no exception. Io, the youngest, uses her Fate-born abilities as a private investigator in the half-sunken city of Alante. But her latest job leads her to a horrific discovery: somebody is abducting women, maiming their life-threads, and setting the resulting wraiths loose in the city to kill.

Some sneaky soul has stolen the skeleton from the nurse’s office! The principal promises free aquarium tickets to the savvy sleuths who can track down poor Mr. Bones. It’s up to Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose to follow the clues and put those old bones to rest.

Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose love visiting their friend Sammi, the prince of Costra. They swim, soak in the sun, and admire the bright yellow yacht that is moored just offshore. But the owners of the yacht are acting a little suspicious. And there’s suddenly been a robbery on the island. Can Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose find out a connection between the robbery and the mysterious yellow yacht?

Sometimes a busy businessmouse like me needs a nice, relaxing vacation. But every time I tried to get away, disaster struck! By the time I finally tore myself away from The Rodent's Gazette, all the good trips were booked up. I found myself stuck in a flea-ridden old hotel, sharing a room with a bunch of Gerbil Scouts!

Cotton Malone retired from the high-risk world of elite operatives to lead the life of a rare-book dealer. But his quiet existence is shattered when he receives an anonymous e-mail: " You have something I want. You're the only person on earth who knows where to find it. If I don't hear from you, you will be childless." His ex-wife confirms that their teenage son has been kidnapped, and it becomes clear that those responsible will stop at nothing to get what they want: the lost library of Alexandria.

When eight-year-old twins Zach and Zoe find out they'll be joining their dad at the Boston Bruins hockey practice, they can't believe their luck. But upon arrival, the Bruins' star player tells the twins he lost his lucky necklace right before the Stanley Cup final, and just like that, the mystery is on. The twins' search takes them all over the arena and even onto the ice. Will Zach and Zoe find the missing necklace in time for the big game?

Beginning readers are introduced to the detective mystery genre in these chapter books. Perfect for the Common Core, kids can problem-solve with Nate, using logical thinking to solve mysteries!

Best friends Neena and Josie spent high school as outsiders, but at least they had each other. Now, with college and a 2,000-mile separation looming on the horizon, they have one last chance to be together - a three-day hike deep into the woods of the Pisgah National Forest.

Her name is Sarah. She's blonde, blue-eyed, and Jewish in 1939 Germany. And her act of resistance is about to change the world. After her mother is shot at a checkpoint, 15-year-old Sarah meets a mysterious man with an ambiguous accent, a suspiciously bare apartment, and a lockbox full of weapons. He's part of the secret resistance against the Third Reich, and he needs Sarah to hide in plain sight at a school for the daughters of top Nazi brass, posing as one of them.

A mysterious note from Merlin sends Jack and Annie to Paris, France, for the 1889 World's Fair. Their mission: find four "new magicians" and protect them from an evil sorcerer who plans to kidnap them and steal the secrets of their magic. When Jack and Annie arrive at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, they find exhibits from all over the world and thousands of people attending the fair!