12 More Top-Notch Mystery Books for Teens

Glasgow’s mystery starts with a love triangle: Alice Ogilvie’s boyfriend Steve dumps her and starts dating her best friend, Brooke Donovan. Alice disappears for five days and returns to a town full of people who are displeased with the time and resources spent looking for her. And then Brooke goes missing, but this time it’s for real—her dead body is found, and Steve is the top suspect in her death.

Mad as she is at Steve over their breakup, Alice is dubious that he’s the one who killed Brooke, especially since there are plenty of people with reason to dislike Brooke who have questionable alibis. Armed with the knowledge she’s gained from reading Agatha Christie novels and the assistance of her new tutor Iris (who’s got problems of her own), Alice sets out to investigate what really happened to Brooke, clear Steve’s name, and collect the reward offered by Brooke’s very wealthy grandmother.

Glasgow’s novel is a lot of fun, reminiscent of Veronica Mars, especially with its setting in a wealthy central California community, and the inclusion of a ridiculous mansion clearly modeled after Hearst Castle was a pleasant surprise for us California girls. Underneath the mystery, however, Alice and Iris are complex characters wrestling with some serious issues, and their character development makes the novel more than just a breezy read. 

The novel does include some profanity, domestic violence, and teen partying, so it’s probably best suited for high school students.

We suppose this is more of a thriller than a mystery, but the vibes fit right in with the other titles on this list. Nora O’Malley is the daughter of a con artist: she’s learned to read people and adapt her persona to get what she wants from the day she was born. When she meets her ex-boyfriend and her new girlfriend at the local bank so they can run an awkward errand, however, those skills come in handy: the bank is held up by two robbers desperate to get into the safety deposit boxes.

Things go wrong from the beginning—the bank manager isn’t there but his young daughter is, one of the robbers shoots a security guard, and Nora’s girlfriend is not feeling well—and it’s up to Nora to figure out how she can get everyone out alive. When the bank robbers discover a secret from her past, however, they realize she’s just as valuable as what they’re trying to get out of the safety deposit boxes, and Nora’s life depends on her ability to keep her wits about her.

The bank robbery narrative is interwoven with Nora’s back story as the daughter of a con artist, and we develop empathy for Nora and the trauma she has experienced as a result. We’re also rooting for her to earn back the trust of her girlfriend and ex-boyfriend when they learn the truth about her past, and the experience unexpectedly proves to be a healing opportunity for all of them. 

This is definitely a book for older students, with quite a bit of profanity and references to physical and sexual abuse, but it’s a compelling read that kept us turning pages until the very end.

Jackson’s novel is heartbreaking but powerful, and in a lot of ways, it reminded us of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Claudia’s best friend, Monday Charles, is missing, and Claudia grows increasingly worried when Monday doesn’t show up for the first day of school . . . or in the days and weeks that follow. And yet no one seems to be as worried as Claudia is or willing to do much about it.

Claudia and Monday have been inseparable for years, almost like sisters, and Claudia desperately misses her only friend, especially when she has to face bullies and those horrible rumors from last year alone. But when Claudia tries to find her friend, she starts to wonder if she knew Monday as well as she thought she did. Meanwhile, Claudia’s grades are plummeting: without Monday there to help her, she’s no longer able to hide her struggles with dyslexia, and her parents and teachers are increasingly concerned.

Claudia never gives up on her friend, however, and even as she tries to move on and lean on new people, she never stops demanding to know what has happened to Monday.

Jackson’s novel is a tough read and definitely for older audiences (be aware of profanity, child abuse, and references to sex), but like Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, it raises thought-provoking questions about the responsibility we bear as a community to care for one another when it feels like all we have the capacity to do is to care for ourselves.

If you’ve ever wondered if there is a YA version of Silence of the Lambs, wonder no more.

Emma Lewis escaped from a serial killer, and while she’s grateful to have survived, she carries a lot of guilt over the girls she had to leave behind. Travis Bell is in training to be a US Marshal like his father, who was killed in the line of duty. When the FBI recruits them both to conduct interviews of teenage serial killers whom the adult profilers haven’t been able to make headway with, they’re forced to confront their own demons as they do their best to ensure what happened to Emma doesn’t happen to anyone else.

Soon, however, they’re pulled into an active case to help find a serial killer who is hunting teenagers, and this means they must talk to sociopath Simon Gutmunsson. Simon is in high-security confinement in a hospital for the criminally insane, and while he has insights into the FBI’s case, he’s also fascinated by Emma and seems to view talking to her as a kind of game. Oh, and did we mention? He’s the guy who killed Travis’s father.

Marney’s novel is a good serial killer story: there are creepy interviews, gruesome murders, and plenty of action and danger. Emma and Travis are likable and tough, and we’re rooting for them through all the twists and turns, even if not everyone at the FBI is on board with their involvement. 

While not the most violent or gruesome serial killer story we’ve read, there are definitely still a few tough scenes (and some profanity), so we’d probably avoid this one for younger audiences.

The wealthy Rosewood family has been the heart of Rosetown for generations, and the novel opens at their annual party for the town. Lily Rosewood is there, of course—she’s lived with Gram ever since her father died and her mother took off, and she’s gotten close with Gram, especially since her friends abandoned her after her father’s failed financial investment business hurt many of the families in town.

But when Lily wakes up the day after the party to learn not only that Gram has died but that, per Gram’s will, the house is on lockdown, she’s forced to live with her uncle Arbor and her horrible cousin Daisy. Things get confusing quickly when Gram only leaves them each a small gift and no mention of who will inherit the estate, the fortune, or the family company.

But Lily discovers a secret message that sends her on a scavenger hunt for Gram’s fortune along with three other teens Gram invited. As they work together to solve Gram’s clues, they have to navigate the chaos of treasure hunters who come pouring into town in search of the missing Rosewood fortune. As Lily’s forced to deal with a lot of family secrets she starts uncovering, she learns to rely on the friends Gram has forced into her life and to believe a future without Gram might just be okay after all.

Reed’s novel is a lot of fun, and while it is reminiscent of many quirky-family-missing-inheritance stories, it definitely feels updated for modern readers. 

While there is some profanity, we think this will appeal to (and be appropriate for) a wide range of young adult readers.

The British monarchy in Carter’s novel looks a lot like the one we would have today . . . if Edward VIII hadn’t stayed with Wallis Simpson and abdicated the throne. Several generations later, King Alexander II is on the throne and his secret illegitimate American daughter Evan Bright is getting expelled from yet another boarding school, much to the chagrin of Jenkins, her father’s private secretary who has been tasked with looking out for her.

Even though King Alexander II is her legal guardian, Evan has never met her father, but Jenkins decides it’s time for her to come to England and stay with the king at Windsor Castle, at least until she turns 18 in a month. It’s bad enough getting thrust into the life of the father who chose his “real” family over you, but let’s just say Evan does not receive a particularly warm welcome from Queen Helene, Princess Mary, the rest of the royal family, or, really, the whole of England. Things go from bad to worse when Evan goes to a party where the son of a media mogul is killed and Evan is the last person seen with him, making her the prime suspect in his death.

We loved Evan, and we loved the juicy British gossip and scandal—every chapter opens with excerpts from the British media or other characters’ text messages. And while the mystery kept us turning pages, we were far more invested in Evan’s growing relationship with her father.

Carter’s novel will appeal to a pretty broad range of students (beware of some profanity), but do be aware that attempted date rape plays a central role in the plot when recommending it to students.

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It’s the Fourth of July, and the Muslim Student Associations from several Southern California high schools are gathering for a beach bonfire. Samia, Abdullahi, Nasreen, Qays, Muzhda, and Zamzam come from wildly different backgrounds and life experiences, and most of them don’t even know each other, but by the end of the night, they’re being arrested on terrorism charges after an oil rig explodes off the coast, followed by the nearby pier.

Told in alternating chapters from the six teenagers’ perspectives, the novel follows their journey through the legal system as they fight against the prosecutor’s story about how they conspired to set off the explosion, a story based on thin, purely circumstantial, evidence but believed by many simply because they are Muslim.

The novel kept us flipping back to re-read as new pieces of information came to light—it’s pretty clear that the six teens are innocent (and who the guilty party is), but there are moments where the teens’ secrets make us question their innocence . . . and a twist that made us wonder if we missed something.

Shukairy tells a good story, and we were invested in what happened to the six teenagers. But the novel is also troubling: as much as we wanted to say it was wildly implausible, the stuff of compelling fiction, it also rang a little too true at moments, and we were sad to admit that something like this could, in fact, happen in a country that often plays fast and loose with its ideals of freedom and justice. 

There is some profanity in the novel.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

“When the doorbell rings at three in the morning, it’s never good news.”

What a perfectly apt beginning to this first book in the wildly popular Alex Rider series. Alex is right: he opens the door to learn that his uncle Ian is dead. The official story is that it was a car accident, but Alex is dubious, especially after he tracks down the car his uncle was driving to a local junkyard (where he almost gets crushed by the machinery) and discovers bullet holes in the car.

Alex eventually learns that his uncle was a spy for MI-6, and the top-secret organization now wants Alex to take over where his uncle left off. Alex is only a teenager, but he’s perfect for the case: a wealthy tech wizard is donating a massive supply of computers to local schools, but there’s something suspicious going on, and MI-6 is sending in Alex disguised as the winner of a competition to meet the creator. Their hope is that Alex will be able to find the leads his uncle had uncovered before he was killed, and Alex quickly finds himself in danger.

Full of exciting chases and super-fun gadgets, Alex Rider is an excellent spy novel that is appropriate for middle school readers but that high school students will still find engaging.

While the publishers describe Lincoln’s novel as a combination of Knives Out and Lemony Snicket (which is perfectly appropriate), our minds jumped straight to The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Westing Game.

Words are important in the Swift family: each family member’s name is selected from the dictionary, and the word’s definition foretells the person that particular Swift will grow up to be. Shenanigan Swift wrestles with her fate throughout the book: is she really meant to only be a mischief-maker? What if she wants to be something (or someone) else?

As the Swift family gathers for their big Swift Family Reunion, Shenanigan is determined to find Grand-Uncle Vile’s long-lost treasure. But she has a new puzzle to solve when someone pushes Arch-Aunt Schadenfreude down the stairs . . . only the first in a string of murders that take over the reunion. Shenanigan joins with her sisters and cousin to find the guilty party, but there is more than one surprise in store for them.

The Swift family is full of quirky characters, and the book is full of puzzles and clever wordplay. Appropriate for middle school students especially, we think students of all ages who love a good puzzle will enjoy their time with the Swifts.

We both love a good legal thriller, and John Grisham is the king of them, so we were excited to discover his Theodore Boone series: the legal system is fascinating, but it can be complicated, which doesn’t always make it a great topic for our younger or more reluctant readers.

But Theodore, the son of two lawyers, is an excellent guide to the legal system for his classmates and for us as readers. He knows everyone who works in the local courthouse, and in between giving legal advice to his classmates, Theodore is fascinated by the local trial of Mr. Duffy, who has been accused of murdering his wife. Theo works his courthouse contacts to get his middle school government class seats for the opening day of the trial, and he races over after school every day as the trial continues.

Soon, Theo gets dragged even further into the case: it’s looking like Mr. Duffy is going to be declared innocent, but Theo discovers a community member with information about the day of the murder who is too scared to come forward. It’s up to Theo to figure out how to get this information admitted into the trial as evidence, and as he quickly learns, that’s a lot easier said than done.

In addition to being quite likable, Theo is a great role model for students, and we’re confident we would have devoured this series as kids. Grisham makes the ins and outs of the legal system accessible and interesting for younger readers in the same way he does for adults, and while the novel is aimed at a middle school audience, we think there are many high schoolers who would find it equally enjoyable.

Rosalyn “Ross” Quest was born into a family of internationally renowned thieves. It sounds glamorous, but it’s also really lonely: Ross is stuck on an island in the Bahamas, taught to trust no one, and desperate for friends. She works out an elaborate escape plan: she’ll disappear while she and her mom pull a job on a yacht and go to gymnastics camp in the States, just to get away for a while and make some friends.

But when things go terribly wrong and her mom gets taken hostage, Ross panics. In need of money to pay a $1 billion ransom, she accepts a mysterious invitation to the Thieves’ Gambit, a competition put on by The Organizers for exceptional teen thieves from around the world. The reward? A wish . . . for anything you want. It’s the only way Ross can get her mother back and assuage the guilt she feels for trying to get away from her.

We’re thrown into a glamorous Ocean’s 11-esque world of international heists as Ross puts her lifetime of skills to the test to win the competition and save her mom. One of the competitors is Ross’s long-time rival from another renowned thieving family; another is a very attractive and very charming Brit she can’t help but be drawn to; the remaining competitors bring all sorts of vivid personalities to the mix. Ross’s whole life has been built on the idea that she can’t trust anyone, but the longer she spends with her fellow thieves, the more she begins to question whether this was good advice after all.

This fast-paced, cinematic novel is tons of fun and will appeal to a wide range of readers. We were sucked in from the beginning, and as the twists and turns and betrayals racked up, we could hardly turn the pages fast enough. The movie rights have already been picked up, and it makes perfect sense: this story was made for the big screen.

We enjoyed Emill’s first novel, The Black Queen, when we were compiling our list of books about high school dances, so when we came across this title, we were excited and surprised to find that wow . . . we like this one even better.

Amir and Marcel are half brothers, and while Marcel longs for a relationship, Amir has experienced a lifetime of feeling rejected by his father and his father’s “new” family, so he’d be fine never interacting with Marcel again. But when a text from Chloe, a hot girl from school, gets Amir to show up at Marcel’s birthday party, it sets in motion a series of events that rock both brothers’ worlds.

Amir takes Chloe home from the party and keeps her company before falling asleep on her couch, but when he wakes up at 2:18 a.m., he discovers Chloe stabbed to death in her bed upstairs, and as a young Black man, he knows he cannot be found on the scene of a wealthy white girl’s murder, so he runs. Unfortunately, in his panic, he runs out the front door, only to be caught on a neighbor’s security camera, and it’s not long before he is arrested and facing the death penalty for a crime he didn’t commit. Marcel is horrified and determined to figure out who actually killed Chloe, freeing his brother and repairing the enormous rift in their family.

There’s so much we want to say about this book, and we can’t because any more details about the brothers’ investigation would be a major spoiler alert in a fantastic mystery that kept us turning pages rapidly. But what made us really appreciate Emill’s novel were the complex issues beneath the suspenseful twists and turns. More than anything else, this is a book about a broken family that comes together and begins to heal, and the relationships between the family members, but especially Marcel and Amir, gave the novel heart and brought tears to our eyes. The novel also explores important issues of race, class, politics, and privilege: the boys attend a private school with a predominantly white student body, and the tensions between race and class are at the center of events.

Do be aware that there is a lot of profanity in the novel, including several particularly vile, racist “SnapMessages” exchanges that play a central role in the plot but did make our jaws drop. We think many students will enjoy the fast-paced novel and that will benefit from considering the issues Emill explores, but this is one we’d probably place on our shelves rather than formally recommend on First Chapter Friday for any group other than, perhaps, seniors.

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Children’s, and Delacorte Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.