This week, as promised, I have some realistic and historical mysteries for you. And yes, that historical encompasses both historical fiction and true crime. If you want more mystery reading ideas, check out last week’s fantasy and scifi mystery recommendations which includes links to past mystery Brainstorm posts too. Without further ado, here are some books to read with your sleuthing cap on curled up in your favorite thinking spot.
Picture Books
The Troublemaker by Lauren Castillo
After kidnapping his sister's bunny while playing pirate, a little boy finds himself again accused of taking the toy but this time he didn't do it. Then his own raccoon toy goes missing. Who is the real troublemaker?
Target Readers:
- Little Sleuths/Kids Practicing Their Observation Skills/Readers Working on Predicting Skills/Realistic Story Fans: This is light "mystery" for little kids. Careful observers of the illustrations will be able to figure out the true troublemaker. This would be a fantastic book for practicing making predictions. I was totally wrong in my predictions of who the troublemaker was from the cover and opening pages, and had to revise my predictions.
- Adults Wanting to Help Kids Realize Character Matters/Art Lovers: This is also a good book to use when talking about character and how our actions of the past can impact how people trust us in the future. As always, Lauren Castillo's illustrations are adorable and wonderful.
The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg
An alphabet book that prompts readers to use the picture to predict what the text will be on the back of the page. The clue is in the illustration and based on the letter being emphasized.
Target Readers:
- Little Sleuths/Kids Practicing Their Observation Skills/Readers Working on Predicting Skills/Vocabulary Builders/Alliteration Practicers/Alphabet Book Fans: A great book for practicing predictions, interpreting illustrations, learning about alliteration, and using context for clues. Some of the words are a little fancy, such as warped, and may introduce new vocabulary to kids.
Lower Grade Fiction
Jasmine Toguchi Super Sleuth (Jasmine Toguchi, #2) by Debbi Michiko Florence, ill. by Elizabet Vukovic
Jasmine is super excited that her best friend, Linnie, is going to spend the night and celebrate Girl's Day with Jasmine, her mom, and her sister Sophie. But then Linnie and Jasmine have a fight. Sophie says she's too old for Girl's Day, and Jasmine gets in trouble for making a mess at Mrs. Reese's. Jasmine thought she was a pretty good sleuth, but she can't figure out what happened with Linnie, what's going on with Sophie, or why Mrs. Reese has all those clothes in her garage.
Target Readers:
- Japanese Culture Fans/Great Friendship Story Fans/Realistic Fiction Fans/Light Mystery Fans: I liked this Jasmine Toguchi story even better than the first. This series is not a mystery series, but this one has several mysteries for Jasmine to figure out. Learning about the Japanese Girl's Day celebration was a nice culture touch. Seeing Jasmine figure out how she hurt Linnie and then work to fix their relationship was a great model for the target readers. And it was fun to watch Jasmine figure out what's going on with Sophie and the mystery of Mrs. Reese's garage. Some great messages about being responsible and sensitive to others' feelings with a fun and unique cultural twist.
The Mystery of the Gold Coin (Greetings from Somewhere, #1) by Harper Paris, ill. by Marcos Calo
When Ella and Ethan find out their mom has a new job with her paper to write stories while traveling around the world, they aren't exactly thrilled about the prospect. They love their town and don't want to move. Their grandfather gives them each a going away present, Ella gets a journal and Ethan gets a gold coin with a globe on one side and an eagle on the other. But somehow in their Saturday tasks around town, Ethan loses the coin. They must quickly revisit their tracks on Sunday to hunt down his coin and along the way get to say goodbye to a town and people they love.
Target Readers:
- Realistic Fiction Fans/Mystery Fans/Twin Story Fans/Travel Fans: While this book just sees the twins dealing with the prospect of moving, the rest of the series sees them traveling all over the world. So arm chair travelers should love this series. The mystery was something that seemed like 2nd graders would actually be able to solve, and dealing with a move is a relatable issues for many readers. And those who like stories about twins will snatch this one up.
Middle Grade Fiction
Click Here to Start by Denis Markell
When Ted's great Uncle Ted dies and leaves him anything in his apartment with a hint there's treasure in there, Ted is a teensy bit excited. However, when he, his best friend, and the new girl show up to start cleaning, they find a bunch of junk. Ted is rather disappointed...until he gets on his computer that night to play a new escape game and it looks just like Uncle Ted's apt. The next day, Ted decides to treat the room like the game, and sure enough, there are hidden surprises. Ted and his friends are off on one crazy scavenger hunt that starts to get dangerous. Someone else also wants Uncle Ted's treasure, badly.
Target Readers:
- Mystery Fans/Scavenger Hunt Fans: This was an exciting read. Those who enjoy scavenger hunt stories with clues to figure out won’t be able to put it down. Once they were on the hunt, it also kept up a pretty good pace and got more and more exciting as you realized that someone else was out there looking too. The action and adventure were balanced out with interpersonal relationships between the three kids, and all of them have their own issues and growing to do through the experience.
- Biracial Character Fans/WWII History Buffs: For those looking for biracial kids in books, Ted is half Japanese American half Caucasian. I enjoyed the way the author worked in that Uncle Ted's was part of the Japanese American WWII division that accomplished amazing feats, giving kids a little historical info along with the fun. The Monuments Men also show up, and I really liked that this introduced the kids to them.
Home Sweet Motel (Welcome to Wonderland, #1) by Chris Grabenstein, ill. by Brooke Allen
Walt Wilkie opened his Wonderland Motel just a few years before another Walt invaded Florida. Wilkie was hoping to make his hotel THE destination for fun in the sun. But that other Walt quickly outdid the Wonderland. The motel has been barely scraping by for decades, but that doesn't mean they will just roll over and give up when the bank comes calling for a ridiculous payment on a loan. Walt's grandson P.T. is determined to make the Wonderland great again and get that loan paid off in time. It's going to take all his creative juices, the business smarts of new guest Gloria, the loose wallets of tourists on spring break, Grandpa's special charm, and possibly some treasure hunting skills to pull it off.
Target Readers:
- Mystery Fans/Humor Fans/Realistic Fiction Fans/Read Aloud Fans/Reluctant Readers: Grabenstein is the Shakespeare of the modern middle grade novel. He is a master at spinning a story middle graders will eat up and finish hungry for more. There's just the right voice to make the characters likable but quirky and certainly memorable. There's just the right touches of humor and intrigue so it is exciting but not so nerve-wracking you're scared to turn the page. And there's just enough puzzle to keep you guessing but not so much that you can't figure it out slightly before or right with the main characters. Oh, and he manages to make it something that will appeal to both boys and girls. (Not always an easy task in contemporary fiction.) A spring break Florida story, a family in tough financial circumstances, and a 30 year old unsolved jewel heist doesn't exactly naturally go together, but Grabenstein definitely makes it work. And it's a fun and fast read. Brooke Allen's illustrations throughout are perfect additions too. This would be a great pick for those tough reluctant readers or as a read aloud that will appeal to a broad audience (but make sure you have some way to show the illustrations too).
The Matchstick Castle by Keir Graff
Brian is thinking he just might be in danger of dying of boredom in Boring, Illinois this summer. His dad finally got cleared to go to Antarctica to use the telescope, so Brian finds all his summer plans ruined. He's now stuck with his boring Aunt & Uncle and cousin Nora in Boring, Illinois. His Uncle is making Brian and Nora test his School's Fun summer school online program. There's no one to play soccer with, and Nora's idea of fun during free time is to write in her notebook. Things start to look a bit more exciting when Brian chases his soccer ball into the woods and discovers a very strange house harboring a most unusual family next door, and it just might be up to Brian and Nora to save them from destruction.
Target Readers:
- Imaginative Kids/Wacky House Fans/Adventure Fans/Read Aloud Fans/Mystery Fans: What kid doesn't dream of wandering into the woods and finding a weird and wonderful house to explore? The wild house full of unexpected building patterns and adventures and an eccentric family is like a mashup of Castle Glower and Mrs Piggle-Wiggle's upside down house, with a family of Pippi Longstocking plus the Potts family in the movie version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. There's a bit of hyperbole going on which may go over the heads of some middle grade readers and may turn off other readers (just don't take things too seriously). But the adventures through a wacky house to do things like find a missing uncle or defend the castle from demolition should appeal to the vast majority and would make a great middle grade read aloud.
Peeled by Joan Bauer
Hildy Biddle wants the truth, but the truth is hard to find in the little apple valley of Banesville. Strange things are supposedly going on in the old Ludlow house, a house with a history for dark happenings and unsolved mysteries. Suddenly, more and more people are reporting ghost sightings at the old Ludlow place, painted signs warning about danger keep popping up, and a dead man is found on the property. Fear starts to grip Banesville and property values around the Ludlow place start to plummet. Kids are scared to go outside at recess, and the town starts getting strange visitors that want a glimpse of the haunted Ludlow house. The town's newspaper,
The Bee, is making sure citizens are up to date on every single detail...but Hildy Biddle is a reporter herself. She has been interviewing many of the people at the heart of this issue for her own articles in the high school's newspaper,
The Core, and she starts to feel like
The Bee is exaggerating or even fabricating details for some reason. Why does
The Bee want the people to live in fear, and why does its editor threaten to sue the high school for the questions Hildy and the rest of
The Core staff are raising? Things get pretty tense and serious, but with the advice of veteran newspaper man Baker Polton and the encouragement of Ms Minska, cafe owner and WWII survivor, Hildy and her friends decide to fight for their town by searching for the truth that will conquer the fear and lies.
Target Readers:
- Potentially Haunted House Story Fans/Mystery Fans/Plucky Journalist Fans/Fans of Characters Will to Stand up for What’s Right Despite the Odds: This is probably the easiest book to book talk. All I have to say is that they are trying to figure out if the house in town is haunted or not and readers can’t check it out fast enough. It is an excellent story that shows the power of words, the need to keep a level head and look for facts rather than get swept away in hype, and the power of the truth. Middle grade readers (and young adult readers) should like it for the blend of spookiness, mystery, wit, humor, and light clean romance. Teachers and parents should like it for the extremely important life lessons about being able to filter media sources and the example of the small town standing up to a big, conniving bully.
Young Adult & Adult Fiction
The Blackthorn Key (Blackthorn Key, #1) by Kevin Sands
There have been a string of murders in London. The king's man is finally looking into things. There are whispers that the murders have something to do with the Cult of the Archangel, but no one seems to know if the cult is real or what it's about. One thing is known, all of the victims have been brutally murdered and all of them have been apothecaries. Christopher was an orphan taken in by apothecary Benedict Blackthorn as his apprentice. Many apprentices are treated poorly, but Master Blackthorn has always been kind and has been expanding Christopher's mind with puzzles and information since he took him in. Christopher likes his position, but he can't help being a little mischievous from time to time. His curiosity frequently gets him and his best friend Tom into trouble. But he'll need all his curiosity and wit to survive when the murderer strikes too close to home, and Christopher finds himself on the run not sure whom to trust. One thing is clear, the murderer is someone inside the apothecary guild and they think Christopher has information they want. Christopher, with Tom's help, must figure out the coded message his master left him before it is too late.
Note: Click on title to see content notes.
Target Readers:
- Puzzle & Scavenger Hunt Fans/Murder Mystery Fans/Middle Ages Buffs: A serial killer murder mystery set in the Middle Ages doesn't exactly sound like it would be a funny read, but this book definitely had its moments of getting me chuckling. There are also moments of dead seriousness too, obviously. And you get to learn a lot about the apothecaries of the Middle Ages. Those who like codes, puzzles and mysteries will also like the book because readers are given the chance to solve the puzzles and codes as Christopher does (or even before he does). Christopher has several more adventures if you like this one. A note of warning though, this is often marketed as middle grade but the murders in this are a bit grisly, so I’d argue it is more young adult.
The Leaving by Tara Altebrando
Six five-year olds disappeared from their school on the first full day of kindergarten. The tragedy rocked the small town in Florida, but no one was affected like the family members left behind. Avery's life has certainly never been the same or very full since her brother Max disappeared. Eleven years later, the kids have been given up for dead when five of them walk into town. Lucas, Scarlett, Kristen, Adam, and Sarah have returned. But much to the shock and heartbreak of Avery's family, there's no Max. The returned five have no memories from the past eleven years, and no memory of Max. What happened to them? Why return them after eleven years? Who did this? And where is Max?
Note: Some violence.
Target Readers:
- Contemporary Fiction Fans/Those Interested in How Memory Works/Tantalizing Mystery Fans: This book is told in alternating chapters through Scarlett, Lucas, and Avery's perspectives. Some of the teens are determined to figure out what happened, while others want to pretend like nothing has happened. There are just a very few, very random clues to work with at first. So the mystery is thick. There's some very interesting stuff on memory that is worked in through the teens' visits with a memory specialist the police send them to. Altebrando did a great job of writing in different voices for each of the three point of views. In fact, she did such a good job that I liked two of them (though they're quite different), and found the third one irritating. The elusive answers to the mystery kept me tearing through the pages to find out just what happened to them.
Prelude for a Lord by Camille Elliot
When a stranger on the street asks Alethea to sell him her violin, she passes it off as a strange occurrence. But when her Aunt's house is invaded and Alethea's room turned upside down, the women decide they must find out more about this violin that Alethea was bequeathed by her music teacher. Unfortunately, the most likely help is in the form of Lord Dommick, a well-respected violinist just come to Bath who gave Alethea a cutting remark when she met him in London. Many believe the violin is not a suitable instrument for a woman and Lord Dommick is one of them, but Alethea doesn't care what others think and loves the violin. As Lord Dommick helps search for the provenance of the violin (with a spot in a famous London concert on the line) and why someone would want it, Alethea gets drawn into his own troubles. A Mr. Morris is stalking Lord Dommick's sister Clare and threatening her. And then all of them become further endangered when the would-be violin owner starts taking increasingly drastic measures. Can they figure out who wants the violin and why before anyone comes to serious harm? And can a woman who pretty much a confirmed spinster and has known nothing but hurt from the men in her life trust a man to help her, or can a man accused of being mad after his time in the war ever find love?
Target Readers:
- Clean Regency Fans/Christian Romance Fans/Music Lovers/Mystery Fans: I was a bit afraid when I started reading this that the plot would be too tense and that things would go rather badly before there was any hope. It wasn't nearly as bad as I feared. To be sure, there are many hardships that Alethea and Lord Dommick have to face. Some are more serious than others. For example, in the middle of all this Alethea and her Aunt get saddled with the charge of a precocious tween girl who has no closer living relatives. But Margaret actually turns out to be much needed comic relief, and Alethea learns several things through trying to tame this girl. Many of the bad things that happen don't get drawn out like I had feared. Some may argue that they get out of them a little too conveniently, but the author puts it down to the Lord's intervention and how can you argue with that? (Also, most of those teach important spiritual lessons to one or more characters.) And speaking of the spiritual elements, I felt that was done well. It felt natural and realistic. Dommick is a believer from the start and occasionally his prayers are written out. Alethea has felt abandoned by God, but through a series of events and conversations starts to rethink this. Both Alethea and Dommick are quite emotionally damaged at the start of this, but it is inspiring to see their healing as the book progresses and how they are often parts of each others' healing. That helped make their growing attraction more believable. Alethea's Aunt Ebena was a surprising character who at first seems brusque and cold, but she grows on Alethea (and the reader) considerably as the book progresses and Alethea comes to understand her more. I liked the musical parts of the story, and you can tell that the author is a musician of some sort. You can't write about music like that without having some kind of personal understanding of getting wrapped up in the music you are playing. Overall, I found this to be an engaging read that felt authentically Regency period and kept me guessing as to how things would all work out in the end.
Quick Curtain by Alan Melville
When the male lead of Douglas B. Douglas's new musical gets shot for real during a supposedly fake shooting scene in front of the opening night's audience, Scotland Yard Inspector Wilson is in the house and immediately on the case. Dealing with theater people will take all of Inspector Wilson's patience (and his journalist son/unofficial assistant Derek's too). It looks like an open and shut case, but after the funeral and inquest, several people come to Inspector Wilson with doubts and further information. Can he puzzle out the truth in a world that makes money off of lies?
Note: Click on title to see content notes.
Target Readers:
- Humor Fans/Musical Theater Fans/Historical Mystery Fans: Anyone who can make readers bust out in laughter with a scene in which the characters do nothing but ring a doorbell has some serious comical writing skill. And Melville managed to do so. How to best summarize what Melville's writing is like? Imagine that Jerome K. Jerome had turned the wit he employed in Three Men in a Boat to write a murder mystery starring a father/son version of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore who solve crimes in mid-1900s England, and this just might be what you get. It was hilarious! I laughed out loud several times. Melville writes a cunning mystery that will keep readers guessing and satisfy the sleuthing itch, but he's not above taking some little pokes of fun at the genre (and musical theater) all along the way.
True Crime
A is for Arsenic: the Poisons of Agatha Christie by Kathryn Harkup
Harkup looks at 14 of the poisons Agatha Christie used in her mysteries. Each chapter examines the appearance of the poison in one Christie story, the background & makeup of the poison, how the poison works on humans, any antidote known and how it works, real life murders with the poison that may have inspired Christie or even been inspired by Christie's story, and an examination of how faithful to science Christie was in her story in symptoms and time to death, etc.
Note: Technical descriptions of how some poisons kill.
Target Readers:
- Agatha Christie Fans/Self-Avowed Nerdy Mystery Fans/True Crime Fans/Chemistry & Biology Buffs: If you want to know more about Agatha Christie the person and the writer, this book does a better job in that area than some biographies. Agatha Christie worked as a dispenser (basically a pharmacist's assistant) during WWI and WWII. Her job required her to have a good knowledge of chemistry and medicines (many of which are also poisons, it all depends on the dosage). So Christie was in a unique position to represent symptoms and chemistry in her stories accurately. Harkup even shares that some of Christie's stories were given recognition by the medical community for her accuracy. My favorite parts of this book were looking at how accurate Christie was in her stories and looking at parallels in real cases. Even though I have a good science background and I could follow all the technical parts of how the poisons worked, sometimes I found those sections on "How it Kills" of the chapters a bit dry. Those whose eyes used to glass over in biology when talking about cellular functions or in chemistry talking about how chemicals interact may want to skip the "How it Kills" section of each chapter as they are detailed and a bit technical, though Harkup does her best to break it down for the lay person (it's still more detailed than the average high school biology class, though, so I'm guessing many readers will get lost). I found this overall to be a fascinating read. I was also quite pleased that Harkup did a great job of talking about each of the stories without any spoilers, and if there were spoilers, she gave fair warning and a page number to skip ahead to to avoid them.
The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson
While fly-fishing to destress from his work with advocating for refugees, the author was introduced to a strange theft in England by his fishing guide. Just years before a young man broke into the British Museum of Natural History and made off with hundreds of rare birds driven by an obsession with Victorian fly-tying. Mr. Johnson was intrigued and decided to look into the case further. What would drive someone to steal dead birds, and furthermore, where were the more than 100 birds the police never recovered? To gain a better understanding, he gives himself and readers a history of obsessions with birds and feathers, what curbed the feather trade, a brief history of fly-tying and a look at its modern world, and how his own investigation into the missing birds played out.
Target Readers:
- Non-gory True Crime Fans/Fans of Wacky True Crime Stories/Endangered Species History Buffs: This is most definitely one of the oddest true crime tales I've ever read. It is also the one with the lowest human body count. It is a somewhat frustrating read because Johnson highlights several ways a whole group of people are breaking endangered species trafficking laws and pretty much getting away with it, all so they can feed their obsession with an art form. I'm sure bringing this to light was a huge motivator for the book, and it sounds like someone needed to blow the whistle. It is a fascinating read, even if justice seems a bit elusive at times in the real world. (I'll let you read it yourself and see if you think the thief got what he deserved or not.) The history of how certain endangered species laws came about isn't something you regularly come across and it was fascinating to see how Victorian feather-obsession turned to endangered species awareness and activism. The love/hate relationship natural history museums have with collectors is also an interesting point brought up by the book. Without collectors of the past, most of them wouldn't have their own collections, but the biggest threat to modern museums besides fires seems to be overly-ambitious collectors today. The look into the world of fly-tying was also eye-opening. I now know more than I ever even realized there was to know about fly-tying.
