Booklist: Sleuths and Spies
I have always felt as though I would make an excellent spy or undercover agent. I like solving problems. I like solving mysteries. I really like justice. I would be a detective or FBI agent if those careers didn't require the handling of firearms. I will settle for playing those roles on TV or in films.
In elementary school, I co-founded The Clue Club with two of my school friends. Our classmates would come to us with tales of missing lunchpials and damaged schoolbooks. We would charge ten cents per case. We even had a flyer promoting our investigation services posted in the school library. Around that time, I read every classic mystery that my mom had at home plus those I found at the public library.
One of my regular teen customers requested a booklist of super sleuths and sassy spies. I could have listed many, many spy-tastic books, but I decided to create a shorter list which focused on my absolute favorites and those which I most highly recommend as well as some recent releases.
Super Sleuths: Classic Realistic Mysteries - rated G - for ages 7 and up
Nancy Drew
The Hardy Boys
- I read the original series. I also liked The Nancy Drew Casefiles and The Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys crossovers. I have not read The Nancy Drew Notebooks.
Encyclopedia Brown
- Who else watched the short-lived TV show? Hands?
The Bobbsey Twins
The Boxcar Children
Cherry Ames
Trixie Belden
Meg
Gumshoe Series: Kid Detectives
Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat (and sometimes Mitchell Sharmat) and illustrations by Martha Weston
- For ages 5 and up. Easy to read, easy to follow. Great for kids making the transition from picture books to chapter books.
Chet Gecko by Bruce Hale
- For ages 7 and up. This fourth grade gecko wears a trenchcoat and a fedora. Most of his detective work takes place at his elementary school, which is populated by various species. The titles spoof those of classic mysteries. For example, The Postman Always Rings Twice becomes The Possum Always Rings Twice. This series is numbered but can be read out of order without causing any confusion.
The Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries by Ann M. Martin (and ghostwriters)
- For ages 8 and up. The baby-sitters solve crimes in their spare time. I love the BSC.
Live and Let Spy
Spy Mice by Heather Vogel Frederick, illustrated by Sally Wern Comport
- For ages 7 and up. Two kids become friends with mice that are spies. They are also skateboarders and gymnasts! (The gymnast mice tumble and flip on human-sized keyboards in order to type messages.) Some evil rats try to thwart the mice, but with the help of their human friends and some friendly pigeons, the mice always save the day. NIMH fans will dig these books.
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
- For ages 8 and up. No spy list is complete without Harriet M. Welsh! To this day, I associate composition books with Harriet. Fitzhugh's next two books, The Long Secret and Sport, are also set in Harriet's world but aren't as spy-oriented. I have yet to read the Harriet books written by Helen Ericson.
The Gallagher Girls books by Ally Carter
- For ages 10 and up. Gallagher Academy is a private school for girls who are educated and trained to become spies. These stories are cute, clean, and funny. Read more about the books. The series so far:
-- I'd Tell You I'd Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
-- Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
The Specialists series by Shannon Greenland
- For ages 12 and up. Teens with impressive smarts and strengths are recruited by a secret organization to work together and take down the bad guys. The series so far:
-- Model Spy
-- Down to the Wire
-- The Winning Element
-- Native Tongue
The Squad by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
- The last thing Toby Klein ever wanted to be was a cheerleader, but she suddenly finds herself as a squad recruit. She's just as shocked to see herself in the uniform as she is to discover the squad is actually a team of spies. These high school girls cheer their team one moment and help the government fight evil figures the next. If the cheerleaders from Bring It On were made into government agents, they would be Toby and her teammates. Fans of the original Charlie's Angels TV series who also like pop culture and high school spirit will like this series. The series so far:
-- Perfect Cover
-- Killer Spirit
Fingerprints by Melinda Metz
- For ages 12 and up. This series blends intrigue, family secrets, and a supernatural power. Rae hears voices in her head. After a breakdown and hospitalization, she realizes that she has these voices are the thoughts of others, and that she hears them only when she touches an object that the original thinker (for lack of a better term) touched at an earlier time. This is a unique twist on psychic ability, incorporating the transfer of memories and the senses. There are seven books in the Fingerprints series. Read them in order:
-- #1 Gifted Touch
-- #2 Haunted
-- #3 Trust Me
-- #4 Secrets
-- #5 Betrayed
-- #6 Revelations
-- #7 Payback (the final book)
Read more about this series and others with psychic abilities.
The Kiki Strike books by Kirsten Miller
The simply-titled Kiki Strike introduces the Irregulars, six teenage girls who discover an underground city in New York. Each girl has an unusual hobby or interesting interest, with one girl skilled in chemistry, another an inventor, another a master of disguise, and so on. Though they are led by the seemingly fearless Kiki, the novels are narrated by Ananka Fishbein, arguably the most regular of the Irregulars. The series so far:
-- Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City
-- Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb
Who Done It?: Meaningful Murder Mysteries
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Read this book if you haven't already. Read it again if you have read it before.
- For ages 8 and up. I had to put this title in a category of its own. I recommend it to adults as often as I recommend it to kids. If I had a nickel for every time I read this Newbery Award winning book, I would be rich. Not quite as rich as Samuel W. Westing, though. Sixteen people are gathered at the reading of Westing's will and split into eight pairs. The pair that solves the mystery will become heirs to the Westing fortune. This book is filled with intelligent twists and turns, and every single character is memorable. Turtle Wexler is one of my all-time favorite fictional characters. That girl rocks.
FBI Candidates: Tracking Down Serial Killers
Body of Evidence series by Christopher Golden
Read them. Read them now.
- For ages 12 and up. Jenna Blake is a pathology assistant who also happens to be a college student. The books detail autopsies, crime scenes, serial killers and detectives as well as Jenna's dorm life, her family life, and her studies. They are incredibly well-written and well-researched. If you watch(ed) CSI or Profiler, then you need to read these books right now. The first book, Body Bags, has one of my favorite opening lines: "Amanda Green died for a cigarette." Within a matter of pages, Amanda is a goner, having been at the wrong place at the wrong time. The first chapter introduces us to Jenna, beginning with the line: "It was a beautiful day to grow up." You'll see this quote at the Bildungsroman website as well as in the sidebar of this blog. There are ten paperback mysteries about Jenna. Reading them in order is highly recommended, so start with Body Bags. Read more about the series.
The Sleeper Conspiracy by Tom Sniegoski
- Ages 12 and up. Government conspiracies, assassins, action, adventure, and narcolepsy. What's not to love? Packed with action, The Sleeper Conspiracy is essentially one book split into two volumes: Book One: Sleeper Code and Book Two: Sleeper Agenda. Bad guys and spies await you! Read my review.
Acceleration by Graham McNamee
- Ages 12 and up. When a teenage boy finds the diary of a would-be stalker and murderer, he feels compelled to track the criminal down before another woman is harmed. This quest becomes personal because the protagonist was unable to save a drowing victim the summer before. A high-octane ending.
The Creek by Jennifer L. Holm
- Ages 10 and up. This is a psychological thriller as well as a coming-of-age story set in a sleepy suburban town. Read my review.
Don't Spook Until You Are Spooken To: Ghostly Tales
The Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn
- Ages 8 and up. Hahn has written many books wherein a human child befriends a ghost child. The Doll in the Garden includes two girls, a white cat, a beloved doll, and a time-travel hedge. This is the book that taught me all about consumption.
The Ghost Wore Gray by Bruce Coville
- Ages 8 and up. Nina Tanleven (Nine) and her best friend Chris encounter a Confederate soldier who helped slaves escape using the Underground Railroad. This is the second of the three mysteries with featuring Nine and Chris, and I felt it is the best of the three.
The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright
- Ages 8 and up. The epitome of dollhouse mysteries. Good and creepy. Mwah ha ha.
Related Booklist: Teen Mystery and Horror
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