The TV Sherlock Holmes stories have been a big success with my 12-year-old. Are there any good modern day crime/detective stories for this age group?
Crime novels, almost by definition, have to be page turners; everyone wants to know "whodunnit". It's a great draw for all readers and especially so for young readers. Typically, the plot is what keeps younger readers engrossed, which means that children's books have to be very strong on how the story fits together.
Recently, there has been a steady flow of excellent crime and detective novels for all ages. These can provide as much mystery as any supernatural fantasy without the reader having to believe in anything unusual such as a werewolf or a zombie (which some baulk at). Unravelling clues and asking challenging and unsettling questions about what they see in the world around them is what adolescents are doing all the time as they come face to face with all kinds of new experiences. Crime novels provide a perfect fictional opportunity to do both, usually in the company of a clever, intriguing and - especially when the books are aimed at young adult readers - often gorgeous detectives.
Two books published this month represent the genre brilliantly and with exactly the contemporary feel your 12-year-old is likely to enjoy. In The Ultimate Truth by Kevin Brooks, newly orphaned Travis Delaney has questions to ask abut the apparently accidental car crash in which his parents are killed. Since they ran a detective agency it is not surprising that the young Travis sets about looking for clues, starting with probing the case they were working on when they died. Travis's search brings some surprising and unsettling answers.
Pitched at slightly older readers Simon Mason's Running Girl is a murder mystery in which 15-year-old Garvie, a brilliant mathematician but a lazy GCSE student, uses his own subtle and intelligent methods for finding out what happened to his former girlfriend Chloe while the police follow any number of false trails and founder hopelessly. Both stories require careful reading and both reflect the need for those wanting to find out more about life to be observant and intuitive – just like the detectives themselves.
Your suggestions for teen detective novels
Gav
Can I recommend Mei-Tantei Conan [by Gosho Aoyama]. It's a pretty popular manga featuring a detective.
@ms_doerr
Ripper by Stefan Petrucha and most Mary Higgins Clark are recommended by my 8th graders!
@anthony_mcgowan
Try Hello Darkness [by Anthony McGowan]
@lionunicornbks
Try #Colin Fischer ace high school detective just happens to have Aspergers. Gripping,moving,funny,brilliant
@EmmaCBradshaw
#KnightleyandSon by @rohangavin is a brilliant new detective novel. Read an extract
@umeshbhadra
satyajit ray's feluda and agatha christie's hercule poirot
@insaneteddie
the Jaspar Forde Series are pretty good, Something Different too, Malcom Price Aberswyth stuff is good too
@Bunkybowers
when I was younger I read the John Creasey stuff. Very good.
@westwoodrich
Philip Pullman edited a crime collection for teens - Best Detective Stories
@FormbyBooks
Haddon-Curious? Dowd-London Eye? old FWD and ND and Christie? Josh lacey maybe
@bookgivingday
Twelve Minutes to Midnight by @edgechristopher
@Sally_Nicholls
SALLY LOCKHART!
Joanne
Confessions series by James Patterson
