And Finally, Book 'em: W.H. Beck's Favorites Mysteries of 2011

With all the recent books news, don't miss these mysteries! These are some of my and my students favorites that came out last year.


Icefall by Matthew Kirby
I'm onboard with the Edgar nomination this one just got. Love the setting, the whodunnit plot, and the message about the power of stories. Learn more about it here:



Amelia Lost by Candace Fleming
Who says mysteries have to be fictional? The nonfiction account of Amelia Earhart's disappearance kept me on the edge of my seat--even though I already knew how the mystery ended! Now that's good writing.


Sidekicks by Jack Ferraiolo
Bright Boy (aka Scott Hutchinson) has always been a loyal sidekick to superhero Phantom Justice. But now Bright Boy is growing up--and Phantom Justice's costumes and catch phrases are sounding a little lame. Then Scott accidentally learns the secret identity of his lifelong nemesis, Monkeywrench (who happens to be a girl at his school), and everything he knows about himself both as Scott and as Bright Boy world is turned upsidedown. Which side is the good side again?

The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander
Mac fixes things. If you have a problem, meet him and his right-hand man, Vince, in the fourth stall of  the boys' bathroom the east wing of the school, and Mac'll help. For a fee, of course. Then a third grader comes in, asking for protection, and everything blows up in Mac's face. This take-off of the Godfather is hilarious, but also a great mystery.

And guess what? There's a sequel! The Fourth Stall, Part II.


The Trouble with Chickens by Doreen Cronin



Missing on Superstition Mountain by Elise Broach
Simon, Henry, and Jack Barker have recently moved to Arizona. In their new home, they are intruiged by the stories and legends of lost treasure and mysterious disappearances surrounding the nearby Superstition Mountain. Then the boys have to chase their runaway cat up the mountain., and they discover three human skulls. And just like that, the brothers are drawn into the mysteries of the mountains--but will they survive them?

Book 'Em: Five 2012 Titles Laura Ellen Wants to Read!

As we step into 2012, I have a few books I am anxiously awaiting to hit the shelves (besides my own, of course!) First and foremost, I love mysteries that involve weird, unexplainable elements. These first three promise to deliver just that:

SLIDE - by Jill Hathaway
Expected publication: March 27th 2012 by Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting off lately, more distant, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane.

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

UNRAVELING - by Elizabeth Norris
Expected publication: April 24th 2012 by Balzer + Bray

Two days before the start of her junior year, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit by a pickup truck and killed—as in blinding light, scenes of her life flashing before her, and then nothing. Except the next thing she knows, she’s opening her eyes to find Ben Michaels, a loner from her high school whom Janelle has never talked to, leaning over her. And even though it isn’t possible, Janelle knows—with every fiber of her being—that Ben has somehow brought her back to life.

But her reincarnation, and Ben’s possible role in it, is only the first of the puzzles that Janelle must solve. While snooping in her FBI-agent father’s files for clues about her accident, she uncovers a clock that seems to be counting down to something—but to what? And when someone close to Janelle is killed, she can no longer deny what’s right in front of her: Everything that’s happened—the accident, the murder, the countdown clock, Ben’s sudden appearance in her life—points to the end of life as she knows it. And as the clock ticks down, she realizes that if she wants to put a stop to the end of the world, she’s going to need to uncover Ben’s secrets—and keep from falling in love with him in the process.

                                    
THE vANISHING GAME - by Kate Kae Myers
Expected publication: February 14th 2012 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

Jocelyn's twin brother Jack was the only family she had growing up in a world of foster homes-and now he's dead, and she has nothing. Then she gets a cryptic letter from "Jason December"-the code name her brother used to use when they were children at Seale House, a terrifying foster home that they believed had dark powers. Only one other person knows about Jason December: Noah, Jocelyn's childhood crush and their only real friend among the troubled children at Seale House.

But when Jocelyn returns to Seale House and the city where she last saw Noah, she gets more than she bargained for. Turns out the house's powers weren't just a figment of a childish imagination. And someone is following Jocelyn. Is Jack still alive? And if he is, what kind of trouble is he in? The answer is revealed in a shocking twist that turns this story on its head and will send readers straight back to page 1 to read the book in a whole new light.

After weird and unexplained, I love a mystery that has an emotional draw to it. Here are two 2012 debuts I am super excited to read - one involves obsessive-compulsive disorder, the other physical and emotional abuse:

THE BUTTERFLY CLUES - Kate Ellison
Expected publication: February 14th 2012 by EgmontUSA

Penelope (Lo) Marin has always loved to collect beautiful things. Her dad's consulting job means she's grown up moving from one rundown city to the next, and she's learned to cope by collecting (sometimes even stealing) quirky trinkets and souvenirs in each new place--possessions that allow her to feel at least some semblance of home.

But in the year since her brother Oren's death, Lo's hoarding has blossomed into a full-blown, potentially dangerous obsession. She discovers a beautiful, antique butterfly pendant during a routine scour at a weekend flea market, and recognizes it as having been stolen from the home of a recently murdered girl known only as "Sapphire"--a girl just a few years older than Lo. As usual when Lo begins to obsess over something, she can't get the murder out of her mind.

As she attempts to piece together the mysterious "butterfly clues," with the unlikely help of a street artist named Flynt, Lo quickly finds herself caught up in a seedy, violent underworld much closer to home than she ever imagined--a world, she'll ultimately discover, that could hold the key to her brother's tragic death.

WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND - by Tracy BilenExpected publication: May 1st 2012 by Simon Pulse

Sara and her mom have a plan to finally escape Sara's abusive father. But when her mom doesn’t show up as expected, Sara’s terrified. Her father says that she's on a business trip, but Sara knows he's lying. Her mom is missing—and her dad had something to do with it. Each day that passes, Sara's more on edge. Her friends know that something's wrong, but she won't endanger anyone else with her secret. And with her dad growing increasingly violent, Sara must figure out what happened to her mom before it's too late…for them both.


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What if a classmate went missing right after you fought with her at a party and she was later found dead? What if you couldn't remember anything after that fight? Not even how you got home? Would you tell the police the truth? Or would you lie about what you remember until you could find out what really happened that night?

16-year-old Roswell Hart finds herself in this very predicament in Laura Ellen's YA thriller, BLIND SPOT (October 2012, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Book 'Em: Elisa Ludwig's Top Mystery Reads of 2011

When I looked back on my 2011 reads, I saw that I zigzagged all over the place with genres. So rather than list favorite books that I read (some of which are already highlighted on this blog), I'm sharing a list of the mysteries that came out this past year that are still high on my TBR pile—and which would each make lovely

gifts for the teen readers in your life.

Kiss of Death by Lauren Henderson (Delacorte, 2011)

There's nothing better than a sassy teenage girl sleuth on the case. I love Henderson's other "tart noir" books and I can't wait to get my hands on this (last) installment of the series, featuring Scarlett Wakefield, the resident amateur detective of her posh English boarding school. Here, Scarlett is on a school trip to Edinburgh, when she runs into the twin of the boy who mysteriously died in her arms in book one, Kiss Me Kill Me.

The Girl is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines (Roaring Brook, 2011)

This YA novel from adult mystery writer Raines is described as a 1940s noir for fans of Veronica Mars. Need anyone say any more? I'm sold. Iris Anderson's father is a detective who comes back from the war with an injury, prompting Iris to help out with his latest case, involving a boy in her school. Like I said: sold.

Strings Attached by Judy Blundell (Scholastic, 2011)

An historic mystery set in the 1950s, Strings Attached is about a young showgirl on her own in New York City who finds herself mixed up with the mob. I love the premise of the book and the fact that it explores the constraints on women's lives in the mid-2oth century. Oh, and the fact that Blundell won the National Book Award doesn't hurt, either.

The Silence of Murder by Dandi Daley Mackall (Knopf, 2011)

This story of a girl who's charged with proving her accused brother's innocence in the murder of the local baseball coach sounds like a fascinating psychological portrait of a family and its surrounding small town, with plenty of twists and turns.

Book 'Em!: Diana Renn's Top Mystery Reads of 2011

Welcome to "Book 'Em," our new Tuesday theme! For the next seven weeks, every Tuesday, we'll be blogging about our favorite young adult and middle grade mystery reads. Maybe you'll get some gift ideas for the mystery lovers in your life, or add some books to your 2012 reading lists. We hope you'll follow our footsteps in the coming weeks and check out some great titles -- some classic, some recent, some hot off the press!

Personally, I read so many great YA and MG mysteries this year; I'm having serious trouble narrowing down to my favorites. But here are five mysteries I read in 2011 that stood out on my list:

Young Adult Top Picks: 

The Other Side of Dark, by Sarah Smith. This smart, page-turner of a mystery concerns a search for a hidden treasure box in a condemned historic house. There's a lot more than a treasure hunt here, though: this novel also confronts history head-on, not shying away from complex topics. Among them: the history of slavery in the United States, reparations, and racial identity and racism in America today. The main characters are intriguing: an orphaned teen girl (Katie) who sees ghosts and has a gift (or curse) of being able to draw them in macabre detail, and a boy (Law) who is an architecture buff; he must come to terms with his identity as a mixed-race son of academic parents who are at loggerheads over race and history. There is also a strong cast of ghosts -- some funny, some quirky, some ghastly, some furious. Evidently I'm not alone in my love of this book; it was named a "Must Read" title in this year's Massachusetts Book Awards, and it was a 2011 Agatha Award nominee.

The Christopher Killer, by Alane Ferguson. This is the first book in a mystery trilogy set in Silverton, Colorado. If you're looking for an ambitious, courageous, and extremely resilient teen sleuth, you'll find one in Cameryn, the daughter of a county coroner, who aspires to become a forensic pathologist. In this novel, she tries to track down a serial killer who has killed a friend of hers; the killer leaves a St. Christopher medal on all his victims. The young sleuth is up close and personal with dead bodies and autopsies, and you'll learn a great deal about this science -- maybe more than you wanted to. You'll also find a well-paced and expertly plotted mystery. I read the book twice this year, once for enjoyment and to figure out who did it, and the second time to figure out how Ferguson pulled off this high wire act. She makes great use of red herrings, suspects, and reveals. And the book isn't as dark is its subject matter might suggest. There is humor at appropriate and welcome moments, and ample opportunity for Cameryn to reflect on the reality of her loss. This book has really stayed with me over a period of many months; my mind often drifts back to the characters and the plot. I'm looking forward to finishing the trilogy in 2012, and I'm curious how these characters evolve over three books.

Down the Rabbit Hole, by Peter Abrahams. Thirteen-year-old Ingrid Levin-Hill is one of my favorite sleuths. As a soccer player and aspiring actress, participating in community theater, she's a busy girl. But not too busy to solve a riveting mystery! Ingrid stumbles into a mystery instead of seeking one out -- on the way home from the orthodontist, she gets caught in the rain and invited into the home of "Cracked-Up Katie," a local eccentric in a not-so-great neighborhood. When Katie turns up dead the next day, Ingrid finds herself uncomfortably close to a murder mystery, especially since she left her soccer cleats in the house. She pulls a number of gutsy moves, like entering the house to retrieve her shoes, tampering with evidence in the process. I found the way she mishandles the mystery, bungles into things, and gets in way over her head totally believable. As much as I turned pages quickly to find out who the murderer was, I turned pages to find out how Ingrid was going to get herself out of trouble. This is the first book in the "Echo Falls" mystery trilogy. I'm also a huge fan of another YA mystery by Abrahams, Reality Check, but since I already raved about that on our "Under Cover" feature a few weeks ago, I thought I'd highlight the Echo Falls mysteries here. Abrahams is a suspenseful and literary mystery writer; any fans of mysteries for kids should read him. I'm very much looking forward to his new novel for middle grade readers, coming in January 2012: Robbie Forester and the Outlaws of Sherwood Street.

Middle Grade Top Picks:

Vanished, by Sheela Chari. In this novel, eleven-year-old Neela tries to track down a family heirloom that has disappeared under her watch: a veena, which is a traditional stringed instrument from India. Neela tracks down an assortment of unusual clues and stumbles into a curse that may be attached to the instrument; apparently this veena has a long history of disappearing, reappearing, and disappearing again. This book has a fairly complex plot, but clues and reveals are parceled out at just the right pace. The mystery is intriguing, but I was also compelled by Neela's personal growth in the novel, and how she deals with her self-doubts and stage fright as a budding musician. This is the best kind of mystery, I think, where the sleuth's efforts to solve the mystery lead to personal reflection and growth. Another great hallmark of this novel is the absence of one reliable sidekick; Neela is sometimes on her own in her sleuthing and sometimes aided by different people (from a cast of well-developed supporting characters) and so the mystery avoids a formulaic feel. I also loved learning about veenas, dragons, and Indian culture. And if you missed our October interview with Sheela, you can find it here.

Masterpiece, by Elise Broach. This story of an artistically gifted beetle who lives under a sink and becomes involved in an art heist seems destined to become a classic. It's in the tradition of The Borrowers books and The Cricket in Times Square in some ways -- small worlds meticulously rendered -- but the mystery plot makes it more of a page-turner for me. There is a touching friendship at the core of the novel, between Marvin, the beetle capable of imitating great pen-and-ink artists, and James, the boy who lives in the apartment. Together they become involved in a staged art heist at the Met, with the goal of recovering an Albrecht Durer miniature drawing. I love the wild premise of the novel, the details of the bug's miniature world, the art history, and the idea that small beings can accomplish great things.

Mystery lovers: what books are on your wish lists this holiday season? What mysteries are you dying to read in 2012?