Boy Detective Novels for Older Children

These adventures are great books featuring boy detectives. These young crime solvers will entertain and intrigue the hard to please readers between nine and twelve.

Room One: A Mystery or Two by Andrew Clements is a mystery with Ted Hammond as the crime solver. Ted is the only sixth grade student in a Nebraska town’s one room schoolhouse that is in danger of being closed. While delivering papers he discovers a girl and her family stranded when their car dies on the way to stay with family, but they fear they are being followed. He searches for clues to solve their mystery and take care of them. A fun, delightful read particularly for fans of Clements’ other books.

The Nina, the Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure by Jill Santopolo has forth grader Alec Flint as a sleuth in training. He investigates the disappearance of the entire Christopher Columbus exhibit from the local museum with the help of his new classmate and potential partner Gina. She wants him to help her look into the disappearance of a teacher. This is the first book in the Alec Flint Mysteries.

Mudshark by Gary Paulsen has twelve-year-old Lyle Williams, aka Mudshark, on the case. Not only does he need to solve the case, but he needs to defend his reputation from the attack of words from the school librarian’s psychic parrot. Principal Wagner has dealt with several crises but when suddenly sixty-five erasers go missing he turns to the school’s best detective and locater of lost things. This is a funny and highly entertaining book with themes of community and literacy.

Half-Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer is about the youngest detective in the world, or at least in his hometown, Fletcher Moon. He teams up with an unlikely ally when he is framed for a crime he did not commit. He must solve the mystery and save his reputation within twelve hours, all while on the run.

Horrible Harry Cracks the Code by Suzy Kline has Horrible Harry defending his reputation as a detective. While he believes himself second at detecting only to Sherlock Holmes, his classmates are not so sure. He needs to crack the secret code to Mrs. Funderburke’s lunch prizes to prove himself. This is part of the ongoing Horrible Harry series.

Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman is about Ryan, a currently housebound teen due to an eerie accident. He continues to investigate the source of name and strange occurrences in his hometown of Skeleton Creek. He records his findings in a journal and views email video clips sent by his friend Sarah, a fellow detective. Readers can look at Sarah’s videos for themselves on a website by using links and passwords found in the book. The book is formatted as Ryan’s journal. This is the first book for the Skeleton Creek series.

Grk and the Hotdog Trail by Joshua Doder features twelve-year-old British student Tim Malt and his dog, Grk. In this mystery, the pair set out on a new adventure while in New York City. They set out to discover who stole the Golden Dachshund from the National Museum. This is the third installment of the Tim and Grk Adventure series.

The Case of the Stinky Socks by Lewis B. Montgomery features Milo and Jazz as they team up as detectives-in-training. The first big case they tackle is discovering who stole Jazz’s brother’s lucky baseball socks. This is the first book of the Milo and Jazz Mystery series.

Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald Sobol introduces readers to a ten-year-old detective who is the mastermind behind his hometown’s police force, and starts of a long running series. Every night this fifth grader helps his father, the chief of police, solve the cases that have baffled the police force. There are ten mysteries in each book of the series, with the solutions at the back of each book.

The Case of Hermie the Missing Hamster by James Preller is the start of another outstanding, and long running young, detective series. Jigsaw Jones and his partner Mila are piecing together the clues to find Wingnut’s missing hamster. This terrific series will hook children and keep them reading.

There are, of course, many more books featuring boy detectives. However, these are a few of my favorite, and ones I deem most likely to interest readers between eight and twelve, particularly the more reluctant readers. Other authors I recommend include Christopher Long, David Keane, Betty Levin, Tracy Barrett, Paul Stewart, Franklin Dixon and Anthony Horowitz.