My younger son is 12 (almost 13). He’s extremely intelligent and had to be skipped up a grade a few years ago, so he could handle books intended for an older audience. He recently asked for mystery novel recommendations and I was at a loss. All I could think of was The Hardy Boys and he seemed to want something more “mature” than that.
Please note that he doesn’t like books (or movies, or TV shows) with a lot of cursing in them. That’s his personal preference, so if I could get recommendations that respect that, I’d appreciate it.
by reformike
5 Comments
It’s not a mystery as in a Who-Done-It, but how about _Piranesi_ by Susanna Clarke?
Some Agatha Christie’s books? I remember reading And Then There Were None When I was about that age, it’s really good! I don’t remember if it was very graphic though, I have a feeling that some scenes were a bit disturbing but not to the point I would’ve been scared or grossed out? But maybe I was a sensitive kid, dunno.
Also the series Lockwood and Co. by Jonathan Stroud! There’s always some mystery going on and they hunt ghosts! 😀
the Hamish McBeth series by MC Beaton are pretty harmless, given they’re all murder mysteries. no swearing but some fun Scottish dialect for him to get his head around.
Edmund Crispin touches on some mature subjects (a pregnant victim murdered by philandering babydaddy, another who was being blackmailed about a past in sex work, a (shock horror) “love” child in a third, an embedded ghost story in a fourth, about a wicked priest sexually abusing a parishioner). but they are all handled matter-of-factly without prurience. and no swearing. or you could start him off with the moving toyshop or love lies bleeding. both have safely non-sexual motives for their murders. and gervase fen is a delight.
if he’s looking for something more mature, he might enjoy the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. It’s filled with mystery and adventure, and should be a good fit for his preferences.
The Theodore Boone series of books by John Grisham