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Expect atmospheric Cornish tales where folklore, ghosts and magic meet farms, the sea and family life. The collection includes linked stories, including one about William, whose disability brings exclusion and cruelty from others.

A suspenseful children’s adventure about siblings investigating unsettling circumstances in a guarded Cornish house. Expect secrets, danger, teamwork and a wartime political backdrop, alongside melodrama and an intentionally improbable child-led challenge to adults.

A twist-led English manor mystery follows Stevie’s investigation of two 1995 killings. Alongside clues and alternating time periods, it explores friendship, romance, trust and the pressures of senior year.

A lively detective adventure centred on sisters, friendship and a tightly connected high-rise community. The mystery moves through clues, suspects and reversals, balancing comic sibling exchanges with the seriousness of murder and its effects.

A mysterious, emotionally focused time-travel adventure about disappearance, family connection and an unusual friendship. It may suit readers who enjoy gradually unfolding puzzles and shifting perspectives, while readers wanting every mechanism explained may find parts frustrating.

A comic mystery begins when Grandad shouts that he has been robbed.

A puzzle-led mystery for readers who enjoy secrets, shifting timelines and an atmospheric setting. Marlowe’s self-deprecating humour and developing relationship with Akilah sit alongside family tragedy, present-day danger and questions about how the past shapes the present.

This is a fast-moving mystery-romance centred on recovery, guilt and uncertain trust. Its atmosphere combines a summer setting with disturbing discoveries, while journal flashbacks gradually disclose the protagonist’s past.

A brisk supernatural football mystery with three friends, secret overnight exploration and mounting suspense. Its short chapters and cliff-hangers may suit readers who want an exciting story without a long, slow build.

A layered YA mystery about friends, secrets and a murder, moving between modern Cornwall, the 1980s and the 1940s. Its appeal lies in suspense, changing perspectives and the gradual connection between past and present.

A spooky Cornwall adventure with a mystery at its centre, this book brings together a young conservation-minded protagonist, an unusual dog, family members and a new friend against a curse that poisons and destroys the land.

This is a creepy, atmospheric adventure for readers who enjoy forests, folklore, faerie magic and monsters. Its central appeal appears to be suspenseful discovery, with Pippa investigating what is watching from the trees.

A lively fantasy mystery for readers who enjoy hidden worlds, supernatural beings, competition and surprises. Its emotional centre is Amari’s search for her brother and her movement from feeling like an outsider towards recognising her strengths.

A clue-driven mystery set among gifted students, pairing investigation with questions about grief, friendship and the human cost of treating crime as an intellectual puzzle.

This is a brisk estate mystery built around literary-themed contests, investigation and shifting family secrets. Derin’s personal reasons for entering give the competition emotional weight, while hidden passages and mysterious notes sustain the puzzle.

This offers a contained lunar mystery with clues, suspects, suspense and humour. Its appeal lies in Dash’s investigation, the unusual space setting and the contrast between boredom, danger and intellectual challenge.

A lively mystery about art, friendship and the consequences of a secret becoming much larger than expected. It offers suspenseful investigation alongside attention to shame, anxiety, money worries and pressure to perform.

A grieving teenager travels through Zimbabwe with her family and an elusive companion only she can see. The story combines family conflict, cultural discovery and emotional reflection, with a deliberately mysterious ending that may reward close attention.

Expect a fast-moving fantasy mystery rooted in a Nigerian village, Yoruba myths and family relationships. Its atmosphere shifts between joy and dread, with danger often suggested rather than directly shown.

A two-strand adventure contrasts Connor’s life among pirates with Grace’s confinement aboard a vampire ship. The supernatural setting creates mystery, while the twins’ determination to reunite gives the story its emotional centre.

Expect a historical adventure centred on a boy involved in the Gunpowder Plot, with mystery, intrigue and danger.

Choose this for a YA reader drawn to supernatural mysteries, hidden village secrets, witchcraft and folk horror. The remote setting and archaeological discovery suggest an atmosphere-led story with suspense at its centre.

This is a dark supernatural story about a bereaved teenager who enters a dangerous bargain to investigate her sister’s death. Its central pull is the tension between serving Death and finding reasons to keep living.

This is an atmospheric historical mystery combining family upheaval, friendship, a much-loved rabbit and art theft. Its central puzzle offers adventure, while Caro’s changing circumstances create an emotional thread alongside the investigation.

A dark supernatural mystery combines witchcraft, ghosts, grief and romance. Viola’s investigation is supported by friendships and a search for justice, while the story also builds suspense through murder, dangerous spirits and unsettling deaths.

A fast-moving fantasy mystery with an underwater setting, missing-person investigation and environmental concerns. It may appeal to readers who enjoy suspense, sea folklore and protagonists confronting difficult questions about trust, identity and responsibility.

A lively historical-fantasy mystery follows two young detectives through Parisian streets and sewers. Its strongest appeal is the blend of family questions, magical folklore, riddles, danger and a richly used city setting, with Zélie and Jules sharing the adventure.

This is a cosy, atmospheric mystery with a school reporter at its centre, combining investigation, a talking cat, magic and an unusual riverside community in trouble.

A festive, clue-led murder mystery for readers who enjoy solving puzzles alongside a team. Its emotional centre is a group of five neurodivergent children combining different strengths while trying to protect their out-of-school club.

A visually rich introduction to detective fiction, offering a contained mystery, recurring animal friends and clues for readers to inspect. It combines suspense about a theft and suspected parents with humour, friendship and collaborative problem-solving.

A brisk historical mystery follows Lily and Tom from their travelling life into a more dangerous search involving a carved treasure, a new friendship and hidden family secrets. Its accessible prose and illustrations may suit readers who enjoy adventure but prefer shorter chapter books.

This offers a spooky family mystery alongside sibling relationships, friendship and moving home. Its strongest appeal is the tension between ordinary difficulties—housing, work and school—and the possibility that the tower is genuinely cursed.

A family mystery with a strong relationship thread: Ani and Riri are trying to stay connected across separated households when a killing turns their theme-park visit into an investigation.

This is a child-centred mystery with suspense and emotional depth. Matthew’s restricted life, observations and growing involvement in the search create a story about connection, courage and how others respond to mental-health difficulties.

A suspenseful story about a teenager carrying adult responsibilities while secret activities and threatening communications pull her into another person’s scheme. Expect twists, uncertainty and a morally complicated power dynamic rather than a straightforward adventure.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys classic mysteries, deduction and a slightly spooky atmosphere. Its strongest appeal is the Holmes-and-Watson partnership, carefully constructed investigation and influential detective-fiction pattern.

A fast-moving, puzzle-led thriller built around a week of threats. It offers suspense, clues, red herrings and questions about why people conceal painful truths, with grief and past events shaping Kay’s return.

Expect imaginative castle movement, adventure and a mysterious power structure, with moral pressure arising as Burr becomes involved in resistance to an unjust order.

Expect a historical mystery built around code-breaking, hidden intentions and a friendship under pressure. The central appeal is the combination of wartime stakes, puzzles, trust and a small amount of romance.

Expect a brisk puzzle mystery driven by clues, red herrings and shifting suspicions. Avery must navigate an unfamiliar wealthy family while trying to understand why she received the inheritance.

A mystery driven by testimony: the diamond’s disappearance is reconstructed through several voices, so readers must compare accounts rather than follow one straightforward viewpoint.

Expect a comic treasure mystery driven by Aisha and her unusually capable dog. Its appeal lies in brisk adventure, puzzles, archaeology and playful language, though some readers may find the opening slow or the pace uneven.

Choose this for a reader who enjoys atmospheric mysteries, eccentric characters, supernatural adventure and comic wordplay. Its central appeal is following clues through an unusual seaside world while Herbie and Violet face escalating danger.

Expect a brisk, spooky adventure led by a frightened but determined child. The book foregrounds mystery, supernatural danger and emotional bonds rather than realistic horror, with hope alongside its darker elements.

This is a mysterious, emotionally serious novel about a child helping a strange being while his family faces a baby’s dangerous illness. Its imaginative uncertainty and lyrical language may appeal to readers who enjoy stories that leave some questions open.

An atmospheric fantasy about a child settling into an ancient house and discovering links with children from an earlier time. Family, place, animals and stories are central.