Mystery

Matthew is a young boy who is suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He finds it difficult to leave his room and has to keep cleaning to ensure his environment is germ free. This sounds like an unusual hero for a book, and it is! However, Matthew's circumstances result in him being at the centre of a mystery when a toddler visiting his next door neighbour goes missing. Matthew's keen observations and intelligence help him to unravel the mystery, and, take the first steps on his road to recovery.

A review of this book is also available in the general section

This shows how the theme of a novel can be interpreted differently by different readers without either category being wrong.

As soon as you open a book by Lauren St John you just lose yourself. She has a great writing style that 'speaks' to you and transports you to another place. The Laura Marlin mysteries are well thought our stories with good plots and Laura herself is the sort of girl you would like as a friend. her best friend, and side-kick, is a boy called Tariq. They meet in the first story Dead Man's Cove and go on to have a whole series of adventures in different parts of the world.

So far there are nine books in this series.

Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells are boarders at Deepdean School where they have established the Wells and Wong Detective Society. And, as luck would have it, they keep finding themselves involved in murder mysteries.

The books are well written with great story lines that keep you interested right to the end. I have read all of the books once and in some cases twice:-)

This is the first in a series about a boy who moves to a dreary town only to find himself at the centre of an excellent adventure. His quest is to find his great uncle's lost workshop and he has to solve loads of puzzles along the way. The book has a great blend of magic, mystery and humour. In addition, the chapters are short and most end on a cliff hanger!

I just knew this book was going to be good after hearing the author, Matt Dickinson, talk. Matt was involved in a disaster during his ascent of Mount Everest in 1996. He was one of the first film makers to film on the summit of Everest and return alive!

This is the first in a series of mystery novels set on Everest, the highest mountain in the world. A young girl mysteriously fails to return with the others in her group but when and where did she disappear? Is she dead? Was it an accident? Or was it murder? Ryan, a student on a gap year, discovers a series of lies and betrayal taking place in the deepest, darkest Himalayas.

EK/StJ?14/05/20

Rosalind and Jonathan meet online, despite everyone's warnings. Jonathan's girlfriend Freya goes missing and Johnathan is the main suspect. He hates his life at sixth year college doing A lavels his parents forced him into, rather than his beloved music and is separated from Freya who has gone to study music in London. He opens his heart to Ros, little knowing that she is only fourteen years old. They have to meet as the search for Freya intensifies but it doesn't have the happy ever after ending we expect. A good story, gripping and fast moving.

Suitable 12+

CM/StP/27/5/20

After the death of her mum Alice Mistlethwaite spends most of her time at home reading and writing. When her Aunt Patience secretly reads some of Alice's stories she discovers they are wild, funny, sad and beautiful. This makes her decide it is time Alice rejoined the world and started to live out some of her dreams rather than writing about them. And what better way for Alice to rejoin the world than...being sent to boarding school in Scotland! Arrgh! Don't panic, it is a very unusual boarding school and Alice makes some great friends as well as having the adventure of a lifetime.

I know the Robin Stevens series, A Murder Most Unladylike, has already been mentioned above but I particularly wanted to mention this one. It is a mini one specially published for World Book Day 2020. It is only 75 pages but a great Whodunnnit!

Daisy and Hazel come across a dead body on the beach. She smells of soap not the sea! The young detectives unwind all the clues to an exciting conclusion.

If you have not read for a while this is a good re-introduction to reading - not too long but a great page turner.

EK/StJ/1/6/2020

Friends, adventure and FUN are the key ingredients in Pamela Butchart's take on the Secret Seven. Oh and a cracking good story, of course:-)

When Peter finds a skull hidden in his bedroom and a mysterious hole behind a nearby hotel, the Secret Seven wonder if there's a connection and suddenly they have a case! Will they solve the mystery...you'll have to read it and see!

When Harrison Beck's Uncle Nat offers to take him on a train journey while Harrison's mum is in hospital having a baby, he's not overly excited. However, the journey is a one off and so is the train. It is the Highland Falcon - Britain's most famous steam train. And, this is its last ever trip. This should be something of an adventure in itself but when a precious jewel goes missing and Harrison finds himself at the centre of the investigation he's determined to 'track' down the culprit.