The Game Is Afoot:
19 Masterful Teen Mysteries

by Devon A. Corneal

Photography by Seana Williamson

A well-written mystery is a thing of beauty, filled with intriguing characters, impenetrable puzzles, secrets, lies, red herrings, confusion, misdirection, cliffhangers, clever detectives, wily villains, and shocking surprise endings. Younger readers have long had the Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, and Hardy Boys series. Adults have escaped with Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot stories, Sherlock Holmes, and anything by James Patterson. But teens? We did a little digging and found some fantastic mysteries, both old and new, written specifically for teens that fill the whodunit gap for young adult readers in unexpected and novel ways.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2017 and updated in 2024.