Mystery & Crime

This diverse collection of study guides highlights mystery and crime titles for middle grade, YA, and adult audiences -- from Agatha Christie’s iconic “whodunits” to John Grisham’s popular page-turners. Read on to get the most out of these exceptional books that present baffling puzzles and expose dark secrets.

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Natural World: Appearance & Reality, Identity: Gender

Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction


Publication year 1999

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags Sociology, Journalism, Mystery / Crime Fiction, History: World, Biography

Newjack is a nonfiction book written by Ted Conover. Conover, a journalist, spends a year as a correction officer in Sing Sing Prison and keeps a detailed record of events in a spiral notebook. The story takes place largely at Sing Sing, a historic prison located in Ossining, New York. Sing Sing is a palimpsest of structures dating back to the 1800s: spread across fifty-five acres, the prison includes massive cell blocks, a solitary-housing unit... Read Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing Summary


Publication year 2005

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Tags History: U.S., Mystery / Crime Fiction, History: World

In New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan, historian and writer Jill Lepore researches the little-known history of New York’s 1741 slave burnings. The book, published in 2005, won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for History. Although slavery is typically associated with the southern United States, Lepore’s history reveals that New York also has a deep and dark history of engaging in the practice... Read New York Burning Summary


Publication year 2018

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Religion & Spirituality, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Forgiveness, Emotions/Behavior: Guilt, Emotions/Behavior: Love, Relationships: Family, Society: Community, Emotions/Behavior: Fear

Tags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Religion / Spirituality, Relationships, Modern Classic Fiction

Nine Perfect Strangers is a 2018 novel by Liane Moriarty. Set in Sydney, Australia, the novel follows a group of strangers who gather at a wellness retreat to receive treatment from a mysterious health guru. The novel was adapted for a 2021 television series starring Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, and Michael Shannon.Other works by this author include Apples Never Fall, What Alice Forgot, and Here One Moment.This guide uses an eBook copy of the text... Read Nine Perfect Strangers Summary


Publication year 2007

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Natural World: Appearance & Reality

Tags Bullying, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Drama / Tragedy

Nineteen Minutes is a harrowing, suspenseful narrative about a high school shooting and its aftermath. The mass shooting takes place at Sterling High, in New Hampshire, and lasts for the nineteen minutes of the book’s titular namesake. Peter Houghton, the seventeen-year-old school shooter, changes the lives of many people on March 6, 2007, when he opens fire on his fellow classmates. Peter thinks to stop the bullying that he’s endured since the first day of... Read Nineteen Minutes Summary


Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Friendship

Tags Fantasy, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Religion / Spirituality

Ninth House is a 2019 contemporary occult fantasy novel by American writer Leigh Bardugo. Inspired by the author’s undergraduate experiences at Yale University, Ninth House is part of the Alex Stern series with the next book planned for release in 2021. The novel is also popular on BookTok, a community of readers and book content creators on TikTok. The story is set in a macabre version of the real world and focuses on the occult... Read Ninth House Summary


Publication year 2005

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Good & Evil

Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Western, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

In No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell investigates a sudden spate of murders in his typically quiet corner of the Texas borderlands. Llewelyn Moss, a Vietnam vet and hunter, gets caught up in the aftermath of a drug-deal gone wrong, and soon both Sheriff Bell and a mysterious hit-man race to be the first to track Moss down: one with the intention of saving his life and the other... Read No Country for Old Men Summary


Publication year 1996

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil, Society: Community

Tags Sociology, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Social Justice, Politics / Government, Biography

No Matter How Loud I Shout is a work of nonfiction written by Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Edward Humes and published in 1996. This work comprises the author’s ethnographical observations and participations in the Los Angeles juvenile justice system for the year of 1994. Humes asserts that the names of juveniles have been changed in accordance with state laws regarding confidentiality; however, everything else is true, and reported in the allegedly unbiased style of 1990s investigative journalism... Read No Matter How Loud I Shout Summary


Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family, Society: Class, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Trust & Doubt

Tags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, Modern Classic Fiction


Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Family, Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Society: Politics & Government

Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Historical Fiction, Irish Literature


Publication year 2013

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Life/Time: Coming of Age, Relationships: Family, Life/Time: Mortality & Death

Tags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Religion / Spirituality


Publication year 2010

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos

Tags Politics / Government, Journalism, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Education, Education, African American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction

Oil on Water is a 2010 novel by Helon Habila, who originally worked as a journalist and poet in Nigeria before becoming a professor of creative writing at George Mason. His writing has earned many accolades, including the Music Society of Nigeria national poetry award, the 2001 Caine Prize, the 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize, the 2008 Emily Balch Prize, and the 2015 Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction. Oil on Water is his third novel and foregrounds... Read Oil on Water Summary


Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Fame, Values/Ideas: Art, Values/Ideas: Beauty, Values/Ideas: Fate, Society: Nation, Self Discovery, Emotions/Behavior: Fear

Tags Historical Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Arts / Culture, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Addiction / Substance Abuse, Depression / Suicide, History: U.S., Mental Illness, History: World


Publication year 2010

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Good & Evil

Tags WWII / World War II, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Military / War, History: World, Historical Fiction

Once We Were Brothers is a Jewish historical fiction novel and legal thriller published in 2013 by the American author and attorney Ronald H. Balson. A finalist for the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction, the book tells the story of two young men on opposite sides of the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Poland. It is the first entry in Balson’s Liam Taggart and Catherine Lockhart book series.Plot SummaryThe book is divided into three parts. Part... Read Once We Were Brothers Summary


Publication year 2010

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Identity: Race

Tags Race / Racism, Incarceration, Social Justice, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Biography

Piper Kerman’s 2010 memoir, Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, chronicles the 13 months she spent in a federal women’s prison in Danbury, Connecticut. In 2013, Netflix adapted the memoir into an original series featuring the experiences of fictional character Piper Chapman. The memoir follows a linear timeline, starting with the crime Kerman unknowingly commits right after college, the process leading up to the sentencing, and her time in Danbury... Read Orange Is The New Black Summary


Publication year 2013

Genre Novel, Fiction

Tags Mystery / Crime Fiction, Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Historical Fiction

Ordinary Grace is a mystery and coming-of-age novel written by William Kent Krueger. Published in 2013, the novel is narrated from the perspective of Frank Drum. Like many of Krueger’s other works, including Iron Lake and the rest of the Cork O’Connor series, Ordinary Grace is set in Minnesota. The plot centers on a series of deaths that strike the fictional town of New Bremen in 1961, and the book is a bildungsroman for both Frank and... Read Ordinary Grace Summary


Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Values/Ideas: Literature, Relationships: Daughters & Sons, Relationships: Family, Relationships: Mothers, Natural World: Animals, Natural World: Place, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Emotions/Behavior: Memory

Tags Magical Realism, Coming of Age / Bildungsroman, Grief / Death, Relationships, Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, Religion / Spirituality


Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Identity: Race, Emotions/Behavior: Hope, Emotions/Behavior: Memory, Relationships: Family, Society: Community, Society: Politics & Government, Values/Ideas: Literature

Tags Science-Fiction / Dystopian Fiction, Race / Racism, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction


Publication year 2008

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Relationships: Mothers

Tags Jewish Literature, Mystery / Crime Fiction, History: World, Historical Fiction, Religion / Spirituality

Geraldine Brooks’s People of the Book (2008) is a historical fiction novel about a book conservator named Dr. Hanna Heath and her intensive research on the history of the famous Sarajevo Haggadah. The book is an imagined history following the real clues found in the manuscript, and the novel jumps back and forth between Hanna’s findings and historical events that brought the book to its current home in the National Museum in Sarajevo, Bosnia.  Brooks... Read People of the Book Summary


Publication year 1983

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Values/Ideas: Fate, Values/Ideas: Good & Evil

Tags Horror / Thriller / Suspense Fiction, Mystery / Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Religion / Spirituality

Pet Sematary is a 1983 novel by Stephen King. It was adapted into a film in 1989 and a second film adaptation is scheduled to be released in April 2019. The book takes place in semi-rural Ludlow, Maine, a small town that Chicago doctor, Louis Creed, has just moved to with his family. Dr. Creed has taken a job at the university and moved his family against the wishes of his wife’s parents, with whom... Read Pet Sematary Summary