7 Middle Grade Mysteries for Dreary Winter Days (Or Anytime)

Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage
Moses (Mo, for short) LoBeau washed downstream as a newborn. Arriving in Tupelo Landing, she was found by the Colonel, a man who can’t remember his own past, and both were taken in by the owner of the local cafe, Miss Lana. For years, Mo has been sending messages upstream in a bottle, hoping her biological mother will find them. But it’s not until an out-of-town detective, a murder, and the story of a long-past bank robbery and kidnapping all come to Tupelo Landing that Mo starts to unravel the mystery of her own life.

Liar and Spy, by Rebecca Stead
After his family falls on hard times, seventh grader Georges moves with his parents from their house into a much smaller apartment. At school, his best friend has become somebody he doesn’t recognize, and bullies have deemed Georges their newest target. Things are not going well. Then Georges meets his neighbors, two homeschooled siblings named Safer and Candy who offer a fresh perspective on Georges’s troubles. Safer convinces Georges to help spy on a mysterious tenant, which all seems like fun and games, until the day Georges discovers the mystery goes much deeper than he anticipated.

Absolutely Truly, by Heather Vogel Frederick
Truly Lovejoy is accustomed to change. Her father’s military career means they move often. But the kind of change that comes when her father loses an arm in Afghanistan and decides to move the family to middle-of-nowhere Pumpkin Falls to take over the family bookstore is a little more than Truly can handle. During the middle of a bitter cold New Hampshire winter, Truly finds a mysterious letter tucked into the pages of a rare book. The letter starts her on a journey that will not only lead her into mysteries of the past, but also draw her closer to the current residents of her new hometown.

Click Here to Start, by Denis Markell
Like many 12-year-olds, Ted Gerson is a bit of a video game guru. His ultimate challenge comes when his great-uncle dies, leaving Ted the contents of his apartment, which is packed with junk. Somewhere in that apartment is a treasure, but Ted has no idea where to find it. He soon discovers that the apartment is like one of those escape-the-room video games. Moving things around causes clues to appear—and then disappear. Along with friends Caleb and Isabel, Ted rises to the challenge. But he’s not the only one looking for the treasure. And real life is not like a video game.

The Marvels, by Brian Selznick
Similar to The Invention of Hugo Cabret, also one of Selznick’s literary marvels (see what I did there?), The Marvels is a tome. It’s not the kind of book you can slip into a small bag, but it’s worth the added effort of carrying it around. The first 500 pages are nearly wordless, but amazingly illustrated, and tell the story of several generations of the same family, starting in the 1700s with Billy Marvel. After Billy is shipwrecked, he manages to find his way to the London theatre scene, where his family becomes legacies until shame descends upon them in 1900. The book then switches to prose and skips forward 100 years. The next 200 pages tell the story of Joseph, a runaway who ends up with his uncle in London and who is captivated by the strange house, ghostly presences, and family secrets he finds there. Though each story can stand alone, the way they intertwine is what makes this book truly remarkable.

Chasing Secrets, by Gennifer Choldenko
In 1900 San Francisco, 13-year-old Lizzie is stuck in a girls’ finishing school, when she’d much rather be studying science. It’s while on house call visits with her physician father that she discovers the underbelly of the city, a world as far removed from finishing school as one can get. When Chinatown is quarantined amidst rumors of the plague, Lizzie breaks all social class rules and befriends Noah, their Chinese cook’s son, who has been hiding in the servant’s quarters. Together, the two attempt to unravel the medical mystery that has taken over San Francisco. If you’re looking for a fast-paced blend of historical fiction, medical drama, and mystery, this one is for you.

Holes, by Louis Sachar
The Yelnats family has been under a curse ever since the days of Stanley Yelnats’s “no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather.” Now Stanley has been unfairly sent to Camp Green Lake, a detention camp for boys, where he’s forced to spend all day every day digging holes. Specifically, holes 5 feet wide and five feet deep. While this is supposedly meant to build character, Stanley soon realizes there’s a greater mystery surrounding Camp Green Lake. It’s likely you’re already familiar with this book, but every good list needs a classic, and Holes is the perfect example.