Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Trend Alert: Private School Mysteries

People were always asking me if I had any mystery books to recommend, and I did, but they were all in the Teen Fiction section.

Trend Starter:  Pretty Little Liars, Lying Game

I think it's safe to say that most people enjoy a good mystery, but when Pretty Little Liars (up to 18 total books) caught fire popularity-wise, it really paved the way for more school-centric mysteries to be published. If you've ever had a sleepover, or lock-in, at a school, then you already know how creepy it can be in the dark, without having A text-stalk your every move. If you want the adrenaline rush of running through the halls, hot on the trail of something, without the running/danger/damaging rumors, try picking up these books and living vicariously through these heroines and heroes. Bonus points if you figure out the culprit before the official reveal.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
This one is often recommended by author John Green, and I actually like it better than We Were Liars, which everyone is raving about. A total girl-power book, Frankie is excluded from her boyfriend's male-only secret society, but she doesn't let that stop her. Knowing about its existence from her father's stories, she sets off on a path to becoming a criminal mastermind, one prank at a time. Although Disreputable History is more thriller than mystery, it still has all those late night-sneaking around school moments and is like being on the opposite side of a mystery--following the person who knows how everything was done.

Prep School Confidential
Wicked Little Secrets
Deadly Little Sins
The perfect series for the Nancy Drew fan who's grown up to be a badass.  Featuring all of Nancy's favorite things: trespassing, threatening notes, and getting trapped in hard to reach places. Oh, and actual mystery solving. Anne Dowling is on the case(s), starting with her roommate's murder.



The Liar Society
The Lies That Bind,
Third Lie's the Charm
I'm telling you right now: judge these books by their cover, because they're freaking awesome. Kate gets an email from her dead best friend, Grace: "Kate, I'm here…sort of. Find Cameron. He knows. I shouldn't be writing. Don't tell. They'll hurt you." This series has everything: secret societies, weird school rituals, awesome hair colors...

Escape Theory
Hero Complex
Peer counselor, Devon is on-duty when one of the most popular kids, Hutch, appears to commit suicide. Devon goes about providing support for his friends, and trying to clear Hutch's name, as she becomes more sure that he didn't do it.

My Own Worst Frenemy
Chanti bonds with other scholarship students when things start go missing at the school and the scholarship kids look like the most likely suspects. With an undercover cop-mom as her role model, Chanti is on the case. I checked this baby out from the library as a digital copy and then rated it a five on Goodreads with no explanation as to why...  The plot thickens!

High and Dry
Goodreads description: "Framed for a stranger's near-fatal overdose at a party, blackmailed into finding a mysterious flash drive everyone in school seems anxious to suppress, and pressured by his shady best friend to throw an upcoming game, high school soccer player Charlie Dixon spends a frantic week trying to clear his name, win back the girl of his dreams, and escape a past that may be responsible for all his current problems." High and Dry has sort of neo-noir or hardboiled feel to it--everyone's up to something, you can't trust anyone, you've got to run all over the place, interacting with different social groups to get the information you need. I basically loved it. The character relationships are all super interesting...the way the school operates, all the dirt that gets dug up--just great. Different from the other stuff out there, but not difficult to read and absorb.

The Secrets of Lily Graves
The senior class president is found dead after attacking Lily, who kind of stole her boyfriend, in a jealous rage. This is not your average teen mystery, prepare yourself for strangeness, a comment on the "age of surfaces" and, believe it, actual detective work from a girl who has legit mortician skills. Even though I didn't solve it, I certainly enjoyed the ride. If we're being honest, I kind of got so wrapped up in reading that I forgot to even make a guess... 

Buzz Kill
When the unpopular football coach turns up murdered, Millie's father, the assistant coach, is the main suspect. This book is consistently amusing and, at times, downright hilarious. You'll love Millie--the perfect blend of awkward, awesome and not-giving-a-damn. Buzz Kill is teeming with classic Drew: sleuthing with friends, eavesdropping, cliffhanger chapter endings, trespassing and straight-up stealing stuff--check it, Clue Crew. 

Poor Little Dead Girls
New York's hottest club is Poor Little Dead Girls. This club has everything: secret societies, British royalty and that thing where there's a mystery and it's actually resolved... Summary: A scholarship sends Sadie to an elite boarding school where there are mysterious goings-on, such as instant popularity, strange markings on one's body and kidnappings on a semi-regular basis.

No One Else Can Have You
In four words: Wisconsin, satire, WTF, YES. One sentence summary: Kippy, whose idol is Diane Sawyer, uses Ruth's secret diary to try and solve her best friend's murder.

Favorite author plug: Christopher Pike's...
 Last Act: Melanie gets the starring role in a school play AND framed for murder when the gun prop appears to cause real, unscripted damage.
 Master of Murder: Marvin is an 18-year-old senior in high school AND a bestselling author with a pen-name... But, according to some threatening fan-mail, someone knows he's both.
 Die Softly: When Herb plants a camera in the school showers, he ends up photographing cheerleaders AND a murder.


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