First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is pleased to announce a selection of new mystery, suspense and thriller books (including series books) scheduled for publication during November 2010, listed in approximate order of reading level, from books for younger readers to books for teens.
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Big Hairy Drama 
Aaron Reynolds
A Joey Fly, Private Eye Mystery, 2nd in series
A cold snap has blown into town like an unwanted house pest. But there’s only one guy in the bug city with the power to put crime permanently on ice: Joey Fly, Private Eye. He’s always on the lookout for trouble, and he runs into it when he meets Harry Spyderson, proprietor of the Scarab Beetle Theatre and director of the much-anticipated Bugliacci.
Greta Divawing, the four-winged, long-legged leading lady, has gone missing. Harry hires Joey Fly and his assistant, Sammy Stingtail to crack the case. Can they find Greta in time to save the show?
These graphic format mysteries are recommended for readers aged 7 to 9.
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Thea Stilton and the Mystery in Paris
Thea Stilton
A Geronimo Stilton Special Edition Mystery with Thea Stilton, 3rd in series
In this exciting adventure, the Thea Sisters are off to Paris to visit Colette's fashion-designer friend Julie. But when Julie's designs are suddenly stolen, the girls must search the city of Paris to catch the thief and save the fashion show.
Readers will love following the clues to help the Thea Sisters solve the mystery!
Geronimo Stilton mysteries are recommended for readers aged 7 to 9.
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The Cupcake Caper
Gertrude Chandler Warner
A Boxcar Children Mystery, 125th in series
It's a delicious new mystery with the Boxcar Children as they help catch a cupcake thief!
Mama Tova's shop in Greenfield is so famous that every day, people line up around the block to buy her cupcakes. But when someone breaks into her kitchen, it's clear that her secret recipe is in danger. The Aldens follow the suspects to a bake-off where they must find the culprit using their mystery-solving skills -- and their taste buds, too!
Boxcar Children mysteries are recommended for readers aged 7 to 9.
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Grounded
Kate Klise
Non-series
After her brother, sister, and father die in a plane crash, Daralynn Oakland receives 237 dolls from well-wishers, resulting in her nickname: Dolly. But dolls are little comfort to a twelve-year-old girl whose world is rocked by the dramatic changes in her life, including her angry, grieving mother’s new job as a hairstylist at the local funeral home.
Dolly gets a job, too, where she accidentally invents a fashionable new haircut. But her real work begins when a crematorium comes to town, and someone has to save a dying business, solve a burning mystery, and resuscitate the broken hearts in Digginsville, Missouri, population 402.
This novel recommended for readers aged 10 to 12.
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The South Street Gang vs. the Coalcracker Cyclops
Richard Benyo
Non-series
When Bob Capek’s mother is killed in a hit-and-run accident in 1956, his father moves the family from Virginia back to his hometown of Mauch Chunk, a small town in the middle of the eastern Pennsylvania anthracite coal region. From the moment Bob boards the northbound train, the life he knew before comes to an end—and another, more harrowing one begins.
Soon after arriving in Mauch Chunk, Bob is threatened by a notorious cross-town gang, the Center Street Scorpions. As if that’s not enough, Bob also initiates a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with the cruelest, most diabolical man in town, the Cyclops—a greedy mine owner who will stop at nothing, including murder, to own every coal mine in the county. But Bob is determined to put a stop to the Cyclops’s sinister schemes—and the results are explosive.
This novel is recommended for readers aged 10 to 12.
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Neil Flambe and the Aztec Abduction
Kevin Sylvester
A Neil Flambe Caper, 2nd in series
Fresh off his success in solving the Marco Polo murders, Neil Flambé heads to Mexico City to take part in the Azteca Cocina — a two-week battle of the chefs. But things start to go wrong at the very first battle. Neil’s box of secret ingredients contains more than he bargained for. There’s a note inside, telling him that Isabella has been kidnapped. He must lose in the final, or else she’ll be killed.
The kidnappers are obviously having fun — with every ransom note they send, they include a lock of Isabella’s hair, not realizing how clever their captive really is! Knowing that Neil and his super-nose will be looking for her, Isabella does what she can to help, rubbing her hair in the smelliest thing she can find at each location. Neil can smell garbage, flowers, and animals, but this only helps him find out where Isabella has already been — not where’s she heading next!
In order to solve this mystery, Neil will need Larry's knowledge of Mexican history and Spanish, Sean Nakamura's portable forensic lab, and Angel Jicama's mentorship. He’ll have to delve into Aztec history, symbolism, and even into the real ruins that are buried under the modern city. But will he figure it all out in time?
The mysteries in this series are recommended for readers aged 10 to 12.
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Virals
Kathy Reichs
Non-series
Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (featured in the "Bones" adult mysteries by this author and the Fox television show Bones), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.
As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot -- if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent.
Fortunately, they are now more than friends -- they're a pack. They are Virals.
This forensic thriller is recommended for readers aged 13 and older.
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The Back Door of Midnight
Elizabeth Chandler
Non-series
Psychic ... or psychotic?
Anna knows her family is crazy. But when she goes to visit her aunt and uncle for the summer and learns that her uncle’s charred body has been found, her life reaches a new level of insanity. Her erratic aunt’s “psychic” abilities are exaggerated by her grief, and have become borderline violent. Alone in an unfamiliar town, Anna struggles to pick up the pieces and establish any sense of normalcy. She desperately wants to trust Zack, the cute boy next door, but even he might know more about the incident than he is letting on.
But when Anna starts feeling an inexplicable pull to the site of her uncle’s murder, she begins to believe that her family’s supernatural gifts are real after all. Torn between loyalty and suspicion, Anna is certain of only one thing: she must discover who killed her uncle or she could be next …
This novel is recommended for readers aged 13 and older.
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Conspiracy 365: November
Gabrielle Lord
A Conspiracy 365 Thriller
The penultimate novel in this 12 volume series.
On New Year's Eve, Callum Ormond is chased down the street by a crazed man with a deadly warning: They killed your father. They'll kill you. You must survive the next 365 days. Cal is fighting for his sister's life. But nobody believes the "psycho kid" and he's running out of people he can trust. He doesn't even know which of his enemies he's facing. How many hard-won treasures will he have to relinquish in return for his sister's safety?
The thrillers in this series are recommended for readers aged 13 and older.
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First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is your source for information on over 200 mystery series for children and young adults, where each series is conveniently listed under four different age categories (New Sleuths, ages 4 to 6; Future Sleuths, ages 7 to 9; Sleuths in Training, ages 10 to 12; and Apprentice Sleuths, ages 13 and older).
