Mystery & Suspense

Sometime in the last four or five decades the Powers That Be decided every movie mystery would follow basically the same plot so that viewers wouldn't have to worry about the outcome and would be able to enjoy the movie all the way through. Fortunately for those who prefer to let the future unfold itself, there are still mystery novels.

A mystery is simply something you don't know or can't understand. By the time you understand it, it's not a mystery anymore. Part of the fun of detective stories is not knowing what's going on (at least, not for sure) until the end, when sudden light dawns in the midst of the darkness and you fancy yourself a bit dull for not having picked up on the clues earlier.

Trying to figure the solution before the main characters get there is pretty fun, too, though there's another kind of satisfaction from waiting till Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes or Lord Peter Wimsey reveal the criminal by name, the extent of his or her crimes, and the motivations that led them to kill, steal or lie. Though in the end, most of us probably end up in both categories, trying to figure everything out but still surprised by the truth.

Modern mystery novels tend to focus on criminal evil, fascinated by the depths humans are capable of sinking to. While older ones certainly didn't hesitate to point out man's depravity and capacity for wrongdoing, they were even more concerned with justice and the good guys who overcome the bad guys through superior wit and reason.

These are the ones we like. We don't admire Sherlock Holmes only for his formidable genius, but also for his commitment to employ it for the forces of good. Miss Marple doesn't need to solve crimes, but she does—and we rejoice every time she triumphs over a shady perpetrator. In the real world things might not always wind up so neatly, but it's nice to know in some books they always will.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
Did you find this review helpful?
Parent Categories
48 Items found Print
Active Filters: 4th grade (Ages 9-10), Hardcover
Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators #07
by Robert Arthur, illustrated by Harry Kane
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Series (Location: VIN-SER)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful
by Alfred Hitchcock, illustrated by Fred Banbery
from Random House
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Alfred Hitchcock's Sinister Spies
by Alfred Hitchcock (editor); illustrated by Paul Spina
from Random House
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Alfred Hitchcock's Solve-Them-Yourself Mysteries
by Alfred Hitchcock, illustrated by Fred Banbery
from Random House
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Alvin Fernald's Incredible Buried Treasure
Alvin #4
by Clifford B. Hicks, illustrated by Roger Bradfield
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
$17.95
Alvin's Swap Shop
by Clifford B. Hicks, Illustrated by Bill Sokol
from Weekly Reader
for 3rd-6th grade
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
Angie's First Case
by Donald J. Sobol
from Four Winds Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
Bill Bergson Master Detective
by Astrid Lindgren
from Viking Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase
by Wendy Mass
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.99
Case of the Etruscan Treasure
by Robert Newman
Second Printing from Atheneum
for 4th-8th grade
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Deadly Waters
National Parks Mystery #4
by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson
from National Geographic
for 3rd-6th grade
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Dragon, Hound of Honor
by Julie Andrews Edwards and Emma Walton Hamilton
1st edition from HarperCollins
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Emil and the Detectives
by Erich Kästner
1st edition from Barnes & Noble
for 4th-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E.L. Konigsburg
37th printing from Atheneum
for 4th-6th grade
1968 Newbery Medal Winner
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$7.50 (2 in stock)
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E. L. Konigsburg
35th Anniversary Edition from Atheneum
Mystery/Suspense for 4th-7th grade
1968 Newbery Medal winner
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Ginger Pye
by Eleanor Estes
from Harcourt, Brace & World
for 4th-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Invention of Hugo Cabret
by Brian Selznick
First Edition from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
2008 Caldecott Medal winner
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$29.99
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Junior Deluxe Editions
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Peter Spier
from Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Little Lord Fauntleroy
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Harry Toothill
from J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Little Lord Fauntleroy
by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Graham Rust
from David R. Godine
for 4th-8th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Miss Pickerell on the Trail
by Ellen MacGregor and Dora Pantell, Illustrated by Charles Geer
from McGraw-Hill
for 2nd-5th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics
by Chris Grabenstein
1st edition from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 3rd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Mysterious Bender Bones
by Susan Meyers, illustrated by Ib Ohlssohn
from Doubleday & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Mysterious Benedict Society
Mysterious Benedict Society #1
by Trenton Lee Stewart
from Little, Brown & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages
Mysterious Benedict Society #4
by Trenton Lee Stewart
from Little, Brown & Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Mysterious Christmas Shell
by Eleanor Cameron, illustrated by Beth & Joe Krush
from Little, Brown & Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Mystery at the Doll Hospital
by Elizabeth Honness, illustrated by Velma Ilsley
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 4th-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$58.00 (1 in stock)
Mystery of the Musical Umbrella
by Friedrick Feld, illustrated by Doris Jackson, translated by W. Kersley Holmes
from Random House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mystery of the Pirate's Ghost
by Elizabeth Honness, illustrated by Beth & Joe Krush
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Pete's Puzzle
from J. Philip O'Hara
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Phantom of the Opera
by Gaston Leroux
from Unicorn Publishing House
for 2nd-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Pink Motel
by Carol Ryrie Brink, illustrated by Sheila Greenwald
from Macmillan
for 3rd-7th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Spy Who Came in from the Sea
by Peggy Nolan
from Pineapple Press
Adventure Stories for 2nd-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$14.95
Strange Pettingill Puzzle
by Augusta Huiell Seaman, with a frontispiece by Genevieve Foster
from Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Three Times Lucky
Mo and Dale Mysteries #1
by Sheila Turnage
Reprint from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
2013 Newbery Honor Book
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
To Walk on Two Feet
by Marjorie Cook
1st edition from Westminster Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Mystery & Suspense (Location: FIC-MYS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Traitor Among Us
by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk
from Eerdmans
for 4th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Tree House Mystery
by Carol Beach York, Reisie Lonette
from Coward McCann
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Trixie Belden #05
by Julie Campbell
from Golden Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Trixie Belden Mysteries (Location: SER-TRIX)
Trixie Belden #09
by Julie Campbell
from Golden Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Trixie Belden Mysteries (Location: SER-TRIX)
Trixie Belden #10
by Kathryn Kenny
from Whitman Publishing Company
for 3rd-5th grade
in Trixie Belden Mysteries (Location: SER-TRIX)
Trixie Belden #11
by Julie Campbell
from Golden Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Trixie Belden Mysteries (Location: SER-TRIX)
Trixie Belden #11
by Kathryn Kenny
from Whitman Publishing Company
for 4th-6th grade
in Trixie Belden Mysteries (Location: SER-TRIX)
Trixie Belden #12
by Kathryn Kenny
from Whitman Publishing Company
for 4th-8th grade
in Trixie Belden Mysteries (Location: SER-TRIX)
Trixie Belden #13
by Kathryn Kenney
from Whitman Publishing Company
for 3rd-5th grade
in Trixie Belden Mysteries (Location: SER-TRIX)
Trouble at Timpetill
by Henry Winterfeld
1st edition from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 4th-7th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
by Avi
from Orchard Books
for 3rd-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Wish Giver
by Bill Brittain, illustrated by Andrew Glass
from HarperCollins
for 3rd-6th grade
Newbery Honor Book
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)