Library Mysteries

Francie Vespertine has lived all her life in a supernatural town full of powerful witches, but her own magic is lackluster at best. The only place she fits in is the Magical Archives. Head librarian (and bookworm extraordinaire) might be a boring job . . . if it wasn't for the ghosts of fictional characters haunting the shelves.

An invitation from a liberal arts college to buy their mystery-novel collection comes as a welcome surprise for Raymond Ambler, crime-fiction curator at New York City's 42nd Street Library. But his pleasure quickly turns sour when the collection's curator—Sam Abernathy—tells him he plans to fight the acquisition tooth and nail. The collection would make a fine addition to his holdings, but Ambler's not looking for drama. But just a couple of weeks later, one of Abernathy's colleagues is shot dead from the library's roof, and all signs point to the crime-loving professor as the perpetrator.

Kay Donovan has skeletons in her closet, but who doesn't? The past is the past, and now Kay's a star soccer player whose group of gorgeous, pedigreed friends run their private school with effortless popularity and acerbic wit. But when a girl's body is found in the lake, Kay's carefully constructed life begins to topple. The dead girl has left a memento, a computer-coded scavenger hunt, which, as it unravels, begins to implicate each of Kay's friends, until Kay herself is in the crosshairs of the murder investigation.

Hard-boiled crime writer Will Ford might be critically acclaimed, but he's every bit as drunken and disreputable as the ne'er-do-well private eye in his novels. So when Ford offers Raymond Ambler—crime-fiction curator at New York City's prestigious 42nd Street Library—a collection of his papers, Ambler wonders if the project will be more trouble than it's worth. Still, the disgraced author is an important talent, and Ambler's never been afraid of a fight. Ambler's ready for the controversy that greets news of the acquisition.

Dave is spending his final summer before college working at Frightmares House of Horrors, a struggling haunted house attraction held together by malfunctioning killer clown mannequins, a cheap replica Annabelle doll, and a lot of improvising. After a particularly disastrous shift ends in an employee walkout, Dave reluctantly takes over a role for his friend, however, he makes a horrifying discovery—a real dead body, hidden on set. But when Dave returns with help, the body is gone. Dave realizes the killer must know what he saw. Could he be their next target?

Eleven-year-old P. T. Wilkie may be the greatest storyteller alive. But he knows one thing for a fact: The Wonderland Motel is the best place a kid could ever live! All-you-can-eat poolside ice cream! A snack machine in the living room! A frog slide! A giant rampaging alligator! (Okay, that last one may or may not be made up.) There's only one thing the Wonderland doesn't have, though: customers. And if the Wonderland doesn't get them soon, P. T. and his friend Gloria may have to say good-bye to their motel.

When Greta overhears the library board president and a member of the treasure-hunting club arguing about a secret discovery, her curiosity is piqued—even more so when one of the women leaves a book with a sequence of strange markings on its pages in the library book return bin. Before Greta can ask about the marginalia, the book's outspoken owner turns up dead.

Serafina has never had a reason to disobey her pa and venture beyond the grounds of Biltmore Estate. There's plenty to explore in her grand home, but she must take care to never be seen. None of the rich folk upstairs know that Serafina exists; she and her pa, the estate's maintenance man, have lived in the basement for as long as Serafina can remember. She has learned to sneak and hide.

The Earth Day Fair is days away, but Nate's classroom project - a robot named Mr. Butler - has disappeared. Nate the Great and his dog, Sludge, take on the unusual case, and they are soon searching high and low in and around the school. Will Nate find the robot in time for the fair?

Kari and Lucas had two run-ins with a snarling painter who appears to be copying Rembrants. Using the kind of ingenuity and determination that only two teenage girls could come up with, Kari and Lucas embark on an international adventure to figure out who the mystery painter is and what he's up to. But neither is prepared for what they find. Suddenly what began as a madcap pursuit becomes deadly serious. Will they risk their lives in the name of art?

Descendants of the Fates are always born in threes: one to weave, one to draw, and one to cut the threads that connect people to the things they love and to life itself. The Ora sisters are no exception. Io, the youngest, uses her Fate-born abilities as a private investigator in the half-sunken city of Alante. But her latest job leads her to a horrific discovery: somebody is abducting women, maiming their life-threads, and setting the resulting wraiths loose in the city to kill.

Murder at the 42nd Street Library follows Ambler and his partners in crime-solving as they track down a killer, shining a light on the dark deeds and secret relationships that are hidden deep inside the famous flagship building at the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. In their search for the reasons behind the murder, Ambler and his crew uncover sinister and profoundly disturbing relationships among the scholars studying in the iconic library.

Meet the Sinister-Winterbottoms: brave Theo, her timid twin, Alexander, and their older sister, Wil. They’re stuck for the summer with their Aunt Saffronia, who doesn’t know how often children need to eat and can’t use a smartphone, and whose feet never quite seem to touch the floor when she glides—er—walks. When Aunt Saffronia suggests a week pass to the Fathoms of Fun Waterpark, they hastily agree. But the park is even stranger than Aunt Saffronia. Something mysterious is happening at Fathoms of Fun, and it’s up to the twins to get to the bottom of it.

Green Lawn, we have a problem! When Bradley Pinto wakes up in the night to strange lights in his backyard, he thinks there are aliens in town. When he sees three-toed footprints in the snow, he’s sure of it. His twin, Brian, and friends Lucy and Nate aren’t so certain. But then Lucy’s cousin Dink, the twins’ brother, Josh, and Nate’s sister, Ruth Rose, all disappear. Are there really aliens in Green Lawn? And where could they be taking Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose?

It's St. Patrick's Day in Green Lawn. Bradley, Brian, Nate, and Lucy dress up a leprechaun statue for the town's yearly contest. They leave it out on the porch overnight, but the next morning, it's missing! Who is behind the mischief? It will take four kids and the luck of the Irish to find out. Ron Roy perfectly captures the reading level and interest of the earliest chapter book readers in this exciting spinoff of his popular A to Z Mysteries series.

The kids and their pets are going to march in the Fourth of July Pet Parade! The winner of the patriotic pet costume contest gets a great prize - to be mayor for a day! For Bradley's entry, Polly the Pony gets to be President Thomas Jefferson for the day. But Polly runs off with her red wig and hat still sitting on her head. Maybe she has stage fright! Can the kids find her and calm her down before the fourth of July festivities begin?

Ivy and Iris haven’t lived together for years—when their mother and father divorced, each parent got custody of one twin. But after a tragic accident takes their mom’s life, the devastated sisters are reunited, and Iris moves in with Ivy and their dad. Iris takes their mom’s death especially hard. She barely talks, spending hours alone in her room. Ivy can’t stand to see Iris so sad. She promised Iris that she can share her life now. After all, they’re sisters. Twins.

A fancy hotel + no parents = party time for four friends celebrating a birthday weekend. But when an uninvited party guest seeking revenge turns up, the fun quickly turns into a nightmare.

The year is 1862 and 12-year-old P.K. Pinkerton is on the run from Whittlin Walt and his gang of ruthless desperados. P.K. is determined to hold on to his ma's last priceless possession: the deed to a large amount of land and silver mines in the Nevada Mountains. But this is the Wild West, and there,’s hardly a safe place to hide in Virginia City, an untamed mining town full of gamblers, hurdy girls and gunmen - all of them on the make! Relying on disguises will only keep P.K. hidden for so long as he works to outwit the outlaws who are quickly closing in....

After surviving an infamous family tragedy, 16-year-old Kennedy Jones has made it her mission to keep her brother's search through the cosmos alive. But then something disturbs the frequency on his radio telescope - a pattern registering where no signal should transmit. In a neighboring county, 17-year-old Nolan Chandler is determined to find out what really happened to his brother, who disappeared the day after Nolan had an eerie premonition. There hasn't been a single lead for two years, until Nolan picks up an odd signal - a pattern coming from his brother's bedroom.