The Best Children’s Mysteries

The Best Children’s Mysteries

 

My interest in mysteries started at a very young age.  I have discussed my love of Mathnet earlier on this blog.  But mysteries written for children are a very special subgenre.  In children’s mysteries, the author usually can’t include any serious violence, especially murder.  Not only that, but a children’s mystery often has to feature a child protagonist.  If you have a child as a detective, how does that young person perform a proper investigation?

 

There were several series of children’s mysteries I enjoyed growing up– the Encyclopedia Brown books, which required a wide knowledge of trivia to solve; and the Boxcar Children mysteries, which often did not include actual crimes or detection, were frequently on my reading list.  But my favorite children’s mysteries, written for children, featuring children investigating, were E.W. Hildick’s McGurk Mysteries.

 

The McGurk Mysteries were a series featuring a group of young children who ran their own detective agency and did a remarkable job solving crimes.  At first there were four members of the group: Jack McGurk, the leader of the group with a lot of self-confidence, a manipulative streak, and a surprisingly effective sleuth.  Joey Rockaway, the narrator of the group and the organizer of information.  Wanda Greig, a tree-climbing expert.  The final member of the main group was Willie Sandowsky, whose preternatural skill for smelling proves frequently useful.  Several books into the series, Gerald “Brains” Bellingham, a technology and science whiz, joins the group, followed a bit later by the sixth and last member, Mari Yoshimura, a ventriloquist.

 

The mysteries ranged from catching bank robbers to retrieving stolen jewelry to finding missing to proving a pet cat is innocent of killing birds.  Some of the books are quite dark, involving kidnappings and preventing murders before they happened.  The books were funny, with terrific characters, and though they were geared towards children, Hildick never spoke down to children.

 

Unfortunately, all of these books are out of print, and I worry that they will soon be lost.  Hopefully, they can be brought back to the public attention so a new generation can enjoy them.

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released on November 3^rd.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books on September 7^th.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

What is the WORST Mystery Book Cover You’ve Ever Seen?

What is the WORST Mystery Book Cover You’ve Ever Seen?

 

It’s been said that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and there’s a lot of truth to that.  Unfortunately, a bad cover can put a potential reader off, and in my experience, one doesn’t want to look at a cover that just looks disgusting.  I’m not a fan of some of the midcentury covers that are particularly lurid, featuring corpses in various states of undress and clear indications of violence.  

 

Unfortunately, a lot of book covers these days are boringly generic.  Most contain an image of dubious connection to the book, and in most cases, one could swap them without causing any confusion.  I’m not saying that every cover has to be iconic, but way too often, the cover’s bland and forgettable.

 

I’m a big fan of Tom Adams’ Agatha Christie book covers.  I think his art is distinct, evocative, and interesting.  It’s often beautifully done, as well.  This cover for A Caribbean Mystery, however just unnerved me.  It looks like there’s a decapitation, though there isn’t one in the book.  I can think of at least a dozen Tom Adams covers for Agatha Christie novels that I’d hang up on my wall.  Not this one.

 

But for me, the mystery book cover that I disliked the most is the first one I ever saw that was actually a spoiler for the book: Dorothy L. Sayers’ Strong Poison.  The heart of the mystery is figuring out how the victim was poisoned.  This cover pretty much spells out the vehicle for the arsenic.

 

Is there a book cover for a mystery that you really disliked?

 

 

–Chris Chan

Story Profile– The Prisoners of Cawdor College

Story Profile– The Prisoners of Cawdor College 

 

Belanger Books’ two-part anthology Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Through the Multiverse has an interesting premise.  These are stories where something is a little different from the Sherlock Holmes Universe we’re used to reading.  Maybe Watson is the detective and Holmes is the doctor.  Maybe they live in America instead of London.  Maybe Holmes’ ethnic background is different.  The main linking factor is that the stories are set in a parallel universe.

 

In my story, I ask what happens if Moriarty won the fight at Reichenbach Falls.  Suppose he won, but instead of throwing Holmes over the edge, he and his men held Holmes (and Mycroft) as prisoners, occaisionally forcing them to use their brainpower for his own ends?

 

You can buy Volume Two of Sherlock Holmes: Adventures Through the Multiverse here.

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s first novel, Sherlock’s Secretary, was released on November 3^rd.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books on September 7^th.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.