The Secret Detectives

A gripping, beautifully written historical mystery, from an incredible new voice in children's fiction. The body seemed to fall for a long time. There was no splash, or if there was it was lost in the waves. Isobel was frozen to the spot for a moment - and then her common sense caught up with her, and she stepped back quickly into the shadows. When Isobel Petty is orphaned, she finds herself being taken away from her home in India and sent to live with a distant uncle in England. On board the S.S. Marianna, she witnesses a shocking act - somebody being thrown overboard in the middle in the night. But when the ship's captain insists that nobody is missing, Isobel and her two new reluctant friends must solve two mysteries - the identities of both the murderer and the victim - before they reach England and the culprit has the chance to escape. Inspired by The Secret Garden and the golden age of crime writing, The Secret Detectives is perfect for fans of Robin Stevens and Katherine Rundell. "A thoroughly entertaining mystery and a heartening story of friendship. I loved it." - Katherine Woodfine, author of The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow

James Patterson's blockbuster Alex Cross series has sold over 100 million copies – and now he's bringing those thrills to a new generation! Alex's son Ali is eager to follow in his father's footsteps as a detective, but when his best friend goes missing, what price will he have to pay to solve the mystery? Ali Cross has always looked up to his father, former detective and FBI agent Alex Cross. While solving some of the nation's most challenging crimes, his father always kept his head and did the right thing. Can Ali have the same strength and resolve? When Ali's best friend Gabe is reported missing, Ali is desperate to find him. At the same time, a string of burglaries targets his neighborhood -- and even his own house. With his father on trial for a crime he didn't commit, it's up to Ali to search for clues and find his friend. But being a kid sleuth isn't easy -- especially when your father warns you not to get involved! -- and Ali soon learns that clues aren't always what they seem. Will his detective work lead to a break in Gabe's case or cause even more trouble for the Cross family?

Can the Third-Grade Detectives crack a case without Mr. Merlin?

The new novel in the atmospheric Gower Street Detective series introduces a chilling locked room mystery to Detective Sidney Grice and his precocious ward March Middleton. London, 1883. All is quiet at 125 Gower Street. Private detective Sidney Grice is studying up on the anatomical structure of human hair whilst his ward, March Middleton, sneaks upstairs for her eighth secret cigarette of the day. The household is, perhaps, too quiet. So, when a beautiful young woman turns up at the door, imploring London's foremost private detective to solve the mystery of her father's murder, Grice can barely disguise his glee. Mr. Nathan Garstang was found slaughtered in his bed, but there is no trace of a weapon or intruder. A classic locked-room case. But what piques Grice's interest is the crime's link to one of London's most notorious unsolved murders. Ten years ago, Nathan's uncle aunt and servants were murdered in their sleep in the very same house. Now, it seems, the Garstang murderer is back . . .

From the moment Otis and Cody Carson arrive on Skull Island to stay at their aunts inn, they know something is wrong. A giant snake turns up on their aunts bed, one of the rooms is violently ransacked, and then a celebrity guest goes missing. Could a ghost be responsible--or pirates?

Todd uses clues from earwax and a pink handkerchief in order to discover which of his schoolmates has been in his treehouse.

The Third-Grade detectives try to discover why a restaurant owned by one of their friend's parents is involved in the illness of some diners.

"Hot Art traces Joshua Knelman's five-year immersion in the shadowy world of art theft, which takes him from Egypt to Los Angeles, New York to London, and back again, through a web of deceit, violence, and corruption. With a cool, knowing eye, Knelman delves into the lives of professionals such as Paul, a brilliant working-class kid who charmed his way into a thriving career organizing art thefts and running loot across the United Kingdom and beyond, and LAPD detective Donald Hrycyk, one of the few special investigators worldwide who struggle to keep pace with the evolving industry of stolen art. As he becomes more and more immersed in this world, Knelman learns that art theft is no fringe activity--it has evolved into one of the largest black markets inthe world, which even Interpol and the FBI cannot contain. Sweeping and fast-paced, Hot Art is a major work of investigative journalism and a thrilling joyride into a mysterious criminal world"--

Private detectives and detective agencies played a major role in American history from 1870 to 1940. Pinkerton, Burns, Thiels, and the smaller independents were a multi-million dollar industry, hired out by many if not most American corporations, who needed services of surveillance, strike breaking, and labor espionage. Not only is John Walton's account the first sustained history of this industry, it is also the first book to trace the ways in which the private detective came to occupy a cherished place in popular imagination. Walton paints lively portraits of these mythical figures from Sherlock Holmes, the brilliant eccentric, to Sam Spade, the hard-boiled hero of Dashiell Hammett's best-selling tales. There's a great question lurking in here: how did pulp magazine editors shape the image of the hard-boiled private eye, and what sorts of interplay obtained between the actual records (agency files, memoirs) of these motley individuals in real life and the legend of the private detective in mass-market fiction? This history of the private eyes and this account of how the detective industry and the culture industry played off of each other is a first. Walton show us, in clean clear outline, the figure of the classical private eye, and he shows us further how the memory of this iconic figure was sustained in fiction, radio, film, literary societies, product promotions, adolescent entertainments, and a subculture of detective enthusiasts.

This Edgar Award-winning cozy mystery series for middle-graders introduces us to Myrtle Hardcastle, everyone's favorite 12-year-old amateur detective and Young Lady of Quality. Wickedly smart and keenly interested in the new tools of criminology, Myrtle has a nose for murder in the Victorian English village where she lives with her father, who is the local prosecutor, and her governess, Miss Judson. More mysteries await in How to Get Away with Myrtle (Book 2) and Cold-Blooded Myrtle (Book 3).