As this year's theme for the Night of Reading was "fear", our children's librarians have selected their favourite crime books for kids, especially ones involving ghosts and other intriguing mysteries.
Les aventures fantastiques de Sacré Coeur (1) : Les fantômes du père Lachaise
Laurent Audouin & Amélie Sarn
Ages 6+
This illustrated novel is perfect for young readers who want to dig into mystery books but can't yet read long novels.
6 year old Lison keeps hearing someone knock at her bedroom window in the evening, and her toys move by themselves or disappear. One night she has enough and refuses to keep sleeping in her room. It's time for Sacré-coeur, her neighbour, to investigate and try to capture the potential ghost with his crafty inventions!
Mystères dans les Highlands (1) : Premiers frissons en Ecosse
Alain Surget & Louis Alloing
Ages 7+
Mr Moury, a teacher in France, is taking his Year 5 class on a school trip to Scotland, a first journey for many of them and one that they won't forget in a hurry! As they learn about Scottish history and explore old castles, the myths of ghosts and hauntings seem a bit too close to reality for some of the students. The reader will also follow a thieves' gang that seems to be on the class' trail... A first volume of a very mysterious story!
Les Enquêtes de Nola et sa bande : Le mystère Orwitz
Rachel Corenblit & Cécile Bonbon
Ages 8+
Nola, her intelligent cat Dago and her two friends and neighbours Louis and Amadeo, have some suspicions about Dr Orwitz, the new lady who just moved into the building. The first time Nola saw her, she almost fell because some creature ran in-between her legs, Dr Orwitz denied it, but Nola was sure it was coming from her apartment! So the little gang decides to investigate during the neighbours party, but what they will find out is beyond what they imagined!
Le Club de la pluie (1) : Au pensionnat des mystères
Malika Ferdjoukh
Ages 8+
Rose was not expecting so many mysteries and crimes to resolve when she started her first year at the "Pierres-Noires" boarding school!
Barely arrived there, she found a message that someone seemed to have thrown from the top of one of the towers, a call for help. As she starts to make friends (with Nadget and Ambroise), and acclimatise herself to this new environment, she can't help to think about the S.O.S. message and share it. The three kids decide to investigate, and this will not be the last of the mysteries they'll have to resolve!
Les Enquêtes d'Hermès (1) : Le mystère Dédale
Richard Normandon
Ages 10+
This novel is especially fitting for kids who love mysteries and mythology, as you follow Hermes trying to resolve some crimes.
In this first volume, as Hermes is travelling through Africa, his attention is caught by a scream. A crowd of villagers are gathered around a body- someone fell from the Mountains, and the messenger god immediately identifies Dedalus, the famous architect and the creator of the Minotaur's labyrinth! He quickly realises that Dedalus was trying to stay undercover, which is odd, and his death doesn't seem like a simple accident... Accompanied by Eros, the two gods start to investigate: who could have murdered the architect?