Detective Fiction for Young Readers is an examination of contemporary mystery stories for children and young adults. This volume explores how the conventions, rules, and expectations of adult mystery fiction have filtered down, so to speak, especially in the past several decades, to writing for younger readers. The book is organized into three sections that explore the whodunit, the hardboiled, and the metaphysical styles of mystery fiction. Furthermore, this text analyzes how each style has been adapted for a younger audience, acknowledging and exploring representative novels most in keeping with that style. This volume is ideal for students, academics, and readers interested in children’s mystery fiction that adheres to formulas made popular after the golden age of classic detective fiction.
Introduction
1: A Game You Want to Win: The Westing Game and the Art of the Classic Mystery
2: A Game You Are Allowed to Play: The Puzzling World of Winston Breene, Puzzles, and Apprenticing Young Sleuths
3: Down These Mean Hallways: The Big Splash and the Enduring Appeal of the Hardboiled Story
4: Detecting Power: The Parker Inheritance, Maizy Chen’s Last Chance, Tangerine, Enola Holmes, and Other Updates on the Kid Sleuth
5: Ersatz Solutions: The Metaphysical Tradition from Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events to When You Reach Me, Turtles All the Way Down, The Deathly Hallows, and Other Recent Attempts at Anti-Detection
Conclusion: Counterfeit Mysteries: The London Eye Mystery, Disability, Neurodiversity, Thinking Deeply, and Why It Is So Hard to Write a Good Mystery
Biography
Chris McGee teaches children's literature and film courses at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.
