Read-alikes: Victorian Mysteries for Youth.

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:25:01 GMT

Chipman, Ian (author).
FEATURE. First published May 1, 2008 (Booklist).

The rain-slicked cobblestone streets of nineteenth-century England, with ominous strangers leering out among the shadows, grimy street urchins, and cunning sleuths unraveling plots as sinister as they are labyrinthine, have long provided timeless and appealing settings for mysteries. The books below use such atmospheric, evocative backdrops and trappings as the keystone for thrilling tales, gilded with touches of fantasy and adventure. Be careful with this list, though; young acolytes of Victorian detective fiction may have to wrestle these books away from adult genre fans.

The Black Book of Secrets. By F. E. Higgins. 2007. Feiwel & Friends, $18.50 (9780312368449). Gr. 5–7.

Part fantasy, part mystery, and part historical fiction, this focuses on young Ludlow Fitch, who flees a pickpocket’s life in London to become an apprentice to a very different sort of pawnbroker—one who buys the townsfolk’s darkest secrets. The highly atmospheric Dickensian backdrop and picaresque stories provide a wealth of thrillers within the thriller.

The Case of the Missing Marquess: An Enola Holmes Mystery. By Nancy Springer. 2007. Philomel, $10.99 (9780399243042). Gr. 5–8.

Clues and ciphers abound in true Holmesian fashion when Sherlock’s younger sister, possessing keen powers of observation herself, is enmeshed in a double mystery after bicycling off to London to avoid boarding school and investigate the disappearance of her mother.

Mariah Mundi: The Midas Box. By G. P. Taylor. 2008. Putnam, $17.99 (9780399243479). Gr. 6–9.

Sent from London to work in a fantastical, steam-powered hotel perched upon a cliff, young Mariah Mundi must unravel any number of devilish plots lest he share the fate of the missing lads who came before him.

Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman? By Eleanor Updale. 2004. Scholastic/Orchard, $16.95 (0-439-58035-8). Gr. 6–9.

Montmorency—society gentleman by day and sneak thief by night—navigates the rigidly stratified society of the Victorian era in this heart-pounding and refreshingly moral-free tale.

The Professor’s Daughter. By Joanne Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert. Illus. by the authors. 2006. Roaring Brook/First Second, paper, $16.95 (9781596432550). Gr. 9–12.

In this graphic novel, the daughter of a prominent Egyptologist who is hoping to escape the prim and proper ways of Victorian London, is set up with the debonair mummy of Pharaoh Imhotep IV. In increasingly absurd fashion, the two fall in love as they encounter mystery, kidnapping, and murder.

The Ruby in the Smoke. By Philip Pullman. 1987. Knopf, paper, $9.95 (0-375-82545-2). Gr. 8–10.

The first of Pullman’s Sally Lockhart books features 16-year-old, orphaned Sally, who becomes entangled in a deadly web of murder while searching for a mysterious ruby in the opium-sented underbelly of long-ago London. Secrets, suspense, and scoundrels lurk around every corner in this high-class take on the penny dreadful.

The Traitors’ Gate. By Avi. 2007. Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson, $17.99 (9780689853357). Gr. 6–9.

Victorian London comes alive as a seedy, smelly place overrun by opportunistic and eccentric characters in this rousing tale of treachery and mystery. Detailed with touches of Dickens, the story follows young John Huffman, who must uncover a traitor and save his father from prison—or worse.

Tunnels. By Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams. 2008. Scholastic/Chicken House, $17.99 (9780439871778). Gr. 6–9.

Two teens investigating the disappearance of one’s father delve into a secret subterranean civilization below present-day London’s streets, which is kept in Victorian squalor by a mysterious semireligious body known as the Styx.

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Read-alikes: Victorian Mysteries for Youth.