I love a good mystery!  Mysteries are puzzles begging to be solved. Good mysteries make the reader think and keep the reader guessing until the end.  Luckily for mystery-lovers, there are plenty of young adult novels in this genre to keep one reading for a long time!

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams centers around 16-year-old Cody whose hopes for a college scholarship faded away after his serious knee injury. Depressed, he dropped out of school and moved to Montana.  When he learns that his ex-girlfriend has disappeared from her boarding school in Vermont, Cody decides to go find her.  He meets resistance from the local police officer in charge who considers Cody a suspect.  Despite numerous obstacles, Cody is convinced she is alive and is determined to find her.

A disappearance is also the mystery in As Simple as Snow by Gregory Galloway.  Anna disappears a week before Valentine’s Day leaving only a dress placed neatly near a hole in the frozen river. Her boyfriend is desperate to find her and to understand what happened.  He begins reconstructing the events of the past five months trying to find clues to why she would have disappeared or been abducted.  As he recounts their time together, the reader learns of their relationship and how special Anna was to him.

Upstream by Melissa Lion is a murder mystery that takes place in Alaska.  High school senior, Marty, and her boyfriend go on a trip to a remote area of the state, where he is killed.  Marty tells everyone that he died accidently in a hunting accident, but the investigating officer is not convinced. With the help of her mother and two younger sisters, Marty tries to get over her grief and begin a new life.  They also try to protect her from the police.  Is she telling the truth?  Only she knows what really happened and she won’t tell.  Read this one to discover the answers!

At Yellow Lake by Jane McLoughlin is a different type of mystery.  Teens, Etta, Peter, and Jonah, all find themselves at Yellow Lake for different reasons.  Etta is on the run from her mother’s abusive boyfriend.  Peter has come from England to visit a place his recently deceased mother loved, and Jonah wants to get in touch with his Native American roots.  After a series of terrifying events, the three find themselves sharing a cabin at the lake.  They realize they have stumbled onto a crime scene and must hide so they do not become the next victims. What is going on at Yellow Lake and why can’t they get the police to help them?

Teen sleuth Robyn Hunter is the heroine in a series of mysteries by Norah McClintock. In the first book, Last Chance, Robyn has to clear the name of a guy she doesn’t like.  Nick D’Angelo has alwasy been in trouble, but recently has tried to turn his life around.  He seeks Robyn’s  help when he is charged with a serious crime. Robyn is a likeable and smart detective, and once you read one book, you will want to read the others in this series.

Mystery-lovers can’t go wrong with any of these picks. So, pick one, follow the clues, and solve the mystery!