Playing with Fire

Playing with Fire is by Derek Landy. The second installment in the fantasy Skullduggery Pleasant series. Skullduggery and Valkyrie must stop Baron Vengeous and his minions from finding Lord Vile's armor and using the Grotesquery to summon the Faceless Ones. Another fun installment in this charming series. 

Ratings: 7th grade - 8 out of 10. 

Finale

Finale is by Stephanie Garber. The third installment in the fantasy Caraval series. When their mother wakes, the Fates begin to return with their full powers. Tella and Scarlett must work with Julian and Legend to save the world from the evil immortal Fates. But can Legend, be trusted? Will the sisters find their happy ending or will Legend betray them both to get what he wants? A truly fun and unique series. 

Ratings: 10th grade - 9 out of 10 - V (Violence) - AC (some mature thematic content). 

The Swan Thieves

The Swan Thieves is by Elizabeth Kostova. A realistic fiction novel with some historical fiction elements worked in. An artist attacks a painting in the National Gallery with a knife. He is sent to a mental institution where he refuses to speak. His doctor begins to seek out the answers to his patient's obsession with a mysterious woman from the past. The story is intertwined with a tale from the 19th century France of the Impressionists. Art lovers will enjoy this story thoroughly.

Ratings: 11th grade - P (profanity) - AC (mature thematic content).

After the Funeral

After the Funeral is by Agatha Christie. A historical fiction mystery starring Hercule Poirot. When a rich man dies in his sleep, his family gathers to hear his will read. His sister suggests he might have been murdered and the next day she is found dead. The lawyer goes to Poirot for help solving the mystery.

Ratings: 9th grade - 9 out of 10. 

Death Comes As the End

Death Comes As the End is by Agatha Christie. A historical fiction mystery by the master of mysteries herself. Set in ancient Egypt, a priest brings home a beautiful concubine who is not welcome in his family. When she is killed, members of the family being to suspect her death was not an accident. When other family members begin to die, they must discover if the spirit of the concubine seeks vengeance or if there is another killer in their midst.

Ratings: 9th grade - 9 out of 10.

Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo is by Charles Baudelaire. A historical fiction novella set in France about a young man who finds himself falling obsessively in love with a beautiful burlesque dancer. He starts out attempting to do a favor for a friend and ends up in love and with his life in a mess.

Ratings: 10th grade - 8 out of 10.  

The Diamond As Big As the Ritz

The Diamond As Big As the Ritz is by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A historical fiction novella written by the author of The Great Gatsby. A young man from a small town on the Mississippi River goes East to a fancy boarding school. He makes a friend who invites him to his home in Montana. When John arrives he finds that all is not as it seems with his friend's family. Their home is located on a mountain that is really a giant diamond which is the source of their wealth and which they are desperate to keep secret. 

Ratings: 10th grade - 7 out of 10. 

The Ruin

The Ruin is by Dervla McTiernan. The first realistic fiction mystery in the Cormac Reilly series. Cormac has moved to a new assignment within the police force, and despite his outstanding record is being assigned nothing but cold cases by his new boss. Twenty years ago as a new officer he was called out on a domestic call to find a dead mother and two abused young children. He took Jack and Maude to the hospital and never forgot them. Now, Jack is found dead and neither his sister or his girlfriend believe it was suicide. Cormac finds himself back in the middle of a twenty-year-old case, where no one seems to want him to find the answers he seeks. Set in Ireland, this a fun new series that will have crime lovers wanting more. 

Ratings: 10th grade - 8 out of 10 - P (profanity) - AC (mature thematic content).