Looking for inspiration for this year’s Reading Quest? Take a look at our favourite animal detective stories – all free to borrow with your library card!
Reading Quest starts from 18 July and you can sign up at any library throughout the summer holidays. Find out more about Reading Quest.
Indiana Bones and the Invisible City
Harry Heape
Dive into the deep and join Indiana and Aisha in another dogmungous detective tale! They’ll need to be brave as badgers when they get to the Invisible City. Why? Six million skeletons, that’s why!
This glistening gladventure is gonna be as tricky as a tarantula because Indiana’s lost his lust for treasure. With the slithery Serpent planning to plunge the world into peril, Aisha’s gonna need an ocean full of help from her friends.
Can Indiana get his mojo back and help before it’s too late?
Petunia Perry and the Curse of the Ugly Pigeon
Pamela Butchart
Petunia Perry has decided to write her memoirs.
She wants the world to know what it’s like to start secondary school with a best friend who stages one-person flash mobs in the canteen, a mother who over-shares at parents’ evenings and an unwelcome suitor who draws pictures of her as a unicorn.
But it’s when she decides to start a band with a spoon-player and a lead-singer who’s a cat that things take a turn for the truly crazy…
Murder! By Narwhal!
Alex T. Smith
When the tyrannical family patriarch Sir Ignatious Gristle is murdered on his 90th birthday at his country estate, every one of his gathered family members is a suspect.
Trapped by a snowstorm with no way to contact the police, it’s up to his mettlesome granddaughter, Edna, and her trusted tortoise, Charles Darwin, to determine whodunnit!
Full of head-scratching clues, page-turning twists and a lot people acting suspiciously this is the first in a funny, spoofy middle-grade murder mystery series from Alex T. Smith.
Spy Fox and Agent Feathers
Dermot O’Leary
Charles Redfearn is one of Britain’s very best spies. He’s dashing, he’s clever – but he can’t stop chasing chickens. He is a fox, after all.
When his French cousin goes missing in action, along with some vital war plans, Charles is forced to pair up with Gertrude Featherhorn – chicken and master code-breaker – to have any chance of a successful rescue.
But will he be able to control his appetite?
Sherlock Bones and the Case of the Crown Jewels
Tim Collins
When the crown jewels go missing from Kennel Palace, it’s up to super-sleuth Sherlock Bones and his trusty sidekick Dr Catson to solve the crime. But with multiple suspects and a trail that’s starting to run cold, will they be able to catch the culprit in time?
The first book in a brand-new Sherlock Bones mystery fiction series, this fun puzzle adventure contains over 30 games – such as mazes, search games and silhouette matches – that are woven into the action, so the reader can feel immersed in the exciting detective plot and help Bones and Catson solve the mystery.
Detective Dash!
Tracey Corderoy
The Story Shop is packed full of plots, costumes and characters galore. And shopkeepers Wilbur and Fred are ready and waiting to find every customer their perfect adventure!
When Suzy Sloth is found snoozing in the shop, Wilbur thinks she’ll be perfect for a mystery-solving detective adventure… but can she stay awake long enough to sniff out all the clues?
Reggie Rabbit and the Metro Mice
Swapna Haddow
Reggie is off his game. After successfully exposing another Masque plot, word is getting out about the crime-solving rabbit and his parakeet partner.
One day, a small shy mouse called Mo reaches out to the pair for help; his home, the warren-like metro tunnels underneath Bearburgh, is under threat. Cracks are appearing in the structure of the metro and in the mouse community that inhabit it.
Reggie and Pipsquark want to help the Metro Mice but do the Metro Mice want them?
Michael the Incredible Super-Sleuth Sausage Dog
Colm Toibin
Being a su-paw-star isn’t working out quite like Michael had planned.
So when Susan the Labrador gets kidnapped, Michael jumps at the chance to increase his TV ratings and wow his fans by becoming not just a mind-reading sausage dog, but a detective mastermind as well – oh, and he should probably try and save Susan from her kidnappers too.
The Incredible Adventures of Gaston le Dog
Michael Rosen
Gaston le Dog longs to return to the beautiful beach he remembers from years ago. So he sets off on an adventure – but mystery and danger lurk at every turn, and Gaston will need all the help he can get from the friends he meets along the way.
But can they all be trusted? And will Gaston’s odyssey bring him everything he hoped for?
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