These recommendations come from a well-read mystery reader. He is not an educator, but I think there are some interesting ideas.

    Twelfth graders at middle school reading level?  I hope these suggestions aren't too challenging.  I was reading very adult mysteries (and other books) by this age.  Here's my best shot!

    I suggest the following:   (* are my best picks)

Classic 

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (lengthier, but clearly written)

*The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (clear prose, occasional anachronisms)

*The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (ditto)

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (about to be released as a new film)

Police Procedural

The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (the first in a long series)

Easy to Read

*The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley (and the rest of the series, a precocious girl detective)

Diversity

*The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley (Mature)

Private Eye

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton (and the rest of the series, a female PI, B and C are even better)

*The Promised Land by Robert B. Parker, and the rest of the series about Spenser, good macho but sensitive politically correct reading)

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Modern and Digital

Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (a cyber mystery about the difference between digital and print books)

Graphic Novel (Mature)

The Watchmen by Alan Moore (who killed the superhero, The Comedian?)

Sin City by Frank Miller (noir)

Mysteriously yours,

Andy Tranquilli

Murder by the Book Mystery Book Group

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