What are the Best Rated YA Mysteries to Read in 2025? I’ve done a post of my favorite YA Mysteries of all time, but as Spooky Season is approaching, I thought I should highlight some new and highly rated YA Mysteries to read in 2025. Let’s go!
Best Rated YA Mysteries to Read in 2025
I’ll divide these into categories so you can find the one that’s right for you!
All these YA Mystery Books are either award-winning or highly rated on Goodreads… or both!
For Fans of Veronica Mars
We used to be friends a long time ago but I haven’t thought of you lately at all…
Not Like Other Girls by Meredith Adamo
- Award winning (William Morris Debut award)
- A Veronica Mars vibe (the former BFF of a girl who has been cancelled disappears)
- Fake dating
- Self-discovery
- 4.0 rating on Goodreads
Girls Like Her by Melanie Sumrow
- Epistolary story
- Deals with the justice system
- Shocking twists
- Odyssey and Golden Kite award winner
- 4.1 rating on Goodreads
Now She’s Dead by Roselyn Clark
- Sara, Mandy’s summer friend at the lake house, dies tragically
- Mandy doesn’t want to return to the lake, and when she does she hears whispers that Sara was murdered
- Mandy feels responsible and has been hiding it
- 3.7 rating on Goodreads
Check out my full list of Books Like Veronica Mars!
For Fans of Supernatural
These paranormal mysteries will thrill you!
Out of Body by Nia Davenport
- Freaky Friday meets a murder mystery
- Looks at technology, race relations, and female friendship
- SO twisty and surprising
- 4.0 rating on Goodreads
The Wilderness of Girls by Madeline Claire
- Feral girls raised in the woods with wolves
- Dark and disturbing
- Finalist for the William Morris Debut Award
- 4.1 on Goodreads
Sweetest Darkness by Leslie Lutz
- Teenage clairvoyant with dreams about an abandoned hotel
- He and his Scooby gang go to the hotel and find ghosts and something darker
- Spirit of Texas award
- 4.1 on Goodreads
For Fans of Dark Academia
Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
- Award winning (Chicago Public Library and Audible)
- Boarding school setting
- A missing roommate
- FREE on Kindle Unlimited
- 4.0 rating on Goodreads
Check out my Dark Academia favorites here!
For Fans of Holly Jackson
Holly Jackson writes about the dark side of small towns and her books feature spunky female detectives.
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
- True crime inspiration (see my post linked above)
- Documentary on a missing persons case
- Lots of family drama
- 4.1 rating on Goodreads
Murder Between Friends by Liz Lawson
- A trio of friends torn apart
- Revisiting an old crime
- Murder of a high school teacher
- Friends and frenemies
- 3.8 rating on Goodreads
Difficult Girls by Veronica Bane
- Amusement park setting
- Girl with a past searches for her missing co-worker
- Dark secrets
- National bestseller!
- 3.9 on Goodreads
Wander in the Dark by Jumata Emill
- New Orleans setting
- Black main character accused of the murder of a white classmate
- Stepfamily drama
- Half-brothers must unite to solve the crime
- 4.1 rating on Goodreads
Check out my Series Spoiler Review of the Good Girls Guide series.
I also have two trivia quizzes for the Good Girls Guide series!
For Fans of One of Us is Lying
One of Us is Lying is a locked room mystery with an 80s Breakfast Club inspiration.
Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell
- At a ceremony to honor the main character’s missing sister, a girl is murdered
- Four suspects, each with a history with the missing girl
- Native American author
- FREE on Kindle unlimited
- 4.0 on Goodreads
We Won’t All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall
- The “hero” in a mall shooting is invited on a reality show
- But something is wrong and one by one the contestants are ending up dead
- Locked room mystery!
- 4.4 rating on Goodreads
Kill the Lax Bro by Charlotte Lillie Balogh
- 1990s mystery
- Murder at the school lock-in
- More locked room madness!
- 3.9 rating on Goodreads
Check out my series review of the One of Us Is Lying series with SPOILERS!
