I love stories that combine mystery and adventure and are set within a magical world, because it appeals to both my imaginative mind as well as my love for adventure and puzzles.
Mysteries typically revolve around a missing or deceased person, and the protagonist must follow the clues to figure out what happened—either solving the murder or finding the missing person.
When a mystery is set within a magical world, additional features are added, which can be used to increase the suspense of the story.
When writing Vanishings, I didn’t consider the genre of the story beyond it being set in a magical world, however, my love for mystery guided my fingers as I typed away and throughout the development of the story—but it wasn’t until the end that I realized I had written a mixed genre children’s adventure/mystery story set within a fantasy world. A giveaway that this is a mystery is the main story element—Tilly is searching for her cousin and close friend, Michael, who vanished while hiking in the Wythic Wood a year ago. The magical suspense and clues come together when Tilly, along with Jess and Zach, search for information about the Wythic Woods, the creatures in it, Michael, Clayton, and, of course, the witch.
Entwining the genre story elements of a mystery together with a fantasy/adventure meant story points needed to hit both these genres. Some cater more to the hero’s journey, and others to the mystery genre.
Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton
Not all mysteries involve a crime, or a missing or deceased person. Some mysteries invite criminal behavior, but they all involve a puzzle of some sort.
An example of a story which is an adventure/mystery is Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series. The first book in this series, Five on a Treasure Island, revolves around the story of missing treasure which was believed to have gone down with the ship, wrecked near Kirran Island.
The inciting incident occurs when the shipwreck is turned up upon the rocks during a storm and the four children row out to it so they can explore it before anybody else. They discover a locked box hidden away which had been sealed so that its contents were protected from the water. One of the items in the box is a map of Kirran Island with an X marks the spot.
The four children, and their faithful dog, must decipher clues on the map to locate the exact location of the treasure. The story builds suspense as the children face challenges and encounter villains seeking the same treasure. The children use their wits and teamwork to uncover the treasure and outsmart the men who have trapped them on the island so they can sneak off with the loot themselves.
The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass
Some mysteries are set in our world where, along with a young-inquisitive mind, ghosts and talking animals tell the tale, revealing clues along the way. This is seen in The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass. The story is set in the quaint town of Martinville where a peculiar little free library appears overnight and is watched over by a large orange cat. Eleven-year-old Evan’s world is transformed when he retrieves a pair of weathered books from its shelves.
Alongside his best friend Rafe, Evan uncovers a connection between one of the old library books and an event from the past that adults in the town are reluctant to discuss. The boys begin to ask questions, the answers to which will reshape not only their destinies, but the future of Martinville.
Eventually, the ghosts, cat, and boys, work together to reveal what caused the fire in the library that enables the ghosts (the library staff) to move on to the afterlife.
Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston
Other mysteries are set in an urban magical world hidden within our world like in Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston, the first book in his Supernatural Investigations series. Amari’s brother is missing and many have assumed he is dead. Amari receives a briefcase from her brother which has a magical memory of him where he introduces her to the hidden magical world, sending her to the summer training camp.
At this place, it’s revealed that she is a born magician, something considered to be inherently evil as this magic is supposed to turn people, particularly if they use what is considered foul, rather than fair, magic. This results in Amari having to navigate an environment hell-bent on pushing her out, making it harder to find out what happened to her brother.
Dylan befriends her and they work together, along with Amari’s roommate—a weredragon who isn’t able to breathe fire or change into a dragon yet—to get information about what happened to Amari’s brother and Dylan’s sister. But Dylan is hiding his true intentions and betrays her in the end.
Mia and the Lightcasters by Janelle McCurdy
And then there’s a two-pronged mystery set in a magical world such as the shadow world of Mia and the Lightcasters by Janelle McCurdy. Mia has always dreamed of being an umbra (shadow creature) tamer until she meets a wild creature on the Nightmare Plains. Umbra, the Latin word for shadow, is the innermost and darkest part of a shadow, where the light source is completely blocked by the occluding body.
The main mystery in this tale revolves around the origins and powers of the Lightcasters and Mia’s potential connection to them. The other mystery in this story surrounds the Reaper King and his desire to take over the kingdom.
The Reaper King’s minions have been invading cities all over, and they invade Nubis where Mia lives, capturing her parents, and many others. Mia, together with her younger brother and an umbra tamer, set out across the Nightmare Plains in hopes of reaching Stella, the City of Light, which is where her grandparents reside. Mia believes they can help her rescue her captured parents.
On this journey, clues about the prophecy that the Lightcasters, a girl wielding a staff and a boy beside her, will battle the man filled with shadows and rage (The Reaper King) who desires to take over the land, soon begin to reveal themselves in Mia and her brother. She must figure out what this means for her, and get past her fear of the Umbra to enter the shadow world and bring back her very own shadow creature.
The Pennymores, The Curse of the Invisible Quill by Eric Koester
And then there are mysteries set in mystical realms distinctly separate from our own such as in The Pennymores and the Curse of the Invisible Quill by Eric Kosher and his daughters.
This tale follows a courageous young woman named Parker and her quest is to find and save her brother who vanished in the night. She ventures into the forbidden secret library, a place enchanted with magic where books, papers, and quills fly about.
The Pennymore sisters must delve into their family’s hidden truths, including their own magical-scribing abilities, venturing beyond the confines of their castle and breaking numerous laws in their pursuit to find their brother and safeguard their world from an unstoppable adversary.
Parker must decipher the clues to track down her missing sibling and lift the curse of the invisible quill in a world where magic is wielded through writing with a quill. This curse resulted because all writing has been prohibited by zealots, who have instilled fear of literacy, stemming from an ancient conflict between magic scribes (Serifs) and dark magic scribes (Ravagers).
Adventurous Mysteries Set in Fantasy Worlds
Fantasy worlds provide so much scope for a writers (and readers) imagination, opening up the story elements to cover concepts in a way that is fun, full of heart, thought provoking, and so much more. Mysteries encourage young minds to consider puzzles from all kinds of angles and perspectives. When these two are combined—there is much fun to be had!
In Vanishings, I’ve used the different creatures to show how you can’t judge a person based on what they look like—it’s their actions that matter! If a person cares about their family and friends, and their actions show this, then you know that they care about you. How they treat the people around them, regardless of who they are to them, is also a good indication of the person’s internal compass. I hope to encourage young readers to see beyond looks like with Mort, who is a good goblin in my story, or sound as with Wilber, who is a kid-gnome with a speech impediment, and to spend time getting to know those kids who may look and/or sound different to them.
Tilly works with her twin cousins, Jess and Zach, to uncover the mystery surrounding Michael’s vanishing. They befriend the creatures who live on Opa’s property, Clayton Forest, and learn from them—both about the magical world and the Witch of Wythic Wood, the creatures under her control, and Michael and Clayton’s whereabouts when they disappeared—most likely taken by the witch.
I love it when a young reader’s mind gets sparked by an imaginative mystery story!
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