Girl Sleuths

Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce mysteries, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie & its sequels The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag & A Red Herring Without Mustard, have been very popular mysteries.  In this series, Flavia is precocious & literate 11-year-old sleuth.  There have been many mysteries featuring girl sleuths, but most of them are found in children's or young adult fiction.  If you follow Flavia, you might also consider revisiting (or suggesting to your daughters) some of these novels of junior suspense:

Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller

Sammy Keyes & the Hotel Thief by by Wendelin Van Draanen

The Night Flyers by Elizabeth McDavid Jones

The Dark Stairs by Betsy Byars

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams

Lulu Dark Can See through Walls by Bennett Madison

Assassin by Patricia Finney

The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

Also, Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women who Created Her by Melanie Rehak is a very enjoyable & informative read for adults interested in learning about the backstory of the series.

Here are some links to help you rediscover those most classic of girl sleuths, Nancy Drew & Trixie Belden:

The Mysterious History of Nancy Drew

Mildred A. Wirt Benson, author of 23 of the original 30 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

Stratemeyer Syndicate exhibit

Trixie-Belden.com

Random House's Trixie Belden page