Books like A stir of bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Inspector Tyador Borlú journeys from Besźel to Ul Qoma to investigate the murder of a woman, navigating two distinct cities that both share one physical space yet have separate identities.

A teenage boy grapples with his mother's terminal cancer and brother's suicide in a dysfunctional family setting.

Thirteen‑year‑old Lakshmi leaves her impoverished Himalayan home for India, only to discover she has been sold into prostitution. With fierce resilience and new friendships, she fights her captivity and seeks a way back to freedom.

High school sophomore Darcy Wills faces a stalker, a threatening note, and the sudden disappearance of her sister, forcing her to uncover hidden dangers while protecting her fragile family.

A gripping teen mystery where London is terrorized by murders echoing Jack the Ripper, and a group of school kids take on the challenge of tracking down the killer while confronting chilling supernatural forces.

David Quammen explains island biogeography, the study of species origin and extinction, illustrating how human actions fragment habitats and threaten biodiversity.

A thriller following 14‑year‑old Billy Zeets as he navigates a deadly plot involving a killer.

Two brothers working summer jobs at a cemetery uncover the dark, witchcraft‑laden secrets of the family that owns the grounds, turning a quiet graveyard into a thrilling mystery of ghosts and deceit.

A teenage girl from a dysfunctional family builds a fragile alternate world that nearly claims her life but ultimately brings her back to reality.

In Toni Cade Bambara’s final novel, a mother’s desperate search for her missing son exposes Atlanta’s hidden violence, racism, and political tension during the early 1980s.

A collection of poems in which seven teenagers confront issues like pregnancy, closeted homosexuality, and abuse, each finding new homes and understanding through verse.

In "Kick", 13‑year‑old soccer prodigy Kevin finds himself facing serious legal charges. As parole officer Sir Henry Brown, who knows Kevin’s father, strives to keep the boy out of juvenile hall, they confront the challenges of family, sport, and justice.

"I very much need to be dead." These are the chilling last words left by a man who had everything to live for but took his own life. In the void that remains stands his widow, FBI agent Jane Hawk, surrounded by questions destined to go unanswered unless she does what all the grief and fury inside her demand: Find the truth, no matter what. People of talent and accomplishment, people seemingly happy and sound of mind, have recently been committing suicide in surprising numbers. A disturbing pattern is beginning to emerge. Jane is determined to give up everything to find out why. And if that means going rogue and becoming America's Most Wanted, then so be it. Those arrayed against her are legion, and devoted to protecting something profoundly important-or terrifying-enough to exterminate any and all in their way. But Jane is as clever as these enemies are cold-blooded, as relentless as they are ruthless. And she is driven by a righteous rage they can never comprehend. Because it is born of love.

At seventeen, Edith Jackson vows to secure a job and raise her three younger sisters, but when social services separates them, she faces a life‑changing decision.

A contemporary Scottish writer uncovers a secret from 1708 involving a Jacobite invasion and a long‑lost tragedy, as a haunting ancestral memory threatens to unleash the buried truth for all to see.

When reclusive novelist Vida Winter’s health wanes, she tasks biographer Margaret Lea with revealing the truth of her life, though Margaret must sift through Winter’s penchant for exaggeration to arrive at facts.

Punkzilla follows a fourteen‑year‑old runaway who kicks a meth habit and leaves Portland for Memphis to reconnect with his dying brother, meeting a colorful cast of characters on the road.

Three teenage friends—Dino, Jonathon, and Ben—navigate the confusion, fear, and joy of adolescent male sexuality while grappling with school pressures, family challenges, and the complexities of growing up in England.

A globally sourced anthology of frightening folklore and horror tales, ranging from ancient myths to modern legends, illustrating how fear transcends time and culture.

Unwed, unemployed, and broke, Southern belle Sarah Booth Delaney turns to her detective instincts in the Mississippi town of Zinnia to solve a murder and protect her family plantation, all while a ghost from the past watches her every move.

In rural Guam, thirteen‑year‑old Isabel confronts the aftermath of her mother’s suicide as she and her family navigate grief, family bonds, and life’s hardships.

When the Watson family settles in the coal‑mining town of Stoneygate to care for Kit’s widowed grandfather, his new friend John Askew invites him into the mines, where they play a game called "Death" and confront the ghostly past of generations of miners.

When her estranged mother dies, seventeenth‑year‑old Shawna Gallagher discovers a series of family secrets that reshape her view of herself, her loved ones, and the community she calls home.

After his mother dies, 12‑year‑old David escapes into the stories that once comforted him, only for myth and war to collide in a world where a Crooked Man and a faded king rule over wolves and hidden secrets.

In cozy Mississippi town of Zinnia, private investigator Sarah Booth Delaney balances holiday cheer with a tense ransom case when a kidnapped teen’s safety hinges on solving a family mystery before Christmas.