Ripper, by Stefan Petrucha

Orphan Carver Young has some general fantasies about becoming a detective, and devours novels and stories about  great sleuths, as well as serialized and sensationalized mysteries.  When ex-Pinkerton Detective Albert Hawking, cranky, contentious, eccentric, brilliant, and crippled, offers to take Carver on as an apprentice to share all he knows, Carver is ecstatic, even though it means living (for a reason I never really understood) in a private floor at the top of a mental institution, and getting more questions, half-hints, and criticism from Hawking than direct answers.  Carver's first and main "case" is to figure out the identity and possibly location of his father based on a scrap of a letter sent to the orphanage many years before.  As part of this Hawking introduces him to the "New Pinkertons", an underground (literally) and top-secret detective agency endowed by Alan Pinkerton upon his death. Hawking was head of the agency until his injuries forced him to give the reins to another former Pinkerton agent, Tudd, who is devoted to "gadgets" and buys many, many new mechanical, electrical inventions to help the secret agents with their investigations, and who is obsessed with catching a murderer, convinced it is the return of Jack the Ripper.

Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

The early days of the Robin Hood story, told from the perspective of "Will" Scarlet.  Known to Robin, John, and a few others as just Scarlet, she is a young woman posing as a young man after running away from an arranged marriage.

The Agency: A Spy in the House, by Y.S. Lee, Bk 1

The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Nalia spends the first 16 years of her life thinking she is the princess and heir to the throne of Thorvald, only to be told that she was only a decoy, switched at birth with the real princess to try to avoid a prophecy made during the queen's pregnancy that the princess would be murdered horribly before her 16th birthday.  The king and queen, having averted their real daughter's death, send the false princess, named Sinda at birth, unceremoniously away from the castle to live in a small village with her only living relative, an aunt who is less than delighted to have a fully grown niece with no domestic skills sprung on her with no means of support.

Ninth Ward, by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Dealing with the days leading up to and immediately after Hurricane Katrina, through the eyes of a 12 year old girl living in NOLA's Ninth Ward with her 82-year old caretaker, Mama Ya-Ya.  Allows the reader to see the neighborhood and the life through the eyes of a bright, creative child who sees ghosts, believes in signs, loves math and words and learning and longs to build bridges when she grows up.

Paranormalcy, by Kiersten White

One in a spate of paranormal-themed YA books, this one held my interest more than many of the others I've read lately.  Evie is a teen who has been fostered with the International Paranormal Containment Agency since she was 8 years old, working for them during that time as the only person able to see through any glamour from any paranormal.  It's not breaking new ground in terms of content or teen angst, but it does have some nice "surprises". 

The Miles Between by Mary Pearson

Destiny wants one fair day, so when she discovers a convertible car apparently abandoned and just waiting for her, she enlists 3 classmates from boarding school to go on a roadtrip to a nearby town. Cute Seth, flaky Mira and serious Aiden join her, and as Destiny slowly begins to admit that her parents did not abandon her by choice and that sometimes things cannot be controlled no matter how much she tries, she faces the truth behind their death and her denial and discovers that Seth, Mira and Aiden aren't defined only by their most obvious characteristics, either.

SLJ grades 9 and up

Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist by R.L. LaFevers

Book 1: Flight of the Phoenix

When his parents disappeared while off adventuring, Nathaniel is sent to live with Phil A. Fludd, and aunt he did not know. With her he discovers that his parents, aunt and most of his ancestors are beastologists, "someone who studies beasts. Not any old beast, mind you. Only unusual beasts...like dodos. Or basilisks, or griffins, or manticores and the like." But Nate isn't sure he's cut out to be an explorer or adventurer, especially when his first beastology trip with his aunt results in her being held prisoner by Bedouins and Nate on his own to make sure a phoenix egg hatches, figure out how to rescue his aunt and keep the families Book of Beasts safe from a mysterious man who wants to steal it.

Sequel: The Basilisk's Lair

SLJ grades 3-5