The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett 

The classic noir story of a detective and the people who try to play him and make him the fall guy for an elaborate theft of an invaluable treasure in the shape of a falcon.  The movie was cast perfectly - the actors became typecast from that point on, assuming personality traits that are reflections of Hammett's characters.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern 

A fascinating book from the storytelling and the writing.  We follow the life of a young man who fails to try to open a door painted on the side of a building, to his days as a graduate student meeting some unusual people at a party.  From there he finds himself opening another door into an impossible world that descends below the surface of the world and bends time, where he wanders through a library in a city on the shore of the starless sea.

The Boy from the Woods by Dean Harlan Coben 

A boy called Wilde, who seemed to be raised wild in the woods as a child, is now a security expert who still lives alone, off the grid.  A neighbor's daughter has disappeared and Wilde is asked to find her.  He's good and he does find that she never disappeared, but that her 'father' helped her to hide in his basement.  Turns out she was trying to 'fit in' with the cool kids at school by trying to succeed at a challenge.  Then the boy who picked on her the most goes missing and he's the son of a media mogul.  Now it's Wilde who is tracked by the security team that is supposed to have kept the boy from disappearing, and this time it's a kidnapping.

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos 

Jack lives in a town named for Eleanor Roosevelt. It's summer, he's twelve and he's grounded for firing his father's Japanese sniper rifle, which was supposed to be unloaded.  Now, he's only allowed to help the elderly neighbor across the street, Miss Volker, who is the town medical examiner.  She also writes the obituaries of the original Norvelters as they die off.  She has severe arthritis in her hands, so she has Jack write and type-up the obituaries.  She also has him drive her to the houses of the deceased to examine the bodies.  She has put off another, annoying, Norvelter who has wanted her to marry him for decades, Mr. Spizz, an adult tricycle riding constable.  He sticks his nose into everyone's business and writes tickets because the grass is too high, or their house needs painting.  Jack's father comes home and orders Jack to do things that makes his mother mad.  In the meantime, Jack tries to figure out why so many of the old original Norvelters are suddenly dying.

Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill

Violet is a princess.  But not in the way princesses are expected to look.  Her eyes are different colors, her hair is wiry and cannot be controlled.  She acts like a tomboy and everyone says she is ugly.  She lives in a world where dragons once roamed, but no more.  Her world is one with a mirrored sky and dragons are afraid of their own image.  She has a friend, the stable master's son.  They have a great time exploring the countryside and the castle itself, which is magical.  Some days rooms that were not there before appear and the two explore them to see what new wonders they can discover.  On one of these explorations, they find a new hallway that leads from room to room, getting smaller after each large space, until they find themselves in a library with a giant picture.  One full of dragons and a single man-like creature who tries to talk to them.  Violet grabs a book, and the two escape from the room.

The King hears of a dragon in the woods near the border of his cousin's kingdom and gathers an expedition to capture and study the dragon.  While he is gone, the Queen, pregnant, dies in childbirth.  Violet, desperate to save her, desperate for her father to return, opens the book she stole from the secret room and reads it.  The next time her friend comes along, she refuses to go with him.  She looks instead into a mirror, hearing the voice of the strange little man, who promises her everything she desires if only she will do one thing for him.  She desires to be a real princess.