THE MYSTERY OF THE THIRD LUCRETIA
by Susan Runholt
Mystery fans will enjoy this clever, engaging story of two girlfriends drawn into a dangerous puzzle involving international art fraud and murder. The adventure begins when ninth-graders Kari and Lucas visit the Minneapolis Art Institute to see an exhibit of Rembrandt’s Lucretia paintings and notice a creepy man they christen “Gallery Guy” copying the paintings. The plot thickens when Kari and Lucas accompany Lucas’s mom to London, where they spot the same man copying another Rembrandt Lucretia in the National Gallery. Kari convinces the skeptical Lucas that it’s more than coincidence and they start to investigate, realizing his scheme when they read news of the discovery in Amsterdam of a “lost” Rembrandt painting—a third Lucretia. Runholt subtly interjects fascinating art-history facts throughout the story without sacrificing suspense. Kari and Lucas are appealing young sleuths; Kari’s intuitive approach is a good complement to Lucas’s photographic memory and analytical mind. Readers will no doubt look forward to reading more adventures of these teen detectives. (Fiction. 11-15)