Booksense

First-time author Susan Runholt delivers a crackingly good mystery, complete with smart and savvy heroines (Kari and Lucas -- yes, Lucas), a long-lost Rembrandt painting (or is it?), and enough wonderful background info on great art and art-museum cities to fill a guidebook. I couldn't put it down!

—Barb Bassett, The Red Balloon Bookshop, Saint Paul, MN

The following title will be a starred review in Booklist's May 1 Mystery Showcase and in Book Links' July issue.

The Mystery of the Third Lucretia.  Runholt, Susan (Viking 9780670062522).

While visiting a Minneapolis art museum, 14-year-old best friends Kari and Lucas are reprimanded by an artist copying a Rembrandt painting. Then, while visiting London with Kari’s journalist mother, the girls see the same man, recognizable despite a disguise, copying another Rembrandt. When international reports herald the discovery of a previously unknown Rembrandt painting, Kari and Lucas, both talented artists themselves, recognize the work of the “Gallery Guy.” Their suspicions lead them to Amsterdam , where, along with Kari’s mother, they uncover an international forgery scam that implicates a top Dutch curator. Like Blue Balliet’s Chasing Vermeer (2004), Runholt’s debut is a clever, well-structured mystery that seamlessly folds art history into its exciting premise. The forged painting tells the ancient Roman story of Lucretia, signaling a theme of women’s rights that Runholt carries throughout the book, from the girls’ innocent questions about Amsterdam ’s Red Light district to the strong female characters who drive the story. The pacing occasionally lags, but by the story’s end, Runholt skillfully pulls in what seemed to be peripheral narrative tangents. Kari’s authentic narration, her strong realistic friendship with Lucas, the cosmopolitan settings, and the carefully plotted mystery combine in a winning read that ends with the suggestion of continued adventures.

*Please note that these reviews are unedited. The final text will appear in the issue noted above.

Kliatt

RUNHOLT, Susan. The mystery of the third Lucretia. Penguin, Viking. 278p. c2008. 978-0-670-06252-2. $16.99. J *

An exciting mystery, featuring two smart 9th-grade girls and their travel to Paris, Amsterdam, and London. Lucretia is the Roman wife Rembrandt and other painters featured in their art. Two famous paintings by Rembrandt are of Lucretia, and the third Lucretia of the title is in fact a forgery. Kari and Lucas (a girl) are given the chance to follow Kari's mother as she travels as a reporter/editor for The Scene, which covers European fashions. But their mystery starts right at home, at the Art Institute of Minneapolis. Both girls are artists themselves, and are gifted, to say the least. They notice a man they call Gallery Guy copying one of the two Lucretias; nothing wrong with that, except this fellow is especially secretive. As the girls travel to Europe, they see this same Gallery Guy in London and Lucas is nearly run down by a speeding car. The girls unfortunately have to tell a pack of lies to Kari's mother in order to get the freedom to investigate their suspicions. When they get word that a third Lucretia has been discovered in Amsterdam, they are almost certain this is a forgery, somehow related to Gallery Guy. They then tell Kari's mother and get her help as they change their plans and go to Amsterdam to see this third Lucretia for themselves. Kari's mother is kidnapped and the girls have to do all kinds of brave things before this story is finished. By the way, it looks like we will see more mysteries featuring Karl and Lucas. Lots of action, authentic emotions, friendship strains, mother-daughter conflicts ... Runholt gets it all just right in this novel. Claire Rosser, KLIATT

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescents and their teachers.

*--The asterisk highlights exceptional books.

COPYRIGHT 2008 Kliatt
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Armchair Interviews

Reviewed by Andrea Sisco

Do you remember Judy Bolton? Perhaps you remember Trixie Belden? No? You would if you grew up in the 'olden days.' Well then, how about Nancy Drew? Even young girls recognize Nancy's name.

If you've read every Nancy Drew ever written and longed for more excitement in solving mysteries by a young person, you HAVE to read Susan Runholt's The Mystery of the Third Lucretia. I want to call her book the Nancy Drew of the twenty-first century, but somehow that doesn't seem to do Runholt's novel justice. It's in a league all of its own because it's not just a mystery. It's an exciting travel lesson and an art class-and the heroines have VALUES that surface regularly but do not slap you in the face with them.

Kari Sundgren and Lucas Stickney are fourteen. They are from St. Paul, Minnesota, love art and are best friends. Kari's mother's job takes her all over the world and Kari and Lucas get to accompany her occasionally. The girls love to travel so it's a perfect set up. Kari needs a guardian while her mother is gone and Lucas escapes her dysfunctional family.

Kari and Lucas spend a day at the Minneapolis Institute of Art where they encounter a crabby man painting in the room where the famous painting of Lucretia is hung. Indelibly embedded in their minds is his secretiveness and anger as he snarls "Go Away" when they try to see his work. A year later, they see the same man in London. He looks different, but his voice and the words, "Go Away" are the same.

The girls put together some clues, and with their intelligence, artistic talent and gutsy determination, they decide to solve the mystery of the Gallery Guy using a few things like disguises, fake accents and the little 'ole snake they use for diversion. What begins as an exciting 'game' while traveling becomes a dangerous mission. It could be deadly if the adults in charge don't believe two 'kids.'

I hope that this is just the first in a long series of Kari and Lucas adventures.

Armchair Interviews says: The Mystery of the Third Lucretia is a must read.

Kirkus Reviews

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)  

Over My Dead Body

Ninth graders Kari Sundgren and her best friend Lucas Stickney just want to enjoy a day at the art gallery, but somehow they become involved with an international art crime. Kari begins the story, as her English teacher taught her, at the very beginning -- 6th century BCE Italy. A lady named Lucretia was married to a Roman soldier. While he was away, she was raped by a powerful man after she scorned his advances. Back then when that happened, women felt dishonored, as though they had done something wrong. Lucretia took her own life. Moving right along to the 16th century, a painter named Rembrandt, enthralled with her story, painted two portraits of Lucretia that are now worth millions of dollars. And that is why, says Kari, everything else happened.

The girls met in an art class when they were ten. Kari’s dad is an artist, and she thought she had talent, until she saw Lucas’s work. The girl was a genius! Lucas, who is a girl whose father wanted a boy, comes from what some would call a privileged background, but she might disagree. Her father is a mean-spirited lawyer, her mother a spoiled, self-absorbed Southern belle. At least her grandmother, a strong-willed activist, does love and support her, but she feels more at home in the modest abode Kari shares with her single mother.

When Kari’s mom lands a job with a popular teen magazine that requires her to travel to Europe, the girls are thrilled. Their first trip comes soon after that fateful day when they visited the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see the two Lucretias, owned by different museums, exhibited together for the first time. They observe an odd, secretive gray-haired man copying one of the paintings. They name his The Gallery Guy, and promptly forget him, until he crosses their path again in the National Gallery in London. The girls are sure he’s up to something illegal, and they combine their talents to find out what it is. They make a good team: Lucas has a photographic memory and an analytic brain, and Kari is creative, and daring. Their investigation takes them to other European cities, including the red light district of Amsterdam, a side trip Kari’s mom does not at all approve of, and which almost proves fatal.

This is a great book for young readers. The characters are likable, quirky and funny. Kari provides bits of interesting history and art lore along the way, and there is plenty of detail about the cities and cultural aspects of the places they visit.

Penguin Putnam reviews in School Library Journal –

March, 2008

RUNHOLT, Susan. The Mystery of the Third Lucretia. 244p. Viking. Apr. 2008. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-670-06252-2. LC number unavailable.

Gr 4-7–At the opening of this art mystery reminiscent of Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer (Scholastic, 2004), teen art enthusiasts Kari and Lucas encounter a foul-tempered man painting secretively at an exhibit of Rembrandt’s famous Lucretia at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The strange episode proves significant when the best friends embark on a trip to London with Kari’s mother and bump into the same unsociable painter in the Rembrandt room of the National Gallery. They realize the man is more than what he seems and make it their mission to discover what he is painting with such intense secrecy. Disguise and hilarity ensue, but before they know it, Kari and Lucas find themselves in real danger. The situation spirals when a new Lucretia painting surfaces unexpectedly, and the two sleuths must piece together the clues before the painter catches up with them–or before Kari’s mom discovers that they have been spending their sightseeing time spying on a criminal. Kari narrates in a believable, contemporary voice, straightforward and humorous, reflecting the foibles and fears of an average 14-year-old. The story is carried by its continuous action and likable characters... The clarity of the plot, as well as the relative lack of violence, makes this a worthwhile choice for readers newly acquiring a taste for the mystery genre. –Emma Runyan, The Winsor School , Boston , MA

Core audience: girls 11-14
Notable for plot, art appreciation

The suspense doesn't let up. Foreshadowing at the ends of most chapters keeps the pages turning. These two modern sleuths, dutiful to Mom, but very gutsy, are forces to be reckoned with. Readers will wonder what they get into next! Fans of all these wonderful new art-centered mysteries will savor this one.