The Vanishing Violin

August 1, 2010

Gr 5-8-The Red Blazers Girls are back with another multilayered mystery to solve. This time they are on the trail of a missing rare violin. Margaret, a violinist, has a lot riding on this case. If she finds the instrument, it is hers to keep. Once again, the young sleuths must break and trace some cryptic codes and brainteasers that involve logic, math, and literature to find the violin. In the process, Sophie, Margaret, Becca, and Leigh Ann end up trying to save the man who was their prime suspect. The girls also form a band (The Blazers), get a gig, find out who is mysteriously cleaning up St. Veronica's school, and outwit a mean classmate.The Ring of the Rocamadour (Knopf, 2009) is a must-read to get what is going on in this book, but fans of the earlier title will love it. Plenty of adventure is packed into one neatly solved mystery. The dialogue is fast paced and somewhat humorous. The clues are a bit harder than those in the first book, a bonus for readers who like a challenge. Suggest both books to kids who are looking for something funny and intriguing.-Shannon Seglin, Patrick Henry Library, Vienna, VA

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
Grades 5-8 The Red Blazer Girls, four sleuths from St. Veronicas School in Manhattan, made a splash in their debut mystery, The Ring of Rocamadour (2009). Here, picking up almost where the last book left off, narrators Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca, and Leigh Ann, with newly printed business cards, find themselves in the midst of several interlocking mysteries, mostly involving violins. Sister Bernadette has hired them to find the mysterious stranger sprucing up the school. Only later do the gumshoes learn the connection between the redecorator and a stolen violin. Meanwhile, Margaret, violinist extraordinaire, is being inundated with wildly complex and deliciously devious clues. If she can put them together, she will be the recipient of a rare and wonderful violin of her own. Like many sophomore series efforts, this book has problems trying to mesh information from the first title into a new story. But Beil has lost none of his edge when it comes to setting up sleuthing scenarios and offering kids codes and clues that will intrigue (or drive them crazy). Smartly plotted, smartly played.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)