LitPick Review
"The Mystery of the Third Lucretia" by Susan Runholt is about how Kari and Lucas, two 14-year-old girl painters, solve an art mystery. Kari's mom travels around the world for her job and takes the girls with her. Back home at the art museum they see a man painting. When they travel, each time they go to an art museum they see the same man painting in front of an a Rembrandt work. One time they observe him painting hands in Rembrandt's style. Later they figure out that he made money by selling his fake Rembrandt, "The Third Lucretia". When Kari's mom and Lucas go missing Kari thinks the forgerer has kidnapped them because he was on to them. Is she right? Or is she paranoid?
Opinion:
The story in "The Mystery of the Third Lucretia" by Susan Runholt is not all that believable, because everything seems to happen by convenient coincidence. For example, whenever the main characters went to an art museum the forger just happened to always be there. The author kept building up and up for a good, surprising ending but the ending is expected. Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys were much more suspenseful mystery books. Also the writing was a bit childish. She use too simple a vocabulary for 9-12 year olds. I would not recommend it to others because I didn't like it, so I don't think other kids my age would enjoy it. It should be for younger kids, if the more mature parts were taken out.
