The Guggenheim Mystery by Robin Stevens

Book of the Week: 8 October 2017

Those of you who enjoyed The London Eye Mystery will be pleased to know that there is now a sequel. Sadly its author, Siobhan Dowd, died from cancer in 2007, so mystery writer Robin Stevens has taken the central characters: Ted, Kat and Salim, and woven a whole new mystery set in New York.

Aunty Glo and Salim have moved to the USA for her to pursue her career as a curator in the world famous Guggenheim Museum.  Ted, Kat and their mum go to New York to see how they have settled in, but during their very first visit to the museum, the alarm sounds and thick, white smoke pours everywhere. Everyone is evacuated safely, but once the hubbub has died down there is an even greater panic when it is found that a valuable painting, In the Black Square by Kandinsky, has been stolen. When Aunty Glo is considered the chief suspect by the police; Ted, Kat and Salim must use their detective powers to solve the mystery.

Robin Stevens has done a great job of capturing the spirit of the original book, as well as writing a carefully-plotted mystery. Just like The London Eye Mystery, this is a book that tells you some fascinating facts along with the story. You may have read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (and if not, why not?) when you were in primary school. Robin Stevens acknowledges as influential when she was considering writing this story.

If you enjoy books that feature art, then you could try Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine. If you like mysteries set in New York, She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick (Book of the Week on 23 November 2014) would be a perfect companion read.

Visit of author Chris Bradford

We are looking forward to a visit from Chris Bradford on Tuesday. He will be talking about his work to Years 7-9 and, no doubt showing us some of the skills he writes about in his most famous series: Young Samurai and Bodyguard.

I know many of you have read, or are reading, these at the moment, and will be ready with some good questions for the author.