Rescuing Seneca Crane (A Kari and Lucas Mystery) - Hardcover

Runholt, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 067006291X ISBN 13: 9780670062911

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers, 2009

Synopsis

When Kari and Lucas first see Seneca Crane up on stage, playing the piano in front of hundreds of people, they are in awe. She is beautiful. She is amazingly talented. And she is only thirteen! But then they get to know her at the Edinburgh Arts Festival and realize that she envies them. Soon the three are becoming friends . . .until Seneca disappears. There?s no stopping Kari and Lucas from jumping on the trail and tracking her down. Even when it leads to the heart of the Scottish highlands!

Following in the spine-tingling tracks of The Mystery of the Third Lucretia, Susan Runholt?s second book featuring super sleuths Kari and Lucas is just as smart and fast-paced as the first!

About this title

About the Author

Susan Runholt did so much research on the setting for this book that she can speak with a Scottish burr. She is a music lover, a world traveler, and a resident of the metropolis of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Reviews

Grade 5–8—Runholt's second mystery starring 14-year-old best friends Kari and Lucas offers readers light intrigue in a lush Scottish setting. When Kari's mother, a magazine reporter, is sent to Edinburgh to interview Seneca Crane, a 15-year-old piano prodigy, the girls get to tag along. Upon meeting Seneca, they realize that the young pianist is not only talented, but also very lonely. She is under the constant tutelage of her mother, stepfather, and overbearing tutor. The three girls quickly become friends despite Seneca's hectic rehearsal schedule. When she is kidnapped after a performance, Kari and Lucas sidestep some shady characters and supersleuth their way to a daring rescue. Readers will admire the girls' independence and tenacity, even if Kari's narrative voice is a bit silly at times. (She uses the word "meep" as a substitution for foul language.) Reluctant readers will enjoy the pacing, which neither rushes the mystery nor drags out the clues. The author skillfully weaves facts about Scottish culture and geography into the narrative while the rainy Highlands setting offers a bit of drama to a somewhat tame mystery.—Kimberly Garnick Giarratano, Rockaway Township Public Library, NJ
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Runholt follows The Mystery of the Third Lucretia (2008) with another art-themed whodunit starring intrepid 14-year-old amateur sleuths Kari and Lucas. This time, the girls travel with Kari’s journalist mother to Scotland, where they meet and befriend Seneca, a teenage piano prodigy, just before she is kidnapped. Following instincts and clues, the girls tour through cities, moors, and castles in search of the young pianist. Readers will suspect the criminals’ identities long before they are caught, but as in Lucretia, Kari’s spirited first-person voice, the girls’ friendship, and the colorful, well-developed characters and setting make for an enjoyable, nuanced mystery. Grades 5-8. --Gillian Engberg

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 067006291X
• ISBN 13: 9780670062911
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288