The Vanishing Violin

Children's Literature - Shirley Nelson

After successfully solving the mystery of the missing Ring of Rocamadour, the Red Blazer Girls are famous detectives, at least in and around St. Veronica's School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Sophie, Margaret, Leigh Ann, and Rebecca are asked by Sister Bernadette to discover who is rearranging furniture and redecorating the school at night. However, before they can solve this mystery, another appears. Margaret receives a strange message about a violin that was stolen from Carnegie Hall over fifty years ago. The girls are eager to take on their second real mystery searching for newspaper accounts in the public library. Then they begin to receive cryptic notes promising clues to the violin's location. Solving the coded messages is challenging and fun for the young detectives, as well as for the reader. Along with solving mysteries, the girls must also contend with the usual problems of seventh grade, including crushes and backstabbing friends. The surprising and satisfying resolution will delight readers. Reviewer: Shirley Nelson

Kirkus Reviews

No sooner have St. Veronica's seventh-grade sleuths Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca and Leigh Ann solved the perplexing case of The Ring of Rocamadour (2009) than Sister Bernadette challenges them to find a mysterious intruder who's cleaning and redecorating the school. Simultaneously, Margaret receives a strange letter inviting her to figure out a series of cryptic clues leading to a missing violin stolen in 1959. Meanwhile, a rare violin vanishes from their friend Mr. Chernofsky's shop, triggering another mystery. The four feisty detectives use teamwork, brains and aplomb to crack all three mysteries in their Upper East Side neighborhood while juggling homework, starting up a band called The Blazers and outwitting a snarky classmate. Sophie's chatty first-person, present-tense banter sets a lighthearted tone for their serious code breaking and problem solving, while readers are encouraged to help unravel the puzzles and sample the brainteasers. As they dart from clue to clue, the red blazer gals feel and act like real tweens while tackling everything that comes their way with logic, humor and refreshing savoir faire. (appendix with solution for final logic problem) (Mystery. 8-12)

School Library Journal

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