The Crown Heist (The Lost Art Mysteries), written by Deron R. Hicks, reviewed by Klaudia Janek

Summary:  This is book #3 in the Lost Art Mystery series.  Readers will be transported to London after spending the previous two book in Washington DC - mostly at the Smithsonian.  Art and Camille are still best friends solving mysteries and keeping up on the mundane task of school and homework.  Camille has a change to meet her estranged father, but she has to travel to London in order to do that.  Art has to support Camille, so he goes to London as well.  When they get there, Camille’s father seems to be missing.  He had been researching a British artifact and as he was getting closer to finding out some information, he went missing.  Solving mysteries seem to follow Art and Camille.  They start looking for clues at the Tower of London, the National Portrait Gallery and several other historical spots in hopes of finding Camille’s history professor father before it’s too late.

Straight Talk for Librarians:  I read the previous two books and I loved them!  I loved the change of location in this one.  The mystery revolves around art history (and history).  Art and Camille are chased by the bad guys - lots of action.  They figure out the clues and find their way around London.  I love the independence that these characters portray.  This book has all the QR codes, like the previous books, so that you can scan them and see the works of art.  That is my favorite part of this series!  It’s such a great tie-in to art history and museums.  It’s such a great fit for school libraries to put on their shelves.  I think it will grab all sorts of middle-grade readers.  Every reader will learn something new from it.  I book talked this book at a recent workshop because I think it’s one of those missed pandemic-era published books that didn’t get the marketing and exposure they should have gotten.  Buy the whole series and let your visual art and history teachers know about it. I think with a display or a bulletin board to draw attention to this series, they will have lots of checkouts.  Adults who read middle-grade books will also love this series.