PIECES AND PLAYERS

Just as five 13-year-olds become more familiar with each other over the course of Balliet's latest art mystery, so too does Bahni Turpin become more comfortable in her role as narrator. Her voice gradually loses a formal and slightly distant tone and moves towards a warmer one with convincing and genuine animation as her characters move from awkward and judgmental of each other to convivial and accepting. The five young teens, along with precise Mrs. Sharpe and breezy Ms. Hussey, pursue the disappearance of 13 pieces of art from a Chicago museum. In an author's note, Balliett herself narrates the story's connection to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum robbery 25 years ago. A.R. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2015]