For those readers not quite ready for the intensity of Balliett's Chasing Vermeer or The Wright 3, Masterpiece offers budding sleuths a sweet, pleasant history-mystery. James Pompaday lives with his mother, stepfather, and baby brother in an apartment in NYC. He is a thoughtful, shy eleven-year-old boy who rarely warrants, good or bad, the attention of his family. For his birthday, his dad gives him a pen and ink set. While he tries to act excited, James is unhappy with the gift and sets it aside. Ah, but one boy's junk is one beetle's treasure, and that is where Marvin comes in. Marvin and the rest of his beetle family live under the kitchen sink in the Pompaday's apartment. He often finds himself feeling bad for James and decides to provide him with a spectacular gift. With the ink and his amazingly agile beetle legs, Marvin leaves James the most detailed miniature drawing. James, of course, gets all the credit for the picture, and before they know it, James and Marvin find themselves in the middle of an elaborate plan to help recover a famous stolen miniature by Albrecht Durer. Thus, an unlikely friendship is born.
While not as fast-paced as Chasing Vermeer or The Wright 3, I found I enjoyed the simplicity of Masterpiece. Broach doesn't knock you over the head with facts about Albrect Durer, nor are her characters nearly as obsessive as Petra and Calder in Balliett's works. Broach has written a satisfying linear mystery with a bit of beetle charm and wisdom to entice even the most reluctant readers.
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