kim_j_dare 's review for:

The Art of Secrets by James Klise

3.0

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There's a lot to like in this mystery within a mystery: who set fire to the apartment of the Kahns, that nice Pakistani family? When students at Saba's high school rally to help her family with a fund-raising auction, a piece of artwork scavenged from a curbside has everybody buzzing: it looks like a never-before-seen work by artist Henry Darger, and could be worth enough to set the Kahns up very comfortably. But then it disappears from the high school, and we're left with not one, but two, whodunnits. An entertaining mystery with plenty of twists and red herrings along the way. I loved learning about the outsider art of Henry Darger. My one quibble: the epistolary style in which the story unfolds is quite jarring and leads to some forced-sounding conversations from different characters. Still, a solid choice for teens wanting to sink their teeth into a good mystery.