Rescuing Seneca Crane (A Kari and Lucas Mystery) [Hardcover]

Susan Runholt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 2009 | Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: A Kari and Lucas Mystery

When Kari and Lucas first see Seneca Crane up on stage, playing the piano in front of hundreds of people, they are in awe. She is beautiful. She is amazingly talented. And she is only thirteen! But then they get to know her at the Edinburgh Arts Festival and realize that she envies them. Soon the three are becoming friends . . .until Seneca disappears. There?s no stopping Kari and Lucas from jumping on the trail and tracking her down. Even when it leads to the heart of the Scottish highlands!

Following in the spine-tingling tracks of The Mystery of the Third Lucretia, Susan Runholt?s second book featuring super sleuths Kari and Lucas is just as smart and fast-paced as the first!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5–8—Runholt's second mystery starring 14-year-old best friends Kari and Lucas offers readers light intrigue in a lush Scottish setting. When Kari's mother, a magazine reporter, is sent to Edinburgh to interview Seneca Crane, a 15-year-old piano prodigy, the girls get to tag along. Upon meeting Seneca, they realize that the young pianist is not only talented, but also very lonely. She is under the constant tutelage of her mother, stepfather, and overbearing tutor. The three girls quickly become friends despite Seneca's hectic rehearsal schedule. When she is kidnapped after a performance, Kari and Lucas sidestep some shady characters and supersleuth their way to a daring rescue. Readers will admire the girls' independence and tenacity, even if Kari's narrative voice is a bit silly at times. (She uses the word "meep" as a substitution for foul language.) Reluctant readers will enjoy the pacing, which neither rushes the mystery nor drags out the clues. The author skillfully weaves facts about Scottish culture and geography into the narrative while the rainy Highlands setting offers a bit of drama to a somewhat tame mystery.—Kimberly Garnick Giarratano, Rockaway Township Public Library, NJ
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From Booklist

Runholt follows The Mystery of the Third Lucretia (2008) with another art-themed whodunit starring intrepid 14-year-old amateur sleuths Kari and Lucas. This time, the girls travel with Kari’s journalist mother to Scotland, where they meet and befriend Seneca, a teenage piano prodigy, just before she is kidnapped. Following instincts and clues, the girls tour through cities, moors, and castles in search of the young pianist. Readers will suspect the criminals’ identities long before they are caught, but as in Lucretia, Kari’s spirited first-person voice, the girls’ friendship, and the colorful, well-developed characters and setting make for an enjoyable, nuanced mystery. Grades 5-8. --Gillian Engberg

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile; 1 edition (August 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067006291X
• ISBN-13: 978-0670062911
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,691,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My official bio reads as follows:

Susan Runholt shares her teenage heroines' love of art and travel and commitment to feminism. She has traveled extensively in Europe, Asia and Africa and lived in Amsterdam and Paris, working as a bank clerk and an au pair. She's also been a waitress, a maid, a motel desk clerk, a laundress, a caterer, and, eventually, director of programming for South Dakota Public Television.

For the past two decades she has lived in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she serves as a fundraising consultant for social service and arts organizations. She was named runner-up for the Debut Dagger Award by the Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain for THE MYSTERY OF THE THIRD LUCRETIA. Her next mystery in the Kari and Lucas series, RESCUING SENECA CRANE, will be published by Viking Children's Books in 2009.

So much for the official bio.

One huge aspect of my life not mentioned in that little summary is my daughter, Annalisa. And she's a big part of THE MYSTERY OF THE THIRD LUCRETIA. In fact, it's not too much to say that without her, I would never have written that book. And I might not ever have written for kids.

The way it started was this. From the time Annalisa was really young, she and I always went to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts together for the same reason Kari and her mom went: because it was fun and it was free. Well, when she was eleven (this was sixteen years ago, because she's 27 now), we went there to see Rembrandt's two paintings of Lucretia, which were being exhibited together. Annalisa loved them. And when she read the sign on the wall beside the paintings and looked at the sad, sad woman Rembrandt had painted, she cried. This was such a big deal for her that she actually came home and wrote a letter to the museum director telling him how much she liked the paintings. He wrote a letter back and gave her some books and things. (The lesson here is that it always pays to say thanks, but sometimes it pays more than others.)

Two years later, she and I went to Europe and visited London and Paris. And it turned out that she loved to travel just as much as I did.

All this time, Annalisa was The Perfect Child. I am not kidding. She was always sweet and kind and never made any trouble for anyone. Well, when she turned fourteen she decided she was, um, over that. She'd been perfect, and now she was ready to do something else for a change. I'm not going to tell her story--it's her story, after all, not mine. But she and I had a terrible time getting along at that time. We could hardly say anything to each other without making each other mad or making each other cry. It was the hardest time in my whole life, and probably one of the hardest in hers, too.

I had written a book for adults by that time and had started writing a second. But at some point it occurred to me that maybe Annalisa and I could write a book together, and that would give us something to talk about. So I tried to think of what kind of a plot would be interesting to both of us. I'd already kind of decided that I wanted to write books that were set in faraway places, and since Annalisa loved London and Paris, I thought she'd be interested in a book set in those places. But what could the mystery be about? I thought and thought, and then I remembered how much she had loved Rembrandt's two Lucretias. That was how I came up with the idea of the Third Lucretia.

Writing a book together worked as a way of getting us talking. It was the one thing we could discuss without fighting. Annalisa decided who the characters would be, what their names would be, what they looked like and what their personalities were like. She read every part of the book and said things like, "Mo-om, kids wouldn't be interested in this!" or, "Yeah, this is really exciting!"

So when I say in the dedication that she helped me write the THIRD LUCRETIA, I'm totally serious. She really did. And I'm really, really grateful.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Growing in Wit and Charm, August 21, 2009

By 

Kevin L. Nenstiel "omnivore" (Kearney, Nebraska) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rescuing Seneca Crane (A Kari and Lucas Mystery) (Hardcover)

Kari Sundgren and Lucas Stickney have made friends with piano prodigy Seneca Crane, the hottest teen to sweep the classical music stage in years. So when she is kidnapped backstage at an international concert, the girls put their heads to bringing her back safe. After all, they already proved that they're great amateur detectives, and with the adults too scared to act, who else is going to save their new friend?

Susan Runholt's second Kari + Lucas mystery doesn't just rehash the successes of the first book. It's a different scope, a different angle, and the girls are a little more mature for their previous success. Runholt lets her teen detectives grow with their audience, this time taking on a mystery not just because they are good, but because it hits them right where they live.

This second book has much of the same charisma and wit that made the first such a hit with young teens and their parents. The girls may be a little older, a little more mature, and charmingly aware of boys. But they still have the headstrong determination and diligence that made them heroes in the last book.

Just as in the first book, Runholt's interest is in the characters. The mystery doesn't start until about a third of the way through the book, because Runholt would rather make new discoveries about the girls and their new friend than rush anything. Once again, teens will see plenty of themselves in these characters and situations, while parents will see plenty they hope their kids will want to aspire to themselves.

Kari, Lucas, and Runholt are all growing up a little bit alongside their audience. As the young detectives take on new and more ambitious mysteries, readers will feel like they're with old friends. Just as last time, I wish there had been books like this when I was that age. Youth and their parents will enjoy learning and growing along with Kari and Lucas, and like me, they'll wait eagerly for the third book to come along.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Girl power, the sequel!, September 16, 2009

By 

RobynJC (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Rescuing Seneca Crane (A Kari and Lucas Mystery) (Hardcover)

This is the sort of book that makes kids want to read. It's funny and interesting, with characters -- especially Kari and Lucas -- who are so real you want to be their friend. In her first book in the series, Runholt introduced readers to art, making museums seem cool. In this book, she talks about music -- specifically the life of a young piano prodigy. Seneca Crane is the progidy in question; she befriends Kari and Lucas when Kari's mother is writing an article on Seneca. The three girls become friends, and the mystery kicks into gear when Seneca is kidnapped just before a big performance. Who took her? And how will Kari and Lucas help to get her back? The action travels through the Scottish Highlands, with a climax late at night, in a mysterious castle, against the backdrop of a storm and raging waters. It's exciting, funny and makes me want to play the piano. What other books can you say that about?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Offering for Young Adult Readers!!!, August 20, 2009

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rescuing Seneca Crane (A Kari and Lucas Mystery) (Hardcover)

Kari Sundgren and her best girlfriend, Lucas, are off to Edinburgh, Scotland. Kari hopes that the trip will divert Lucas's attention from her boyfriend, Josh. Not only is Kari tired of her best friend's nonstop dialogue about the boy, it seems he's also a bit of a jerk.

Lucas and Kari want to meet the pianist Seneca Crane. They first saw the child prodigy perform with the Minnesota Orchestra two years ago. She's scheduled to appear in Scotland where Kari's mother will interview her for a magazine article.

But Kari and Lucas didn't expect to become friends with Seneca or that she would need to be rescued from a protective parent and a restrictive life. But a restrictive life is nothing compared to the other dangers that provide exciting and terrifying times for the three girls.

Following a concert, Seneca disappears. All Kari and Lucas know is that she was seen with some men. The girls follow the clues in the hopes that they are able to save Seneca. Who kidnapped Seneca? Is it an inside job? Will Kari and Lucas be in danger? The answers are found in Rescuing Seneca Crane. And it's a wonderful adventure.

After reading The Mystery of the Third Lucretia I said that Susan Runholt is the "Nancy Drew of the twenty-first century." Now that I've read Rescuing Seneca Crane, I realize how true that statement is. Runholt is not a "flash in the pan."

Runholt is a master at writing a good mystery that keeps the reader's attention while providing interesting information about the "arts." Her characters are real-life and three-dimensional-and her villains are deliciously evil.

I love her books! The tough thing is waiting for the next one.

In an age where much of the middle reader and young adult literature is "trashy" at best, Runholt writes a good, clean and exciting novel.

Armchair Interviews says: Runholt's 5-star books are must have for a young person's library.