I received an electronic ARC from Clarion Books through NetGalley.
Art and Camille are back for another adventure. This time they are headed for London to meet Camille's father. This is the first time she will meet him. Unfortunately, he doesn't meet them at the airport nor at the hotel or his home. Suspicious that something is wrong, Camille and Art start tracking him and uncover an ancient artifact in his office. This launches the main storyline as readers see parallel stories where Camille and Art and her father and an ominous person both try to locate a mysterious treasure. Action, excitement and historical information weave together to entertain and educate middle grade readers. Hicks continues to weave his mysteries around art and history to challenge readers to solve puzzles along with the two main characters. As usual, QR codes throughout the book offer links to further informative text.

The third in The Lost Art series. Isabella and Art are twelve years olds who stumble into mysteries involving art. In this adventure the two, along with Isabella's mom, head to London to meet her father. He has never been part of her life. Arriving there they find him missing and start to follow clues to find him. A clever part of the story is using QR codes in the book that take you to the actual websites of the places they go like, Windsor Castle, The National Gallery, Portrait Gallery, The Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. Anyone traveling in London will likely have hit most of these popular sites.

The mystery clues themselves are a little hard to follow but I did learn a few things that were new to me. (And I've been to every location mentioned.) There is some menacing directed towards the kids but it is age appropriate. I think this is for upper elementary school and middle school readers. Can easily be read as a stand alone. Thank you to NetGalley and Clarion Books for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this action filled, middle-grade mystery set in London with a family backdrop of a kid wanting to reunite with her father. I did not read the first two books of this series and I think readers can enjoy this book, even though they haven’t read the previous ones.

In this third in the series, Camille is flying to London, accompanied by Arthur, to meet her father face-to-face for the first time. While the focus is once again on an action-packed, art-based mystery, the family dynamics between Camille and her parents add depth to the story . I like that the adults in the series are loving and very involved with the kids, and yet are also real, fallible people. There is a cinematic quality to the action, showing the action from different viewpoints. Recommended for Middle Grade readers who like mysteries, action adventures, or armchair travel.

This is third book in this series by Deron Hicks but it works perfectly well as a stand alone. American teenagers, Camille and Art are visiting London so that Camille can meet her father, a famous historian, for the first time. However, he doesn’t turn up to the meeting place. Puzzled and hurt by this, Camille decides to visit his home to at least see where he lives. The two children are invited in by a colleague of Camille’s father and during their visit, they discover a historical artefact which Art realises is stolen. The centuries old hour glass starts them off on a trail to discover what has happened to Camille’s father and involves The Tower of London, Windsor Castle and Westminster Abbey.
The action in the book is fast paced and the historical side is inserted into the story cleverly. The plot moves along well and you find yourself being drawn along by the story. The characters of Camille and Art are engaging especially in Camille’s determination to help a father who she has never met. I also loved the way the story was set in the different locations and it certainly made me want to revisit them.
Thank to Net Galley and Clarion Books for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really good adventure mystery story and so fun to get to go all over London to try to find the clues that will tell them where this treasure they are looking for is before the bad guys get to it. Art and Camille are in London to meet Camille’s estranged Father but when they get there he is nowhere to be found. They visit his apartment to see if he turned back up there when they find stolen artifact that suggest that her dad might be in trouble so they look to try to find it and maybe they can find her dad when they figure out that he is being held by a bad guy who is making him solve the puzzle of where the artifact is and they need to get to it before her dad does so they can save his life. I really love all the focus on art and all the history you get while they are searching.

Thanks to Clarion Books and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

The Crown Heist is Book three in the series by Devon Hicks about friends Art and Camille who solve mysteries. I had read book 1 several years ago when it was on the Florida SSYRA list and enjoyed it very much. Although I missed reading book 2, I was able to pick this up and read it without feeling lost. It could easily be read without reading any of the other books. In the Crown Heist, the two friends are off to London to meet Camille's father. When he doesn't show at the arranged meeting place, Camille and Art discover a clue as to why he may be missing. Although 300 pages, the pacing is good, and the plot moves along quickly. I'm not much of an art fan, but the story draws you in. The only thing I did not enjoy was the QR codes you could scan in the story. They did not always match up to what I expected to see based on the text, and I was annoyed when I did not have my phone. It may be interesting to some people, but I just found it annoying.

I absolutely love The Lost Art series! In this 3rd book of the series, Art and Isabella travel to London to meet Isabella's estranged father, who has suddenly reached out to her in the hopes of establishing a relationship. Isabella is devastated when her father is a no-show at the airport, but quickly realizes something is amiss. Art and Isabella chase clues that will not only lead them to Isabella's kidnapped father, but to King Arthur's crown.

Filled with action and non-stop adventure, this book is just as good as the previous two in the series and leaves me eagerly awaiting the next one. I love the QR codes that the reader can scan to see the works of art that Art and Isabella are seeing, in addition to the architecture and buildings featured in the story. I always learn a lot about history and art from these books and always close the last page wanting to visit the nearest art museum,. Excellent additions for an upper elementary/middle school library.

I've read the first two in this series and this third one does not disappoint. Art and Camille travel to London for Camille is meeting her father in person for the first time. When Camille's father, a history professor who is an expert on British legends, does not show up at the airport due to an emergency, Camille is worried. She convinces Art to come along to find her father's house, and before you know it, we are off and running on another adventure. Fast-paced and full of adventure, along with learning a bit of history and art, what's not to enjoy?!

This book was received as an ARC from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group - HMH Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I'll just start with the fact that I did not expect to read something way different than I expected. The story got interesting in the fact that Camille found out that her father was an acclaimed history professor that has knowledge on many historic treasures resulting the fact of his "kidnapping." Now in correlation with the description, throughout this entire book, I could not help but think Davinci Code meets National Treasure. Camille and Art visit historic landmarks and uncover secrets hoping to find the truth about Camille's father and his connection with the whole heist. I can see there being a following of this series and there were a few cliffhangers in the story so I hope this will be an up and coming series for our young readers in our library community to enjoy!

We will consider adding this title to our JFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.