Mystery #11: Claudia and the Mystery at the Museum
“I love mysteries, and that’s all there is to it.” - Claudia, page 4
Claudia is stoked because a new museum has opened in Stoneybrook and they are going to do a retrospective of art by an abstract sculptor named Don Newman. She takes the Arnold twins and Corrie Addison, who have been studying art with her, to see the exhibit. Before they can even get to the exhibit Claud wants to see, the fire alarm goes off and then they hear breaking glass and then a burglar alarm. They are rushed outside and then they’re searched before they can go home. Turns out somebody stole very valuable ancient coins. (Because Stoneybrook is some kind of criminal hotspot. Is it built on the East Coast Hellmouth?) Personally, I’m annoyed at this burglar for ruining Claudia’s trip to the museum.
The Baby-sitters Club is comprised of, as we know, very ambitious and confident eleven- and thirteen-year-olds. As such, they’ve decided that they will solve the mystery and find the coins (which they’ve determined must still be in the museum because the exits were guarded and everyone was searched after the alarms went off). The gang returns to the museum and checks all the spots where they think the thief could have stashed the coins, but no luck. They also follow a guy around (he has two different colored eyes, and Claud had seen him there the day of the burglary) and they think he’s sketchy but he doesn’t do anything obviously criminal.
Stacey sticks around and accompanies Claud to the Don Newman exhibit (finally!) and they have a great time until Claud finds her favorite piece - titled Daphne - which she’s seen before in New York. This time though, it looks and feels off to her. She thinks it’s a fake and she demands to see the curator. He’s kind of slimy and basically accuses her of just trying to stir up drama. While the curator is distracted by Stacey apologizing, Claudia steals a copy of his resumé off his desk (because she’s a badass).
Side note: the curator’s name is Mr. Snipes and all I can think of is Michael Sheen’s character from “30 Rock”:
Thank you, “30 Rock.”
The BSC takes the resumé to the library and searches for articles about all the previous museums Mr. Snipes has worked at; turns out, three out of the four were robbed while he was the curator at them. Pretty sneaky, sis. Claudia gets worried about Don Newman’s work, so she calls Information and gets his number (????? I fucking love the ‘90s) and tells him about how Daphne felt different to her and she’s worried. Don Newman tells her he used to build little hiding places into his sculptures where his kids could hide their toys, and maybe he left one in there. I THINK WE ALL KNOW WHERE THIS IS HEADED. Also Don Newman is super nice and invites Claudia to the formal party that the museum is throwing on his behalf.
At the party, Claudia and Don Newman go to check on Daphne, and they catch the museum custodian retrieving the ancient coins from where he’d hidden them in the sculpture. Ta-da! Turns out the man with different-colored eyes was a private investigator and the curator Mr. Snipes moved around a lot to help museums stop robberies. And he makes Claudia an honorary trustee of the museum, which she honestly just deserves on merit for being Claudia Kishi.
