Portrait of a Robbery: Project Adventure, #5

By David Konrad

What could possibly go wrong during a weekend in the countryside with an art collection to look at? Everything, when a Van Gogh disappears.

 

When her most treasured painting mysteriously vanishes from the hallway wall of Matt's grandmother, her only hope to catch the thief is Project Adventure, the kid-detective agency.Ethan, Matt, and Lisa embark on a train journey to the small town where Mrs. Sharkey—Matt's grandmother—curates her beautiful estate and valuable art collection. Caught in a terrible storm that sets the garage ablaze and almost kills them, Ethan, Matt, and Lisa discover a secret door and other clues that bring them closer to solving the mystery. Will the Van Gogh be restored to its rightful owner or be lost forever?

 

Portrait of a Robbery, the fifth book in The Project Adventure book series, will delight the readers with its fast-paced style, unexpected plot twists, and relatable characters. Ethan's, Matt's, and Lisa's ability to solve a mystery are at their peak, as their friendship grows stronger every day.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Konrad
• Release date: Jun 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9783949099052

David Konrad

David Konrad is an adventurous dad who shares his love of storytelling not only with his twins, but with young readers around the world. He is the author of the Project Adventure Children’s Book Series. These action-packed, fun-filled mysteries feature characters that young readers root for again and again.  His desire to make a difference in the lives of children is reflected in his writing. With his own children in mind, David set out on his own adventure as an author. While moving to different European locations and raising his young family, he found inspiration to write. When not writing or reading, David enjoys cooking and playing basketball with his kids. 

Book preview

Copyright © David Konrad 2022

Cover illustration copyright © Dion MBD 2022

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

First published 2022

This edition published 2022

The moral rights of the author and artist have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

Names: Konrad, David, author.

Title: Portrait of a Robbery / by David Konrad.

Description: First Edition. | Munich, Germany : Kocmur Publishing, 2022.

Summary: When her Van Gogh painting disappears, Eleanor Sharkey commissions her grandson's kid-detective agency, who encounter grave danger as they work step-by-step to solve the mystery.

Subjects: CYAC: Fiction. | LCSH: Juvenile literature--General. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / General.

Paperback ISBN: 978-3-949099-06-9

e-Book 978-3-949099-05-2

LCCN: 2022909636

Edited by Anna Bowles and Kimberly Grandizio

Designed by Jennifer Thomas

Map illustration by Vlatka Bajzek Osman

To my older brother, for having all the books around for me to steal.

CONTENTS

Map

Prologue

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29

Acknowledgements

About the Author

PROLOGUE

Eleanor Sharkey felt her old age in her tired legs as she walked between the rows of trees in the ancient apple orchard, sprawling down the hills around her big estate house. The house had been there for generations, and it loomed over the scenery like a guard tower or an old fortress. It was early springtime, and the mature but well cared-for trees were in a need of another light pruning, just before they started their fruiting cycle again. The sun was already low on the horizon, and it was getting chillier and darker by the minute, but she barely noticed.

Her hands, holding a pair of sharp, cast-iron shears, trembled slightly. She had been using these since she was a much younger woman, and the wooden handles were polished smooth in the shape of her fingers. She snapped a branch here and there as she walked, knowing perfectly well that the quality of her work was not as good as it should have been.

She was angry. Afraid, even, but mostly angry. Angry at the fact that Mr. Cyrus Barkley, a newcomer in the area, had the nerve to visit her estate once again to make a bid for the whole property. What a preposterous man, she thought. Showing off his money and thinking he can buy everyone off their home and lands!

She wished Patrick, her husband, were still alive and around to deal with him. Not that she wasn’t able to handle the matter alone. No—she had no problem standing up for herself, it was more that she just didn’t like talking to strangers, let alone men who wanted to buy her off her property.

But it wasn’t just the estate Cyrus Barkley was after. He’d said he represented some very rich people who wanted to stay anonymous and were interested in Mrs. Sharkey’s vast art collection. They’d only made an offer for the entire estate after she’d declined and told them that most of the valuable pieces of art in the house shouldn’t be moved at all. Of course, the art collection she and Patrick gathered over the years also had a huge sentimental value to her and always reminded her of him. So, she had no intention of selling anything. As she and Patrick had agreed before he passed away, the estate would be inherited by their daughter and become an open gallery.

Eleanor was almost back at the top row of apple trees. The last one needed almost no attention, so she rested for a few moments, caught her breath, and then turned and walked over to the big house at the top of the hill. The elegant brown building had been her home for many years now, most of which she’d spent with her late husband. He’d been gone for a few years now, and Eleanor sometimes wondered if selling the property, making some other arrangements for the art collection, and moving somewhere to a smaller place would actually be better for her. But not to that man. Mr. Cyrus Barkley. Even his name is pretentious. She snorted, and shook her head in disapproval.

When she reached the house, she went straight to the big garage adjacent to the main building, which was built right atop a cliff on that side of the hill. The garage was a large wooden structure that used to be a shed in the olden days, but was now turned into a proper workshop for cars and small agricultural equipment on the ground floor. Up in the open attic there were some old boxes and a few bales of hay, left there to be dried many years ago and then forgotten. Eleanor didn’t care about the garage. It wasn’t her domain, and she only used the small tool cabinet leaning against the back wall. The cars, the machinery, and everything else in it was Kaleb’s business.

Hi, Kaleb! Eleanor said as she walked in through the open door. The big, broad-shouldered, dark-haired man just waved, mumbling something back as a greeting, and carried on doing some job on the workshop table. Eleanor saw he was about to weld something together, focusing hard, so she just smiled, put her shears into one of the tool cabinet drawers, and left him to it. Kaleb was the family driver, handyman, gardener, and whatever else was needed around the estate. He had been there ever since they’d bought the property, and she was very glad he was still here to help her.

She went inside the house, took off her jacket, and sat down in the kitchen to have some tea before dinner. She liked to prepare some of her own meals, although recently her daughter talked her into hiring a housekeeper. Her mind was telling her that she still didn’t need much help around the big house, but her body had started to disagree.

After she’d finished dinner in the company of her two cats, she washed the dishes and went to sit down in her favorite armchair and read beside the fireplace. But as she walked down the wide, long hallway, she sensed, rather than saw, that something was missing.

She stopped, turned, and faced the wall on the left. It was full of paintings and drawings of all sizes. Almost like an intricate mosaic made from frames of various shapes and materials. If you were seeing it for the first time, there was no way you’d have noticed a small gap in the middle and the slightly darker shade of paint on the wall where a picture used to hang. In art, size doesn’t matter. Some of the most valuable paintings and pieces of art in the world are tiny. And Eleanor knew that well. She had owned one such painting for a long time.

And now it was gone.

1

I was sitting on the side of my bed,