Teenreads.com -- MARLEY Z AND THE BLOODSTAINED VIOLIN by Jim Fusilli

MARLEY Z AND THE BLOODSTAINED VIOLIN
Jim Fusilli
Dutton Juvenile
Mystery
ISBN: 9780525479079
208 pages

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Meet Marley Z, daughter of famous superhero comic artist Zeke Z and a high-level corporate attorney mom. Teen boys want to meet her just to talk to her well-known dad. All she wants is to listen to good music and spend time with her bandmates, enjoy New York City life, and hang out with her baby sister Skeeter. But now she has something else on her plate --- a mystery to solve!

Marley and her best friend Marisol are yanked out of algebra class to view a tape of Marisol stealing a $500,000 violin from a display at The Juilliard School. The problem is that Marisol has no memory of the event, and it seems that no one except Marley believes her --- at first.

Marisol's parents work hard to pay for lessons for their extremely gifted daughter. Her father speaks no Spanish, but Marley can soon tell that they want to believe Marisol. The police warn that she'll go to prison if she doesn't give back the violin.

Marley isn't able to put the pieces together at first. She knows that Marisol always cradles her violin like a baby, yet in the tape she clamps the priceless instrument under her arm and walks like an automaton. Marisol writes down everything she did the day of the theft, including her violin lesson. But the teacher said she never came and that a male voice said she was sick. Where was she?

Marisol's friends are loyal to her and try to focus on their band, the Kingston Cowboys. Over the past few weeks, Marley, Marisol, Teddy and Wendell have been searching for a place to practice. Fortunately, they find a room in the basement of the building where Wendell's uncle is the doorman. After their first practice, which hurts their ears, they organize, practice some more, and head back with a new song, and a new friend, Bassekou. This time, Wendell's uncle tells them to get out and not come back. They don't know what they did to get in trouble.

Meanwhile, Marley discovers that her algebra teacher collects rare instruments. He puts her in touch with the curator at the Metropolitan Museum to find out more about the violin in question. It is called the Bloodstained Violin because of a red spot in the wood on the front and is the only one of its kind left by the Early American craftsman. She learns a lot about its history and begins to think about who may want it.

An angry street musician stops her with his sad music, and she wonders if he sought the rare instrument. But how did he force Marisol to steal it? The more questions she asks, the more seemingly come up --- until soon the pieces start coming together. However, someone does not want her or Marisol to figure it out. They work harder and faster to find the violin, as that person tries to get rid of them.

Musician and songwriter Jim Fusilli --- author of the award-winning Terry Orr series for adults --- has injected his first mystery for teens with the music and soul of New York City. Marley Z is a fun heroine with great style and personality, and undoubtedly the big brain to solve this baffling whodunit. I look forward to more YA books from this talented writer and hope that Marley makes another appearance in the very near future.

--- Reviewed by Amy Alessio

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