For fans of Beth Lincoln’s The Swifts comes a “delightful, charming” ( Shelf Awareness , starred review) mystery filled with cryptic clues and wonderful word puzzles as two cousins search for their grandmother’s missing portrait. Twelve-year-old Bea from Passaic, New Jersey, is visiting her family in Paris for the summer when her grandmother’s most precious heirloom—a drawing by Henri Matisse—goes missing. After a cryptic clue arrives on Bea’s doorstep suggesting its whereabouts, Bea is determined to pursue the lead. Without the French skills to navigate her way around the landmarks of Paris, she teams up with her cousin, Céline, whose clear-eyed French directness makes her a perfect partner for curious, problem-solving Bea. The girls embark on a city-wide search, deciphering riddles, solving puzzles, and cracking codes as they try to locate the Matisse, find a thief, and identify their mysterious benefactor. Newly acquainted cousins must solve a cryptic, puzzle-filled scavenger hunt to rescue a family heirloom in the gutsy middle-grade mystery The House of Found Objects by debut author Jo Beckett-King. Twelve-year-old American Bea Bellerose is staying with her Aunt Juliette in Paris while her parents are away at a conference. Unfortunately, Aunt Juliette is working a lot more than planned and Bea is spending most of her time alone in the apartment or downstairs in her grandmother's antiques shop, La maison des objets trouvés. Bea has been in France for a week when the first letter (addressed to "La jeune fille") is slipped under the door. She doesn't know why she has received the letter but is excited by the prospect of solving the riddle it contains. That same day, Bea meets her cousin Céline in Mamie's store. Céline is 13 and "so grown-up" that it seems to Bea they have little in common. When a treasured family painting by Henri Matisse goes missing, Bea is certain the letter is connected. But she's on a clock—the riddle writer gave her just four days to find the drawing. Bea convinces Céline to help her navigate the city and the girls race through the streets of Paris to solve the puzzle. Beckett-King fills this fun mystery with the sights and sounds of Paris, as well as brain teasers readers can solve along with Céline and Bea. The girls are fantastic foils, each bringing skills and qualities the other needs. This first installment in the Bea Bellerose Mystery series is delightful, charming, and full of unexpected twists. —Kyla Paterno, freelance reviewer -- Shelf Awareness STARRED REVIEW ― 8/1/25 Twelve-year-old Bea Bellerose (from New Jersey) is spending her summer vacation in Paris. Bea longs to explore the city’s landmarks, but, alas, she is confined to Aunt Juliette’s apartment while her aunt works long days. ?e only place Bea is permitted to go is her grandmother’s antique store, the titular House of Found Objects. When a sketch of her great-great-grandfather drawn by a young Henri Matisse goes missing and a clue to its whereabouts appears under her aunt’s door, Bea decides to take up the case. She and her French cousin, Céline, travel all over Paris, from the Jardin des Plantes to Sacré-Coeur, searching for mysteriously placed clues and solving puzzles. ?ough they are hardly friends at first sight, Bea and Céline learn to work together to find the missing heirloom. ?e story is lighthearted and entertaining, with the sweetness of self-discovery sprinkled throughout as Bea becomes more confident and more proud of the person she’s becoming. Readers with an eye for puzzles and a knack for code-cracking will enjoy this first entry in a projected new mystery series. -- Hornbook ― September/October 2025 Issue While 12-year-old Bea’s parents are attending an out-of-town conference, Bea flies from New Jersey to Paris to stay for three weeks with an aunt who is too busy with work to show her around the city. One morning, Bea finds a cryptic letter addressed to her. She spends the day helping her grandmother, Mamie, at her failing antique shop. There, she meets her cousin, Céline, who is one year older but vastly more sophisticated and preoccupied with her friends. When Mamie discovers that a family treasure, a portrait painting by Matisse, has been stolen from the shop, Bea links the crime to the clues in her puzzling letter. Soon, Bea and Céline follow the clues to solve the mystery. Young readers will sympathize with Bea and her convincingly tween-age dilemmas, but only devoted cryptography fans will attempt to decode the clues delivered to her. Still, readers who know a little French will enjoy the occasional use of common phrases, which are explained within the text. A relatively quiet mystery story with a surprising solution. -- Booklist ― 05/01/2025 While visiting family in Paris, a 12-year-old from New Jersey embarks on a treasure hunt to find her grandmother’s missing Matisse—and help save her antiques shop. Red-haired mathlete Bea’s parents have sent her to stay with Au