Claudia and the Mystery in the Painting is the 32nd book in The Baby-Sitters Club Mystery series.
Back Cover Summary[]
Claudia is helping Rebecca Madden prepare to sell her grandmother's house. Grandmother Madden was a famous artist, and finding more of her valuable paintings would help Rebecca and her family a lot. But everybody says it's impossible: Grandmother Madden destroyed all of her paintings before she died.
Claudia thinks everybody is wrong—no artist would destroy her life's work. But if she's going to prove her theory, Claudia will have to work fast. Everything in the house will be sold in less than a week!
Summary[]
Characters in this book[]
Claudia's Family
BSC Members
Kids
Teenagers
Adults
- Grandmother Madden (mentioned)
- Mr. Snipes (mentioned)
- Mrs. O’Neal – woman in charge of the Kaleidoscope room
- Mr. Ogura
- Mr. and Mrs. Addison (mentioned)
- Mrs. and Mr. Newton (mentioned)
- James Cook – Jimmy’s dad and Rebecca’s husband
- Dee Pike (mentioned)
- Mr. Ogura Sr. (mentioned)
- Suzanne Madden
Places in this book[]
- Kishi House
- Stoneybrook Public Library
- Madden House
- Stoneybrook Museum
- Stoneybrook Animal Emergency Clinic (mentioned)
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- Pelé, a Brazilian soccer player, is referenced by Abby on page 104.
- Van Gogh, Edgar Degas (artists)
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- The events at the end of Claudia and the Mystery at the Museum is referenced on page 22, where Claudia is an honorary trustee at the Stoneybrook Museum.
- Claudia's hallow book is brought up again which she obtained earlier in the series.
- Claudia talks about how Mary Anne was a teacher in her and Claudia's art class in Claudia and the Sad Good-bye on page 78.
Inconsistencies
- Claudia said she grew up using the electronic card catalog at the library, when in previous books she and the rest of the BSC used a regular card catalog.
Trivia[]
- Claudia is still trying to never repeat the same outfit twice.
- This is the first mention of an electronic card catalog at the library in the mystery series.
- Elizabeth Brewer gave Ms. Madden the BSC's number and Kristy met her already.
- Claudia researches a client's family before baby-sitting the child.
- The mystery is solved the same way the mystery was solved in Mallory and the Mystery Diary.
- Claudia carries extra tissues when she's baby-sitting.
- Grandmother Madden painted a picture of Stoneybrook that Kristy recognized immediately.
- Margo has been going through a bossy stage.
- Stacey carries a calculator in her purse.
Gallery[]
Cover art original painting