NATIONAL ARCHIVE HUNTERS

In Washington, D.C., twins Ike and Iris use their brains and athletic abilities to solve a string of thefts that baffle even the FBI Art Crime Team.

Icarus “Ike” Carter is a genius who sometimes tunes out when it comes to reading emotions; Iris, his sister, is a superior athlete with a photographic memory and spatial awareness to spare. Together with their museum curator mom and former Army officer dad (who’s now a Montessori school principal), they run and bike their way around D.C.’s monuments and historic sites every day. When an impressively acrobatic girl steals a miniature portrait of George Washington from their mom’s cash-strapped museum, Ike and Iris hatch a plan: solve the crime and save the museum by making the recovered portrait the center of an attention-grabbing new exhibit, “The Stolen Washington.” The FBI gets involved, the underage criminal pulls off heists in Philadelphia and Boston, and the twins even become suspects themselves. As this case wraps up, the family accepts an offer to consult with the FBI in the future. Ike and Iris alternate as narrators, allowing their strengths to complement each other (even if Iris thinks Ike’s explanation of Occam’s razor is a “snooze-fest”). The action is nonstop as these fifth graders outthink a seasoned FBI agent, sprint through crowded streets, and even shimmy down a marble porch column with aplomb. The Carters are cued white.

A high-energy story that holds its own in the growing pantheon of middle-grade crime thrillers.