Julieta and the Diamond Enigma
3 CD Set

Starred Review Julieta’s parents work in the world of art museums, and she is eager to accompany her father to Paris’ Louvre as he arranges the loan of art pieces for an exhibition in Boston. When the famed Regent Diamond is stolen, Julieta is in the middle of a high stakes mystery. With a bilingual family and international travel, the full cast portrays a range of accents, as well as phrases in Spanish and French, with panache. Julieta's well-intentioned foibles are more believable in her earnest, exuberant voicing. Small moments of her loving family are vibrantly captured by the full cast of narrators. Julieta’s parents convey both admiration for and exasperation with their daughter. Comedic timing and emotion are spot on in the scene when Julieta’s father touches down from an international flight to discover a series of voice messages left by his wife throughout the labor and delivery of their son. Underpinning the mystery are facts about Paris, art history, mythology, and culture. In other works, nonfiction asides can be dry, but here they are seamlessly woven into the plot and Julieta’s excitement for new knowledge is contagious to the listener. For listeners who’d like Ramona Quimby even more if she helped Interpol solve art heists.

Young listeners will love exploring Paris and getting caught up in a lively mystery with Julieta. Narrator Adriana Santos voices the 9-year-old, capturing her contagious enthusiasm. She thrills at the chance to join her father on his work trip to transport art from the Louvre to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Her father, portrayed by Ramon de Ocampo, provides a calm counterpoint to Julieta's alarm when the two are implicated in the theft of the Regent Diamond. Frankie Corzo conveys the love and concern of Julieta's pregnant mother, and Ulka Mohanty beautifully voices Dr. Srivas, the Louvre's head registrar. Each narrator jumps in to voice other characters in English, Spanish, and French. Listeners will cheer as the curious and clever Julieta helps solve the case.