The Living Portrait

Another Judy Bolton Mystery from after her wedding to Peter and with Roberta living with them in their house The Living Portrait is an enjoyable read despite having a few confusing elements within it.
Judy's husband is an FBI agent and the premise is that now that he is an FBI field agent Judy will be involved in bigger cases.

The mystery in this book revolves around a portrait hanging in Judy's lounge which she bought. Horace had informed Judy that the last owner had sold it as they said it brought bad luck and that they had received phone calls telling her she should get rid of it. There were also prowlers hanging around gone house of the previous owner. This story was enough to intrigue Judy to purchase the artwork and of course mystery came with the portrait.
As I have not been reading the Judy Bolton books in order I find Roberta's age confusing. I'm not sure what age Roberta is meant to be but sometimes she says things that seem to old for the age group I am thinking she is meant to be within.

Miscommunication between Judy and Roberta becomes a part of the storyline and delays the process of understanding important elements in the mystery. Overall the mystery is a good one but is a bit predictable in regards to the painting and makes you wonder why it took Judy so long to consider it as an option especially since Judy is always described as having great intuition and is logically minded.