Sizzle and Splat — Ronald Kidd

Sizzle -- Prudence Szyznowski -- is the star trumpet player for the Pirelli Youth Orchestra. Splat -- Arthur Hadley Reavis Pauling III -- is the talented new tuba player. But they may never get the chance to make beautiful music together, since the orchestra has serious financial problems.

Their lucky break comes when famed composer Hans Kleiman writes a trumpet concerto for a fund-raising concert. To top it off he's written a cryptogram to be solved during the concert intermission for a five-hundred-dollar prize!

But then Kleiman's nephew is kidnapped and won't be released until after the concert -- and only if the concerto is not played. Who would stoop to such a dastardly deed? Sizzle's mangled trumpet, a ransacked rehearsal room, a threatening note, and gunshots prove that someone is very desperate. Sizzle and Splat have to move quickly.

Will the two musical sleuths strike the right chord or end up on a sour note?