nanette fynan

“You, MacDonough! You know who I’m talking to. Come on over.” Not a bad greeting for his first day at a new school. Being greeted by a gaggle of friendly bagpipers certainly makes fifteen-year-old Mac feel welcome right off the bat. Little does he suspect that trouble is lurking just around the corner at St. Rupert's Academy for Boys. Something is going horribly wrong in the life of the band's beloved pipe major. Ms. Kent's problem goes by the name of Harley Bevison and she thought she'd gotten rid of him a long time ago. It seems he's come back to haunt her with constant demands to get him an invitation to visit the academy's famous private museum. Ms. Kent suspects Harley Bevison has greedy designs on something in the museum. She is afraid her job will be in peril if some board member thinks she has been helping Mr. Bevison with his dubious scheming. Her loyal students step right in to make sure she gets the help she needs. She sends them off on a research mission, but Mac is soon is lured by Brookie, his uber-hyper new friend, into a more hands-on approach to discovering just what that mysterious work of art is and where it is hidden. Prakash and Ian and the rest of the band are dragged into a tangle of events that lead to sleepless nights spent rappelling down the sides of buildings and endless days trying to create something to decoy Harley Bevison away from the valuable museum piece. The boys of St. Rupert’s Pipe Band manage to turn Ms. Kent’s thorny situation into victory as they rush to substitute a fake for the original masterpiece. Imagine their surprise when they find out the headmaster, Fr. Dell, has been moving in a parallel direction with the same goal in sight: to deal with Harley Bevison. As glad as Ms. Kent is to get Harley Bevison out of her hair, she is thrilled that they are all safe and able to get back to their studying. Most importantly, Mac and the boys forge true friendships and prove themselves deeply loyal to both their school and their teacher.