Meet Danny West, a talented young artist who has trouble reading, especially aloud when he starts to stammer. Kids laugh at him, and bullies sometimes beat him up after school, so he has to cut through the desert to get home. Danny’s dad was a police detective who died trying to stop a robbery at an art gallery. Danny was only two-year-old, but nobody will talk about it.  There is the art teacher, Mr. Lewis who has his own secrets and may be more than just a middle-school art teacher, but he won’t talk about it. Danny’s best friend forever is Amy Crowe who thinks he’s great and tries to help him read. Then one day Huby as in red ruby, appears in Danny’s yard. Is Mr. Lewis linked to the art gallery robbery where Danny’s father died? Danny, Amy and Huby set out to solve the mystery of the stolen painting and Danny’s father’s death.