[This] suspenseful mystery [The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case] takes the family on a sabbatical year to Italy. A leisurely beginning lingers too long on the technicalities of getting to Europe and on the family's sightseeing jaunts to Venice and Florence. Only after settling in a villa near a small Tuscan village does the tension begin to build…. The story, told through David's eyes, has a typical 12-year-old's perceptions; and the imaginative character portrayals texture the narrative where the storyline is thin.

Barbara Elleman, "Children's Books: 'The Famous Stanley Kidnapping Case'," in Booklist (reprinted by permission of the American Library Association; copyright 1979 by the American Library Association), Vol. 76, No. 4, October 15, 1979, p. 358.