 Chasing Vermeer is Blue Balliett 's first published book . Its original purpose was a book to read to her class for fun . She realized that a mystery about " real " art issues had not been written since <unk> <unk> 's From the Mixed @-@ Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. <unk> and desired to write what she wished to read . Chasing Vermeer took about five years to complete , as Balliett was also a teacher and parent . She compared writing the book to weaving , as she first wrote mainly about art , but then incorporated the pentominoes and classroom scenes , creating many different levels to read on . She admits that it ended up more complex than she had thought it would be . 
