Scarlet and Ivy, Book Six - The Last Secret

I put off reading this book long enough.  I hate knowing that a certain book is the last book in a series, because I know that once I read that book, that will be the end of any new adventures/mysteries with those characters.  It's like having to say goodbye to friends or family - I may have the pictures that I can go back and reminisce about, but I won't be seeing them again to make any new memories.  The same is true with series books.  I think it's one of the reasons I love ongoing series so much, is because I get to keep coming back with the same characters again and again for new adventures, new mysteries, and new stories!  But, alas, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.  And so it is with the Scarlet and Ivy series by Sophie Cleverly.  What started out as a dark mystery about a girl who believes her twin sister who she thought was dead may still be alive has evolved into a complicated story about the girls' mother, the boarding school where they have had so many problems, their evil stepmother, and their distant father.  Along the way, the girls have established some strong bonds with other girls at the school, forming friendships in the most unexpected places.  And now, as the title to this book suggests, we finally come to the last secret to be uncovered within the walls of Rookwood School...

The Last Secret begins over Christmas break, as Scarlet and Ivy do their best to survive their vicious step-mother's every constant attacks on them.  But, then, something completely unexpected happens.  Their father, who never talks about their mother, not only mentions her to the sisters, but also provides them with a music box that belonged to her.  A music box that they soon discover has a secret compartment, which holds some very important documents that could hold the clue to saving their school!  (And yes, despite all of their previous problems with Rookwood and its many malicious headmasters and headmistresses, Scarlet and Ivy discover that they have come to love their school and the friends they have made there, so they are determined to save it before it is too late!)

 

Cleverly forces the twins to face the many aspects of their past as Henry Bartholomew, son of the late Edgar Bartholomew (former headmaster/owner of Rookwood, who had caused so much terror at the school) has shows up to claim the school as his legacy - and his plans seem to be to demolish the building and put an end to Rookwood for good.  One of the only ways for the girls and their friends to possibly prevent that from happening is to obtain information from the last source they would expect to - the evil Miss Fox (Miss Finch's mother)!  But she is in jail, and the girls must convince the faculty of Rookwood that it is absolutely essential that they visit Miss Fox and see if she can provide them with any information they can use against Master Bartholomew - after all, she hated the man's father almost as much as the students did.  Then, of course, there is Edith, the girls' wicked stepmother, and her two sons.  When Scarlet and Ivy are sent home while the school is closed for a week for alleged inspections, they uncover a shocking truth about her and her plans for their father.  At every turn, the girls must face a villain and find a way to beat them at their own games.

The story brings together all of Scarlet and Ivy's friends - Ariadne, Violet, Rose, and even Ebony, along with new recruits Nadia and Penny - as they learn that the school holds one final secret: the true Last Will and Testament of the original owner of the school, one Lady Wootten.  But Lady Wootten hid the Will and left cryptic clues that would lead to its whereabouts.  Secret compartments, locked safes, and a graveyard puzzle all lead the girls on a last minute chase to find the keys and the combination needed to open the safe and find the real Will before Bartholomew gets his hands on it.  It truly is a race against time, one that ultimately engages not only Scarlet and Ivy's father, but Rose's family lawyer as well.  It all leads up to the very dramatic conclusion which, in near-soap opera style, provides readers with a fantastic confrontation and revelation that will leave you grinning from ear to ear.

As much as I hated to see the end of the adventures of Scarlet and Ivy, I have to hand it to Cleverly - if you're going to end a series, this is definitely the way to do it!  And should she ever get the desire to venture back into the world of Scarlet and Ivy?  Well, let's just say she left the door open, like any great author would!

 

One last thing I did want to mention - the first three books in the series, I bought with the beautifully painted covers - but for some reason, the last three books never seemed to be available here in the States with the painted covers; so, instead, I ended up buying the last three books with the silhouette covers.  (Which, of course, plays havoc with my OCD, because I can't stand having a series change format in the middle of the series!!!!)  I found the cover to this last book online, and I must say, I definitely prefer the painted covers!  Maybe some day I will be able to track them down and replace the ones I have with the painted versions.

RATING:  10 small black bottles of poison out of 10 for giving readers a most satisfying conclusion to a wonderfully fun-filled mystery series!

Mystery Science Theater 3000 - The Comic (a Dark Horse Mini-Series)

So, after discovering that Dark Horse published a MST3K comic book mini-series that included and parodied the Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter comic from Dell Comics (see my post from back in November 2021 -Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter), I had to track down all of the issues - and so I did!  And let me tell you, a couple of those issues were not so easy to find at reasonable prices.  Good grief, who knew the Mystery Science Theater 3000 comic would be so sought after!  But, at last, I did manage to track them all down, and I had a fun time reading them.  Not only did it feature a parody of the second issue of Johnny Jason, it also included parodies of the old Harvey comic, The Black Cat, as well as a horror title I had never heard of before.  I have to give huge kudos to Joel Hodgson, Harold Buchholz, Matt McGinnis, Seth Robinson, Sharyl Volpe, Mary Robinson, Todd Nauk, Mike Manley, and all of the others who managed to make this comic such a joy to read!

 

Now, I should start off by saying I've never actually seen an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.  I know, I know - it's been around for quite a while, and I've heard lots of friends talk about it.  But, quite frankly, it was just never something that I was interested in watching.  To be honest, the only reason I sought out this mini-series was because it poked fun at the Johnny Jason comic; otherwise, I would have never picked it up.  But after reading these six issues, if the television show is anywhere near as much fun, then I may have to go back and watch some of them!  I mean, I haven't laughed this hard when reading a comic since the days of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!  And it's not just the cheesy jokes and one-liners from the characters during the bridge sequences - it's the way the creators managed to take old comics from over 50 years ago and re-write them (to a certain extent) with some characters with today's perspectives.  I mean, take a real character (well, supposedly real) and place them into a comic book, and this is exactly how I would imagine them to react!

So, as the story goes, Jonah, Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, GPC (Gypsy), M. Waverly, and Growler are basically trapped on the Satellite of Love - and Kinga Forrester and her crew of mad scientists and henchman have created a new machine that can insert people into comic books - and guess who the test subjects are going to be?  The first comic that Kinga Forrester selects is Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter (the second story, published by Dell Comics, June-August 1962).  As the green bubbles wash over the gang, Tom Servo becomes the focus as he finds himself a character in the comic book, standing on the outskirts of Green City.  And thus, starting with page 11 of the very first issue, readers find themselves transported back to 1962 with the second issue of Tom Servo, Teen Reporter in "The Brat"!  And with that, all of the fun begins...

Joel, Harold, and their co-horts do an absolutely amazing job of not only fully reproducing the original art of the 1962 comic (trust me, I read each issue of MST3K right next to the issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter, and it truly is the same art!), but they seamlessly insert Tom Servo into the role of Johnny Jason!  His body remains exactly as it was in the original comic, it is only his head that has been replaced by the top portion of Tom Servo's neck and gumball machine head!  The dialogue and text boxes are nearly identical as the original comic, although the writers do take liberty from time to time in reducing the lines of dialogue in order to make room for commentary by Tom and his fellow crew members, as well as even members of the comic itself (such as on the third panel of that first page of the story, when the doorman comments on how his whistle that he is clearly trying to blow is clogged (that line did not exist in the original comic).  With each page, there is plenty of comedic commentary on the comic - from comic book tires that "light up when they blow" to Shelley Marks calling out for Professor X to save her with both hands put to her forehead to a police officer thinking how he just gave his gun to a hobo - although one of my favorites is the last panel of page four of the story, when the editor of the Green City Journal questions where the back wall went (as all of the furniture against the wall in the previous panels is oddly gone for that final panel, and instead, the original artist simply left the background blank).  

 

In the first issue, we only get 14 pages of the Johnny Jason story, and we are left to pick up the story in the next issue - but, the only thing is, the second issue features Jonah being flung into a Black Cat comic (not the Marvel Black Cat, but the old Harvey Comics Black Cat!).  This was a rare treat for me, as I have several of those old Black Cat comics, and I love the character.  It also featured a short horror tale from a comic called Horrific - whether that was a real comic or not (sounds like something from the EC realm of comics), I don't know, but the tale was definitely in the same vein as the old EC horror comics.  Therefore, it wasn't until the third issue that we return to the Johnny Jason comic, or rather, the Tom Servo comic, to see what will happen next!  We only get a brief glimpse into the adventures of Tom Servo, as the comic also has more on the Black Cat and Horrific stories.  But it's those Tom Servo pages that really had me laughing!  Tom's observations of the all-pink backgrounds, Shelley's father being self-aware that he has no authority in the house, the characters' acknowledgement of word balloons (wondering how readers will know who is talking when you see the balloons, but not the characters!), and Shelley's agent saying the actress is her parents' Star Wars - it certainly gave me a totally different view of the comic story!

 

Interestingly, in the fourth issue, instead of giving readers actual pages from the Johnny Jason comic, we get give pages of "never before seen" pages from Johnny Jason's world as Crow T. Robot, GPC (Gypsy), M. Waverly, and Growler make themselves at home at the Bar S Ranch, and Shelley's mother serves them some lemon bars and punch - but Kinga has other ideas, and she inserts herself into the story as Miss Gulch, bringing with her a tornado of Totino's Pizza Rolls (which is an ongoing joke throughout the series, because every comic must have ads, and the Pizza Rolls are the advertisers supporting the stories - in the comic!), but, of course, it doesn't go as planned, creating more havoc than anything else.

Issue five sees the return to the Johnny Jason ... er, Tom Servo, Teen Reporter comic - with a cover that even pays homage to the original Johnny Jason cover.  We pick up where issue three left off, with the plane Shelley is piloting getting ready to crash.  We only get six pages, before the action switches over to the Black Cat again.  But we do get plenty of re-written dialogue, witty commentary, and hilarious thought balloons as the characters  think about the most off-the wall things - such as one of the kidnappers wondering if the pennycress that are in bloom would make a nice salad, another kidnapper wondering who painted the mountain pink, and Tom wondering whether the ceiling of the cabin where they are held is up to code!

The sixth and final issue of the mini-series wraps up the Black Cat tale and gives us the thrilling (?) conclusion to the Tom Servo, Teen Reporter story!  As Tom helps Shelley escape the kidnappers, and the watch as the avalanche collapses on one of the men chasing them, Tom can't help but think about making a move on Shelley ... and how fun she is ... and how this has been a date that she will never forget!  Of course, as with the original, it is Johnny ... er, I mean Tom ... who reveals the true villain to be Shelley's agent, whose drink turns into a gun in just one panel and he tries to make his escape - but Chuck stops him, grabbing him around the neck (and so astutely observing that "If you grab an agent by the tie, they're powerless!").  As the final panel arrives, so do the green bubbles, which even the editor of the Green City Journal notices (with the comment, "Calgon, take me away!").

This series was definitely an ingenuous idea, and the MST3K guys did an amazing job pulling it off!  After reading it side by side with the original issue of Johnny Jason, Teen Reporter, for comparison purposes to see what was changed, if anything - I went back and just re-read it for fun, and I had a blast.  I would love to see them do more of these - I mean, let's face it, there are a plethora of comics from the '40s, '50s, and '60s that are just ripe for this kind of riff-traxx!  They've been doing it for movies for years, so let's see some more comics - cheesy super hero comics, outrageous western and jungle comics, over-the-top romance comics, and so much more are just waiting for the MST3K treatment!

I definitely give this series a big two thumbs up!

RATING:  10 plates of Totino pizza rolls out of 10 for seeing all of the craziness of the comics from the '60s and sharing the hilarious commentary in comic book format!

Under the Cover of Murder - the sixth Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery

Six books in, and author Lauren Elliott still has me hooked with her Beyond the Page Bookstore mystery series!  I have so been enjoying the antics of Addie Greyborne and her friends - Serena, Simon, Catherine, Paige (get it? Paige? Books?), Zach, Jerry, and yes, even Marc!  Elliott has created such a well-rounded cast of characters, and each time I pick up a book, it's like visiting with old friends again.  And each mystery is so well-crafted, somehow connected to a different book each time - Sherlock Holmes, The Secret Garden, Charles Dickens, Alice in Wonderland ... I'm still holding out hope that one of these days, Addie is going to solve a mystery involving a first edition, first printing of the first Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Old Clock!  I mean, after all, the author's biography in the back of the book says that Elliott grew up "devouring" Nancy Drew!  But, while I wait, I'll continue to enjoy each of these fantastically plotted whodunnits...

Under the Cover of Murder deals with an Agatha Christie book - The Mysterious Affair, which happens to be the first Hercule Poirot novel.  It's the wedding of her best friend, Serena, and Addie is the maid of honor.  The wedding is to take place on the very opulent yacht owned by the groom's parents, and from the moment Addie first set foot on the yacht, she couldn't wait to get into that library of what is clearly some very valuable first printings!  Little does she realize that it will take not one, but two!, murders before she is able to get in there and examine the books.  First, a body turns up on the beach the morning of Serena's wedding; and then, another body washes ashore that same night, after Serena and Zach have left on their honeymoon.  The first body has no identification; the second body, though, is Lacey Davenport!  Marc's high school sweetheart and Serena's former best friend - before she stole from Serena and wreaked havoc in Greyborne Harbor (as told in Prologue to Murder).  The murders appear to unrelated - except for the fact that the mystery man was holding a torn piece from a page of a book in his hand when he was found, and traces of Lacey's blood are found in a book in the yacht's library - the very same book that has a piece torn from one of its pages!

Addie has quite a mystery on her hands this time and a very limited time within which to solve it.  Locked on the boat with all of the other wedding guests, she (with the help of Paige and Catherine) create a new clue board to list suspects, write up motives, and put down all of the clues they find.  And while many people had a reason to dislike Lacey - after all, she managed to tick off a lot of people at the wedding reception! - who hated her enough to killer her?  And how does she connect to the man found on the beach that morning?  Was the motive personal, or had Lacey uncovered something that someone would kill to keep secret?  And talk about secrets!  Elliott certainly fills this book with tons of them!  From spouses cheating on their better halves, to unscheduled and untraceable stops by the yacht, to false copies of first editions of some very valuable books - this mystery has it all.  But that simply means Addie and friends have so much more to sift through in order to find the true motive and real killer before he or she strikes again.

I truly enjoy the fact that Elliott provides opportunities for some of the supporting cast to shine in each book.  Sometimes it is Serena, sometimes it is Simon, and in this one, Paige and Catherine get their turn.  I also enjoy the ongoing subplot of Addie's love life - first it was with Marc, then he left her and ended up with the former FBI agent, Ryley; then she fell for Simon, and it seems to be going well - however, events in this book could change that dynamic, and honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I mean, when the series started, I was rooting for Marc and Addie to get together.  But after Ryley came along and the way Marc treated Addie, I kind of adjusted to her being with Simon.  What will happen next?  I guess only future books will tell...

Now, something in this book that immediately caught my attention while reading it.  In the scene, the captain of the yacht comes up to the group, and Addie realized from his good looks "why the normally meek Ida Biggs, a book club member, and the usually prickly Martha had both schemed to get closer to him during this past week's festivities" (p. 18).  The thing that immediately stood out was "Ida Biggs."  Quite an unusual name - unless you happen to have read The Dana Girls Mystery Stories (a children's mystery series in the vein of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, where sisters Jean and Louise Dana solve mysteries at a boarding school).  In that series, the Dana sisters have a nemesis by the name of Lettie Briggs, who has a cohort in crime named Ina Mason.  No, it's not exact, but it is rather close enough - Ida/Ina and Biggs/Briggs.  Left me to wonder if perhaps Elliott had grown up reading more than just Nancy Drew, and the names inspired this book club member's name.  A mystery for another day, I suppose.

Another reference in the book that caught my eye (and delighted my geek side!) was in the scene where Addie has joined Serena and the other bride's maids to get their hair done.  Serena finally relents that a braided coil may not have been the best, to which Ellie replies, "...that wasn't until Paige pointed out that you'd look like Princess Leia" (p. 30).  To which, Serena snickers and replies, "...then I decided taking on the Dragon Lady [referring to her future mother-in-law] this week has been bad enough, I really didn't want a go-around with Darth Vader, too" (p. 30).  Let's face it - any book that no only references the greatest sci-fi film of all time (uhm, Star Wars! Duh!), but also has that possible homage to the Dana Girls - well, no way around it, it's a huge hit in my book (pun fully intended!)!

The climactic confrontation of Addie with the killer in this book was definitely something to look forward to, as there were certain scenes earlier that set up that climax, and which I could not wait to see happen.  It was also fun to figure out with Addie just who was involved in the murders, in the cover-up, and in the book forgeries, as there were so many possibilities - it's nice to read a murder mystery where the killer turns out to be a true surprise!

This series is a definite must read for cozy-mystery fans, non-cozy-mystery fans, and, well, just about anyone who loves a really good murder mystery!

RATING:  10 slices of mile-high chocolate cake with gold flakes sprinkled across the icing out of 10 for one heck of a superbly written murder mystery!

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #16 - The Clue of the Tapping Heels

Our Central Florida Sleuths recently read the first Penny Parker mystery, written by Mildred Wirt (Benson), so we decided for our next book to read the Nancy Drew book that came out in the same year, which was also written by Wirt, so that we could compare the stories and writing to see what similarities and differences we might come across.  What we discovered was certainly more than we were expecting, that's for sure - not just about the comparison between the two books, but about the story itself.  It has been such a long time since I had read the original text version of The Clue of the Tapping Heels (published in 1939, the same year the first Penny Parker book, Tale of the Witch Doll, was published), and there were a number of things that I had completely forgotten about with regard to this book.  There is SO much to talk about when it comes to this book, so let's just dig right in, shall we?

Since the cover is the first thing you see when you pick up a book, let's discuss that cover.  The original cover by artist Russell Tandy depicts Nancy, Bess and George at the ladder that was left behind by whomever had broken into the Drew home.  However, in the book, it is only Nancy that discovers the ladder (p. 55), and there is no one running away in the background (as surely Nancy would have noticed them!).  The first cover by Rudy Nappi more accurately pictures the scene with just Nancy (although we still have that mysterious man in the background running away).  The third and final cover, also painted by Nappi, is a collage that focuses more on the revised text mystery, which deals with more with cats and less with the mystery surrounding Bunce, Carter, and Gussie.  

And that brings us to the mystery.  I read the original text story, as outlined by Edna Stratemeyer and ghostwritten by Mildred Wirt (Benson).  The mystery centers around a certain spinster, Annie Carter, who has a house full of cats.  When Nancy, Bess and George rescue a hungry kitten, they soon find its owner, Miss Carter, has a number of cats, which does not set well with her neighbors - particularly one not-so-nice Fred Bunce!  It seems he and Miss Carter have a connection, as Miss Carter helped protect Gus Woonton from his abusive ward, Mr. Bunce.  But as Nancy and her friends are there, Miss Carter receives news from the hospital where Gus was sent that Gus has passed away, and Mr. Bunce is quick to throw the blame on Miss Carter.  Miss Carter, on the other hand, is certain Gus had a sizable inheritance that Mr. Bunce has squandered.  Nancy smells a mystery, and it isn't long before she has her father helping to investigate the circumstances surrounding Gus Woonton's disappearance and any possible inheritance he may have from his real parents.  The story weaves quite a web of lies, secrets, and hidden familial connections, and before the end of the story, Nancy uncovers not only the truth behind Gus's parentage, but also one of Ned's college classmates!  And while Nancy is practicing tap dancing on the opening page to the story, working out a way to integrate Morse code with the taps, and she ultimately is able to use that code to summon help when she is tied up and locked away in a cabin - and while there seem to be an unusual amount of tapping in the story, dancing and otherwise! - the mystery at no point actually involves tapping or tap dancing, and there is no "clue" that Nancy discovers as a result of the tapping.  Thus, it may be the real mystery for this book is why it is titled The Clue of the Tapping Heels, when the tapping heels provided no clue to Nancy whatsoever!

 

As the Central Florida Sleuths agreed while discussing this book, The Clue of the Tapping Heels reads very much like a soap opera.  You have secret family relationship that are kept hidden; you have surprise revelations regarding people from the characters' pasts; there is embezzlement, kidnapping, lying, danger, and miracle cures!  And, being the nitpickers that we are, we found a number of things in this book that raised our eyebrows or made us question just how heavily the book was edited once Mildred Wirt had turned in the manuscript.  Let's delve into some of those observations...

First, on page three, it is made clear that George is not short for anything, nor is it a nickname - it is George's real name.  "Her real name was George, and she delighted in watching the expression on the faces of people who could not understand this" (p. 3).  It seems there has always been debate on whether George was actually short for Georgia or just simply her real name (and I believe one book does make mention of her real name being Georgia, but I don't recall which one, off hand), but this one leaves no doubt that her name is simply George.  

Second, it was a bit surprising to see not just the first and most recent mysteries listed when the story makes its obligatory reference to Nancy's past adventures - but rather, it references The Secret of the Old Clock by name, and then talks about the girls visiting "such interesting places as Red Gate Farm, Shadow Ranch, and Larkspur Lane" (p. 15).  It then references her most recent mystery involving the Haunted Bridge (p. 15).  We all agreed this was not the usual description of Nancy's career; however, I must admit, that is not the case - I happened to look at the previous book, The Haunted Bridge, and discovered a rather intriguing coincidence - on the same exact page of THAT book, the author not only mentions The Secret of the Old Clock by name, but also references Nancy's prior adventures taking her "to such picturesque localities as Red Gate Farm, Lilac Inn, Shadow Ranch, and Larkspur Lane" (p. 15), and then referencing "a strange tale which centered around a queer old abandoned mansion at Sea Cliff" (p. 15).  Thus, referencing several past mysteries, but not necessarily by their formal names, was not quite uncommon in those original stories!

Third, this book features a couple of relatives of the cast who make their one and only appearance in this story.  The first is Mrs. Bealing, who is described simply as "a relative of Mrs. Gruen" (p. 21).  Nancy brings her in to stay with Miss Carter to help care for her and her cats.  The second is Aunt Helen Miller, who is Bess's aunt (p. 142).  Since she is not referred to as George's aunt also, and we know that Bess's and Georges' mothers are sisters, then it can only be assumed she is related to Bess through Bess's father, meaning she must be his sister who married a "Mr. Miller," thus explaining her different last name.  Aunt Helen lives in New York City, so it immediately raises the question - does she know Nancy's Aunt Eloise Drew?  Poor Aunt Helen is never seen nor heard from again, so one can only speculate as to what happened to her (perhaps she moved away from New York before she ever got to meet Aunt Eloise?).

Fourth, while the mystery in the original text does not center around the cats like the revised text, that is not to say the cats do not play a part.  In fact, Carson makes a rather humorous comment when he is told how many cats Miss Carter has at her house - "Twenty-five cats is just about twenty-four to many" (p. 22).  And considering this book was written in 1939, there is another term that is used for the cats throughout the story, and one member of our reading group jokingly commented that Mrs. Slocombe (from Are You Being Served?) would fit right into this story! But, what is shocking is that several of the cats are actually killed in the course of the story (pp. 32-33), which is unusual for a Stratemeyer story to include for children to read.  I have no doubt when younger readers first read this story, their hearts were broken - "Three died last night, and two more this morning," Mrs. Bealing tells the girls - she is sure they were poisoned, and likely by Mr. Bunce!

Fifth involves a continuity error involving time.  On page 45, it is "late" when the girls leave Miss Carter's house.  When Nancy returns home, she finds her father in the garden, and she sits out there and talks with him while he works.  That very evening, Nancy gets a phone call from Horace St. Will - but when he asks about meeting with her father, she informs him Carson Drew is not there and she "sat up until her father came home from a meeting downtown..." (p. 46).  If it were already late when the girls left Miss Carter's house, and then Nancy spent time with her father in the garden before receiving a call from Mr. St. Will in the evening, then what kind of meeting would Carson Drew be having that late at night downtown?  This is an instance where the editing question springs to mind, in that whomever edited the story may have disrupted the continuity of what was happening here.

Sixth is another continuity error involving one of the police officers.  Officer Flynn wrongfully suspects Nancy and George of foul play earlier in the story, and when Nancy and her father go to the police station later, the Chief attempts to apologize.  "It doesn't matter at all," Nancy says, "Officer Flynn was trying to do his duty..." (p. 123).  Then just two paragraphs later, the Chief refers to him as "Sergeant Flynn."  Yet, on the very next page, Nancy and her father are "disheartened by Officer Flynn's failure to arrest Omar" (p. 124).  Either someone wasn't paying attention when they inserted the name into the story, or Flynn had the quickest promotion and demotion in the police force!

Seventh involves the price of the evening gown that the young spoiled actress, Beverly Barrett buys.  In the book, Nancy sees the price tag of $189 for the one dress.  Now, that was in 1939 - when you inflate that amount to today's prices, that dress would have cost over $3,800!  Talk about an expensive dress! And while we are on the subject of Beverly Barrett - the young actress that Miss Carter has been supporting, even though she barely has enough money to sustain herself and her cats - let's take a look at her name.  I wondered if perhaps there was any actress of the time with a similar name from which Mildred Wirt may have gotten the idea from - and the closest I could find was an actress named Judith Barrett, who did a number of films in the 1920s and '30s - and coincidentally enough, Judith Barrett also did films under the name "Nancy" Dover (from 1928-33).  Even more of a coincident, her last film was Those Were the Days!, starring William Holden and none other than Bonita Granville (who, as Nancy Drew fans will recognize, starred as Nancy Drew in the four films produced in the 1930s).  And to further the coincidences, Beverly Barrett is described in the book as a "beautiful young woman" (p. 146) - and Judith Barrett was noted for her beauty (being described in the October 16, 1939 edition of the Baltimore Sun as a "pretty and blonde actress ... the first Telegenic Girl to go on record. In other words, she is the perfect type of beauty for television...").  So, did Mildred Wirt use Judith Barrett as her idea for Beverly Barrett?  Food for thought...

 

Eighth, when the stewardess on the boat unlocks the door to find Nancy bound and gagged, her first reaction is, "A stowaway!" (p. 195) - this, despite the fact George and Bess had heard Nancy tapping out the world H-E-L-P and had pretty much forced the stewardess to unlock the door to the room.  I'm sorry, but if I went into a locked room and found someone bound and gagged on the floor, my first reaction would not be that the person was a stowaway.  I mean, seriously, who would tie themselves up and lock themselves in a room in order to stow away aboard a boat?

Finally, this book has a surprising amount of references to "colored men" and "Negroes" and even one very surprising reference to a "darky" (p. 79)!  Obviously, we have to look at the time period in which the book was written, long before society as a whole realized the horrific and insulting meaning to these terms - but even in that context, I can't recall any other Nancy Drew book from that period that had as many references as this to such derogatory terms.  It begs the question of whether these references were in the outline by Edna, or written into the story by Mildred, or were added to the story when edited by Harriet.  This is definitely a case where I wish the NYPL had the outlines and/or original manuscripts for these books, so we can delve deeper into the behind-the-scenes making of this book!

Now, before I sign off, I do want to take a look at how this compare to the first Penny Parker mystery, Tale of the Witch Doll, which was published the same year as The Clue of the Tapping Heels, and was probably written by Mildred Wirt around the same time (and judging from dated correspondence between Mildred and Harriet at the time regarding this manuscript, as well as the fact that Mildred wrote a total of 12 books that were published in 1939, we are judging that Tale of the Witch Doll was likely written prior to The Clue of the Tapping Heels).  Either way, there are a number of similarities between the two books, despite their entirely differing plots:

(a)    Both books have scam artist posing as either an Egyptian astrologer (Omar) in Tapping Heels or a nefarious medium (Osandra) in Witch Doll - and the names of both characters begin with "O";

(b)    Omar wears a long robe and sit on a raised gold platform in Tapping Heels, while Osandra sits on a black throne with dark velvet robes in Witch Doll;

 

(c)    Nancy and her friends eat at the always crowded restaurant,The Black Cat Restaurant, in Tapping Heels; while in Witch Doll, Miss Harmon claims to have had her jewelry stolen while at The Black Cat Club;

 

(d)    Annie Carter, the woman Nancy tries to help in Tapping Heels, is former actress; Helene Harmon, the woman Penny tries to help in Witch Doll, is a dancer/actress;

 

(e)    Gus Woonton was hospitalized in Riverside Home in Tapping Heels; and Penny Parker calls Riverside her home in Witch Doll; and

 

(f)    Nancy Drew hides in the basement at the end of Tapping Heels to try and figure out where the tapping noise is coming from; and Penny Parker ends up in a basement cave under the doll shop at the end of Witch Doll, held captive by the unrepentant criminal!

 

While I would not call this the worst of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories by any means, I will admit that I think I enjoyed the first Penny Parker book better than this one.  This had so many plot elements to it (I didn't even mention in this post the ship that overturned while Ned and Nancy were on it, the fact that a very minor character - Ned's classmate - turns out to be the son of the captain of the ship that overturned, none of which had anything to do with the whole Carter/Bunce/Woonton mystery - plus add in the whole Egyptian astrologer aspect, and the spoiled young actress in New York City) - it's enough to make one's head spin!

RATING:  7 pairs of self-tapping dancing shoes out of 10 for managing to take a convoluted plot with a huge cast and wrapping it all up nicely by the end!

Daisy Blackwood, Pilot for Hire - Vol. 3 - The Dreamland Demon

The name of Ryan Howe should be well-known in the comics world - and if it's not, well, it needs to be!  His creation, "Daisy Blackwood, Pilot for Hire," is by far one of the best comic strips / stories that I have read.  The stories are fun, adventure-filled, and exciting; the characters are engaging, realistic, and entertaining; and the style of storytelling - well, I've said it before, and I'll say it again - it's completely cinematic.  It's like I'm watching a film unfold on the page before my eyes!  Each page contains three to five panels (although he does utilize a splash panel once in a while for a very important scene/reveal), and each page manages to end at a specific moment that immediately takes the reader to the next page to find out what will happen next!  His art remains consistent throughout, and his backgrounds vary from extremely detailed (when the setting is an integral element of the story) to minimalist (when the dialogue and characters are the most important part of the scene).  By the time I finish one of Howe's graphic novels, I feel like I have just finished watching a movie that leaves me breathless, wanting for more!

The Dreamland Demon is the third graphic novel in the Daisy Blackwood series, and it picks back up on the story from the first story, The Cursed Island.  But instead of opening the story with our main character, Howe throws readers right into a chase scene - with a young woman named Huma and her aunt Raifah, who are running from a dark and deadly creature - one that takes Raifah's life, even though it's a dream!  The scene then changes to a professor's library/office, where Daisy is explaining the weird event from the island and how whatever was in that mysterious box caused people to go mad.  Just as she is leaving the professor's office, she mentions a few flights she has lined up, which catches the attention of an older woman in the hallway who happens to be in search of a pilot.  But readers quickly learn this woman is not everything she claims to be, for she says she is an old friend of Professor Adams, but after Daisy leaves and Professor Adams comes out, it is clear the two do not know each other!  And so the intrigue begins...

 

The story takes Daisy and her client, Constance Flynn, who happens to be working with Huma on this mysterious quest, around the globe, all the way to Scotland and then on to Norway in search of the unnamed treasure.  However, when Daisy begins to have some very strange and frightening nightmares, and she follows Constance and Huma into a cavern that is full of not-so-ancient treasures in Scotland, she ultimately uncovers the truth about Flynn's quest - and the undead man she carries around who is allegedly going to lead her to the treasure she is after!  Of course, as with any good story, there's more going on here than what we see on the surface, and soon Daisy falls victim to the strange madness that overtakes the people who fall under the undead Sigvard's control!  Flynn has been keeping the ancient viking under her control through sedation, which has been limiting his ability to control others, but even the sedation has its limits.  And the closer the team gets to Sigvard's hidden stash, the harder it is to keep the viking sedated.  And it all leads to a climactic race for the treasure, as treasure hunters gone mad fight to get their hands on the ultimate prize - a madness that Daisy is all too familiar with!

It's clear from this story that Howe is building up to something big - something that will tie these stories together and lead to an even bigger battle than what we see in these pages.  While each book is its own story, there are elements being placed within the stories that connect, and it will be interesting to see where Howe takes us with these.  

One thing I do enjoy about these stories, other than just the fantastic writing and superb art!, is the fact that the stories are clearly set in the past.  They don't have cell phones, or internet, or any of the other technological conveniences of today's world.  Thus, the stories are more focused on the characters and the adventure and less on how technology can do all the work for them.   I also like the fact that with this book, we have a clear and definite step into the supernatural world, and the fact that the next book is titled Paranormal Perils, it's a pretty easy guess to see that Daisy Blackwood's world is one where she will be facing quite a bit of paranormal activity!  Which is fine by me - mixing the adventure with the supernatural, but without all the tech gadgets - well, it pretty much guarantees a story that I'm going to enjoy!

Looking forward to more of Daisy's adventures!

RATING:  10 boxes of tranquilizers out of 10 for keeping Daisy's adventures fresh, fun, and filled with exciting moments that keep me turning page after page!

The Forgotten Five, Book 1 - Map of Flames

This is not a book I would have normally picked up had I seen it in the bookstore.  I'm not really a fan of fantasy and/or treasure hunting stories, although I do enjoy a good supernatural story here and there.  But this one I did pick up because it came highly recommended by the author's daughter - who just so happens to be Nancy Drew!  Well, she's plays Nancy Drew on TV, anyway.  Kennedy McMann, who currently plays everyone's favorite teen sleuth on the CW's show is the daughter of Lisa McMann, the author of the Unwanteds series, as well as some other fantasy series for young adults and children.  Honestly, I had seen those series at Barnes & Noble and other bookstores, but never picked them up, since they weren't mysteries (which is my all-time favorite).  But since this first book in Lisa McMann's new series was being recommended by Nancy Drew herself (sort of), I figured I had to give it a shot!

Map of Flames is the first book in The Forgotten Five series.  The series centers around five children - Birdie, Brix, Seven, Tenner, and Cabot - who have lived an isolated life with the parents, away from civilization, away from everything and everyone.  Life has been good for them.  Until Birdie and Brix's mother doesn't return from a scouting trip.  And when the other parents go searching for her, they don't return.  Leaving Birdie and Brix's father to care for all five children.  The years pass, their father becomes ill, and on his death bed, he confesses an important secret to his daughter, Birdie.  And he leaves her a map, with instructions to take the map to her mother, who she needs to find in Estero.  But how can Birdie do that, when she has never left the isolated beach area they call home?  Does she have what it takes to leave the only world she's ever known to go into the strange outside world of which she has only read about and heard stories from the parents?  And will the other four children agree to go, or will they try to stop her?  And just what is the map a guide to?

Oh, did I mention that the parents all had super powers?  And did I tell you that the five children (well, four out of the five) inherited their own powers?  And, oh yeah, did I forget to reveal that the parents were all wanted criminals, which is why they have been hiding all these years?  So, yeah, you can see how that kind of complicates everything.  Plus, on top of all of that, the children have been warned that the people of the outside world do not have powers, and they all fear and hate the "supernaturals," as they call them.  So how will a girl who can talk with animals (Birdie), a boy who can bounce and heal quickly (Brix), a boy who can see in the darkest night and hold his breath for extended periods of time (Tenner), and a boy who is virtually invisible (Seven) be able to search through the millions of people in Estero to find Birdie and Brix's mother?  Why, by using the map of course!  Well, once they let the flames die down that appear every time they open the map.  You see, Birdie and Brix's father could control fire, so he placed a spell on the map to prevent just anyone from having access to it.  And that map is the only guide that the children have to Birdie and Brix's mother and, perhaps, the rest of their parents as well!

The story is a fish-out-of-water tale of children who have never dealt with money, never seen let alone experience automobiles, television, and cell phones, or even used a modern public restroom; but it is also a treasure hunt, as the kids must use the map and clues given by Birdie and Brix's father to locate the stash of stolen treasure the parents had hidden away before they disappeared.  It is also a tale of supernatural and superpowers, as they children must learn to use their abilities to protect themselves, to provide for themselves, and to perform a daring rescue of Bridie and Brix's mother.  More than that, though, it is a story of friendship, family, and trust, as the children must learn more about each other and themselves in order to work together and form a true family that can do anything they set their minds to!  And, of course, since this is the first book, it ends off with a cliffhanger that will clearly lead into the kids' second adventure.

McMann does a great job of giving the children very distinct personalities that set them apart from one another.  And she captures the essence of what it is like to be a child between the ages of 9 and 13 - uncertain, fearful, questioning, yet daring and willing to head off into adventure (particularly when there is no parental figure to stop them!).  Despite their differences, though, they are fiercely loyal to one another, and they have to push back their own anger and distrust to help each other in the end.  As you read this first book, you'll see some character growth in a few of the characters, particularly Birdie and Tenner, who the first two to head into Estero and face the world they have never known.  McMann provides readers with some tense, yet at times comical, experiences as the kids come in contact with every day things that we take for granted - stop lights, staircases, menus, libraries, and even doors that only open one way!  There is a bit of romance and jealousy among the kids, which was probably the one thing about the story that I felt was a distraction.  For me, the romantic feelings that Tenner had for Birdie and Birdie had for Seven just didn't feel natural and felt more like forced moments simply to create some tension between the characters.  However, it did ultimately lead to a bit of growth for Tenner in learning how to express his inner thoughts and feelings more, so I guess it couldn't be all bad.

I probably most enjoyed the use of the kids' powers, and particularly in the big rescue at the end of this first book.  And although Cabot believes she has no real super power like the others, it's pretty easy to see that her super-smart, analytical brain holds her power - she only has to realize it.

I can't honestly say this was the most exciting story I've ever read - I did have to force myself to keep reading it, as the book opens at a very slow pace, with the kids (mostly Birdie, but in small ways, the others) being very whiny and self-doubting.  But, McMann really gets her stride by the mid-way point, and once Birdie and Tenner get into Estero and the other kids begin their own trek to reach the outside world, things start to pick up, and the story gets much more interesting.  With the stage set now, and the groundwork laid for what's to come, I have no doubt McMann will be providing exciting from beginning to end in future books in this series.

Would I have picked this up without Kennedy McMann's recommendation?  Likely not.  But it is a story that has its moments, and by the time I was done, I did have a sense of enjoyment from following the kids' first adventure in the big, scary world.  So, I'd say the book is worth picking up and giving it a shot, even if you aren't a treasure-hunting / fantasy fan.  

RATING:  7 a la carte menus out of 10 for adventure, friendship, and family all rolled into one story!

Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious - All Flesh is Grass

I thoroughly enjoyed the first "Doctor Who: Time Lord Victorious" novel, so I came into this second novel with high hopes.  The first book has such a strong feel of an episode of the TV show, I could actually 'watch' it in my mind as I was reading the book.  I mean, any time BBC and its various writers bring together more than just two Doctors for a special story, it's bound to be good.  Right?  I mean, here we have the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann), the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston, my favorite!), and the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant), coming together - the Tenth Doctor to stop the Kotturuh, and the Eighth and Ninth Doctors to stop the Tenth Doctor from genocide.  And the Eighth Doctor has brought along the Daleks, the sworn enemy of the Doctor, and the Ninth Doctor has brought a horde of vampires.  Who is actually fighting on the right side here?   Such a great premise, such a great build up in the last book....and such a huge let-down with this second part.

All Flesh is Grass, written by Uma McCormack, lacks almost everything the previous book had that made it such a great Doctor Who story.  While the story picks up right where the previous "Time Lord Victorious" book left off, it's as different as night is from day.  First, and probably foremost, is the fact that the author does not have a grasp on the personalities for the various Doctors.  One of the things about Doctor Who that has made it fascinating, for me at least, is that each incarnation of the Doctor has a very different, very distinct personality that sets him (or her, as the case may now be) from every other version.  The Ninth Doctor was serious; the Tenth Doctor was adventurous; the Eleventh Doctor was fun; the Twelfth Doctor was grave; the Thirteenth Doctor is surprising; and so on.  But in this book, none of the Doctors have their personality.  Rather, they read very stiff and dry.  As I read their dialogue, I don't hear any of their voices like I did in the previous book.  It's just dialogue that, quite frankly, any character could have said and it would have had the same impact.  There was nothing that made any of them feel like the Doctor.

And this whole idea that the Tenth Doctor would purposefully set out to wipe out an entire species?  I'm sorry, but that does not at all fit with the Tenth Doctor's characterization.  The Ninth Doctor?  Maybe.  The Eighth Doctor?  Probably not.  In fact, I don't know of ANY Doctor that would set out to wipe out a species, except maybe the War Doctor (John Hurt).  So, the entire premise just did not work.  The Doctor ALWAYS finds a way around it.  I was so put off by the characterization, that I had to push myself to get through the book and finish it, which rarely happens to me when I'm reading.  Honestly, I got more enjoyment out of he Daleks and the vampires than I did out of the Doctors.  And there were no companions in this story (unless you count Brian, the Ood, but he had his own agenda - and, quite frankly, he was more interesting to read than any of the Doctors - I found myself wanting to see where his story was going to take him).  Maybe that's why the Doctors' characterization was so off?  I think it was Donna who told the Doctor at the end of her first story (the Christmas special) that he needed to find himself someone, that he needed someone to keep him grounded.  And I think this book is a perfect example of just how right she was!

And speaking of Donna...

Probably the best thing about this book was on page 72, when the Eighth Doctor gets aboard the ship the Tenth Doctor had commandeered.  When Eight comments about a ship like that never appealing to him, Ten responds with: "Well, it's come in handy ... Took me a while to name it but I've settled on HMS Donna because, well, there's no arguing with it." Not only does my all-time favorite companion get a mention and a ship named after her, but she's the one character that McCormack actually got right!  Because, let's face it, there really was no arguing with Donna Noble - you always knew she would win in the end!  So, with this, the book had at least one redeeming quality.

As for the story itself - McCormack jumped back and forth among the Doctors and various characters so often, that it became somewhat hard to follow the story.  Just when you start getting into one part of the adventure, the story jumps to another scene - then to another - then back to the first - then to the third - then to the second - then to the third again - then back to the first - and so on, and so on.  It felt very jumbled, and sadly, did not flow smoothly as you are reading it.  And when the three Doctors finally meet, and you think this is going to lead up to a big battle, nope - they get separated, and we start jumping around again.  The writing lacked the cohesion and flow necessary to make it a good read, and felt more like the author simply was throwing one action sequence after another at the reader in the hopes the reader will ignore the lack of proper characterization and transitions.

At least this is the final "Time Lord Victorious" novel, so if there are any Doctor Who books in the future that I buy (depending on who the companions are), I hope they find better authors to handle them!

RATING:  4 slowly dying spider plants out of 10 for bringing three Doctors together in a story that at least gives a nod to Donna Noble - the best companion of all time!