Penny Parker Mystery Stories No. 3 - Danger at the Drawbridge

I have thoroughly been enjoying this jaunt into the world of Penny Parker, as I think Mildred Wirt (Benson) created in this series a fun, believable character with some very off-beat mysteries that sometimes go beyond what could actually be believable!  I absolutely loved the first two books in the series, but as with any ongoing series, not every book is going to be a winner, and with this third book, Wirt does let me down just a bit.  And just as the last book had very little to do with the title (as that "vanishing houseboat" did not really play much of a part in the overall mystery of the book), so does the title of this third book have actually very little to do with the mystery that Penny has to solve.

Danger at the Drawbridge finds Penny sent off to an elaborate estate to get the story of a wedding taking place there, because her father is sick and unable to personally go.  The estate is rather unique, in that it is cut off from the mainland on three sides and can only be reached by boat or drawbridge (p. 6).  The estate was built by Clayton Kippenberg, who is said to have made his fortune in the chain drug store business (p. 5).  Now, mind you, this book was published in 1940, meaning it would have been written in 1939 or early 1940.  At that time, there were actually a number drug store chains that were finding success, such as the Adams Drug Company, which first opened in 1932; the Genovese Drug Stores that were founded in Queens (NY) in 1924; K&B drug stores that opened in New Orleans in 1905; Hook's Drug Stores that were established in 1900 in Indianapolis; as well as many others.  So, for Wirt to write the character as a financial success due to a drug store chain would not be unheard of at that time.

The mystery comes into play when Penny and Salty (the photographer) manage to trick their way onto the estate to get a story regarding the wedding.  Kippenberg's daughter, Sylvia, is all set to marry Grant Atherwald - but when Grant receives a sealed envelope before he can even take a step into the house and takes off into the woods surrounding the estate, Penny immediately becomes suspicious.  Those suspicions pay off, because poor Sylvia finds herself alone at the altar, and Grant has disappeared!  Penny smells a much bigger story, but of course, no one will believe her (despite her intuition being spot-on in the previous two mysteries! You'd think her father would learn by now...).  Soon enough, Penny and Salty are forced to race off the estate - but not before the best scene in the book, when Salty gets Mrs. Kippenberg so riled up that she actually throws plates at the photographer, giving Salty some rather salacious photos for the newspaper!

Penny, of course, doesn't leave empty handed - she has discovered a band of white gold that is obviously the wedding band that Grant had intended to give to his bride.  Where she finds that band is quite interesting - she locates it next to a pond within the woods that surround the estate.  A pond that she finds out is home to an alligator!  (Compare the scene in this book on page 51 with the scene from The Haunted Showboat on page 88 - awfully similar scenes.)  Wirt, in this scene, does display some very poetic, Gothic description when she describes Penny's feelings...

...she was fully aware of an uneasy feeling which had taken possession of her.  It was almost as if she stood in the presence of something sinister and unknown.  The gentle rustling of the tree leaves, the cool river air blowing against her cheek, only served to heighten that feeling.  (p. 50).

Just reading that line gives the reader a deep foreboding, knowing that something is about to happen, but you don't know what yet.  This is some of Wirt's writing at her best!

Penny is determined to discover just what happened to Grant Atherwald, as she is confident that he did not leave on his own.  She manages to find ways to keep returning to the estate, even though she keeps getting asked to leave, and poor Jerry Livingston, once involved, gets struck on the head yet again (remember, in the last book, he was struck pretty hard, so this one could only make things worse!).  Wirt again turns the standard "damsel in distress" trope on its head by making Jerry the one always in danger, always the one kidnapped or knocked out, and Penny has to rescue him.  Of course, Penny faces her own share of danger when she and Grant are locked in an underwater cavern with no way out (kind of reminiscent of the final scene in Tale of the Witch Doll, when Penny was locked in a tunnel under the house, with water rising in). 

 

The mystery this time just doesn't have the same depth that the prior two mysteries did.  Yes, I enjoyed a number of the scenes in the book, but there are so many things off about the story - why would Kippenberg bring an alligator onto the estate and keep it from wandering the grounds?  How did the groundskeeper get rid of it so quickly when Penny brought others back to prove it was there? How did Penny gain access to the estate to frequently and easily, and yet the police were unable to find these things that she so easily came across?  And how in the world did Penny uncover the truth about Mr. Kippenberg (which, honestly, was pretty obvious from the start) and no one else, including the police, ever thought of it?  And that final chase on the water was just a bit too unbelievable...

 

 The cover art for both the original and the later revised book are similar in nature - but the original is definitely better.  That revised cover art shows a much younger Penny (too young, if you ask me).  And although those muddy footprints and the mud all over Penny's legs and feet looks ridiculous, I do have to admit it is true to the story, since Penny had just swam across the moat and climbed up the muddy bank to get to the controls of the drawbridge, so she would have been covered in mud at the time.  The original art, while definitely more beautifully rendered, shows Penny as nearly model-perfect, with no mud, not wet at all, as if she were ready to walk down the runway. 

Some things I noticed while reading the book:

 

Wirt indicates early on when Penny and Salty first visit the estate that Kippenberg has on display a genuine Van Gogh painting of a drawbridge, similar to the one in front of the estate (p. 25).  Van Gogh did, indeed, paint a drawbridge scene - in fact, he had four paintings of such: The Langlois Bridge at Arles; The Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing; The Langlois Bridge at Arles with Road Alongside the Canal; and The Langlois Bridge at Arles (in watercolor).  Based on the value at which Van Gogh paintings sold for, even back in 1940, Kippenberg would have needed to spend well into the millions just to purchase one painting like this - meaning he must truly have made a mint with that drug store chain business!

 

Something else is the frontis piece, which shows a car careening down into the moat, having driven off to the side of the drawbridge.  In the art, the car is driving down beside the bridge; however, in the actual story, Wirt describes the incident as the "speeding automobile struck the side of the steel bridge, spun sideways and careened down the bank to bury itself in the water" (p. 157).  The frontis piece does not seem to depict any damage to the car or the side of the steel bridge.  Also, since Penny and her father were coming from the other side of the moat, where they had rescued Jerry, the fact that they are facing in that opposite direction means they are facing the estate - which means the car in the art is coming from the estate rather than heading towards the estate.  Perhaps I am just being nitpicky, but I do think some details matter when illustrating a story.

 

Another issue I had deal with Louise's pin.  While Penny and Louise are investigating the pool (where the alligator resides, mind you), Louise leans over the pool and drops her pin into the water (p. 121).  They try to fish it out, but are unsuccessful.  However, at the end of the book, Jerry reveals that he found Louise's pin after the pool was drained (to get to the underground cavern under the pool) (p. 209).  Considering the fact that the pool was drained, re-filled, and drained again in-between the time she dropped the pin and Jerry found it, the chances of him actually coming across it are slim to none.

And I would certainly be remiss if I did not mention the dumbwaiter that the Parkers apparently have in their house!  On page 2, Penny intends to climb into the dumbwaiter to take herself upstairs to her father's room, but Mrs. Weems stops her, warning her that they were never intended to carry human freight!  I was not aware that personal homes had dumbwaiters back then, so I did some research online.  The first patent for the dumbwaiter did not get issued until the late 19th century, at which time, they became popular additions in the multi-story homes of the wealthy.  (History of Dumbwaiters)  Because these dumbwaiters were often big enough for children to fit inside, there were a number of injuries, accidents, and even deaths.  This eventually led to dumbwaiters being omitted from floorplans for newer home designs.  (Dumbwaiters in Homes)  Thus, for the Parkers to have a dumbwaiter in their home, that would mean they had to be quite affluent (maybe even more so than the Drews!).

Out of the three Penny Parker books I've read to date, I would say this is my least favorite.  I am hoping the next book picks back up in the right direction!

RATING:  6 sandwiches covered with dark brown, watery gravy out of 10 for making me laugh out loud at the scene with Salty and Mrs. Kippenberg - that one scene was worth it all!