Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen - Book Four - The Seaside Corpse

It's always disheartening when I find a series that I enjoy reading, and when I get three or four books into the series, I discover that the series has come to an end!  I picked up the first Aggie Morton mystery because it was said to be an imaginary tale of "What if Agatha Christie solved mysteries as a child?"  She and her best friend, Hector Perot (an obvious play on Christie's famous detective, Hercule Poroit) seem to have a knack for not only uncovering dead bodies, but for also following the clues to ultimately discover who the killer is - not unlike Christie's own detectives, Poroit and Miss Marple.  The first book was a fun read ... as was the second ... and the third.  So, now that I've come to the fourth mystery, I had no doubt about how much I was going to enjoy it - but I didn't realize that this was the final book in the series!

The Seaside Corpse takes young Aggie and Hector to the coast of England, more specifically to Lyme Regis.  Aggie's sister has had her baby, and while Aggie's mother takes care of the newborn and her mother, Aggie and Hector are taken to the seaside to assist a husband and wife team of paleontologists dig up the bones of an ancient ichthyosaur along the rocky shore.  They find that they are part of a young scientist team of children, including Arthur Haystead (the brother of a local constable) and Oscar Osteda (the son of a wealthy American interested in purchasing the bones).  The four of them will be learning and assisting Professor and Mrs. Blenningham-Crewes - but what they quickly learn is that Mrs. Blenningham-Crews (who insists every simply call her Nina) is the brains of the operation; however, being a woman in the early 1900s, it is her husband who takes all the credit for the work she does.  This, obviously, creates a lot of tension in the small camp.  There's also Helen, the daughter of the cook who helps with kitchen duties and laundry (and who secretly sneaks off to see a boyfriend her father knows nothing about); there's her father, Spud, the gruff cook who is overly protective of his daughter; Everett Tobie, the artist and photographer who is documenting everything about the prehistoric find (and who seems to be more than just friendly with Nina!); and there's Cavalier Jones, the circus ringleader who also happens to be exceptionally strong - and wants more than anything to add that ichthyosaur to his collection of circus oddities!  And let's not forget Nina's spinster secretary, Sylvia Spinns, who has a few secrets of her own to hide...

Aggie and Hector pick up on all the various tensions running through the camp, but Aggie is so excited about helping out and learning about this ancient creature, while Hector is more focused on avoiding snakes and keeping clean, that they don't pay much attention to things.  Until the body turns up on the beach!  Aggie and Hector stumble across the dead body of Professor B-C (as he is affectionately called, because no one wants to have to say that full name!) lying face-down in the sand.  They are not quite sure what to think, until they see his hat caught a ways up the side of the cliff, just below the church and its cemetery ... and until they find a small bag in that very cemetery containing two glasses and a flask with the initials B.C. on it!  There was definitely something suspicious going on, and unfortunately, it seems like pretty much everyone at camp had a motive to want the professor dead!  A wife tired of her husband taking all the credit ... a photographer who has his own desires for the professor's wife ... a cook angered by the professor's treatment of his daughter ... a laundress who doesn't like the attention she has been getting ... an American millionaire who will do anything to get those bones ... a circus strong man who is determined to get the bones for himself ... a secret boyfriend who wants to protect his girl ... in fact, there's only one person at camp that Aggie and Hector are sure did NOT do it, and that is Miss Spinns - and that is because they figure out exactly who she really is!

Author Marthe Jocelyn definitely saved the best for last.  This mystery is without a doubt worthy of the queen of crime herself.  I followed the clues right along with Aggie and Hector, and I could have sworn I had it all figured out - until Jocelyn manages to pull out one last surprise that left my jaw on the floor.  I certainly was not expecting the revelation that came, but it definitely made sense.  And not to leave her readers wondering if there would be more mysteries to come, Jocelyn provides several epilogues - we find out exactly what happens with the bones of the ichthyosaur, we find out the future plans of Arthur and Oscar, and we are ultimately left with a tear in our eye as Hector's parents finally reach out and call him home to Belgium!  It's a touching scene as Aggie and Hector say goodbye to one another (although the final epilogue has Aggie planning the perfect gift to send Hector on his birthday - and is the perfect set-up for her future as Agatha Christie!).

Jocelyn integrates some real history into the story, as the kids visit the grave of Mary Anning, a woman who discovered Jurassic marine reptile fossils in the same place where the Blenningham-Crewes were digging up their find.  And incidentally, Mary's brother dug-up an ichthyosaur skull in 1811, and Mary found the rest of the skeleton a few months after (which very well could have been the inspiration for this story).  Her tombstone in the story even records her accurate date of death (March 9, 1847).  I always enjoy reading fictional stories that throw in a few factual elements, as no matter how fantastic the tale, those real facts give the story some level of grounding.

I guess if this series had to reach its conclusion, this story was the perfect way to do so.  I applaud Jocelyn for taking a leap of faith and sharing these stories with the world, and I have no doubt Aggie and Hector will continue to live on in the hearts of fans everywhere!

RATING:  10 silver-scaled adders out of 10 for a well-written mystery with a surprising twist, and for giving Aggie and Hector the most wonderful send-off!