Lost City of Uranus - the Sixth Dig Allen Space Explorer Adventure

And with this sixth book, we've reached the final Space Explorer Adventure of our hero, Dig Allen.  Six books published over the span of four years (from 1959 to 1962), this series turned out to be considerably better than I had anticipated.  Author Joseph Lawrence Greene (1914 - 1990), who was a prolific writer who also created Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, has given young readers an exciting series of adventures of what the future could have been from a mid-century viewpoint.  The period in which these books were published was right at the end of the over-the-top, campy sci-fi films of the '50s, and so it should come as no surprise that these books are filled with what we now know to be scenarios that are simply impossible to have happen.  But, back when these were written, I have no doubt that young readers fantasized about life on other planets in our solar system and what it would be like to travel the stars.  Well, Greene offered them the chance to see it with this series.   (Special thanks to my good friend, Ray Lambert, who gifted me with a copy of this final book in the series, as I was having one heck of time trying to find a copy of it!)

 

Lost City of Uranus, published in 1962, takes a different direction from the other books.  Sure, we still get a space adventure involving Dig Allen and best friends, twin brothers Jim and Ken Barry; yes, we still follow them as they set off to yet another unexplored planet in our solar system.  But with this book, Greene opens the story differently, with readers being introduced to a ship that has just dropped off the latest settlers to the new colony on Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons that was being settled by daring spacemen and women.  When two of the crew are sent outside to inspect the rocketubes, one of them - a man by the name of Dirk Danton, happens to spot on old-fashioned bottle floating through space. He retrieves it, and inside is a handwritten letter from a pilot who disappeared, along with his ship, decades okay.  According to the letter, the pilot (Steven McKay) was the sole survivor after a meteor struck their ship, and as he was about to crash on the planet Uranus, he decided to send out this message in a bottle in the off chance someone may find it and be aware - for McKay had spotted what appeared to be a shining city on the surface of the planet, a planet always believed to be lifeless!  The crew in the present (our future?!) laugh it off, except for Danton.  Danton believes there is something to it, and thus, his greed gets our story going.

 

And thus, with a bit of a jump, Dig, Ken and Jim are readying to head to Earth for a much needed vacation, only to be given a brief mission while they are on Earth - deliver the letter from Steven McKay to his family - his now elderly wife and their son, with his wife and two children.  There does not seem to be any problem with the delivery - but they are unaware Danton has been following them, determined to get his hands on that letter so he can head to Uranus and find that city.  Through a series of unexpected circumstances, the McKay grandchildren - Jamie and Judy - are tricked by Danton into a smuggler's ship; but when left by themselves for only a moment, it is sufficient time for the children to accidentally start the ship's engines and send it flying off into space!  After they are missing for a couple of days, McKay's son comes to where Dig and his friends are vacationing and begs for their help.  And, thus, it becomes a race against time for Dig to find the children before they crash on the same planet where their grandfather is believed to have died.  Dig enlists the help of the smuggler, whose ship the children are in, and unknowingly take Dirk Danton along with them - with ultimately proves disastrous!  

 

Although the idea of there being an underwater city thriving on Uranus, Greene does actually provide a fairly good tale of morality and the cost of greed.  Dig, Jim, Ken, and the smugglers do ultimately find the city, and even though Dig claims it for the Space Explorers, placing it under their jurisdiction, the smugglers, at Dirk's insistence, decide to sneak in and steal some things from the city for their own benefit.  Those actions have some pretty major consequences, not only for Dirk and the smugglers, but for the entire city and its inhabitants!  It is tragic in a number of ways, and provides a double meaning to the title of the book; yet, at the same time, it provides for a not-so-surprising reunion and some measure of hope for what they have learned to be applied to life on Earth.  As a final story for the series, it is a unique one, and definitely one that is heavy on the heart.

 

There is not a whole lot of science within this story, but Greene does have his characters mention that Uranus "is not as dense as the Earth" and the atmosphere "is mostly methane" (p. 78).  While the first part is true, as Uranus does not have a solid surface, but is more or less an ice giant made up of various "ice" type materials, the second part about the methane is not true.  The atmosphere of Uranus is 83% hydrogen, 15% helium, and only 2.3% methane - so it is definitely not "mostly methane."  Further, the references in the book to the gravity being heavier than that of Earth are also wrong, as Uranus' gravity is about 11% weaker than the Earth's gravity.  This is due to the fact that Uranus' mass is so large and spread out over a large volume, the surface is much farther from the planet's center, and therefore the gravitational pull is weaker.  Of course, this book was written and published in the early 1960s, before much of the in-depth study of the planet discovered a lot of these facts.  Besides, these books are science fiction, and therefore, the details do not need to be factual!

 

This book gives us the fourth artist on the series, Phil Marini. I could not find much information about Marini, other than the fact that he did a number of paperback covers for Dell and other publishers back in the 1950s.  His cover for this book is a bit off, as one cannot really tell who the older characters are supposed to be.  This scene is taken from the moment when Dig, Jim, Ken, and the smuggler captain find the two children on the surface of Uranus, and after reviving them with oxygen, they discover the city under the icy surface (p. 91).  However, none of the men have Dig's red hair, and the man kneeling down and pointing does not look anything like the captain described in the story.  His appearance does not even match Marini's drawing of him in the story (p. 85)!  And speaking of that particular drawing - for some reason, that one is the only one printed in black.  All of the other internal illustrations are printed in a light blue ink.  Not sure why they difference, but it definitely stands out from the others.

 

As I've said before, it is a shame this series ended after only six books.  The stories were actually very engaging and filled with adventure, and the main characters were very likable.  I mean, the publisher could have at least given him two more books, so he could have finished the planets in our solar system - one wonders what Dig and his friends would have found out on Neptune and Pluto!

RATING:  9 English-speaking Uranians out of 10 for giving Dig and his friends a final farewell story that sticks with you in terms of story and impact!

Robots of Saturn - the Fifth Dig Allen Space Explorer Adventure

This penultimate adventure of Dig Allen, Space Explorer brings us one step closer to the final book in the series.  We have visited Mercury, Venus, Mars, the asteroid belt, and Jupiter, and now, in this fifth book, author Joseph Greene takes us on a trip to Saturn - or, more specifically, the rings of Saturn.  Greene offers a great dedication at the beginning of the book, "To the young people whoa re reading stories of space today, and who will on the moon tomorrow."  Since this book was published in 1962, Greene and his readers were still seven years away from man actually walking on the moon; thus, his dedication was more prophetic than he likely ever knew.  Greene lived until 1990, so he was alive to see a number of trips into space and the moon, and one has to wonder if he ever looked back at his science fiction stories and realized just how far-fetched many of them were in light of what science was discovering about our solar system and the planets in it.

 

Robots of Saturn is certainly a dead-on title for this book, since the story deals with exactly that - robots being used to mine the rings of Saturn.   When Dig and his friends get a call from Dr. Barry (the twins' father) asking for their help, they head out immediately.  What they learn is that Dr. Barry is heading an expedition to the rings of Saturn, where they will mine some very rare minerals that cannot be found elsewhere - minerals that can be used to create an indestructible metal that can withstand even the heat and deadly radiation of the sun itself!  But the only way to mine the minerals is through a new technology that allows man to interface with robots - in other words, they can transfer their minds and essence into a robot that they can then "live" through to do work a normal man cannot!  Professor Norwyn is the scientist who has developed these robots, and Greg and Maxie are the two space men who have volunteered to transfer themselves into the robots to mine the rings.  Needless to say, there is trouble when robot disappears, and it seems someone is out to sabotage the entire mining operation!

 

Published in 1962, one wonders if author Joseph Greene got some of his ideas for these robots from the great sci-fi author, Isaac Asimov.  Asimov introduced what is known as the "Three Laws of Robotics" in his 1942 short story, "Runaround," which include (1) a robot may not injure a human being or allow a human being to be harmed; (2) a robot must obey human orders except where such order would conflict with the first rule; and (3) a robot must protect its own existence as long as that protection does not conflict with the first two laws.  Greene, in this story, sets up very similar rules, but expands it to five rules:  (1) a robot shall not harm a human being; (2) a robot shall not permit a human being to be harmed; (3) a robot shall not permit a human to bring harm to himself; (4) a robot must obey all orders given by a human unless it conflicts with the first three rules; and (5) a robot must protect itself, unless it conflicts with the first four rules.  As you can see, these are basically the same rules established 20 years prior to Asimov in his short story.

 

Greene does provide some scientific detail (at least, what was known at that time) regarding the various rings of Saturn.  Most of the story, however, takes place in the Central Ring and the Cassini Space-Gap that separates the outer ring from the next one heading towards the planet (p. 61).  As it turns out, these facts are accurate.  The "A" and "B" rings are the brightest, separated by the "Cassini division."  Both of these rings are made up of chunks of water ice, some only an inch in diameter, while others are larger than buildings.  Now, in the book, The Cassini gap is described as being "3,360 miles wide" (p. 61); however, in reality, scientists have determined the separation is actually more like 2,290 miles (4,700 km) wide.  That's still a large distance to cross!

 

The story is adventure from the first chapter to the last, as Dig and Ken have their turn in the robots, only to learn that the saboteur has no problem with trapping them with the ice of the inner ring, or even worse - electrifying the robots to destroy their brains, and thus killing the two boys!  The discovery of more robots (even after the Professor indicated that there were no more built yet) only makes the situation worse, as Dr. Barry and the boys are left to wonder - is someone controlling the robots, or have they gone rogue and are following their own directive?

 

This book sees the return of Myron Strauss as the illustrator (he provided the illustrations in the first book).  Strauss's art is just as good as it was for the first book; however, there are much fewer illustrations, and most of the ones in this book are of the robots - we get very few illustrations that show human characters.  There is no indication who provided the cover art, but since there is no other reference, we can assume that Strauss provided the cover art (since the last book specifically indicated there was a different cover artist than the interior artist).  The only thing I find odd about the cover is Saturn with its rings are shown in the background, but the boys with the two robots are some distance away in the foreground.  No scene like this appears anywhere in the book.  I assume it was simply an artistic way to show the entirety of Saturn, while also showing the main characters and the robots.

 

Everyone that has praised this series definitely has had reason to do so.  I believe the stories have gotten better and stronger as they series progresses (even if some of the sci-fi aspects are way beyond believable at times - but, hey, written back in the early '60s, after coming through a decade of sci-fi schlock at the theaters, what can we expect?).  It's rather sad that the next book is also the last.  One must wonder, if the series continued, would we have seen trips to Neptune and Pluto, and maybe even beyond?

 

RATING:  9 deadly bolt bombs out of 10 for a crazy-fun robot adventure filled with space-faring feats of bravery and quick-thinking, with just a smidge of mystery to boot! 

 

Trappers of Venus - the Fourth Dig Allen Space Explorer Adventure

Four books in, and this one, by far, is the best one yet!  I was actually caught by surprise as to how much I really enjoyed this story.  The author, Joseph Greene, has definitely got a much stronger feel for his main characters in this book, and he focuses less on back story and more on the actual adventure, which starts right on page one.  This is the second of Greene's planet-hopping books, with the previous one taking Dig and his friends to Jupiter - now they head to Venus, before journeying to Saturn in the fifth book and Uranus in the sixth, and final, book in the series.  With each book better than the last, I can only imagine just how good the stories will be in the last two entries.

 

Trappers of Venus begins with Dig sneaking out for a clandestine meeting with an unknown person (well, unknown to the reader, anyway). Once meeting his contact, Chips, Dig learns he has been asked by an old space pirate friend of his to assist a trapper from Venus named Tim Buckle.  Dig saves Tim's life, after they find him attacked by some hunters, but Tim turns out to be far from grateful.  As Dig is getting ready to blast off, taking Tim back to Venus, Tim wakes up and takes over the ship, blasting off with too much speed and force, sending them way off course!   Dig manages to gain Tim's trust and gets the ship back on track, learning that he, as a Space Explorer, needs to help Tim and his friends on Venus protect the lives of an indigenous species known as the Kohoolies.

 

Meanwhile, twin brothers Ken and Jim Barry are visiting their father on the asteroid science center, where they meet the business man, Linton Wells, and his prideful, egotistical son, Chuck.  It seems Wells needs some Space Explorers to come to Venus with him to determine that an indigenous species there is nothing more than another animal species, not as intelligent as man, and therefore open for hunting.  The brothers, while not particularly liking Wells and his son, see no issue with going to Venus to make a determination of the alien species' level of intelligence and humanity, so that a report can be made to the scientists who will give authorization for hunting or protection of the animals.

 

Can you see where this is headed?

 

Greene goes beyond just your typical adventure story with good guys vs. bad guys.  In addition to that, we get the misunderstandings that cause a rift between Did and the Barry brothers; we get the mystery surrounding the Kohoolies and whether they are intelligent life forms; we get the question of who are the real good guys and who are the real bad guys; we get some very intense life-and-death scenarios; and we get a story of real redemption for one, if not two, of the characters in the tale.  There is a strong human nature element to the story that causes you to suspend your disbelief over the idea that Venus no only has a breathable atmosphere for humans, but also has a thriving planet of fauna and life forms.  In reality, we know its closeness to the sun would prohibit life as we know it; but hey, this book was published back in 1961, back before man ever actually reached the moon and not long after all of those wacky space films from the '50s. 

 

The rotation of artists for this series continues with this book.  Walter Dey, who provided both the cover and interior art for the third book returns to provide the cover art for this book.  Honestly, the art is not quite as crisp and defined as his cover for Journey to Jupiter was, but it is definitely superior to that of the second book.  The interior illustrations, however, are provided by Charles Beck - who, as it turns out, was an artist for Fawcett Comics, illustrating the first Captain Marvel (a/k/a Shazam!) stories!  When he severed his ties with Fawcett, Beck moved for Florida, where he became a freelance illustrator.  This was the only book in the series that Beck illustrated.  (One disappointing thing I have noticed about this series is that the further it goes, the less interior illustrations each book seems to have!)

 

The back cover for this book (my copy, at least) features the same design as that on my copy of the first book; however, my copy of Venus is obviously an earlier printing that my copy of Forgotten Star, as the series all list fewer books than the earlier novel - and Vicky Loring is listed as "Coming Soon" rather than the three titles shown on the first book.  

 

This book definitely cemented my enjoyment of this series, and I'm now really looking forward to the last two books.

 

RATING:  9 deadly scorpion lizards out of 10 for science fiction, space adventure with a strong dose of human drama and good vs. evil! 

Journey to Jupiter - the Third Dig Allen Space Explorer Adventure

First, author Joseph Greene took readers to the moon and the asteroid belt.  Then he sent his characters to Mars and on to Mercury.  Now, in this third book of the Dig Allen Space Explorer Adventure series, Greene reaches even further, sending Dig Allen, along with his fellow Space Explorers Jim and Ken Barry, to the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter.  Looking ahead at the rest of the books in this series, it seems that with this book, Greene began his romp across the planets in this galaxy, as Dig goes from Jupiter to Venus to Saturn, and finally, in the last book, to Uranus.  Poor Neptune and Pluto never get visited (making one wonder if they would have been the point of interest, had the series had a seventh and eighth book - which leads one to further question, where would Greene have gone after he used up all the planets in our solar system?!).

 

Journey to Jupiter sends our three young Space Explorers on a mission to investigate the numerous "accidents" that seem to be occurring on one of the moons of Jupiter, where a new colony is being formed.  Engineers and scientists have been working to create a viable, breathable atmosphere on the moon, but it seems one incident after another has delayed the project.  Before Dig and his friends are able to head out, a mysterious spaceship rams into their own, creating a major breach in the hull that nearly costs the boys their lives!  From that moment on, it seems like there is one catastrophe after another.  On their way to Jupiter's moon, they have to rescue a transport ship that was sabotaged and left stranded in the dangerous asteroid belt.  Once they arrive at their destination, there are multiple acts of sabotage, fights among the workers, destruction of food supplies, and despite Dig, Jim, and Ken's best efforts, they mission seems to be a complete failure.

 

Greene writes a tale of intrigue and betrayal, with characters who are not always what they appear to be.  The boys end up with some unlikely allies and are surprised when one particular man they thought they could trust turns out to be the one behind all of the sabotage - all so he can get his hands on the plethora of diamonds that are buried beneath one of the mountains near the human settlement.  Greene raises the stakes, as the traitor and his men are set to leave the moon behind with their treasure in hand, willing to strand the scientists, workers, and colonists behind to die!  A last ditch attempt by Dig and his friends is the only thing that stands between the people and certain doom.  It is quite a suspense-filled ending to the story, but, as can be expected (especially since there are three more books after this one!), Dig, Jim, and Ken manage to save the day.

 

The moon Greene chooses for his Earthlings to try and terraform and colonize is Ganymede, which, in the real world, is the largest of Jupiter's moons.   It is said that Ganymede was discovered back in 1610 by two astronomers - one German, the other Italian.  It was first approached by Pioneer 10 in 1973, and again by Pioneer 11 in 1974.  These fly-bys would have been more than decade after this book was published, which would explain why Greene described the planet as having mountains and an "earthy" ground.  Later exploration has revealed the moon, which is larger in size than the planet Mercury, has a surface composed primarily of water/ice; while it does appear to have mountains, valleys, and craters, the mixture of rock and ice on the surface acts as a frozen crust overlaying what astronomers believe to be a deep internal ocean.  Thus, Greene's descriptions of the moon, and the colonists attempt to terraform it are pure science fiction.

 

I did find Greene's machine to create an atmosphere for Ganymede to be fairly ingenious - the nuclatomizer (p. 37).  As the twins' father explains, "It takes any matter - any material like stone, earth, sand - and breaks it apart.  First into molecules, then into atoms, then into electrons and protons and neutrons.  And finally it breaks up even the electrons into bits of free energy" (p. 37).  He goes on to say that "Tremendous heat and energy is released as the particles of free energy boil in a sort of thick, unclear soup ... " (p. 38).  The machine, using magnetic currents, alters the tiny bits of energy to "form into the element we want" (p. 38).  Yes, it is certainly imaginary in nature (at least so far - who knows what the future holds?!), but at the time the book was published, it would not have been any more outlandish than a lot of those science fiction movies and televisions shows that flooded the movie screens and television sets in the '50s and '60s.

 

There was a glaring error in the book, which I'm surprised the editors never caught before publication.  On the top of each right hand page of the book is the title of each chapter (seen only on the pages of that particular chapter).  Chapter 9 is titled "Valley of Hope," while Chapter 10 is titled "The Fire."  All of the right hands pages of Chapter 9 rightfully show "Valley of Hope" - however, of the three right-hand page of Chapter 10, the first two still show "Valley of Hope," while it is only the third and final right hand page of Chapter 10 that shows the correct chapter title, "The Fire."  A minor snafu that certainly does not affect the reading of the story in any way, but it was just something I could not help but notice. 

 

With this third book, we get a third artist for the series - Walter Dey. He provides a gorgeously painted cover for this third book - the image above comes from the John Hunz Art Collection (Walter Day - Dig Allen 3), and as you can see, the original is much more vibrant in color than what was actually reproduced for the published book cover.  Dey also provided the interior illustrations, which are considerably fewer than the first two books.  There are no small illustrations at the top of the first page of each chapter, as there were in books one and two, and the six internals had four printed in blue, while two of them are printed in black.  I can only guess that Golden Press dropped the small illustrations at the start of each chapter as a cost-saving measure.  I could not find any real information about the artist, Dey - to be honest, the only things I could find about the man is that he provided the cover art for Trappers of Venus, another book in this series, as well as the art for a Brains Benton mystery, The Case of the Stolen Dummy.  All three books are copyright 1961, which gives rise to the supposition that Dey was either an in-house artist for Dey that particular year, or he was hired through an agency or as an independent contractor for simply the one year to provide art for several books published by Golden Press.

 

The back cover to this book offers yet a third variation, completely different than the backs of the first two books.  While the first book featured merely a listing of various series, and the second book featured the covers of the first books in a number of Golden Press series, this third book offers up a brief synopsis of the story on the top half, while the bottom half, in different colored blocks, provides books in three different series (Kathy Martin, Brains Benton, and Dig Allen), while the fourth block simply mentions other titles (such as Trixie Belden, Wells Fargo, Rin Tin Tin, Fury, and Lassie).  Since the Dig Allen block only lists to this particular book - Journey to Jupiter - one can speculate that this is a first, or at the very least an early, printing of the book.   (I love seeing the price referenced on here:  "Each Volume, $1.00" - hard to imagine today that these hardcover books, at nearly 200 pages, only cost $1.00!)

 

The story was fairly thrilling, with the intrigue and the danger increasing with each chapter.  Greene's stories seem to get better with each book, and it definitely gives me high hopes for the remaining three books in the series!

 

RATING:  8 squirting plastubes of chocomilk out of 10 for an exciting tale of space exploration, adventure, and danger to keep the reader turning page after page to reach the thrilling conclusion of the story!

Captives in Space - the Second Dig Allen Space Explorer Adventure

I went into this book a bit tentative, as I finished the first book with a bit of ambivalence.  It wasn't that great, but it wasn't that bad either.  As such, I was not sure what to expect from this second Dig Allen Space Explorer Adventure.  However, I was pleasantly surprised to find I enjoyed this story far more than I did the first.  Sure, it has some very unbelievable elements, and the interior illustrations are by a different artist than the first book - but it definitely has a faster paced, more action-oriented story with just a hint of a mystery, and thus, it kept my attention from beginning to end.  I also notice the tagline above the title actually reads "A Dig Allen Space Explorer Adventure" rather than the generic "A Science Fiction Adventure" on the cover of the first book.  It's nice to see the series is identified by its main character now.

 

Captives in Space takes place just six month since the events retold in the first book (p. 12). Dig Allen and his two friends, Ken and Jim Barry, are now full-fledged Space Explorers with their very own spaceship, the Starover.  As fate would have it, as the boys take the ship out on its first space flight after spending time on Earth studying intensely (p. 12), they come across a space wreck.  They try to hail a fleeing escape vessel, but the other ship flies off without any response.  The boys keep hearing voices coming from the wrecked ship, but when they board it, they find no one aboard.  They can't make any sense out of it, especially when they come across some crates of mechanical toys that appear to function just as real sized vehicles would.  After a harrowing escapade removing the engine portion of the ship before it explodes, taking them all with it, the boys manage to two the wreckage back to Mars to report it to the Space Guards and let them handle it.  But the mystery is only beginning...

 

Author Joseph Greene (who is not given any credit whatsoever on the cover to the book) manages to create a rather interesting plot for this second adventure.  The boys, while on Mars, meet up with Old Dorkas once again (that old space pirate from the first book), and he gives them some hints regarding the so-called "toys" they discovered on that abandoned ship.  They quickly find out the ship was not quite as abandoned as they thought; instead, there was two small aliens, no more than six or seven inches in height, hiding on board.  Despite a language barrier, the boys manage to befriend the aliens and quickly figure out the humans who took off from the wreckage were actually pirates, who had kidnapped not just these two aliens, but 28 other of their species for nefarious reasons!  Dig, Ken, and Jim are determined to help find those other aliens and return them to their home planet (which is a mystery as well, since they cannot speak the language of these small creatures!).  Along the way, they are aided by a disreputable space trader who ultimately betrays them, and are very nearly sent rocketing into the sun to meet certain death!

 

Now, while this is a science fiction adventure (with emphasis on the "fiction" part!), Greene does throw in some actual facts.  When trying to figure out where the aliens are from, the boys posit the idea that they might hail from another star system, such as Alpha Centauri. "...that's four and a half years away if you travel with the speed of light," Dig says (p. 69).  This is pretty accurate, as that system is located approximately 4.37 light-years away from our own.  Of course, in the real world, we do not have technology to travel at the speed of light, so with current technology, it would take over 100,000 years to reach that system!  Later, there is reference to Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, and Dig comments, "Mercury's year is equal to 88 days on Earth" (p. 124), which is accurate; however, Dig also says, "The Mercury day is just as long" (p. 124), which is not accurate, since Mercury rotates on its axis very slowly, taking 59 of our Earth days just to complete one full rotation.  I suppose you can't get every fact right!

 

There are plenty of fictional "facts" within the story, such as the breathable air on both Mars and Mercury, and the fact that Mercury has plant light growing on the equator between the hot and cold sides of the planet (and the fact that these little aliens are indigenous to Mercury!).  One thing that did strike me as funny is the Barry brothers' father inventing a computer called the "Langivac" (p. 69) that can translate languages.  My first reaction was, "yeah, right, like that could ever work" - then I stopped and remembered that we have phones with apps now that will translate language as someone is speaking it!  So, I suppose these fictional ideas from 60 years ago aren't quite so fictional any more (I mean, the video calls from the Jetsons, the flip-communicators from Star Trek, and who knows how many other sci-fi gadgets that people thought were futuristic back in the day are now common-place in the world today!). 

 

The interior art is provided in this book by Herb Mott (1923 - 2017), who in the early days of his career provided pen and ink drawings for a number of pulp magazines.  He is probably best known for his cover paintings that graced the covers of Railroad Magazine (painting 52 covers from 1949 to 1954).  Alongside his painted illustrations for men's magazines in the 1950s, he illustrated various books for Grosset & Dunlap. He also did the internal illustrations for The Three Investigators no. 28, The Mystery of the Deadly Double.  This is the only book in the series illustrated by Mott.  The illustrations begin with a purplish color, but as the book progresses, the illustrations turn more of a reddish color.  It is assumed Mott also provided the cover art, which depicts a scene from the opening adventure, where they work to rescue the wreckage of the space ship.

 

Interesting enough, the back of the book features a display of various series published by Golden Press, listing a couple of new titles in the Kathy Martin and Dig Allen series, which are not pictured.  Since there are far less titles on this back advertisement than there are on the back of the first book (which merely has lists and no pictures), I am guessing my copy of the first book is a later printing (since it lists all of the Dig Allen books), while this one is an early printing (since it only lists to itself).

 

This book definitely amped up my interest in the series, and I now find myself looking forward to book 3.

 

RATING:  8 large, rough log cabins out of 10 for a fun-filled romp through space, with planet-hopping, language-learning, and dire emergencies that only three teenage Space Explorers could possibly work their way out of! 

The Forgotten Star - the First Dig Allen Space Explorer Adventure

This is another one of those series that I normally would not have picked up. I had seen the first couple of books in the series on a number of occasions in antique malls or in used book stories, and I regularly passed them up, as they were not mystery stories - they were stories about space exploration and adventure.  However, as time passed, I found myself curious about them - after all, the main character was a red-headed boy with freckles like me (well, like I used to be a ... ah-hem ... few years ago!).  Plus, the concept seemed somewhat similar to the '80s Tom Swift series, which was also about a young boy and his friends having adventures in space.  So, I picked up one, then another, and soon enough I had the first five of the six-book series.  It was not until recently that, thanks to a good friend, I was able to get that sixth and final book to complete the series, and thus, I was able to start reading them.

 

The Forgotten Star is the first book in the series, which introduces readers not only to Digby ("Dig") Allen, but also to his supporting cast. In fact, we meet the supporting cast before we meet the main character himself!  Our story opens at the turn of the 22nd Century, as a spaceship is shuttling people to the moon, where they will either be vacationing or taking up residence.  Two of those passengers happen to be Jim Barry and his younger brother, Ken, who are heading to join their mother and scientist father who already live there.  Before they reach the moon (and before the first chapter ends), the adventure begins when they are boarded by the Space Guard, who are looking for a stowaway.  As it turns out, the stowaway is none other than Dig Allen, who, coincidentally enough, happens to be hiding in the Barry boys' room.  Dig must get to the moon to begin the search for his missing father, the only relative he has left, and the Barry brothers are only to happy to help him elude capture.

 

What is odd about the entire story is that it is pretty much told from Jim and Ken's point-of-view. While Dig is in the story, the reader actually follows the Barry brothers as they land on the moon, reunite with their parents, meet the young alien Woody who lives with them, are questioned and then trained on space piloting by Sergeant Brool with the Space Guard, and ultimately happen upon Captain Ahab in the spaceship junk yard, where they finally meet up again with Dig Allen.  He and Ahab have been putting together a space-worthy ship that will take Dig out to search for his missing father.  Before they even take off, however, Sergeant Brool contacts the Barrys to inform them that Captain Allen's ship has been found - abandoned and drifting in space!  The mystery then begins: what happened to Boyd Allen, and what does the telegram Allen sent his son on January 15, 2161 (just before he disappeared) really mean?  What exactly is "No. 433," and what are the legends, myths, rumors, and tall stories surrounding it?  Dig, along with the help of his new friends, Jim and Ken, are determined to find out the answers to these questions, and in so doing, find the missing Captain Boyd Allen.

 

The series is written by Joseph Greene (a/k/a Joseph Lawrence Greene, 1914-1990), who created Tom Corbett, Space Cadet prior to his creation of the Dig Allen series.  Greene also did a lot of writing in the comic book field, including a number of titles for DC Comics' All-American books (of which Wonder Woman, Hawkman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Superman were just a few).  He also worked on the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet comic series published by Dell Publications, which, of course, were based on his own creation.  He later edited, and possibly was the ghostwriter of, the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet series for Grosset & Dunlap. It wasn't until 1959 that this first book in the Dig Allen, "A Science Fiction Adventure" series was first published by Golden Press (who also published the Kathy Martin nurse stories, the Brains Benton mysteries, as well as the Ellery Queen Jr. mysteries and the Vicky Loring stories).  It is evident that Greene was a science fiction fan himself, since most of his books for young adults were sci-fi tales set in outer space.  The story in this first book goes beyond the mystery of Dig Allen's father and also explores an alien race and their advanced technology (the discovery of which ultimately gets Dig and his new friends from being forever grounded from space travel due to their antics, which violated any number of Space Guard protocols!).

 

The interior illustrations (and possibly the cover art as well, although I cannot confirm that) were provided by Myron Strauss. From what I can gather in researching Strauss, it appears Greene was not the only one with a connection to comic books.  Strauss provided cover and interior art for several comic book series published by Centaur Publications back in the late 1930s and early 1940s.  He later became a teacher at Art & Design in New York, and from what I was able to gather based upon quite a large number of posts online, he was a very popular and well-liked teacher. The illustrations in this book are line drawings, but not your typical black and white; rather, there is a 1/3 page illustration, in addition to the occasional full page illustration.  The illustrations in the first third of the book are a bluish line color, while the second third of the book is done with an orange line color, and the final third of the book has green-line illustrations.  I found this an interesting choice, but I liked it - it gave the book a different feel, setting it apart from the typical series books of the time.

 

The back cover of this first book features an ad for "Fiction for Boys and Girls," listing six different series published by Golden Press at the time.  I'm assuming this must be a later printing of the first book, as it lists the entire six-book series for Dig Allen, and it lists more books in the other series that does the back of other books I have in the Dig Allen series. One thing that caught my eye was the listing of three books for the Vicky Loring Stories.  I know for a fact there are only two books ever published in that series (as I have them both); and while the third book, Double Deception, was advertised, it was never actually published, making it another "phantom title" in the series book realm.

 

It should also be mentioned that while you can find all six of the books in this same hardcover, picture cover format, the first two books (at least) were published in paperback as "A Golden Griffon Space Mystery" by Western Publishing Company.  These two paperbacks have completely different cover art, and as I don't own either, I can't say whether they have any interior illustrations.  The first book was also published in a hardcover format with a dust jacket, which dust jacket sported the same cover art as this picture cover edition.  The dust jacket format is not impossible to find, but it is definitely not cheap!

 

On a final note, the author does dedicate the book to "Ellen, Robert, Paul and Stormy" and goes on to say "without whose constant help this book would have been written sooner."  I thought this was a rather humorous dedication, as it seems to indicate that these four (who I am assuming are his children?) kept him busy and did not allow him to write as much, nor as fast, as he would have liked to have written.  However, I have no doubt it was done in loving jest.

 

The book was admittedly not my cup of tea.  I am not a fan of general science fiction such as this, and it took me a bit to get into the story.  However, even I can concede that by the time I made it past the half-way point, and Dig and his friends had managed to find out what "No. 433" meant and made their way, the story picked up its pace and interest a bit, and I found it a bit more palatable.  By the end of the story, I found I did somewhat enjoy it, and while I had doubts as to whether I would continue reading the series, I am now willing to give book two a try.

 

RATING:   6 hollowed-out asteroids with alien civilizations out of 10 for some clearly 1950s' style sci-fi action and adventure with some pretty likable lead characters.

Meg and the Mystery in Williamsburg - Mystery #6 in a series

Alas, with this book, we come to the end of the Meg Duncan series by Holly Beth Walker (or whatever ghostwriter actually wrote this final mystery).  It has certainly been a fun journey, trailing along with Meg and her best friend, Kerry Carmody, as they stumble across one mystery after another, no matter where they are. The mysteries have become a bit more complicated and more mature in theme as the series has progressed, and the character of Meg certainly acts like someone much older than a girl barely in her teens.  And despite the likelihood of different ghostwriters for the books (especially for this one, whose writing style and sentence structure definitely differs from the previous books), the characters have, for the most part, remained consistent.  It's a shame the publisher did not commission more books, either during the series' first run or when it was later reprinted by Golden Press.

 

Meg and the Mystery in Williamsburg sees Meg and Kerry join Meg's Uncle Hal on a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia to help out at a vintage toy show.  This obviously caught my attention right away, having a house full of vintage and collectible toys myself!  But the toys that are the focal point of this mystery are dolls and a doll house that date back to the colonial days.  The girls are staying with Lucy Cameron, a friend of Meg's now-deceased mother, and she introduces them to one Miss Mariah Collins (yes! Collins! a shame more of the Collins' family didn't enter the story...), a quirky old woman who has agreed to allow her family's toys be displayed at the show.  Only, her toys come with a story - and a mystery!  It seems many years ago, when Mariah's cousin came for a visit (back when Mariah was a little girl), her cousin brought her two small children with her. The children had a quarrel and ultimately wrecked the play room, breaking toys, smashing the dollhouse her grandfather had built, and pulling the arms and legs off of Mariah's special doll named "Paris."  But worst of all, when the room was cleaned up, it was discovered that two clothespin dolls that had been carefully displayed in a glass cabinet were gone (p. 31).  Miss Mariah's grandfather did eventually find the two dolls, but he hid them away so they could never go missing again.  And so begins the mystery...

 

Miss Mariah has spent most of her life searching for those clothespin dolls.  She keeps the upstairs toy room locked so no one else can enter.  She has searched the secret room just off the toy room.  She has looked through the doll house.  In fact, her father told her if she turned the house upside down, she would find them - but she has searched her plantation home from basement to attic, and she has never found the dolls. Meg and Kerry are excited with the idea of another mystery to solve, and they are determined that before they leave Williamsburg, they will do their best to locate those dolls.  In the meantime, they must put on colonial-style costumes and greet guests at the toy show, giving memorized speeches about the toys themselves, and answering questions from the visitors.  What they do not expect is that the mystery of those missing dolls will cross over into the toy show, as strangers begin to start asking very pointed questions - about the dollhouse, about Miss Mariah's doll "Paris," and ab out the Collins' collection of toys.  The mysterious Mr. Adam, who takes an intense interest in Paris.  The friendly but overly-curious Stephen Anderson, who is more than determined to get a closer look at the dollhouse.  Then there is the unknown man that the girls see talking to both Mr. Adam and Stephen Anderson.

 

Someone tries sneaking up the stairs of Miss Mariah's house to her playroom.  Someone enters the toy show during lunch and makes a mess of the toys, which are in a roped-off room that no one is allowed to enter.  Someone steals Paris, but then leaves her at the door to the playroom.   Someone chases Meg and Kerry through the woods, determined to get their hands on that doll.  What has caused the roof of the dollhouse to not seal properly?  Why does the secret room in the dollhouse, modeled after the one in the real plantation, not have a door knob?  What has caused Paris to no longer say "Mama" like she did years ago? And why is Meg so certain the clue to unraveling this whole mystery has been in front of her face the entire time?

 

This was definitely a mystery worthy of Nancy Drew and some of the other "great" teenage detectives. If the series had to end, this was definitely a fantastic way to close it down.  The author integrates a number of real Williamsburg sites into the story - from the Duke of Gloucester Street (p. 16) to the Brush-Everard House (where the toy show is) located next to the Governor's Palace (p. 20); from the Raleigh Tavern Bakery (p. 52) to the holly maze located on the grounds of the Governor's Palace (p. 83).  You have to love it when an author includes actual locations in the book, providing readers with an opportunity to explore the same locations in the real world and truly follow in their favorite sleuths' footsteps!

 

The artists for the covers and the interior remain the same as the previous five books - Cliff Schule provided the cover for the original hardback edition, as well as the interiors for both, while Olindo Giacomini provided the cover for the later paperback edition.  Both covers depict the scene where Meg and Kerry are running back to River House Plantation to escape the man chasing them, and are ready to sneak in through the chimney door.  It is interesting that while they both depict the same scene, and both accurately portray Meg and Kerry in the correct costumes they are wearing in the story, the hardback gives us a perspective from above, looking down them as the come around the chimney to the door, while the paperback gives us a perspective from the side, watching the girls run around the corner of the house and directly into the door located in front of the chimney. 

 

On a complete side note, when Meg reads an article giving the history of the two clothespin dolls, which were said to have been made by George Washington for his sister, Betty, the article reveals that "when Betty was a grown woman, she had given the dolls to a girl named Nell Benson..." (p. 92).  I had to laugh out loud at that name, because there was a character by that very same name on General Hospital a few years back - a character who turned out to be quite a dastardly villain, but one who I grew to love immensely!  Funny coincidence!

 

And with that, we reach the end of the Meg Duncan series.  One can only wonder how many unrecorded mysteries Meg and her best friend, Kerry, solved, and whether either of them went on to find boyfriends (as none whatsoever are mentioned in these six books) and went on to college and careers...

 

RATING:  10 fresh-baked ginger cookies out of 10 for ending the series on a high note, with a well-plotted mystery with a great mix of real and fictional history!

 

 

Meg and the Mystery of Black-Magic Cave - Mystery #5 in a series

The penultimate book in the "Meg" series is the best one of the first five books.  One has to wonder if the ghostwriter for the previous book also wrote this one, as both books definitely have more mature themes to them than the first three books.  That, of course, is one of the reasons why I wish these book publishers back in the day had retained one author to ghostwrite a series of books, so that they stories would have a certain consistency to them, both in characterization and in tone.  Some series did (such as the Penny Parker series by Mildred Wirt Benson), while other employed any number of writers (such as Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc.).  While having a series bible may help the writers remain consistent with character names, occupations, hair and eye color, settings, etc., the rotation of writers is still noticeable in the way a story is written and how a character talks and acts.  Now, one could argue that Meg and Kerry have grown some since the first book, and therefore, after solving several mysteries, they might have matured in the way they handle them, but that is stretching it a bit, I think.

 

Meg and the Mystery of the Black-Magic Cave takes Meg and Kerry out of their home state of Virginia and places them in Merrybones, Maine, where Meg's Uncle Hal vacations each summer.  This year, he offers to take them along with him, partially to enjoy the locale, but also because there is a mystery to be solved, and he knows how much the girls enjoy solving mysteries.  And, in case you are wondering, no, "Merrybones" is a made up township in Maine, although it perhaps draws its name from Marylebone, which is in the city of Westminster in London, England.   The mystery surrounds a schoolteacher friend of Uncle Hal's by the name of Emily Hawthorne (p. 16), who has asked for his help.  Now, I have to think that the author specifically chose the name "Hawthorne" for several reasons:  (1) the name is the same as that of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the famous author who hailed from New England, and (2) Nathaniel Hawthorne's great-great-frandfather (John Hathorne) was one of the judges during the famous Salem witch trials.  And, since this particular book deals with witches...

 

The author delves into a world of witchcraft and black magic, as the girls learn from Miss Hawthorne that someone has threatened her with a curse, and her black cat, Melissa, has gone missing.  Someone wants her out of Merrybones, and it's up to Uncle Hal, Meg, and Kerry to figure out who it is.  As if right one cue, Meg and Kerry learn about a nearby cave that is referred to as "Black-Magic Cave," and while picking blueberries near the cave, the girls find a makeshift altar with a candle burning and a pentagram drawn on the floor in front of it!  This begins the girls' quest to uncover the truth about the cave, the witches' coven operating in Merrybones, and whether the women who make up the coven are responsible for threatening Miss Hawthorne and stealing her cat.   

 

The witches' coven and black magic aspect of the story are played up well, and Meg and Kerry even manage to witness a gathering of witches in what they suspect is a meeting in which the women will attempt to cast a spell to rid the town of Miss Hawthorne once and for all!  But the girls are clever, and while the witches are in the cave, Meg, Kerry, and their new friends gather up the shoes the women left outside the cave and take them with them (so that, like Cinderella, they can identify the witches by having the women try on shoes to see if they match!).  It's quite a climactic confrontation between the defeated women and the police, alongside Meg and her friends.  And the author holds back one particular surprise, which a careful reader will pick up on earlier in the story as to the identity of the specific person that wants Miss Hawthorne gone and why!  Overall, the book offers a well-plotted mystery that is very entertaining reading.

 

I did find it rather amusing that when the girls find a book of black magic in the attic of the house where they are staying, they discover the words are written rather uniquely - in Old English, where the s's are written like f's, and some words have "e" at the end, which is pronounced like our current "y" (p. 75).  And there is even a paragraph written in that styles, with Old English font!  Definitely a great way to introduce young readers as to how much the English language has changed in the last couple of centuries!

 

The paperback cover art, by Olindo Giacomini, is definitely my favorite of the two, as it has Meg and Kerry hiding behind an old tree, spying on the witches as they are marching out of the cave, holding lit candles.  Of course, the scene is in the reverse in the story, as they watch the witches go into the cave, not out of it.  The cover art on the original hardcover version of the book, by Cliff Schule, depicts the witches heading in the proper direction  (and it even accurately shows 13 witches!).  Interestingly, both covers show Kerry wearing a blue top and Meg with a red/burgundy top, thus maintaining some consistency between the two.  And for those of you who are Nancy Drew fans, you might think this cover hearkens back to the cover art for The Secret of Red Gate Farm, in which Nancy is hiding behind a tree, watching hooded figures going into a cave.

 

I have been really enjoying this series, so it's somewhat disheartening to realize I only have one Meg book left to read, and then I'll have completed the series.  It almost makes me want to put off reading that final book ... almost ... 

 

RATING:  9 stones with oddly carved pentagrams out of 10 for a menacing tale of witches, curses, and black cats!

Meg and the Ghost of Hidden Springs - Mystery #4 in a series

This book is now the third of four books in this series to feature a mystery that centers around a house - Witch's Stairway involved the house that was about to be lost by the two sisters if they could not find the money to save it; the Treasure Nobody Saw centered around a house that was said to be abandoned, yet was not; and now this book features a house that is alleged to be haunted.  This is also the third of four books to feature a house that is located next to the title character's home - Disappearing Diamonds involved Mrs. Partlow's house, which is next door to Meg's home; the Treasure Nobody Saw centered around a house that could be seen from Meg's bedroom window; and this book features a house just across the river from where Meg lives. Leaves one wondering what the last two books hold in store...

 

The Ghost of Hidden Springs is actually a sad tale about the ghost of a young girl who died tragically after the entire town shunned her family and refused to attend a birthday party thrown in honor of the girl's sixteenth birthday many years before. The family up and left town after that, and since then, people have sworn they saw the girl's ghost haunting the Hannigan house.  Meg does not believe in ghosts, but even she can't explain the ghostly girl her best friend's brothers saw; nor can she explain the open window she sees on an upper floor of the house - one she knows was closed before.  She and her best friend Kerry set out to uncover the truth about what is going on, only to find that a descendant of the Hannigan family has come to Hidden Springs as an heir to the estate.  What is uncanny is the young girl's resemblance to the girl who did - in fact, she even shares the same name: Kathleen!

 

As dark as the back story is, the mystery itself is actually relatively fun.  Is there a ghost that is knocking things off walls and running down the stairs?  Did a ghost lock Kerry's twin brothers in the basement room?  Is a ghost playing the piano?  Did a ghost damage the step on the front porch, causing Kathleen's mother to fall?  Meg is determined to uncover the truth, and the electronics found in the basement room, the apple core she finds on the floor, and the shadowy figure she sees running into the woods convinces her the ghost is actually a real person.  Is someone trying to force Kathleen and her mother to leave the property?  The will of her great-aunt stipulates that Kathleen must reside in the house for at least a month, at the end of which she must throw a lavish party for the townspeople of Hidden Springs in order to inherit the house and all of the wealth that goes with it - otherwise, the bequest defaults to a second heir who remains unnamed (as the lawyer indicates that heir is not even aware of the bequest and will remain in the dark unless Kathleen fails to follow her great-aunt's instructions).

 

Meg suspects some local real estate developers who are anxious to get their hands on the property so they can tear down and build multiple houses on the land (p. 97) - which is an amazing coincidence, because the Zebra Mystery Puzzler I just read prior to this book also had the same situation, in which a real estate developer was suspected of murder just to get his hands on a large property he wanted to subdivide (The Green Lama Mystery).  Odd how I happen to read both of these books right after each other!  Meg also suspects the great-aunt's housekeeper, who Kathleen's mother hired to help clean the house and prepare it for the upcoming party.  The police chief thinks it may just be a local homeless man causing the problems, and Kerry even suggests that the unknown heir may be aware of the bequest and is trying to get Kathleen to leave.  As Meg's father tells her - she must put on her thinking cap in order to solve this one!

 

There is a moment in the story when Meg is exploring in the Hannigan house when she hears a noise in the hall, so she darts "behind one of the dusty draperies" and takes a "cautious peek" to see who it is (p. 72).  The scene reminds me of a very similar scene from the previous book, where Meg is hiding behind a curtain while an intruder breaks into the library of that house (a scene depicted on the cover of that paperback).  Interesting that identical scenes like this would be used in both both books, particularly one after another.

 

One thing I was glad to see in this story is the return (albeit very briefly) of Meg's Siamese cat, Thunder (p. 103).  Considering the fact the covers to the paperback printings of this series show Meg and Thunder under her name, one would think the cat would have a larger role in the series.  Sadly, such is not the case.

 

The original hardback printing of this mystery features art by Cliff Schule (who also continues to provide the interiors) and depicts a scene from the end of the story, where Meg and Kerry, wearing their costumes from the party thrown by Kathleen's mother, head outside to see if they can hear the ghost of Kathleen's long dead ancestor.  The later paperback version of the book features a cover by Olindo Giacomini, which shows Meg watching a ghostly figure retreat into the woods.  This scene does not specifically appear in the book, although there is a moment where Meg does see a furtive figure fleeing into the woods one night (although it is not a ghost, and she is aware of that).

 

This fourth entry into the series is not bad at all, but the culprit is fairly easy to spot, and even this person's motive is relatively simple to figure out.  Of course, the age group for which the book is intended might not find it quite so easy as an adult reader!

 

RATING:  8 old homemade transmitters out of 10 for another fun-filled mystery that gives Meg a chance to help yet another family in need!

Meg and the Treasure Nobody Saw - Mystery #3 in a series

This book marks the halfway point of the Meg Duncan series, by Holly Beth Walker.  It also turns out to be the book that has the only scene I remember from the series from back when I read these as a child (more on that below).  So far, I have been enjoying my re-reading of this series, and I am thankful my friend, Jarrell Dickey, made the suggestion that I should pick these up and re-read them.  Yes, admittedly, these stories are fairly simple and clearly aimed at early readers (not quite the Nancy Drew Notebooks age group, but definitely younger than the original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories age group).  They are fun, and Meg is not your typical financially-secure, freedom-enjoying teenager - she is probably closer to Trixie Belden in that aspect, as her father, as well as the family housekeeper and her husband keep a close eye on Meg, and she does get in trouble when she does not listen to them.  This gives the series a bit more of a realistic feel to it, giving young readers someone with whom they can easily identify.

 

The Treasure Nobody Saw does not have an identifiable author; yet, despite what online sources say, the stories still feel rather consistent.  A slight variation in names (calling Constable Hosey "Mr. Hosey," or the Carmody children calling their dad "Father" instead of "Sir," do not really make much of a difference when the reader is focused more on the story and Meg's adventures in solving the mystery.  In this instance, the mystery starts off as one things and leads into something entirely different by the end.  With her best friend, Kerry Carmody, out of town, Meg is rather lonely and bored.  So, on a dark and stormy night when she witnesses a car driving up to the Haywood house (which is supposed to be empty, since Bud and Sally Haywood were gone for the summer for jobs), Meg smells a mystery!

 

For the first half of the book, Meg sets about uncovering the identity of the person or persons who have taken up residence at the Haywood house.  First, it was merely the car driving up.  Then there is the person she sees in an upper window.  Finally, she sees a girl not much other than her in the yard, and that is when she finds out the truth!  A traveling family was forced to stop the night of the rain because the father had taken ill, and with no place else to go, they stopped at the Haywood house - finding it unlocked and empty, they chose to stay until the father was recovered and could drive (planning to leave money for anything they used while they were there). Meg agrees to keep their stay a secret, and even helps them out by bringing them food from her own house (and don't think that does not go unnoticed by the housekeeper!).  

 

After Meg makes friends of the James family, she then learns that the family has heard strange sounds in the house, as if someone was breaking in.  Meg sets about to find out who could be breaking in and why, and what she ultimately learns is that the house contains a treasure worth as much as twenty-five thousand dollars (which would equate to more than $200,000 in today's currency!), a treasure that would greatly help out Bud and Sally Haywood, who are in danger of losing the house due to a lack of money.  This is now the second mystery in a row where Meg has uncovered a hidden treasure that helps save a family homestead.

 

As with the previous books, the internals are provided by Cliff Schule, with a new cover on the paperback painted by Olindo Giacomini.  Looking at the original cover, if one was not aware of the story inside, one would assume the picture is that of Meg and her best friend, Kerry; however, when you read the story, you realize the blond-haired girl is actually Abigail James, the daughter of the family staying in the Haywood house.  The cover for the paperback edition gives us a more dramatic scene, where Meg and Mr. James are hiding behind a curtain while the intruder is climbing in through a library window (although, admittedly, you cannot see Mr. James - you only know he is there if you read the story!).

 

A few tidbits gleaned from the story.  One is a reference to the county in which Meg resides.  Mr. Wilson mentions there are "big tree branches down all over Kenilworth County" after the big storm (p. 24); however, that is a fictitious county, as Virginia does not have a county by this name.  There are cities by that name in New Jersey and in Illinois, so perhaps the name was pulled from there.  We also get some information about Meg's mother, when Meg looks up at her mother's portrait hanging over the mantel (p. 43).  Her hair and eyes match Meg's, and the color of the dress she is wearing in the portrait even happens the match the color of Meg's outfit on that day.  Meg begins to wonder what her mother's voice sounds like, and whether Mrs. Duncan would have listened to Meg when she talked about her mysteries?  It is actually a very touching scene that will pull on the reader's heartstrings.

 

Finally, that "treasure" worth so much money - SPOILER ALERT - it turns out to be a first printing of Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue,  which the Haywoods had in their library without ever realizing its worth.  It is odd that the book places the value of the book at $25,000, when some research online reveals the book today is only worth about $7,500, which is considerably less!  The Haywoods may very well have been in for a big shock when they eventually tried to sell the book and discovered it was not worth near as much as Mr. James claimed it was!

 

Now, about that scene I remembered as a child.  Of all of the Meg books, the only thing I could ever really remember (before re-reading them now) was a scene where Meg wanted to pretend to be sick, so she took the thermometer the housekeeper gives her and sticks it in her hot chocolate to make the temperature rise - only, it rises too high, making the housekeeper realize the ruse!  Well, this is the book where it happens, right there on page 83, as Meg is hoping to make the housekeeper and her husband think she is sick so they will let her stay home for the day and she can escape over to the Haywood house to help out the James family! Mystery of the remembered scene solved! 

 

Overall, another fun read, and at least this time, we get some more time with Thunder (Meg's Siamese cat).  Not sure why, but I absolutely love the cat as a supporting character, and I'm glad the author chose to utilize her in the story.

 

RATING:  9 cans of pineapple, tuna fish, and baked beans out of 10 for another fun little mystery that is an easy and enjoyable read! 

Meg and the Secret of the Witch's Stairway - Mystery #2 in a series

This particular book (the original hardcover version) has special meaning to me, as I purchased it at the estate sale of a very dear friend of mine - Judith Weaver.  She was a wonderful woman who amassed a large collection of mystery novels (adult, young adult, pre-teen, and juvenile) in order to open a mystery bookstore.  Unfortunately, the local government persisted in putting up roadblocks that prevented her from ever opening the store, but that did not stop her from selling the books online, by word-of-mouth, and to her friends who would come by and visit.  When her health declined to the point where she needed constant care, her daughter moved her up north and all of those books were sold at an estate sale.  This is one of the books I obtained at the estate sale, and it will also be a treasured memory of Judith Weaver, a woman with more stories in real life than all of the books in her house could ever hold!

 

The Secret of the Witch's Stairway is the second Meg Duncan mystery, first published in 1967 (the same year as the first book).  The book is not written by the same author as the first book (which was written by Gladys Baker Bond), but the story is just as enjoyable as the first.  Having helped an elderly neighbor in the first book recover her stolen diamonds, Meg and her best friend, Kerry, help a pair of elderly neighbors search for some hidden family heirlooms in this mystery.  When Meg's Uncle Harold Ashley (her mother's cousin) visits, he tells her a story about the alleged missing Ashley silver, that was hidden away back during the Civil War and never seen again.  Many believe the silver is buried somewhere on the farm owned by Clara and Jenny Ashley (even more distant cousins of Meg's mom), but no one has ever found it.  Meg and Kerry, of course, are anxious to put their detective skills to work and help Miss Clara and Miss Jenny find that the treasure that would help them save their farm!

 

The book has a number of elements that remind me of some Nancy Drew mysteries.  First, the two elderly sisters who are trying to save their farm is similar to the plot of The Hidden Staircase, where Nancy helps two older women who are being frightened into selling their estate.  Second, the Ashley sisters have a rather unique doll collection, which reminded me of The Clue in the Old Album, where an older woman Nancy is helping has a large doll collection.  In fact, both collections of dolls include a peddler doll, which comes with an assortment of tiny objects - for the Nancy Drew book, it was musical instruments, ribbons, and laces (p. 15, Old Album), while for Meg, it was a bunch of keys, a lace handkerchief, and a tiny thimble (p. 32, Witch's Stairway).  What's even more of a coincidence is that the dolls first appear and are described in the second chapter of each book - "The Doll Collector" in Old Album and "The Doll Family" in Witch's Stairway!  And, if that were not enough, it turns out that dolls hold very important clues to solving the mysteries in both books.  This leads one to wonder if the author was a fan of the Nancy Drew series, as Old Album was published some 20+ years prior to the publication of this book.

 

The mystery turns into a rather fun adventure, as the girls begin their search with the help of a young boy named Glenn who turns up with a diary of the Ashleys' ancestor that gives them clues to the location of the silver.  Some of the clever poems written by their ancestor are actually rather ingenious clues, with double meanings and secret codes that ultimately lead the youngsters to the "Witch's Stairway," a seldom used path that leads down to the river.  Meg and Kerry and their new friend fall into some unexpected danger in their final effort to find the missing treasure, and it is only with the timely help of Curly, their four-legged friend, that they are able to escape what could be certain doom!  (Funny how both this mystery and the last feature a dog that plays a pivotal role in helping the girls' solve their case!)

 

Meg's Siamese cat, Thunder, is nowhere to be seen in this book, and while Mr. and Mrs. Wilson make a brief appearance in the first chapter, they are not seen for the rest of the book.  Kerry's little brother and sister are also noticeably absent from this story, but one can assume that is because we already have a helper in the form of Glenn, who turns out to be a relative of the Ashley sisters and finds a home with his new relatives by the end of the story.

 

The internals are once again provided by Cliff Schule, who I am assuming provided the cover art for the original hardcover version as well.  As with the first book, the cover to this book is not mysterious at all and gives no hint as to the mystery itself.  In fact, to me, this original cover reminds me of a Disney-type movie poster, what with Uncle Hal driving Meg and Kerry (dressed alike!) in his old roadster (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, anyone?).   For the paperback reprint, Olindo Giacomini again provides the cover art, which is definitely much more in-line with the mystery!  Showing an elderly woman, bent over and staring back into the dark woods where Meg and Curly are watching, the reader gets an instant feel that this mystery is going to be creepy!  This scene is pulled from the end of Chapter Six, where Meg spots an old woman with scraggly hair staring down at her from the top of the Witch's Stairway (p. 77).  While not an exact representation of what takes place on the page, it is definitely much more mysterious than the original cover art!

 

I found it somewhat amusing that Uncle Hal works in Washington, D.C., since Meg's father also works there.  Hal work in a museum, however, while Meg's father works in the government.  Of course, since Hidden Springs is said to be in Virginia, it should not be much of a surprise that they work in Washington, D.C.; it simply means that Hidden Springs must not be far from the state line.  In fact, the girls take a short trip with their Uncle Hal into the capital to search for information on an old Thomas Jefferson desk that once belonged to the Ashley sisters, hoping to find more clues as to the lost silver.

 

The story definitely holds up well and was an enjoyable read.  Simple, yet fun!

 

RATING:  9 broken wooden dolls out of 10 for an adventurous mystery filled with treasure-hunting, riddle-solving, and fortune-finding! 

Meg and the Disappearing Diamonds - Mystery #1 in a series

I can remember reading the "Meg" series of mysteries back when I was a kid, but the only thing I truly remember is a scene where Meg pretends to be sick, so she puts the thermometer into a cup of hot chocolate to make the temperature rise!  I do not even recall which book that scene is in, but I do remember at the time wondering if I could get away with that trick.  As an adult collector, I tracked down not only the six paperbacks I had as a kid, but also the six original hardback editions published by Whitman that came out nearly a decade prior to the paperbacks.  However, having them on the shelf and actually re-reading them are two different things.  Recently, though, my friend Jarrell Dickey was telling me he picked up and re-read a Meg book or two, and we got to talking about it, and I realized it was time to re-read this series - so, thanks to Jarrell, I've jumped back into the world of Margaret Ashley Duncan - the young sleuth known as Meg!

 

Meg and the Disappearing Diamonds is the first book in this series, written by Holly Beth Walker. From what I could discover, "Holly Beth Walker" is merely a pseudonym used by Western Publishing for the series.  It is believed Gladys Baker Bond (who wrote many Whitman Authorized Editions, as well as three Trixie Belden books) authored this particular Meg mystery.  The story centers around some precious diamonds owned by Mrs. Partlow, which she decides to show to the neighborhood ladies at an outside tea party.  The diamond bracelet, the diamond earrings, the diamond necklace, and the diamond snood (an ornamental headdress that is used to cover the hair on the back of your head, as Meg explains on page 53) all disappear from the party right in full view of the guests!  Meg, and her best friend Kerry Carmody, set about to discover who stole the valuable jewelry and return it to Mrs. Partlow in time for her to wear them to her niece's wedding.

 

The book only has 124 pages of story, of which 25 pages contain full-page illustrations and 11 pages contain half-page illustrations, which leaves less than 100 pages of actual story.  As one can imagine, this does not provide room for an in-depth, strongly developed mystery; rather, the mystery is somewhat simple and clearly aimed at younger readers (perhaps on the same reading level as The Bobbsey Twins or The Happy Hollisters).  That does not mean the story was not well-written, nor that it was not enjoyable.  On the contrary, the mystery was actually a fun read.  Meg is an independent, self-reliant young sleuth, and her friend Kerry feels like a combination of Bess and George - somewhat reluctant at times, but also ready and willing to jump in and help when needed.  Kerry's brother,Mike, makes a couple of appearances in the story, but he does not play a strong role.  Meg's Siamese cat, Thunder, on the other hand, plays a major role in this book!  In fact, for me, Thunder was the break-out character in the story.  He immediately recognizes the villain, being none too friendly with this person, and ultimately he has the secret to the hidden diamonds.

 

The character of Meg falls in line with so many of her contemporaries.  Her mother is out of the picture, and her father is a professional who permits his daughter considerable freedom.  In this instance, Mr. Duncan is described as "one of the men who work in government in Washington, D.C." (p. 14).  Meg is under the care of the Duncan's housekeeper, Mrs. Wilson, and her husband, Mr. Wilson.  The family lives in Hidden Springs, Virginia (p. 15).  While there is no city by the name of Hidden Springs in Virginia, there is a "Hidden Springs Family Farm" that dates back to 1731.  Within Hidden Springs is Holly House, the name given to Mrs. Partlow's homestead.  It could be the name was taken from the "author's" first name; however, there is a Holly Hill estate in St. Stephens Church, Virginia, which is a 200-year old estate that is registered as one of Virginia's Historical Landmarks - so perhaps the name was inspired by that house.  Since the Holly Hill estate boasts a lavish garden-view sunroom with a terrace overlooking formal gardens, that seems to mirror the beautiful gardens in which Mrs. Partlow throws her tea party in the book.

 

Speaking of those gardens, the story describes some very interesting plants that grow within Mrs. Partlow's gardens.  Arborvitae, creeping phlox, candytuft, and yellow alyssum all grow around the garden, and in the corner are holly bushes, which "gave the place its name" (p. 38).  I honestly had to look up these plans, as I had never heard of them!  Arborvitae are a family of evergreen trees that are very hardy and are often used to make evergreen hedges.  Creeping phlox is a low-growing plant that creates a carpet of flowers that bloom in early to mid-spring, often with a pink, purple, or bluish hue.  Candytuft is another low-growing plant, which blooms some beautiful white flowers.  And yellow alyssum is described as a "hairy" herb that produces stems of yellow flowers from May to July that eventually fade to white, with four small petals.  Clearly, Mrs. Partlow had quite an eclectic garden!

 

The internal illustrations of both the hardback version and paperback version of this book are the same, provided by Cliff Schule (1918-2000).  Schule was well-known for his portraits, including one of Henry Kissinger.  He served as a commercial illustrator for a number of years, providing illustrations for Western Publishing books.  The covers for the paperback editions featured covers by a different artist - Olindo Giacomini.  I much prefer the cover design and cover art to the paperback versions, but I was disappointed to find next-to-nothing about Giacomini online.  I found numerous books that he illustrated and/or authored, but I could find nothing about the artist himself.  The only thing I did find was on the "Find a Grave" website, which lists an Olindo P. Giacomini as having been born in 1930, died in 1989, and buried in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum (Olindo P. Giacomini).  I was also able to find obituaries for Olindo's brother (Dino) and mother (Amanda), but none for Olindo.  I did find a mention of Olindo Giacomini as an art editor for the yearbook staff at Riverside High School in Milwuakee, Wisconsin, which would coincide with the city where he was ultimately buried. But nothing else! I find it extremely interesting that in today's day and age, someone could have so little of a digital trail, and that an author/artist who seems to have had a number of books with his work published has no information about his work out there.  A mystery to be solved!

 

The book may not offer up a difficult mystery for readers to solve, it does provide an enjoyable story that should bring a smile to your face by the end, making it worth the read.

 

RATING:  8 soft leather collars with tiny bells out of 10 for a cute, easy-to-read mystery with a perky young sleuth!