Nancy Drew Diaries, No. 22 - A Capitol Crime

It took a bit of trying, but I finally got the latest Nancy Drew Diaries.  I'm not sure if it's simply the lack of sales, or the lack of promotion and/or marketing, or simply a declining market in actual books (versus digital books), but it seems Barnes & Noble does not keep up with any of the continuing series that is not what they deem a "big name" (such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Harry Potter or any other hit of the week/month/year that is making a big splash for the moment).  As a kid, book stores had shelves and shelves of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books - now, Barnes & Noble barely carries one or two Hardy Boys books, and the Nancy Drew books take up less than half of one shelf (if that much).  A Capitol Crime, the twenty-second Nancy Drew Diaries book had a street date of May 25, 2021; yet, my Barnes & Noble didn't get it in until May 27th, and even then, they only got one copy.  A friend in Massachusetts said his B&N also only got one copy.  For a series that is nearing its 95th anniversary in just four more years - and has her own television show on the CW right now - and had a semi-successful movie come out a year or so ago - one would think the publisher would really be trying to cross-market all of this.  Instead, we barely see her books on the shelves any more.  Such a shame...

While the last series, Nancy Drew: Girl Detective, did not sit well with fans, this latest incarnation has been a step in the right direction.  The plots have finally moved away from sabotage of the week stories and have taken Nancy back to her roots - haunted houses, kidnappings, stolen items, etc.  For a while, the titles were reminiscent of the original series, utilizing "Secret" or "Mystery" or "Clue" in the titles.  Even the length of the stories has expanded, allowing for a bit more characterization and build up for the mysteries.  And while the Nancy on the covers may appear a bit younger than long-time fans are used to, at least we are getting cover art again, rather than clip art or live model images.  That is not to say, however, the series is perfect.

The mystery in A Capital Crime hits close to home for Nancy - her father has disappeared while at a legal convention in Washington, D.C.  And when she, Bess, and George head up to the nation's capitol to see if they can find him, they only discover it is worse than they originally thought - he has been kidnapped!  Nancy and her friends immediately start investigating - combing through Mr. Drew's hotel room, talking to Mr. Drew's friends at the convention, and hacking into the hotel's security system to view video footage of the day he disappeared.  Then they find his phone.  And a tie clip.  And just when they don't now where to turn next, they get a phone call from a woman - who claims to have Nancy's father!

Now, there is an incident at the beginning, when Nancy and her friends first arrive in D.C. that tips readers off to the reason Mr. Drew was kidnapped, but it's not until Nancy comes face-to-face with her father than the reader learns the mystery is not really about the kidnapping at all!  Instead, Nancy, Bess and George must work overtime to solve a year-old mystery involving a theft of diamonds rings at a jewelry store in Maryland!  The person who pled guilty to the crime may not be guilty at all, and Nancy must prove his innocence in order to help her father.

The plot is actually well thought out, and there are plenty of red herrings and misleading clues that take Nancy (and the reader!) in the wrong direction.  However, along the way, Nancy and her friends do some things that might be a stretch, even for Nancy Drew.  Numerous times, Nancy and her friends pretend to be other people so they can sneak into hotel rooms, obtain phone numbers and addresses, interview suspects.  But the incident that tops everything is when Bess and George distract the front desk officer at the police station so that Nancy can sneak into the records room - and not only does she lie to an officer out front, she also compounds the lie to the detective that stops her on her way to the records room, and more so when she lies to the records clerk to get past her and into the files!  Those lies catch up to her pretty quickly, and she is forced to escape through a window in the records room and run away from the police (who, oddly enough, do nothing further when she evades their grasp after breaking into the police records room!) - and all of this because Nancy, Bess, and George realize the Maryland police may not be as willing to share information with her the way the River Heights police do!  Breaking and entering to obtain clues is one thing, but breaking into a police station and lying to police officers to get access to their records takes Nancy's criminal activities to a whole new level!

Aside from that, the first chapter of the book features a number of proper name items that I'm surprised to see in a Nancy Drew book, since it could easily date the book at some point in the future.  George references Instagram, while Nancy is called out for playing Words With Friends with Ned.  Nancy also references Car and Driver magazine with regard to a case she was helping the River Heights police to solve, and Bess picks the film To All the Boys I've Loved Before for the girls to watch on their sleepover at Nancy's house.  In the past, authors have always been somewhat vague about magazine or movie names; but it seems recently, Simon & Schuster has allowed authors to be a bit more direct with named items in the books.

Oh, and let's not forget the mention on page 144 of George's "full name," Georgia.  

Overall, the story was a good read, and I rather enjoyed it.  With the exception of book 20, The Vanishing Statue, the series has been presenting some pretty good mysteries, and I hope they keep heading in this direction.  Oddly enough, instead of promo-ing the next title on the back of this book, there is only a promo of A Nancy Drew Christmas, the oversized special which came out in 2019.  At first, I was worried that perhaps we had reached the end of this series, but thankfully, that is not the case.  The next two titles, The Blue Lady of Coffin Hall (#23) and Captain Stone's Revenge (#24), are set to come out in 2022, So Nancy Drew appears to be sticking around.  For another year, at least...

RATING:  8 cups of chocolate/peanut butter swirl fro yo out of 10 for letting Nancy take readers on a semi-tour of the nation's capitol while solving a well-plotted mystery!

Mary Perkins, On Stage - Volume Three

After more than a year since reading volume two, I figured it was time to delve back into the world of everyone's favorite actress of yesteryear - Mary Perkins, On Stage!  As I was reading this third volume, it hit me - I am so glad that I'm reading these for the first time in these collected editions, because I don't know if I would have had the patience to wait day after day for each three to four panel episode (not counting the larger Sunday episodes) to reach a conclusion of one story and move on to the next.  I realize I do that very thing with General Hospital (as I also did with Passions, Santa Barbara, and All My Children back in the day...); but at least with the television shows, you get a full hour (well, 40 minutes or so) of story - with only three panels a day, you can't move the story at too fast of a pace without making it not worth the effort.  However, in this collected format, I have the opportunity to get the entire story in one reading without having to wait for just a small snippet of the story each day!

Volume Three of Mary Perkins, On Stage features strips from April 20, 1959 to June 12, 1960 (just a little over a year's worth of stories). This volume features an introduction by Joe Jusko, who is a rather famous artist in his own right, his art having graced covers of Conan and Vampirella, among others.  I enjoy these introductions, because it's great to see how Leonard Starr's daily comic strip inspired other creators.  Like Jusko, I much prefer comic art that is more realistic, rather than a lot of the stylized art that we see in today's comics and cartoons where people barely even look like people.  Jusko correctly points out that Starr's art in On Stage showcased "facial expressions and body language [that] was flawless, projecting every emotion accurately and precisely, and the hair styles and clothing were always current and age-appropriate." (Introduction, p. 4)  And like Jusko, I assumed Starr must have been extremely familiar with the theater world based on the detail and descriptions in his stories, but was very surprised to discover that Starr was not at all comfortable with the material he was writing!  That definitely speaks volumes about this man's writing and artistic talents!

 

As to the storylines in volume three, we pick up right where volume two left off - the ghost on the set of "The Dryden Ghost" has been exposed, and now Mary, along the cast and crew, are headed to France where the film has been entered into the Riviera Film Festival.  Only, so has a film starring Oola LaBelle, who is so beautiful and sultry that her lack of acting skills are always overlooked.  Oola, however, is afraid Mary may steal her spotlight, so her agent does everything in his power to keep Mary out of the way - including leading Mary to believe he can reunite her with her true love, Pete Fletcher, who has been a political prisoner in a foreign country for too long now.  Of course, things always have a way of working out for Mary, so not only does her film win in the festival, but she also learns that Pete will be released in just six months!

Starr always manages to end one story with a lead-in to the next big adventure, and as fate would have it, Mary has been offered a part in a play by the famous playwright, George Geeper.  The only thing is, Cara Wayde has also been offered a part - to play Mary's sister in the new production!  And Cara Wayde is an unscrupulous egomaniac who will do just about anything to ensure the play is all about her.  An accident gives Cara the ammunition she needs to put Mary under her thumb and endear herself to the playwright, and before you know it, rewrites are happening on a regular basis that increase Cara's stage time and reduces Mary's lines to nearly none at all!

By the end of that production, Mary has lost her voice, so she is sent off to a private cabin in the countryside to recuperate - which, coincidentally enough, her next story begins!  This is a fun little caper that has nothing to do with acting and everything to do with horrible dog trainer who has been abusing the animals - and one in particular is a famous dog that Mary easily recognizes and does everything she can to protect him from his vicious owner.  And as Mary successfully sees Coppy placed in a loving home, Pete Fletcher receives his passport and is released, ready to be returned to the States.

The next story finally sees Pete and Mary reunited in Switzerland, where they finally get married (in a beautifully rendered Sunday edition), despite some concerns the doctors have regarding Pete's memory lapse and his unusual fear of nurses.  Of course, as with any soap opera, happiness is never to last long, and soon enough it is revealed that Pete is already married - to a woman who was his nurse while he was held captive!  Until the truth is fully uncovered, Mary is forced to live separate from Mary - which is when she happens to be swept off her feet (literally!) by good ol' Johnny Q!  He, of course, helps her discover the truth about Anya Kapek, and it all culminates in an explosive battle.

Mary and Pete return to the States, where Mary finds herself a guest on Bud Birdie show - but the host is anything but confident, and he seems to be always nervous, fearful that he will not be loved and well received.  Even his co-star, Tex McPrairie, and his announcer, Carl, can't seem to ever soothe Bud's nerves when it comes to making sure his show is a success.  Circumstances lead to Mary becoming a permanent guest star on the show, but backstage, something else is going on - someone is leaking stories to the press that are not true, and it seems to Mary that someone is trying to ruin Bud Birdie!

The final tale finds Mary starting a new play, where she will be a substitute teacher in a school filled with tough students.  What she doesn't expect is to find a couple of real tough kids who sneak into the auditions to avoid being caught by the police.  Mary's heart feels for the two boys, so she convinces the director to bring them into the cast in the hopes they can offer authenticity.  Chino and Tom readily agree, since it means a paycheck.  Chino seems to be a natural, quickly learning lines; but Tom has a bit more hesitancy and freezes when it comes his turn to speak or act.  But you can't always take the trouble out of the boys, as Mary and Pete soon learn, and the two boys ultimately have to make choices that will determine their futures - but will they choose right?

And as this volume comes to a close, it ends with a Sunday spread that hints of things to come - Mary receives a call from Pete's editor at "View" magazine with an urgent message for her husband; and at the same time, an elderly woman has shown up on the set, responding to the advertisement for a wardrobe mistress.  How will these events play out?  Guess we'll have to wait for volume four!

I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating - Starr's art is absolutely magnificent.  His backgrounds are so detailed, so exact, that the reader feels like he or she is actually right there with Mary and her friends - whether it's the streets of New York City, or the newly furnished apartment for the Fletchers, or the countryside outside the cabin where Mary convalesces, or the backstage of her latest play - Starr provides the most minute details to make each panel as real as possible, and this, I believe, is in large part what led to the success of this strip for so many years!

RATING:  10 leftover steaks out of 10 for providing a thoroughly enjoyable ongoing drama that is engaging, beautifully drawn, and exciting as it is fun!

An Ordinary Boy - a novel by Brian Centrone

I happen to know Brian Centrone through a mutual collecting group that we belong to on Facebook - we both happen to be fans of children's mystery series, in particular, Nancy Drew. And, as a fellow series book fan, I was thrilled to find out that Brian was an author himself.  So, when I discovered that he had some books out there, I jumped at the chance to read one of them.  Brian sent me one of his books, which he graciously autographed for me - the only problem is, it appears to have taken me three years to finally read the book!  (I did not realize this until I looked at his inscription, which he dated 2018!)  As such, I feel bad about sitting on the book for so long, and hopefully, he will forgive me this VERY late review of his work!

An Ordinary Boy is, quite frankly, an ordinary story about ordinary situations faced by a freshman in college who discovers that life is anything but ordinary.  Which, as it turns out, made this book most extraordinary!  I don't know many authors who can take a year in the life of their character and create an impact not just in his fictional character's life, but also in that of the reader.  But Centrone manages to capture that moment of transition from boyhood to manhood and bring it to life in a way that so many of us have experienced yet never dared to share.  An Ordinary Boy is a tale that many of us have experienced, and it allows the reader to identify with not just the main character, but also a number of the supporting cast, as well.

Tom Grove is anything but an "ordinary" boy. Tom is from a rich family.  Tom is used to dressing in the best styles.  Tom is good looking.  Tom has just taken it for granted that things come easy.  Tom is planning to become an attorney, just like his father.  Simply put, Tom is very spoiled.  The one thing Tom is missing is a boyfriend.  He knows he is gay, and it is something he has managed to keep a secret from his perfect family.  For Tom, going to college is finally going to be his chance to be himself, live his own life, and be free to express his homosexuality.  Only, Tom has no idea what a sheltered life he has lived - but he quickly finds out.

College is not full of hot, gay men just waiting for him to appear on the scene.  In fact, when he goes to a meeting of the gay & lesbian club on campus, he is shocked to discover that the members of the club are not all Adonises with perfectly chiseled bodies, coiffured hair, and name brand clothes.  Rather, they are what people might consider the outcasts - overweight, skinny, off-the-rack clothes, piercings, and just about anything else that would send his mother into cardiac arrest if she saw.  Tom's roommate turns out to be great looking, intelligent, and athletic - but he's straight.  So, what is Tom to do?

Centrone provides a rather interesting coming-out tale that addresses more than just Tom's coming out to his family and friends; rather, it takes on with full force the preconceived notions that people - both gay and straight - have about gay people, about class status, and about what lies beneath it all.  Honestly, I did not like Tom Grove at all as I read the book - he is judgmental, critical, snobbish, and extremely selfish and needy.  But, then again, he is a product of having been raised with that attitude, and by the end of the book, the reader realizes that the whole story is addressing that very issue.  The very thing that Tom has been looking for was right in front of him the whole time, and all he needed to do was get past his own biases and judgments.

It's funny - in most books, the reader is supposed to be drawn to the protagonist, and we are supposed to sympathize with, or identify with, the main character.  In An Ordinary Boy, I found myself more honestly identifying with some of those outcasts that Tom and so many others at the university were critical of - and Centrone definitely hit the nail on the head with the way the self-proclaimed "queens on campus" looked down on, made fun of, and basically ostracized the members of the gay & lesbian club who did not have the proper "look" to be accepted as a part of the gay clique.  Such an accurate representation of the hypocritical nature of the gay society - cry out for equality and representation, but then within their own circles, consistently discriminate and demoralize those who don't "fit the mold," so to speak.

When Brian sent me the book, he included a little note that apologized for any errors in the book (such as spelling and grammar), as this was published by an indy company, which did not necessarily have the best editors.  Yet, upon finishing the book, I can honestly say there were fewer errors in this book than in many mainstream books on the market today (I just finished reading a book the other day that came out this year from Berkley Publishing, and it had nearly 5x as many spelling errors as this book did!).

The one drawback on the book were the explicitness of the sexual encounters.  It is one problem I have with so many of the gay books on the market - there seems to be this misguided belief that in order to sell a book to the gay readership, it has to include explicit sex.  I disagree.  While erotica may have its place in the market, I think exceptionally good stories marketed to gay readers can do well without the explicit and graphic descriptions.  Perhaps I am in the minority in that thinking, but when I sit down to read a mystery, an adventure, or simply a "day-in-the-life" story like this, I'm not interested in reading porn - a sexual encounter can have a much stronger impact by being less explicit - less is more, as they say.

Anyway, the overall story was a good read, and I honestly wouldn't mind reading a sequel that reveals more about Tom, Darren, Isaac, and the others from this book.  Perhaps an ordinary boy could become an extraordinary man!

RATING:  7 Vera Wang wedding dresses out of 10 for shattering the impossible expectations and misconceptions about gay college life and revealing the realities of human nature.

Samantha Wolf Mysteries, Book Seven - The Case of the Curious Canine

I can't believe it's already been a year since I read the last Samantha Wolf mystery.  I guess I never realize just how many books I have to read until I look at how long it is between each book of a particular series that I read.  Author Tara Ellis is already up to book eleven with this series, so I guess I am pretty far behind in my reading.  But, that's okay, because it just means I still have more stories of Sam and her friends, Ally and Cassy, solving mysteries and trying hard to not get grounded while doing it!

The Case of the Curious Canine features a mystery that will strike a chord with any animal lover.  Sam and her friends are volunteering at the local animal shelter - on a trial basis, since Sam has a very difficult time not getting attached; but since her brother is allergic to the animal dander, she can't have a dog at home.  But she promises her mother she can handle it, and Trish Spartan, the woman who manages the shelter, is glad for any help she can get.  Her last assistant left unexpectedly, and her current assistant can only work part time.  So, the help that Sam, Ally, and Cassy can provide on weekends is certainly welcome.  Of course, this is a mystery series, so it isn't long before a mystery manages to find Sam!

Who has been harming the dogs in Oceanside?  The girls thought volunteering at the shelter would be fun, but it changes to concern when more than one dog is brought in with what appears to be severe allergic reactions to something.  As if that isn't strange enough, Sam sees two men driving slowly along the wooded area to Cassy's house, as if they are looking for something.  When they see her watching, they speed off.  The next thing you know, one of the men shows up at the animal shelter and claims one of the dogs as his own!  Sam smells a rat, but everything thinks she is seeing something that isn't there.

Then there's the matter of Ally's neighbor, for whom she babysits the woman's daughter from time to time.  The little girl is highly allergic, and the lab coat her mother brings home one night nearly sends her daughter into an asthma attack.  Sam's suspicions grow stronger that something very wrong is happening in Oceanside, particularly since the initials on the woman's lab coat are identical to the initials she saw on the car!  The only problem is, no one will believe her.  In fact, Trish warns Sam, as do Cassy's mom and her own mom, to not look for mysteries where there are none.

Thankfully, Sam has faithful friends who will help her - and so they do, even to their own peril!

Ellis provides another well-plotted mystery, and I'm even reaching the point where I don't notice the present tense story-telling as much as I used to.  I think my mind is just automatically switching it to past tense as I read it - for some reason, present tense writing just doesn't seem to read as well as past tense (for me, at least).  I know some authors will say writing in present tense keeps the reader in the "here and now," as if everything you read is happening at that exact moment.  But, for me, the past tense style reads more naturally.  In any event, Ellis' characterization and mystery plots overpower any problems I have with the tense.

Oh, and spoiler alert - Sam makes yet another new friend by the end of this mystery - one that I have no doubt will be sticking around!

RATING:  7 L-shaped medicine dispensers out of 10 for showing that even the most hard-nosed people can have a soft-spot when it comes to animals!

Haunted Homicide - a Haunted Mansion Mystery (#1)

Wait, what? Another new series?  But, Todd, I thought you weren't picking up any new series!  And a cozy series, at that?! Yes, yes, yes, I know.  But when you go to Barnes & Noble time and time again, and there are no new books in the series you do read, and you stumble across the start of a new series about a haunted mansion with a ghost that helps the new young business manager of the woman's club that houses its meetings and events within that haunted mansion - plus, with the unique font used for the title and the awesome cover art - well, let's face it, I couldn't help myself.  I picked up the first two books in the series and figured I would give them a try.  If I didn't like them, I knew I could always pass them on to someone else.

Well, I have no intention of passing them on!

Haunted Homicide, the first of Lucy Ness's "Haunted Mansion Mystery" tales, is a delightful little mystery with plenty of colorful characters.  Of course, when you are dealing with a bunch of high society, older-than-dirt women, you're pretty much guaranteed to have some fun characters!  The story centers around Avery Morgan, who has come to the small town of Portage Path (interesting name) to take over as business manger for the PPWC (Portage Path Women's Club).  Avery's parents died when she was young, and she was raised by her rather eccentric aunt who claims to see and speak with the dead.  Avery has never believed in any of that, and his move to Portage Path gives her a chance to get away from it all.  Or so she thinks...

Avery is welcomed into the PPWC by everyone except one - Muriel Sadler, an old, rich socialite who makes it clear that she does not want Avery there.  All of the others ladies on the Board for the women's club are happy to have Avery - Patricia Fink, Gracie Grimm, Valentina Hanover, and Agnes Yarborough.  The cook, Quentin, and the hostess, Geneva, are also thrilled to meet Avery.  But as soon as she arrives, she realizes things are not going well for the club.  Membership is down, attendance at meetings is low, and one of the rooms in the old mansion is having to be repaired because Agnes fell asleep in the records room and dropped her cigarette, starting a fire that nearly wiped out the room.  Enter: Jack Harkness.

Yes, you read that right.  Jack Harkness. No, not THAT Jack Harkness.  Although, it would have been rather hilarious if Jack Harkness turned out to be Captain Jack Harkness (as played by John Barrowman) in the Doctor Who series.  But, sadly, this is only a super-tall, super-good looking restorationist who will be fixing the Marigold Room.  However, I did smile every time I read his name, as I could only picture in my mind John Barrowman as Jack Harkness.

Anyway, before you know it, Muriel Sadler winds up dead at the bottom of the basement stairs.  Avery stumbles across the body - literally! - and she is left to wonder if the young woman in the 1920s flapper outfit she sees in the basement is connected to the murder.  Of course, Sergeant Oscar "Oz" Alterman and his policemen are unable to locate any woman in the basement.  Avery gets the suspicion they think she imagined the woman.  But she didn't.  She knows she didn't.  She spoke with the woman.  She was real.  Wasn't she?

With a series called "A Haunted Mansion Mystery," I think you pretty much know the answer to that.  Ness plays the story realistically (well, as realistically as you can with a ghost), and Clementine Bow (the ghost) is not able to simply tell Avery who the killer is.  Rather, Clemmie simply helps Avery talk through all the facts she uncovers about the suspects and the night of the murder, and she even manages to eavesdrop on some conversations that help Avery connect some dots about Muriel Sadler.  Of course, if she's going to figure out who killed the former president of the PPWC (at the request of the other board members, of course), she's going to have to get some answers to some important questions, like:  where did Patricia get those bruises? why was Muriel's husband at a movie the night of the murder when he told the police he was at home? what was Gracie doing with some of the records books at her house?  why did the previous business manager not turn in her key when Muriel fired her? and was it true that the former groundskeeper was stealing from the club, as Muriel accused him of when she fired him?  So much misinformation, so many lies, and so many secrets - all of which make for a great mystery!

Ness is off to a great start with this first book in her new series, and I hope the series sticks around for a while and doesn't disappear like Clemmie after only two books!

RATING:  9 purple t-shirts and purple-glittered hair out of 10 for kicking off this new series with a fun new mystery-solving duo!

Tom Swift Inventors' Academy, Book 5 - The Spybot Invasion

While the stories are definitely shorter and a bit more juvenile (due to the title character's younger age), I am actually enjoying this latest Tom Swift series.  I liked the previous series S&S put out some years back, the Tom Swift, Young Inventor series, but sadly, that one did not last long - only six books.  And since this is book five, and books six and seven have already been solicited, I think this series has a good chance of outlasting the previous one.  The stories are creative, and being set in a scientific academy for students with an aptitude for creating inventions, there are certainly plenty of story ideas waiting to be told.

 

The Spybot Invasion features Tom and his friends, Noah, Sam, and Amy, going up against an army of cute little robots that are spying on the students at Swift Academy. Only, Tom doesn't find the strange little robots that have suddenly started appearing all over school to be that cute.  For Tom, they are a reminder of a movie he once saw that scared him - a movie "full of big-eared little monsters that looked a lot like these plastic goblins."  There are several references to the movie throughout the book, and it is finally revealed to be ... Gremlins!  Hard to think of Gremlins as being an "old" movie, but I guess it did come out more than thirty years ago at this point, so I suppose it can be considered old.  Which, of course, means I am old, too!

Anyway, the first clue that something is wrong is a conversation Tom overhears in an elevator, where one student is accusing a friend of ratting out something he said to a teacher.  A short while later, Tom overhears someone say the exact same thing he said to Amy earlier, but he can't catch who said it.  Who would want to mimic him?  And why?  Then, in one of his classes, a student is upset with her boyfriend for saying something he shouldn't have.  And more and more students begin to have fights over things that were said, but which the other party claims they never said.  And then it happens.  In class, one of the "cute" little robots repeats something that one of the students says.  Within seconds, all of the other robots begin repeating the same thing.  And thus begins Tom's latest mystery.

Lucky for Tom, he had thrown the robot attached to his locker inside his locker, so it didn't get confiscated when the principal had them all pulled away.  He and Noah take it home to inspect it - but they turn around for one second, and when they turn back, it's gone!  Something fishy is going on, and when Tom finds out that a shipment of technical supplies for his father's business has gone missing, there is a more compelling reason to uncover the truth.  Is someone using those robots to try and spy on his father?

The culprit is not really all that surprising - he is pretty easy to spot early in the story - but it is interesting to follow Tom and Noah as they navigate the clues they find to uncover the identity of the spy.  And while there are not really any life-threatening cliffhangers to speak of (which seems to be the case for most of these Tom Swift books), Tom and Noah do end up locked in a storage unit with no cell reception and no apparent way out.  Otherwise, the chapters conclude with either revelations, surprises, or simple statements of fact.  Not exactly what one would expect from a Stratemeyer series (regardless of who is publishing it now), but it does sort-of work for this series.  Tom and his friends do not need the hair-raising, death-defying cliffhangers, as their mysteries are more cerebral in nature and are more about technological tracing than finding kidnappers or swindlers or the such.

There is a fun reference in the book that made me smile.  On page 39, when Sam suggests the robot gremlins are actually an alien invasion, Noah tells her, "You watch way too much Doctor Who," to which she promptly (and accurately!) replies: "don't diss the Doctor!"  As a fan of the current Doctor Who series on BBC, I'm always pleased when books by American authors reference the show or its fandom.

RATING:  8 inflatable body protection bags out of 10 showing young readers that science can be just as much fun for kids and teens as it can be for adults!

Ms. Tree - Skeleton in the Closet (The Second Ms. Tree Graphic Novel)

Oh, how I miss Ms. Tree.  Michael Tree was probably the first hard-broiled, female detective that I ever "met," and when I first picked up issue 1 of Ms. Tree's Thrilling Detective Adventures at the Great Escape back in the early 1980s, I immediately fell in love with her.  The art by Terry Beatty was so beautifully rendered, and the writing by Max Allan Collins was exceptional, drawing you into the story and making you really feel for the characters, as if you were actually right there with them.  The stories usually had a dark twist to them, and the in most cases, it was the most unexpected, least likely characters who turned out to be the villains behind whatever crime Ms. Tree happened to be investigating.  (And yes, I'm not ashamed to admit - it took me a bit before I caught onto the pun of her name - Ms. Tree = "mystery.")  In any event, when her original series from Eclipse, then Aarvark-Vanheim, then Renegade Press ended with issue 50, I was extremely disappointed.  Then, DC Comics picked it up, and it returned to full color stories!  But sadly, that only lasted 10 issues before it was also cancelled back in 1993.  Now, though, over 25 years later, Ms. Tree is finally back on the scene thanks to Titan Comics and their "Hard Case Crime" line of graphic novels, and I am getting the chance to re-read those wonderful stories and re-acquaint myself with the world of Ms. Tree.

Skeleton in the Closet is the second volume in this series of collected tales, and it not only features the rest of the DC Comics stories, but it features one of the earlier Renegade Press tales that ties directly into an issue of the DC run.  While the first collection published by Titan featured an over-arching storyline involving Ms. Tree, the Muertas, and Ms. Tree's pregnancy, the stories in this second collection are not necessarily connected (other than the two Roger-centric tales), but are nonetheless some great reads.  And, in true Ms.Tree-style, the stories feature some "pulled-from-the-headlines" tales.

"The Devil's Punchbowl" takes Ms. Tree to a little town called Bloomington to find a young girl that seems to have been murdered by a Satanic cult.   As always is with Ms. Tree's stories, not everything is as it seems.  There are more secrets in Bloomington than just the cult, and while the God-fearing town hates the cult's presence, it's not necessarily the cult leader who is the most dangerous person there!

The next two stories, "Skeleton in the Closet" and "Cry Rape" both focus on Ms. Tree's stepson, Mike.  In the first story, Mike's homophobia takes the forefront, as his memories of a past story when he was kidnapped and forced to watch his friend sodomized and murdered come back to haunt him, triggering an anger in him that he did not know still existed.  But who killed the publishers of "The Blade," a gay magazine known for outing people?  In the second story, Mike is accused of raping a girl on campus, but he has no memory of the night.  Did he actually do it, or is someone setting him up?  Ms. Tree is on the case!

"Horror Hotel" was actually my favorite story in this collection.  It is an off-beat tale, not your typical Ms. Tree fare!  Ms. Tree is invited to spend the weekend in an old, supposedly haunted mansion, along with a parapsychologist, two mediums, and a man of the cloth to perform an exorcism, if necessary.  What Ms. Tree doesn't know is that the press will also be present - the same rag that tagged her with the "Female Mike Hammer" line.  But when the parapsychologist turns up dead ... and then Mr. Wicker, who organizes the event, is killed ... is it the ghosts that haunt the house, or is the monster someone more of the human variety?  There are plenty of twists in this little mystery, making it a really great read!

The final two stories are connected - "Roger's Story" from the Renegade Press days (and republished here in its original duo-tone format), followed up by by "To Live and Die in Vietnam," takes a look into Roger's past when he served with Dan Green's brother in Vietnam.  Roger made it back, but the rest of his troop - including Dan's brother, were left behind, presumed dead.  But the past always has a way of coming back to haunt everyone in Ms. Tree's vicinity, and Roger (and Dan) are no different.  In "Roger's Story," an old flame returns for Roger's help, but the secret she is hiding could get them both killed.  "To Live and Die in Vietnam" follows up on the anger Dan harbors against Roger for leaving his brother behind, but a trip to Vietnam to uncover the truth about his brother's death leads to more than just a few surprises.

There is also a short prose story at the end of the collection, "Louise," which finds Ms. Tree tracking down a missing child who was abducted by her abusive father.  Of course, she quickly learns that the truth is all a matter of perspective, and she does what she has to do to protect the child in a way only Ms. Tree can!

This second volume of the Ms. Tree collections finishes off the DC issues, and volume three will begin collecting the original run of Ms. Tree.  I am really looking forward to future volumes and the opportunity to re-read this amazing run of stories.  Max Allan Collins is a phenomenal mystery writer, his stories always providing just the right twist to keep you guessing.  And Terry Beatty's art, while in some ways very simplistic, fits perfectly with Ms. Tree to create a unique style that no one could ever duplicate.  That is why, despite how disappointed I am that we've had no new Ms. Tree comics for decades, I am happy that no other writer or artist has taken over and continued the series.  Ms. Tree would just never been the same without Collins and Beatty at the helm.

RATING:  10 late night exorcisms out of 10 for reminding the world just how magnificent Ms. Tree really is!