What is the Story of Nancy Drew? - an Official WhoHQ Book

I bought this book, both in hardcover and paperback, solely as a Nancy Drew "collectible."  I hadn't really had any intention of reading it.  I have seen plenty of these "Who is ... ?" and "What is the Story of ... ?" books at the bookstore and in Wal-Mart, and I knew they were aimed at young readers to help educate them on people and things from the past.  But I wanted something quick and easy to read, and I saw this sitting on my shelf, so I figured why not.  I certainly didn't expect to read anything in the book that I didn't already know, and I admit, I was curious as to how accurate the information contained in this book actually is.  After all, I had never heard of the author, Dana Meachen Rau, and I wasn't sure how much she actually knew about our favorite female sleuth.

What is the Story of Nancy Drew? is not bad at all.  It provides a very broad overview and history of the character and creation of Nancy Drew.  Rau opens the book with a fun two-page teaser of what might appear to be a Nancy Drew mystery - Nancy sneaking out to investigate a spooky old mansion and discovering a hidden staircase behind a trap door!  But the author quickly informs her readers that Nancy Drew is not a real person at all; rather, she tells her readers that Nancy is a "curious and independent teenage detective [who] is a character in a series of books written by Carolyn Keene" (p. 2).  With this brief introduction, Rau begins her narrative into the creation and history of Nancy Drew.

The first chapter gives background on Edward Stratemeyer, the man behind the Syndicate that produced so many children's mystery series for decades, and who was the one who actually came up with the idea of Nancy Drew.  That first chapter ends with Stratemeyer hiring his ghostwriter for this new series, which leads into the second chapter - the story of Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson, that first ghostwriter who truly defined Nancy Drew in those formative years.

Rau then describes those first three books that were published in spring of 1930 and moves along to explain the importance of this independent girl detective who was far ahead of her time in terms of female empowerment.  The fourth chapter ends with the death of Edward Stratemeyer and how his to daughters, Harriet and Edna, had no choice but to take over their father's business - in a time when it was unheard of for women to run a major business like the Stratemeyer Syndicate!  From here, Rau provides her readers with an introduction to Bess, George, and Ned and explains (without detail) how Harriet and Mildred disagreed at times about how Nancy should be written.  Readers also learn about the four Nancy Drew films starring Bonita Granville.

The book continues with chapters about the revision of the books in order to update them for the changing times; the various authors who wrote Nancy Drew mysteries before Harriet Stratemeyer Adams took over the complete writing of the series; the publication of Nancy Drew in foreign countries; the expanding world of Nancy Drew into board games, lunch boxes, dolls, and even television.  One chapter is devoted to the 50th anniversary celebration of Nancy Drew in 1980, which also provides a bit of information about that infamous court case between publishers, at which Mildred Benson was called to testify regarding her authorship of the books.

Rau concludes the book with a look at how Nancy Drew has evolved over the years in the books.  From the introduction of the Nancy Drew Files in the mid-1980s, to the Nancy Drew Notebooks, to the Nancy Drew, Girl Detective and Nancy Drew Diaries series, as well as the graphic novels, the new films, and the recent CW television show.  Rau's final statements at the end of the book pretty much sums up the reality of Nancy Drew - "Nancy is a hero, not only in her own stories but for her countless readers. She has inspired kids to be adventurous, curious problem-solvers who get the job done" (p. 104).

Rau does what I believe is a wonderful job of providing young readers a full introduction into Nancy Drew.  She provides the basic facts without getting into the unnecessary details of the controversies surrounding Harriet vs. Mildred, the Court battle regarding the publication rights, and the quality of the later series that many fans debate still today.  Instead, Rau focuses on the character of Nancy Drew and the amazing longevity and all the elements that have helped make Nancy Drew an enduring icon.  She rightfully acknowledges the part that everyone played (including the other ghostwriters outside of Harriet and Millie), which I think is the correct approach.

One thing that adds enjoyment to this book are the many illustrations throughout, reminiscent of the Nancy Drew books of days gone by, which features several internal illustrations to enhance the story.  Artist Dede Putra provides quite a few line illustrations throughout the book (pretty much at least one on every page!) - from images of Nancy Drew to Edward Stratemeyer to Mildred Wirt Benson to book covers to scenes from the stories to Harriet and Edna to that last iconic image of Nancy Drew holding a flashlight on the final page (p. 105).  The illustrations are nicely done, a far cry better than those "stick figure" drawings that were featured in the final Nancy Drew books published by Grosset & Dunlap back in the late 1970s.

Rau also includes in the book a number of "inserts" (for lack of a better term) that provides information relevant to the particular chapter.  For example, chapter two features a two page insert about "History of Mystery!" that gives readers a bit of history about the detective story itself and some of the more popular detectives in literary history (pp. 22-23).  Chapter four provides a two page insert about "Behind the Wheel," which looks at the evolution of the vehicles that Nancy Drew drove over the years; while chapter five gives readers the answer to "Who Drew Nancy Drew?," focusing on Russell H. Tandy, the original cover and interior artist for the books.  These informational inserts definitely enhance the knowledge of the reader with respect to Nancy Drew's history!

Overall, I think this book is a fantastic way to introduce readers to the "behind-the-scenes" story of Nancy Drew, her creation, and her longevity.

RATING:  10 dark, dusty attics out of 10 for setting down the history of the world's greatest girl sleuth for future generations of young readers to learn!

Whitman Mystery Stories - Betty Grable and the House with the Iron Shutters

I am amazed at just how unique and, often times, quite good these Whitman mysteries for boys and girls are.  I spent years passing them over, because I assumed they were of inferior nature to the Grosset & Dunlap and Cupples & Leon series, simply based on their fragile paper and their less than stellar cover art.  But as I've begun reading some of them, I'm learning that they are nowhere near as bad as I thought they were!  Yes, the paper is very fragile, so I have to be very careful reading them (since many of them are well over 6o and 70 years old!), and the cover art is not necessarily as beautifully painted as some of the ones by G&D or C&L.  But some of the stories have been just as well written, in a few cases more so, than the more popular series books.  This one, however, is not one of those.

Betty Grable and The House with the Iron Shutters is one of the "Whitman Authorized Editions," which are mysteries featuring film stars who were rather famous at the time.   The Bonita Granville book I read some time ago was rather enjoyable, and the Quiz Kids mystery was a lot of fun.  So, when I picked this one up, I had fairly high hopes.  Now, mind you, while I recognized the name Betty Grable, I honestly had no idea who she was.  I just knew she was an actress back in the day.  Thus, using that handy-dandy information resource otherwise known as the Internet, I looked her up.  Betty Grable (1916-1973) was more than just an actress, it seems - she was also a pin-up girl, a dancer, a model, and a singer.  In 1943, when this book was published, she would have been 27 years old and has starred in more than 40 films!  That's quite a career.  And she did plenty more movies afterward, so one can assume that this book came out during the height of Grable's popularity.

The story is written by Kathryn Heisenfelt, who wrote a number of these authorized stories for Whitman.  I've read her Bonita Granville, and I have several other of her books (Jane Withers, Shirley Temple).   Her Bonita Granville story was pretty enjoyable, so I expected the same here.  What I found, though, was a somewhat lackluster tale that tried to create drama and suspense by dragging out scenes unnecessarily too long and a plot that was haphazard at best.  This book does not at all compare to the Bonita Granville story, which is a shame.

The story opens with Betty and her friend, Loys Lester, on a unique vacation, wherein they have no set plans, but just travel from place to place by pulling out a map and blindly selecting their next destination.  I had never seen the name "Loys" before, and thought it rather unusual.  I looked it up and discovered it is of Greek origin, and is equivalent to the American version of "Lois."  At any rate, as they are preparing to leave the hotel, Betty realizes they are not far from a city where a friend lives, so she suggests going to visit the friend - but, first, she wants to find an antique gift to bring her friend.  The owner of the hotel and his wife, who both act rather shady, inform Betty that an old woman and her sister who reside in a formerly grand house up on the hill are selling off their antique furnishings, and the wife agrees to take the girls there.  The woman drops them off in front of the house (that has definitely seen better days!), but she refuses to go inside, saying something about a quarrel with one of the sisters.  Betty and Loys are suspicious, but needing to find a gift, they go inside, where they meet one of the sisters, Miss Ardeeta Dewitt (a/k/a Miss Deeta), and her housekeeper, Mercy.  The woman does not seem happy about selling anything, but she is willing to do so - at least, until her sister, Miss Cherry Dewitt, comes downstairs.  Betty and Loys can feel the tension between the two.  Finding the whole situation uncomfortable, Betty and Loys decide to leave - only, the wife of the hotel owner is gone, leaving them stranded at the house!  And thus begins the mystery.

From here, the story becomes not only stranger, but a bit convoluted ads well.  It seems the housekeeper is afraid a ghost seen on the premises - a women dressed in white - and the Dewitt sisters confess things have been taken from the house.  When a treasured bowl (one that Betty was interested in buying) goes missing, Miss Cherry blames the girls and locks them in an upstairs bedroom that has iron shutters on the window so they can't escape!  Betty and Loys do not want to stay trapped in the room, but they cannot convince the sisters that they did not steal the bowl.  Through a trap door in the ceiling, Betty climbs into the attic, out through a small window, and down the vines on the side of the house.  She  thinks of taking the car in the garage, but not only does she not find a car, but she stumbles upon a strange and gnarled old woman (Betty thinks she is a witch!) who seems to be taking things from the garage.  She sees Betty and things Betty is the ghost!  There's a lot of back-and-forth, misunderstandings, near-misses, and the sudden appearance of a strange man who takes Betty back into the house through the basement and forces her to help him see Miss Deeta.  The story drags considerably here as Betty tries to silently steal her way back up the stairs and find Miss Deeta, but nearly gets caught and has to hide in a closet - where someone nearly finds her when they reach in to hide the supposedly stolen bowl!  Everything eventually comes out, the woman in white is revealed not to be a ghost, the thief confesses, and Betty and Loys learn the truth about what is really going on in that house with the iron shutters.

Perhaps the story would not have been so hard to read had Heisenfelt not taken literal chapters (and I mean a LOT more than one) to tell the adventure of Betty after she escapes through the attic.  I had to force myself to keep reading, wondering when Betty would quit questioning everything, second guessing herself on every decision, and just bravely move forward.  Usually, the title characters in these books are very strong-willed and determined young women, but Betty Grable in this book comes across in most instances as very timid and weak.  That, coupled with the not-so-fantastic mystery of "who stole the bowl" (which really is not too hard to figure out), led to me not enjoying this book as much as I had hoped I would. 

 

There was one line in the book that did bring a smile to my face, though.  When Betty and Loys are first locked in the shuttered bedroom, Loys voices her opinion that Miss Deeta and Mercy are scared of Miss Cherry.  "Well aren't they?" Loys pursued. "Don't you wonder why the two of them don't grab the old witch and throw her into the oven--?" (p. 115). This nice little nod to the fairy tale story of Hansel and Gretel and how they escaped the witch holding them captive was a cute reference.  Unfortunately, that one moment did not make up for how much the rest of the story lacked.  Hopefully this is an exception to these Whitman Authorized Editions, and other books will prove better.

 

Before I sign off, I must mention the interior illustrations.  The line drawings, by Henry E. Vallely, are beautifully rendered.  Vallely provided illustrations for a number of the Whitman books, and his drawings are very detailed - just look at the wallpaper in the background of page 63, even the ornate frame around the picture on the wall.  And, for the most part, his people are very nicely drawn - but his rendition of Miss Cherry is  - well, there's no polite way to put it.  She looks like a man dressing up as a woman!  Not sure if Vallely did that intentionally to try and define her character in the illustrations, or if he just simply wanted to draw her so drastically different from her sister.  In either event, she is as horrible in the illustrations as she is in the story! It's interesting to note that the end pages (at the front and back of the book) set forth a scene that actually occurs pretty much at the end of the story - thankfully, there is no clue in the picture that reveals the identity of the ghost, the thief, or even the strangers.  I just found it odd that is the scene the publisher would pick to display on the end pages.

RATING:5 genuine Amelung sapphire bowls out of 10 for a half-hearted attempt to put Betty Grable into a mystery, with its saving grace being the interior illustrations.

Green Mansions - a Classics Illustrated comic adaptation

Years ago, watching Saturday morning cartoons, my favorite show was always Super Friends, a cartoon about the major characters from DC Comics.  Watching that show was my first introduction to a character by the name of Rima, the Jungle Girl.  It was not until many years later, as an adult, that I learned DC Comics had actually published a seven-issue comic book series about this character back in the mid-70s.  Of course, I hunted down those seven issues so I could read the stories about this character.  She later appeared briefly in DC's short-lived revival of their pulp characters in the First Wave series of titles back in 2009 (she only made guest appearances, she did not have her own title).  It was not until recently that I learned the character was not actually a DC owned character, but rather, a creation of author William Henry Hudson (a/k/a W.H. Hudson) from a novel that was originally published way back in 1904!

Green Mansions, subtitled "A Romance of the Tropical Forest," was originally published in the United Kingdom, but later saw printings here in the States as early as 1912.  Since then, it has gone through numerous printings and has been adapted not only into comic book form, but also into a 1959 film of the same name (which, from what I could find online, was NOT a box office success, despite having stars like Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins in it!).  Since I loved the character of Rima, based on her appearances in Super Friends and the DC Comics' series, I wanted to have a complete comic book run of the character, which meant finding a copy of the 1951 comic book adaptation of the novel, issue 90 of the Classics Illustrated series.  At last, I managed to find a reasonably priced copy in great condition, so I bought it!

Not having read the novel, I can't say just how faithful the adaptation of the comic is to the book, but the story of Green Mansions in the Classics Illustrated comic is definitely a superb read.  The narrator and main character is Abel Gueves de Argensola, who is forced (for political reasons, he tells his readers) to flee Venezuela into the South American jungles.  He makes friends with an Indian tribe, who warn him that the forest is protected by a mysterious woman they call "the Daughter of the Didi."  Abel, of course, does not heed their warnings, and he ultimately meets this woman, who turns out to be Rima.  He is bitten by a poisonous snake when he tries to touch Rima, and he later awakens to find himself in a hut belonging to an older man named Nuflo, who claims to be Rima's grandfather.  It is here that Abel learns the strange origins of Rima and ultimately falls in love with the strange jungle girl.

I'm not sure who was in charge of doing the adapting here, as far as the writing goes, but I must say, I do rather like Alex Blum's art on the story.  His use of non-traditional panels (circles, photo frames, slanted panels, etc.) help keep the reader's attention and provide variation and emphasis on certain scenes that might otherwise be glanced over by the casual reader.  Blum also manages to draw some beautiful "action" scenes that truly bring the characters to life - when Abel is chasing after Rima in the woods, when the Indians go on the hunt, when Rima is encouraging Abel to climb to the top of the mountain with her, and so on.  Just looking at the panel, you can almost "feel" the movement of the characters.  And having only known Rima through Super Friends and the DC Comics' series, I was not aware of Rima's fate until I read this comic.  Of course, no body was ever found (at least, in the comic - can't say for sure whether the book is any different), so perhaps Rima did survive after all, which would account for her appearances in the cartoon and comics in later years!

The prompt on the very last page of the story, "Don't Miss The Added Enjoyment of Reading the Original, Obtainable at Your School or Public Library," would have definitely driven me as a kid to seek out the book (although I'm not sure whether my school library would have carried this book).  Now, I'm more likely to find this book only on eBay or in a used bookstore, perhaps.  I definitely have this on my want list to hunt down some day, so I can compare the original work to this adapted version.

I like the fact that Classics Illustrated also offered a one-page bio on the author of the story, William Henry Hudson.  I knew literally nothing about this man until I read the bio, so it's nice to have some information about the author, which only adds to my appreciation of the story.

It's funny that a character who was killed off in a story written and published at the turn of the last century would still manage to stick around for so long in various forms.  Nearly half a century after Green Mansions was published, she appeared in this comic book form from Classics Illustration.  More than twenty years later, she appeared in comic book form again, but in a somewhat different form thanks to DC Comics and the series' writer, Robert Kanigher.  Even though that series only lasted seven issues, it clearly made an impact, because that version of the character appeared a few years later, albeit briefly, in three episodes of Hanna-Barbera's The All-New Super Friends Hour.  She has been in a movie adaption of Green Mansions, she has been mentioned in other comics and novels, and there is even a memorial in Hudson Memorial Bird Sanctuary in London's Hyde Park that has a "bas-relief" of Rima, sculpted by Jacob Epstein.  No other character from this story seems to have garnered such longevity, and it just leaves me to wonder where and when Rima will show up next!

I am so thankful that Classics Illustrated took the time and effort to adapt so many classic stories into comic book form.  While I grew up reading the "standard" classics, such as Treasure Island, Tom Sawyer, Black Beauty, Heidi, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, etc., there are so many classics, such as this, that I might never have heard of, let alone read, if it weren't for Classics Illustrated.

RATING:  9 dishes of roasted pumpkin and sweet potatoes out of 10 for keeping the classics alive through the art form of comic books!

Race Against Time - A Cassandra Mystery #2

This Cassandra Best series has been a pleasant surprise.  I do not remember ever seeing these books back in 1990 when they were published, and I had never heard of nor seen any of the books up until just recently.  But I'm definitely glad I picked them up, as they are some well-written stories with some beautiful cover and interior art.  This second book in the series definitely caught my interest for several reasons - the title alone (which I'll get more into later) was enough to catch my eye, but the setting was also important to me.  This book happens to be set in my home state of Kentucky!  Not very often do I come across a series book set in my home state, so when I do, I read them with a keen eye, wanting to see just how accurate the portrayal of Kentucky really is!

Race Against Time has Cassie Jones a/k/a Cassandra Best once again coming to the aid of her British pen pal, Alexandra Bennett (that name still gets me!), only this time she only has to travel as far as Lexington, Kentucky.  Alexandra is there to do a story for her father's paper on the Kentucky Derby social scene, but she needs Cassandra's help solving the mystery of a stolen race horse.  The Felsinghams (the family with whom Alexandra is staying) own a prize-willing race horse named Magic Spell who was predicted to win the Derby this year - the only problem is, someone has stolen the horse, and the Derby is only days away!  The Felsinghams did not want to involve the police, so Alexandra, of course, recommended Cassandra.  Once again convincing her parents she is simply going to visit her friend, Cassandra hops on an airplane (the cost of which is paid for by the Felsinghams) to Kentucky!

The story is actually a well-plotted mystery, and the clues as to the identity of the thief are right there (but you don't realize it until the revelations at the end, which is a sign of a great writer!).  Just like Nancy Drew, Cassandra wants to keep her investigation a secret, so she pretends to be an heiress interested in buying a new horse, which opens the doors for her to speak with a number of rather wealthy horse owners and trainers.  There are a couple of very obvious suspects that the author tries to lead the reader into thinking might actually have kidnapped poor Magic Spell, but the mystery is actually much more involved than that.  Cassandra, along with Alexandra's help, has to discern who has the real motive and means to take a prized race horse and keep him hidden.  Is it the neighboring horse owners who are secretly in financial straits?  Is it a prior trainer, who was fired no so long ago by the Felsinghams?  Is it the female jockey, who will do just about anything to prove that she has what it takes (and who happens to be the ex-girlfriend of the Felsingham's jockey)?  Is it the wealthy businessman who will spend any amount of money to buy the horses he wants?  Or is it someone that is not even on Cassandra's radar?  There are plenty of suspects to sift through, and not a lot of time to solve the case!

Probably one of the most enjoyable things about this story, for me anyway, was the Kentucky aspect.  Having been born and raised in Kentucky, I'm familiar with its Derby history and the importance of that event each year.  The description of the high society parties, the women all dressed up with hats and gloves, the parades, the balloon race (which really was a big event!  I remember watching the race from our front yard, as the hot air balloons would fly right over our subdivision every year!), and all of the excitement leading up to the event.  While the author does not go into much detailed description of Churchill Downs, she (or he) does make mention of the two spires that are the trademark visual when anyone thinks of the Downs (p. 63).

And Cassandra's reaction to the grass in Kentucky is pretty much spot-on for people who have never visited the state.  Everyone knows Kentucky is "The Bluegrass State," but when people visit Kentucky for the first time, just like Cassandra, they say, "So where's the bluegrass? ... This stuff just looks like plain old green to me" (p. 14).  As Alexandra points out, the grass in Kentucky is not REALLY blue - in certain places in the state, it just has a blueish hue to it, that's all.  But it's nice to see the author actually acknowledge and explain this fact.

Now, let's look at that title.  Race Against Time is a pretty common title for books.  Countless authors have used the title.  Piers Anthony, Christy Barritt, Eric Brown, Sharon Sala, Claire Eckard, Sandra Neil Wallace, and many others.  But the one I thought of immediately is the Nancy Drew book.  Or, should I properly say BOOKS!  Yes, there are actually two Nancy Drew books that use this title - book 66 in the original series (1982) and book 2 of the Girl Detective series (2004).  It's the book published in 1982, though, that bears discussion here.  That book, written by James D. Lawrence (who also created and wrote the Friday Foster strip that I reviewed recently), also dealt with a stolen horse.  While not set in Kentucky or around the Kentucky Derby, the story did have Nancy tracking down a horse named Shooting Star.  And just like in the Cassandra mystery here, the Nancy Drew mystery also has a stable that is burned down, as well as a stampeding horse that nearly tramples the sleuth.  (This scene, funny enough, appears on the cover of both books - the first Minstrel printing of the Nancy Drew mystery, as well as the cover to this Cassandra mystery.)  So, all these similarities might lead one to wonder - since the Nancy Drew Race Against Time was published eight years before the Cassandra mystery, did the author of this book read the Nancy Drew mystery and get inspired?  I've seen nothing to indicate that James Lawrence ever used the pseudonym of Jennifer Austin or wrote this series, so I think it would be safe to say the same author did not write both books.  Another mystery behind the books that will likely never be solved...

As with the first book in this series, the second Cassandra mystery is a great read.  It actually stands up well against the test of time, and even without cell phones and the internet, the story would still be a strong contender in today's market.  The characters are very likable, the mysteries are well-plotted, and everything one would expect to find in a young adult mystery series is there.

RATING:  10 shattered jade statuettes out of 10 for giving my home state and the Kentucky Derby a chance to shine in a well-written mystery!

Murder in Venice - A Posie Parker Mystery, Book 6

It's been a bit since I last read a Posie Parker mystery, so figured it was time to read the next book in the series.  Posie is a character you can't help but love.  She has definitely experienced enough drama in her life - from losing her first love to another woman (then having to continue in a working partnership with him!), to facing down death time and again as she finds herself embroiled in solving some very dangerous murders, to dealing with her own heartache of losing her brother in the war.  But author L.B. Hathaway has created a very strong character in Posie Parker, one who is enjoyable to read and who draws you into the story and into her life the way few books do.

Murder in Venice is the culmination of several stories, the biggest one being the fact that Posie is traveling to Venice to get married!  Alaric Boynton-Dale, the famous explorer and aviator, had proposed, and of course, Posie said yes.  And now, Posie is making the trip from London to Venice to marry the man she loves.  But, as usual, nothing goes quite as planned.  Before she even reaches Venice, Posie catches a glimpse of a magazine cover featuring her betrothed - with another woman!  And not just any woman, but Silvia Hanro, the gorgeous actress Posie was protecting in the last book!  Just what was Alaric doing with her in Constantinople, and why do they look so happy together?  Posie begins to question her decision to marry Alaric - but that gets pushed to the side when she arrives in Venice, only to be greeted by the police, who are there to escort her.  Not to prison, though.  She learns that the home of Alaric's friend, where they were planning to stay for their wedding has caught fire and is burning to the ground!  All thoughts of jealousy aside, Posie is concerned for Alaric's safety!

The fire at the palace of the Romagnoli family is only the beginning of Posie's problems in this book.  Hathaway pulls out all the stops with this one.  The Count Romagnoli and his wife, the Countess, along with her Aunt Minnie, her brother Richard (Dickie) Alladice, her companion Lucy Christie, and her secretary, Roger Valentine, have all been forced to move across the channel to take up temporary residence with Mrs. Persimmons' English guesthouse.  It seems Mrs. Persimmons only has one guest at the present time - a salesman who keeps to himself - so she has plenty of room to house everyone.  Posie is still in shock when she first sees Alaric, but right away, she knows something is off.  Not just with Alaric, but with everyone in the house!  There is an undercurrent of distrust and lies, and Posie doesn't know what to make of it.  However, her main concern is Alaric and whether she still wants to marry him.  At least, until the body turns up.

Yes, this is a murder mystery, so you know there's going to be a murder before too long.  After all, the title says it, doesn't it?  Well, our overbearing and overweight Countess Bella Romagnoli turns up dead in the dining room, all alone, poisoned by the liquor she keeps in that silver container with the "AA" initials on it.  Which would be quite a clue if it weren't for the fact that there were TWO containers, exactly the same, with those initials.  And so the wrong person gets accused of the murder, but this person refuses to say anything and ends up in jail.  So it's up to Posie to figure out just who really did kill Bella before another body turns up.  The only problem is, everyone has secrets, everyone is wearing a mask (figuratively), and everyone could have done it!  That's okay, though, because all of these mind-games keeps Posie from thinking about the fact that her marriage plans are falling apart faster than the Romagnoli homestead after the fire!

Hathaway creates an amazingly well-crafted mystery here, and even with Inspector Lovelace's help (you didn't think he was going to miss the wedding, did you?), it will take all of Posie's cunning and ingenuity to dig deep and find out the truth.  Even if that truth winds up breaking her heart.  And be warned - for as good as this mystery is, Hathaway manages a number of misdirects and misunderstandings that will ultimately pull the rug out from everything you thought you knew was going on in the story - and gives readers a climactic conclusion that they will never forget!

What I don't get, however, is that epilogue.  Hathaway does a time jump, "many years later" it begins with, and we suddenly get a glimpse into Posie's future.  I won't spoil anything here, but I will say it left me a bit bewildered, as there are still plenty of books in this series after this one (this is only book 6, and there are currently 15 books that have been published - yes, I'm quite a bit behind!).  So, why would Hathaway give away some things that are not going to happen until "many years later"?  I guess, as the saying goes, only time will tell...

RATING:  10 great flapping black storm capes out of 10 for mesmerizing readers with a complicated, well-written mystery along the canals of historic Venice and shocking us all with that ending!

Connie Carl at Rainbow Ranch - a Goldsmith Book for Boys and Girls

In my recent binge-reading of Mildred Wirt (Benson) books, I very nearly forgot about that one-off book she published in 1939.  Up to this time, Wirt had had quite the prolific career in writing children's series book - the four Penny Nichols books for Goldsmith (the last one published the same year as this book); two Doris Force mysteries; eight Ruth Fielding stories; ten Kay Tracey mysteries (two of which were published this same year); four Dana Girls books (one being published in 1939); thirteen Nancy Drew mystery stories (with one published the same year as this); three Honey Bunch stories (one published this same year); four Dot and Dash stories (one published in 1939); the three Madge Sterling mysteries; four stand-alone mysteries published under her own name; seven books in the "Mildred A. Wirt Mystery Stories" series (two published the same year as this book); the four Ruth Darrow Flying Stories; the four Trailer Stories for Girls books; and the first two Penny Parker books (published in this same year).  That is a total of 82 books written and published between 1927 and 1939, not including this book!  Wirt was DEFINITELY a busy author!

Now, I've heard a lot of things about Connie Carl at Rainbow Ranch.  There are stories circulating that this book was intended to be the fifth Penny Nichols book (even published by the same publisher and coming out the same year as the fourth and final Penny Nichols book).  Even though the same pseudonym, Joan Clark, is used for both books, I find this hard to believe, as the characterization is completely different - Penny Nichols and Connie Carl are two completely different characters, both in personality and style.  Additionally, the history of the characters are polar opposites - Penny Nichols' father is an investigator and city boy, while Connie Carl's father is a rancher and country boy.  So, I am not given to believe this book was intended as a fifth Penny Nichols book.  I've also heard, however, that there was a second Connie Carl book written, but the publisher rejected it, so Benson simply revised it and turned it into a Penny Parker book (Behind the Green Door, which came out only a year later).  This rumor sees only slightly more plausible, considering the timing; but, even then, Benson would have needed to do extensive re-writes to change the characterization and backgrounds from Connie to Penny.  Nevertheless, as a stand-alone story, the book definitely holds its own.

Connie Carl at Rainbow Ranch, while not having a very "mystery-oriented" title, is chock full of mystery. It opens with young Connie returning to Red Gulch, New Mexico after graduating from a "stylish Eastern finishing school" (p. 12).  Interestingly, she is said to be only sixteen, and was returning "to the prairie land she loved, to make her home one more at the place of her birth, Rainbow Ranch" (p. 12).  The only reason she left Rainbow Ranch was because when her father died, he willed Rainbow Ranch to his only child on the stipulation that she "attend school in the East" (p. 14).  She's looking forward to taking over management of the Ranch, but she begins to have concerns when everyone she comes in contact with in Red Gulch warns her to expect a lot of changes, including the fact that most of the ranchers and other hands have left or been discharged.  Forest Blakeman is still in charge of running the Ranch, having done so since Connie left for school, but Lefty Forbes is the only ranch hand left!  And it seems the Ranch is in dire financial straits - Blakeman has even had to forego any salary for months in order to keep the Ranch going.  Connie is shocked to discover that the bank is getting ready to foreclose on a mortgage against the property if the Note is not paid on the due date, which is only some days away!

Wirt's mystery is not necessarily a new one - someone is looking to profit by forcing Connie to sell the Ranch at a ridiculously low price before the mortgage is foreclosed - but the New Mexico setting on a dude ranch definitely makes it interesting.  Connie is forced to participate in a rodeo competition in order to win money to pay off the Note and Mortgage, but she is robbed by a bandit wearing a blue handkerchief over his face (which handkerchief plays a very important clue later in the story) on her way back to the Ranch with the money.  She takes some of her guests on a round-up to bring all of her cattle together for the purpose of selling them, but their lives are put in danger when someone starts firing a gun, causing the cattle to stampede!  When Connie takes some of her guests to see an old collection of homes built into the side of a mountain on the property, their horses are untied and disappear, leaving them to walk miles back to the Ranch.  And someone is purposefully encouraging people to leave the Ranch and stay at a competing Ranch, taking much needed income away from Connie!  Connie can't even depend on her former friend, Enid, for help, as it seems she and her father are also working against her!  So, it's up to Connie and her new Ranch hand, Jim Barrows, to figure out the mystery before Connie loses her Ranch to the bank.

As usual, Wirt makes good use of storms to generate danger and excitement in the story, as well as the cattle stampede, the gun-toting bandit, the cliff-side dwellings (and the unexpected fall of one of Connie's guests from that cliff-side!), and the daring rescue of a young toddler from in front of the path of onrushing horses!  It's a truly good tale with a number of red herrings that Wirt uses wisely to mislead her reader (and Connie!).  The ending is one that literally wraps everything nice and neat and finds Connie riding back to her Ranch for whatever the future holds for her.

Something I must make mention of, and I have indicated this same thing in other blog postings about books published by Goldsmith - Chapter One begins on page 11; however, there are only three pages (six, counting front and back) before that first page of Chapter One, so I am at a loss to determine how Goldsmith is determining that the first chapter begins on page 11 instead of page 7.  There are four pages unaccounted for - even if you count the actual cover to the book (front and back), that would still only start the first chapter on page 9, not page 11.  So, are there pages missing?  Was a frontis piece originally intended for the book, but later scrapped and the page count numbering not changed?  I've seen no evidence this book was originally published by a different publisher with a frontis piece and perhaps another title page that would account for the four missing pages.  And since this seems to occur in all of the Goldsmith books I have seen, I suppose it's a mystery that will remain unsolved for now...

 

RATING:  9 bands, playing slightly off key, out of 10 for providing young adults with another great amateur sleuth, even if this was her only mystery to solve!

Blood Tree - an Image (Mad Ghost) mini-series

Peter Tomasi is a name I recognize, not only from all the work he has done at DC Comics over the years, but more recently, for his Dark Horse mini-series, The House of Penance.  That was a great little horror story that was anything but normal for comic books.  Which is partially why I enjoyed it, because it was a story unlike any other I had read in comic form.  So, when I saw this mini-series solicited through Image Comics (under their Mad Ghost label) in Previews, I figured I would give it a try.  Plus, the cover art is absolutely gorgeous (not the same as the interior artist, as I discovered once I opened up the book) - and, what can I say?  I'm definitely someone who judges a book by its cover!

Anyway, Blood Tree is not what I first thought it was.  From some of the preview pages of art I had seen, I thought it was going to be a story about actual angels falling to Earth, dying - that is definitely the impression I had from those first few pages and from some of the covers for the series.  But, again, as with The House of Penance, this book was nothing at all that I was expecting - and was definitely so much more!  Blood Tree is the story of a serial killer.  It is also the story of police detective Dario Azzaro.  It's a story of death, righteous judgment, and breaking the cycle of history.  It's the story of what bloodlines and family trees really mean.

It all starts when a young man falls to his death after jumping off a skyscraper.  He is naked and has what appears to be wings sewn to his back.  His teeth have all been pulled and his fingerprints burned off to delay finding his identity.  The police want to write it off as a crazed suicide, but detective Dario Azzaro finds a note - "Blood Begets Blood" - that makes him think otherwise.  He and his partner, Maria Diaz, start looking into it after a second body, this time a female, falls to her death in the middle of a baseball diamond.  They find that same message scrawled on one of the stadium beams.  A pattern is emerging, and they have to stop whoever is doing this before he or she can kill again.

And that's when they find an entire family murdered - three hanging from a tree, wings on their back, and the fourth propped up in a rocking chair on the front porch.  Azzaro and Diaz know the ante has been upped, and they have to figure out who the killer is before more bodies turn up.  But the real shocker comes not when they find out who the killer is, or even why he is doing it - no, the real shocker for Azzaro is what he finds among the killer's belongings.  A very dark secret about Azzaro that even he didn't know - something that changes everything and may even have an impact on his own family's future!

This has to be some of Tomasi's best work to date.  It's a dark story, well-written with superb characterization and a twisted little mystery.  The art, by Maxim Simic, fits perfectly with the story.  Yes, Simic's art is not nearly as smooth as Gary Frank's cover art, but it's rough edges actually give strength to the characters and the story itself.  The story is not all nice and pretty, and the characters are not all perfectly gorgeous - so why shouldn't the art reflect that?  Reading the story is like watching real people in the real world, and it makes the story that much more horrifying.

I would definitely recommend this series, and quite frankly, I wouldn't mind seeing some more stories of Azzaro and Diaz - these two make great detective duo!

RATING:  10 glow-in-the-dark angels out of 10 for keeping the fresh ideas coming, with great storytelling and fantastic art!