Lucifer Cove, Book 6 - From Satan, With Love (Virginia Coffman's Thrilling Occult Gothic Series)

"Maeva Wells entered the Cove seeking help ... and found that the price was her soul!" (cover blurb)

 

And so we come to the sixth and final entry into the Lucifer Cove series, written by Virginia Coffman.  It is somewhat bittersweet, as I really hate it when a series that I enjoy reading comes to an end and I know I will no longer read about the characters I have grown to enjoy; but, at the same time, I believe it is better for a series to end while the stories are still well-written and fresh, rather than continue on and start telling stories that are stale and no longer readable.  The only drawback to this final visit to Lucifer Cove is that we do not get a final resolution as to Marc Meridon and Christine Deeth...

 

From Satan, With Love is clearly a title taken from the James Bond film of similar name (with "Satan" taking the place of "Russia"), and perhaps, in a way, it is used as a way to signify this book is a send-off to readers, an opportunity to say goodbye to the Cove forever.  While the previous books have provided a build up to the true nature of Marc Meridon, this book provides readers with definite confirmation as to Marc's evil nature and introduces an unexpected antithesis within the Cove that readers will not likely see coming (I certainly wasn't expecting it!).  It all stems from the arrival of Maeva Wells and her niece, Jenniver, who happen to be hiking up the Coast Range, when they stumble upon a break that reveals a hidden valley - the very valley where Lucifer Cover has made its home, hidden from the road and not appearing on any map.  Jenniver is only too excited to explore the quaint spa, but Maeva has her concerns.  The choice is taken out of her hands, though, when Jenniver slides down the inside slope, injuring her leg and ankle.  Fortunately, Marc Meridon is there to help!

 

With her typical flare for dramatics and building suspense, Coffman brings Maeva Wells into the world of temptation and desire, and while the Irish woman believes she is immune to such temptation, the sudden attraction she feels for Marc cannot be denied.  She soon finds herself doing things she would never imagine possible, such as attending a black mass in the Greek temple, overseen by Nadine Janos, self-proclaimed priestess of the devil himself.  She unwittingly makes a wish and signs a simple form to confirm that wish - not realizing that she has not only signed her life away, but her very soul as well!  The death of a young woman by apparent suicide (but which Maeva knows was not suicide) and a late night warning from one Christine Deeth (the woman who shares her niece's room at the Cove's medical facility) start to open Maeva's eyes as to what is really going on in the Cove.  But, as Marc so politely informs her as he leads her beneath the basement floors of the infirmary, to an area filled with intense heat and the horrific smell of sulfur (not to mention all of the cries and moans of those who sound like they are suffering beyond belief!), she did sign a contract, and once signed, there is no way to break it.  Or is there...

 

Those who have been reading all of the books in the series may recall Dr. Rossiter from prior books.  He is not the most cordial of men, nor is he very likable.  But, from the moment Maeve and Jenniver arrived in Lucifer Cove, he has tried to impress upon her the fact that she does not belong there, and that she and her niece must leave as soon as possible.  Well, appearances can be deceiving, and sometimes the truth we need is presented in the most unexpected ways.  It seems Dr. Rossiter is another character in Lucifer Cove who is much more than he seems, and his attempts to help Maeva escape the clutches of Marc Meridon goes beyond that of any other client at the posh spa - so far, in fact, as to jeopardize the life of the one woman Marc truly loves in exchange for Maeva's own freedom!  The book has quite the climatic confrontation in it, and it's thrilling to see the part that O'Flannery has to play in it all!   It's a race against time, and against the forces of the devil himself to escape this hidden den of vice and iniquity, and the question is - will all of them make it out alive?

 

While Coffman never comes out and says in uncertain terms that Marc Meridon is the personification of the devil, this book makes it unequivocally clear that he and his Cove are there to draw people into sign, sign their souls always, and ultimately make their way into the fiery depths of hell (the whole scene of Marc leading Maeva into the basement, with the description of the heat, the sulfer, and the cries of pain leave no doubt as to where he is leading her!).  He even admits to Maeva that her execution of that contract in Nadine's temple sealed her fate.  I rather liked the fact that Dr. Rossiter is revealed to be at the Cove to work against Marc's efforts to gain more soles; I just wish the series had had more books in which to develop his character, and perhaps even end with a battle between the two (the climax of this book certainly seemed to set up a potential battle between them).

 

Once again, this book offers three different cover choices.  My favorite version (top left) inverts the images from prior covers, with the water and mysterious fog-covered rock island on the right side rather than the left.  The woman on the cover, preparing to escape the Cove, is blond, while Maeva is described inside as having dark colored hair (which is properly represented on the other two covers).  It seems very few of the covers by this particular artist depicted the main character accurately on the cover.  Meanwhile, the Pinnacl Books edition (above right) is closer to how the author describes her.  This artist also offers up the wildcat heard, and ultimately seen, by Maeva in the book, as well as a man (assumed to be Marc Meridon) watching her from above/behind.   The third cover art, for the Lancer Gothic edition, is somewhat pain, compared to the others, with the dark-haried woman's face in the foreground, her hair windswept, and the tudor-style building from the Cove in the background, atop a not-so high cliff.  Again, these images of the Cove being near the water is inaccurate, as the book clearly describes the spa being located withing a mountainous region, completely surrounded by mountainside and no visible ocean anywhere (as that would obviously provide a means for the guests to escape!).  The only cover to feature a character that shows any fear whatsoever is the one I like best (top left).

 

With the series over, sadly, there are some answers that will forever remain unanswered.  What ultimately happened to Christine Deeth?  How much longer can Nadine Janos keep up the pretense of being an emissary of the devil, while unknowingly performing her cons on his very playground?  Exactly who is Dr. Rossiter, and what is his ultimately purpose / goal in Lucifer Cove?  Why did he really try and assist Maeva and Jenniver?  And will anyone every truly succeed in defeating Marc Meridon, or, if he truly is the devil himself, is Lucifer Cove simply an allegory for how the devil tempts us every day into giving in to our baser desires, while, at the same time, giving up our souls for eternity?  Alas, that is a question we each have to ask ourselves, and only we know the real answer...

 

RATING:  10 panels of old-fashioned wallpaper filled with green tendrils of ivy out of 10 for a suspenseful and nearly terrifying tale of what can happen if we allow our lustful desires get the better of us and how high the cost can be! 

A Ted Wilford Mystery, no. 15 - The Greenhouse Mystery

This series has been an unexpected joy to read.  While a few of the books have had less than stellar mysteries, overall, the series has been good, with unique mysteries and characters I have really grown to like.  But, alas, nothing was meant to last forever, and this fifteenth book in the Ted Wilford series is the last that was published, back in 1967.  According to the blog, Beneath the Stains of Time, the author of this series, Norvin Pallas, was a freelance writer who had "a high regard for children" and "their thinking abilities."  This comes across clearly in his writing, as none of the stories were "dumbed down" for younger readers; rather, they in many cases featured rather complicated mysteries that depended more on intellectual processes for deducing clues rather than coincidences and pure luck, as many series books do.  I applaud Pallas for treating his readers as equals, intellectually, and giving them some great stories!

 

The Greenhouse Mystery centers around an upcoming pageant of roses and the highly unlikely coincidence that two separate women have bloomed the same exact "unique" rose.  Pallas likely drew upon the Pageant of Roses Garden in Whittier, California and the Loki rose, which blooms in shades of pink and white, to name the pageant in the book, which is the "Loki Pageant of Roses" (p. 5).  Cub reporter, Ted Wilford, and his ever-faithful photographer/friend, Nelson Morgan, are off to interview various individuals who will be submitting roses to this year's pageant, including Mr. and Mrs. Bowden of the Lady Bee Floral Nursery, who are planning to enter a specifically designed rose, a bluish shade, that is to be named "Governor's Hope" after the state's current governor.  The mystery comes into play when Ted and Nelson are interviewing another rose hopeful in Forestdale, only to discover that she plans to enter a rose she calls "Blue Lady" - a rose that is identical to the one Mrs. Bowden has grown!

 

On the surface, it seems like a simple enough mystery - which woman truly developed the rose, and which one stole it (or received it stolen)?  The mystery, though, is much more complicated.  It seems there have been strange happenings as the Lady Bee Floral Nursery in recent weeks.  A shipment of Canadian rose bush clippings were delivered, but they disappeared before Mrs. Bowden saw them.  The office safe was opened up and rifled through, yet nothing was taken.  Someone gets passed locked doors and windows to get into a cottage on the property and steal food from the refrigerator.  Pages of the Bowdens' record-book as to the grafting of various rose plants are replaced with forgeries. A tank of deadly fumigant is taken out of a locked shed, then later returned unused.  And one of the nursery's employees claims to have seen a wolf come onto the property, jump behind a hedge, from which a man then appears, who walks right through the glass wall into the greenhouse!  That last story is too far-fetched to believe - until Ted and Nelson witness a similar event for themselves! 

 

The trail of clues seem completely disconnected - an employee with a criminal past; a red convertible seen at the nursery, a nearby chemical plant, a seemingly meaningless lie about a jail that does not exist in a nearby town, a competing greenhouse with similar roses, and a small shack found in the middle of the swampy woods just off the Lady Bee property.  Ted has to really put on his thinking cap to sift through these clues to find out which ones are important and which ones are red herrings (no pun intended).  Is it the nursery handyman, who is the only one with a key to the lock on the shed?  Is it the nursery's secretary, who has access to the safe and was supposed to be in the office when the stolen clippings arrived?  Is it the man who owns that red convertible?  Is it the employee with the criminal past (that includes an arrest for forgery)?  Is it the owner of the small, competing greenhouse?  Is it even one of the Bowdens, who are caught in their own lies and secrets?

 

I will admit, this mystery did leave me stumped.  Despite the number of viable suspects, they either seemed too obvious or without any motive, so it was hard to pinpoint it down to just one.  Ted, however, manages to chase down the real culprit, figuring it out after he and Nelson make their way through the woods to find out who it is that is living in that shack (and who has been sneaking into the greenhouses at night, and why!).  Part of the solution was actually rather surprising, as it takes a likely suspect and turns him into a hero, more or less.  It is not what you'd expect, but that is what makes it such a great read.  The ending, on the other hand, is a bit odd, as the governor makes an appearance at the rose pageant, and it ends with Ted and Nelson being asked to join Mrs. Bowden in a picture with the man.  A rather strange way to end a book that concludes a series (unless, of course, Pallas was not aware at the time he wrote the book that this one would be the final mystery Ted Wilford would solve).  One has to wonder if Pallas had any plans or outlines for future mysteries, or even if there is an unpublished manuscript out there somewhere that would have been book sixteen!

 

The cover art is not the greatest (although, looking back, none of the covers are really all that fantastic).  The one man on the cover (not sure if that is supposed to be Ted or Nelson), his face looks too much like "Butt-head" from that old MTV cartoon, Beavis and Butt-head.  As soon as my mind made that connection, I could no longer unsee it, and now I cannot look at this cover without laughing.  Not sure who provided the cover art (or even if the same artist provided covers for all 15 books), but it definitely could have stood with some refinement before publication.

 

And, with that, I have now finished the Ted Wilford series, and will have to move on to some other vintage mystery series (and I have plenty to choose from, so it's only a matter of figuring out which one to start next!).  If you like good mysteries that make you think, then I would recommend this series.

 

RATING:  9 salami-eating werewolves out of 10 for making a seemingly simple mystery into a much more worthwhile read with some surprising twists and turns! 

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!

Mary Perkins, On Stage - Volume Eight

Wow, I cannot believe it has been almost two years since I read the previous collection of this newspaper strip.  How in the world could I have put it off for so long?  This strip is perhaps the most well-written, superbly drawn newspaper strip that was ever published, and the stories are more engaging than any soap opera drama on radio or television.  Creator/Writer/Artist Leonard Starr truly outdid himself with this strip, which ran from 1957 to 1979.  While the premise of the series is simple enough - it follows the trials and tribulations of a young actress, Mary Perkins, as she breaks into the world of theater, and later film and television; but the stories themselves are far from simple!  The stories are filled with drama, humor, suspense, mystery, and adventure, and the characters are so well defined that they feel as real as any person we might meet in real life.  After the rather lengthy story of Pete Fletcher's dangerous assignment in Vietnam, it is rather nice to get back to Mary as she prepares for her next story...

 

Mary Perkins, On Stage Volume Eight starts with the very next strip, dated May 5, 1966, as Mary and her friend, Sarah Eggart, meet Simon DeJong, a famous producer who has just gone through a rather nasty divorce. This sets the stage for Mary and Pete to be invited to join Simon on Fire Island, along with Sarah (in whom Simon has taken an interest).  Taking the summer off, Mary and Pete rent a house close to Simon's, and all seems perfect - until Simon's ex-wife, Gogi, who shows up on the island to stir up trouble, which she does in spades!  The story is a fairly basic love triangle (Sarah - Simon - Gogi) that ends pretty tragically when Gogi takes out her revenge on Simon in a rather gruesome way (not gonna spoil that here, but suffice to say, a character does die!).   This story runs for two months, ending with the July 30th strip.  While the love story may not be overly exciting, I will say that Mary and Pete's marriage, and their love for one another, truly shines in this story, with panels like the middle panel of the June 20th strip (p. 35) and the very last panel of the July 30th strip (p. 56) epitomizing their love so perfectly!

 

The next story starts off with a huge unexpected splash as Captain Virtue comes crashing through the wall in the final panel of the Sunday, July 31st strip!  That's right, you heard me.  Mary Perkins meets a real life superhero when she agrees to be an acting coach for Bernie Kibble, a rather shy young man who happens to be the perfect fit as Captain Virtue - the next big television sensation! This is one of my two favorite stories from this collection, as it combines my love of of the theater with my love of comic books and superheroes!  Starr takes the story in some very unexpected directions, as this innocent and naive man who is thrust into the limelight takes betrayal by his best friend to heart and nearly turns into a villain - but there is redemption to be had, as he manages to restore not only his friendship with his former best friend and manager, but he also manages to win back the trust and love of the girl he had fallen head over heels for (who also happens to be his costar in the TV show!).  Mary pretty much took a backseat to this story, as she was more or less his acting coach, his counselor, and ultimately, his conscience.

 

From here, we traipse over to Hollywood, where a young woman named Catherine has just got the third female lead in a new motion picture.  It turns out, though, that Catherine has some ulterior motives, one of them being to convince Mary Perkins to visit an acting coach by the name of Franz Richter, who is an expert in the Stepanovsky Method!  This turns into a story of international proportions, where no one is who they seem!  We even see the return of Major Grisha Volkov, who appeared in the last collection of stories (Mary Perkins, On Stage - Volume Seven) - but is he really simply the Russian cultural attache, as he claims, or is he there for another reason?  Poor Mary gets stuck in the middle of all the chaos, as Russian agents attempt to bring a Russian artist back to their country.  The danger is high stakes, with a dramatic conclusion in the snow-capped mountains of the Sierras, where the movie is to be filmed.  Mary is never so glad to get back to her husband, just as he is given a new assignment...

 

This, of course, takes readers into the next tale, which is my other favorite story from this collection, as it is filled with juicy Gothic greatness!  The Beauchamps, a theatrical dynasty, have secluded themselves into a stately old mansion, with only Garrick Beauchamp having much contact with the outside world.  His mother, Mrs. Beauchamp, is blind, depending heavily on her companion Clara to be her eyes (and ears).  His wife, Melissa, the other Mrs. Beauchamp, is nothing short of a prisoner in the mansion, being manipulated by her controlling mother-in-law.  Garrick Beauchamp is a big name in the theater world, as was his father and grandfather before him.  And if Dame Margot (the mother) has her way, that legacy will continue - no matter the cost!  The Gothic mansion, the manipulations and lies, the shadowy figures lurking outside, the stormy night, the devastating secrets, the long-desired love - it all works so beautifully to create a tragic story of Gothic mystery and suspense.  And this one definitely does not have a happy ending.

 

As one story ends, another begins - one that definitely proves Mary Perkins has what it takes to be a true theatrical powerhouse!  Vanna Croy shows up at a theater in New York, mistaking the assistant stage manager for the producer (more on that assistant stage manager in a moment - as far as the mistake goes, was it really?) and throwing Mary Perkins' name around in order to get her foot in the door.  From there, she meets the director, Josh Price, working her way into a walk-on role with only one line.  Then, when confronted with Mary herself, Vanna convinces her that Mike O'Hare had intended to talk to her about Vanna (with Mike being in Europe, of course, Mary has no way to verify).  You can see where this is going.  Vanna works her way up the food chain, all the way up to the major backer for this production, one Cyrus Deering.  Even when Mary finds out about the lies Vanna has been telling to wiggle her way into the pay, Vanna manages to not only move up from a walk-on role to a supporting role, but she convinces Deering to get her Mary's part!  Deering, in turn, forces Price to get Mary to walk out on her contract or he will pull all funding for any future play, leaving Price no choice but to turn on his star performer.  But Mary is not one to quit, and the Sunday, July 30, 1967 strip shows readers just how strong Mary Perkins is - an actress who knows exactly what to do when she needs to!  The last panel of that day's strip proves what an excellent storyteller Starr is - no words at all are needed, as the facial expressions on both Mary and Vanna say it all!  Oh, how I absolutely LOVED reading the next week or so worth of strips, as Mary shows Vanna exactly who she is dealing with - putting Vanna in her place and showing Price and Deering that she is not one with whom you should mess!

 

Now, about that assistant stage manager, whose name is Edward.  When he first appears (p. 177 - Sunday, May 7th strip), I had to take a double-take.  I mean, quite frankly, it was like looking in the mirror.  Which is impossible, since this particular strip ran in 1967, years before I was even born!  Yet, there can be no doubt about it.  The glasses.  The haircut.  The nose.  The expressions.  The stance.  Everything about Edward screamed "Todd"!  To be sure I wasn't imaging things, I showed my father the panels.  I showed my friends the panels.  And every one of them, the first thing they said was, "What are you doing in that comic strip?"   The panel shown above (left) is Edward's very first appearance, and even the shirt he is wearing is the exact style of shirts I wear.  The panel shown here to the right is a later panel from the May 7th strip, and the the hair style, the downward tilt of the chin as he talks, the thin neck - it is simply uncanny.  I know the saying goes that everyone has a double out there, but I never expected my double to appear in a comic strip, particularly one that I read and love as much as I do Mary Perkins, On Stage! 

 

With that out of the way, let's discuss that final story, which sees the return of the dangerous, yet fun-loving Johnny Q.  He shows up at the theater to see his favorite young actress, but his appearance coincides with Mary's dressing room being ransacked. Fortunately, nothing was taken - not even her wedding and engagement rings.  So, what was the culprit after?  Starr gives readers a major clue by focusing in panel after panel on Mary's purse.  Of course, there is no time to wonder about that, because before you know it, a car is trying to run down Johnny and Mary.  They escape unharmed (of course), and Johnny leads Mary to the Hickey Psycho-Deli, a discotheque run by - who else? -  long-haired, sunglasses wearing hippie named Hickey!  Hickey agrees to hide Johnny and see Mary home safely, and it's only after Mary gets home we learn the secret of the purse.  It seems the lining has been torn, and a small envelope was stuffed inside - an envelope containing a very suspicious looking white powder!  Talk about a story for a newspaper strip.  Somehow I doubt many strips, no matter how serious they were, broached the topic of drugs in their stories.  But Starr did not shy away from it.  Poor Mary is left to wonder just what Johnny has gotten her into this time.  Edward (the assistant stage manager from the previous tale) comes back into the story, and Mary ends up in a very dangerous situation, where she is nearly left to die in a burning building!  There is redemption of two characters by the end of the drama, and the readers are left to wonder if Johnny's "good-bye" is truly final this time...

 

And the last two panels set up our next saga, as Mary receives a call from the movie director, Renzo Di Saba, who wants Mary to be a part of his next production.  Thus, it's off to Rome for Mary, where she will be reunited with her husband and decide whether she wants to take a part in Di Saba's newest epic!

 

Starr's story and art definitely reign supreme in this collection.  The man knows how to move stories at the perfect pace, and his habit of reusing the last Sunday panel as one of his Monday strip panels makes me think of how soap operas do the same thing, pretty much, with their episodes - re-airing portions of the last moments of the previous episodes to keep viewers who may have missed an episode informed on what is happening. His attention to minor details in the art (such as the way in which Mary's scarf is tied in the November 18th panels) and the use of outside visuals (such as the panels showing snow coming down on the mountainside from January 4th to January 8th).  There's even a moment where Mary has her fingers crossed behind her back (January 16th), showing, rather than telling, readers tat she is holding out hope for good luck in what is about to happen!  Starr even uses his visuals to provide clues for the reader that the characters in the story miss, such as the footprints outside of the Beauchamp mansion on that dark rainy night (p. 156). Today's comic artists could truly learn a lot from this master storyteller!

 

RATING:  10 anonymous notes in large print out of 10 for keeping the stories fresh, full of fast-paced drama and adventure, while keeping the characters grounded and relatable! 

House of Dark Laughter - an Avon Gothic Original

Any fan of the Gothic novels from the 1960s and '70s knows that the plots to these books all follow a similar formula - a young woman goes to a mansion/house/castle for whatever reason, and she faces multiple dangers from unknown sources, all while fending off two men, one of whom is good and one of whom is bad - but which is which?  Sure, the settings change, the characters change, and some plot elements same, but they all basically boil down to the same story when you get down to it.  This particular book, published by Avon Books in July 1972 under their "Avon Gothic Original" line, not only follows that pattern, but it shares a lot of story elements with other Gothic novels that I have read in recent years.  Two are The Dornstein Icon and The Ravens of Rockhurst (in which the main character goes to a house to evaluate antiques, like our young heroine in this book does); and the other is ... well, if I said which book it was, it would definitely spoil the big surprise in this one!

 

House of Dark Laughter was written by Melissa Napier.   I was unable to find any information about the author online, so it is uncertain whether "Melissa Napier" is the author's real name or simply another pseudonym.  The copyright page for this book does not offer any aid, as the copyright is to Script Associates, and not the author.  (And as a side note, the copyright page indicates this book was "Published by arrangement with Script Associates," which was a book packaging agency back in the day.)  This might tend one to believe the author's name is merely a house pseudonym for this agency.  In any event, the story itself is not half-bad, although the main character is certainly put through the wringer!  Betsy Vaughn is a young woman who is about to start a new job.  Hired by Carter Willard, Betsy heads off to a remote town in Pennsylvania where she will be cataloguing antiques in the stately Dalton Mansion.  Old Man Dalton has been ill for some time, and he wants all of his possessions catalogued and valued before he dies.  Carter, as the man's secretary, has brought Betsy to the great house, as she is an expert in her field.  The only problem is, the members of Dalton's family do not want her there (big shock)!

 

Dalton's wife, Alice, is a nasty piece of work who makes it clear from the moment Betsy arrives that she runs the household and Betsy had better not be snooping and better stay out of her way!  Dalton's nephew, Derek, and his niece, Lorna, are spoiled and want nothing more than to see their uncle die so they can get their hands on his money.  Even Edith Austin, the Daltons' housekeeper, runs hot and cold - one minute she is friendly, and the next she is spewing nothing but hatred.  Betsy quickly learns no one can be trusted in the house - not even Carter, for whom she is beginning to develop feelings.  Everyone seems to simply be biding their time until Mr. Dalton dies.  But the mystery lies in the question - why is everyone so dead set on getting rid of Betsy?  She is simply there to catalogue, evaluate, and value all of the contents of the house.  Wouldn't they want to know the value, so that when they do get their grubby little hands on the countless antiques, they will be able to sell them for what they are really worth?  What possible reason could they have for trying to get Betsy to leave?  And who is so dead-set against her being there that they would be willing to kill her?

 

Yes, poor Betsy suffers more in this book than even Nancy Drew did in any of her mysteries.  Betsy gets conked on the head not once, not twice, not even three times - but on four separate occasions over the span of just a week or so, the woman is knocked unconscious by the cruel culprit determined to rid the house of her presence!  She is also attacked in the basement, nearly electrocuted, and near the end, she is almost buried alive!  All of this because of a secret of which she has absolutely no knowledge.  Oh, the reader surely will begin to suspect about half-way through the story when there is a passing mention of a certain incident from the Dalton family's past; but Betsy does not make the connection, as it is so far-fetched and not within her realm of knowledge that she would never even suspect the key that she holds.  Overall, the mystery and suspense are built at a pretty rapid pace, which makes the story much more engaging than it might otherwise be.

 

The title is somewhat misleading, as there is only one very brief moment in the book where there is any "dark laughter."  With that title, I was expecting Betsy to hear laughter reverberating through the house and the hallways late at night or when no one else was around, but that is not the case.  Rather, the only time the laughter is heard is for a brief second before Betsy falls unconscious after being struck on the head (twice, to make sure she goes out!) when she is about to enter a dark room where she was lured by the villain.  The woman's laughter, combined with the smell of perfume that Betsy remembers lingering in the air just before she was knocked out, is what helps our young heroine figure out who is trying so desperately to get her out of there. 

 

As with so many of these books, there is no credit given for the cover art, and the art itself shows no signature.  However, a quick online research reveals the artist is Robert McGinnis (1926 - 2025), who only recently passed away last year.  McGinnis was quite the busy artist, painting covers for countless paperback novels - including men's adventure series, romance books, historicals, westerns, and Gothic novels - as well as a large number of movie posters and art for magazines.  You can check out his work at the official Robert McGinnis Artwork website.  The one thing I should note about the cover for this book is that the woman running away from the house is definitely NOT our heroine, Betsy Vaughn.  The cover depicts a young blonde beauty running fearfully from that mansion in the background; yet, in the story, Betsy is described as having hair that is "thick and as luxuriantly black as a raven's wing" (p. 6).  Thus, either the artist was not given any description of the characters from the book when commissioned to do the cover, or the publisher simply chose an already completed painting and slapped it on as the cover for the book without any regard as to whether it matched the story or not (which, as we all know, happened quite often during this period).  Despite this discrepancy, the cover art is beautiful in its own right and can be appreciated for the gorgeous work that it is.

 

While not necessarily one of the best written Gothics of the period, it is a fairly enjoyable read.

 

RATING:  7 original manuscripts of Samuel Clemens out of 10 for crafting a wickedly fun tale filled with absolutely vile people, a determined young heroine, and a house filled with more danger than you can shake a stick at! 

The Boxcar Children: Endangered Animals

Following the Boxcar Children's 5-book "Great Adventure" and their 4-book "Creatures of Legend" saga, Albert Whitman & Company offered up a third mini-series entitled "Endangered Animals."  The tagline for this planned 4-book series reads:  "Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny are helping endangered animals all around the world!"  The first two books were issued in April 2022, with the second two books set to be published thereafter.  Having grown up reading The Boxcar Children in my school library, and having recently re-discovered the enjoyment of this series with the two animated movies and the 5-book and 4-book mini-series, I figured I would give this series a go as well.  It did not disappoint.

 

The Big Spill Rescue sets the stage for the Alden children to develop a desire to help save endangered animals. The four kids are visiting Port Elizabeth, a city in an unnamed state, but one that must be along the coast, as there is a lighthouse that is still used to ensure ships do not come too close to shore at night and run aground.  (Note:  there is a Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, but it is unlikely this is the town, since this unincorporated town is not located along the ocean coast.)  The children are introduced to the daughter of their father's friend, who shares with them her love for helping protect endangered animals.  When an oil spill occurs as a result of a tug boat running aground one night - the very night the lighthouse somehow malfunctions, it gives the Alden children an opportunity to not only help rescue the birds and other animals affected by the spill, but it also gives them the chance to solve the mystery of why the lighthouse was not working properly.  The mystery, as with most Boxcar Children stories, is fairly basic, and while there are a couple of suspects, there is one very obvious ones - it is simply the matter of Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny finding the right clues to lead them to the culprit.  Henry is the one who actually figures it out, with a little observational help from Jessie and Violet.  By the end of the story, Kayla (the daughter of their grandfather's friend) invites the Alden children to travel with her and help other endangered animals around the world - hence, the name of the mini-series!

 

Mystery of the Spotted Leopard takes the four young sleuths to India, where they will assist Kayla with research she and her organization, Protectors of Animals Worldwide ("PAW"), are doing on the spotted leopard population that live up in the Himalayan mountains.  This time, the region used for the story (the city of Leh in Ladakh) actually exists in the real world.  The group actually travels to a small village higher up into the mountains, where, realistically, the children must adjust to the lower levels of oxygen at such high altitudes.  It is here that one of the spotted leopards the research time has been monitoring disappears, its GPS collar cut away from its neck.  The research team is concerned that one of the local farmers may have killed the leopard to keep it from stealing any more of their stock, or that a poacher had come to claim the endangered animal as a prize for its beautiful coat of fur.  Once again, these four very self-sufficient children step in and follow the clues that lead them from suspect to suspect, until they narrow it down to the only possible culprit - the least likely of people for them to have believed would commit such a crime!  Of course, the leopard is rescued with little harm done, the culrpits arrested, and the Alden children are ready to return home to their grandfather and their dog - but not before they are told that there are more adventures yet to come!

 

Unfortunately, those last two adventures in the Endangered Animals mini-series never saw print.  Books 3 (Mystery of the Vanishing Forest) and 4 (The Great Reef Rebuild) were both solicited, with covers provided and all; however, before the date of publication hit, both books suddenly became "unavailable," and the release dates were changed to 2079!  I'm not sure why, but the print version of these books never saw the light of day, and the only versions available are audio books.  A very small portion of the third book (and when I say "small," I am talking about only 4 pages!) was available as a preview at the end of Spotted Leopard; but, other than that, no hard copies were ever printed or sold.  This is a real shame, as it left readers with an incomplete series (only 2 of 4 books) in printed form.  One has to wonder if the series was no longer profitable for Albert Whitman & Co., or if the publisher itself was simply not doing well, which could have been the reason the entire Boxcar Children property was sold (see below for more information on that subject).  

 

Craig Orback provided the art for Big Spill and Spotted Leopard, and it appears he also painted covers for books 3 and 4, which can be seen on sites such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but only available now as audio books.  Orback also did the internal illustrations for the first two books, so one has to wonder if he did any internals for the last two books, which, because the books were never published, are sitting on someone's desk unused at this point.  I'm not a fan of audio books (I prefer holding books in my hand as opposed to listening to them while I drive), so I am unlikely to ever purchase the last two books in the series - which is disappointing, as I would have liked to have seen where the next two books were planning to take the Alden children.  The descriptions on Amazon indicate the third book would take the kids to Sumatra, where they have to stop the destruction of part of the rain forest there, which is the habitat to many endangered species.  The fourth book would take them down under to Australia, where they have to fight to save the lives of underwater creatures and their natural habitat there.  But, alas, it is unlikely either of these stories will ever see a print version, in which case, I am left with an unfinished mini-series that will have to remain incomplete on my shelf.

 

What is even more disappointing than all of this is the fact that another mini-series was solicited to begin the very next year (2023), which was called the "Summer of Adventure."  The first book, Legend of the Hidden Treasure, would have had the Alden children helping their Aunt Jane move to the coast, where a boat called the Alden Explorer washes ashore.  In the boat, they find a mysterious journal that talks of hidden treasure and a secret society, which sends the kids off on another mystery-solving adventure.  A cover, painted by illustrator Karen De La Vega, was provided with the solicitation.  A second volume to the series, titled Secret of Superstition Mountain, would have followed, wherein the children are led by the journal to return to the site of their very second book - Surprise Island!  There, they learn more about the secret society and what it really means.  What is odd is that there is no image of the cover to this second book in the Summer of Adventure series; however, a search online reveals a Boxcar Children mystery of this title with a cover by De La Vega, but it is listed on The Concord Bookshop website as book 164 of the ongoing series (The Concord Bookstore - Boxcar Children 164).  There, it lists the date of publication as 2079 (same as that of books 3 and 4 of the Endangered Animals series), which means the book will likely never see print.  Such a shame, as the titles and brief synopses for these two books actually sounded fun!

 

I do note that there are two graphic novels being solicited to be released in August 2026.  The first appears to be a retelling of the children's very first adventure, simply titled The Boxcar Children.  The second graphic novel is titled Shipwreck! and potentially could be a retelling of the second book in the series, Surprise Island.  With my love of both children's mystery series and graphic novels, you can rest assured I will be getting both of these graphic novels.

 

Some searching online does reveal that Random House Children's Books purchased The Boxcar Children property from Albert Whitman & Company, which is likely why those last solicited books never saw print.  As it currently stands, the only new items coming from Random House at this time are the scheduled graphic novels.  Some further digging reveals that the ongoing series did continue past book 160 (or, at least, was scheduled to), with books numbered up to 164, including:

 

160 - The Mystery in the Magic Shop (alleged release date of 2022)

161 - The Raptor Rescue (alleged release date of 2022)

162 - The Code-Breaking Mystery (alleged release date of 2023)

163 - X Marks the Spot (alleged release date of 2023)

164 - Secret of Superstition Mountain (alleged release date of 2023)

165 - The Supermarket Mystery (simply says "coming soon")

166 - Sports Day Sabotage (simply says "coming soon") 

 

Based on this list, it appears the two "Summer of Adventure" stories were integrated into the ongoing series as books 163 and 164, with Legend of the Hidden Treasure retitled as X Marks the Spot.  Books 160 and 161 are available in print form, as well as audio, on Amazon.  However, beginning with book 162, the release dates show as "2079," the indicator that they are likely not to be published any time soon, if ever at all.  Random House has established a new website for the series (The Boxcar Children), where the graphic novels are advertised, as well as early books from the series and repackaged specials are offered.  I see no indication yet of whether books 162 through 166 will be offered, and whether the series will continue after that; nor do I see anything that might indicate Random House is looking to reboot the series (aside from the graphic novels).  I supposed we will simply have to wait and see what the new publisher has in store for this long-time children's series.

 

RATING:  7 cups of dirt tea with salt and yak butter out of 10 for taking the Boxcar Children on an all-new world-hopping adventure to save endangered animals, giving readers an opportunity to learn about numerous animals that have nearly gone extinct! 

The Brownie Scouts in the Cherry Festival - Book Three of the Brownie Scout Books

With this third book, we reach the half-way point of The Brownie Scouts series written by Mildred A. Wirt (Benson).  As Wirt progresses with the series, she is starting to give the girls some more distinct personalities and develop the characters into more than just cookie-cutouts hanging around in the background while the main two (Veve and Connie) take up all the screen time.  In fact, with this third book, Veve McGuire actually moves more into the spotlight, with Connie taking a more supporting role.  Jane Tuttle and Eileen Webber actually have more involvement than in previous stories, and even Rosemary Fritche and Sunny Davidson speak more than just a few lines.  This story actually gives readers a well-rounded group of Brownie Scouts, with all of them involved, in some fashion or another, with the overall story.

 

The Brownie Scouts in the Cherry Festival opens not with any plans for a cherry festival, but rather, with the girls absorbed with the tedious task of sewing blocks for a "crazy quilt" that the troop is making in order to auction it off to raise money for their group.  However, as anyone can imagine, these fourth-grade girls are not overly thrilled with spending every troop meeting sewing, sewing, and more sewing.  Veve, who is, of course, the first one to voice her dissatisfaction with the project, eagerly sets about finding a way for the girls to earn money faster and easier - and she finds it with an ad in the paper looking for people willing to pick cherries!  Before you can blink your eye, Veve and Connie - two fourth-graders, mind you! - take the bus by themselves to a cherry orchard outside the city limits to ask if they, along with the rest of their scout troop, could get a job as cherry pickers.  Right.  Because every parent would willingly let their 9 to 10 year old child go off by themselves with no adult supervision to try and get a job.  Makes perfect sense.

 

Anyway, suspending that disbelief for the time being, the girls end up meeting the vile Carl Wingate, who is berating a young Mexican boy when the girls first walk up.  He rudely tells them he does not hire inexperienced children and tells them to get lost.  As luck would have it (and when do these series book characters not have luck?), Veve and Connie see a sign at the orchard right across the street that says the owner of that farm is looking for pickers.  Pa Hooper is much nicer and, in fact, is greatly appreciative of the help the girls offer him, as he has been unable to get pickers due to Wingate underhandedly monopolizing all of the hired help for the season.  Thus, the Brownie Scouts find themselves waking up early each day to pick cherries (for one-and-a-half cents per pound!) in order to earn money for their group.  And this is where their adventures begin.

 

The first mystery seems to be what happened to the Brownies' quilt that disappears from Pa Hooper's grounds, where Miss Gordon had brought it to show the girls the completed product.  It disappeared without a trace!  The second mystery is discovered by Veve, who learns that Pa Hooper is going to lose his orchard to his cousin, Carl Wingate (that's right - turns out they are cousins!), all because of a second will that Wingate claims to have found.  Pa believes it is a forgery, but he cannot find anything with his sister's signature on it to prove it is a fake.  Thus, Veve makes it her mission to find that needed evidence!  The first mystery is solved fairly quickly (as it turns out the missing quilt was not stolen as originally thought, but found by someone who did not realize it belonged to the Brownies).  The second mystery, however, takes quite literally until the last few pages to reveal the solution - and although an intelligent reader will see that solution pretty early on, I give Wirt credit for coming with a rather ingenious way to provide the sister's needed signature.

 

Wirt goes into quite a bit of details about the various types of patterns used in quilting, as well as the various types of stitching and the manner in which the final quilt if put together.  While the girls put together a "crazy" quilt (one made of block of various shape, color, and size, sometimes even with various styles of stitching), there are references to numerous other patterns, such as "the Hand of Friendship," the "Pine Cone", and the "Album" (p. 5); the "Sunburst" pattern (p. 7) and the "Sawtooth" pattern (p. 16); an "Evening Star" pattern, as well as a "Pine Tree" design (p. 65); there is also a "dogwood blossom" quilt (p. 68) and one with a "Ship's Wheel" pattern (p. 76), as well as one with a pattern called "Duck's Foot in the Mud" (p. 101); and, finally, there is the most important quilt of them all - an old, faded quilt, which provides the girls with an example of an "Autograph Patch" quilt (p. 108).  It is this last quilt that provides the girls with the solution to their second mystery and helps Pa Hooper save his orchard.

 

The story also deals with a rather dark theme involving bigotry and how Mexican workers were seen and treated by people.  Veve befriends a young boy named Juan, whose family and other Mexican migrants are working for the wicked Carl Wingate.  Veve and her friends see first hand how the Mexicans are treated poorly and denied access to public areas, simply because of who the are.  I thought Wirt handled this nicely, as Veve, Connie, and the other Brownies do not see Juan or his family as any different, and they are appalled at the way the Mexicans are treated.  In the end, it is because of the Brownies that the town changes their view and welcomes the Mexicans and their traditions into the big cherry festival. 

 

Marguerite Gayer once again provides both the cover and interior art.  The cover art merely showcases the girls' work at the cherry orchard; however, the interior frontis piece actually displays the scene at the very end of the story, when the girls discover the all-important clue on the quilt that saves Pa Hooper's orchard from his conniving cousin!  It was actually rather nice to see an illustration related to the mystery, instead of simply a scene of the girls' adventures that have no relation to the mystery.  In fact, that is one thing I enjoyed more about this book than the previous two - the fact that the mystery actually plays a larger part of the story.  Sure, we've got the whole cherry picking shenanigans, and the planning of the cherry festival.  But it is the girls' wanting to find their missing quilt and their desire to help Pa Hooper save his land that makes the story truly engaging.  (And the ending seems to provide a lead-in to another story, but whether we actually get that in the next book or not, we'll have to see...)

 

RATING:  8 handsome red-and-white hand-woven blankets out of 10 for a story filled with lessons about friendship, bigotry, responsibility, and generosity - with a fun mystery added in for good measure!