The Secret of the Sinistrer Specter - the first Betsy Allen Hollywood Mystery

This book was a labor of love for the author, Jack Cleveland, who is a collector of vintage children's series books (such as Nancy Drew), and his love of those series clearly shines through in the story he wrote.  This is only the first book of an intended series of mysteries starring 15-year old Betsy Allen, a young girl living in the 1930s with her father, who is a director at the famous MGM studios.  The book is filled with plenty of Easter eggs from the various vintage series, including the name of the title character - "Betsy Allen."  Any collector will immediately recognize this name as the pseudonym used by author Betty Cavanna for her Connie Blair series.  Thus, one knows from the very start, that we are going to be treated to any number of homages to the countless children's series of yester-year!

 

The Secret of the Sinister Specter introduces readers to adventurous young Betsy and her father, William Allen, a rather busy assistant director to numerous films at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, who reside not far from the studios in Culver City, California.   The two reside with their housekeeper, Mildred McDonald (who lived with them since Mrs. Allen died when Betsy was only four-years old - p. 20).  If this sounds familiar, then you'd be right! The similarities between Nancy Drew, who lived with her attorney father and their housekeeper, Hannah Gruen (who lived with them since Mrs. Drew died when Nancy was ten or three, depending on what text you read) cannot be ignored.  And, of course, there is the name of the housekeeper - "Mildred," which obviously a nod to Mildred Wirt Benson, the ghostwriter of the original Nancy Drew mysteries.  Also present in the story is young Meg, Betsy's cousin who has come to stay wit the Allens in sunny California following the death of her father and a Polio scare (p. 4).

 

The story opens with Betsy giving Meg a tour of the studios where her father works, and the two girls meet up with Mickey Rooney, who is filming his latest Andy Hardy film, Love Finds Andy Hardy, a real film that was released in theaters in 1938.   While the book is a work of fiction, Cleveland does integrate a number of real-world events and facts into the story, grounding some of the fantastic elements that one would normally never believe could or would happen otherwise.  There is reference to Judy Garland's accident during the filming of that movie (p. 52), an event that took place in the real world in May 1938.  This fact falls a bit out of line with the time line set forth in the book, but we'll get to that later.  For now, let's just say that Meg is awed by the number of stars that Betsy knows, all thanks to her father's work.  But that knowledge is also what gets her involved in the mystery, when a runaway car nearly hits Rooney while he is filming, but he fortunately has his life saved by quick-thinking Betsy who pulls him out of the way.

 

It seems someone is out to get Mickey Rooney.  Or are they?  The clues do not seem to all point in the same direction, as Betsy also receives a mysterious package that contains a photo album with pictures of her mother and father, as well as a pink baby blanket!  Are the mysteries somehow connected?  And who is that mysterious woman Betsy has seen following her?  And what is going on with Rooney's stunt double, Peter Clark?  Why does he only have negative things to say about Mickey Rooney, without whom, he would not even have a job?  (And that name!  I'm sure it's pure coincidence, but the name is an amalgamation of the names "Peter Bradford" and "Jeff Clark," two characters from the old soap opera, Dark Shadows, both of which were played by actor Roger Davis - coincidence?)  Betsy cannot seem to make up her mind about Clark, as every thing seems to point to him as the culprit.

 

The book does make a number of other references to Nancy Drew mysteries (none of them blatant, but, rather, they are subtle mentions of "album" or "trunk" or "oak" or various words taken from the titles of Nancy Drew mysteries over the years).  One, however, is quite pointed, with Cleveland having Betsy pull out a copy of The Haunted Bridge, "the latest in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories" (p. 125).  That particular book was first published in 1937, a year prior to the real-life accident of Judy Garland in 1938.  Some research does reveal, however, that no Nancy Drew book was published specifically in 1938 (the next book did not get released until 1939), and as such, The Haunted Bridge would have continued to see print runs into 1938, making it the "latest" book in the series for Betsy to have.  Therefore, it is possible that the 1938 time-line of real life events could coincide with the events in the book.

 

Another similarity I noticed was how much this book reminded me of the 1978 two-part episode from the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries titled "The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom."   That story also involved a film studio in California, where a phantom was seen creating havoc.  But that is as far as the similarities go.  Cleveland's tale involves a spectral ghost who is seen by only a select few, and whose ultimate goal is to pay back the studio, and a certain actor, for a wrong believed to have been done to him many years ago.

 

The book really was a wonderful read that hearkens back to the heydays of children's mystery books and pays some very nice homage to Nancy Drew and her sister/brother series.  Here's hoping Cleveland manages to write that second mystery hinted at on the last few pages of this book (and let's hope that story does not end up getting lost somewhere over the rainbow....).

 

RATING:  10 notes created from letters cut out of a magazine out of 10 for a well-written first book that provides plenty of mystery, suspense, and fun all rolled into one! 

The Brownie Scouts at Windmill Farm - Book Six of the Brownie Scout Books

At last we reach this sixth and final volume of The Brownie Scouts series written by Mildred A. Wirt (Benson), published in 1953.  This same year, Wirt had published the first book in her Girl Scouts series (which only lasted three books, published in '53, '55, and '57).  Since the Brownie Scounts graduated into the Girl Scouts, one would have thought Wirt would use the same characters; but, alas, the girls in the Girls Scouts series are not related in any way to the girls in The Brownie Scouts books.  Thus, we this book, we see the last of Connie Williams, Vevi McGuire (whose name remains "Vevi" now instead of "Veve" as it was spelled in the first four books!), Jane Tuttle, Sunny Davidson, and Rosemary Fritche, as well as their troop leader, Miss Jean Gordon.  At least their final adventure is a fun one!

 

The Brownie Scouts at Windmill Farm introduces a girl who is to become the newest member of the Rosedale Brownie Scouts - Hanny Van Der Lann. Hanny lives on a farm in Rosedale with her uncle, Peter Van Der Lann, her parents having died.  She and her uncle are both from Holland, so the Brownies (along with the reader) learn a number of things about Holland and tulips, as well as windmills.  It's interesting that Wirt should author a mystery involving the Dutch, as she previously wrote a book some 15 years prior to this one, The Wooden Shoe Mystery, which also featured a Dutch family.  The story opens with the girls learning about Holland at the Rosedale library and finding themselves with an opportunity to assist in the upcoming annual Rosedale tulip show.  These two things lead the girls to visiting "Windmill Farm," where Peter Van Der Lann has fields of the most beautiful tulips the girls have ever seen!  Hanny informs the girls that her uncle has a very special prized tulip that he will be entering into the contest at the tulip show, and she hopes that winning the first place award will help her uncle keep his farm (as he is heavily in debt).  One can easily see where the story is going to go from here...

 

A show promoter by the name of Mr. Piff is adamant about making the small town tulip show into a huge sensation, and pushes hard for the businesses of the community to sponsor his big plans - and he gets miffed when Mr. Van Der Lann refuses to donate money.  The neighbors who own the property adjacent to Windmill Farm - Mr. and Mrs. Mattox - are bitter people who have a competing farm of tulips that don't do nearly as well as Mr. Van Der Lann's, and they are determined to discover the prize tulip he intends to enter into the flower show so that they can make sure to have one better!  There's also the very enigmatic Mrs. Gabriel, the woman that Mr. Van Der Lann refuses to do business with but will not say why; the same woman that the Mattoxes are only too happy to do business with - and the same woman who ultimately searches for Vevi in order to get back a bag of bulbs she claims Vevi stole from her!  Thus, there is plenty of mystery - will Mr. Van Der Lann win first prize with his secret tulip?  Why is Mr. Piff so determined to get money from everyone in Rosedale for his idea of a super-show? And who is the mysterious Mrs. Gabriel that no one in town seems to know, yet who is making her presence known to everyone?  Plus, there's that stranger who questions Vevi about Mrs. Gabriel and is also found outside the locked shack on Windmill Farm, where Mr. Van Der Lann keeps his prized tulip bulbs - who is he, and what does he want?

 

This is a fun story that once again focuses on Vevi and Connie, with more attention on Vevi than Connie.  Sunny, Jane, and Rosemary are again relegated to simple supporting roles, playing very little part in the story.  Wirt provides plenty of educational information about Holland, tulips, and planting flowers, integrating it flawlessly into the story itself.  Wirt also manages to remind readers about the various aspects of the Brownie Scouts organization - its purpose, its history, and its meaning to the members.  This has been a rather enjoyable series to read, even though it is aimed at young readers (the same age as The Bobbsey Twins series).  It's rather a shame the series did not have the opportunity to continue beyond these six books.

 

The cover and interior art are once again provided by Marguerite Gayer.  While the cover art does not necessarily depict the most exciting scene (simply the girls admiring the Van Der Lanns' tulip garden), the interior frontis piece actually presents a rather important scene from the story - Mrs. Gabriel digging in the Scouts' recently planted garden outside of the Rosedale Library (from page 178)!  This is probably one of the best interior illustrations from the series, in my opinion. 

 

I did catch one error within the story.  When Vevi is caught in a sudden storm with Hanny on the farm, Hanny rushes out to cover one of the tulips, which Vevi guesses to be the "prize" tulip her uncle intends to enter into the contest.  Vevi says to Hanny, "It was the Golden Beauty that you covered ... I am sure of it, Vevi.  But I will never tell" (pp. 95-96).  Vevi was the one talking, and it is clear she was meaning to say "I am sure of it, Hanny," but instead, Wirt incorrectly inserts Vevi's own name into the dialogue.  It is surprising neither the author nor any editor at the publisher caught this glaring error.  It just goes to show that even the most careful of editing does not necessarily catch everything!

 

While not a masterpiece series by any means, the Brownie Scouts is a fine example of Mildred Wirt's ability to craft a perfectly-paced, fun mystery/adventure story that is an enjoyable read.

 

RATING:  8  uncut commercial diamonds out of 10 for sending off the Brownie Scouts with a fun-filled adventure of mystery, smuggling, and prize tulips!

The Secret of Barnabas Collins - the 7th Paperback Library Gothic Novel based on ABC-TV's suspense drama (Dark Shadows)

With the introduction of the vampire, Barnabas Collins, in the previous book in this series, author W.E.D. Ross (under his pseudonym, Marilyn Ross), keeps the focus on this sensational new character that took the world by storm on the daytime television soap.  Poor Victoria Winters is pushed even further into the background, and just as her character left the television show, it is only natural that Ross was required to remove the character from the book series, so that it remained somewhat tied in to the characters of the soap opera.  While the stories in these books are most certainly a far deviation from the stories seen every day on the daytime drama, the major players in both series are relatively the same (although, to be honest, once Barnabas Collins, and later Quentin Collins, took center stage, the remaining members of the current-time Collins family were only seen now and again, never truly having any major roles in the book series).

 

The Secret of Barnabas Collins is the seventh book in this series, and it brings Barnabas Collins into the "current" time.  Readers get a surprisingly abbreviated look at Barnabas' arrival at Collinwood.  Gone is any reference to Willie Loomis and his opening of the casket to look for jewels; gone is any reference to Mrs. Johnson opening the door to the "cousin from England"; gone is any surprise on the part of the various family members as to Barnabas looking so much like his "ancestor," whose portrait hangs in the foyer.  Instead, we get a brief reference to Victoria Winters opening the door to find Cousin Barnabas standing there (I should be thankful I get this all-too quick appearance by Vicki!); we get told the portrait of the original Barnabas has been taken down while work is done on the wall; and we hear Vicki relate the loss of her love, Ernest Collins (with a reference by Barnabas that Burke Devlin would make a great match for her).  On top of this, we are introduced to a vicar in Collinsport who is strangely familiar with a lot of Collins' history, and he is able to tell Vicki and Barnabas a few facts about Stormcliff, the house not far from Collinwood that burned down a century before ... a place that Barnabas knows all too well, as his mind returns to that time in 1870 ...

 

And thus begins another flashback tale of an untold story of Barnabas Collins, as he wandered the world in his vampire state.  It is evident in Ross' continuity that Barnabas was never confined to his coffin on the Collinwood estate, but actually did end up going to England, as that is where we find him as the flashback begins. Barnabas is engaged to the lovely Lady Clare Duncan, yet one more woman who resembles his Josette - only this doppleganger has blond hair.  In a twist of fate, Lady Clare discovers the truth about Barnabas, but she loves him anyway, and when he breaks the engagement and disappears, she follows his trail to France (where she must fend off another vampire posing as a doctor), and then to America, where she finds him on the Collinwood estate, staying at Stormcliff rather than the Old House.  

 

Now, let's stop for a second and look at this history of Stormcliff.  At the beginning of the book, Victoria and Barnabas view the ruins of the stone house, discussing how it burnt down a century ago.  In the flashback, we learn that Stormcliff was built in 1850 by Peter Collins for his bride, who died a few months after moving in (p. 85).  Peter Collins left Collinsport, and "[o]ne of the other Collins brothers lived in the house for a while" (p. 85), but that brother is not named.  Ross then goes on to explain that "an uncle came and stayed there until he died" (p. 85), being killed in an accident at the fish-packing factory.  So that is three Collins' ancestors, who of whom are not named, that lived in the 1850s.  There is no connection given to how they are related to any of the known Collins' family members, so trying to fit these three into the family tree seems like an impossible task.

 

Back to the story, readers quickly learn that Barnabas has now taken up a dalliance with the wife of a sea-faring captain, a woman known throughout Collinsport to be unfaithful to her husband.  Lady Clare tries to persuade Barnabas of her love for him and her desire to see him cured of his curse, but Barnabas sees only pity in her eyes.  The story takes some pretty dark twists, reminding readers that in those early days of the show, when Barnabas was still a relatively new character, he was not the reluctant vampire that he later became.  There are a number of deaths, and there is even a doomed trip aboard a freighter bound for the West Indies.  However, during the course of all this, Lady Clare does meet her future husband in the form of Nathan Forbes, the second in command on that freighter (pp. 112-13).  And no, this could not possibly be the same Nathan Forbes from the 1795 storyline on the TV show - even though both men were naval officers, the Forbes in the television drama was killed by Barnabas for telling Naomi Collins that her son was a vampire; plus, this book is set in 1870, nearly 80 years after that storyline, meaning that Nathan Forbes would have been over 100 years old at the time!  Since the Forbes on the TV show had no children, we can only guess that this Nathan Forbes is perhaps a nephew or even great-nephew of the original.  At least this Nathan Forbes escapes Barnabas' wrath and lives a long life with his bride, Lady Clare Duncan.

 

I also have to wonder just who "Ben" is - the manservant who stays with Barnabas throughout the story (although he meets an untimely demise by the end).  In the television show, Barnabas had Ben Stokes (or Ben Loomis in the '90s show) who helped him, even after he was cursed to walk the earth as a vampire. But that Ben was already middle aged in 1795, so there is no way he could still be alive in 1870, unless Barnabas turned him, giving him eternal life (which is never stated in the book).  Perhaps, like with Forbes, this is merely a distant nephew or such of the original Ben Stokes - or, perhaps, he is not even related at all, since the story never provides his last name.  There is an odd contradiction with regards to the character within the book - when we are first introduced to Ben, he is described as "a woefully heavy stopped man with sandy gray hair" (p. 27), which sounds an awful lot like Thayer David's Ben Stokes from the soap; however, later in the story, when Lady Clare is following Barnabas' trail, and innkeeper refers to Ben as "sick" and "the thin one, the servant..." (p. 38).  Either Barnabas switched manservants along the way, or Ben suddenly lost weight on the trip to go from "woefully heavy" to "thin."

 

I will say, I did enjoy this book a bit more than the previous one.  While the story deals with Barnabas' secret life as a vampire, the main character is actually Lady Clare Duncan, and the reader is asked to sympathize with her dilemma - the man she is in love with is a vampire, cursed by a scorned lover to walk the earth as the living dead; should she try to cure him, or should she destroy him before he can harm anyone else?  The Gothic elements are all there, with her doomed love for a villainous man, the dark castles and homes, the secrets and lies everywhere she goes, and the young hero who must fight to save the woman he has fallen in love with from the evil that threatens to take her away.  

 

RATING:  8 goblets of blood-red wine out of 10 for Gothic suspense, mystery, and horror in true Dark Shadows fashion. 

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories # 146 - The Ghost of the Lantern Lady

"History becomes mystery as Nancy unravels a haunting case" (cover blurb)

 

"At a haunted historic village, Nancy sees ghostly signs of foul play" (back cover blurb)

 

With this mystery, we step back into the typical Nancy Drew Mystery Stories style of storytelling (in other words, no murders, no attempted murders, no guns, no Files-level danger).  The author of this particular digest is not known; however, it is clear Simon & Schuster used a plot that was more in-line with the kind of mysteries Nancy Drew fans were used to reading.  Yet, it does seem to be we have reached the point in the series where "sabotage" has become the common theme in many of the stories.  Although I do love the title for this book, sadly, it is a bit misleading, as the "ghost" does not really play a major part of the story...

 

The Ghost of the Lantern Lady finds Nancy, Bess, and George volunteering yet again, for the purpose of uncovering the truth behind all of the weird things that have been happening at Persimmon Woods Pioneer Village, a "living history" museum located just twenty miles south of River Heights (p. 1).  It seems Nancy and her friends have done a lot of volunteering lately - at a youth facility, at the local zoo, at Carson Drew's law office, and even in Washington, D.C.!  But, I suppose their eternal summer between high school and college provides them with plenty of time for all of this volunteering, so why not?  In any event, the girls have agreed to help Anita Valdez, who lives just across the street from the Drew residence (p. 2) - Anita work a the village and is concerned that the incidents could eventually lead to someone getting hurt.  Nancy, never one to turn down a mystery, agrees to see what she can find out.

 

By the end of the first chapter, we get our first glimpse of the ghost, as the Lantern Lady makes an appearance in front of the volunteer trainees as they enjoying a hayride (p. 11).  This is the scene that cover artist Ernie Norcia has depicted in his cover painting - and, in fact, this is likely the first book that I am aware of that has the cover scene in the very first chapter!  Of course, the ghost's sudden appearance startles the horse, and several volunteers are jolted out of the cart being pulled by the horse - including Bess and her newfound friend, Cory Worth (a young man who, along with his sister Amy, are first time volunteers as well).  Thus, the adventure/mystery begins!  And, as one might suspect, Nancy knows there are no such things as ghost, so she is determined to find out whether the ghost is the one causing all the problems at the village, or someone else entirely.

 

Those involved with the village definitely come with some baggage.  Jake Parrish, a descendant of the family who originally owned the land and current chairman for the board of the non-profit running the village, seems to have quite the temper - and when Anita finds evidence that money is being embezzled, he fires her and blames her for stealing the money!  Leo Meier used to run the village, but was let go after only three years because his vision for the village did not coincide with Parrish's vision to protect the historical accuracy of the museum.  Mabel Tansy is the director who handles all of the volunteers, and organizing them all can be quite a task.  She seems quite familiar with Leo Meier, yet when confronted about it, she claims she knows little about him.  Then there is the rumor that a developer wants to purchase the land, and what better way to force a sale than to wreak havoc so as to reduce attendance and cause the village to lose money.  There is definitely plenty of suspicious behavior going on, meaning Nancy has her work cut out for her sifting through it all to find out who is really behind it all.

 

For the most part, the sabotage is destructive, but not dangerous - there appears to be nothing directed at any people that would cause injury.  Until someone sets the Windbreak house (the main house on the property) on fire, with plenty of people inside of it!  And poor Cory happened to be pulling a prank of his own, and he finds himself locked in the old beehive oven after everyone else has evacuated!  Of course, Nancy, Bess, and George get a taste of that same medicine when they are locked in a smokehouse, and someone turns the heat up - intending to cook them alive!  They get out before any real damage is done (as if there were ever any doubt), and manage to uncover the truth behind who is doing all of the destruction and why.  It turns out to be a very personal vendetta, but not from the person you would expect.

 

Overall, the story was pretty good - I just wish there had been more focus on the ghost-aspect of the story rather than the sabotage.  This could have been a great tale of hauntings and terrorizing ghosts; but, alas, that opportunity was passed by, so we'll never know what could have been.   What we do get, however, is the real reason why people say "sleep tight" (p. 6); we see more of Bess's computer knowledge and internet savvy (p. 53), which we first saw in The E-Mail Mystery; and we see an editing snafu where George referred to as a man when Nancy is relieved to see "his" ankle bandaged (p. 131).

 

Not a bad mystery, but not necessarily a great one, either.  We will see what The Case of the Captured Queen has for us with the next book!

RATING:   7 old hidden ice houses out of 10 for attempting to mix a bit of history with a bit of mystery, and throwing a ghost in for good measure.

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #34 - Death Through the Mill

It only took 11 books for Ian McMahan (writing under his pen name, Laura Colburn) to return to the world of Zebra Mystery Puzzlers.  After confronting Death in a Small World, McMahan brings back his amateur sleuth / artist Carol Gates to solve yet another murder - this time in a small town of Vermont.  I, for one, am thrilled to see the return of Carol Gates, as I rather enjoyed her first book in this series, and I was definitely not disappointed with this one - although, I did find it surprising that McMahan literally waited until about 40 pages before that sealed chapter before the murder actually took place! That does not leave much time for crime-solving - but, then again, perhaps many of the clues surrounding the mystery were already in place before the murder ever happened...

 

Death Through the Mill sends illustrator Carol Gates on a potential new assignment: illustrating a true-crime novel for Henry Marston, an author whose previous book took an unsolved murder and gave readers Marston's own solution to the crime.  His new book intends to look at several unsolved murders, not necessarily ever in the public eye, and reveal potential solutions to those horrendous killings - including one that hits very close to home.  Carol travels to Millerton, Vermont, where she learns that not everyone in this small town is thrilled with Marston's return.  There appear to be a lot of bad feelings simmering just under the surface because of what took place decades ago:  Marston's father allegedly killed John Howard's father over a land dispute; years later, Marston left town rather suddenly after a young woman with whom he was in love took off with her unborn child in tow.  There is certainly enough drama in this town to give Peyton Place a run for its money!

 

The author leads the reader through a family rivalry from the past, giving bits and pieces here and there from various members of the Millerton community, and like Carol herself, the reader must put the pieces together to figure out what really happened all those years ago.  Howard was found shot on the Marston's old mill property, the trunk of his car filled with gas cans.  Was Howard really planning to burn down the mill in order to get Marston to sell it to the land firm that was intent on building a ski resort in town?  Did Marston kill Howard to prevent him from following through with his plan?  Why did Marston refuse to sell out to the prospectors, when all the other adjacent land owners had sold out and were waiting to make their fortune off the planned resort? And why did the new land owners just suddenly walk away from the deal when Howard was killed and Marston died just months later?  And how in the world did Ellen Whittier fit into all of this?

 

A break-in at the mill seems like a simple case of an inexperienced thief looking for something of value.  But the stolen antique gun and the shattered picture frame of Ellen Whittier are bigger clues than one might first think.  Then there's an argument Carol witnesses at an auction.  And an argument at the old mill between the Marston and Howard sons.  And, of course, the rather gruesome death of Henry Marston himself - and when I saw gruesome, I mean it - described in the book as the "internal framework was gone, broken, dissolved; it had no more structure than a six-foot bag of strawberry gelatin" (p. 131).  How else would you describe the remains of a human being that was crushed after it went through the millstone?  Or, as Carol herself puts it when she calls the local sheriff, "I guess you could say he's been through the mill" (pp. 131-32).  Too soon?  (Personally, I thought it was a hilarious line!)

 

While the cover artist remains uncredited, the internal illustrations are yet again provided by the talented Sanford Hoffman.  Hoffman seems to have been doing more and more of the internals for the Zebra Mystery Puzzlers as the series progresses - perhaps the earlier titles he illustrated sold better, so the publisher decided to utilize her services more?  Whatever the reason, I have to admit, his work has rather grown on me, and I just love the fact he outlines his illustrations, with portions of the scene overflowing beyond that outline.  It gives the feeling to the reader that the action within the scene is trying to burst right off the page!  All there are clear clues in each one of the illustrations, if you simply know what you are looking for (and since I had a fairly good idea of who the killer was going to be early on, it was somewhat easy to spot the clues that pointed to him - even if I did have the wrong motive!).

 

As a fan of children's mystery series, I was surprised to see not one, but two references to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys in this particular book!  The first is the obligatory name-calling, when a has-been, drunk attorney asks Carol, "Would you like to see the medal, Nancy Drew, or have you done enough for the day?" (p. 90).  The other reference is not quite as obvious, but it is definitely there.  When Carol is seeking help in setting the stage for her big revelation at the end, she says, "The old mill holds a secret, a deadly secret" (p. 175).  This is a clear reference to the third Hardy Boys book, The Secret of the Old Mill.  I mean, seriously, could it be anything else but that?

 

This book was definitely a winner, and I'm glad to know I still have one more Carol Gates' mystery before the series ends!

RATING:  10 old-fashioned wrought iron nails out of 10 for setting up a superbly plotted murder mystery with plenty of back story, plenty of suspects, and plenty of great reading! 

Challengers of the Unknown - a novel based on the DC Comics characters

First, I found the House of Mystery novesl by Jack Olsek.  Then I discovered the Blackhawk novel by William Rostler.  Now, thanks to a friend, I was made aware of another novel based on the characters of DC Comics - this one based upon a group of adventurers that debuted back in the February 1957 issue of DC's Showcase comics (issue six, to be exact).  While credits did not appear on the pages, it has later been said the art of that original story was by Jack Kirby, and the story was by Kirby and Dick Wood.  The group appeared three more times in Showcase (issues 7, 11, and 12) before appearing in their own title, which initially ran 77 issues, was picked up for three more issues, and eventually picked up for seven more issues before finally being cancelled for good.  There have been a number of reboots, revivials, and restarts over the decades, but none of them seemed to really catch.  To be honest, I've never read any of the comics series, so going into this book, I knew very little about the team, other than the fact they were also advertised as "living on borrowed time."

 

Challengers of the Unknown is the name of this group of adventurers.  Originally, the team consisted of four men:   Kyle "Ace" Morgan, Walter Mark "Prof" Haley, Leslie "Rocky" Davis, and Matthew "Red" Ryan.  Eventually, a female member by the name of June Robbins was added to the team.  You will note that all four men had nicknames that were used, but June merely goes by her given name.  This book avoids the 'origin' trope, very briefly mentioning in conversation among the characters how they came to be together (the four men survived a plane crash that should have left them dead, so "living on borrowered time," the four decide to go out and do what they can to make the world a better place with the time they have been given).  Instead, the author, Ron Goulart (a/k/a Ronald Joseph Goulart), gives readers an exciting adventure that pits the Challengers against not only a lake monster believed to be myth, but also against an army of former Nazis who are hell-bent on reviving the Third Reich and taking over the world, starting with the South American country of Ereguay (fictional, of course).  The author, by the way, also wrote a number of Zebra Mystery puzzlers under the pseudonym of Josephine Kains (the reviews for which you can find on my blog!).

 

The story opens with each member of the Challengers facing a dangerous threat, which almost kills them - emphasis on the "almost" part.  They realize the attacks were meant more to scare them than take them out, and that is even before they get assigned to go down to Ereguay to look into a local legend about a lake monster that has been killing people in the area where a United States oil company is looking to establish a refinery.  The Challengers take the assignment, believing they will likely find there is no monster, but either a wild animal or some person working hard to make people think there is a monster.  But upon arriving in the South American country, they are asked by the president of Ereguay to look into another matter involving a potential dissident who is about to start a coup.  They divide forces, and soon both groups find themselves facing even more deadly danger, as they become targets of an unknown force who is definitely trying to do more than scare them.  They quickly learn there is a contingent of Nazi soldiers who immigrated to that country after the end of World War II and have developed a serum that will keep them young indefinitely - so as to allow them to build an army and finish what Hitler could not!  Rocky and Red get kidnapped out in the desert, while June gets kidnapped in the jungle, and the Prof and Ace find themselves facing off against a very real monster that has no hesitation about ripping a man apart with its bare hands!

 

The story moves at a pretty fast pace, and there are no lulls in the action.  Goulart manages to give the reader sufficient knowledge about each of the five members of the Challengers so that you have a good grasp on each of them, without bogging the story down with pages of exposition about their past.  Goulart sneaks in a couple of surprises here and there with regard to who can be trusted and who cannot be trusted, and the real monster of the story is not necessarily the one you would expect!  As with many superhero groups where there is only one female character, poor June is relegated to the sidelines quite a bit, and, of course, she becomes the victim that must be rescued by her male teammates.  She does have a couple of moments where she shines (showing some attackers that she is not to be underestimated) - it's just a shame that her own teammates (as well as Goulart!) fail to see her true potential on the team.

 

 The artist who provided the cover art is not identified, nor is there a signature on the art itself.  The back cover of the book merely states the "Cover Illustration copyright (c) 1977 by DC Comics, Inc."  However, thanks to Chad Lee Carter in a Facebook group called "Fear the Man-Thing," I discovered the cover artist was Enrique Torres (with an image of the clean art, provided by Mr. Carter in that group).  Torres, who is also apparently known as Enric Torres-Prat, is known for his work on many old Warren title (such as Vampirella).  More information about the artist can be found at Enric Torres-Pat.

 

One final thing I did want to mention is Goulart, in the story, reveals the chief brain behind all of the Nazi activity in Ereguay to be a man named Otto Wenzler (p. 88), who was reportedly killed in an air raid in Germany back in 1943 (but somehow survived).  That name sounded extremely familiar, and I thought perhaps that same character had been used in the Blackhawk novel I read some time ago.  Looking back, though, I did not see any reference to Wenzler in that book.  Some digging on the internet reveals this is the only book in which Wenzler appears, so I can't figure out why that name sounds so familiar...

 

Overall, the story was a fairly interesting read, it kept my attention from beginning to end, and I found the characters to be rather fun.  I may just have to pick up that Challengers of the Unknown Showcase sitting on my shelf and give it a read!

 

RATING:   8 electronic disabling devices out of 10 for good, old-fashioned comic-book danger, adventure, and excitement with fun characters and dastardly villains!

A Hearse for Dark Harbor - the second Dark Harbor Gothic Novel

"She was trapped in the old monastery with a faceless ghost ... and a cult of evil!" (cover blurb)

 

The second novel in the Dark Harbor series answered my question when reading the first book - will some of these characters introduced in Ghost of Dark Harbor show up and become featured characters in future books?  The answer is a resounding YES.  Ross (as in W.E.D. Ross a/k/a Clarissa Ross) utilizes characters and locations mentioned in the previous book as the central story in this book, albeit with some slight variations. I do like continuity, such as this, as it gives the books a more well-rounded, realistic feel to them, and also provides the reader with a soap-opera style environment, leaving us to wonder what will happen to these characters in the next book!

 

A Hearse for Dark Harbor takes place some time after the events of the first book, but there is no clear delineation as to how much time has passed.  Ross opens the story at the end, so to speak.  The reader is introduced to Rose Marks, a young woman who has clearly gone through a very traumatic experience on Pirate Island (where Dark Harbor is located), and she is in the company of Derek Mills - who readers may remember was one of the main characters in the first book.  While the whole "start at the end and tell the story in a flashback" sometimes works, I felt it was wrong for a story like this, as it pretty much gives away too much - like the fact that Rose clearly survives whatever happened to her, and whoever the villain of the story was has been defeated.  But, this was the route Ross chose to take, so I stuck with it, and by the middle of the first chapter, we start getting the back story that explains how and why Rose came to Dark Harbor...

 

Flashback:  Rose lives in New York with her roommate, Helen Grant. At a party one night, Helen meets a poet named Jules Bayliss - a man that Rose instantly distrusts. Well, as you might figure, her feelings about the man prove true, as Helen takes off one day, leaving a note explaining she has gone away with Jules to a remote island off the coast of Massachusetts, where the two will live in a commune that was one an old monastery.  When Rose loses all contact with her friend, she knows something is wrong, so she takes time off from work and heads out to Pirate Island.  She meets a man named Tex on the ferry, who happens to live in the monastery, and he agrees to take her there.  The carefree lifestyle, the free-flowing drugs, the demands for money by the man who runs the place, and the general consensus that Rose just does not fit in there give Rose reason to be cautious.  But she is determined to find her friend, no matter how many times everyone there says they never saw Helen.  Rose knows they are lying, and the more they lie, the more determined she becomes.

 

Phil Waring, the LSD-laced man who runs the place, accepts her into the commune with great caution, only allowing her to stay because of the money she offers.  He assigns to her Tex's "family," where she meets a woman named Dallas, who quickly informs her that she is Tex's main wife and Rose better not get any ideas of taking over.  Rose also meets a man named Cal, who is friendly enough, but who readily admits to staying there simply for the drugs.  Then there's the girl Susie, who is a bit of a loner, and she is the only person to truly warn Rose away, telling her the story of the Leper Mary - a ghost who is said to haunt the halls of the old monastery, her face so hideous she wears a veil to hide it.  Rose discounts the tale until she sees the ghost herself in her own room!

 

Ross does manage to build some good suspense in the story.  As Rose continues to dig deeper, the more trouble she faces - and not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions, the ghost of Leper Mary comes to Rose's rescue, saving her from certain doom - once from being drown in a locked dungeon, and twice from being pushed off the rooftop balcony!  Along the way, Rose meets Derek Mills, who comes to her aid when she is trapped on the side of the cliff, and she agree to work with him to bring an end to Waring's hold over the people at the commune.  The final climax is a bit rushed, as Ross is apt to do in his stories, and we do not actually "see" the final battle, as Rose is knocked unconscious, and we learn what happened only after Rose wakes up in the doctor's office.

 

The revelation of what happened to Helen is not too surprising, if you really pay attention as you read.  The truth about the "ghost" of Leper Mary is also not much of a surprise.  What is a surprise, to me at least, is the story Derek Mills tells about his wife.  As those read the first book may recall, he brought his wife Joyce back to Dark Harbor after she had a breakdown following the death of their child.  The story followed her fight to stay sane as someone or something was intent on making her think ghosts were haunting the estate.  At the end of that first book, it was proven there was no ghost, and everything Joyce had seen really did happen, and she found herself back in the arms of her husband, their marriage restored.  Yet, in this book, Derek relates how Joyce had another breakdown, and she went back to the mental hospital on the mainland, where the doctors have told him she will likely never recover.  He no longer wears his wedding ring, and he even admits to having feelings for Rose!  This really bothered me, as there is no explanation as to why Joyce had another breakdown, and the attention he shows Rose basically confirms Joyce's suspicions from the first book that he was cheating on her!  This definitely made me like Derek Mills even less than I did in the first book!

 

At least we also have the return of Captain Zachary Miller, who is a lovable character who always seems to offer the best advise to the damsels in distress in these stories.  I hope he is a mainstay in this series, as I find him to be one of the better characters on Pirate Island - plus, he knows so much about the history of the island!

 

Now, I do want to address a bit of inconsistency about the monastery.  In the first book, it is casually mentioned that the monastery is owned by a wealthy man, who has hippies living on the property, and whose lifestyle of drugs and possible rituals has been played down by the police on the island.  In this book, however, the man who rents the place (not owns!) is by far not rich, and the police in town, as well as the town council, want nothing more than to run Waring and his cronies off the island!  Perhaps Ross intended that the wealthy man who owns the monastery rented it to Waring, and the rich man did not actually live there?  Whatever the case, the continuity errors about the monastery and about Derek Mills' wife simply did not sit well with me while reading the book.

 

The cover art is one again, I believe, provided by Lou Marchetti.  With the monastery in the background, Rose running in that flowing white nightgown (which, by the way, she never actually wears at any time in the story), and the graveyard in the foreground, Marchetti sets the mood for a spooky, dark tale.  He even includes "Mary" on the name of the one tombstone, which one can assume refers to the Leper Mary. 

 

It's not a bad read, but if the saga of Dark Harbor is going to continue from book to book, I hope Ross does not keep changing the continuity...

 

RATING:  8 fresh unmarked graves out of 10 for pitting Rose against some deadly and very dangerous men in a God-forsaken, unrefurbished monastery that would given even the bravest of souls cause for worry!