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!

The Mystery of the Missing Eyebrows

This is not only one of the shortest "series" I've ever seen (only one book was published in the series), it is also one of the most unusual.  The book is promoted as "The Newspaper Boys' Series" on the cover, yet on the inside book listing, it calls the series the "Renfro Horn Stories."   The cover does not identify the author; rather, it indicates the publisher is "The R.H. Gore Book Co."  The author is not identified until the title page, which lists him at Stephen Rudd.  Now, you may ask what is so odd about any of this ... well, R.H. Gore is actually Robert Hayes Gore (1886-1972), an American newspaper publisher - he owned and published the Ft. Lauderdale Daily News, acquired the DeLand Sun and Daytona Beach Sun-Record, and later started The Pompano Beach Sun Sentinel.  He was born in Knottsville, Kentucky (which is quite a coincidence, since I was born in Kentucky and now live in Florida!).  "Stephen Rudd" was merely a pseudonym, and this book was the one and only book ever published in this series and by that particular publisher. 

 

The Mystery of the Missing Eyebrows is self-proclaimed to be the first book in the Newspaper Boys' Series, featuring Renfro Horn as the main character.  The book is copyrighted in 1921 by the R.H. Gore Publishing Company, which was a short-lived publishing house established by Gore in Terre Haute, Indiana shortly after he became publisher of the Terre Haute Post in 1916.  It should come as no surprise that the book should be so heavily focused on the newspaper world, since Gore himself was involved with the newspaper publishing world for many years, both in Indiana and in Florida.  In fact, Gore (a/k/a Rudd) provides a one-page introduction just before the table of contents that is basically a self-serving advertisement for subscribing to your local newspaper and promoting the hard work of newspaper boys, alleging the "newspaper training is valuable, as much so as school..."  He even makes reference to the "fact" that the Renfro Horn in this book is based upon a real boy by the same name who delivered newspapers in his youth.  Perhaps he is referring to himself (since his first two initials are "R" and "H").

 

The mystery centers around the kidnapping of Helen Weir, the young daughter of a local judge who is known to be extremely stern in his sentencing.  Renfro Horn, who happens to see a shadowy figure lurking around the Weir house on two different occasions, figures out a way to stay out later to keep watch on the house by getting a job as a paper boy (although he certainly does not need the job, since it made clear his family is very upper class, and even his mother looks down her nose at children who get menial jobs such as a paper boy).  When he learns of the kidnapping, Renfro returns to the house to search for clues and finds on the window where he had seen the shadowy man looking into the house two eyebrows stuck to the ice on the window.  He uses a knife to carefully cut off those eyebrows and decides he is going to solve the case himself by simply finding the man who is missing his eyebrows (hence, the title of the book!).  His family's young "second maid," whose name is Mary, ends up lending aid to Renfro, as she had been studying detective techniques in the various stories she had been reading.  In a way, she became the Watson to Renfro's own version of Sherlock.

 

The story is pretty much a standard children's mystery of its time.  The police are inept at figuring out what has happened to Judge Weir's daughter, while Renfro stumbles cross clue after clue, through various circumstances and just plain luck, which lead him to figure out the girl's kidnapper(s) must be hiding out in the old Hall mansion, which is said to be haunted, since its owner, a man by the name of Captain Pete, has made his residence in a shack some ways away.  Renfro learns that Captain Pete's brother has been released from the prison where he has served time, and he thinks that he may be involved with the kidnapping.  Mysterious lights in the supposed empty mansion, the rather rotund man who Renfro sees with the Captain, and the mysterious woman wearing the same scarf he had previously seen on the man all lead Renfro, with Mary's help, to stake out the old house and find out the truth of who is staying there.  In the end, Renfro himself gets kidnapped, which leads him to finding Helen and solving the mystery - making him the hero of the judge and his wife, giving the newspaper a major scoop for a huge story, and encouraging Mary to decide she wants to help Renfro solve more mysteries!

 

And speaking of more mysteries, the listing in the front of the book provides a list of eleven more books "to follow shortly," it proclaims.  The stories alleged to be coming have some rather unique titles, such as The Luck of a Rainy Night, The Long Low Whistle, The Growl of the Lost Dog, The Fall of the East Side Bully, and others.  In the back of the book, there are short synopses given for the next four books that were to be published - The Luck of a Rainy Night (or, Renfro Horn Wins the $10,000 Reward); The Rise of Route 16 (or, Renfro Gets a Regular Detective Badge); The White Bag's Secret (or, Renfro Horn Trails Down the Thieving Dog); and The Clue of the Twisted Paper (or, The Mystery of the Lost Girl).  Sadly, none of those stories ever saw print, and it is unknown (at least to me!) if any outlines or manuscripts for any of these books were ever completed.  vv Broward County in Florida contains an archive for Mr. Gore in their Historical Archives, which include papers documenting his career as the Governor of Puerto Rico, newspaper publisher, real estate developer, and other activites: The Robert H. Gore Papers.  This book appears to be the one and only book Mr. Gore ever wrote, and the archive do not indicate there are any unpublished outlines or manuscripts.  I enjoyed this book sufficiently, I would definitely have read more if there were any written!

 

There is no dust jacket with the book, and I can find no evidence that it was ever published with one.  There are, however, two illustrations - one is the frontis piece, and the other is inserted between 182 and 183.  As can be seen, the illustrations come with rather lengthy taglines, much longer than you might be used to seeing in a children's series book.  The frontis piece depicts Renfro finding the two eyebrows stuck to the Weirs' window; the second illustration, which shows Renfro being kidnapped, is for whatever reason placed in between pages 182 and 183, but the action in the scene does not actually occur until 189; so I'm uncertain as to why the illustration was inserted pages before that, as it does rather spoil such an important scene in the story.  Neither illustration is signed, that I can see, and the book does not give any credit to the identity of the artist.  The title page merely indicates the book is illustrated.  

 

I always find it amusing when I am reading stories that are 100 years old, such as this one (105 years, technically), because the language used can be antiquated - words that were used in 1921 to mean one thing can sometimes mean something quite different in 2026 - which can give an entirely different spin if one were to read it applying today's definitions!  For instance, in the first chapter, when the author is describing Renfro, through the eyes of his parents, it is said that Mr. Horn "knew his son was queer" (p. 14); his mother, too, "that Renfro was queer" (p. 15); Mr. Horn even tells his wife, "Renfro is a little queer.  None of us boys was the least like him.  But he's clever with all his queer streaks..." (p. 15); and Mrs. Horn complained that if her son "had to read such queer stories, he should not do it in the middle of the night" (p. 16).  A child reading the story today might take these descriptions in an entirely different way than they were intended back in 1921 - thus proving that context is definitely required when reading antiquarian books such as this!

 

There is a major continuity error I caught that took me out of the story for a brief moment. Midway through the story, when Mary is helping Renfro by watching the old Hall mansion, she later describes how she cut eye holes into the piece of wood covering a window so that she could see inside (pp. 138-39).  Later in the story, when Renfro goes to the house in order to see if his suspicions are correct about who is living there, the author indicates "Renfro found his peep holes, which he had cut out a few nights before with his knife" (p. 176).  Apparently the author forgot he had written Mary as the one who cut the holes, not Renfro.  However, for a 241-page story, for there to be only one continuity error such as this, I think it can be forgiven.

 

Definitely a fun story, with a perky little hero and his determined sidekick - truly a shame we did not get more adventures of Renfro and Mary!

 

RATING:  9 mysterious lights over the Indian graves out of 10 for damp caves, haunted houses, courteous kidnappers, and fun-filled mystery in one of the shortest series ever published!

Peggy Lane Theater Stories No. 2 - Peggy Plays Off-Broadway

The story of aspiring actress Peggy Lane continues in this second book of the Peggy Lane Theater Stories.  The specific identity of the author, who wrote this book under the name "Virginia Hughes," is unknown, but there are some subtle differences in the style of writing between the first and second books, leading one to believe that they were written by different authors.  However, the characterization remains fairly the same, and the story actually remains in continuity and continues from the first book, which I find refreshing for the series books of this era (which mostly told individual stories with very little continuity among the books in the series).  Like the Judy Bolton series by Margaret Sutton, this Peggy Lane series appears to be one where the time line moves forward as the series progresses, and the characters grow in age, experience, and maturity, with story elements from previous books giving rise to situations in later books.  This gives the series a more sense of the real world than a fictional one!

 

Peggy Plays Off-Broadway picks up some months after the first book ended.  Where the first book took place during Peggy's first semester at the New York Dramatic Academy, this second book jumps ahead in time - Christmas and New Year's have past, and it's now coming to the end of the winter months, as Peggy and her friends prepare for casting of the play written by Peggy's friend, Randy Brewster, and directed by her other friend, Mallory Seton.  The book opens with Peggy anxiously awaiting the opportunity to read for a part in the play, and her best friend, Amy Preston, giving her moral support.  Readers are introduced to newcomer, Paula Andrews, who Peggy is certain will land the lead role in the play, as her appearance and demeanor give Peggy the impression that Randy had written the part specifically for her - even though he has never met her before in his life!

 

The entirety of the book deals with Randy's play, Come Closer.  Readers get a taste of not only what the casting process is like, but also the laborious task of building sets, establishing lighting, running lines, developing characters, blocking, rehearsing, and everything else involved in the production of an off-Broadway play. It is always fun for me to read stories like this; having been in the theater myself for a number of years (not Broadway, of course!), I have a level of understanding about all of these activities, and I can appreciate whether the author actually knows what he/she is talking about.  So far, in this series, the authors have had a fairly realistic grasp on all of the activities associated with putting on a play.  The nervousness, the anticipation, those opening night jitters, the worries of having given a bad performance, etc.  Many of the emotions felt by Peggy and her friends throughout the book (as they relate to the play itself) I have felt myself over the years!

 

A number of elements from the first book come into play (no pun intended) in this second book. The building that Peggy and Amy found in the last book has been fully renovated now by Mal and Randy, so that it not only has a theater and rehearsal space, but also has living quarters for the boys, as well as extra rooms for other actors who need a place to live (allowing them to rent those rooms out to cover the expenses associated with the upkeep of the building).  Peggy is still taking a full course load at the Dramatic Academy, and she still faces that one-year deadline that she set with her parents to find a paying acting gig that will allow her to remain in New York and pursue her dreams. With the introduction of Paula Andrews, though, we get new blood into the story, as well as a slight mystery.  It seems that while Paula is a superb actress, she is hiding a number of secrets.  When the cast is called upon to perform one scene from the play for a potential new benefactor, Paula storms out unexpectedly, crying that she cannot do it for Sir Brian Alwyne, a special British representative for the United Nations (p. 47).  This, of course, piques Peggy's curiosity, and she's determined to learn exactly what Paula is hiding, before it destroys the play's chances of getting off the ground.

 

Peggy actually does some things that I consider to be outside the scope of normal sleuthing - not only does she contrive a surprise party for Paula to convince the superintendent of her building to let her and Amy into Paula's apartment, but she snoops through literally every drawer, closet, and bookshelf in the apartment until she finds something that will give her a clue as to Paula's past.  From there, she reaches out to one of her housemates who just so happens to be on a tour out in California (at exactly the time Peggy needs someone out there - how convenient!) to visit a house she believes to belong to Paula's parents and find out more information about Paula.  She then shares everything she learns with her housemates and house mother before she ever actually approaches Paula with what she knows!  Yes, Peggy does admit to everything she's done after-the-fact, but it still seems pretty underhanded, particularly when she claims throughout the story how much she wants to be Paula's friend.  A true friend does not dig in so deeply into someone's personal life without their permission!  But, as can be expected, Paula forgives her, the mystery reaches a successful resolution, and the play's opening night turns out to be such a success that pretty much everyone involved gets offers in their various fields (with Peggy actually getting an agent - the N.A.R. [National Artists' Representatives], which is a fictional agency, likely taken from the NATR, the National Association of Talent Representatives) (p. 170).

 

The art is once again provided by Sergio Leone.  The cover, while not exactly exciting, does at least offer a bit more than the first book.  In this scene, we have Peggy studying her script, with Randy (?) standing over her.  There is only one full page internal illustration, which is the frontis piece.  The remaining illustrations throughout the book are 1/2-page, 1/3-page, 3/4-page and such.  As with the first book, the characters in the illustrations all appear much older than what they actually are in the story - in fact, the only illustration that depicts the characters in the age group in which they should be are the end pages.  In that rehearsal scene, all of the characters appear in their late teens and early twenties.

 

An enjoyable read, for sure, and now that Peggy has an agent, I'm curious to see where the series will go with the next book!

 

RATING:  9 flat, leather boxes of highly polished calfskin out of 10 for detailing the life of an aspiring actress and the joys (and pains!) of putting together a play for opening night! 

Short Lived Comic Series #39 - Steel (DC Comics)

It has taken me many years before I finally decided to pick up this series (and, quite honestly, the only reason I did pick it up was because I managed to get four of the five issues in a $1 bin and located the last issue I needed for just as cheap).  I was first introduced to the character in 1982 when he made his first appearance in the All-Star Squadron comic book published by DC Comics.  At the time, I was not even aware there was an earlier series starring Henry "Hank" Heywood as the superhero known as Steel (referred to as "Commander Steel" in the All-Star Squadron title).  When I eventually learned of it, I discovered it only lasted five issues (the sixth issue never seeing publication due to the DC Implosion in 1978 that saw the cancellation of a number of DC titles).  For reasons I can't explain, I just never picked up the series whenever I happened across an issue.  Now, though, with all five issues in hand (well, technically, all six issues, since I have a copy of the Cancelled Comics Cavalcade that printed the unpublished, not-finished issue), I figured it was time to read it.

 

The first issue of Steel, the Indestructible Man hit the newsstands in December 1977, with a March 1978 cover date. This new comic, set in the dark days of World War II, featured a brand new super-hero that was a result of writer Gerry Conway's work on the Wonder Woman run that featured the Earth-2 character during her WWII days.  According to the text in issue 2's letter column (which featured no letters, since the first issue had not even hit the stands when that text was written), Gerry did so much research about the Second World War during his run on Wonder Woman, that he decided to create a character who had fought in Germany and new the harsh realities of the situation before America even entered the war.  The text page reveals that the character was first developed as a super-soldier type of character, what with all of the technological advancements that had taken place in the 1940s, and not a costumed hero; but as his discussions with the publisher continued, it eventually developed into "the more patriotically-clad super-hero" that was eventually seen.  The series artist, Don Heck, worked out the costume with editor Al Milgrom, and thus, Steel was born!

 

With the first issue, Conway, Heck, and inker Joe Giella introduce readers to DC's newest hero, along with all of his supporting cast of characters.  Told from the point of view of Hank Heywood's journal, the story opens in August 1939, with Heywood in Munich, Germany, where he rescues an elderly man being attacked by soldiers - only to leave and have the old man shot down by those same soldiers!  Heywood returns to the States with his traveling companion, one Dr. Giles, and is reunited with his girlfriend, Gloria, who happens to be Giles' daughter.  Readers get a quick glimpse of Heywood enlisting into the Marines, serving his country, where he ultimately sacrifices his life to stop an attack on an ammunition dump - well, almost sacrifices.  He is gravely injured, and it turns out only Dr. Giles' biological retardent for transplanting artificial organs could save his life.  Unbeknownst to anyone by Dr. Giles and his select medical staff, Heywood is basically rebuilt with not only artificial organs, but grafting a steel alloy to his bones and a metal casing to protect his skull, along with micro-motors in his joints - turning Hank Heywood into a literal man of steel!  Returning to the warfront, Heywood dons a star-spangled costume to fight the good fight not as Heywood, but as Steel!  In a last panel collage, we learn that as Steel, he tracks down the saboteurs working under a madman named Baron Death, vowing to one day find the mastermind himself.  As Heywood writes in his journal, "This is just a beginning...!"

 

For anyone who thinks the series would proceed to simply be Steel fighting Nazis, think again.  While Conway certainly integrates the ravages of war into the story, he also pits Heywood against a number of costumed villains - after all, what would a superhero comic be without a crazed, super-powered villain against whom our hero must fight?  With the second issue, readers get to meet the monster who mined miracles - under a cover that proclaims:  "The Murderous Menace of The Mineral Master."  Yes, the powers that be definitely love alliteration, as most of the covers in this series feature fun taglines that make use of alliteration in spades!  In the first few pages of this issue, Conway, Heck, and new inker Vince Colletta, give us the origin of this new villain.  A poor scientist named Dr. Moag has created a machine that gives off a strange "omega" force that allows the doctor to basically create whatever he wants (and that "omega" force made me immediately think of Darkseid and his omega beams!).  A German baron and his muscle-bound bodyguard push the doctor into the field, which transforms him into Mineral Master!   Steel battles the crazed doctor, the first time being defeated, but the second time overcoming the villain by keeping him out of contact with the earth, through which he seemed to gain his power.  These battles, in the open public, introduced Steel to the world at large.

 

Oddly, the third and fourth issues both featured two stories - the first of which features Steel facing off against the major villain of the issue, and the second story more focused on Heywood's personal life (with subplots leading into the next issue).  The main stories (10 pages in length) continue with art by Heck and returning inker Giella, while the back-up stories (7 pages in length) feature art by Juan Ortiz and inker Bruce Patterson.  Issue three of "The Hardest Hitting New Hero in Town" (as the cover proudly proclaims) sees Steel facing off against the monster-sized mobster, Sledgehammer, while the back-up tale introduces the Gadgeteer, who takes center stage in the two-chapter tale of the fourth issue - which spouts the headline, "The Ghastly Grasp of the Gadgeteer!"  As one might expect, Conway has our indestructible hero defeat the villains; however, it is his personal life that takes the hit when Dr. Giles learns that Steel is actually Hank Heywood, which causes him to have a near-fatal heart attack!  Filled with guilt, Heywood must weigh his decision to become Steel.

 

The fifth, and final (?) issue of the series sort of heads off in an entirely different direction. This was the first 50-cent issue of DC's Explosion in 1978, so instead of 17 pages of story, it featured a full-length 25 page story written by Conway, of course, with art by Don Heck and yet another new inker, Frank Chiaramonte.  Perhaps this was why Heck only did 10-page stories for the previous two issues in order to be able to provide the 25-page story in this issue.  Whatever the reason, Conway opens with Steel already fighting the strange swamp monster depicted on the cover, and then flashes back to his trip across country to locate a former college classmate who holds the key to saving Dr. Giles' life.  Here things turn a bit Gothic, as Steel stumbles across a dark mansion in the swamp, where he navigates a labyrinth of traps to learn a rather heartbreaking story of two brothers - but which one is the monster?  The answer is not what you will expect, that's for sure.  The issue ends with Steel saving his former classmate's life, and the insinuation that he will get her back to the hospital where Dr. Giles is at death's door in time to save his girlfriend's father.  The next issue blurb indicates readers will learn "The Secret Origin of Baron Blitzkrieg!"  The only problem is, due to the DC Implosion, that never issue never saw publication.  Well, not under the Steel title, at any rate.  

 

You see, at some point, someone put together all of the finished and somewhat finished pages of all of the titles that never saw publication due to the infamous "DC Implosion" that occurred just three months after the Explosion that increased the page count and price and produced a limited number of black and white copies of those issues as "Cancelled Comics Cavalcade" issues one and two.  Fully penciled, inked, and lettered, issue six of Steel appeared in the second issue of this cavalcade of cancelled comics, even with a black and white cover with no logo or words!  But this was put out in very limited quantities (although, over the years, copies of copies of copies have been produced, and I managed to snag a copy of these issues from eBay some years ago).  And while it was nice to read that Dr. Giles did get the miracle medicine in time and he did survive, it would have been nice to have seen these pages in full color.  But, wait!  I did see them in full color.  Well, most of the pages, anyway.  Yes, just four years later, Roy Thomas repurposed these pages in his All-Star Squadron comic, in issue eight, where he brought Steel into the 1940s of the Earth-2 universe (this was before Crisis on Infinite Earths did away with Earth-2), and used the main story and most of the panels from this issue as a way of "introducing" readers to Steel in the All-Star Squadron team.  Some panels were omitted (many dealing with Dr. Giles and his daughter, Gloria and the entire portion where Steel finds himself in the concentration camp), while others were altered or replaced in order to fit into the All-Star Squadron story without all of the subplots from the Steel series.  And the intended cover was used as a major splash panel in the All-Star Squadron tale.  So, while the entire issue never got published as intended, at least a chunk of the story finally saw full color print.

 

From what I've read in articles about the series, it seems Conway never intended Steel to be an Earth-2 character - he had intended for Steel to be on the main DC Earth (which was Earth-1 at the time).  Personally, with the World War II connection, it made more sense to me to have him on Earth-2, which is where the JSA and other Golden Age heroes made their debut; otherwise, why would the heroes of Earth-1 have never talked about the "superhero" that existed prior to Superman's rocket crashing in Smallville?  As far as the art in the Steel series goes, I have never been a fan of Don Heck's art.  I absolutely hated his work on Wonder Woman during that final run of her original series.  For me, this art is barely a step above that art.  I can't pinpoint what it is I don't like about his art, except that his faces do not seem natural to me, too sharp and angular in many ways.  However, I did not let that detract from my enjoyment of the series.  Gerry Conway is an excellent writer. I loved his work on All-Star Comics, Firestorm, Justice League, and many other series.  This is just another example of his superb writing skills.

 

Thus, another short-lived series that deserved more of a chance gets boxed away with so many other of its kind, and hopefully this review will encourage other comic fans to get out there and track down issues of the series - it's well worth the read!

 

RATING:  9 steel-infused skeletons out of 10 for super-hero stories with plenty of super-powered battles, personal angst, and fantastic plotting and dialogue!