Whitman Mystery Stories - Bonita Granville and the Mystery of Star Island

Bonita Granville is mostly known to me and my fellow series book collectors as the actress who portrayed Nancy Drew in the four films from the 1930s.  However, Ms. Granville starred in a number of other films for which she is probably more popularly known.  In fact, she was popular enough that Whitman, the book publisher, somehow gained the rights to publish a fictional tale of Ms. Granville wherein, like her Nancy Drew counterpart, she is thrust into an unexpected situation where she must solve a mystery and help the innocent!

As it states on the front flap of the dust jacket, this book (along with a number of others) allowed readers to "(f)ollow your favorite characters through page after page of thrilling adventures."  And thanks to a special friend and fellow series collector, I was given a copy of this book in the beautiful dust jacket showcasing a photo of the ever-smiling Bonita Granville.

I just wish the story inside had held up as beautifully as the dust jacket and the photo did.

I'm not sure what I expected from the story.  I honestly had not heard anything about the mystery prior to reading it - no reviews, no critiques, no bashing or praising.  So, I went into this story with absolutely no knowledge whatsoever.  Based on the title, The Mystery of Star Island, I gathered that somehow Bonita would end up on an island where she would become instrumental in solving a mystery.  And as I began reading the first couple of chapters, it seemed such would be the case.  Bonita bumps into an old friend who is headed to Star Island to serve as a companion to a young girl near their age; but, before she can leave for the island, she is overcome with appendicitis and must go to the hospital.  After much beginning, Bonita agrees to take her place on the island with no on the wiser because - coincidentally enough - she and Bonita strongly resemble each other.  So much so, in fact, that in their younger days, they were known as "Parey" and "Lelle" (for "parallel").

Sounds enough like a typical children's mystery so far.  There's also a mysterious stranger who shows up at the train station, and Bonita feels there is something not right about him.  Yet another coincidence finds him heading in the same direction as her - to Star Island!  All good set ups for a nice mystery - except, at this point, we still don't know what the mystery is, if any.  Bonita and this stranger get ferried to the island, where Bonita meets her new benefactor and the young girl she will be chaperoning, Betts.  Her benefactor, known as "Muffit," has been injured and must leave the island to get medical attention, leaving Bonita alone with Betts and the nervous-nellie housekeeper, Thelma.  There are claims of stranger noises in the night (reminiscent of Gothic-style storytelling), but again - still no defined mystery.

What we do have by this point, however, are countless instances of Bonita's internal turmoil of why she is there.  "Go back while you have the chance!" and "I knew there'd be trouble!" and "You'd better go back - before it's too late!"  Again and again and again the author has Bonita doubting herself, questioning her actions, and warning herself to go back home and forget Star Island.  I'm not sure if this was intended to build drama, but for me, it simply dragged down the story and lessened my ability to see Bonita Granville as a strong protagonist.  Instead, she comes across weak, whiny, and at times, very unlike any female sleuths of her time.

The author, who interestingly enough is not identified on the cover of the book, is Kathryn Heisenfelt,  who appears to have written a number of "authorized" books for Whitman during that period.  If all of her books are written in this vein, it leaves me to wonder how they performed sales-wise.  The book has a number of illustrations by Henry E. Vallely, all of which are beautifully rendered and are one of the saving graces for the book.

The mystery itself is finally revealed near the end, and it is wrapped up not by Bonita, but rather, by some of the supporting characters.  The identity of the stranger at the beginning is finally revealed at the end (after he is pretty much absent during most of the story), and everything is resolved with very little help from Bonita at all.  Definitely not a book I would recommend reading to any fans of the children's mystery genre; however, I would probably suggest it as a collectible for any Nancy Drew completionist, since it does star the actress who first portrayed everyone's teen sleuth.

RATING:  3 missing used bandages out of 10 for at least attempting to give a Nancy Drew actress her own mystery - and providing some lovely illustrations throughout!