Whitman Mystery Stories - Boots and the Mystery of the Unlucky Vase

There was a time when I wanted nothing to do with the books published back in the day by Whitman. The paper was cheaper and did not stand the test of time (became very brittle and breaks easily), and the dust jackets were just as cheap in texture and appearance.  However, as time has passed, and as I have picked up a few here and there and read them, I've discovered that they really aren't so bad after all - in fact, they can be quite enjoyable!  It's just a matter of finding them well preserved so that the pages don't fall apart when you read them...

Boots and the Mystery of the Unlucky Vase is one my latest Whitman acquisitions. I picked it up for several reasons: (1) the dust jacket was in pretty good shape for a book published in 1943; (2) the pages were not brittle, so it would be readable; and (3) I thought the character was something from the Dick Tracy comic strip, based on the cover art.  I guess two out of three ain't bad!  I was wrong about the character - apparently "Boots" was a newspaper strip titled Boots and her Buddies that ran from 1924 - 1968 (which is quite an impressive run - 44 years!). The author of the comic strip, Edgar Martin, was also the author of this book, so at least that gave me some comfort, knowing the book was written by the creator of the character.

As one might guess based on the name of the character, the story (as I'm sure the comic strip was) is a bit comical, with some over-the-top, stereotypical characters - such as the overweight Ferd, who was nicknamed "Fat," the African-American cook named Opal whose dialogue reflected the dialect given to them at that time, the pesky little tomboyish girl Pug (whose father was named Bettem High), and so on. These things would certainly not fly in today's world, but the story is clearly a product of its time, evidenced more so by the fact that World War II plays very heavily in the story.  Boots gets a job at a factory that manufactures things for the military; she and others in the book mostly walk where they want to go, or use a horse and buggy (to save on fuel); Boots, Pug, and Cora (the wife of the professor with whom they live) prepare first aid materials for the military men, while Open bakes cookies for the soldiers.

The story itself revolves around some very important blueprints that are stolen from the safe of Boots' boss and end up in a large vase that Boots is given as a reward for her good work. Pug ends up getting kidnapped in the vase (you'll have to read it to find out the story on that adventure!), and Boots and Ferd do their best to rescue her, but end up captives right along with Pug. There are spies, brave soldiers, inept police, and pretty much any other character you might need to create a whimsical comedy of errors, but ultimately, Boots' rough-and-tumble friend, Willie, comes to her rescue (as he has done in the past - or so the story says!).

The book has a number of interior illustrations, provided by Martin as well (which makes sense, since he wrote and drew the daily strip for the newspapers). The characters are pretty much caricatures, particularly when it comes to little Pug and Opal (the cook). Today's readers would likely be very offended by the depiction of Opal in the illustrations, but one must remember - it was a very different time when this book was written and the strip was drawn by Martin. Plus, this was based on a comedy strip, and as such, everything should be taken a bit tongue-in-cheek. Therefore, I simply placed it as a product of its time and enjoyed it for what it was, knowing that African-Americans do not look like that, don't act like that, and certainly should never be viewed like that.

The one thing I did enjoy was the fact that Boots was a very independent, creative-thinking, no-nonsense woman who was not afraid of anyone (she impresses her boss by being able to stall and send away countless salesmen trying to sneak their way in to see him), and she was not afraid to run head-first into danger to help her friends! It's nice to see that even male authors back in the '40s were not afraid to write strong, independent women characters.

Having read this, I'm now going to have to look up the comic strip, as well as the 6-issue comic book series that was apparently published back in the day.  One more thing to try and collect - just what I needed!  LOL

RATING:  9 special recipe cookies out of 10 for introducing me to an entirely new character and making mysteries fun to read!