The Mysteries of Maisie Hitchins, Book 6 - The Case of the Spilled Ink

The world of Maisie Hitchins is one I never thought I would visit again.  This is another one of those British series that was being re-packaged and re-published here in America, and I picked up the first five books in the series that were published here. And that was it. No more books were solicited, even though there were a total of eight books in the series.  I kept a constant watch on Amazon, and while books 6, 7, and 8 were never listed individually here in the States, Amazon did list a set of all 8 books (British editions), so I added that to my watch list, but never got around to ordering it.  Well, lo and behold, this past Christmas, when I opened up one of my presents, what did I find but the set of 8 books!  So now, more than four years after I finished book 5, I am finally getting the opportunity to finish reading this series.

The Case of the Spilled Ink is the sixth book, Maisie sets about to help her friend, Alice, once again.  It seems that Alice's father and his new bride, Miss Darling (Alice's former governess), are getting ready to travel for quite a long time, and so they have decided Alice would best be cared for in a boarding school for girls.  Her father donates a considerable sum to "Miss Prenderby's Academy for Young Ladies of Quality" to allow Alice to stay at the school with her cat Snowflake and its two kittens (pets are normally not allowed, but Alice would never dream of leaving them behind!).  Alice is afraid of this new school, but Maisie promises to visit as often as she can (since her grandmother could never possibly afford such a place, and anyway, Maisie would never want to go to a school like that - she was quite content helping her grandmother with the boarding house they ran, as well as solving mysteries).

Author Holly Webb provides readers with another fun-filled adventure as Maisie must help her friend and one of the school's maids, Florence.  It seems that after only a few days at the school, Alice disappears, along with her cats.  The only clue that Maisie has to go on is a bottle of spilled ink in one of the classrooms, which shows cat paw prints leading away from the desk to the door - but the paw prints stop before they reach the door.  Clearly, Maisie deduces, at this point, the cats were picked up and carried away.  Miss Prenderby believes Alice was kidnapped for the intent of getting money from her family.  Maisie, however, believes otherwise.  What kidnapper would take the girl AND her cats?  But when another maid informs Maisie that Florence, the maid who Alice had made a quick friendship with had been fired the very same day, Maisie suspects that something else is afoot.

As with the previous books, the mystery is not overly difficult to figure out (I mean, after all, this is a series aimed at young readers, not at adults); however, there can be no denying it is a fun read, and Maisie searches for clues, follows leads, and jumps into any situation without thinking when it comes to helping out those in need - much like Nancy Drew at any age!  There are plenty of illustrations by Marion Lindsay throughout the book, and like with the golden-age of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys (wayyyyyyy back when), the internal illustrations add visual enjoyment to the story.  

The only drawback to this story (as I have with so many of the children's mystery series being published today) is that the main character is much too young to have all of the freedom and liberty that she has to go wandering through the streets of London at all times of the night and day - and her level of intelligence to discern clues, figure out motives, and uncover culprits is far too advanced for the age of which she is in the book.  Back when I was a kid reading the adventures of Nancy Drew (who was 18), it did not feel unrealistic, as I was not that age yet, so it was something I could look forward to and aspire to when I reached that age.  The ideology today that the characters need to be the same age as the readers to help them better "identify" with the characters does not resonate with me - but, as long a the stories are well written and enjoyable to read, I'm not going to nitpick on the age of the protagonist.

For a quick, fun read, this is certainly a series I would recommend to fans of children's mysteries.

 

RATING:  8 panes of cracked and filthy glass out of 10 for keeping the mysteries light but engaging, and the characters fun to read!