Hidden Salem - a Bishop / Special Crimes Unit Novel

Kay Hooper is back on track!  I was a bit disappointed with the way the Bishop Files trilogy ended, and the recent "Dark" trilogy had a rather abrupt ending that left me feeling deflated.  But the first book in Hooper's latest trilogy proves that Hooper is back in the game with a fantastic new story, new psychics, and some new powers as well!  Hard to believe I've been following this series since it first came out back in 2000, and over the course of the past 21 years, I have come to know and love these characters and stories and feel like they are family, of sorts.  So, it's a true joy to read a book that keeps me on the edge, waiting to turn each page to see what is going to happen next like I did when I first picked up Stealing Shadows over 20 years ago!

Hidden Salem opens with a very dark segue way into this latest assignment for Bishop's Special Crimes Unit, as a man find himself being mentally forced to do something he doesn't even know what to do - and the last thing his senses pick up on before he falls into blackness is the smell of brimstone... jump ahead to the small town of Salem (not THAT Salem, mind you, but one located in Virginia or North Carolina - honestly, I could never exactly figure out which, although the fact that it is along the Appalachian trial leads me to believe it is the Virginia one), where SCU veteran Geneva Raynor has been scouting the town at the request of the unit's leader, Bishop, due to a number of alleged hikers that have gone missing.  Geneva is frustrated by the level of static she seems to be picking up on, which hinders her natural psychic abilities, but in her cover as a photographer, she has uncovered a few unsettling truths about this town.

 

One, the sheriff for the county seems content to allow a home-grown militia safeguard the town and basically pleads ignorance of the missing hikers.

 

Two, there are certain individuals within the town who Geneva is unable to read, meaning they have a level of psychic abilities themselves, enough to build some pretty strong walls in their minds.l

 

Three, the idyllic town seems way too peaceful, considering that three people have been found dead in the woods just outside the town.

 

Four, Geneva discovers a fourth body, which she manages to get pictures of before the militia wipes the scene completely clean, as if nothing ever happened.

 

Five, the amount of crows within the town is disturbing, particularly since they seem to be watching her every move.

 

And six, possibly most frightening of all - a little girl goes missing, and instead of there being any panic or search parties, the family just up and leaves on vacation without their daughter, and the town acts like nothing ever happened!

 

Geneva knows there is something wrong with this town.  Evil lurks in Salem, hidden just beneath the surface of its townspeople.  And when Geneva goes to investigate, she suddenly finds that she could be the next victim!  Enter Grayson Sheridan, Geneva's back-up, who arrives in Salem under the guise of just another hiker on the trail.  The only problem is, Geneva is not there.  And Grayson has no clue where to start looking for her!  He has shared a connection with Geneva in the past, but with all the static in this town, he can't seem to make contact.  A cryptic clue, however, ultimately leads him to an abandoned cabin in the woods - where Geneva has freed herself and impresses upon her partner the urgency in finding that little girl before it's too late!  Add in Nellie Cavendish, who has returned to Salem after receiving a letter from her deceased father that was held in trust until her 29th birthday - a letter with an urgent mission that she return to Salem before her 30th birthday and stop a great evil from being unleashed!

Anyone who has read Hooper's books knows that ultimately the paths of these psychics will cross, and they will eventually help one another in a final, climactic battle to defeat the evil of a dark psychic who, in this instance, is hellbent on gaining more power and completely taking over Salem and the lives of everyone there.  There are plenty of secrets to be revealed, and several revelations regarding the citizens of that small community, and Hooper keeps the tension running high from beginning to end, making this book a true page-turner.  I absolutely love the fact that Hooper has introduced some new abilities in this book, with a couple of the psychics being able to communicate, on a small level, with the animals around them.  And Nellie's full acceptance of her own abilities provides for quite the explosive finale!

One difference with this book, as compared with previous stories, is that Hooper does not hide the villain.  This story is not so much about trying to figure out who the villain is, but more along the lines of burning your way through the story to see how Geneva, Grayson, Nellie, and their surprise comrade will stop the power-hungry psychic in Salem and whether they will be in time to save the young girl taken captive.  It makes for an interesting change of pace, and takes the pressure off of the reader in looking for clues to the identity of the killer and focusing more on getting to know the characters.

As this is the first book in the trilogy, I know this is merely a set up, with more evil and dastardly deeds to come.  The next book, Curse of Salem, comes out in December (in hardcover, unfortunately - I will be waiting for the paperback), and I'm guessing the third book will be out next year some time.

One final thing I want to mention - I absolutely LOVE the stylized lettering for the title and author on the front cover.  The font is that fun "optical illusion" type font, where if you try and follow the letters or off-set shading, they don't quite match and seem to loop into each other in impossible ways.  It's a subtle (or maybe not so subtle!) way of letting the reader know right off the bat that finding your way through Salem is not going to be as easy as it may appear at first!  Gotta love it!

RATING:  10 cheerful Disney name plaques out of 10 for bringing the spooky tension back to the Bishop novels and getting me excited to see what's going to happen next!

The House of Lost Horizons - a Sarah Jewell Mystery

This mini-series from Dark Horse has the tag: "From The World of Hellboy."  I've never read a Hellboy comic, I've never watched a Hellboy movie, and I've never had any interest in the character whatsoever.  However, when a comic series touts itself as a mystery with a female detective as the lead character, then it's a pretty sure bet I'm going to pick it up and give it a try.  The supernatural element to the mystery is simply icing on the cake!  Now, I am not really familiar with the writer (Chris Roberson) or the artists (Leila Del Duca and Michelle Madsen), but I will say they really knocked this one out of the ballpark as far as storytelling and visuals go.

The House of Lost Horizons mixes a couple of standard mystery tropes - a group of people stranded on a remote island in a spooky house and a murder that takes place in a locked room at a time when everyone else was accounted for.  The year is 1926, and our protagonist, Sarah Jewell, has been called to the small San Juan Island off the coast of Washington state at the bequest of her friend, Lilian Makepeace Whelstone's lawyer.  Sarah and her friend, Marie-Therese LaFleur, find themselves smack dab in the middle of a murder mystery upon their arrival.  It seems that upon the death of Lilian's husband, she set about to auction off all of the occult items her husband had collected over the years.  A number of guests had come to the island to bid on the items, and the previous night, the lawyer, Mr. Severin, had locked himself in his room to continue going over the catalogue of items.  That morning, he was found dead in his room, and no one can figure out what happened.  Sarah and Marie-Therese immediately set about to find out just who killed the lawyer and why.

Roberson provides a number of suspects: (1) Madam Saito, the relatively quiet woman from Japan; (2) Herr Konrad Eckart, a secretive man from Germany; (3) Reginald MacKerrell, a proxy for Rupert Zinco; (4) Marion Loveland, a self-proclaimed spiritualist there to bid on behalf of Alden Albert Kern; (5) Mr. Huang, a respectful businessman from San Francisco; and (6) Dr. John Caliban, a man who is not a typical doctor at all.  There's also Mrs. Li, who is the Whelstone's housekeeper and companion for the widow, Lilian Whelstone.  And, of course, there is Lilian herself, who has never been comfortable in that great house, with all the occult items that her husband has placed so carefully throughout the house.  By the end of the first issue, though, one of the suspects is scratched off the list when Sarah and Marie-Therese discover the body of Herr Eckart in his room - drained of all life, with just a husk left lying on the floor!

The next four issues follow Sarah and Marie-Therese as they question the house guests and try to uncover the truth about what is going on.  Of course, when another dead body turns up, the two female sleuths realize they must hurry before the killer strikes again!  But it seems each of the guests harbors a secret or two, and they all appear to be at the house for reasons other than just the auction of the occult items.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading as Sarah and Marie-Therese followed their own instincts and followed various suspects, interrogating them, and ultimately discovering that only two people in the whole cast are actually who they claim to be!  And, of course, the ultimate discover of the hidden passages in the walls and the surprising secret of who was really behind the murders was just as thrilling, if not more so!  Up until the last issue, the reader is left wondering whether it truly is something supernatural behind the murders, or if it is someone wanting to make it appear supernatural - well, that last issue unleashes all the horrors that come with discovering the truth, and it's a mad dash for safety for our two intrepid sleuths as the walls literally come crashing down around them.

The art by Del Duca and Madsen reminds me very much of Guy Davis' art from DC's old Sandman Mystery Theater series published under their Vertigo imprint. The style very much fits the story and the time period (1926), and the colors certainly set the mood.  I also enjoyed the fact that neither Sarah nor Marie-Therese are your standard female leads in comics - neither of them are overly-proportioned (as many male artists tend to do with their females), and there are no unnecessary and gratuitous panels showcasing either woman's "assets."  They are drawn as normal women (one slightly overweight, the other tall and thin), which allows the readers to appreciate the women for their knowledge, skills, and talents rather than looking at them as simply sex objects.  

I do hope Dark Horse will allow Roberson, Del Duca and Madsen to tell more stories from Sarah Jewell's treasure-trove of mysteries, as I absolutely enjoyed this one and want to see more!

RATING:  10 golden crane tattoos out of 10 for a well-written, superbly drawn mystery comic with two superb female detectives that deserve many more stories to be told!

In the Study with the Wrench - the second Clue mystery

Last time, it was Mrs. White in the hall with the knife.  Mr. Boddy was dead, and the police had taken away his killer, Mrs. White.  All the terror at Blackbrook Academy was over.  Or was it?  Just like with the board game, once one murder is solved, it's time to shuffle those cards and start all over with a brand new murder and a brand new killer!  And author Diana Peterfreund has done just that with the second book in her "Clue Mystery" series for young adults based on the characters, weapons, and rooms from the ever-popular board game of the same name.  The first book was a fantastic read, so I went into this second book with very high hopes - and was not let down in the least!

In The Study With The Wrench brings the survivors of the first book back together at Blackbrook Academy in the small New England town of Rocky Point, Maine.  Orchid McKee, Vaughn Green, Scarlett Mistry, Beth "Peacock" Picach, Finn Plum, and Sam "Mustard" Maestor have returned to school after the horrific events of the last book, but there are definite changes - not just in the school itself (which is still in a state of disaster after the flood did so much damage), but in the relationships of these group of students that have been labeled as the "Murder Crew."  Scarlett and Plum are on the outs.  Peacock has turned over a new leaf and with the help of a life coach is trying to be a better person.  Orchid and Green are growing closer, despite Green's strange behavior.  And Mustard is hoping he can do the one thing that will help the person to whom he is attracted.

The SATs are coming up, and everyone at the school is nervous, studying as much as they can.  For the girls in Tudor house, as well as the boys outside of it, that gloom of the murders that happened not so long ago are still hanging over their head.  And when Scarlet and Plum unwittingly find the school's maintenance man, Rusty Naylor, dead down in the tunnels below Tudor House, the nightmare begins again.  New headmaster Dr. Brown is not going to have any of the shenanigans that took place previously, so she is keeping a tight watch on the Murder Crew.  And the new counselor, Perry Winkle, is reaching out to each of the Crew, wanting to help them find ways to cope with the last murder.  And new student, Rosa Navarro, seems to think she can force everyone to adhere to the rules.  But remember - the last murder brought to light a number of secrets ... Orchid's real identity ... Plum's secret project ... and Green's hidden agenda.  Now, with a new murder, it's inevitable that even more secrets are about to come to light!

Peterfreund writes a nicely twisted tale of secrets, drama, intrigue, and murder that keeps the readers engaged and guessing up until the very end.  I love the characters, the setting, and the mystery!  And with Peterfreund, you can't be sure of anything.  This time around, Orchid discovers that Scarlet is no longer the only one who knows her secret.  Plum discovers that someone else knows about his secret project.  Green discovers that he has no choice but to go along with his twin brother's plan in order to protect the girl he loves.  Peacock finds that even a life coach can't help her overcome the fear that Blackbrook Academy instills.  And Mustard?  Well, Mustard finds that the reason he was kicked out of military school may result in him finding someone that actually likes him for who he is.  But the question on all of their minds is - who killed Rusty?  Vaughn Green thinks his brother Oliver may have done it.  Plum things Vaughn Green may have done it.  Orchid wonders if her stalker has somehow found her.  Scarlet wants to know more about this mysterious new student, Rosa.  Peacock just wants to get through all of this and score well on her SAT.  And Mustard ... he knows some things that happened that night, but does what he know endanger them all?

I give it to Peterfreund - the killer did not turn out to be who I was expecting it to be.  She threw a nice little twist into the story that, once revealed, actually made sense. And that final battle - well, there's no doubt where the title of this book comes from, that's for sure! At the same time, she dropped a number of subplot elements that will, without a doubt, see resolution in future tales.  Like, how did the counselor, Winkle, know that Orchid was in Hollywood before?  What lengths will Oliver Green go to in order to take back his grandmother's legacy?  Can Mustard accept his true feelings?  And who was in the car that went over the ravine at the end of the book ...?

Next time, we'll be finding out who gets struck with the candlestick in the ballroom!

RATING:  10 sharpened No.2 pencils out of 10 for showing readers just how much fun a mystery board game can be if it were real characters!

Amanda Lester and the Gold Spectacles Surprise (Amanda Lester Mysteries No. 6)

I've compared the Amanda Lester series to the world of Harry Potter - just, instead of a wizardry school full of hopeful future wizards, you've got a school full of future detectives!  And, just like Harry Potter has his Volde - - er, I mean - "he who shall not be named," Amanda Lester and her friends have the fiendish Moriarty.  However, Amanda Lester's world becomes even more complicated, because Moriarty is not the only villain.  There is also Banting Waltz.  And Amanda's own mother, Lila.  And Taffeta Tasmania, who had brought back the school for training criminals. And Eamon Augustus Moran, a descendant of the assassin, Sebastian Moran.  With criminals on every side of them, Amanda and her friends have their work cut out for them, that's for sure.  Particularly when they are looking for the pages to the Detective Bible.  And trying to find the Metadata.  And uncovering Nick's true family.  And searching for the mysterious gold spectacles that have unusual properties.  Meanwhile, Simon is still trying to win Ivy's heart.  Nick is hiding out in the woods, trying to stay alive.  Scapulus is upset that Amanda chose Nick over him, so he has decided to follow a different path - one that changes him both physically and emotionally.  As for Amanda?  Well....

Amanda Lester the Gold Spectacles Surprise is probably my least favorite of all the books in the series thus far.  Actually, let me take that back.  It is absolutely my least favorite.  Up until this book, I have pretty much enjoyed the series.  Sure, there have been moments or aspects I didn't necessarily like.  But, overall, the series has been pretty well written with enjoyable stories.  However, this book somehow just goes off the rail.  Quite frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if it was written by someone other than Paula Berinstein, as the characters do not have the same feel as the prior books, and the story is so jumbled and all over the place that the reader can get completely lost trying to follow along.

Berinstein opens the book not with its title character, but with Nick Muffet, who has lost his hearing and is wandering alone in the woods, trying to stay hidden and stay alive.  I will admit, the first chapter does give the reader a pretty good idea of Nick's mindset, with not only his confusion and frustration, but his self-doubt as well.  I guess, in a way, this sets the tone for the entire book.  From here, Berinstein immediately switches over to Amanda and Ivy as they meet Nick's real mother, Sasha, and quickly discover that not only is Basilica Nick's sister, she's also the daughter of Darius Plover!  Then, gears are switched again, this time to Amanda's mother, Lila, who has now thrown in her hat with Banting Waltz to take revenge on Thrillkill.  Next, Berinstein moves on to Scapulus Holmes, who suddenly decides to reinvent himself - if Amanda likes the bad boys, then a bad boy he would be!  Then, readers get treated to some Simon Binkle time, as he enlists the aid of Holmes to prove a theory about the Detectives' Bible and the quarry where it was thought to be lost.  As if that weren't enough, then we follow Harry Sheriff and his new girl, Summer, as they show up to see Thrillkill in prison to demand the metadata from him. And from this point, it becomes a spinning story of Nick, Amanda and Ivy, Lila and Banting, Holmes, and Simon, as the points of view change more rapidly than most people change clothes!

This is not to say there are no good points to the story.  The events that take place in the castle, which is now holding the school for young criminals in training, are actually pretty intriguing and more along the lines of Berinstein's prior stories.  Amanda is determined to get the gold spectacles that Taffeta has stolen (yes, the book finally does get around to addressing those mysterious "spectacles" for which the book is titled) and sneaks into the school disguised as a plumber to get them.  The only thing is, she is not alone.  It seems Blixus Moriarty is after something in Taffeta's safe.  As, so it appears, is Harry Sheriff!  And Amanda is surprised to find Eustace Plantagenet at Schola - but when he sees her, he simply turns away and doesn't tell anyone she is there.  What is going on?  And then there's Scapulus Holmes.  He is there on his own mission and is surprised when he sees Amanda being chased by Blixus!  Holmes raises his gun and fires...

But, unfortunately, that was not nearly enough to cause me to overlook all of the emotional whining the characters did throughout the entire story.  Since the first book, Amanda has been growing, both as a detective and as a person; however, she seems to have regressed here and spends most of the book worrying about Nick, obsessing over her thoughts of losing him, and seems unable to figure out the mysteries right in front of her.  Holmes is overly obsessed with becoming a new person, wanting to get even with Nick, and there are even chapters dedicated to Holmes' obsession with playing a video game where he believes he is facing off against his adversary (this whole subplot felt unnecessary and nothing more than filler).  Simon has suddenly changed into a quivering blob of emotions for Ivy, determined to do anything to win her love - from creating a musical instrument for her to going on daring missions to impress her.

Honestly, at this point, I'm not sure if Berinstein knows where she is going with all of this, or she's just trying to squeeze in stories utilizing all of her ever-growing cast of characters.  The mystery surrounding the gold spectacles plays such a small part of this story - considering what they are, what they do, and what they ultimately reveal about one of the teachers at the school, one would think they would be the whole focus of the book.  It seems, though, this series has turned into a soap opera (think 90210 crossed-over with Harry Potter), and so everyone fights to have equal "screen time."  The story is becoming so convoluted, with an ever-increasing cast of characters, too many subplots, and so little time focused on the actual title mystery.  I think I preferred the earlier books where Amanda Lester was the main focus, and her supporting cast did that - they supported her, they didn't take over the stories!

I already have the next book, The Green Monkey Gotcha, so we will see where that book takes us.  I figure I'll give it one more chance, and if Gotcha gets the series back on track, then I'll look at purchasing the next books in the series; otherwise, book 7 may end up being my last one.

RATING:  4 love-felt ivy-fortes out of 10 for at least giving readers a great climactic race for the glasses in an old castle, even if it was short-lived...

The FIfth Veronica Speedwell Mystery - A Murderous Relation

I'm always thrilled when a really well-written series continues being published (when it seems so many that I enjoy end after only three or four books), so knowing that even though I have finished reading this fifth Veronica Speedwell mystery there are more to come is a great joy for me!  Author Deanna Raybourn has truly developed some fantastic characters with this series, and the world of Veronica Speedwell is one that I enjoy visiting again and again and again.  And while I'm not much of a romance fan at all, even I have to admit that following along as the relationship between Veronica and Lord Revelstoke Templeton-Vane (otherwise known simply as Stoker) has grown from reluctant allies to fierce friends to more than just partners in crime-solving mysteries.  In the last book, Veronica and Stoker finally admitted their true feelings to one another, and now, in this fifth adventure, the question is - will they or won't they?

A Murderous Relation is definitely the most provocative book in the series, and Rayburn certainly doesn't hold back (although I give her credit for keeping all of the sexuality referenced in 19th century terms!).  As those who have been reading this series already know, Veronica is an illegitimate child of the current royalty, and should her lineage come to light, it could create a great scandal!  Well, this book delves more into that part of Veronica's heritage, as she and Stoker are called to aid the monarchy by rescuing young Prince Albert Victor ("Eddy") from himself.  It seems he has gotten himself in quite a pickle by having his mother's jeweler craft a diamond start that he has given to the madame who runs a very exclusive and very private club in London (i.e., a polite way of saying "brothel" for the rich and famous!).  Should it be known that the prince frequents a club of this type, it could give those who oppose the monarchy just the ammunition they need to bring down the current government in the Empire!  Veronica turns down the job at first, but before you know it, she and Stoker are pulled into the thick of things and wind up in the middle of another murder mystery.

Veronica and Stoker's foray into the world of sexual deviants is definitely a whole new adventure for these two sleuths.  Raybourn puts her two protagonists into the most unusual and uncomfortable situation when they have to go undercover to try and find the prince's diamond, while at the same time, maintain their cover by pretending to be super-wealthy aristocrats who like to dabble in various sexual extracurricular activities!  And considering the sexual tension that has been brewing between Veronica and Stoker for some time now, one can only imagine how the two of them manage to make it through the night without giving in to their own impulses!  Of course, finding a dead body, having to save the prince from unwanted attention, and getting kidnapped as they make their escape might very well put a damper on those feelings.

The mystery this time is not so much "whodunnit," but more along the lines of how in the world Veronica, Stoker, and Eddy will escape their captors (who, as it turns out, have a very personal connection to Veronica!) and how they will manage to keep all of this from tarnishing the royal family.  Veronica's own secret connection to the royals manages to become known by Eddy, and Veronica surprisingly finds a friend in the young man, who bares his own insecurities to his newly discovered relative.  Of course, time is of the essence, as heir kidnappers have their own agenda to play out - but Veronica is never one to give in, and she plots a scheme to set the kidnappers against one another for a chance that they will be too busy distrusting each other to notice her and Stoker escape with the prince!  And Raybourn doesn't hold back with the suspense, as there are several tense moments during their escape that will nearly make the reader hold his or her breath waiting to see what will happen next!

Oh, and did I mention that all of this is going on while Jack the Ripper is on the loose?

Yes, there is a bit more romance in this novel than in previous ones; however, Raybourn manages to fit it in nicely with the actual mystery - so the reader never actually feels like there is any forced or unnecessary scenes.  And while he definitely writes some rather tantalizing scenes, she keeps it within the 19th century decorum so that the reader is not forced with "in-your-face" sex scenes (and one can imagine how difficult that is to do with a good one-third of the book takes place at a sex party!).  And one top of all of this, Raybourn keeps Veronica and Stoker very much in character, with Stoker's own stoic nature and Veronica's biting sarcasm ("Hello, Uncle ... The last time I saw you, you were on fire.  I see you have been extinguished." [p. 152]).  It's lines like that which make me smile and keep me coming back for more adventures of Veronica Speedwell and friends.

Can hardly wait for Veronica and Stoker's "unexpected peril" in the next book!

RATING:  10 full masks of dark blue velvet out of 10 for daring to take these detectives into a seedy yet sensual brothel all for the sake of saving the monarchy!

Alison Dare, Little Miss Adventures - a series of Oni Press comics

While at a small, local comic book convention here in Florida last month, I was combing through some $1 comic boxes and came across a two book series called Alison Dare and the Heart of the Maiden.  The words "Alison Dare" were stylized similar to those of "Indiana Jones," and the covers seemed to indicate the title character is a young girl in a boarding school with two female friends who are sleuthing out a mystery.  Hmmm, was there ever any doubt that I was going to pick up these two issues?  Of course, once I got them home, I had to go online to see what I could find out about the series and its creators.  Well, it turns out this was actually the third series published about this character - first, there was the one-shot Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures, followed by the three-issue The Return of Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures, which was then followed by the two-issue series I bought. So, being the completist that I am, I quickly found an auction on eBay that was selling the one-shot along with the three-issue "return" series, and I snagged it.  All three series were written by J. Torres with art by J. Bone, and all three were published by Oni Press.

Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures was published back in 2000 (over twenty years ago - good gosh!).  This first one-shot features seven short-stories, ranging in length from 2-pages all the way up to 12-pages. Rather than giving us some long-winded "origin" story of sorts, Torres and Bone provide readers with a better introduction to our gifted little adventurer - having her read to her fellow classmates at St. Joan's Academy for Girls her report on what she did over summer vacation.  What starts off with a bit of uncertainty turns into a fantastic tale of Egyptian jewels, curses, and returned-from-the-dead mummies when her fellow students (all of whom know that Alison's mother is a famed archeologist) begin guessing at what exciting adventures she shared with her mom over the summer!  Of course, Alison's best friends Wendy and Dot clearly know the truth ... which gets quickly revealed in the second story (which, in four pages, reveals what REALLY happened while Alison was in Egypt with her mother). From there, readers get introduced to Alison's father, who is also a super hero known as The Blue Scarab (hmmm, sounds very similar to DC's Blue Beetle...), followed by a glimpse into Dr. Alice Dare's office at the Museum of History.  The remaining three stories feature Alison's father trying to correct a mistake he made; the assistants to Dr. Dare discovering the mayhem Alison has been up to; and a final 2-page tale that basically circles us back to what occurred the night before the events at the beginning of this issue!  

The Return of Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures was published less than a year later in Spring 2001, and instead of being a one-shot anthology, this time around, it was a three-issue mini-series, with each issue featuring a different tale of Alison's adventures (although, like with the stories in the first issue, there are connections and continuity between the tales).  The first issue features "The Arabian Knights," in which our bored little Alison is with her mother on an expedition in the expansive Sultanate of Shahrazad, within the region of Es-Sindibad, just outside the ancient city of Ala-Ed-Din (and if you can't guess where this is going, go check out that certain Disney film with a genie in a bottle...).  Alison has three wishes, but this genie loves to play games with the wishes that are made!  Issue two gives us "The Secret of the Blue Scarab," in which the Blue Scarab is reportedly killed by the evil villain Auntie Freeze (yes, that's really her name - geesh, this is a fun comic, enjoy it!) and Alison's friends are concerned that she does not appear to be taking her father's death seriously - until she tells them his origin and how he and her mother met, and then it all makes sense!  The final issue tells the story of "The Mummy Child," which again shares a bit of the past, this time centering around Alison's mother and the time Baron von Baron (yeah, yeah, just accept it and move on) stole an ancient treasure from her - and now he's back to steal another!  Unless, of course, Alison has something to say about that...

Alison Dare and the Heart of the Maiden is the final mini-series, this time featuring a full-length, two-issue story involving a mysterious new nun at the school, a statute behind which the other nuns seem to disappear, and a secret treasure map to a priceless treasure!  The only clue is a cryptic message: "To look upon the face of the Maiden is to find the way to her heart."  This story is probably my favorite of all of them, as it features a well-written mystery and allows Alison Dare to truly shine with her sleuthing skills.  Wendy and Dot feel more like the Bess and George sidekicks to Alison's Nancy Drew in this tale, and the Groundhog Day affect of the amnesia gas that the nuns administer to the girls every time they get too involved with the mysterious goings-on at the school is rather fun to watch.  This story has ninjas, evil bad guys, secret plots, historical treasures, and disguised heroes - it's a fantastic little mystery that is truly fun to read!

The creators of these books are names that seemed familiar to me, but I just could not place them.  "J. Torres" (the author) is Joseph Torres, did a rather lengthy stint on the Teen Titans Go series from DC Comics, as well as some issues of the animated Legion of Super-Heroes series for DC among a number of other independent titles of his own.  J. Bone (the artist) also did some work for DC Comics, including Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series, along with some issues of the 2008 Super Friends series, and the one I remember him from, The Spirit series published by DC.  Both of these creators are extremely talents, so it's no surprise that these Alison Dare comics are such a true gem!

RATING:  10 pairs of blue suede sandals out of 10 for keeping the fun in comics and creating a precocious little adventurer who should have more stories shared with her fans!