Driven - A Rita Mars Thriller (#1)

This book was recommended to me by my very good friend, Geoffrey Lapin, who happens to know the author personally.  He hadn't yet read the book, but he asked me to read it and provide my review of the book, so how could I say no?  I mean, after all, it's a mystery, it features a female protagonist, and with the last name "Mars" - eh, Veronica Mars, anyone?  I LOVED that show!  And better yet, I didn't even have to buy the book - Geoffrey sent me a copy as a gift.  So, I moved it to the top of my reading pile and dove right in.

Driven is the first Rita Mars thriller written by Valerie Webster, and, from what I gather, Ms. Webster's first published novel, period.  The postscript in the book indicates that book two is coming, so this novel is only the beginning of the series.  Webster does a wonderful job of giving us a different kind of sleuth.  Rita Mars is not your typical private investigator.  She's a former investigative reporter turned P.I., with a secretary named Beverly Hills (more on her later!), who lives in the country but maintains an office in the Washington, D.C. area.  She carries a lot of baggage - from an alcoholic father who killed himself to a line of disastrous relationships - but when she sets her mind to something, nothing and no one can stop her until she finds what she is looking for!  In a word - she is driven!

The mystery is a rather topical one - it involves a considerable amount of behind-the-scene deals within the government, on a very high level, that could very well be (and most likely is!) going on in the real world.  Only, in this mystery, the stakes are high enough that someone is willing to kill to keep their secrets from coming out.  What I did find a bit odd was that the mystery opens with Rita Mars going to visit a fellow journalist with whom she used to work alongside - but instead of finding him waiting for her, she finds him dead!  That's not the odd part, though.  With such a cryptic, shocking opening, I was expecting the mystery to focus on who killed Bobby Ellis and what story was he working on that was important enough that someone would kill him; however, the story suddenly moves over to a woman who comes to Rita's detective agency for help - her ex-husband is stalking her and threatening, and she is afraid for her life.  Rita reluctantly takes the case, and soon enough finds herself a target of the ex-husband, who is an ego-maniac that loves to play games and loves to prove he can get away with anything!

So, that begs the question - is this mystery about the death of Bobby Ellis, or is it about the stalking of Karin Van Dreem?  Well, ultimately, it turns out to be about both.  And before you think this is just like a Nancy Drew mystery, where the two very different mysteries suddenly merge and become one greater mystery, don't go there.  This is definitely not Nancy Drew, and the two mysteries are wholly separate monsters all on their own.  Both mysteries put Rita's life in danger, and while with one mystery the killer's identity is unknown and with the other he's plain as day but seemingly untouchable, they both require Rita's utmost investigative skills to solve.  Unfortunately for Rita, one of them nearly lands her in jail, while the other nearly lands her in trouble with the FBI.

I do have to say that I really loved the various supporting characters in the book.  Beverly Hills (f/k/a Charles Tyrell Wheatly) is ex-military and a darned good office assistant who handles all of Rita's administrative work.  She also happens to be a caring person who looks out for her boss (literally!) and is not some stereotypical black man in drag.  Loretta Mondieu is Rita's neighbor out in the middle of nowhere who suffers with Alzheimer's - so she is always meeting her for the first time.  But she's not completely out of it, because she definitely recognizes the devil when she sees him!  Captain Smooth is actually Mary Margaret Smooth (and yes, that IS her name), and she is "the tallest 5'6" cop in the city" (p. 10).  She's Rita's life-long friend and is Rita's go-to person when she needs help.  It truly is a diverse, unique supporting cast that actually melds nicely with Rita's personality and act-before-you-think nature.  I give Webster kudos for fleshing out each of the supporting members of the cast throughout the story, yet leaving so much unknown about each of them to explore in future books.

Now, as I said, the book deals with a lot of political intrigue that, honestly, is likely going on in our government today.  One statement Rita makes early on the story pretty much sums up the reality of today's political climate in America - "...put a face on TV enough, and, bingo, sheep are gonna follow" (p. 32).  Definitely a sad statement of truth regarding the general populace in the United States today.

When all is said and done, the book is a very satisfying read, even if the secondary story involving Karin Van Dreem seems a bit superfluous.  But, then again, what private investigator in real life only works on one case at a time?  I guess it is a bit more realistic that Rita would need to work on a paying client's case while also trying to work on her own personal case (for which she is not getting paid).  Now let's see what Webster has in store for Rita Mars in book two...

RATING:  8 peanut butter and strawberry preserves sandwiches out of 10 for introducing Rita Mars to the world in an engaging first novel!

The Wooden Shoe Mystery - a Mystery Story for Girls

Since, in recent months, the book club I'm a part of has been reading Mildred Wirt's Penny Parker series, as well as the Nancy Drew books written by Wirt during that same time period, I thought I'd pick up some of Wirt's other books published under her own name just to see how they compare.  Wirt wrote a number of series using her own name as the author, including the Mildred A. Wirt Mystery Stories, the Trailer Stories for Girls, the Brownie Scouts series, the Girl Scout Series, the Dan Carter, Cub Scout series, and the Ruth Darrow flying series - these, in addition to writing under pseudonyms for the Kay Tracy, Nancy Drew, Dana Girls, Dot and Dash, Honey Bunch, Penny Nichols, Ruth Fielding, Doris Force, and other series.  The woman was amazingly prolific children's series author, all the while caring for a family and managing a career of her own.  So, combing through the books I have, I settled on one of her "Mystery Stories" to read.

The Wooden Shoe Mystery, published in 1938, does not strike one as an overly exciting mystery. I mean, let's face it - what could be mysterious about an old, wooden shoe?  Well, Wirt proves her writing skills by showing just how intriguing of a mystery a wooden shoe can create!  The protagonists are Patty Rose Saunders (the curious one) and her best friend, Gladys Baker (the more pragmatic one).  What starts off as a simple treasure-hunting party with some school friends turns into a mystery when Patty and Gladys happen to witness two men deep in the woods getting ready to bury a mysterious box.  Their approach startles the men, who take off with the box in-hand, leaving Patty to wonder just what was really going on after she finds a small notebook on the ground where the men were digging.  And when her younger brother happens to mention two shady men who brought their car to the garage where he works, Patty grows even more suspicious!  She takes another look at that notebook and finds inside a list of three names.  But what in the world does this have to do with a wooden shoe?

 

Well, Wirt doesn't leave the reader hanging for long.  Gladys and her family are heading over to Pelma for a Dutch festival, and Gladys invites Patty to join them.  Pelma is described as an isolated village where the townsfolk, mostly descended from Dutch immigrants, have maintained their heritage and host a festival once a year for outsiders, dressing up in their native costumes and having dances and dinners and contests for the visitors to enjoy.  Patty is excited to go, but when the Bakers and their guest arrive, they discover there is no room at the inn!  At the same time, Patty and Gladys happen to hear a cry for help, and they manage to prevent a pickpocket from getting away with his prize.  By aiding a young local girl, they make quick friends and are invited to stay with her family (while Mr. and Mrs. Baker were put up at a neighbor's house).  Young Katrina provides Patty and Gladys with an inside look at the Hollanders' life, even sharing a family secret - their savings is kept in an old wooden shoe that is hidden on a shelf up inside the fireplace.  

As with any series book of this day, there are coincidences galore - from Katrina's father being one of the names on the list, to Patty happening across a newspaper headline that shows one of the other names on that list, to Patty and her brother stopping to eat at a restaurant where the owner just happens to have a wooden shoe she is using as a planter, to Patty's father oddly knowing a lawyer who makes a hobby out of deciphering codes.  But without all of those perfectly placed coincidences, Patty would never be able to solve the message that was inscribed on the bottom of the two wooden shoes (I mean, let's face it - no one really thought for one second that if there was one shoe, there wouldn't be another?).  

While the story does not have the dangerous chapter cliffhangers for which many series books are famous for, and it does not really feature any Gothic or other spooky elements, it does actually have a wonderfully plotted mystery that slowly builds in suspense as Patty gets closer and closer to the truth.  And, or course, there is a person (or in this case, a family) in need that Patty is desperately trying to help - and in this instance, it quite literally is a last-minute save that uncovers the family heirloom that provides Katrina and her family with the fortune they need to save their home and livelihood!

Interestingly enough, the solution to this story bears a striking resemblance to the solution for The Secret in the Old Attic, the twenty-first Nancy Drew book, which was published six years after this book - and, coincidentally enough (as if we can't get enough coincidences in these books!), it was ghostwritten by Mildred Wirt!  SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! In both books, the heirlooms that the families are looking for are hidden behind wallpaper.  Honestly, I am realizing more and more that a number of children's series books feature the same plot elements, re-used and re-tooled in future stories, perhaps with the thought by the author and publishers that the children reading the stories would never notice.  I doubt they ever thought adult readers would be collecting and enjoying the stories to the extent that they would pick up on these similarities.

Overall, this book is a great example of Wirt's writing, and if this is any indication, then her Mystery Stories for Girls series are well worth the read!

RATING:  10 charred pages of newspaper headlines out of 10 for turning a simple object into the subject of a well-written, enjoyable mystery!

Penny Parker Mystery Stories No. 5 - Clue of the Silken Ladder

The romp through the Penny Parker series continues with the fifth mystery, published in 1941.  This fifth book is the first one not to be later revised and republished by Cupples & Leon (only the first four got that privilege), and it came out the same year as four other titles written by Wirt - the sixth Penny Parker book, the tenth Dana Girls book and the eighteenth Nancy Drew book (both under the pseudonym of "Carolyn Keene"), and the twenty-second Honey Bunch book (under the pseudonum "Helen Louise Thorndyke").  While Wirt often wrote quite a number of books each year, this particular year she was not quite as prolific, perhaps in part because Wirt's husband suffered a stroke in 1940 (the year in which this book was possibly written) and took a leave of absence from his job in 1941, and Wirt had a four-year old daughter to care for as well.  In any event, the quality of Wirt's writing did not decline in the least, as this book was definitely a lot of fun to read!

Clue of the Silken Ladder features a mystery that centers around Penny's discovery of a strange, silken ladder in a curio shop on Dorr Street, which is described as "the worst place in Riverview" (p. 9).  But nothing deters Penny, and she become suspicious when the Japanese man who owns the curio shop grows agitated at Penny for finding the ladder.  The book is definitely a product of its time, because when Penny and her friend Louise leave the store, Penny comments "that Jap didn't seem very eager to answer my questions" (p. 13).  Soon enough, Penny finds herself involved in yet another mystery involving the unexplained robberies at the homes of some of the wealthier citizens of Riverview.  The crimes seem impossible, as the thief is breaking in through upper story windows, yet there are no ladder markings below to indicate how the thief is getting inside.  

I found it amusing that the book opens with Penny receiving a maroon colored sedan for her birthday (which, coincidentally enough, Nancy Drew received for her birthday as well in the Nancy Drew books written by Walter Karig in '32 and '33); yet, despite having a grand new car that has no problems, when Penny sees her old "Leaping Lena" for sale on a car lot, she can't help herself and buys it back (p. 5).  Poor Leaping Lena was being sold for only $50 (which, in current value, would only be about $1,000), and Penny is able to talk the salesman down to just $25 ($500 in today's value!).  She pays the man $5 down (p. 5), agreeing to pay the rest, with the hope her father will loan her the money.  And here is where we get to a point that is one of the reasons why I love this series so much - the reaction of Penny's father to her reckless purchase (pp. 18-19).  Instead of just handing over the money to pay for the car (which Carson Drew likely would have done), he tells her she will have to figure out a way to pay for the remaining balance herself, telling her "it's high time you learned a few lessons in finance" (p. 19).  They have some good natured bantering about the situation, and ultimately, Penny takes on writing the society page for her father's newspaper when the woman who normally writes it takes ill (well, not actually ill - she has a mild heart attack, for which Mr. Parker casually asks, "It's nothing serious, I hope" [p. 21]).

While the mystery sort of starts with Penny finding the silken ladder, it builds when she has an accident with one Mr. Kohl (and no, he's not the one who created Kohl's department store, although I did have to wonder - Kohl's was not founded until 1962, and this book was published in '41, some 21 years prior).  When Penny later goes to the Rialto to see a show, she witnesses someone watching Kohl's vehicle and writing down his license plate number.  She finds that extremely suspicious and wonders what it means.  She finds out soon enough when walking home, as she learns Mr. Kohl's apartment has been robbed while he was at the theater!  The next day, Penny learns that two other homes were also robbed, bu the police are baffled at how the thefts are happening.  Penny can't help herself, and she begins to investigate, wondering if Al Gepper, a border who is staying with the Hodges, a neighboring family, has anything to do with it - because, you see, Gepper happens to be a self-proclaimed medium!

Yes, surprisingly enough, Wirt brings into this mystery the whole world of psychics and mediums, similar to those in the first books in this series, Tale of the Witch Doll.  I find it odd that she would choose to use the same trope that was so prominent in the first mystery so soon thereafter.  And poor Mrs. Weems (the Parker's housekeeper) once again gets suckered into it and very nearly has a recent inheritance she has received stolen as a result (but thanks to Penny's quick-thinking, that crisis gets averted).  Some research online reveals that during the early part of the 20th Century, spiritualist churches and mediums were steadily organizing throughout the United States - perhaps Wirt had her own doubts about these people at the time, so she used these stories as her own subtle way of "exposing" them as frauds!  (Interesting side note - in 1940, a prominent physical medium named Jack Webber died, making huge headlines.  It seems he was famous for table tipping and levitation of objects during his performances - he always worked in a darkened room.  These are the same events that take place in the book with Al Gepper, leading the reader to wonder if perhaps Wirt had read about Gepper around the time she was writing, or least plotting, this book.)

One thing I noticed in this book, as I am finding more and more in the series books written back then, is how easily Wirt plays with time.  In this book, the show that Penny and the Kohls happen to be seeing at the Rialto ends shortly before 11:00 p.m. (p. 44).  Upon leaving the theater, Penny is walking home when she comes across the Kohls' apartment having been robbed (p. 49).  She goes into the apartment, she speaks with the janitor, she investigates the window sill (p. 58) and the ground beneath the window, she talks with the police, she finally makes her way home, and then she decides to go pick up Mrs. Weems from the Hodges' residence (p. 63).  When she arrives at the Hodges' home, she informs Mrs. Weems that it is "nearly midnight" (p. 64)!  That is an awful lot of stuff to have done all within an hour!  I can't imagine the Parkers living that close to the theater in downtown Riverview that Penny was able to walk past the Kohls' apartment building, stop in to assist and talk with the police, get home, and then go back out with her car to pick up Mrs. Weems, all in less than 60 minutes!  But, it is a children's mystery book, so I suppose there is some level of suspension of disbelief one has to accept for the enjoyment of the story.

 

I also found it surprising that the frontis piece illustration depicts a part of the story that occurs very early in the book - from the final page of Chapter One, to be exact!  I don't think I've ever read a series book that has a frontis piece depicting such an early scene from the book - normally, they feature an action scene from somewhere past the half-way point to the end of the story.  Perhaps to keep the focus on the book's title, they selected this scene: "It's a ladder, Lou!  A ladder made of silk!" (p. 11). 

And speaking of the book's title - when we were discussing this book, my friend pointed out that this book is the only one in the series to feature a "standard" mystery title (utilizing "Clue of the" or "Secret of the" or "Mystery of the" etc.) like so many of the books at that time did.  I hadn't really thought about it, but looking at the list of Penny Parker titles, Wirt did avoid the cliche and instead chose to use unique titles for her mysteries (although the next book uses the word "secret" in its title, it is not the standard "Secret of the" used by other series books).  I found this to be an interesting tidbit of trivia.

One last thing I wanted to touch on was the "silken ladder" itself.  I wasn't aware of such a thing before reading this book, so I went online.  Honestly, I could not find much, other than a silk ladder for sale on eBay.  Apparently, it is a very flexible type of ladder made of silken rope, and it has metal hooks on the end which can be latched onto the surface and allow the ladder to basically roll down beneath it for someone to climb.  What I was surprised to find is that the Silken Ladder is also a one-act opera by Rossini (premiered on May 9, 1912), which tells the story of Giulia, who is secretly married to Dorvil - he visits her bedroom every night by climbing up a ladder made of silk.  While there is no real similarity between the opera and this book (other than the ladder being used to climb up into second story windows), one might wonder if this might have been something Wirt read about or perhaps even saw, and it sparked the idea for this story.  If only Wirt were still alive to answer so many of these questions about her stories...

RATING:  10 stolen pearls and diamond bracelets out of 10 for a well-crafted, unique mystery and for keeping Penny a little spit-fire that isn't afraid to call it like she sees it!

The Montague Twins, Vol. 2 - The Devil's Music

I can't believe how long it has been since I read the first graphic novel in The Montague Twins series! Over two years!  How in the world did that happen?  I enjoyed the first graphic novel so much, and it was with much anticipation that I got this second one - yet, somehow, I kept putting it off and putting it off.  Well, no more!  I finally pulled out my copy of The Devil's Music and sat down to find out just what kind of trouble Peter and Alastair Montague can get themselves into this time.

In the first book, Nathan Page and Drew Shannon introduced readers to the Montague twins who, along with their younger step-sister, Charlie, discover their small town of Port Howl is an epicenter of magic, and they have abilities they never knew about.  Now, in this second book, the adventure continues when a mysterious stranger comes to town.  Gideon Drake is a famous rock star, but his music is quite dark, and a rather vocal group of concerned parents have taken it upon themselves to warn people of the dangers that rock music can bring upon their children.  (This is the late 1960s, remember.)  Well, little do they realize just what a danger that music can be when it is infused with a magical spell!  This book is full of superb supernatural mystery - we find out more about the Faculty; we meet Uncle Eli, an uncle we - and the Montague twins! - never knew they had; we find out who has a crush on Al; we see Rowan teaching the teens more about how to handle their powers; we find out who Pete has a crush on; and we see the Montague twins' relationship put to the test!

Page builds a great mystery - is Drake causing all of the mysterious deaths, and if so, what is his reason for doing so?  Is Pete setting himself up for a huge let-down, or is he putting his life in jeopardy by trusting a complete stranger?  What is Uncle Eli's real reason for being in Port Howl, and what interest does he really have in Al and Pete?  And just how does the Faculty figure into all of this?  Page manages to keep the solution to this mystery from being easily figured out, and he keeps you guessing pretty much until the final chapter.  He perfectly captures the teenage angst, while throwing in the whole magical angle, which one would expect to be completely unreal - yet, somehow, with the Montague twins and their friends and family, it all seems to fit.  Page also paces the story nicely, so that it slowly builds to the point where you just about think you have it all figured out, and then he manages to throw in a surprise or two - and that final page - WOW!  There better be a third graphic novel on its way (not seeing anything yet on Amazon, so I'm holding on to hope...)!

Shannon's art is consistent with the previous book, which is good, because it gives the reader the same feel for the characters and the magical town in which they live.  This time, we also get the town carnival (to help close out 1969), as well as the dark and mysterious underground headquarters of the Faculty.  Shannon gives the cloaked members of the Faculty, with their unseen faces hidden behind the shadows of their cloaks and the dark, barely-candle-lit cavern in which they conduct their clandestine business, a sense of foreboding and secrecy that leaves the reader wanting to know more!  And Rachel's dream sequence in chapter five is an absolute beautiful sight to behold - with no words, the art conveys everything the reader needs to know and then some!

I truly hope these graphic novels are selling well, as I do want to see more of The Montague Twins - this series provides a unique twist on the teen mystery genre, and the fact that it is in comic book form only adds to its success (in my opinion).  So far, they have faced The Witch's Hand and The Devil's Music - so one has to wonder what might be next?  The Demon's Curse?  The Warlock's Cloak?  The Angel's Harp?  Guess we will have to wait and see...

RATING:  10 broken records out of 10 for creating characters the reader easily relates to and cares about and a crafting a mystery that is not necessarily what it seems!

A Ted Wilford Mystery, no. 10 - The Missing Witness Mystery

With this tenth book in the Ted Wilford mystery series, I am now two-thirds of the way through the 15-book series.  I still find myself surprised at how much I am enjoying this series, since normally, I am not a fan of series books with male leads.  But Norvin Pallas has offered up a genuinely "real" character with Ted Wilford - an intelligent young man who doesn't jump head-first into danger, he does not take unnecessary chances, and he uses his head to figure things out.  And his best friend, Nelson Morgan, is the perfect compliment to Ted - he's a bit rash, he puts forth some of the most wild theories for Ted to consider, and he's more ready for action than thinking.  

In The Missing Witness Mystery, Ted and Nelson set about to locate a bank teller that has disappeared and is wanted in connection with the embezzlement of funds from the state bank of nearby Stantonville.  At the same time, a college friend, Marty Blaine, pays Ted a visit while passing through Forestdale on his way to stay with his aunt, some forty minutes outside of town.  Just before Marty arrives, however, there is a squealing of brakes outside the newspaper office where Ted works during his summer and winter breaks - a large truck just avoids hitting a small dog crossing the road.  Three separate events, three people who seem completely unrelated, and before you know it, Ted finds himself trying to figure out just how and why these three events are tied together!

This book is definitely one of Pallas's more intricate mysteries.  While it seems pretty clear that the bank teller who disappeared right after the funds went missing from the bank is likely to be the one who took off with the money, Ted can't help but wonder if there is more to the story.  Nelson wants to hunt for the teller, who was last seen heading towards Forestdale, but Ted knows that is like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Instead, Ted wants to track down their friend, Marty, who it turns out may unwittingly hold some key information about the bank teller without realizing it!  The only problem is, Marty never told Ted his aunt's name, nor did he give him the address of where his aunt lives - only that it is about a 40-minute drive outside of Forestdale.  Add on the unusually heavy suitcase Marty had with him (that he refused to let anyone see what was inside) and the mysterious phone call Marty makes in the middle of the night while staying overnight at Ted's house - well, you get the picture.

I enjoy how the characters in this series work through their clues in deciphering what the mean and how to figure out where to look next.  I give Pallas credit for coming up with some very creative, yet very realistic, ways of finding solutions.  Such as how to locate a person without a name or an address!  Yet, Ted and Nelson manage to do just that, ultimately locating Marty, who, even when confronted about the boys' suspicions, still fails to come clean with them.  It's only when Marty's aunt comes home from the hospital do the boys learn the full story (well, almost the full story - the mystery regarding the suitcase does not get resolved until literally the end of the book!) - and discover that they have not one, but two mysteries on their hands!

I also loved the clue of the adding machine tape (which appears front and center on the cover of the book).  It turns out this little piece of paper holds a very big clue, and Ted's quick thinking ultimately reveals the importance of those numbers - which leads him, and the police, to catch the embezzler and solve that mystery.  And it's also nice to see Ted get the recognition he deserves for blowing this story wide open with a front page article in the Town Crier.  

One odd thing I noticed about this story is when Ted joins his rival reporter, Ken Kutler, to interview a number of witnesses regarding the incident with the little dog.  They spend an entire chapter interviewing witnesses - eight of them total - going from house to house and spending time talking with them.  Ken finally drives Ted back to the newspaper office so he can return to his own paper. Ted ends up helping the editor and his secretary with several jobs that need to be done - at which point, on page 32, it says that "Noon came...."  NOON?! Seriously?  What time in the morning did Ken and Ted go out and start interviewing these witnesses?  Because Ted met up with Ken at the police station (p. 22), and they chat for a bit before heading out to speak with the witnesses.  The first two witnesses are sisters and live together (p. 24); but the remaining witnesses are all individuals, requiring the boys to travel from house to house to speak with each of them.  Then, there is the drive back to the Town Crier, at which point Ted ends up running articles to the printer, typing up items, and answering phone calls.  I know in series books, the authors sometime play loose with time, but this seems a bit much for Ted to have accomplished all before noon!

An interesting thing I learned from this book was what a "sugar house" is (p. 84).  Ted and Nelson come upon a "sugar house" at the farm where Marty is staying with his aunt.  It is described as a building "where they boil the maple sap into sugar in the spring" (p. 84).  A quick online search reveals this to be the case (it is also called a sugar shack, sugar shanty, sap house, or sugar cabin).  Always great to learn something new when reading!

Thus far, this series has kept my interest with the stories and the characters, so I've got pretty high hopes as I head into the final five books.

RATING:  8 dented fenders out of 10 for giving readers a story that requires them to really use their brain to figure out the mystery!

Murder Under Her Skin - Pentecost and Parker, Book Two

Willowjean ("Will") Parker and Lillian Pentecost return in this second mystery novel by Stephen Spotswood.  I enjoyed the first mystery enough that I bought this second book without hesitation.  Parker and Pentecost are by far one of the most unique private investigative teams I have read to date.  Pentecost is an aging private investigator suffering from multiple sclerosis, and Parker is a former circus performer turned P.I. that Pentecost has taken under her wing.  Pentecost is unusually observant, unbelievably patient, and undeniably persistent, while Parker is a "fly by the seat of your pants" type of gal who has a tendency to let her anger get the better of her.  Set in the mid-1940s, this series does what every murder mystery series should - it allows the protagonists to sift through clues, follow-up on leads, and make intelligent deductions, all without the aid of cell phones, computers, and the internet.  

Murder Under Her Skin opens at the end of a case, as Pentecost is called upon to testify at a Court hearing where a man is charged with arson, burning down some tenements in a neighborhood that most people wouldn't give a second glance.  But Pentecost believes everyone deserves justice, and she utilizes all of her best tricks to reveal the arsonist's true nature right there in the courtroom for the jury, the judge, and the public to see.  But what she doesn't know is that Parker has already received a communication requesting aid for a new case.  And this one hits way too close to home for Parker.

The tattooed woman at Hart & Halloway's Traveling Circus and Sideshow has been killed - a knife in her back, literally!  Ruby Donner was one of Parker's friends while she traveled with the circus back in the day, so Parker wants to find out exactly what happened.  Especially since the only suspect in the case, who is sitting in the small town jail in Stoppard, Virginia, is the circus' knife-thrower - a man who took Parker under his wing, trained her, and became her friend and mentor.  She knows there is no way he would have ever killed Ruby, regardless of the tensions between them.  But someone spotted him in the very place where Ruby was killed just moments before the body was discovered - and that is all the evidence the small town sheriff needs to lock him away.

Pentecost and Parker make the trek from New York to Virginia, and Parker reunites with her circus friends.  But there are a lot of new people under the big top, and Parker soon discovers that even those people she thought of as friends are not being honest with her.  Spotswood is the king of misdirection and red herrings, as this mystery is full of false leads, lies, misconceptions, misunderstandings, and betrayals.  He keeps Parker on her toes as she weaves her way through the sideshow of freaks, the small town of hypocrites, and an admirer who is keeping his own secrets from her, his preacher father, and the whole town.  Pentecost, though, sits back and takes it all in, slowly deducing what is really going on and just who really did kill Ruby Donner.

I thoroughly enjoyed the romp through the circus world, and I think Spotswood perfectly captured the camaraderie and the loyalty that a circus family creates for one another, along with their shared distrust of outsiders, even if the outsider did used to be one of their own.  In a world where "freaks" and "outcasts" are viewed with disgust and as less than human, it is nice to see the tables turned, where it turns out to be the small, church-going community who is actually hiding the dark secrets and deadly sins.  Plus, it was great to learn a lot more about Parker's past ... now if we could just delve a little bit deeper into Pentecost's past (although we do learn a few things in this book about her father).  

Parker gains a few more scars to add to her collection before this mystery is solved, and I can tell you right now - whoever you think the killer is, you're going to be wrong.  I was completely taken by surprise at the identity of the killer - although once everything is explained, it does make sense.  But the revelation does have a huge impact on both the circus and the Virginia town, causing ripples that will change both of them in drastic ways.

The third book has already been solicited, so there's no doubt that I'll be picking it up when it comes out.

RATING:  9 bouquets of daisies out of 10 for a great mystery, some unusual and fun characters, and some exploration of the protagonists' pasts!

The Haunted Studio - The Hayley Mysteries, Book 1

I keep telling myself I am NOT going to pick up any new series, I am NOT going to start reading any new series, and I am NOT going to look at any new series that I may come across while in the bookstore or strolling through Amazon.  Then, of course, I happen across a new series that catches my eye, I pick it up and look at the premise and story, and I suddenly find myself buying a new series.  (SIGH)   I supposed I'm addicted, what can I say?  But, at least so far, I have been pretty good at picking up new series that are actually worth reading (only a few here and there have been less than stellar).  And The Haley Mysteries is no exception.  My eye happened to catch the cover art for the first two books that were on display at Barnes & Noble - the painted cover with the eye-catching logo (where the word "The" is placed within a magnifying glass next to Hayley's name!) - and I found the third book shelved in the children's section.  So, I picked up all three books with the hope that I would not be disappointed.

The Haunted Studio is the first of the Hayley Mysteries.  It introduces readers to thirteen-year old Hayley and her two best friends, Aubrey and Cody.  Hayley is the star of a TV series called "Sadie Solves It!" about a young teenage sleuth, aided by her two friends, played by Aubrey and Cody.  The three young friends are getting ready to start filming the second season of their show and are a bit nervous - the show was successful enough to have it moved from the studios were the first season were filmed in the Valley to a major studio in the middle of Hollywood!  There are a number of new crew members on the set, and when one of them warns Hayley and her friends about the ghost that is said to haunt the studio, Hayley has to wonder if it is true or not.  Aubrey is confident it is true, but Cody doesn't believe in ghosts. Soon enough, accidents begin to happen on the set, and the young actress who plays Sadie's younger sister on the show claim to have seen the ghost up in the rafters.  The show starts to fall behind schedule, and the director is growing concerned that if they go over-budget, the show may get cancelled!  Not wanting to see their show cancelled, Hayley, Aubrey and Cody set about trying to uncover the truth behind the ghost - is a young actress who died in a tragic accident years ago really haunting the studio?  Is she the reason the show that was filmed here last season was cancelled?  Is the ghost now trying to prevent Hayley from having a successful second season?

I have to say, I am rather impressed with this first mystery, particularly since it was written by Hayley LeBlanc, a thirteen-year old actress and social media star who happens to have been in the online show, Chicken Girls (which, interestingly enough, had one mystery book published that I read and reviewed back in September 2019 on this blog).  Now I can't say whether Hayley actually wrote this book herself, or whether she plotted and outlined it and a ghostwriter actually did the writing - but I can say that the story was engaging, the characters are definitely likable, and the mystery itself was well-thought out (although for seasoned mystery fans, it is not really too difficult to figure out who the culprit is).  I also enjoy the fact that Hayley has a pet cat, Salmon, that goes with her to the set and who she carries around quite a bit.  Being a cat fan myself, I enjoy seeing cat-lovers in the books I read.

The cover art and interior illustrations are done by Alessia Trunfio.  I'm not familiar with this artist, but I do enjoy her art tremendously.  I miss the days when the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and other mystery series books had internal illustrations to complement the stories, so it's great to see that some newer series are following in that tradition.  

Overall, this was a great start to a new series - it introduces readers to the characters in a very natural way, so that you get a good feel of who each one is, and it provides an overall feel to the type of mysteries the kids will be solving.  I still miss the days when the sleuths in children's mystery series were 16 or 18 years old, instead of the 12 to 14 year old sleuths of today's series, but I suppose the times, they are a'changing!  I would recommend this to any fan of Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Boxcar Children, Happy Hollisters, and such - it rates right up there with them.

RATING:  8 cans of tuna for Salmon out of 10 for kicking off a brand new series with a brand new sleuth in such a great way!

Short Lived Comic Series #25 - Soap Opera Love (Charlton Comics)

As a kid, I remember my Mom watching General Hospital every afternoon when I would come home from school.  I also remember during the summers, when my grandparents would babysit my brothers and I, my grandmother would watch As the World Turns.  When I started to get near my teen years, I got hooked on General Hospital (the whole Cassadine weather-machine / Ice Princess story had me hooked!) and All My Children (I fell in love with Jenny Gardner!).  I started watching Loving when it premiered (the idea of watching a soap opera from the first episode thrilled me!), but the show was not overly exciting, and I gave up shortly after it started.  Later, my Mom and I watched the soap Santa Barbara from beginning to end (and I was ever-so-fortunate to get the opportunity to meet the cast on a cruise down to the Bahamas a few years back - such a treat - just wish my Mom could have shared that adventure with me), and not long after that ended, I watched Passions from beginning to end (which show had some elements that reminded me of Dark Shadows, a show that I LOVE and have also seen from beginning to end, but that I do not label a soap opera, even though technically it was - for me, the show was a Gothic suspense drama).  So, it's easy to see that I do enjoy a good soap opera.

Thus, when I was at a comic convention some years back and stumbled across an old Charlton comic in a back issue $1 bin called Soap Opera Love, my interest was piqued.  I picked it up (issue 3, I believe), and started my hunt for the other issues.  A search online revealed that there were only three issues to this series, so I figured they would not be too hard to find.  Well, color me surprised!  It took my a lot longer to find those first two issues than I thought, particularly at a reasonable price I was willing to pay.  It's unbelievable what old romance comics are selling for these days.  But, find them I did, and I was recently able to sit down and read all three issues of Soap Opera Love.

Now, a little backstory is probably warranted.  This series was published in 1983 (with cover dates of February, March, and June, respectively), and was one of Charlton's last titles published before it suspended publication in 1984.  The same year this series was published was the year DC Comics bought the line of super hero characters from Charlton (including Blue Beetle, Captain Atom, Judo Master, Nightshade, the Question, Peacemaker, and others), so with their super hero line gone, I think Charlton lost some of its standing in the comic world.  Which is sad, because I have been learning in recent years, the company actually put out some pretty good comics - it's a shame that I didn't realize it back in the day (because I always viewed them as a second-rate company with inferior product - which, looking back, was silly of me, since I never picked up any of their comics back then, so how would I have known?).  

Soap Opera Love only lasted three issues, and the covers of all three issues promoted the love story of David and Eileen, which, as it turns out, was the only continuing story among the issues.  The other stories in each issue were single stories that appear to be reprints (based upon the story material, the clothes worn by the characters in them, and the vernacular used by the characters).  And it's funny, because when I saw the names "David" and "Eileen," my mind immediately went to Eileen Davidson, an actress who has starred on many soaps over the years, from Young and the Restless to Santa Barbara to Days of Our Lives, and others.  I have to wonder if the names of the characters happened to be a nod to this actress.  (Of course, they could not be for reasons mentioned later on in this post.)

In any event, the ongoing story of David and Eileen centers around the fact that David is Jewish and Eileen is Irish, and much like the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet, their families do not want the two of them together - they only want them to date someone of their own heritage.  Needless to say, David and Eileen fall in love and despite their families' outrage, they race off to get married and start their life together.  The stories vary in length - from 12 pages (issue 1) to 10 pages (issue 2) to 9 pages (issue 3) - and each issue builds upon the story from the previous one.  In the first issue, David and Eileen meet, fall in love, and run away to elope in order to avoid their parents' disapproval.  The second issue finds the couple facing the decision of what kind of marriage ceremony to attend - one in a synagogue or one in a church?  The third issue features the couple's first argument, as they try and decide where they should go on vacation - Eileen wants to appease David's parents, while he wants to appease her parents - and ultimately, David wises up and decides to take his bride on the honeymoon they never got - to Honolulu!  

The third issue ends with the text box of Eileen thinking ... "Our troubles are over ... after all, what can go wrong on a honeymoon in Honolulu?  To find out ... buy the next issue at your favorite store!"  But, as we now know, that "next issue" never came out, and readers never did find out whether anything went wrong in Honolulu or if David and Eileen finally got their happily ever after.  Of course, this being a "soap opera," there is no doubt that the couple would have faced trouble in paradise!

Now, I found it strange that these stories did not give credit to any of the creators, although the artists were identified in some of the panels as A. Martinez and J. Zuniga - which is a funny coincidence, as "A. Martinez" also happens to be the name of the actor who played Cruz Castillo on the NBC soap, Santa Barbara!  Funny coincidence.  So, I started digging around online, and I discovered that all of the stories in Soap Opera Love were reprints - they were stories that were pulled from other romance comics previously published by Charlton years prior.  While it was evidence that the single issue stories were reprints, other than the whole Jewish-Irish conflict between the families, I did not realize that the David and Eileen serial was also a reprint.  It seems these stories were originally published in a Charlton book called Just Married, and that the serial ran for nine issues (93-101) - meaning that readers actually DID find out what happened to the young couple when they went off to Honolulu (which means if I want to know, I need to go track down those issues!).  I also found that A. Martinez was a rather popular artist at Charlton, having provided art not just for the romance titles, but also some of the war titles as well.

 

***NOTE - yes, I did see the blurb under the indicia on the first page of each issue that read, "ALL EDITORIAL MATERIAL HEREIN CONTAINED WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN, AND IS REPRINTED FROM, PUBLICATIONS COPYRIGHT 1970, 1973 BY CHARLTON PUBLICATIONS, INC."  However, I did not make the connection that "Editorial Material" meant all of the stories.  Guess I know better now!

The single issue stories were rather hit or miss, and they were definitely a product of the time.  From the slang used by the characters, to the domination of men over women in each tale, it was evident the stories were not from the '80s.  "I Know The Man I Want to Love" in the first issue features a young woman who wants to marry someone rich and business-oriented; but when she falls for a man who seems to have nothing, she has to fight her feelings for him - only to finally give in and run into his arms, only to discover he was not the poor man she had thought he was!  "A Quiet Place to Cry" in the second issue finds a young woman running away after the mean she loves marries another woman.  In the big city, she is befriended by her neighbor, who goes out of his way to be kind to her.  He is an artist, reluctant to see himself as a successful one - but she convinces him to try, and she even manages to take his art to a whole new level, right along with their budding relationship!  "Another Point of View" in the final issue is probably one of the most degrading stories when it comes to the view people take of women.  A happily married woman is thrilled at how men look at her when she goes out, especially at the pool.  As she begins to gain weight, she finds her husband's attention diverting to another woman, whose own husband is no catch.  She eventually starts dieting and exercising, slims down, and regains her husband's attention and love, which is all she wants.  I found this story to be distasteful, insomuch as it promotes solely outward beauty as the only thing needed to keep a husband's attention - for me, if that's the only thing that keeps him at home, then you need to get rid of him and find someone who loves you for you, not your outward appearance!  "Till Death Do Us Part," the second story in the final issue, was a bit more unique.  It deals with a woman who becomes so overcome with fear that her husband may have a heart attack and die like his father that she tries to prevent him from doing anything that might exert his heart, to the point it is an obsession.  She must learn to overcome the fear and live life to its fullest without worrying every second about what could happen.  (Side note - there is a character in this story called Dr. Timmons - which is the last name of Keith Timmons, yet another character from the NBC soap Santa Barbara.  Interesting the connections to that one soap from just three issues of this comic!)

Ah, well.  Reprints or not, the saga of David and Eileen, while a bit contrived by today's standards, was actually beautifully drawn and well-written (for its time), and definitely fit the right kind of theme for a soap opera, and as such, was the perfect fit for a title called Soap Opera Love.  And with my appetite properly whetted by these first three parts, I am desperate to go out there and find those nine issues of Just Married so I can get their complete story!  Because, let's face it - what's worse than having a soap opera start a story, and then just leave you hanging right in the middle without ever resolving the tale!

RATING:  8 servings of potato pancakes with apple sauce out of 10 for taking a chance on a different soap opera format and serving up a couple who you can't help but fall in love with!

Curse of Salem - a Bishop / Special Crimes Unit Novel

Kay Hooper is definitely back in true form with the second book in the Salem trilogy (at least, I'm assuming this is a trilogy - I haven't seen any solicit or information about a third book in this series yet, but since all previous books in the Bishop / Special Crimes Unit series were trilogies, I have to believe this one will be as well!).  While that final book in the Bishop Files trilogy had left me wondering, with this book, I wonder no more.  Noah Bishop and his group of psychic federal agents in the Special Crimes Unit are back in action and most definitely back in their element as they return to Salem, North Carolina to face another deadly threat - this one even more evil and more vicious than the last.

Curse of Salem takes place just a couple of months after the events of Hidden Salem.  After the defeat of Duncan Cavendish, the townsfolk of Salem thought the nightmare was over.  But for a town filled with psychics, can the nightmare ever truly be over?  When Hollis and Diana have a shared vision in the grey world with a warning of something to come in Salem, Bishop can't ignore it.  And when Sheriff Finn Deverell calls Bishop to tell him that a head of one of the Five in Salem has come to him with a warning, it pretty much clenches the SCU's involvement.  Something bad - VERY bad - is coming to Salem, and for the first time, Bishop's team might actually have a chance to stop it before it begins.

If only it were that easy...

Hooper continues her return to the roots of her psychic crime unit series with a violent tale of a psychic killer that has a personal agenda.  And staying under the radar in Salem, a town made up of five psychic families, where most of the population have psychic abilities on some level, is no mean feat.  But Hooper introduces a new element into the mix - because there is a static that seems to have washed over the town, something that is preventing Bishop's team - as well as the families already in Salem - from utilizing their abilities to warn them of danger.  And when a vision reveals that the killer has not only killed one victim, but has another one that is being tortured, the SCU realizes they did not arrive as early as they had hoped.  But how did the killer take people without anyone noticing?  And how did a small town such as Salem not realize that one ... now TWO ... of their own were missing?

The suspense builds pretty quickly in this book, as the urgency to find the kidnapped victims grows with each turn of the page.  And the gruesome manner in which the killer tortures and kills one of his victims - and what the SCU team finds! - is so horrific, I think this is likely one of the absolute worst murders in the entire series.  And Hooper's ability to make that death have such a huge impact on the reader, not just in terms of its gruesome nature, but in the fact that the victim was innocent - was someone people in the town cared about - and was someone that did not want to die, but still had to suffer what this killer did - well, it goes to Hooper's talented writing skills.  To make the reader care about a character that we barely even know, and to feel the punch to the gut when Hollis, Diana, Reese, Quentin, Bishop, and Miranda, along with Finn and Nelle, find the body (or rather, what's left of it), it speaks volumes of Hooper's ability as a writer.

As with prior books in this series, some of the SCU members find they are developing (or coming into) new abilities. In this one, Hollis discovers she can do more than she ever thought, and the final showdown with the killer utilizes these new talents to lead to a very satisfying conclusion.  Of course, we know this is not the end, as there should be one more book in this trilogy (anxiously waiting on word about when the next book will be coming out!), and it makes me wonder just how much more violence and terror the poor town of Salem can suffer before it is completely destroyed?

 

And I will concede that I thought I had Diana's spirit guide all figured out - I thought for sure I knew who it was; but Hooper put in a final twist that was not what I was expecting.  Which is a good thing, as it keeps on my toes and keeps me from getting too comfortable in thinking I can figure these things out.

There is one scene in this book that truly made me smile, as it has such truth to it!  As Hollis is discussing the crows that are a mainstay of Salem, she wonders about their connection to the people and how they interact. "I wonder if they make exceptions for friends," she speculates (p. 123.)  "Cats don't.  Then again, I've never been entirely sure cats would be bothered enough to make that sort of distinction.  Dogs have master, cats have staff." (p. 124)  Have grown up with both cats and dogs, and having been a cat-lover all of my life, there is no truer statement than what Hollis says here - dogs serve people, but people serve cats!

RATING:  10 half-eaten jelly donuts out of 10 for keeping this series alive with a darker villain and some surprising twists in the world of psychic feds!

Whitman Mystery Stories - Quiz Kids and the Crazy Question Mystery

The more Whitman mysteries I read, the more I discover just how enjoyable these books are.  I can't believe I spent so many years thinking these books were of "inferior" quality to the Stratemeyer and other similar series books, simply because they were published by Whitman (a company I always thought published rushed, sub-par product simply to try and compete with the big boys).  While they may have only published a few ongoing series, and those in very short runs of five books or less usually, many of their one-off mysteries are actually just as good as, if not better than, some of the series books from Grosset & Dunlap, Cupples & Leon, A.L. Burt, and many other big name publishers of the time.  And because of how much I have enjoyed the Whitman books I've read to date, I have found myself on the hunt for more and more of these books!

Quiz Kids and the Crazy Question Mystery sounds like an off-beat title, but the book is apparently based on a show of the same name ("Quiz Kids") that began as a radio show in 1940 and eventually graduated to television in 1949.  Since this book was published in 1946, it stands to reason that it is based on the radio version.  And just like the radio/televised version, the show in the book features five children, all age 15 and under (since once they reached the age of 16, they were no longer eligible), who showed exceptional intelligence.  The book uses Joe Kelly as the host for the show, who was the actual host on the radio show.  All other characters in the book are fictional.

 

The book is written by Carl W. Smith, of whom I know absolutely nothing about.  A search online shows that he wrote a couple of other Whitman titles, Red Ryder and the Secret of the Lucky Mine and The Lone Wolf and the Hidden Empire.   There are a number of internal illustrations by Isobel Read, which are actually nicely rendered.  I can't find much about Ms. Read at all, but it appears this book may be the only book she illustrated for Whitman's mystery books.  Regardless, the team does put together a rather good mystery!

The main three characters are Gene Markham, Frank Bennet, and Alice Lanier, who are described in the book as "the older Quiz Kids" - Gene is shown in the first internal illustration as being 15 (meaning he would soon reach the age limit), while Frank and Alice are described as not having far to go (even though that first illustration shows Alice is only 12 years of age; Frank's age is never established).  The other two Quiz Kids, Billy Read and Frances Lipton, are named, but they do not actually have any part of the story.  Now, I realize back in the day, the mystery stories for children featured protagonists who often had unlimited freedom to come and go as they please, but I do have to question the fact that in this story, Alice is only 12 years old, yet she travels with Gene and Frank around Chicago with unlimited freedom and absolutely no supervision whatsoever, well into the late hours of the night.  That does come across as just a tad too unrealistic to ground the story in any realm of believability.

But, suspending all disbelief, the story was actually a really well-plotted mystery.  The chain of events begins with a stranger call that interrupts the Quiz Kids show and poses an unusual question to those listening to the show:  "When is too late if forever is late?"  The kids and the producers of the show are unaware of the interruption, as it is an off-site transmitter where the signal is interrupted and the question asked.  As everyone scrambles to figure out what happened, Gene and Frank walk Alice home - only, along the way, they come across a scene at a downtown building where a big robbery took place.  The next morning, they learn that a large diamond - the Raj Kashgar diamond - was stolen just after it was cut by a diamond cutter brought in from another country for that purpose!  And, coincidentally enough, the robbery took place just moments after the strange ghost-voice cut in to the Quiz Kids show with the crazy question.  Before you know it, Gene, Frank, and Alice (an homage, perhaps, to Joe, Frank, and Nancy before those three ever teamed-up!) are investigating the ghostly voice and the stolen diamond right alongside newspaper reporter Alan "Jiggs" Butler.  They even get deputized as junior detectives to be able to shadow the real police detective, Sergeant Jack Callahan, as well as conduct questioning and investigations on their own.

The story progresses nicely as the three junior detectives discuss what they know and try to put the pieces together to determine (a) whether the ghostly interruption of their show is truly connected to the stolen diamond, (b) who made the ghost-call, and (c) who stole the diamond.  They actually follow pretty methodical means to following-up on clues they uncover, utilizing the library, as well as their own exceptional knowledge of architecture, castles, and other matters, along with their skills of observation.  I will say, one of the best parts of this book is when the three kids make their way to the outskirts of town and sneak into the Grimm Castle, an abandoned castle that was built by one Arnold Grimm, a Canadian gold-miner, to mirror a castle from Scotland.  The castle has secret tunnels, hidden hallways, bats, ghosts, and pretty much everything you would expect from a Gothic-esque place said to be haunted.  There are a number of chapters devoted to the kids' adventure in the castle, and it does read like a spooky, Gothic novel with the dark tunnels, the unexplained sounds, the unexpected appearances of the bat and the "ghost," and the unknown captive being held against his will.  But it is through the experiences at the castle that the kids are able to put together the final clues they need to unravel this strange mystery and reveal the crooks and the whole elaborate scheme to steal the diamond worth nearly $1 million!  (NOTE - the endpages for this book provide a map of the castle, showing the various rooms and secret tunnels and hidden passages for the first level - and it spoils a portion of the book by referencing the room "where the old man was.")

There are some interesting historical tidbits in this book.  Alice comments about the fact that it is illegal to own gold (p. 18), which would have been true in 1946 when this book was published.  From 1933 through 1974, it was illegal for an individual person to own gold, pursuant to Executive Order 6102 issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which made gold ownership illegal, punishable by up to ten years in prison and a fine of twice the amount of what the gold was worth.  I honestly was not aware of this until I researched the matter after reading Alice's remark in this book!

Additionally, while I was aware there were various kinds of diamonds out there, I did not realize that diamonds came in so many different colors, and that the value of the diamond depended not only on it size and perfection, but also on its color.  Frank explains to his friends the differences in colors and prices (p. 23).  Diamonds can come in pink, red, purple, blue, orange, green, yellow, black, brown, chameleon, and argyle!  The rarity apparently depends on the color, as black, brown and yellow diamonds are seen much more frequently than green or blue diamonds.  And since the diamond in this book is described as an Oriental green diamond, then the worth (nearly $1 million in 1946!) could very well be accurate.

Now, for one tidbit I found to be a bit off - on page 102, Frank says that someone must own the castle, despite its abandoned status, and speculates it is likely to be the heirs of the original builder, Arnold Grimm, or his wife.  But this contradicts what the kids read just 20 pages earlier in the book (p. 83), where the book on local architecture they find in the library states:

...The Grimm Castle stood vacant for several years, and was then purchased by an eccentric attorney for a price that was probably less than the ornate main gate had cost Arnold Grimm.  The castle was drafty and difficult to heat, and a succession of three or four owners did not retain it long...

Having just read about the ownership of the castle earlier that day (in their time), it doesn't make sense that Frank would guess that the castle must be owned by heirs of the original owner.  Or, perhaps, Frank has such an IQ that his head is full of more information than he can possibly retain, so he simply forgot what he read about the ownership of the castle!

Overall, this was a truly great read, and I'm disappointed they never published any more adventures of these three Quiz Kids.  They make a great team, with some natural banter among them and a great supporting cast (even if we do never meet their parents!).  That would probably have to be my one major complaint about the Whitman mystery books - they create some great characters and offer some wonderful mysteries, but we never get to see the characters again after their one (or in rare occasions, two) appearance.

RATING:  10 small pieces of Dorchester sandstone out of 10 for a fantastic mystery with enjoyable characters and plenty of great Gothic suspense thrown in for good measure!

Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and The Express Train to Nowhere (Book 2)

When I first read Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and the Secret of the Grande Chateau, I had a small hope in the back of my mind that this would make a fun series; but, being a parody as it is, I didn't really expect to ever see any more GHAC books by Dr. Cecil H.H. Mills.  I figured that the one fun romp of adventure with J.J. and Valentine Watts (are they really brothers?) and their mystery-solving partner, Trudi de la Rosa was going to be it.  So, color me surprised when I was scrolling through Amazon and came across this second book starring the Ghost Hunters Adventure Club!  It was quite literally a dream come true!  With another beautifully painted '50s-style cover by Paul Mann, this time showcasing J.J., Valentine, and Trudi staring right at the reader, this was an instant buy for me - as well as an instant read!  Usually I try to read the books in the order I buy them, but for this one, I just couldn't wait.

Ghost Hunters Adventure Club and the Express Train to Nowhere follows the format of the first book, in that Dr. Cecil H.H. Mills introduces the story and the characters (much as Alfred Hitchcock did back in the early Three Investigators books).  Of course, Mills reminds readers that he is only in this for the money, and that the success of the first book prompted this second book for young adults, a genre he clearly does not like (particularly since he considers J.J., Valentine, and Trudi to be complete and utter idiots - but wait!  Isn't he writing them?  So, if he's calling them idiots, then why doesn't he simply write them a different way?  Or is it, perhaps, that they are not really idiots, and he's just trying to cover up the fact that he has created some wonderfully lovable characters that readers enjoy?  Or, just maybe, it's a simply attempt at humor, poking fun at his own breaking of the fourth wall in this book....)  In any event, he finally shuts up and allows this second adventure to begin!

The story picks up not long after the events in the first book.  Trudi is an official members of the Ghost Hunters Adventure Club, and J.J. has set up the Club's First Inaugural Leadership Summit!  As luck would have it, he managed to snag three tickets on the Harborville Express, headed to New Troutstead.  He has plenty of projects, assignments, and team-building exercised planned for the three of them, to better their skills as detectives and as a team.  But, as with any good mystery, fate has other plans.  Soon enough, Siobhan Sweeney, the boy's sworn nemesis, shows up at the door of their train cabin, throwing Valentine completely off-balance.  Then they discover she is working as security for a museum curator who is transporting a priceless ruby jewels to another museum.  Only to find out the jewels are on loan from a small country of which no one has ever heard.  Which turns out to to in very bad relations with a neighboring country who claims the jewels are rightfully theirs.  And thrown into the mix is the local baseball team enjoying a ride on the train, as well as a group of train nerds enthralled with the Harborville Express!  And when the necklace disappears during a short trip through a dark tunnel, the Ghost Hunters Adventure Club is on the - - well, they would be, if Inspector Sandor Horvath didn't happen to also be on the train and take over the investigation.

It's definitely another kooky mystery, which, quite frankly, might even stymie the most die-hard Christie or Doyle fans!  J.J., Valentine, and Trudi are positive Siobhan stole the jewels with the help of her quiet but loyal partner, Luther.  But the Inspector is haphazardly making his way through the suspects (he might as well be named Inspector Clouseau - and if you don't know who that is, then go google it - I'm not telling you!), and the Ghost Hunters Adventure Club happen to be in his sights.  The next thing you know, the train ends up broken down in the middle of Nowhere - and no, I did not capitalize that word by mistake - that's the name of the abandoned town where the train happens to get stuck (hence, the name of the book!).  And it's there that all the craziness really begins, as we soon learn that half the people on the train are not who we thought they were, and our intrepid sleuths finds themselves in one danger after another - from collapsing buildings, to booby-trapped caves, to train-roof chases, to burning train cars - you name it, these kids face it!

I think this book features more self-awareness than the first one, particularly since "Dr. Cecil H.H. Mills" happens to be writing this very book on the same train that the Ghost Hunters Adventure Club are on!  Trudi confronts the author with questions, while Valentine does not have time to deal with him when he happens upon his creator.  And Mill's decision to kill off one of the major characters in the book takes a surprising twist at the end (and even leads you to wonder how in the world the book was able to come to such a satisfying conclusion after the death occurs!).  I just hope that Mills' statement in the epilogue that this is the very last Ghost Hunters Adventure Club book is a misdirection, as I want - no, I DEMAND - to see these characters return and solve more mysteries, catch more criminals, and have many more adventures for me to follow.  J.J., Valentine, and Trudi are just way too much fun to be put away and fade into obscurity.

So, I will keep my eye on Amazon and keep my fingers, toes, and eyes crossed that book 3 will eventually appear...

RATING:  9 existential fights at The Whistle Stop out of 10 for offering up a parody series like no other, that combines Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and the Three Investigators with the humor of John Byrne's She-Hulk and Marvel's Deadpool films!

Ms. Tree - The Cold Dish (The Third Ms. Tree Graphic Novel)

It felt SO good to sit down and read this third collection of Ms. Tree stories from Titan Comics.  For those who haven't read my prior posts (about Ms. Tree collected editions Volumes 1 and 2), I have been a fan of this series since way back in the early 1980s when I walked into my local comic store in Louisville, Kentucky (The Great Escape, a fantastic store which, by the way, is still there on Bardstown Road!) and saw that cover to Ms. Tree's Thrilling Detective Adventures no. 1, with the title character standing with her back against a wall, wearing that iconic blue trench coat shooting at an unseen assailant.  Being a fan of crime/mystery novels and being a fan of female-led comics, this was a no brainer.  I picked up that first issue, despite its $1.00 cover price (DC and Marvel comics, which had pretty much been my only source of comics up until that point, were still only 60 cents per issue back then), and I was quickly hooked.  The story by Max Allan Collins quickly drew me in ... the character, particularly Ms. Michael Tree herself, were not your standard superhero fare that I was used to at that point ... and the art by Terry Beatty - well, all I can is WOW!  This book literally had it all!  (NOTE - I had not realized at the time that Ms. Tree had starred in a six-part serialized story in Eclipse Comics, a magazine size anthology comic published by Eclipse - it wasn't until years later that I was able to finally track those issues down and read that "origin" story.)

Anyway, Ms. Tree: The Cold Dish collects that initial six-part story (reprinted here in its original black-and-white format), as well as the first two stories told in Eclipse's ongoing series, which came out in issues one through eight, and a special Ms. Tree/Mike Mist cross-over story from issue nine (which happened to be the last issue published by Eclipse Comics before the series switched publishers).  For those who don't know, Mike Mist was a Collin/Beatty creation that was a one-page strip in each issue of Ms. Tree with a murder for Mist to solve (and the reader had the opportunity to figure it out before turning the comic upside down to read the solution at the bottom of the last panel of each story).  Those first issues also featured a back-up story of a character called "The Scythe," as well as centerfold pin-up pages drawn by Frank Miller (one of which, in issue four, happened to be my very own favorite female sleuth, Nancy Drew!).  And I'm probably one of the very people in the world who actually liked that Ms. Tree's Thrilling Detective Adventures title to the comic - I know that Collins hated the name - but by issue four, the title became simply Ms. Tree, which lasted until the end of the series, and on into the DC Comics series (which issues were reprinted in the first two volumes of the Titan collection).  

All that aside, re-reading these stories brought back so many good memories for me.  Memories of rushing to The Great Escape each week, hoping the next issue came out.  The excitement I felt when I saw a new issue on the shelf.  The anxiety I felt when I finished reading that issue and knew I would have to wait a whole 'nother month before the next issue came out (and, well, let's face it - with independent comics back then, a "monthly" schedule was not always monthly!).  And the absolute thrill I felt when one story finished and a new one began!

"I, for an Eye" tells the story of how Ms. Michael Friday met detective Michael Tree, became his secretary, then his partner, and then his wife.  And how, on their honeymoon, Mr. Michael Tree was murdered.  And how Ms. Michael Tree (simply Ms. Tree now, an obvious play on the word "mystery") took over her husband's detective agency and set about hunting down her husband's killer.  There is a clear difference in the art style here than in the ongoing monthly title that came out after - not sure if it's black-and-white versus color, or if it's because Beatty was getting his feet wet with the characters in the Eclipse magazine serial, or some other reason.  Ms. Tree still basically looks the same, but a number of the other characters resemble Dick Tracy-style characters.  It's also in this six-parter that readers meet Anne Tree, Mike's first wife, as well as Mike, Jr. (his son by his first wife); we are introduced to Dan Green and Roger Freemont, the licensed investigators in the detective agency; we meet Effie, the secretary who fills Ms. Tree's position; and we get the notion that there are mob dealings at work behind the scenes...

"Death Do Us Part" is the seven-part story that appeared in the first three issues of Ms. Tree's Thrilling Detective Adventures (yes, I'm going to say that as many times as I can, since this is the only chance I'll get!).  Mike Tree is dead, his killer has been caught, and Ms. Tree is now having to deal with the aftermath.  Coping with the loss of a loved one is never easy, particularly when it's your husband and you lose him in such a brutal way on your wedding night.  So, Ms. Tree is seeing a psychiatrist, who recommends a vacation to get away from it all.  The only problem is, the vacation setting resembles an on-going dream she has been having - and when a young couple are gunned down on Ms. Tree's first night at the mountain getaway, it seems she is back in the thick of things.  It's in this story we meet Sgt. Rafe Valer, a trusted friend of Ms. Tree's deceased husband; we also learn more about Dominic Muerta, the mob boss who may have had a connection to her husband's death.  The art here is definitely more refined, as Beatty is beginning to get into the groove with all of the characters, but I'll be honest - one of the best things I love about these early issues is the lettering.  The lettering is exact, almost typewriter-like, and reading it makes me feel like I'm reading a novel, only with the pictures attached.  I loved this back when I first picked up the comic, and I still love it today.  I think it gave Ms. Tree something distinct that other comics did not have, and I was sad to see the book go with more traditional lettering with issue five. 

 

"The Cold Dish" is a ten-part story that ran from issue four through issue eight of Ms. Tree (yes, the "Thrilling Detective Adventures got dropped after issue three), and was by far probably the biggest story of Ms. Tree's long list of adventures, as it had so many life-altering events that occurred within it.  Anne Tree was killed - Mike Jr. went to live with Ms. Tree - Mr. Bryan Hand, a specially trained tutor enters the picture to teach and protect Mike Jr. - Ms. Tree confronts Dominic Muerta for the first time, igniting the feud that fuels many a story in this series - the offices of Ms. Tree's detective agency are blown to bits - Dan Green suffers some life-changing injuries - I mean, the list goes on and on.  The story picks up literally right after the end of "Death Do Us Part," as the police chief is none-too-pleased that Ms. Tree is walking away scott-free after having killed several people ("They killed each other" is her story).  And as always, there is no rest for the weary, because before you know it, Anne Tree asks Ms. Tree to take Mike Jr. if something should happen to her - which it quickly does. This starts a feud with Anne's parents, who believe Mike Jr. should be with them.  Meanwhile, Ms. Tree believes someone wanted Anne dead, and she soon discovers why - Anne had information on corruption with the police force, connections to the Muerta mob family, that she was going to turn over to the state attorney.  The violence is definitely upped in this story, which is the longest Ms. Tree story at this point.  The art remains consistently beautiful, and other than the change in lettering style, I am still in awe of this book!

"Murder at Mohawk" is a self-contained, one-issue story where Ms. Tree teams up with Mike Mist to solve a murder that has ties to an old bank robbery from some years back.  Mist is there to act as bodyguard to a writer researching the story.  Ms. Tree is there to get some peace and rest after the events of the past few months.  But when a supposed suicide turns out to be murder, the two detectives team-up to figure out just who killed the man and how that connects to the famous crime that occurred at the hotel some thirty years prior.  It is a true Agatha Christie-style mystery, with all of the suspects front and center, each with their own story to tell and each with a reason to kill the man.  This story was fun, because it was the first time (at least, in this comic) that we see Mike Mist spending more than just a few panels and one page to solve a murder!  Sadly, this was also the last issue published by Eclipse Comics, as well as the last full-color issue of Ms. Tree until the comic was picked up by DC Comics some years later.

The collection is rounded off with two short prose stories:  "Red Light," which originally appeared in The Files of Ms. Tree, Volume One, and "The Little Woman," which originally appeared in The Files of Ms. Tree, Volume Two.  These volumes were printed back in the '80s by Aardvark-Vanheim Press and Renegade Press, respectively, and collected the same stories reprinted in this Titan collection, only they were reprinted in black-and-white in those collections.  

This volume of stories is probably my favorite of all of them, simply because it was my first introduction to Ms. Tree back in the 1980s, and it began my love of independent comics in general (it is because of this comic that I tried DNAgents, Somerset Holmes, Elementals, Jon Sable, Freelance, and so many more indy comics back in the day!).  But more than that, the story and the art worked so seamlessly together that I felt like I was not only reading, but I was "seeing" a crime detective novel come to life right in front of me.  I still keep hoping and praying that one of these days Collins and Beatty will team up for more Ms. Tree thrilling detective adventures, because Ms. Tree deserves more stories!

RATING:  10 sand-plugged gun barrels out of 10 for creating the perfect female detective and telling some of the absolute best stories out there in any market!