A Spirit Seeks Asylum - the sixth Bay Island Psychic Mystery

Since author Lena Gregory started the Bay Island Psychic Mystery series, my favorite character by far has been Bee Maxwell.  He's sarcastic. He's skittish.  He's wary.  He's loyal.  He's overly dramatic.  He's over-the-top.  He's caring.  He's fierce.  He's everything you could possibly want in a best friend and more, and he's definitely the Bess Marvin to Cass Donovan's Nancy Drew.  And finally, in this sixth book, Gregory gives Bee a chance to really shine.  Now, mind you, I don't mind Stephanie (the "George" of this Nancy Drew trio), and she certainly inspires her own following of fans.  But, for me, Bee is the one that makes me laugh, makes me cheer, and makes me shout, "Heck, yeah!" every time he makes his presence known.  So, before I even begin looking at the story itself, I just want to give Gregory a big shout out and a huge thanks for bringing Bee into the spotlight!

A Spirit Seeks Asylum is the sixth book in this series, and if this book is any indication, this series is going to be around for a long time to come.  Cass Donovan (who is, after all, the main character in this series) has more or less come to terms with her psychic abilities, and with the support of her friends and the mentoring of another, more experienced psychic, Cass has learned how to develop a shield to protect her from all of the voices and to focus more on what she is trying to hear.  Stephanie and Tank have adopted the young boy from the last book, so she is more in the background of this book as she is figuring out this new dynamic in their household.  And Bee?  Well, Bee is Bee, and he always will be.

This book opens a bit differently, as Cass has allowed Bee to talk her into starting a vlog centering around her psychic abilities.  With the winter months slowing down the tourism business, Cass is in need of additional cash flow to help keep Mystical Musings open, and while she might be a bit reluctant to showcase her abilities on a video blog, the money would help.  A quick trip out to Stony Bay Lighthouse, however, shows both Cass and Bee that this venture might not be as easy as they first thought.  But that's okay, because soon enough, Cass finds the money pretty much dropped in her lap when a man who has purchased the abandoned asylum on Bay Island in the hopes of turning it into a school offers her $25,000 to go out there and determine whether the place truly is haunted as so many people claim.  His wife is not at all keen on the idea, but the man is determined.  Cass accepts the job, having no idea that it will lead into yet another murder, another mystery, and another web of lies and deceit on the part of so many.

Gregory definitely makes you work overtime to figure this one out!  The young girl who claims to be psychic and warns Cass that she needs to leave the dead alone or something will happen.  The real estate developer who shows up on the night of the murder, claiming he just arrived and is trying to make it out to the asylum.  The woman who wants to turn the asylum into a museum of the macabre and who has her own past connection to the abandoned place.  The town historian who seems to know more about all the players than either Cass or the police.  Oh, and there's the ghost of an old inmate who seems to be trying to reach out to Cass with a message - but is it to help her or is it a warning?  Plus, throw in a five year old murder, a missing groundskeeper, and a winter storm, and you've got the perfectly plotted murder mystery!

Bee helps out in this book more than ever before, and it's clear that while he does not like the "mumbo-jumbo" of the spirit world, he is growing to accept Cass's role in that world - and he is even willing to set aside his own misgivings and help her out.  It's so much fun to read the friendship between this two, as it feels as real as any friendship I have with my own friends.  It is natural, it is fun, it is sometimes heart-warming and other times heart-breaking, and it is the type of friendship every single one of us should have in our lives.  Gregory has a way of developing very real characters, very real situations, and very real camaraderie that brings her stories to life in a way so few authors can do, and that's a large part of the reason why I utterly enjoy this series.

 

Now, on to book seven!

 

RATING:  10 filthy engraved handkerchiefs out of 10 for keeping me guessing on this one until very nearly the end!

Brenda Starr Reporter - The Collected Dailies and Sundays: 1940-1946

I have grown to be a true fan of Brenda Starr, that beautiful red-headed reporter created, written, and drawn by the super-talented Dale Messick.  Although, admittedly, I never read the original strips (even though the strip ran from the 1940s well into the 2000s, although its creator left the strip some time ago), I discovered the lovely reporter through some reprints of her comic book series by Hermes Press.  Those comics, though, were not written or drawn by Messick.  I later picked up a Dell Comic that was written and drawn by Messick, and my love for the character blossomed!  This was someone I could really enjoy reading about - the story had everything!  Romance! Adventure! Mystery!  It was a soap opera in comic form.  So, when Hermes Press printed a book that collected a number of the Sunday strips, as well as the daily black and white strips of the 1940s, I couldn't pass it up.

Brenda Starr, Reporter (The Collected Dailies and Sundays: 1940-1946) does not collect every strip published during that 6 year period, but it does feature some wonderful stories from those years - from her very first Sunday strip published on June 30, 1940 through the introduction of the daily strip on October 22, 1945, which provides the origin of Brenda's long-time love interest, Basil St. John (and his oh-so-mysterious black orchid - no connection whatsoever to the DC character of the same name!).  As you read through those first six years of strips, you can easily see that Messick's art was developing along the way.  

 

That very first Sunday strip from 1940 has a Brenda who has an oblong face with an unusually high forehead, and with faces on the male characters that are not exactly distinct or refined.  That first strip does, however introduce the main cast - Brenda Starr ... Muggs Walter, the chief ... Tom Taylor, the fellow reporter in love with Brenda ... Pesky Miller, the young newspaper boy.  What is interesting, though, is that in those early years, Messick used only dialogue and no text boxes at all (except at the end to lead into the next strip).  Thus, introduction to character names and background information is all provided through dialogue - as it is in real life, when one walks into a new place with new people, the only way to find out who anyone is by listening to the conversations and being introduced verbally (because let's face it - in real life, we don't have text boxes floating in the air, telling us what is going on and who is who!).  This lack of text boxes actually breathes some "life" into the series, so to speak, so that the not-quite-refined art is easily overlooked for the sake of the story.

And that first story definitely opens with a bang!  Fed up with minor work, Brenda wants a real story, so she confronts her editor, who gives her the impossible task of getting the story of Silky Flowers, a criminal behind bars who won't talk to any reporter. Will she get her story?   Messick does a great job of planting seeds for future stories, because the whole Flowers story is only a set-up.  Soon enough, Brenda is accompanying Tom Taylor to a costume party where Brenda is inadvertently mistaken for a member of a criminal gang and kidnapped!  Escaping from the kidnappers, it seems Brenda gets shot - only to turn up later, having tricked the shooter into shooting a mannequin instead of her.  

 

 

The next story seems more tame, with Brenda having to show the chief's niece, Daphne, the ropes of being a female reporter at a fashion show - but Daphne's jealousy of Brenda leads to Brenda getting fired - just as Silky Flowers (remember him?) breaks out of jail!  Mistaking Daphne for Brenda, his gang kidnaps the chief's niece, which leads to Brenda getting her job back at The Globe.  A chance meeting at a New Year's party takes Brenda into her next story, which takes the strip on a very different turn - a story involving an old lodge owned by a professor where, if anyone goes in, they never come out!  Brenda thinks it is just the kind of story that will make headlines, so she and her new man, Larry Nickels, go in - and don't come out!  It turns out the professor has an underground cavern there in the mountains where he has kidnapped all of the people who have entered the lodge in order to create a whole new society!  Definitely not the kind of story one would expect from Brenda Starr (who, up to this point, had certainly had some danger and adventures, but who also focused much on fashion and keeping all the boys in love with her at bay!).  

The second set of strips in this book, while presenting the Sunday strips, which were printed in color when published, are presented here in black and white - because the original pen and ink artwork of Messick herself was provided to the publisher of this book to be used.  This section of the book presents the story of "The Curious Tale of Mary Elizabeth Beastly," a story that ran from September 1944 through January 1945.  With these strips, you can see that Messick had definitely come a long way with her art style.  Brenda's face had become less oval and more in similarity with the actresses of that time period (such as Lauren Bacall or Vivien Leigh); the backgrounds became more detailed and the supporting cast became more distinct.  There were also, by this point, more supporting character, such as Hank O'Hair, the female city editor.  No denying, Hank had me confused for a while, as I could not figure out if Hank was a man or a woman!  It is interesting that Messick created an androgynous character such as this back in the early 1940s - by today's standards, Hank would likely be defined as a lesbian, no doubt.  In any event, this is another one of those odd tales - it involves a mysterious recluse who is set to inherit her mother' fortune after her mother dies; but when Brenda goes to investigate, she discovers there is much more going on!  Twin sisters, a mad doctor, Brenda getting kidnapped yet again and prepared to be used in a crazy experiment, and a diabolical lair hidden in the heart of the city - it seems Messick was coming up with some very "out there" tales for her beautiful reporter to investigate.

 

The last part of this book presents the start of the daily strips in 1945, and provides the Sunday and dailies from October 1945 through February 1946 that give readers the origin of Basil St. John, who becomes a very important part of Brenda's life through the years thereafter.  Those first daily strips feature a typical Brenda story, with her covering a fashion show where she assumes the role of one of the models (much to the chagrin of the designer whose clothes she is modeling) and discovers the actual model has been murdered.  By the end of that story, Brenda's life is in danger when she is left in a burning building!  But she is rescued by a stranger with an eye patch - who saves her life and then disappears!  Needless to say, as the strip continues, Brenda is eventually reunited with the tall, handsome stranger when she follows up on the clue of a black orchid and is convinced to take the young girl, Crystal, back home with her.  These latter strips integrate considerable more humor into the stories, with the introduction of Abretha Breez, Brenda's cousin who is the opposite of Brenda in every way - lazy, obese, and definitely not beautiful - along with Abretha's dog, Tornado (who does not "speak," but readers of the strip are able to read his thoughts about his owner and the other characters - at one point, he even finds love and takes off on an adventure of his own to try and save Brenda!).

With the introduction of the dailies, I notice that the Sunday strips seem more like recaps of what has been happening, and in the instances where the story does move forward in a Sunday strip, the following strip on Monday pretty much recaps what happened on Sunday.  There were several Sunday strips that were more or less interludes, featuring Abreatha and/or Tornado.  I will admit, though, that one thing I did enjoy about these early strips is that Messick made sure to celebrate the holidays with her characters - Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter - each time the holidays came around, Messick featured one or two strips that found her cast of characters celebrating the holiday in style.  And also, I will say that I think I preferred the color Sunday strips to the black and white dailies, simply because with the color, Messick was able to truly share her clear love of fashion and stayle!

 

Overall, the series reads like a soap opera (which is one of the many reasons I enjoy it!), but it features a very strong, determined female protagonist who, even though she found herself in peril time and time again, she did not need a man to save her - she managed to find her own way out of the danger and ultimately save the day!  It is surprising that this strip was given the chance back in the 1940s, but it clearly resonated with the readers, since it gained enough popularity to expand from a once-a-week Sunday strip to a seven-day-a-week daily strip and to spawn several movies, several comic book adaptions, and numerous other merchandising tie-ins.  Messick was definitely ahead of her time with this strip, and just like my love for Nancy Drew, Wonder Woman, and other strong female leads, Brenda Starr is definitely a five-star read in my book!

 

RATING:  10 hats to end all hats out of 10 for sharing these 80-year old comic strips, giving a whole new generation the opportunity to fall in love with the gorgeous reporter, Brenda Starr!

The Mystery of the Brass Bound Box - a Rick and Ruddy book

And the search for connections to Brass-Bound Trunk continues with this blog post, as I take a look at yet another book that has an ever-so-slight connection to the 17th Nancy Drew Mystery Story, The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk.  As with the Three Girl Chums at Laurel Hall, I had no idea this book even existed and came across it by pure happenstance while doing some research on Brass-Bound Trunk.  I discovered that Howard R. Garis, who is quite well-known as an author of many, many, MANY children's books from back in the day, wrote a book that was titled The Mystery of the Brass Bound Box!  Now, tell me that isn't a coincidence?  So, needless to say, I had to hunt down a copy, which I did manage to find on eBay with dust jacket still in tact and for a very reasonable price.  So, I bought it and couldn't wait to read it.

It turns out The Mystery of the Brass Bound Box is not the original title.  A bit of research online reveals that the five-book "Rick and Ruddy" series by Garis, which is about a young boy named Rick and his faithful companion dog, Ruddy, was originally published by Milton Bradley in the early 1920s, but the books were later re-published by McLouglin Bros., Inc. in the 1930s under different names.  The Mystery of the Brass Bound Box was published in 1937, but it was originally Rick and Ruddy Afloat: The Cruise of a Boy and His Dog (1922).  It is interesting to note that although the book was re-titled for publication by McLoughlin, the text itself still refers to the previous book as Rick and Ruddy in Camp (p. 14) and the next book as Rick and Ruddy Out West (p. 261), which were the original titles and renamed by McLoughlin as The Face in the Dismal Cavern and The Secret of Lost River, respectively.  I suppose it was cheaper just to reprint the text as is rather than creating new printing plates to show the new titles to the previous and next books.

 

In any event, this is most definitely a boys' series book, as it focuses more on the adventure and less on the mystery.  One would think that if the title says "mystery" and references a "brass bound box," then those two things would be the focus of the book - but in this case, that could not be farther from the truth.  There is a slight mystery surrounding the brass bound box that Rick's Uncle Tod carries with him, but it appears only a  few times in the story, and the mystery surrounding it comes into play very little.  The main focus on the story is Rick and Ruddy's adventure with Uncle Tod (or Captain Tod, as they often refer to him) as they take a rather lengthy journey on his motor boat down through the rivers along the Eastern seaboard to reach Tod's temporary home in Long River.  Rick's best friend, Chot, comes along for the ride, and the boys have quite a number of adventures along the way, including the search for animal oddities for one "Hokum" Driscoll, who is looking to collect oddities for an exhibition he wants to start up!  This whole side story really has nothing to do whatsoever with the "mystery" of the book, but it does provide some opportunity for adventures - including the boys helping to put out a fire (at which time they find a four-legged hen!), and Rick running into Driscoll while trying to find a doctor to save his uncle's life.  The boys have to fend off would-be thieves from their boat, find a way to capture two large porcupines for Driscoll's exhibition, and help stand guard at Uncle Tod's cabin from a possible Indian attack!

 

The bigger mystery that seems to be central to the entire story is whether Uncle Tod is crazy or not.  Most times, he seems perfectly sane; however, Rick and Chot notice some very odd behavior in the sea captain, from his repeating the phrase "Crazy is as crazy does" to buying a drum and destroying it to dancing wildly on the deck of his motor boat to insisting that local Indians are going to attack.  Rick and Chot go back and forth as to whether Tod may be not quite right - but, ultimately, it ties into the mystery of just who Nick Slither is and what is inside that brass bound box that Rick's uncle deems to be so important.  Garis provides quite a dangerous scenario for poor Rick near the end of the book, as he must fight the rapids of the river during a torrential thunder storm to row a canoe miles downstream to the nearest village to get a doctor for his uncle.  Garis builds up quite the suspense relating just how Rick and Ruddy fare during their escapade (and the art on the cover sort-of depicts this scene of the boy and his dog navigating the rapids), to crashing on a rocky isle in the middle of the wide river, to swimming across the freezing rapids to get to shore, to finding their way to the doctor (with Driscoll's surprise help).   

Now, how, you may ask, does this book in any way compare with Brass-Bound Trunk?  Well, aside from the title, there is the fact that the box (trunk) holds jewels (at least, so the boys believe); the boys are on a cruise for a good portion of the book (albeit on a motor boat instead of a cruise ship); and Rick bring along his pet on the cruise (he brings a dog, while Nancy brings her cat).  Now, this book was originally published in 1922, later republished in 1937, which was prior to the 1940 publication date of the Nancy Drew mystery.  So, this raises the question - did Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, who wrote the outline for Brass-Bound Trunk, get any of her ideas for this book from Garis' book? Could be....

And just for fun, I will warn that this book is definitely a product of its time, as its views of women and Indians are definitely not the same as they are today!  When the boys are waiting for the four-legged hen to lay an egg, and when they give up and put the other eggs in an incubator, she suddenly decides to lay another egg!  Captain Tod remarks, "If that isn't just like a woman? ... She never does a thing you want her to!" (p. 130).  Later in the story, when meeting the Indians, Garis (who breaks the fourth wall a number of times in the story to talk directly to the reader) makes an apology regarding the Indian's actions:

It was the poor pagan's one talent, and we must not blame him for putting it forward on every occasion.  I am not upholding him in it, nor excusing those who encouraged him, who were, perhaps, more to blame than Johnnie Green.  I am aware that it was not the nicest thing in the world to do, but who expects a half-civilized Indian to be perfectly proper?  Not I, for one!  (p. 173)

There are several other references such as this when he talks about the Indians in this book, and it surprises me, since I didn't realize this view of Indians still existed in the 1920s.

As I've made clear in the past, I am not a big fan of boys' series books, because they are more focused on adventure and less on mystery, and I am a big mystery fan, not adventure fan.  That being said, this book would not normally be my cup of tea, and had it not been for the Brass-Bound Trunk connection, I would have never read it, let alone bought it.  But, I'm glad I did, as it does open up the questions about the various similarities between this book and the Nancy Drew mystery and whether it is pure coincidence or a case of copied ideas ... but I suppose that's a mystery that will remain unsolved for now!

RATING:  6 owl-headed roosters out of 10 for filling a story of adventure with some fun scenes, some crazy characters, and a faithful dog!

Three Girl Chums at Laurel Hall - a Barton Books for Girls

This was never a book I intended to buy.  Heck, to be honest, I'd never even heard of this book until after I read The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk. You see, after reading the seventeenth Nancy Drew mystery, I was curious whether "Laurel Hall," which is the school mentioned in that book (students from which Nancy, Bess, and George would be traveling with on a cruise to South America), actually existed.  Well, I managed to find plenty of Laurel Halls in various colleges around the country.  But what surprised me was finding a vintage children's book with that name in the title.  So, a quick search on eBay turned up a copy in dust jacket for a more than reasonable price, so I bought it.  And I read it, wondering whether I would find anything in this book that might coincidentally connect it with Brass-Bound Trunk...

 

Three Girl Chums at Laurel Hall is written by May Hollis Barton, who wrote a number of books for girls back in the early part of the 20th century.  This particular book was published in 1926, some 14 years prior to the publication of Brass-Bound Trunk, and as such, it is evident that "Laurel Hall" here was not taken from the Nancy Drew book, but perhaps the other way around?  In any event, this book tells the story of three girls - and no, it's not Nancy, Bess and George.  Here, we get the story of Nan Harrison (short for Nancy?), Jo Morley (a girl with a boy's name?), and Sadie Appleby (the more timid of the three) - three young girls who have been friends for life and who are prepared to head off to Laurel Hall to begin their final years of school.  Nan is described as "fair-haired and blye-eyed," Joe is described as "a rather striking contrast to Nan in that her hair and eyes were as dark as Nan's were fair," and Sadie was "rather a cross between the two, being of medium height, and having light brown hair and gray eyes" (p. 2).  The three reside in the small town of Woodford and are excited at the thought of traveling over two hundred miles t attend Laurel Hall (p. 3).  Of course, as with any good children's series book, this one starts off with trouble in the very first chapter!

Barton's mystery is not exactly the main focus of the story, although it does factor into the difficulties the girls face.  It seems that Jo may not be able to attend Laurel Hall after all, since one of her father's employees has absconded with important documents and money that could bankrupt his company.  Fortunately, as is always the case in these books, fate intervenes, and Jo manages to rescue Nan's invalid aunt from a house thought to be on fire - and in return, Nan's aunt volunteers to pay for Jo's way to attend Laurel Hall.  Once at the grand school, which is located on a beautiful lake between majestic mountains (p. 58), the story shifts from Jo's troubles to the difficulties the girls face with a young sophomore who becomes an immediate nemesis - one Kate Speed (p. 61).  For those familiar with the Dana Girls series, the rest of the book may seem strangely familiar, as the girls must accustom themselves to this new school, being away from home, and deal with a very difficult girl (a la Lettie Briggs) who seems to have nothing else to do but cause them trouble.  Kate even has her own Ina Mason in the form of Lottie Sparks, who helps her in her devious schemes.  And there's poor Lily Darrow (no relation to Mildred Wirt Benson's Ruth Darrow), who is timid and quiet, sort of reminiscent of Evelyn Starr from the first Dana Girls' mystery.  

Most of the book is spent on the girls' adventures at Laurel Hall - learning to row, facing off against Kate Speed in a huge tennis match, going on picnics on islands in the middle of the huge lake, facing off against Kate's friends in a rowing race, and the like.  The greatest dangers they face is when they get trapped in the swampy island trying to find huckleberries or when Lottie sets them up to appear as if they had rummaged through the headmistress's office.  Unlike the Nancy Drew or Dana Girls books, there are no big chapter cliffhangers, and the girls never really face down the dastardly villains.  And speaking of which, yes, that mystery involving the man who nearly ruined Jo's father's business does rear his ugly head - for there are several thefts at Laurel Hall, and it turns out that man, along with a local tramp, are hiding out in a cave on one of the islands in order to lay low until they could sell off the bonds and other documents he stole from Jo's father.  Jo happens to see him once on a boat and recognizes him, but they lose him in a chase.  At the end of the book, the three chums, along with three boys they happened to meet during the course of the story, follow the man and his friend to the cave, where the boys overpower them and turn them over to the police - and as such, Jo's father sees the return of all of his money and papers, thereby reinstating his business and his income.

And just to ensure that readers know this is a one-off story and not an on-going series like Nancy Drew, the Dana Girls, and the like, the last three pages of the book give us a flash-forward, letting us in on the future of the three girls, several years after they started their days at Laurel Hall.  Nan's aunt is fully recovered and no longer an invalid, Nan has found romance ("Nan and Frank ... were walking along Main Street, looking in furniture stores.." [pp. 205-06] - and since this was actually published BEFORE either Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys, it is even more coincidental that the names Nan and Frank are associated with one another - but then again, what are these series books, if not full of coincidences?), and Jo and Sadie are both full of happiness as well.  Barton provides a bright and cheerful ending to her tale, ensuring that for Nan, Jo, and Sadie, there truly is a happily ever after!

Again, while the mystery pretty much stays in the background (despite the subtitle of the book as "The Mystery of the School by the Lake") and plays little part in the book, that does not mean that Barton's story is not enjoyable.  Her characters are strong and likable (unless, like Kate and Lottie, they aren't meant to be liked!), and they have their distinct personalities.  I enjoyed the playful sarcasm the three girls would sling at one another, which read like natural banter among friends.  The tennis match and the rowing race were extremely well written, showing either knowledge on Barton's part about both sports, or her ability to research the sports to be able to write them with such clarify and specifics.  And while I have no interest in either in real life, I did find myself getting caught up in the competition while reading the book, rooting for Nan, Jo, and Sadie to win their respective battles!

Thus, while there was no real connection between this Laurel Hall and the one in Brass-Bound Trunk (even the headmistresses were different - Miss Romaine in this book, and Senora Zola - although the difference in years could account for the change in headmistresses - yes, yes, I know, I'm really stretching it here!), I would say that this book is worth the read for fans of series books.

RATING:  8 layer cakes and homemade cookies out of 10 for showing how three girl chums can enjoy adventure without much mystery and still make for a good read!

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #17 - The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk

Our latest book as we traverse the wonderful world of Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, as written by ghostwriter Mildred Wirt (Benson), is the seventeenth, The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk.  Published in 1940, the original version of this book was written by Wirt (Benson) from an outline provided by Harriet Stratemeyer Adams and featured both cover and interior art by Russell Tandy.  An interesting note - when the text was eventually revised in the 1970s, the word "The" was dropped from the title, and it became simply Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk.  As with all of the previous books our little Central Florida Sleuths group have been reading, we have discovered that this book has a treasure trove of things to discover as an adult that, as a child, we completely missed or otherwise did not give any thought about.

The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk finds Nancy, Bess and George planning a trip to South America aboard a boat.  The three chums are to travel with a group of girls from Laurel Hall (p. 2), although trouble quickly brings the trip into doubt!  First, a large white Angora cat is left for Nancy on her doorstep (p. 4), left there by someone Nancy helped in the past (p. 5) - which turns out to be one Mrs. Purdy, who lives in the nearby town of Weldon and who Nancy once helped from being swindled (p. 41).  This, of course, was an "off-screen" mystery, as Mrs. Purdy had never appeared previous to this book.  Then, Nancy is involved in a car crash with a red-haired man (p. 8), who is in such a hurry that he simply hands Nancy $100 to repair her car and takes off (p. 10)!  Finally, a Mrs. Thomas Joslin - described as a rude, apparently wealthy woman - appears at Nancy's house to warn her away from the cruise, as she does not want Nancy anywhere near her daughter, who is a student at Laurel Hall (p. 17).  The only problem is, Carson wants Nancy to assist her with a case by watching a girl by the name of Doris Trenton, who will be on the same cruise as Nancy, and whose father wants to make sure Doris does not disappear on the cruise and elope with someone other than Henry Washburn, the man her father wants her to marry (p. 14).  Whatever will Nancy Drew do?

With a set-up like this, it's easy to see that this book is going to be very busy, indeed!  There's the mystery of why Mrs. Joslin does not want Nancy near her daughter.  There's the mystery of the red-haired man that ran into Nancy's car and then took off in a hurry.  There's the mystery of why Mr. Trenton is so determined to see that his daughter marries the son of his business partner rather than a man of her own choosing.  And, ultimately, there is the mystery of that mysterious brass-bound trunk - the one that Carson buys for Nancy with her initials "ND" on it (p. 2) along with the similar trunk with the same brass bindings and the same "ND' initials on it (p. 72).  All of this, plus a love triangle - Henry is supposed to marry Doris, but Doris doesn't want him; in the meantime, on the cruise, Henry meets Nestrelda (Treldy) Darlington and begins to fall for her, as she does for him - but Nancy is there to ensure that Doris ends up with Henry.  Of course, with all of the mysteries to solve, does Nancy have time to play matchmaker?  Well, this is Nancy Drew, so what do you think?

This is most certainly not one of Wirt (Benson)'s better Nancy Drew books, but it does have its moments.  The return of Effie is definitely good for a laugh (p. 47).  From sweeping the carpet with a broom (p. 47) to carelessly sewing a skirt way too short (p. 49), the poor maid just can't seem to do anything right!  And there's adorable little Snowball (p. 5), named so by Nancy because the little kitten is so white and soft.  It's funny that when faced with the question of what to do with her new pet while she is on the cruise, Nancy's response is, "I'll take Snowball with me! ... Snowball would love to travel, I know!" (p. 5).   Speaking as someone who had numerous cats in the house growing up, as well as some of my own as an adult, I've never met one cat that "loves to travel," as Nancy thinks Snowball would!  Yet, poor Snowball is nothing more than a plot device - first, to connect Nancy to Mrs. Purdy (p. 41), and then later still, to trip a man picking up Nestrelda's trunk (p. 148).  Otherwise, the poor cat not only gets no mention again, but there is no reference made to Nancy taking the cat back home with her, nor does Snowball ever appear in the Nancy Drew series ever again!

There are a few odd things about this book.  The first is when we get the standard review of Nancy's prior mysteries, it states that "[y]ears earlier she had aided her father in solving a mystery case, familiarly known to her friends as 'The Secret of the Old Clock'" (pp. 10-11).  Now, in real life, it had been 10 years between publication of that first book and this one; however, in the series, Nancy was still only 16 years old, so now did she help her father "years earlier" yet still remain only 16 years old? But she is not the only character to return - Bess's Aunt Helen Miller returns (p. 77)!  Introduced in the previous book, The Clue of the Tapping Heels, when the girls head to New York City to board their cruise ship, they stay with Aunt Helen leading up to the departure date.  Still have to wonder why Aunt Helen was all but forgotten when they later introduced Nancy's Aunt Eloise, who also lives in New York City...

 

Next is the very unlikely coincidence that Mrs. Purdy (who gave Nancy the kitten) and Senora Zora (the headmistress of Laurel Hall) are sisters - and the rude Mrs. Joslin is the women's half-sister (p. 126)!  That truly is too much of a stretch even for the most casual reader to accept.  Of course, it is any easier to accept that the cruise ship would stop and pick up the crew of a sinking lumber freighter (p. 135) in the middle of a storm - a storm strong enough to cause that freighter to sink, but Nancy tells her friends, "The storm is beautiful" (p. 135).  But, it's a good thing Nancy, Bess, and George learned how to tap in the previous book, because just one page later, the three girls are assisting the cruise ship provide entertainment for the crew of the sunken freighter!  They "executed an intricate tap dance which was well received" (p. 136).  Apparently, what started out as fun for Nancy turned into not only a life-saving device in the previous book, but a means by which she and her friends could entertain some rescued seamen in this book!

Then, there is the case of the mysterious Miss Brownley, who is a blind woman who happens to be on the same cruise ship.  Introduced shortly after the cruise gets underway, Nancy has the opportunity to assist the woman when the cruise ship lurches and she nearly falls over (p. 128).  Later, Miss Brownley's police dog performs tricks for the rescued crew of the lumber freighter (p. 138), and she plays several selections on the piano and even gives a reading (p. 138).  Once the ship reaches South America, Nancy steps in once again to help the poor blind woman when she has difficulty making it through customs (p. 142) - Nancy puts in a good word for her, and the customs agent just let her in!  Finally, she makes her last appearance when Nancy and her friends are taking a taxi to Nestrelda's home and the cab driver makes a sudden stop to avoid hitting a woman in the middle of the street - and that woman is, you guessed it - Miss Brownley (p. 166)!  Some street urchins took her dog from her and left her stranded, but leave it to Nancy to come to her rescue (pp. 167-68).  The character adds absolutely nothing to the story, she is not involved in any of the mysteries, is not related to anyone, and seems to serve no purpose other than to simply add padding to the story (perhaps to meet the page or word count requirement for the book).

 

And we must make mention of that poor girl's name - Nestrelda.  That has to be one of the most unusual names I've ever read.  I tried doing a search for the name, to see if I could figure out where it might have come from.  It's so unusual, I though perhaps either Wirt (Benson) or Adams had heard it at some point and wanted to use it in a book.  The only thing I could find on the name, other than its use in this book, was a Nestrelda Gross out of Ithaca, New York, who was born in November 1979 (just three years after the text for this book was revised) - and I did find a "Nestrelda Darlington" who lives in Rumson, New Jersey on Facebook!  Seriously!

 

Now, the one thing about discussing these books with my fellow Central Florida Sleuths is that they come to the table with some very interesting things of their own!  One of my fellow Sleuths shared that this book was originally going to be set in England, and not South America - but, because of the war going on at the time, they changed the country to Argentina (who was still neutral at the time).  According to correspondence between Wirt (Benson) and the Stratemeyer Syndicate, the setting for the story was still England as late as August 1939, when Wirt (Benson) was asked whether she could write the dialogue for the British characters in the book.  According to her response to the Syndicate on August 18, 1939, Wirt (Benson) admitted to having spent a few days in London.  So, somewhere between August 1939 and its publication date in 1940, the story was changed to reflect Argentina instead of England.  Such an interesting behind-the-scenes tidbit!

Finally, let's take a look at that love triangle.  SPOILER ALERT - if you don't want to know how this all ends, then read no further.  Otherwise, proceed at your own risk....

By the end of the story, Nancy and her chums make the observation that even though Nestrelda had fallen head over heels for Henry, "Marriage with Treldy is out of the question," declares Nancy (p. 218).  "Treldy wasn't his type, and he doubtless realizes it now," George adds (p. 218).  Nancy observes that Treldy is too young to be sure of her own feelings, and George believes Henry should thank Nancy for saving him from that (p. 218).  Oh, but wait!  It gets worse!  Once Henry takes a more active role ins his father's business, suddenly Doris has a change of heart and agrees to marry him (p. 219)!  Nancy talks with Mrs. Purdy, and they agree that it would not do for Treldy to return to the United States, and Mrs. Purdy unilaterally agrees to take in the girl - "Treldy needs discipline and I shall provide it, together with loving care" (p. 219).  Mrs. Purdy acknowledges that Treldy's real father left her a swmall income, which she will use to send Treldy to a school in South America (p. 219).  There are so many problems with this whole scene, I don't even know where to begin!  First, who are Nancy and George to make any decisions about whether Henry and Treldy have any real feelings for one another or not?  And who are they to get to determine that Treldy does not know her own feelings?  Then, who gave Nancy and Mrs. Purdy the right to (a) put Tredly under Mrs. Purdy's care without any legal authority to do so and without even questioning the girl about what she wants, and (b) to take the girl's income and use it for their purpose for the girl?  There seem to be a LOT of liberties taken with this, and I have to wonder if it was not just rushed into these two pages simply to give readers a quick resolution.  For me, this was by far the most ridiculous part of the whole book, and I think Wirt (Benson) would have been better off leaving the whole romance angle out of the book.  (Thankfully, this whole thing was removed when the text was revised.)

Oh, one last tidbit - the next mystery is advertised at the end of the story as "The Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion" (p. 220); yet, the original book that came out was The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion, not "of."  When Brass-Bound Trunk was revised, the title of the next book at the end was changed to Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion; yet, when the revised Moss-Covered Mansion came out, it was actually titled Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion, not "at."  Apparently someone was having problems with remembering which preposition to use in the title!

 

***And just to whet your appetite - stay tuned for my next blog post, as it will feature a book that has a (somewhat) connection with this one! 

RATING:  7 cases of mistaken identity out of 10 for throwing so much into just one book, yet managing to get it all to make sense by the end of the book (albeit in some crazy ways!).

Secret Identity - a novel about comic books and murder

Secret Identity is for the comic book community as Escaping Dreamland is for the children's series book community.  Escaping Dreamland mixed the real and fictional worlds with the story of an author who was researching some fictional children's series books, and along the way, there were tons of references to real series, authors, and publishers (such as Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Edward Stratemeyer, the Stratemeyer Syndicate, and so on).  It started off a little slow, but the deeper you read into it, the more engrossed you get, and every reference to real series books and authors just brings more and more smiles to your face.  Well, this is exactly what I found while reading Alex Segura's latest novel, Secret Identity.  It starts off a bit slow, but the further I get into the story, the more invested in the main character I got and the more I enjoyed all of the numerous comic book references!

Secret Identity is the story of Carmen Valdez.  It is the mid-1970s, and Carmen works for a fictional comic book company known as Triumph Comics.  Carmen grew up reading comics, thanks to her father, and her love for comics inspired her to be a comic book writer.  If she can only get that one big break.  While working as a secretary/assistant for the owner of Triumph Comics, Carmen thinks she is about to get that big break.  One of the company's writers is desperate for a new idea, and Carmen shares some scripts that she has been working on with him.  The two collaborate, but Carmen's world comes crashing down around her when she finds the writer dead in his apartment and she discovers that he turned in all of their scripts with only his name associated with them!  Not only is her one chance to enter the field gone, but someone she thought of as a friend betrayed her in the worst way and is now dead, to boot!

While the story has a dark undertone of murder, lies, cover-ups, blackmail, and betrayal, it also has a lighthearted feel to it that any true comic fan will enjoy.  With plenty of references to comics from that era, as well as creators who are now well-known and established, but who were just starting out and relatively unknown back in the mid-70s, there is no doubt that Segura had a lot of fun with this open playground.  Marvel and DC, Paul Levitz and Jim Starlin, Bob Kane and Stan Lee, Metamorpho and Tigra, Defenders and House of Mystery, Trina Robbins and Ramona Fradon, and so many more pop up here and there throughout the story and Carmen tries to make sense of everything that is going on around her.  Because if you think it's only comic books that are monopolizing Carmen's time, you'd be wrong!  There's also the family background of an alcoholic mother and a father who wants nothing to do with a daughter who is "that way."  Plus, when Carmen is confronted by an ex that she thought was in her past, old memories are dredged to the surface, and she has to wonder whether this is truly another chance to make it right, or if she is simply being played again.

And what happens when another comic writer is attacked and nearly killed?  And it looks like Carmen's ex was at not only one, but both crime scenes? Could her ex truly be so vicious as to eliminate anyone that even appears to be interested in Carmen?  Or is the killer someone much closer, someone that has an ax to grind, going back to the days before Triumph Comics and the previous company that the current owner bought out?  This book definitely has a LOT going on, but rest assured - Segura handles it nicely, and everything flows, with no disjointed or unconnected plotlines, nothing left open, and everything definitely makes sense by the end.  Segura even throws in a number of pop culture references from the '70s, such as new bands who are just hitting the scene (such as the Talking Heads, the Ramones, Patti Smith, etc.).  The more you read, the more you really feel like you are in the '70s right along with Carmen and her co-workers, her boss, and her roommate.

Oh, and did I mention that throughout the books, there are "pages" of art from The Legendary Lynx comic book that the main character created and wrote?  The black and white art is by Sandy Jarrell, with whom I am not familiar.  However, in keeping with the book itself, the tag line below the pages of comic book art provides credits to Harvey Stern (writer) and Doug Detmer (artist), the characters with whom Carmen associated with the creation of the book in the story.  It gives a semblance of reality to the story, as if this is more than just a work of fiction, but the biography of a woman comic writer in the 1970s who was doing everything she could to break into the field and establish herself in a male-dominated field.  And, like Escaping Dreamland, the end of the book comes full circle, leading the reader right back to the beginning of the tale...

This book is a lot of things.  It is a murder mystery with an amateur sleuth trying to solve the crime.  It is a story of friendship and betrayal.  It is a romance filled with broken hearts and lies.  But above all else, it is a story of Carmen Valdez - a woman who is determined to make her dream come true, despite all the obstacles placed in front of her, and who will not give up at any cost.  It is inspiring, it is enjoyable, it is heart-wrenching, and it is a slice of real life put in fiction form.  Kudos to Segura for weaving such an amazing work of art into a thoroughly enjoyable read.  If you're a comic fan, you'll love it.  If you are a murder mystery fan, you'll love it.  If you simply like to read - you'll love it!

Now, the only question I have is - when are we going to see The Legendary Lynx leap out of this book and into a real comic of her own?!?!

RATING:  10 pack of Parliaments out of 10 for a magnificent tale of comic books and murder!

In the Ballroom with the Candlestick - the third Clue mystery

First, it was Mrs. White in the hall with the knife.  Then, it was Orchid in the study with the wrench (in self-defense, of course!).  Now, a killer has struck yet again.  It seems good ol' Blackbrook Academy cannot get away from these awful murders that have plagued the school over the past year.  And the young adults who have banded together as a sort of "Murder Crew" must find a way to deal with the death of one of their own - Vaughn Green, who died in the car crash at the end of the last book, leaving Peacock with injuries that may well put an end to her tennis career forever.  Orchid, Scarlett, Mustard, and Plum all have their own inner demons and secrets to deal with, so what happens when yet another body turns up in Tudor House?  Well, it's time to play the final game of Clue, that's what!

In the Ballroom with the Candlestick brings a conclusion to the ongoing story of this motley cast of characters, as all of the secrets finally come to light, and the game that has been played since the first book finally comes to an end.  The school's latest headmaster, Dr. Brown, turns up dead - allegedly from a stroke.  But none of the residents of Tudor House believe that for an instant.  There have been too many dead bodies that have turned up for this to simply be a coincidence.  As the guidance counselor, Perry Winkle (gotta love these colorful names, pun intended!) takes over as the newest headmaster, Peacock begins a new journal as she tries to keep track of the suspects.  Was it Mustard's roommate, Tanner Curry, who Peacock overheard arguing with Dr. Brown the night before?  Or was it Perry Winkle, who appears to have been after Dr. Brown's job?  Or could it have been Scarlett, who was always at odds with Dr. Brown and finally got fed up with it?  Or was it Vaughn Green's twin brother, Oliver Green, who has been trading places with his brother so they can both get scholarships to university - did he kill Dr. Green to keep his secret quiet?  Or was it Orchid, who has been mysteriously absent from all of the house meetings with Dr. Brown?  And what about Mustard and Plum - while they may not have readily visible motives, both of them have been acting very strange lately...

It's another round of twists and turns, hidden hallways and secret doors, and before you know it, a second dead body turns up - this one a little more close to home!  Orchid is overwhelmed, reeling from the revelation that Vaughn - the boy that she fell in love with - had a twin who had been masquerading as Vaughn part of the time.  Who was she with and when?  Mustard is working overtime to keep his feelings for Plum a secret, while Plum is tired of the secrecy and wants to simply be with the man he loves.  Peacock is dealing with the fact that the accident that killed Vaughn Green put her in a wheelchair and ended her tennis career forever.  And Scarlett?  Well, Scarlett is bound and determined that nothing is going to stop Blackbrook Academy from having a prom this year, and nothing - not even two dead bodies - is going to stop her from seeing that it happens!

As always, you don't know who to trust, who to believe, who is lying, who is telling the truth, and who is hiding the biggest secret of them all.   And behind everything, there is the underlying fact that Curry Chem seems to have more of a connection to the Academy and its students than anyone knew - a connection that goes back generations - and at the prom, there is definitely an explosion as all of the secrets come out once and for all, and the killer very nearly takes another life...

Author Diana Peterfreund manages to pull off a few surprises at the end, one of the best being the alternate endings like the Clue! movie did.  I mean, there is an ending ... but then there's a silent movie card that says "That's how it could have happened ... But how about this?"  And then we get a totally different ending - one that is even more shocking than the first ... but then there's another silent movie card that says "But here's what really happened."  And then we get the real (?) ending.  And what an ending it is!  Even includes an epilogue that shows readers what happened to everyone six months after the events of this book ... and gives readers a very satisfying finish to a great little series.

RATING:  10 silky, iridescent black dresses that shimmer with purple flames out of 10 for playing a "real" game of Clue with some great characters, some great mysteries, and one heck of a great read!

The Secret of Casa Grande - the first Mexican Mystery Stories for Girls

I picked up this book because I really liked the cover; however, I didn't realize until after I read it and did some research online that this is actually the first book in a series (albeit a short, three-book series!).  Thanks to Jennifer White's very informative website on series books (Series Books for Girls) I discovered that the author of this book, Helen Randolph (a pseudonym for Virginia Fairfax and Helen Allan Ripley, according to White's website), actually wrote two more books under the "Mexican Stories for Girls" banner - although the book I own is actually a reprint by Saalfield Publishing, which relabeled the series the "Randolph Series," according to Jennifer's website.  Regardless, the book did pique my interest, so I've already begun my search for the other two books!

The Secret of Casa Grande tells the story of two young girls - Jo Ann and her friend Peggy - who are visiting Peggy's friend, Florence, in Mexico.  Jo Ann is an impetuous and inquisitive girl, always looking for adventure and not afraid to jump in without thinking, while Peggy is much more reserved and thinks before she acts.  Florence and her father have lived in Mexico for a while, and she is constantly doing what she can to make sure her friends adhere to the customs and traditions of the people in the village.  While exploring the village, Jo Ann notices a window in Florence's house - a window on an upper floor that is not visible from inside the house.  Thus, a mystery is sparked as to what lies behind that window - is it a secret room?  An unused room that was walled-off?  Or something much darker?  Jo An is determined to find out, despite her friends' concerns.

 

The first half of the book follows Jo Ann as she tries to figure out how to get to the window, when there is no visible way on the side of the house to climb up the wall to get to the window and peer inside.  It is relatively tame when compared to most mysteries of that day, which were filled with a bit more adventure and action.  Once Jo Ann manages to figure out a way to get to the window and discovers what lies inside, that is when the mystery actually picks up pace, and the three girls actually share a rather enjoyable adventure (enjoyable to read, that is - probably not as much enjoyable for them!).  I do appreciate the realism provided by the author, as it is not exactly an easy task for the girls to reach the window, and it results in Jo Ann suffering a terrible sunburn from remaining on the roof under the hot sun for hours, as well as scraped knees and elbows that the girls suffer when the must make their way up and down the wall - not to mention that their journey into the tunnels below the house result in torn and filthy clothing, which is what one would expect from a trip into unknown underground tunnels.

 

What I did find to be somewhat off-putting, although not necessarily surprising for the time that the book was written (the copyright date is 1936), is the amount of racism that is blatant throughout the book.  Florence makes a number of off-hand remarks about the Mexican villagers, including the housekeeper and driver in her own home, disparaging them and their way of life.  It is clear that as a relatively well-to-do white girl, she feels superior to the villagers, and she pretty much says so in no uncertain terms!  Jo Ann even make several comments in the book that confirms her own view of superiority over the "lower class" people.  Now, I realize I have to view the book in terms of when it was written, and not judge it based upon our more enlightened views and understandings of today - but it still places a bit of a damper on the story, because I really wanted to like the main characters, but found it difficult to do so when they carried such racist opinions of those around them.

Outside of that one issue, the story itself was enjoyable, and while not an overly exciting mystery, it is one that builds the reader's interest gradually until you find yourself just as hooked as the three girls in finding out exactly what lies behind that window, and how it ultimately all connects to the small, crumbling church behind Florence's house.  Plus, the authors do give some rather nice descriptions of the Mexican architecture and locales, which is likely based on Ripley's own personal experience in Mexico (once again, info gleaned from White's wonderful and very informative website!).  Now I need to locate the other two books in this series and see how they compare with this first one.

RATING:  6 golden candlesticks out of 10 for a not-a-run-of-the-mill mystery set in a locale that may not be as familiar to most readers.