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!