The Painted Shield - a Mystery Story for Girls

So, moving on to yet another of the Mystery Stories for Girls written by Mildred Wirt, we come to The Painted Shield, published in 1939.  This is another stand-alone mystery that Wirt wrote for Cupples & Leon, which was republished by The World Publishing Company for their line of World Junior Library.  According to Geoffrey Lapin's Bibliography of Wirt's published works, this and Ghost Gables were the last two books in her "Mystery Stories for Girls" series, both being published in 1939.  This is not to say she did not write other books, but they do not appear to have been published under the "Mystery Stories for Girls" series.  (I'm still missing The Hollow Wall Mystery to complete my set of this series, but I figure sooner or later I'll come across a dust jacketed copy that I can afford!)

The Painted Shield, like The Twin Ring Mystery that I recently read, features more than one protagonist.  In this book, it is Frances Wayne Kellog and her younger brother, Benny.  Frances is said to be fifteen-years old, while Benny is only thirteen ("Almost fourteen," Benny quickly corrects his father - p. 7), so they are a bit younger than the regular sleuths in the children's mystery stories of that day (remember - Nancy Drew was sixteen, later eighteen).  The young sleuths' parents are also featured in the story, as Frances and Benny travel with them to Texas to inspect a property that an old friend of Mr. Kellog's has been instructed to sell - but Mr. Leigh (the old friend) received an anonymous communication urging him to check on the property.  Mr. Leigh advises the owner lives in Mexico, and the property has a rather strange history - having been built by the widow of a disgraced military man.  The Calverton Place has remained abandoned, and the descendant of the original builder is ready to sell the property.  Mr. Leigh is somewhat reluctant to have his business partner, Sidney Harmond handle it, so Mr, Kellog agrees, even though it means the family will be utilizing their planned vacation time for the trip.  Of course, for Frances and Benny, this turns out to be the most adventurous vacation they could have ever dreamed of!

While the mystery definitely surrounds the strange house known as Calverton Place (an octagonal shaped house, built after a fort down in Mexico), Frances also suspects there is a mystery surrounding a young girl she sees at a gas station traveling with Mexican husband-and-wife, as well as a well-dressed gentleman who does not appear to be very kind.  Frances sees the girl is upset, but when she asks if there is anything she can do to help, she is quickly rebuffed.  As one may suspect, this is not the last the reader will see of this young girl and her traveling companions.  Soon enough, Frances, Benny, and their parents arrived at Calverton Place (after dark, of course) and discover that someone has been in the house!  Not only that, but Mr. Kellog find a revolver in one of the upstairs rooms!  Before you know it, Frances and Benny discover a small cottage on the grounds of the estate, and surprise! surprise! - the young girl and the Mexican husband-and-wife happen to be staying there!  Wouldn't you know it, as coincidence would have it, the young girl happens to be the daughter of the woman who owns the property and is trying to sell it.  Seems she is up here in Texas looking for her brother, who came weeks before to check on the property and was never heard from again.  The man who was with them turns out to have been Sidney Harmond, Mr. Leigh's business partner - talk about a small world after all!

At this point, with the mysteries merged, Wirt delves into the REAL mystery, which turns out to be a hidden treasure that could not only help free the Calvertons from the shadow under which they have been living for so many generations, but it would return lost historical treasures to the Mexican people.  Frances and Benny are more than willing to help young Lolita in finding both her brother and the treasure, and when Frances finds a piece of paper with a painted shield emblem on it, Lolita confirms the paper belongs to her brother and he was definitely in the house.  While Wirt plays on the whole "who can we trust?" scenario, leaving the young sleuths trying to figure out - can they trust Harmond?  Can they trust the Mexican couple?  Plus, there is the mysterious man in the woods, and there are the three bandits who seem to also be searching for the treasure.  And when Frances uncovers the final clue to the location of the treasure, it's a race against time as the Kellogs hire a driver to take Lolita back to Mexico (a trip on which Frances and Benny quickly join - now remember, she's only 15, and he's only 13, and Lolita is said to be their age - so this means Mr. Kellog hires a driver that he doesn't know to drive three young teenagers, completely unchaperoned, down into Mexico!  That's one trusting father!). 

An overturned vehicle, a climb up the side of a pyramid, a kidnapping at gunpoint, and a daring fight on the edge of the pyramid leads to an exciting climax.  I have to give Wirt credit, she definitely knows how to build up to a great final battle (so to speak), and manages to save the three teens without going too far out of the realm of believability.  And, interestingly enough, Wirt concludes the book with a jump in time, as the entire Kellog family has returned to Texas, while the Calvertons have come up from Mexico to see if their property holds one last secret...  (and no, I'm not going to spoil that part of the book - you'll have to read it yourself to find out what the final secret is!).

Something odd I found while reading the book - this was published in 1939, meaning Wirt wrote it in 1938 or early 1939 ... however, on page 37, when Frances finds the piece of paper in the octagonal house, she sees it has a date written on it:  12 julio de 1949 (which means July 12, 1949).  That date is ten years AFTER the book was written!  Yet Frances indicates the date was three months ago.  So, was this a simple editing error, or did Wirt perhaps think the book was not going to be published for another 10 years?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Another odd bit involves a trained monkey that has escaped its owner - the monkey, whose name is Cheta, happens to belong to Lolita, and after Frances and Benny find the monkey (or rather, it finds them!), they return it to Lolita.  The monkey does ultimately play a small part in the mystery, actually helping the young sleuths by keeping a criminal from getting his hands on an important clue - but what I found odd about the monkey bit is that two years later, Wirt used another escaped monkey in The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion, which was published in 1941.  This leaves one to question if Wirt intentionally utilized this same plot device, or if it was simply a coincidence (and we all know how these children's series books are full of coincidences!).

 

Final note - when the book was republished for the World Junior Library, new artwork was provided (for this one, as well as for Ghost Gables in a similar style with a purple border above and below the cover art).   It's funny that the the new covers for this and Ghost Gables were similar, featuring the two main characters pointing in shock at a house (or ghost, as the case may be) in the distant background).

Overall, this was another fun read. It's a real shame that Wirt never did anything further with these characters from her Mystery Stories for Girls series, as some of them are rather likable!

RATING:  8 folded sheets of heavy paper, yellow with age out of 10 for a treasure-hunting adventure of the mysterious kind with some very dangerous villains and some very determined young sleuths!

The Virginia Mysteries, Book 10 - Pirates on the Bay

After the last book in this series went overboard with what felt like the author trying to make a political statement and join the bandwagon of far left, liberal wokeness, completely losing any element of mystery to the book, I had pretty much decided I was done with The Virginia Mysteries.  Up until that book, the stories had been very good, the mysteries fun as well as educational, and the characters had been slowly growing and evolving.  But book nine in the series was a total step away from what made this series so good, and I was afraid Steven K. Smith had lost sight of what these books are.  So, I let book ten sit in my Amazon want list for ages.  I eventually, though, decided I kind of liked the pirate theme of this book, so I decided to give it a shot (figuring if it continued the ideology of the previous book, then I would simply end it with this one).  Now, I'm glad I bought it.

Pirates on the Bay returns Sam, Caitlin, and Derek to their roots - solving mysteries!  This time, though, it's the mystery of a pirate's treasure that is believed to have been left by the infamous Blackbeard on a small island off the coast of Virginia.  While on vacation at Virginia Beach, the trio of sleuths learn from the boys' father that legend has it Blackbeard had buried some of his treasure somewhere in that area.  Derek is all excited at the thought of treasure, but Sam is not sure he believes there is any.  And then they meet One-Eyed Jack.  After helping the man after he is harassed by some local kids, the wanna-be pirate tells the three youngsters the story of Edward Treach, otherwise known as Blackbeard.  It's a great story, but they wonder if that is all it is.  Until Jack gives them a map - one that he says will lead them to the hiding place of Blackbeard's buried treasure!

Treasure hunts are always fun, and this book is no exception.  Smith manages to keep the reader in suspense all the way through - is there a treasure? where is the treasure?  what is the treasure?  And this book gives readers a whole new look at the characters - Derek suddenly takes centerstage, as he is the one intent on finding the treasure, and he'll stop at nothing to get to it - even if it means disobeying his parents and even breaking a few laws (such as sneaking into a military training center, "borrowing" a boat [a/k/a stealing!]).  Caitlin seems to be a bit more adventurous in this book; while she's still a know-it-all, with an encyclopedic mind full of knowledge, she has relaxed her uptightness a bit and is willing to go along with some of Derek's more outlandish plans.  And Sam ... poor Sam ... he appears to have regressed a bit in this book - or perhaps it's just all of the adventures that have come before are making him more timid.  In this adventure, Sam is afraid of lighthouse stairs ... afraid of dark caves ... afraid of tight places ... afraid of shark-infested waters.  In fact, he spends a good portion of the book afraid of something!

The fact that the Jacksons and the Murphys happen to have rented yurts just down the beach from a military training site had me wondering if perhaps the mystery might actually involve the military - but thankfully, that was not the case.  Although the training site and the military do have some importance to the story, Smith manages to keep the focus on Blackbeard's treasure.  And, as with all of the prior books, along the way, he slips in plenty of factual history about Virginia and its past.

The villain of this tale is not really hard to spot at all, and perhaps Smith intended it that way.  His name (SPOILER ALERT!) is Mike Prince, which sounds oddly a lot like "Mike Pence," and it left me wondering if the similarity was intentional on the author's part (particularly after the political leanings of the last book).  But I let it go and just enjoyed the ride as I followed the kids on their hunt.  And I give Smith credit for keeping the three youngsters true to form, because even when Prince threatens them, they don't hesitate to help him when he gets hurt.

The one thing I found a bit disappointing is that the story ends without some resolution as to the trouble Sam, Derek, and Caitlin face once they are rescued and returned to their parents.  I mean, let's face it - they do some incredibly illegal things in this book - trespassing, destruction of property, theft, and not to mention the amount of lies they tell their parents so they can sneak off and go treasure hunting.  But there is no payoff, so I'm hoping it will at least get a mention in the next book, because I can't imagine Smith leaving his young readers to think that they can do all of these things and get away without any punishment at all!

Overall, this as a refreshing tale of mystery and treasure hunting, and an enjoyable read.  Definitely brings me back into the series, and I look forward to book 11.

RATING:  7 crusty chain necklaces with oval lockets out of 10 for returning the series to its roots and putting the kids in some truly dangerous adventures!

Daisy Blackwood, Pilot for Hire - Vol. 4 - Paranormal Perils

Four books into the ongoing story of Daisy Blackwood, Pilot for Hire, and I'm still enjoying her adventures now as I did when I picked up and read the first graphic collection.  Creator/writer/artist Ryan Howe has created a truly likable character with a bit of wit, some quick comebacks, and a whole lot of intelligence and gumption to go up against some crazy supernatural baddies that seem to get worse with each story.  These comics are told in newspaper strip-style format, and the pulp-style adventures are paced perfectly to keep the action going, the story moving, and the excitement building.

Paranormal Perils provides readers with not one, not two, but THREE new stories featuring Daisy Blackwood and her new friend/roomie, Huma Laghari (who was introduced in the last collection).  Daisy and the Doc have returned home, where Ross Parsons is anxiously waiting.  Daisy welcomes Huma into her humble home, but any much-needed rest gets pushed aside when a little fire sprite escapes its container, and the two women have a bit of a comedic escapade re-capturing it.  The main feature, to to speak. of this volume involves a cult calling themselves the Golden Tone, who are making a nuisance of themselves in town.  Daisy and Huma set out to stop some of the Tone's members from harassing some innocent pedestrians, which leads them into uncovering a nefarious plot involving some high ranked officials and some very human sacrifices!  Of course, Daisy does what Daisy does best - blows things up! - and brings all of the cult's plans come crashing down on their heads in the most literal fashion possible.  The short story that wraps up this fourth volume is a cute little tale about a missing mummy that is not necessarily the danger everyone things she poses - and yes, I said that right - SHE.  And before the pages close on this book, Daisy finds herself asking Huma to join her in business, so that they can share more supernatural adventures together going forward!

 

The first tale, "Hot Times," is not overly serious, as Daisy introduces Huma to her home, her friends, and her life - but Huma has brought a fire sprite back with her, and when it gets loose, the two woman have one heck of a time trying to recapture the little booger.  Of course, what's the easiest way to put out a fire?  Not exactly the way you would think!

The main story of this collection, "Beautiful Music," starts off simple enough with Huma getting a needed haircut (after what the fire sprite does!), but quickly escalates into a full-scale adventure when they get into altercation with cult members of the Golden Tone.  It's a mixture of supernatural and technology, and Daisy happens upon the smallest of clues that begins to make her wonder if there is a bigger picture that she isn't seeing (because the cult leader's mask just happens to have the same symbol that she saw back in Norway...)

The final tale, "The Mummy," is supposed to be a simple delivery - but when the box carrying the mummy falls from her airplane, crashes, and the mummy gets up and walks away, Daisy must hunt her down.  With the help of Huma, she finds the ancient queen is looking for the most unexpected thing of all!  It's actually a touching little story that reminds the reader not to judge a book by its cover.

With this fourth book, Howe gives readers a bit of a respite from the longer adventures of the previous books, but the stories maintain the same quality, the same quirky humor, and the same excitement and adventure.  His art is as beautiful as ever, and the mix of detailed backgrounds with blank background panels gives just the right mix to keep the reader focused on the story and not just the "pretty art."  I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I really want to see Daisy Blackwood as a television series.  I mean, let's face it - a 1940s/50s pulp-style action hero who is a female adventurer that manages to get involved in one supernatural escapade after another - it's got "HIT" written all over it!

So, one more book to go - and then I have to wonder if there will be any more Daisy Blackwood tales, as I have not seen any further collections solicited, nor have I seen any news on Howe's own website about future stories.  I hope there is still more to come, as this is just too good a character to be put up on a shelf and left to collect dust!

RATING:  10 brooms and dustpans out of 10 for stories that give the reader some fantastic fun adventures to read with characters you just have to love!

Ravenwood - The Complete Series

Back in October of 2013, I started watching a new television show called Ravenswood.  It was spin-off of the already running Pretty Little Liars show, but Ravenswood was darker and moved into supernatural territory, which is what caught my interest (no, I never watched Pretty Little Liars - not my kind of show).  In any event, I absolutely loved the show, got all caught up in the stories and characters, and BAM - when he last episode aired on February 4, 2014, the news came out that the show had been cancelled!  UGH - I was ticked off, to say the least, because the show did not resolve all the stories (although I read later that some of the characters moved on to Pretty Little Liars to give some closure).   I have kept an eye out, hoping that the show would come out on DVD, but it never has.  The reason I say all of this is because during my time of searching for any DVDs or books of the show, I happened across this particular book.  I had not realized there was a pulp character of a similar name as the TV show, and since this book contained all of the stories written of the character back in the day, I bought it.

Now, here we are are about four or five years later, and I have finally gotten around to reading Ravenwood: The Complete Series.  Obviously, the book has nothing whatsoever to do with the television show, and the only similarity is the supernatural element to both.  This Ravenwood is the name of a private investigator (and Ravenwood is his only name, as the stories never reference any first name) who grew up under the tutelage of Oriental philosophies, studying the teachings of Yoga, and learning from his mentor, known only as the Nameless One.  Ravenwood is gifted with an unusual insight that not only provides visions (for which he often comes to the Nameless One for clarity in understanding), but he seems to have an uncanny sixth sense of know where he is needed, when he is needed, and who needs him before even they do!  What is truly unique about these stories is that in each instance, there appears to be some kind of supernatural enemy seeking to destroy someone Ravenwood is trying to help, but in every instance, Ravenwood, with the help of his own supernatural insight, proves the culprit to be as human as you and me.

Ravenwood was created and written by Frederick C. Davis, who was quite the prolific author of pulp stories back in the day - from Operator #5 to Hazzard to Moon Man to numerous others.  His character of Ravnwood, Stepson of Mystery (yeah, not really sure what the whole "stepson" is supposed to mean) appeared in only five stories in the pulp magazine Secret Agent "X" (March, April, June, August, and October 1936 issues), and this book collects all five of those stories.  Each story has five chapters, the this collection introduces each story with a short blurb that I have to wonder whether it was used to advertise the tales back when they were originally published.  And honestly, after reading them, I'm surprised the character did not endure longer.  The stories are well written, are extremely creepy in their own way, provide some very intriguing mysteries, and are definitely filled with plenty of action.  It seems the stories have every element a fan of pulp fiction would enjoy - but, for whatever reason, poor Ravenwood disappeared after this fifth story was published in October 1936.

"Murder Shrine" features a cursed Buddha that holds a secret treasure.  Someone is trying to get their hands on that treasure, but people are dying from an ancient curse surrounding the sealed idol.  "Pawn of the Serpent" involves a case of stolen identity, a deadly blackmail scheme, and a mysterious handshake of death associated with the venom of a deadly mamba snake.  "Crucibles of the Damned" deals with a cursed graveyard, a double-crossing criminal intent on stealing a fortune in gold, a missing husband, and the mysterious deaths of anyone who dares go into the cemetery of doom. "Master of the Living Dead" finds Ravenwood investigating a tragic accident, a missing director, a mystical beetle, and a man who is determined to find the secret of returning life to the dead.  And last, but not least, "The Phantom Juggernaut" tells the tale of a deadly car with no driver that seems to have set its sights on one particular family, killing them off one by one, and Ravenwood has only a short time to find a way to stop the juggernaut before it kills again.

A cursed Buddha ... a handshake of death ... a cursed cemetery ... bringing the dead to life ... and a car without a driver ... all of these seem to be supernatural or mystical in nature, with no possible explanation; yet, Ravenwood manages to sift through all of the unseen and untold and discover the truth of what is really going on and who is creating these manufactured horrors.  The stories are thoroughly engaging and fun to read, and the only thing I drawback I can mention is that each story recites Ravenwood's origin (of how, as a young boy with is parents over in the mountainous crags of Burma, near the forbidden Tibet, his father saved the Nameless One from an attacking tiger, so the Nameless One vowed to always protect his family; when his parents died from a ravaging plague, the Nameless one came to claim the young boy and teach him; as an adult, Ravenwood returns to the States, and the Nameless One follows, forever bound to his ward...) in the same manner, often in the same words.  I realize this was likely done so that a new reader who picked up an issue of Secret Agent "X" for the first time could know how Ravenwood gained his mystical insight, but reading the stories one after another like I did in this collection, it became a bit repetitive and detracted a bit from the stories.  Otherwise, I can say in all honesty that I loved the stories (and can imagine this as a television series - the stories hold up over time and could be placed in modern times just as easily as they are in the 1930s).

The cover art used for this collection is rather odd, to say the least.  I can't imagine this was ever actually used for any Ravenwood art; rather, it appears to be a rip-off of the Phantom of the Opera art (if you go online and look for Phantom art, you will see the Phantom is drawn pretty much identical to the evil villain portrayed on this cover).  Not sure where the publisher got this art, as there is absolutely no credit given for the cover artist or from where the art was reproduced.  There is, however, on the inside a frontis piece of pencil and ink art that provides an image from one of the stories ("Crucibles of the Damned" - once again, no credit given to the artist or where the art is taken from), leaving me to wonder if the original pulp stories had illustrations to go along with the prose stories, or if this drawing was specifically done by someone for this collection.

Fans of mystery, supernatural, or both will definitely enjoy these tales - highly recommend!

RATING:  9 small, leather-bound books ragged with age out of 10 for suspenseful supernatural stories that will definitely keep you turning page after page!

The Twin Ring Mystery - a Mystery Story for Girls

So, this book appears to be the first "Mystery Stories for Girls" that Mildred Wirt (Benson) wrote for Cupples & Leon Co.  Published in 1935, this book was not a part of the "Mildred Wirt's Mystery Stories for Girls," but rather, it appears to be one of the general "Mystery Stories for Girls" published by Cupples & Leon, which series also included books by Pemberton Ginther (such as The Jade Necklace, The Secret Stair, and The Thirteenth Spoon), Inola Forrester (The Door in the Mountain), and Frances Young (The Secret of the Dark House). Perhaps it was this book that prompted Cupples & Leon to create a separate line of mystery stories for girls solely by Wirt.  After all, this book was actually pretty good, and I can imagine it sold pretty well back when it originally came out.

The Twin Ring Mystery is the story of Joan Bernell and her new friends, Gail Carrington (not of the Dynasty clan, mind you - this was nearly five decades before that show ever aired!) and Bob Bartley.  It is a bit hard to discern just who Wirt intended the protagonist to be - Joan or Gail.  The story opens with Gail waiting anxiously for Joan to arrive, concerned that Joan will not like Crystal Beach; but one Joan arrives, she somewhat takes the focus, as not only does she reveal herself (modestly, mind you) to be a fairly good swimmer, but she also takes an instant interest in the mysterious locket that is to be given as a prize for the winner of a swimming contest later in the summer.  Perhaps Wirt intended the reader to accept both girls as protagonists - for while Gail, at first, has no real interest in trying to solve the mystery surrounding the locket, some of Joan's excitement and curiosity wears off on her and she begins to become just as devoted to finding out its secret history.

The mystery is a bit complicated - it involves a ship that sank in 1926 as a result of a hurricane that swept through Florida (***more on that later), an unclaimed trunk that was discovered when Gail's Aunt Ella purchased the boat and transformed it into an inn ("The Pirate Inn"), a locket that was discovered inside a secret compartment in the trunk, and a ring that the girls find hidden inside the locket (see? I told you it was complicated!).  Gail and her aunt also discovered a diary inside the trunk, but it was difficult to read, so they did not look too deeply into it.  Joan, however, is intrigued by the entire thing and encourages Gail and Bob to help her discover who the trunk, diary, and locket belonged to and whatever happened to her.  This, of course, leads them to not only discover the girl's identity, but also, to their surprise, to learn that the ring is only one half of what is called a "gimmel ring" - two thin rings that fit together to form one ring when joined, usually used to express betrothal between a young man and woman.  Needless to say, the three become more determined than ever to find out what happened to the owner - and, in true children's series book fashion, the answers lead them to someone right there in Crystal Beach and to a wonderful reunion of long-lost lovers!

Now, first, let me say I was surprised to find this mystery set in Florida.  "Crystal Beach" is an unincorporated community within the city of Palm Harbor, Florida, which is located on the west coast of Florida (the Gulf of Mexico side) just north of St. Petersburg and Clearwater.  In trying to see if this is the same Crystal Beach described in the book, it is difficult to tell.  Based on elements in the story (such as references to people traveling "up" from Miami), it is clear that the beach is not near or south of Miami (as there was a thought it could be set in the Keys).  But the references to pirate ships and such give the place more of a feeling of St. Augustine area, which is on the eastern side of the state (the Atlantic side).  While I did not find any specific references to pirates ever landing on or near Crystal Beach, the surrounding towns do have a Pirate Ship Royal Conquest tourist attraction, as well as a Pirates Cover Marina and Boat Club, which could lend to the idea that years ago there may have been stories about pirates in the general vicinity.  Sadly, no way of knowing why Wirt decided to set the book in Florida or in Crystal Beach, but it is fun researching and speculating!

Moving on to that reference to a hurricane in 1926 (p. 10), that is indeed a fact.  The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 that caused devastation and catastrophic damage across the southern part of Florida, going up into the Gulf of Mexico.  While the information I found online does not indicate any damage that may have occurred up around the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area, it does show that the hurricane crossed in northwesterly route, exiting land in the Fort Myers area (which is south of St. Petersburg).  Now, having been through a number of hurricanes here in Florida, it could be that as it passed out into the Gulf of Mexico, the bands of the hurricane extended up into the Crystal Beach area (although whether they would have been enough to sink a ship or not, that is unknown).  Regardless, it is interesting that Wirt referenced an actual event such as the hurricane and integrated it into the mystery.

Another interesting element to the story is the inscription inside the rings.  The one-half of the ring found by Joan and Gail has a Latin inscription that reads "Quod Deus conjunxit" (p. 30), which, translated into English, means "What God has joined together."(And, yes, I looked it up to verify this, and it is indeed the correct Latin spelling and meaning.)  Now, one would think that the phrase would have given the girls an immediate idea of what the rings meant, and what inscription the second half of the ring would have, but they don't seem to come to that conclusion until much later.  Perhaps Wirt thought her readers would not readily recognize only half of the phrase, so she kept it a secret from her amateur sleuths until later in the story.

Yet another tidbit I enjoyed reading about was the play in which Gail played a role.  Wirt utilizes the play to its fullest, not only in that the director and theater teacher has an integral part to the mystery, but also the play itself, "The Merchant of Venice" (p. 54).  There are lines from the play that Joan hears recited (pp. 56-57) that provide her the clue she needs to realize the meaning of that Latin phrase inscribed in the gimmel ring (also spelled "gimmal").  And in case you're wondering (as I'm sure many readers of this book have wondered throughout the years), a gimmel ring consists of two rings.  "One fits inside the other and is kept in place by a projection on the side of the exterior circle, so that when the ring is worn it gives the appearance of being only one instead of two" (p. 62).  As Wirt has her characters relate in the book, the gimmel rings were actually popular back in the 16th and 17th centuries, often used as betrothal rings where the fiances would each wear one half of the ring until the wedding day, at which time the husband would join the ring to the one worn by the wife, and she would wear the whole ring from that day forward.  Funny thing - Wirt had originally titled the book The Gimmal Ring, but the publisher, Cupples & Leon suggested it be changed to The Twin Ring Mystery (p. 63, Rediscovering Nancy Drew, ed. Dyer and Romalov, "Fulfilling a Quest for Adventure," Mildred Wirt Benson).  Wonder how well the book would have done if the publishers had stuck with Wirt's original title?

One more thing to note is the emphasis on swimming in this book.  As most fans of Wirt know, she was a skilled swimmer, so I guess it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that she would write about it in her books.  A distraction for the characters in the book is a girls' swimming competition, for which Gail's aunt is offering up the locket as a prize to the winner.  Bob offers to train Joan to enter the race, explaining the importance of building up endurance slowly (p. 79); Joan observes the form of Margery (a competitor) as she dives into the water (p. 85); Gail is taught how to perfect her leg kick (p. 99); and the girls even watch Bob, who is a lifeguard, rush into the water to save a man from drowning (pp. 113-14).  Wirt provides some very detailed descriptions of these swimming efforts in ways that only someone intimately familiar with it would be able to describe with such ease.

While the ultimate ending does not truly come as much of a surprise (Wirt pretty much gives things away with the clues - but maybe that's just because I've read so many children's series books and so many mystery, and heck, even so many of Wirt's books, that I can pick up on the "tells" way ahead of time), it is still nicely told and very well written.  In fact, the reuniting of the lovers separated all those years ago by a hurricane and misunderstandings has the feeling of a soap opera revelation (and I mean that in a good way!).  

A final observation before I close this one out - this appears to be the first of Wirt's "Mystery Stories for Girls" written for Cupples & Leon, and it is funny the number of elements in this book that resemble those from the Nancy Drew series.  There's the diary that holds such important clues as to the identity of the locket owner (The Clue in the Diary, 1932); there's the locket that holds the key to reunited loved ones (The Clue of the Broken Locket, 1934); and I would mention the whole "secret compartment in the old trunk," but that Nancy Drew book was not yet written at the time (The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk, 1940).  Wirt wrote both Diary and Locket (as well as Trunk), so it leads one to wonder if perhaps she was thinking of those stories as she was writing this book (and perhaps she remembered this book when she wrote Trunk!), and the plot elements just sort of wove their way in.  Only Wirt knew for sure!

At any rate, overall, this book was a really enjoyable read with a great little mystery to it.  While all three of the lead characters were pretty strong, I would have to say that I preferred Joan to any of them, and I wouldn't have minded seeing her solving other mysteries.  But, I suppose I will have to be satisfied with this one book, as Wirt never took these characters into any of her other stories.

 

(P.S. - forgot to mention - a super-wonderful friend gifted me an autographed copy of this book, signed by Wirt, which says, "This is the very first mystery I wrote under my own name!" - it is a book that I now treasure greatly and will forever be grateful to my friend for graciously giving it to me!)

RATING:  9 daring fliers from the world war out of 10 for a wonderfully plotted, well-written mystery that still holds its own today!

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #18 - The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion

Wow - 700 blog posts since I started this blog back in 2015!  Honestly, I didn't think this blog would still be going eight years later, and I certainly never thought I'd be hitting my 700th blog post!  Yet, here we are.  It has been quite an adventure, and as anyone who has been following along can attest, the variety of things I've read has certainly been quite ... eclectic.  From adult mysteries to children's mysteries ... from super heroes to horror stories ... from comic books to literary works ... from short stories to full length novels ... from female detectives to male newspaper reporters.  And, for the most part, I have enjoyed nearly all of the books, comics, and short stories that I've read to date.  So, as we head into the next eight years and the next 700 blog posts, I can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead...

 

For now, though, the adventures through the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories continue, as we reach book 18 of the original series.  Published in 1941, the outline for this book was written by Edna Stratemeyer Squier and the actual writing of the book was by Mildred Wirt (Benson), who, with the exception of books 8, 9, and 10, had been writing all of the books in this series from the beginning based on outlines provided by the Stratemeyer Syndicate.  It has been so long since I originally read the original text version of this story, that I was not really sure what to expect.  But I can tell you without hesitation that the story I read was far from anything I could have possibly expected!

The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion (and note - the title is very important, as the title provides a clear delineation between the original text version and the revised text version, which was published in 1971) is ... well, it is probably wilder than Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney!  Now, before I begin, I should probably note that the book was published in 1941, meaning it was likely written in 1940 or early 1941.  At this time, Wirt was dealing with a quite a bit at home - her husband at the time, Asa Wirt, had suffered a stroke and her daughter, Peggy, was only four years old at the time.  Add to this the stress of writing the number of books Wirt was writing, and one can imagine that her work may not be exactly up to par.  On top of this, the outlines that Edward Stratemeyer's daughters were providing Wirt were becoming more and more detailed, to the point where Wirt could barely find ways to include everything that was being given to her to put into the stories!  And last, but not least, the outline for this book was written by Edna Stratemeyer Squier, and ... well, let's just say, the books based on her outlines were usually a bit "different" from those of her late father or sister.

That being said, let's talk about that story.  Nancy, Bess and George are off to a city named Ashley to meet up with Nancy's father.  As usual, there's no detail as to where "Ashley" is located, but a look at the map reveals there is an Ashley in Indiana, located on the Northeastern side of the state.  There are also cities named Ashley in 14 other states as well!  However, page 2 of the book reveals that the girls pass pine and moss-draped oak trees - and there are red pines that grow in Central and Northern Indiana, and a number of different oak trees grow in Indiana as well.  The book reveals that the day the girls arrive in Ashley also happens to be Carson Drew's birthday (p. 16)!  Unfortunately, we aren't told what day, or even month, it is, nor are we given his age.  But we do find out that Nancy has a very special present for her father - a 20" x 15" oil painting of herself by the famed artist Jules Raynard (p. 16).  And, coincidentally enough (and let's face it, it wouldn't be a Nancy Drew book without those coincidences!), the woman Nancy and her friends are staying with in Ashley happens to also be a painter, having been trained by another artist named Karl Karter (p. 22).

Anyway, the mystery begins when the girls happen upon a "moss-covered mansion" (p. 6) on their way to Ashley, and Nancy becomes intrigued by the mysterious nature of the place, as well as the shot they hear fired somewhere within the mansion.  And just in case you don't remember the name of the book, don't worry - every time any character talks about the mansion, it is ALWAYS referred to as "the moss-covered mansion."  After the girls leave, George realizes she lost her watch somewhere in those woods near the moss-covered mansion - thus, giving the girls reason to go back to look for the watch (and for Nancy to investigate what is going on in that mansion).  This mystery actually becomes more dangerous than previous ones when they learn someone is found shot near the moss-covered mansion and dies from the shot (p. 43).  Later, a man named Ramo shows up at the boarding house where the girls are staying, demanding to know what she knows about his brother being shot (p. 49).  Of course, she knows nothing, as she never saw he man, nor was anywhere near the mansion when the man was shot.  

Now (and I hope you're writing all of this down, otherwise you'll never keep track of it), we learn that Carson is in Ashley looking for June Campbell, who is to inherit her recently dead mother's fortune - the only problem is, June cannot be found.  It so happens that a Mrs. Labelle may know something about the Campbells, so Nancy decides to interview the woman for her father (since Carson knows she can interview the woman more skillfully than he could - he says so on page 51!).  But, while at the woman's house, the plaster ceiling collapses right on top of Nancy (p. 54)!   Mrs. Labelle informs the girls that June Campell had a friend in Ashley named Penelope Parson (hmmmm, sound familiar?  Penny Parker, maybe?).  It turns out that Penelope lives in a nearby city of Wayside on the Bonny View Trailer Camp (which is funny, since Wirt had published four "Trailer Stories" just a few year prior to the publication of this book). 

Something interesting to note is that the point of view shifts here, and readers are treated to a scene where Penelope visits Mrs. Labelle, and the two discuss June Campbell, which conversation Ramo happens to overhear.  I don't know that I can recall any scenes in a Nancy Drew book that was told from a third-party point of view where Nancy was not even in the room!  Nevertheless, Nancy and her friends pop back in, because Carson has received notification that June has appeared and he wants Mrs. Labelle to go with him to identify her.  Nancy asks the woman to give her the key to her house and she will care for the house while Mrs. Labelle is away - and she agrees (p. 68).  Now, I realize that the 1940s were a different time, but I have a hard time imagining someone turning over the keys to their house to a complete stranger like that.

Eventually the mystery starts to build, and I'm sure you can figure out by now that the disappearance of June Campbell is related to the moss-covered mansion, and with all the talk about art, that also plays a part of that pesky mansion - but the manner in which this story goes about getting there is so convoluted, with so many characters and situations, that it's hard to follow along sometimes as it jumps from scene to scene without any real reason or connection.  I mean, at one point, we have a monkey that escapes from a circus, we have a dead horse being delivered to the moss-covered mansion, we have Nancy nearly stepping on a copperhead snake, we discover that Ramo is in cahoots with a gypsy psychic reader (and what is it with Wirt's fascination with psychics?  Tapping Heels featured one, as did Penny Parker's Witch Doll and Silken Ladder, and now this one?), Mrs. Labelle suffers a heart attack, Nancy uses a magazine to fan air into Mrs. Labelle's mouth (really????), Carson charters a private plane to take Nancy and him to Liberty Corners, the plane crashes, Nancy gets knocked out by a heavy branch falling on her head, and that's not even the half of it all!  There is one pretty good scene, though, where Nancy runs Ramo off the road (p. 188) - I thought that was a nice touch, since it seems the crooks are always running Nancy off the road, it was nice to see her turn the tables on them!

Another scene I thought was very appropriate is when Nancy goes to see an attorney to discover what information he might have about the moss-covered mansion.  It seems he handled the legal affairs for the people who owned the house before, so Nancy thinks he could provide her a clue - but the attorney is away, and his secretary refuses to give Nancy any information, saying she cannot disclose his business affairs (p. 78).  While this frustrates Nancy to no end, she, being the daughter of an attorney, should know a thing or to about attorney/client privilege!

Oh, and speaking of those owners - Nancy learns pretty early on that the moss-covered mansion was owned by the Hurd family, but that they all died from a mysterious illness while they were living in the mansion (p. 33), and that ever since, no one goes near the place.  There are a couple of mentions about the weird death of the Hurd family in the story, but what's truly odd is that the mystery surrounding this is never resolved.  Nancy never really questions or digs into what could have caused an entire family to die like that in the house.  I guess with all of the other strange things going on in this book, that sort of got forgotten.

Something else I found to be very odd is that when Nancy finally finds her father in the hospital following the plane crash (yeah, don't ask - that whole part of the book is crazy enough!), she runs to his bedside where "she kissed him tenderly.  Then suddenly she felt a wave of dizziness coming over her.  She must not let her father see this!  Pulling herself together, she lay down on the bed for a few minutes, then stood up" (p. 164).  I don't know about you, but who lays down in a hospital bed beside a patient just because they are feeling dizzy?  Wouldn't they sit down in a chair next to the bed, or perhaps lie down in another bed?  And the fact that no one in the story thought this was weird or asked Nancy why she climbed into bed with her father, only to get right back up ... well, it's a VERY odd scene.

Of course, that's no more odd than Bess asking the doctor to give Nancy a stimulant on that same page, and the doctor providing one with no questions asked!  Dare we even wonder what that stimulant might be?  Yes, there is no doubt about it, this book would make the PERFECT fodder for Michael Cornelius' "Crazy Eights" column (and if you don't know what that is, go back and re-read some issues of The Sleuth, and you'll know exactly what I mean!).  

There is SO much more I could talk about with regard to this story (and I won't even go into that horrid re-write, in which we have exploding oranges!), but the last thing I'll mention is the title.  When the book was first published, the title was The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion, likely because the mystery involved what was actually going on inside of the mansion and the people there; but when the book was revised in 1971, the word "The" at the beginning of the title was dropped, and the word "at" suddenly became "of," so that the title of the revised book was simply Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion.  Not sure exactly why the change in title, unless it is because the stories are so distinctly different, the Syndicate wanted to make sure readers realized it was a different book.

Oh, and yes, there is one more thing - in the first few printings of this book, the next book is listed as "The Quest of the Telltale Map" (p. 215), but it was later changed to "The Quest of the Missing Map," which is what the title of the eventually published book was.  Just a little tidbit of trivia I'd throw in there.

RATING:  5 dust-covered cars out of 10 for cramming more crazy things into a mystery than this reader ever thought could possibly fit into just one story!

Elvira in Horrorland - a Dynamite Comics mini-series

I can remember back in the 1980s, when I still lived in Kentucky, I would stay up late on Saturday nights with my mom, and we would watch a show called "Elvira's Movie Macabre."  It was a fun way to watch horror movies, with Elvira providing commentary during commercial breaks, pointing out the inconsistencies, the bad editing or acting, and other humorous remarks about the films.  It made them thoroughly fun to watch, and I was heart-broken when we moved to Florida and could not find the show on any of the local channels here.  I also remember that at one time, DC Comics (after it's cancellation of its horror anthology title, House of Mystery) published a comic called Elvira's House of Mystery, which took the same concept as "Movie Macabre," but applied it to short tales or horror in comic form.  Sadly, it only lasted 11 issues, with one special.  I know an independent company later published another Elvia comic book series in the 1990s, which actually ran for quite a while (well over 100 issues, if I recall correctly), but I never picked that one up.  Well, at some point, Dynamite Comics must have gotten the rights to do new comics based on this iconic character, and they have been a lot of fun to read.  What started with a four-issue mini-series, then a 12-issue series, then jumped to a cross-over with Vincent Price, has now culminated in a mini-series featuring our titular mistress of the dark accidentally inserting herself into some of horror's most iconic films!

Elvira in Horrorland picks up where Elvira Meets Vincent Price left off.  Elvira was supposed to have been transported back to the "real" world after her adventure with Vincent Price, but the magical remote control didn't quite work right, and instead, Elvira finds herself jumping from one horror film to the next, trying to find her way back to her own world.  Issue one starts off with Elvira stuck in black and white at the Bloch's Hotel, which is run by Norbert, who is a huge mama's boy (and if you don't get the "Bloch" reference, then look it up!).  Of course, in true Elvira fashion, she screws up the whole film in order to get her hands on that magic controller - and is very nearly stopped by the remake!  (Yeah, you gotta read it to understand it.)

Which leads into the second issue, where instead of home, Elvira finds herself freezing at a snowy, mountaintop inn that is very, VERY isolated and where a certain writer is trying to create his next masterpiece while slowly going out of his mind.  Elvira's presence throws a monkey wrench into the story, and she even finds a spaced-out visitor who shouldn't be there (but would be very home in that other odyssey of a film that Kubrick directed).  It's all fun and games (and bloody murder!) until Elvira finds that darned clicker and clicks herself away from there ... and into space!  Only, not that space odyssey.  No, instead she ends up in the corner of space where no one can hear you scream.  Yup, issue three rips off an alien or two.  And after dealing with one mother in the first issue, she's none to happy about having to fight with another mother just to get her hands on that clicker.  And you gotta give Elvira credit - she does try to help the crew of the ship escape their fate, but they just don't want to listen (after all, they have a script to follow!).  So, Elvira simply clicks her way from this nightmare into another one...

The penultimate chapter in Elvira's romp through horrorland has Elvira taking advantage of her nightmare landscape - because remember, it is a dream, after all, and if Nancy taught us one thing, in your dreams, you have the power! - and jumping from one nightmare to another.  Well, from one to three to seven, I should say.  And poor Nancy ... er Heather ... er whoever she is in this comic ... is sure confused by Elvira's antics.  But Elvira only has one thing on her mind, and that's getting back home.  So, once she finds that clicker, she hits the button, only to wind up flying into her final issue - to face a remake of that annoying insect film ... as well as that other mind-blowing movie that Cronenberg did.  It's a battle royale as Elvira finally finds the way home, where Eddie is waiting for her.

 

David Avallone truly has a handle on Elvira and her personality - the quick wit, the snarky comebacks, and the absolute fun of it all!  He writes a wonderfully crazy story that is fun to read and not only pokes fun at all those horror movies of the '80s, but also provides readers (and fans!) with plenty of nostalgia at the same time.  Silvia Califano provides the art, and does an outstanding job of with Elvira, as well as the casts of all these films.  At times, I could almost "feel" the movie I was reading - it was fantastic!  I want to see more of Califano's work!

And if you think that's the end, well ... that little blurb in the final panel says that Elvira will return in Elvira in Monsterland!  (Yet, I've seen no advertisement or solicit for that series yet, so we'll see if it eventually makes it to print or not...)

RATING:  10 ripped shower curtains out of 10 for full-throttle, fun-filled Elvira zaniness that will satisfy every kind of comic reader out there!