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!