Penny Parker Mystery Stories No. 6 - The Secret Pact

I do have to say, I love the fact that with her Penny Parker series, Mildred Wirt (Benson) decided to take the less-traveled road and give her mysteries names that were not the standard "Mystery of the..." or "Secret in the..." or "Clue of the..." (although, admittedly, book 5 did fall back on that standard way of naming children's mysteries - but we can overlook that one title).  From tales of witch dolls to vanishing houseboats, to dangerous drawbridges, to green doors hiding big secrets - this series has been a lot of fun to read, and the title character is strong-willed, high-spirited soul who definitely goes after what she wants!  And in this sixth book, Penny Parker definitely shows just how demanding she can be when it comes to solving a mystery and getting a story!

The Secret Pact opens in a rather different way.  Often, Wirt's books (and most children's mysteries from this era) seem to begin with some sort of dialogue - whether it's the protagonist of the book making some important observation ("It would be a shame if all that money went to the Tophams!" is the first that comes to mind) or one of the main character's friends exclaiming in surprise.  But the opening lines to this book immediately set a mood, drawing the reader into an almost Gothic setting that makes one what dark secrets will be revealed in this book!

A BLANKET of fog, thick and damp, swirled about the decks of the excursion steamer, Goodtime, cautiously plying its course down the river.  At intervals, above the steady throb of the ship's engines, a fog horn sounded its mournful warning to small craft. (The Secret Pact, p. 1)

Wirt definitely chose her words carefully here - the "thick and damp" fog swirling about the deck invokes images of perhaps the cold, dark streets of London as dusk is settling ... the steamer "cautiously" plying its course provides readers with a sense of foreboding, that the ship has to be cautious, for something is about to happen ... the "steady throb" of the ship's engines could easily be the sound of that tell-tale heart that Poe so vividly write about ... the "mournful warning" of the fog horn conjures up feelings of loneliness and sadness ... with just two sentences, Wirt prepares her readers for the story that is to come!

Now sure, the mystery has plenty of Penny's regular go-get 'em antics - but the supporting characters this time have a level of sadness and misfortune that were not seen in the first five books of this series.  You've got Tillie Fellows, who Penny and Louise meet as the steamer docks - described as an "– “unattractive picture, for her blouse was wrinkled and her skirt was spotted with an ugly coffee stain.  Beneath a brown, misshapen roll-brim hat hung a tangle of brown hair" (p. 5), Tillie has her purse stolen as she is waiting to disembark, and with it the only money she has left (amounting to $12, she tells Penny on page 5 - which would equate to nearly $245 in today's dollar).  This sets the mystery in motion, for soon enough, Penny and Louise also witness a young woman they had seen on the steamer walk over to the river and drop a bag into the water (p. 8).  Penny, being the inquisitive creature she is, runs over to get the bag before it goes under - only to see "[t]hrough the opening protruded a long strand of dark hair" (p. 9), which causes Louise to scream!  If you are like me, then you immediately realized that Penny and Louise thought perhaps they had found a severed head, which is a pretty gruesome thing to even hint at in a children's mystery (although, that being said, it would fit perfectly with the Gothic theme that seems to be developing in the story...).  Of course, it turns out not to be a head, but rather, a wig, a dark veil, and a cheap jacket (p. 10), which all evidence the woman was in disguise on the boat (another Gothic element, people pretending to be something or someone they are not!).

 

The story then heats up, for Jerry Livingston picks up Penny at the waterfront, and as they are taxiing to her father's newspaper, they witness a man being pushed over a bridge (p. 15).  The man is rescued by a passing ship, and Jerry and Penny happen to see that the man has a huge tattoo on his back of an octopus (p. 18) with the word "ALL" between the two foremost arms (p. 19).  Now, at this point, we have a stolen purse, a woman in disguise, and a man with a tattoo pushed off a bridge - all seemingly unconnected, but anyone who reads series books for any length of time will know that they eventually all intertwine into one big mystery - and this book is no different!

 

Penny manages to talk her way into using the abandoned building that used to house the Morning Press, Riverview's competing newspaper, completely rent free (only in a series book!), and she begins her own newspaper career with The Weekly Times!  Of course, she has some mishaps, including a jealous editor from the high school paper who changes one letter of that title just before the first issue goes to press, causing Penny's paper to be The Weakly Times (p. 53) - as beautifully rendered by K. Woerner in the frontis piece.  This, of course, gets corrected, with Penny's first front page story being about the man pushed over the bridge and his strange tattoo.  Well, this starts the dominoes falling, as a man named Peter Fenestra shows up at the newspaper wanting to know more about this man.  The pace moves along faster as Mr. Parker buys a cottage on Big Bear River, which happens to be neighbors with Peter Fenestra's property - and the man Mr. Parker hires to take care of the cottage (Anchor Joe) happens to have an  octopus tattoo on his back, with the word "ONE" in between the arms (p. 79).  Not long thereafter, wanting to know more about tattoos, Penny interviews a local tattoo artist who reveals he is working to remove a tattoo for one of his customers - a tattoo of an octopus with the words "FOR ONE" between the arms (pp. 135-36).  That customer just happens to be Peter Fenestra (p. 176).  The mystery eventually comes together, as Penny learns that Fenestra has been up to no good - not only cheating his former sailing partners out of the gold they stole, but also blackmailing the former owner of the Morning Press (whose daughter just happened to be the one with the disguise Penny saw on the steamer!).  Penny, with the help of Jerry Livingston, puts a stop to Fenestra's plans and helps out poor Tillie, as well as Old Horney (that's a whole 'nother story that you'll have to read the book to find out about!).  As usual, all's well that ends well!

 

There are a number of interesting tidbits to note in this book.  The first is the name "Fenestra."  This is actually a Latin word, which means "window" and is used in the biological sciences to describe a small opening or pore.  I thought this was an interesting choice for the last name, since Peter Fenestra has a storm cellar on his property, with a small door that he keeps padlocked to keep people out - the cellar turns out to have a contraption inside (underground) that he has been using to melt the stolen gold so he can use it without people knowing where he got it.

 

Another thing is where Wirt has the tattoo artist make a passing comment to Penny about how the King of England paid $50 to get his tattoo, while he was only being paid $1 to provide tattoos in Riverview.  It turns out that King George V, before he was crowned king, actually did get some tattoos when he was visiting Japan in 1881 - a dragon and a tiger tattooed on his arms, purportedly chosen to represent the East and the West.  I honestly had not thought a simple comment written in passing like that would have actual historical truth to it - just goes to show that Wirt infused reality into her stories in some of the strangest places.

 

A couple of odd things I noticed - first, when Penny and Louise meet Tillie and discover her purse is stolen, Penny hands her $5, which Louise mentions is Penny's weekly allowance (pp. 6-7).  That $5 in 1941 is comparable to $102 in today's dollar value!  That's quite a hefty sum that Penny was getting for an allowance, and quite a large amount of money for her to just hand over to Tillie!  Obviously, Penny and her father must have considerable money, because later in the book, Mr. Parker thinks nothing of writing a check to Penny for $100 to help her get the things she needs to start her newspaper - because $100 in 1941 would be comparable to $2,100 today!  I certainly wish my father was willing to just write checks like that to me!

 

Something else that was odd is that when Penny learns that the men with the octopus tattoos all sailed about the same ship, the Dorasky, she composes a letter to that steamship and mails it off to learn more about the men (p. 141). Other than Penny mentioning that she sent off a letter (p. 157), there is no further mention of that mailing.  Penny gets no response, and she never wonders what happened to her request.  I was thinking she would get a response back and that would be the clue she needed to connect all of the men to the stolen gold; but, instead, it is a plot element that simply gets dropped and never mentioned again.  That is unlike Wirt to introduce something like this without following up on it.

 

One more thing is poor Matthew Judson, who used to own the Morning Press.  His story is a sad one involving a dying wife, a desperate crime, and a secret he is hiding from his daughter.  I was actually shocked when he admits to Penny that if it weren't for his daughter, "I probably would end it all!" (p. 89)  I can't recall any series book that ever actually presented the thought of suicide in such a blunt way, and I'm rather surprised Wirt actually used this extreme measure in the book, even if were only hinted at and not actually followed through with.

 

One final thought - the story has some elements that appear in other books written by Wirt.  For example, Tillie Meadows being stranded without any money and no place to go is similar to the poor young girl the Gibsons meet in Crimson Cruiser, who is out of money, stranded with no place to go. The fact that Riverview is located on the bank of the Big Bear River is interesting, as that is the same river that can be found in Wirt's Ghost Gables!  The drama of Pauletta Judson (the daughter of the owner of the Morning Press), who does not want to marry the man her father has picked for her, and so she disguises herself and secretly goes on the steamer is reminiscent of the story of Doris in The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk.  And at the end, when Penny gets trapped in her father's office while Fenestra sets the building on fire, it reminded me of the scene in The Vanishing Houseboat, where Penny and Louise are trapped above the laundromat while it is set on fire.

 

(Okay, okay, one truly last thing....) There is a sweet moment at the end, when Mr. Parker realizes his building is damaged because of the fire and he won't be able to put out a special edition of the Star with the events of this book.  Penny humbly gives him the Press building she has been using for her own paper (p. 205), but she is surprised when the paper comes off the presses with the Weekly Times banner (p. 207)!  This kind of happy (sappy?) ending definitely reminded me of The Gift of the Magi (sort of), in that Penny and her father both sacrificed their own success for the benefit of the other!  Definitely a wonderful way to end this tale.

 

There's obviously tons more that could be discussed about this book.but we would not want to spoil everything for you, otherwise, you'd have no reason to go out and read the book for yourself!

 

RATING:  10 terrifying tornado storms out of 10 for a fantastic tale that provides newspaper publishing details, shoot-outs on the riverbank, and a ever-so-sweet budding relationship between Jerry and Penny!