Mildred A. Wirt's Trailer Stories for Girls #2 - The Crimson Cruiser

While normally, when reading a series, I will not read and do reviews for all the books in a series consecutively like this - but since this is only a four-book series, I thought it might be interesting to read them one after another and provide reviews of how they hold up against each other.  The first book in this series set the stage - introducing readers to Barbara, Ginger, and Jimmie and giving readers a taste of what life in the road in a travel trailer a/k/a caravan is like.  It took a while before the mystery really got started.  Now, with this second book, readers are already familiar with the characters and setting, so author Mildred A. Wirt (Benson) starts off the mystery right in the very first chapter!

The Crimson Cruiser finds the Gibson children enjoying a trip in their new trailer home, this time with their Uncle Nathan (who apparently has recovered fully from his injuries in the automobile accident in the previous books).  As the story begins, Barbara and Ginger are discussing the poor girl who is staying in a tent next to their trailer at a unidentified camp (interesting how Wirt manages to avoid giving any location to the camp - the sisters later inform the girl that they are headed out West to Arizona, but don't mention where they are at that time).  It turns out the girl is not only down to her last fifty cents, but she is a week being in her lot payment and the money she was expecting to receive from an aunt is not forthcoming.  When the girl faints, the Gibsons and their uncle realize they need to help the young girl out (hoping that she is nothing like they last girl they offered to help from the previous book, who turned out to be a wannabe thief!).

Linda Allen shares her story with the Gibsons - she previously lived with an uncle in Pennsylvania after her mother died and her father disappeared, but he passed away, so she decided to head West to Great Falls (no state named, although there is a Great Falls in Montana), where her father was last seen.  She tells the traveling family that her father had a mine in Great Falls, but she heard from his business partner, Blake Bartland, that the mine was dry now.  She shows the Gibsons the only thing she has from her father - an old Indian charm in the shape of "curious bright-colored bit of metal cut in the shape of a fantastic bird with huge black and yellow wings, red tails and bill" (p. 15).  Uncle Nathan volunteers to drive the young girl to Great Falls on their way to Arizona, and thus begins the mystery!

Wirt provides a bit stronger mystery in this story, as there are several aspects to it.  First, there's the question of Linda Allen's father.  What really happened to him?  Did his just disappear, or is he really dead as to the locals presume?  And what significance does the strange Indian trinket Linda wears on a necklace around her neck have?  Why does the trinket seem to affect a local Indian guide so strangely?  Then there's Blake Bartland - while Linda seems to believe him, Barbara, Ginger, and Jimmie have their doubts about the man's sincerity and honesty, and they wonder what he is hiding.  How does he really make all of the money he has, when he claims the mine owned by Linda's father is barren?  Does it have anything to do with the colorful Thunderbird that scares away people from the nearby canyon?  And what is that mysterious voice coming from the canyon that can be heard for miles around?  Is there a spirit haunting the place, or is it merely a trick to keep people from discovering what is really going on in that canyon?

Of course, Uncle Nathan gets called back home to deal with the possible reorganization of a company in which he hold stock (p. 52), but he allows the children to remain on their own (once again!) so long as they promise to stay out of trouble.  Yeah, right!  This is a children's mystery book, there's no way those kids are staying out of trouble!  The three of them are determined to get to the bottom of all the mysteries in Great Falls, the chief of which is helping Linda regain her inheritance left behind by her father.  The girls face a kidnapping at gunpoint that leaves them in a canyon to die, and they allow young Jimmie (only 13 years old!) to traipse off on his own into the canyon and stay there overnight to see if he can discover the secret behind the mysterious voice heard up and down the canyon.  Again, while I realize this is a different time than now, and this is merely a fictional story of mystery and adventure, it still surprises me that Wirt would give such freedom to children so young!

Something else that I noticed in this story is the view of Indians that is taken by the characters (leaving one to wonder if this was the author's own viewpoint at the time).  The hotel owner makes it clear that Indians can't be trusted to be honest (p. 92), and there are several references to Indians' superstitious nature.  But, good ol' Indian Joe proves himself in the end - while everyone seems to distrust him and question his motives throughout the book, he actually is the one who holds the secret to solving all of the mysteries in Great Falls!  I suppose Wirt placed all the stereotypes within the story in order to have Indian Joe disprove them all with his ingenuity and quick-thinking being revealed at the end of the book.  Not only does he know exactly who is mining the silver from the canyon, but he knows how they are doing it, why they are doing it, and he has the proof that it all truly belongs to Linda Allen as her inheritance!  (I guess the fact that he was actually blackmailing the culprit is overlooked by Wirt and the characters in the story...)

I have to say that I enjoyed this book a bit more than the first (although I readily liked the first book in the series, no doubt).  Perhaps as Wirt continued writing these characters and this series, she developed a better flair for it, and they improve with each one (or, at least, that's what I'm hoping is the trend!).  Unlike the first book, however, there is nothing at the end of this story to indicate what the next book will be - although it likely did not matter, since the first three books in this series were all published in 1937, likely as a breeder set, so the third book was on the shelves already right next to this one, and there was no need for young readers to wonder what would come next!

RATING:  10 multi-colored gliders out of 10 for a superb story with plenty of mysteries to keep the Gibson children (and the reader!) working overtime to figure out how they all connect!