Penny Parker Mystery Stories No. 7 - The Clock Strikes Thirteen

The more Penny Parker books I read, the more I really enjoy this series.  I can definitely see why Mildred Wirt Benson enjoyed writing this series so much more than the Nancy Drew books.  The freedom she has with this series to express herself and to write her characters makes for much better stories, and, in fact, much more adult drama!  I find that the stories in this series, for the most part, could easily translate into adult mystery stories.  I can't believe it has taken me this long to finally start reading this series, and now that I am, I don't want it to end (although, sadly, I know it ends with the 17th book, which is a real shame - I'd love to know the real reason why this series was cancelled - was it the publisher's decision, was it Millie's choice - or were there other factors that came into play???).

The Clock Strikes Thirteen is the seventh book in the series, and the plot centers around a group of bandits who are targeting truck farmers in an effort to coerce them to join a community cooperative.  Penny and her father happen to get involved by pure chance, when they witness a barn burning and stop to assist its owner.  They learn that a group of "night riders" are potentially the cause of the fire, and they follow a trail of hoofprints to the home of Clem Davis, who the sheriff believes is behind the fire.  Penny is not convinced of his guilt, believing instead that he has been framed.  Tied into this mystery is the strange thirteenth ring of the town clock, which hangs in the Hubell Clock Tower.  No one believes that Penny heard thirteen rings, so she goes to speak with the caretaker - only to discover he has been let go, and another, more curmudgeonly man has taken his place!  When she tracks down Old Seth McGuire at his home (interestingly named "Sleepy Hollow"), she is thrilled to learn that he also heard the thirteen rings.

While Penny is trying to figure out that mystery, she also becomes involved with helping the Riverview Orphans Home, who is purchasing property for a summer camp.  Clyde Blake, the real estate man involved in the transaction, seems to only be interested in garnering publicity for himself, and Penny has some concerns about the purchase of the land.  Penny visits the Orphans Home with reporter Jerry Livingston, and it's there they meet Adelle, a young girl whose parents were killed when a hit-and-run driver ran them off the road a year ago, leaving poor Adelle an orphan.  Since then, Adelle has been afraid of cars.

It should come as no surprise that the two mysteries eventually intertwine, and Penny is not only able to reveal the reason for the thirteen strikes of the clock, but also uncover the identities of the Black Hoods terrorizing the farmers, locate the man who has been sending her father disparaging letters, and discover who it was that ran Adelle's parents off the road!  Along the way, she also helps Old Seth get his job back as caretaker for the clock tower and find Adelle a new home!  For Penny Parker, it's simply all in a day's work.

There are a number of interesting tidbits in this book worth mentioning.  The first involves a party Penny decides to throw for the children of the Orphans Home.  She suggests hosting a watermelon party (p. 73), which Jerry agrees to help her plan.  And while the party is a huge success with the children, it turns out not to be a watermelon party, but rather, a cantaloupe party!  In four different places, Millie expressly identifies the melons as cantaloupes (pp. 87, 89, 93, and 95/6), leaving one to wonder why there is no mention of the change from watermelons to cantaloupes.  Obviously the cantaloupes are smaller and easier to throw, which Jerry, Penny, and some of the boys did when the Black Hoods showed up to steal the farmer's truck load of melons (pp. 89-90); perhaps Millie changed her mind about the type of melons to use and forgot to go back and change the reference when Penny suggested the party.

As far as the Black Hoods, the name given to the night riders who are attacking and terrorizing the farmers in the communities surrounding Riverview - one of the members of our reading group pointed out that the elements in the story mirror those of the real life Black Donnellys.  The Donnellys were an Irish family who migrated to Ontario, Canada and were involved in the same kind of intimidation tactics as used in this book, including barn burning, threats, theft, etc.  The scene at the end of this book is similar to the events in which the Donnellys faced their final conflict, with their assailants bursting in on them as Mr. Parker, Jerry, Salt, and the rest did at the clock tower.  We even hypothesized that the name Millie chose for the group, "Black Hoods," could have been taken from the Black Donnellys as a subtle reference to them.

And speaking of not-so-subtle references - the Hubell Clock Tower in The Clock Strikes Thirteen is likely to have been taken from the large clock tower that stands in The West Side Market in Cleveland, Ohio.  That clock tower was constructed by an architectural firm by the name of Hubbell & Benes, and hence, the name "Hubell" chosen by Millie for the clock tower in this book!

We do get another reminder in this book of just how wealthy the Parkers are.  Mr. Parker makes a passing comment that he would willingly pay $100 to anyone who could locate Ben Bowman, the man who was sending him crank letters about his newspaper - and Penny takes him up on it!  So, when she ultimately finds the man, Mr. Parker says it was "worth the price" (p. 207).  Now, $100 may not sound like much now, but when you consider the time period - $100 in 1942 equates to more than $1,800 in today's dollar!   Thus, Mr. Parker paid his daughter the equivalent of $1,800 in today's money just to find a man sending him harassing letters!  Would we all have a father like that!

A final note must be made on the number of times Millie uses the term "queer" in this book.  While I do understand that the word meant "strange" or "odd" back in the time this book was written, it is rather amusing that she used the word so many times in just one book:

        p. 11 - "Queer that all three of them could disappear so quickly..."

        p. 64 - Salt makes the comment that Mr. Blake was always a "Queer duck"

        p. 65 - "Blake always was a queer fellow..."

        p. 69 - "It's mighty queer," the reporter muttered...

        p. 128 - Panny said with a gay laugh

        p. 188 - "I thought it was queer to be having another meeting so soon..."

        p. 197 - "You queered my deal with the Orphans Camp Board..."

Yes, one of those instances was "gay" and not "queer," but since it has the same connotation today, I threw it in there.

Once again, another fantastic read, and I can't wait to see what's in store in the next book!

RATING:  10 midnight meals at Toni's out of 10 for a superbly plotted mystery and a reminder of just how "real" the relationship between Penny and her father is!