Penny Parker Mystery Stories No. 8 - The Wishing Well

With this eighth book, we have nearly reached the half-way point of this 17-book series.  The Penny Parker Mystery Stories have turned out to be some of the best Mildred Wirt Benson stories out there. It is clear that Wirt (Benson) wrote much better stories without the heavy editing and control of the Stratemeyer Syndicate.  Her characters come to life so much more off the pages of these books, and the dialogue, particularly between Penny and her father, as well as Penny and her best friend Louise, is snappier and so much livelier!  I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to sit down and read these stories, as they are well-worth the read!

The Wishing Well, is the second Penny Parker book published in 1942.  Despite her other writings, Wirt kept up a steady pace of two Penny Parker books each year.  Although, 1942 was a rather light year for her when it comes to books, as she only had this book, The Clock Strikes Thirteen, The Quest of the Missing Map (Nancy Drew), and The Clue of the Rusty Key (Dana Girls) published, as well as a magazine story, "The Mystery at the Lookout."  Four books and a magazine story is definitely not the normal amount of books Wirt was known to be writing at the time, so it is clear that her husband's stroke and her work at the newspaper kept her exceptionally busy that year.  That being said, the story was great, even if it had elements seemingly pulled from other works Wirt had previously wrote...

The mystery centers around this old "wishing well" on the abandoned Marborough homestead, which has been abandoned for at least ten years (p. 5).  Wirt describes the property, known as Rose Acres, as "Riverview's most outstanding architectural curiosity ... [an] old plantation home with its six graceful pillars [that] retained dignity and beauty" (p. 5).  Thus, despite being abandoned, its yard overgrown, the house was still a magnificent site to behold.  Penny and her friends from her school's palette club (palette referring to a group of artists) visit Rose Acres to sketch the property.  This is where readers are introduced to Rhoda Wiegand, who is a new girl in Penny's class.  She is described as "somewhat older than members of Penny's class," who "lives in a trailer camp at the outskirts of the city" (p. 2).  Interesting that Wirt would choose that as Rhoda's residence, since Wirt herself had not so long before written a four-book series about three children who reside in a mobile trailer (see Wirt's Trailer Stories for Girls, all of which have been reviewed on this blog).  In any event, the girls are fascinated by the old wishing well.  It's "base was of cut stone and on a bronze plate had been engraved the words 'If you do a good deed, you can make a wish and it will come true'" (pp. 5-6).  The wishes made by Rhoda and Penny become the catalyst for the two mysteries in this book.

The first mystery involves Rose Acres itself and its owner, Mrs. Marborough, who returns unexpectedly after more than a decade to reclaim her home.  Only, the lady of the manor acts extremely strange, refusing to permit anyone to enter the house, including the prominent women of Riverview (p. 50).  It's funny that Wirt describes the leader of this group of women, one Mrs. Buckmyer, as "a stout, pompous lady" (p. 50) - if that type of person came to my door, I'd be unlikely to invite them in as well!  Penny is certain Mrs. Marborough is hiding a secret, and when they spy someone prowling around the wishing well late at night (p. 71), it prompts Penny, and Louise by extension, to investigate.  The cover art depicts the scene from page 79, where Penny and Louise watch from behind the shrubs as someone is turning over the flagstones around the wishing well, as if searching for something.  

Penny is certain there is something about that wishing well, and Wirt brings back that silken ladder that Penny acquired three books ago to climb down into the well to see what she can discover (pp. 111-13).  She ultimately finds an opening on the inside of the well (p. 116), which turns out to be a door to "a long narrow tunnel about five feel below the ground" (p. 129).  Needless to say, she and Louise explore it, leading them to the basement under Rose Acres.  Unfortunately, they are discovered by Mrs. Marborough (p. 132), which leads to them finally learning the truth behind the mysterious events at Rose Acres!  Mrs. Marborough proceeds to tell the girls about the famous Marborough pearls, a necklace handed down for generations to the first girl in each generation to get married.  Mrs. Marborough's sister was jealous when she married first, so her sister hid the pearls out of spite.  She moved away and eventually died without telling anyone where the pearls were hid (p. 135)!   Only recently had Mrs. Marborough received a letter from her sister's husband, which included a long-ago written note from her sister explaining the pearls were hid "near the old wishing well" (p. 136).  Penny and Louise are excited at the thought of a treasure hunt, so they promise to help Mrs. Marborough find those pearls!

Two interesting tidbits about this part of the story.  First, if the pearls were handed down from generation to generation in Mrs. Marborough's family to the first daughter to get married, why are they called the "Marborough" pearls?  Marborough appears to be her married name, not her maiden name, and the pearls did not come from her husband's family - so wouldn't they have been rightfully named after her maiden name?  Second, this plot element may seem familiar to those who have read other books written by Wirt, as a similar story occurs in the third Madge Sterling book, The Secret of the Sundial.  It's funny that she would pull plot from a previously written work published by a different publisher - perhaps she thought no one would notice?

Anyway, the second mystery involves poor Rhoda Wiegand.  She and her brother Ted live with the Breens, who took them in after their parents died.  The Breens live in the Dorset Tourist Camp and have three children:  Betty, Bobby, and Jean (which, again, seems like another nod to the Trailer Stories for Girls, as that series features three children - two girls and a boy!).  On Penny's first visit to Rhoda's trailer, Jay Franklin, the owner of the camp, shows up demanding payment for the past due rent or they will have to leave the next day (pp. 25-26)!  And, once again, yet another similarity to the Trailer Stories for Girls, as this same plot element appears in The Crimson Cruiser, the second book in that series.  Penny pays the rent so the Breens are not evicted, and she even offers to take Mr. Franklin home in her car (since it is on her way home).  Penny immediately decides she does not like the man.

The story goes a bit off on a tangent when Penny learns about a rock found on a nearby farm that has writing allegedly of Elizabethan origin, with later Indian carvings on it (p. 30).  The curator of the local museum believes it may be real, which would be important historically for the area, since they never had any proof of English colonists settling in that part of the state (p. 36).  Leaving the museum, Penny, along with Jerry Livingston, happen to meet two men from Texas who are looking for Ted Wiegand - Rhoda's brother (p. 37).  Penny later learns the men - Mr. Coaten and Mr. Addison - are looking to adopt Rhoda and  Ted (p. 75), but Rhoda is suspicious, as they have never heard of these men, and they have no money or property for the men to be seeking!  Well, the story of that rock comes back to play, as Penny learns from the farmer that Jay Livingston paid him $2 for the rock that was found on his property - and when Penny discovers another rock with similar carvings on Mrs. Marborough's property, Jay Livingston is on the scene again, paying Mrs. Marborough $2 to remove the rock from her property (p. 63).  Penny is growing more and more suspicious of Mr. Livingston, and those suspicious play out when she finds that Mr. Livingston is trying to sell the rocks to the museum for a much MUCH higher price!

Well, Penny sticks her nose into the whole sordid affair, and she eventually helps her father prove the rocks are fake (pp. 198-99), and she also concocts a rather convoluted scheme to reveal the truth about why Mr. Coaten wants to adopt Rhoda and Ted (pp. 188-94), which results not only in the arrest of Mr. Coaten, but also Mr. Addison (who it turns out stole Mrs. Marborough's pearls after they were discovered!).  Penny also manages to help Rhoda and Ted find a new home, to relieve the Breens of the burden and to provide help to Mrs. Marborough, who desperately needs it.  As the saying goes, all's well that ends well!

As with the other books in this series, the dialogue is one of the best things about the story.  Wirt gives her characters such superb personality, and the fun banter between Penny and those around her always brings a smile to my face.  "Don't you ever patronize a filling station?" asks Louise, when Penny siphons some gas from her father's car (p. 43).  "You certainly have your family well trained," Louise remarks, after Penny tells her that her father is better able to buy more gas than she is (p. 43).  Later, when Penny discovers the rock that resembles the one found on the farmer's property, Louise ask, "The rock only weighs two or three hundred pounds. Shall I lift it for you...?" (p. 58).  Later still, when Penny takes a chisel that may have been used to carve the rocks, Louise comments, "Lately you've reached the stage where adjectives are too weak to describe you" (p. 105).  Penny, when asked if she simply going to take the chisel, replies, "In my official capacity as a detective - yes" (p. 105), to which Louise promptly replies, "Oh Mystery, what crimes are committed in they name" (p. 105).

When it comes to keeping track of time, however Wirt seems to have a problem with consistency in her stories.  I've noticed it in other books, but this one has a glaring time shift.  When she joins her father to visit the city of Bryan to follow-up on a possible lead regarding whether the carved stones are real, Wirt indicates that they reach the outskirts of Bryan in the EARLY AFTERNOON (p. 153).  Then, Penny watched a performance of an Indian show FOR AN HOUR (p. 154), following which she is LOITERING ABOUT FOR A TIME waiting for her father (p. 154).  After finding him, Wirt writes that the two return to Riverview, and it was EXACTLY NOON when they reached the newspaper office (p. 156).  Now, I pose this question - if they did not arrive in Bryan until early AFTER noon, and Penny spends an hour watching a show, then loiters for additional time after that waiting for her father, then they spend time driving back to Riverview, how in the world did they get back to the newspaper at EXACTLY NOON???  Unless they have a DeLorean, I can't see how they could travel back in time to noon!

But that's okay - because Wirt keeps the writing witty, the stories engaging, and the mysteries just complicated enough to stay interesting, so small inconsistencies like this can be overlooked.  With 1942 behind us now, it's time to move forward to 1943 and the next two Penny Parker mysteries (as well as her Nancy Drew mystery from that same year!).

RATING:  10 stolen chickens out of 10 for giving Penny Parker such an inquisitive mind and miraculous intuition that keeps her stories so much fun to read!