Mystery at High Hedges - a Goldsmith Book for Boys and Girls

Since several of the Goldsmith mysteries I have read have been fairly good, I figured I'd try some more.  I picked this book up at the estate sale of a good friend of mine a few months back.  I love the title and the very creepy cover, so I thought perhaps it might serve up a spooky, spine-tingling mystery.  Have never heard of the author - Edith Bishop Sherman - but it turns out she has written some Revolutionary War stories (Mistress Madcap and Mistress Madcap Surrenders), as well as what I can only think must be a comedy story (Polly What's-Her-Name).  The only information I could find online is that she passed away in South Orange, New Jersey in 1971. The obituary indicated she was the "author of children's books and magazine articles" and was "the wife of John S. Sherman,a retired civil engineer."  Apparently those Mistress Madcap stories are the books for which she was most well-known.  

Mystery at High Hedges is a story that is a bit hard for me to describe.  There is a mystery, ever so slight, at the estate known as "High Hedges" due to the tall hedges that "closed in either side of the place as well as the front of it" (p. 39).  The mystery, though, is not even hinted at until the seventh chapter, when one of the caretakers tells the main character, Marcia Lambert, about "a legend about the tapping of high heels being heard just before some momentous happening takes place ... she's called the Heel Woman because nothing is ever heard or seen but just this tapping of high heels..." (p. 80).  The story is brushed off as merely a tall tale, and although the characters do eventually hear the tapping a couple of times, they do not take it too seriously...

Now, let's get back to the protagonist - Marcia Lambert.  She is a highly unusual lead character, in that she is not all that nice or friendly, she is somewhat uppity and spoiled, and she has no problems looking down on those who are below her station or social position.  When told by her aunt with whom she is staying that they are to travel to High Hedges for the summer, Marcia is "a little bored" (p. 21).  She endeavors to convince her aunt to travel with her overseas, completely oblivious to her aunt's financial situation.  Then, when her aunt informs her she has been invited to a party by a local girl, Marcia's instincts are furious. "How horrid to be dragged out to a party and meet a lot of uninteresting children, she thought stormily!" (p. 22).  Later, when the dresses she bought in France are deemed inappropriate by her aunt, Marcia fumes, believing "Aunt Hattie'll choose some babyish dress that will make me look perfectly ridiculous. Oh, f I didn't have to go to that horrid party!"(p. 29).  She ends up distant and on the verge of rude at the party, wishing she were home.  Marcia comes across as arrogant, self-centered, and condescending, making it difficult for the reader to have any sympathy for her whatsoever!

Even when Marcia and her Aunt Hattie make it to High Hedges, Marcia's first thought is that the tall hedges that surround the property will keep others out - and when the two neighbor children, Sharon Chase and her brother Kent, come popping through the hedges, Marcia is aloof, wishing they would stay away.  But her aunt convinces her to attend a local strawberry festival taking place at a nearby church, and it is there were Marcia comes to the aid of Kent (who is stuck in a wheelchair due to an accident years before), thereby earning the appreciation of both Kent and Sharon.  This seems to be a turning point for Marcia's character, as even her distaste for poor Tubby (aptly nicknamed such because of his weight) begins to dissipate, and she opens herself up to having friends that are what she previously deemed to be beneath her station.  This opens up a summer of adventures, including picnics, visits to the beach, and trips to town.

Sherman's writing seems more focused on just the daily lives of the characters and the growth in Marcia's character as she learns to see beyond her own wants and needs; the mystery (or mysteries, as the case may be) is hinted in various places, not truly coming into play until well over half-way through the story.  I guess the book could technically be broken up into two parts - the first half being Marcia's story and her character growth, while the second half is the actual mystery.  In the first half, the only hints of mystery are (a) the odd actions of the new handy man hired by Aunt Harriet; (b) the legend of the women in heels heard walking up the stairs; and (c) the strange man at the gas station in town who apparently speaks and understands German (but claims to not be of German descent).  Sherman does not dwell on any of these matters for the first half of the book, but merely mentions them in passing.

As it turns out, there are ultimately two mysteries and surprisingly, neither is related to the other.  There is the mystery regarding the "Heel Woman" that the girls hear several times, and in trying to solve the mystery, the young people discover a hidden staircase from the attic to the lower level of the house (gee, sound familiar?  throw in the "tapping heels," and it makes you wonder if Sherman wasn't perhaps "borrowing" ideas from a certain female sleuth that was quite popular at the time!  Although, now that I think about it, The Clue of the Tapping Heels didn't come out until two years AFTER this book ... things that make you go "hmmmmm!").  They do ultimately solve the source of the tapping, but what is left hanging is where the tapping came from all of the previous times when something horrific happened to a member of the family after the tapping was heard.  That is one mystery that remains....

The second mystery involves Sharon and Kent's father, who is presumed dead after being declared missing years ago during the first World War.  The solution to this mystery does not come as a surprise - but what does come as a surprise is how Kent regains the use of his legs.  I know in times of extreme danger and/or stress, people are known to do some amazing things, but the situation in which Kent uses his legs (reactionary in nature, he jumps into the lake to save someone without thinking about it) is a bit far-fetched.  But, at least this family gets a happy ending all the way around, providing a great resolution to their story.

 

There is one funny thing in the story that I have to mention.  When the girls find a diary from one of Marcia's ancestors in the attic, they find her great-great-great-great-great-grandmother wrote of "backing day and of the Battle of Monmouth, of weaving and the Surrender at Yorktown..." (p. 182).  I found this humorous, as I just auditioned for a play called Leading Ladies (by Ken Ludwig), in which there are references to "Harry Monmouth" and to "York, Pennsylvania."  I thought it funny that I should read the same references in this book at pretty much the same time I am reading them in an audition!  Coincidence or fate...?

Overall, it's not a bad read - I just wish the story had been heavier on the mystery.

RATING:  7 long rows of corn out of 10 for a creepy, Gothic cover that hides a somewhat interesting mystery and likeable supporting characters!