This is a book that I had been searching for high and low for a number of years. I honestly cannot recall when I first stumbled across this, but I think it was when I was doing a search on Amazon for "Barbie" and "mystery" to find some of the old Random House books published about Barbie (the doll) solving mysteries. I had never seen this before and knew nothing about it, but the title and cover art caught my interest. Of course, at the time, the book was listed as "unavailable" on Amazon, so I started expanding my search to eBay, Abe, etsy, and other sites. I later learned from some of the online book collecting groups to which I belong that these Triple Nickle Books are a sought-after item and not easily found. Apparently the publisher also put out some Power Boys novels in this format, as well as books about Wild Bill Hickok and Davy Crockett. Well, after several years of combing through auction sites and scouring through used bookstores, I finally found a copy on eBay last year and was able to get it at an unbelievably great price!
Barbie Lane and the Mystery of the Egyptian Museum is the first (and only!) mystery in the Barbie Lane series. The book identifies "Lucy Carlton" as the author, but I'm guessing that is likely a pseudonym. I'm unable to find any information about an author by this name, even connected with this book, and since the Powers Boys stories published by Triple Nickel (which, apparently, are unrelated to the later Powers Boys series published by Whitman) were also written under a pseudonym, this seems a likely assumption. The story itself is 63 pages in length, with twelve chapters with an illustration at the head of each chapter and a few small illustrations scattered throughout the story. The chapters are relatively short, but the pages are formatted with two-columns, like you will find in magazines. As such, the story moves at a pretty quick pace, and similar to the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and other children's series books of that time, each chapter ends with a cliffhanger to encourage the reader to keep on reading and find out what happens next.
Barbie Lane is a sixteen-year old redhead whose father, Richard Lane, is a "celebrated freelance photographer" (p. 2). The inside front cover introduces readers to the main character with the tagline: "Meet Barbie Lane!" Describing her as "the most adventurous teen-ager you've ever known," the introduction explains that Mr. Lane "takes his brave daughter with him ... and the red-headed girl finds herself in the midst of more exciting mysteries than you could imagine." Surrounding the introduction are a number of line drawings of Barbie's head, which in many instances are very reminiscent of the original Barbie doll (leaving one to wonder if the artist used the doll as a model of sorts, particularly considering the doll and this young sleuth share the same first name). The illustrations are signed by "Mort Leav" (more on him below).
As the book opens, she and her best friend, Joan Webster, who is a year younger, are on a bus headed to Collins City to join Mr. Lane for a vacation. Mr. Lane is actually there to photograph a new Egyptian exhibit set to open at the Collins City Museum of Art, and Barbie and Joan are anxious to see the exhibit. As fate would have it, the bus has a slight mishap, and the girls find themselves in the small village of Milltown. Visiting an antique shop, the girls run into Mr. Wilson, a fellow passenger on the bus - and this is where the strange events begin to take place. A wiry, red-haired man comes storming out of the back, pushing his way past the girls, losing a button in the process (p. 5). Then Mr. Wilson accuses Barbie of stealing his wallet, which is later discovered by the shop owner on the floor beneath an old spinning wheel (p. 7). Because of this delay, the girls miss their bus and have to contact Mr. Lane to come get them. When he picks them up, Mr. Wilson joins them on the ride to Collins City, as that is where he is heading. The girls ask excitedly about the exhibit, and Mr. Lane reveals rather reluctantly that it may not open due to some trouble at the museum - which prompts Mr. Wilson to warn him about "the Curse of Rama-Khan!" (p. 10).
The mystery immediately ramps up, as the girls discover that certain artifacts have been stolen from the museum, despite the fact that the museum has been locked up tight, and only a few people have access, all of whom are thoroughly trustworthy. The girls begin to observe mysterious events, such as Mr. Wilson pushing a veiled woman in a wheelchair; the red-haired man from the antique shop hanging around town; and strange shadows and noises in the museum. When the girls get accidentally locked inside the museum overnight, they discover how the criminals have been getting in and out to steal the artifacts, and they also learn why the criminals have been vandalizing the left hands of various statues and mummies! It's actually a fairly interesting tale, and the author throws in a couple of surprising twists (although careful readers will easily spot one of the villains pretty early on). The author does have the villains manhandle the two girls rather roughly, putting them in some very precarious situations - but, as with any good sleuth, some pure luck and fortunate coincidences lead them to safety and a satisfaction resolution.
The final page of the book (p. 64) is actually a letter column, similar to what you would find in old comic books or some magazines. I was surprised to see this, particularly since the letters all refer to either Triple Nickel Books in general, or specifically to other books (such as the two Power Boys books). Only one of the letter-writers is identified by age (15-years old), raising the question as to whether the other writers may have been adults, or they simply did not include their age when sending their letters. Since the cover to this particular book has "No. 5" just below the title, it makes me believe this was the fifth Triple Nickel Book published, and that regardless of the main character in the story, the books were simply numbered in the order of their publication. There is a Davy Crockett book,
Danger from the Mountain, that is identified as No. 2, while another titled
The Adventures of Davy Crockett has No. 1 on the cover. I've been able to see the cover to
The Life of Wild Bill Hickok, and it shows No. 3 on the cover. Since I've never seen either of the Power Boys books, I can only assume one of them might be No. 4, and perhaps the other is No. 6. I did notice on the Davy Crockett and Wild Bill Hickok books, they are labeled "For Boys" on the cover, while this book is labeled "For Girls." They were certainly making it clear the audience they were targeting for each story!
The inside back cover is an advertisement for all of the "Brand New Exciting Triple Nickel Books" available for purchase, including the two Davy Crockett stories, the Wild Bill Hickok tale, and the two Power Boys mysteries. At the bottom is a preview of titles that were to be "Coming Soon!" - a second Barbie Lane mystery titled
The Riddle of the Glowing Marble; a third Power Boys adventure, and a third Davy Crockett story. I know the Barbie Lane book was never published, so I'm guessing the other two likely never saw publication either (although I could be wrong). I have to wonder what that second Barbie Lane story would have been about, as I can't imagine a glowing marble making a very exciting mystery!
While the artist is not specifically given credit in the book, the illustrations are all signed by"Mort Leav." This leads one to suspect that it is referring to Mortimer Leav (1916-2005), who drew comics back in the first half of the 20th Century (including Sally O'Neil, Policewoman stories for National Comics). His history with comic books can be seen in the illustrations in this book, as the scenes depicted are either heavy on the action or scenes that find Barbie and Joan in some dangerous position. The cover painting is not signed, so I have no way of knowing if Leav did the art for the cover, or simply for the interiors.
Triple Nickel books are very hard to come by. Some research online reveals that the Triple Nickel line of books were published by Solomon & Gelman in the 1950s, and they were labeled as "Triple Nickel Books" because they only cost 15 cents. The back cover to the book guaranteed the stories were "the finest in wholesome adventure novels for boys and girls," and even went so far as to set forth the members of an advisory board who allegedly supervised the writing and editing - a university dean, a director at the National Hospital for Speech Disorders, and consulting psychologist! Apparently they wanted to make sure parents were fully satisfied that these stories were safe to read. This could possibly stem from the fact that around this time, the mid-1950s, a psychiatrist by the name of Frederic Wertham was on a warpath against comic books, campaigning for the books to be censored, as he claimed the stories and art encouraged bad behavior in children, leading to juvenile delinquency. A Congressional inquiry was even begun into the matter, which led to the formation of the Comics Code Authority, which would monitor and censor comics to ensure the material did not depict overt scenes of violence, sex, and other "harmful" things. Perhaps by advertising the advisory board on the back of their books, Solomon & Gelman were hoping it would help sell the books!
Sadly, these pulp-style mysteries for juveniles have faded into obscurity, and while I finally saw a second copy of this sell on eBay recently, they are definitely few and far between. I did enjoy the story and only wish more had been produced.
RATING: 9 old abandoned sewer tunnels out of 10 for a fast-paced, fun mystery and a great new sleuth that sadly didn't get to experience any more adventures!
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