Cherry Tree Perch - a Children's Press Mystery (Book Two of the Farm School series)

It's not very often I come across these Children's Press books, particularly since they are a library of books published in Great Britain and not easily obtained here in the States.  This book was found by a friend of mine in Canada, and she graciously got it for me and sent it to me some months back.  The author is Josephine Elder, and apparently (I did not realize this when I sat down to read it, otherwise I would have waited), this is the second of a three-book series!  All three books were originally published by Collins in 1938, 1939, and 1940, respectively, and feature the same main characters - Annis and her best friend, Kitty.  Now, obviously, I am going to have to track down the other two books in this series:  book one, Exile for Annis, and book three, Strangers at the Farm School.  As far the author, "Josephine Elder" is actually a pseudonym used by Olive Gwendoline  Potter (1895 - 1988), who not only had ten school story novels published, but also a number of short stories for the British annuals.  Potter also wrote novels for adults.  What I find interesting is that Potter's main profession was being a doctor, and she practiced medicine the entire time she was writing novels for children and adults!

 

Cherry Tree Perch, as indicated above, is the second book in the Farm School series.  Although these characters first appeared in a previous book, Elder (Potter) does an excellent job of introducing readers to the characters, such that it is not necessary to have read the first book for this second one to be an enjoyable read.  There are mentions in this story about events that clearly took place in that first novel (such as Annis and Kitty first meeting, Annis being sent to this rural, farm school, etc.); however, the author includes enough information to quickly bring the reader up-to-date with the current situation of the girls and their supporting cast.  Thus, the story in this book is a stand-alone tale, yet I'm guess that it fits smoothly in-between the first and third books to tell a more complete tale of Annis Best and Kitty Forester.

 

The story begins as nothing more than a tale of two best friends and their adventures at a most unusual school - the Foresters' farm school. Instead of regular classes, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, the students at the Foresters' learn valuable life skills that they can pursue as they like - from music (such as Kitty) to animal care (such as Annis) to sculpting (such as Adrian) to other various real-life functions.  In fact, the idea of having a trade school for a high school.  Not sure if these type of schools existed in Britain back when these books were originally written, but the United States certainly does not have those kind of schools now.  Yet, Elder (Potter) makes it clear in the book that these students far excel those in traditional schools, as it seems each of them manage to get scholarships (or "shols" as they are often referred to throughout the book) to some pretty prestigious universities.  As the character of Adrian so aptly puts it - his studies of sculpture and art have led him to learn more about history than the average student in a normal school would learn, and he has sufficient reading, writing, and mathematical skills to meet any needs he has for those in his life.  

 

The title of the book comes from a particular tree that Kitty shows Annis, where its branches are such they are easily climbed, so the girls can sit well above the ground and enjoy a level of privacy, hidden among the blooming cherry blossoms. Throughout the entirety of the book, the girls can be found sitting up in the tree, either individually or together - and those times provide them with opportunities to watch their friends and loved ones go to and fro (and Annis inadvertently observes a lovers' quarrel that she was never meant to see or hear!).  At only point does that vantage point from the cherry tree offer Annis an opportunity to pick up on a clue regarding the mystery surrounding the haystacks in the area that are set aflame in the middle of the night.  Yes, it's a very minor mystery that, honestly, has little to do with the overall story - but it does affect several of the characters, one of whom is easily identified by the reader as the culprit pretty early on if you pay attention.

 

The bigger "mystery" (if you can call it that) involves a strange woman who rents the cottage on the property - one Miss Eleanor de Vipon.  When the reader first meets this odd character, the author describes her as "[a] woman in bright green cotton, no hat, and with a bush of upstanding grey hair" (p. 19).  The reader, along with Annis and Kitty, soon discover the woman is scatterbrained, but she loves and cares for injured animals (which characteristic comes into play several times in the story).  Annis takes a disliking to the woman, but Kitty grows quite attached, and the differing opinion starts to form a rift between the two which plays out throughout the entire book.  Ultimately, it is left to the reader's own opinion as to whether Miss de Vipon is a good or bad influence on Kitty, and whether it is Annis' jealousy of losing time with her best friend that is swaying her opinion of the older woman.

 

The story does offer a bit of theater, which certainly piqued my interest.  The author has a nearby farm put on a production of "Will Shakespeare" (pp. 108-09), and while Elder (Potter) just vaguely glosses over some of the scenes in the play, the characters' discussion afterwards regarding the historical accuracy of the play and how the actors portrayed their parts made for good reading, in my opinion. 

 

This Children's Press edition of the book offers no internal illustrations, but it does have beautifully colored dust jacket art by an unidentified artist.  The scene aptly depicts Kitty (with the dark hair) and Annis (with the pigtails) perched up in the branches of the cherry tree, where they watched the world go by around them - or under them, might be a better way of saying it.  The tree is fully blooming with cherry blossoms, and while the scene is neither exciting nor mysterious, the colors definitely attract one's eye to the cover!

 

The characters and story were engaging enough to make me search out the other two books, and hopefully I will be able to find copies here in the States at reasonable prices!

 

RATING:  8 swooping kingfishers out of 10 for a fairly decent school-days tale of two girls with a small mystery thrown into the mix for a bit of excitement.

Peggy Lane Theater Stories No. 3 - Peggy Goes Straw Hat

This series has taken its title character from her small hometown to the hustle and bustle of New York City, where she begins studying theater, to helping start an off-Broadway theater and starring in its first production, to now spending her break as a part of the summer stock in a small Adirondack mountain town (p. 1).  The series seems to be following the same path as the 4-book Carol Page series by Helen Dore Boylston - young girl leaves home to make her way as an actress in the big city and ends up in summer stock as a part of her experience before making it big.  Perhaps this is a natural progression of most actors/actresses hoping to pursue a career in theater, and so it is only natural that the books would follow the same roadmap.  In any case, it is an enjoyable ride as we follow Peggy on her path to success, and the author(s) of this series are actually allowing the reader watch Peggy grow and mature as an actress with each book, learning her strengths and weaknesses, as well as learning how to deal with other actors who will do anything to achieve the success they want!

 

Peggy Goes Straw Hat is a rather unique title, as it refers to the particular hat that the leading actress in the summer stock group wears when she first arrives.  Peggy sees Alison Lord as stunning and glamorous (p. 17), and she hopes that she can one day be as confident and talented as the visiting star is (thus, she hopes that one day she can show up in a straw hat and be the focal point of everyone's attention).  The story opens with Peggy arriving at the Adirondack town on Lake Kenabeek (which, interestingly enough, is not located in New York, but rather, Kenabeek is a rural area in northeastern Ontario), excited at spending the summer working with this new group of theater professionals.  Within the first chapter, the reader is introduced to an entirely new cast of characters: Michael Miller, who is the son of a retired theater man and will be a jack-of-all-trades for the summer; Howard Miller, the boy's father who will be playing older characters for the summer stock; Richard Wallace, one of the producers for the season; Richard's Aunt Hetty (the name invokes visions of the television show, Ghosts!), a member of the Chamber of Commerce who is helping to back the theater; Rita Stevens, a fellow actress that Peggy met when auditioning to be a part of the troupe, and Rita's husband, Gus, who is the scene designer; Alison Lord, the leading lady who is only out for one thing - advancing her own career; Chuck Crosby, the director of the plays being produced for the summer; Chris Hill, the handsome and very talented lead actor that has all the girls swooning; and a young actor by the name of Danny Dunn (p. 11), who is taking on all of the younger roles for the season.  And if that name sound familiar, it should to anyone who grew up reading in the late '50s through the late '70s - for Danny Dunn is the title character of a certain 15-book series about a young inventor and his friends who have some wild adventures with his crazy inventions!  By the time this book was published, there were at least seven Danny Dunn books published by McGraw-Hill, so the author had to know that the name would immediately be associated with that series character!  Talk about a series and publishing company cross-over before its time!

 

There is no real mystery in this particular book.  Instead, the conflict arises from the Slade brothers - Max and Bill - who own the local movie theater in town.  They are dead-set against the theater troupe putting on plays in the high school gymnasium, as they fear it will further hurt their already struggling business.  Not only have they been bad-mouthing the theater group (telling everyone who will listen that the actors are amateur, the director is inexperienced, etc.), but they also threaten to bring suit if the school hosts the theater, as they claim public ordinance forbids the school from hosting any profit-making ventures on its public property.  With their first play only days from opening, it is up to one of the producers to track down the school board commissioner and get his approval for the summer stock to use the school gym for its contracted purpose.  But the Slade brothers are determined to see the troupe fail, and even go so far as to bring in a movie version of one the plays and promote it with "real" actors in the parts in order to draw attendees away from seeing the play.  There is definitely some dirty, underhanded tricks going on, particularly with the local newspaper critic, who will not even make an appearance at any of the plays in order to provide an honest review.

 

As might be expected, Peggy falls into the middle of everything, when a chance meeting with the younger Slade brother, Bill, leads her to believe he might actually be someone they can turn to for help.  It is Peggy who is interviewed on a local radio show and successfully thwarts questions as to whether the theater will have to shut down; it is Peggy who happens to find an antique dealer who provides a number of props they need for a period play; it is Peggy who convinces Bill that the theater group is made up of seasoned professionals and not mere amateurs; it is Peggy, whose performance completely wins the day when the local critic does finally make an appearance at one of the shows; it is Peggy who must step up when the leading lady takes a job offer and leaves the group with but a moment's notice; and it is Peggy who must figure out how to juggle the attention of three different young men when her almost-boyfriend from New York, Randy Brewster, shows up to watch her perform!  And we feel for poor Peggy when, in the final play, she is given the lead, only to discover she simply cannot get into the head of the character and portray her the way she is meant to be played!  It takes complete and utter exhaustion, and Peggy's ultimate lack of concern over how she performs on the stage to bring out the character she is meant to be - leading to a standing ovation and rave reviews for a performance on which she had literally given up!

 

The plays performed in this story include Dear Ruth (p. 15), a Broadway comedy written by Norman Krasna; Angel Street (p. 49), also known as Gaslight, a 1938 thriller penned by British playwright Patrick Hamilton; Charley's Aunt (p. 98), a 3-act farce written by Brandon Thomas; For Love or Money (p. 109), another 3-act comedy that premiered on Broadway in 1947, written by F. Hugh Herbert; You Can't Take It With You! (p. 129) is a comedic play written jointly by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart; Love Rides the Rails (p. 139), a 1940 comedy/melodrama and parody authored by Morland Cary; and the final show, Guest in the House (p. 139), a 1942 Broadway drama written by Hagar Wilde and Dale Eunson.  Every play in the book is an actual play in the real world, and the descriptions and characters within the story are accurate within the context of the real-world productions.  The reader actually gets to experience scenes from a few of the plays, while others are simply mentioned in name only, with no actual stage time ever seen.

 

I think of the entire story, the funniest scene comes when Penny finishes up her first play as the lead (For Love or Money), she is met backstage first by Randy, who wants to take her to dinner - then by Bill Slade who wants to go out for coffee - then by fellow actor Chris Hill, who is famished and wants to take her out to eat!  Instead of choosing, she closes the door on the the men, leaving them standing outside the dressing room (as depicted in the two-page interior illustration by artist Sergio Leone) while she comes up with a plan not to offend any of her would-be suitors!  It was a fun scenario that the author played out well, and Peggy's quick thinking gets her (and everyone else!) through it without anyone's feelings getting hurt.

 

Despite its lack of mystery, the story actually reads pretty well, and being a fan of the theater, I enjoyed a lot of the behind-the-scenes drama that takes place among the characters (because such drama usually happens in real life, too!).  This is the only book in the series that has a known ghostwriter - according to Jennifer White's website, Peggy Lane Theater Stories, Geraldine Wallis (1925-2011), an author who also wrote stories for the Cherry Ames Annuals published in Britain.  Perhaps that is why there is more focus on the theater aspect of Peggy's life and no mystery involved.  Regardless, it was a great read, and probably my favorite of the series thus far.

 

RATING:  10 perfect Victorian chaise lounges (incorrectly spelled "longue" on page 67 of the book) out of 10 for a startlingly accurate portrayal of everyday drama an actor experiences while working on a play and superbly building on Peggy's continuing experience as a budding actress!

Dark Shadows Audio Tales, Vol. 6 - Shadows of the Past

It has been nearly three years since I last listened to one of these Dark Shadows audio books - I can't believe how much time I let pass between the last one and this one!  I have been getting my fill of Dark Shadows in other venues - re-watching the '90s television series, re-watching some of the original series' episodes, re-reading some of the novels by Marilyn Ross from back in the '60s and '70s, and reading some of the newer print material that has come out, including comic stories and memoirs.  But nothing compares to listening to brand new stories as read/told by some of the actors from the original show.  It has been quite some time since Big Finish has released any new audio books, so in a way, I'm kind of glad I waited so long to listen to this - it means I still have more audios to hear (as I have not yet listened to the Quentin/Maggie set, and I still have all the Tony/Cassandra box sets to enjoy as well!).

 

Shadows of the Night is the sixth and final short-story compilation put out by Big Finish, released back in 2017.   As with the previous five compilations, this one features four new stories, each voiced by a different action - in this instance, the stars are Nancy Barrett (Carolyn Stoddard Stuart), Christopher Pennock (Cyrus Longworth), Stephanie Ellyne (who has taken over the role of Amy Jennings), and James Storm (assuming the role of Dr. Robert Harper).  Each of the four stories is unique, and some deal more with the monstrous nature of humanity itself rather than introducing fantastical supernatural creatures - although, let's face it, this is Dark Shadows, so there are some supernatural elements, to be sure!

 

"Trio," the first of the four stories, is read by Nancy Barrett and tells a different kind of story involving jealousy and what it can do to a relationship.  When Carolyn Stoddard and Amy Jennings attend a musical performance, they are both enraptured by the music played by the pianist named Jude.  They both feel that the man was playing the music solely for her, and before you know it, the two of them are fighting over the man, turning against one another in vicious ways to win the love of Jude.  They soon learn, however, that Jude is not what he appears to be, and the two women must put aside their differences if they have any hope of surviving the experience!  Of the four stories, I think this was my least favorite.

 

"Honeymoon from Hell" continues the ongoing story of Cyrus Longworth and Sabrina Jennings.  They are finally married, and they trot off to Germany for what they believe will be a carefree and loving honeymoon.  I have been enjoying following the love story of these two, and now that Cyrus has been freed from his demons (literally!), I was curious to see where the writers would take these two.  They did not fail to come through - from a mysterious man following them around, to the disappearance of Sabrina, to Cyrus' desperation in trying to locate and rescue his new bride (the trail of pearls he follows is definitely a nod to the story of Hansel and Gretel), I really did enjoy this story better than the first.  I wish we had gotten more tales of Cyrus and Sabrina, as they deserve it!

 

"Retreat" provides listeners with more of what happened while Roger, Elizabeth, and Amy are in Paris.  If you have listened to the author audios, then you may recall in volume three that Amy headed over to Paris in "In a Broken Dream" to visit Roger and Elizabeth, only to arrive with them missing.  This story takes place after those events, with Amy enjoying her last days in the city - until a stranger knocks her over while riding her back, and leaves her a note directing her to meet at an old bookstore.  With Roger and Elizabeth in two, she investigates, and the three find themselves being forced to give aid to a supernatural creature who wants to rid himself of a gypsy curse - and Amy is the only one who can do it!

 

The final story on this CD, "1:53 AM," is a story full of twists.  It features James Storm as Dr. Robert Harper, a former college professor of Carolyn's who secretly has feelings for her and is disappointed to learn she married Ned Stuart.  But fate brings them back together, as a man who claims his daughter is possessed turns to them for help.  The story takes a number of twists and turns - is he telling the truth? is the whole thing staged? if so, who is staging it? if it is real, who is the cause?  Poor Dr. Harper goes back and forth, and the ultimately reveal near the end is an unexpected surprise with a supernatural battle that only one thing can overcome it - love!  (The one thing I really loved about this story is Dr, Harper indicates that even though Carolyn no longer attends school there, she has been using the library of supernatural books in an effort to find a way to "find her sister, Victoria" - I have to wonder if this was planned to be a lead-in into a longer subplot that would have the characters searching for a way to bring Victoria Winters home, since she was also mentioned in the last regular audio book, volume 50, "And Red All Over."  I suppose now we will never know...)

 

Definitely another great addition to the Dark Shadows mythos - it's just a shame this was the last (so far) of the ongoing tales...

 

RATING:   9 infrared cameras throughout the house out of 10 for stories that remind us Dark Shadows is more than just supernatural - it is character-driven and delves into the human mind to reveal the monstrosities that sometimes lie beneath!

 

 

 

Ms. Tree - Fallen Tree (The Sixth and Final Ms. Tree Graphic Novel)

l put off reading this final collection of Ms. Tree comics from Titan Comics because I knew that once I read this book, I would be done with the Ms. Tree series.  I am so thankful for Titan for collecting this series, particularly since the original comics were published by four different companies - Eclipse, Aardvark-Vanheim, Renegade Press, and finally, DC Comics.  I can't recall too many comics, if any, that managed to continue over the course of several decades through that many publishers.  Most comics, when cancelled by one publisher, are rarely picked up by another - and even if by some chance they are, for it to then leave that publisher and go to a third and then to a fourth is nearly unheard of!  Yet, the character of Ms. Tree persevered, which stands as a testimony to just how well-received and loved Max Allan Collins' and Terry Beatty's creation was, and still is, with fans.  

 

Fallen Tree collects the final stories published by Renegade Press,  including a short story that apppeared in a former collection of Mike Mist/Ms. Tree crossover tales.  The stories are "New Year's Evil" (issue 35), "Like Father" (issues 37 - 40), "Coming of Rage" (issues 41-44), "Murder Cruise" (issues 45-48), "Music to Murder By" (from The Files of Ms. Tree, Volume Three), and "Fallen Tree" (issues 49-50).  I had forgotten that as the Ms. Tree series progressed, it eventually contained less and less pages of Ms. Tree and included a number of reprint tales of Johnny Dynamite, a serial that I never did enjoy.  I was thrilled when DC picked up the series and each issue featured a full length Ms. Tree story in full color.  Yes, I enjoyed the serialized tales published by Eclipse, Aardvark, and Renegade, but getting an entire story in one sitting without having to wait months on end for the next issue to come out to continue reading the story (and let's face it, back in the day, the indy companies were not known for keeping a monthly or even a bi-monthly schedule very well).  Thus, it was a pleasure to sit down with this collection and get to read these stories again in their entirety, without any delays between chapters.

 

The first story was a one-issue tale set at New Year's Eve, in which Ms. Tree takes on a deranged man who blames the health insurance company that denied his wife's medical treatment, resulting in her death.  In some scenes that bring to mind Bruce Willis in the first Die Hard movie, Ms. Tree climbs through air vents, makes her way to the top floor restaurant, and in her normal violent fashion, saves the day!

 

The second story, "Like Father," finds Ms. Tree on yet another vendetta - this time, taking out a crazed crook who shoots Lt. Valer, and then hunting down the man (or woman) who murdered her own father.  This story takes Ms. Tree back to her roots (no pun intended), as she must track down her father's killer, while also rebuilding her relationship with her younger sister.  It's actually a rather touching story that reminds the reader that Ms. Tree is more than just a vigilante, and that she does have an emotional side to her when it comes to family and friends.

 

"Coming of Rage" once again turns the attention to Ms. Tree's adopted son, Mike Jr.  This time, however, he's not in need of rescue.  When she sends Mike to an exclusive, private school for the children of the wealthy elite, little does she know that Mike is going to meet and fall in love with a girl who is also the child of a killer - the daughter of Dominique Muerta!  When two bumbling would-be kidnappers nab Mike and Lisa, unaware of who their parents are, it sets off an entire chain of events that read almost like a physical comedy - a story that brings these two families that have been sworn enemies for so long into a truce of sorts, all because of the Romeo/Juliet romance of the teenage children!

 

The next tale, "Murder Cruise," finds Ms. Tree working alongside private eye Mike Mist (from those famous "Minute Mist-eries") to solve the murder of a woman aboard the cruise ship they are sailing.  Mist is there to do uncover the truth about a friend's death, while Ms. Tree and her employees are there for a vacation.  Soon enough, a woman turns up death by a hit-and-run, Ms. Tree is nearly killed with poisoned wine, and an elderly woman who befriends them all may be at the center of all the violence!  Collins tells this story in a way that each chapter is a day on the seven-day cruise.

 

The short story from The Files of Ms. Tree, "Music to Murder By,"  is an almost-full color, 14-page short story that showcases the combined talents of Mist and Tree, as they have to solve the murder of one of Mist's clients - a man in the music industry who has made any number of enemies because of his refusal to ever release a never-before heard album of songs from his old music group.  It's a fun, quick read with Collins' typical twist at the end.

 

The final tale, "Fallen Tree," actually relates back to "Like Father," as a relative of one of Ms. Tree's many victims comes back for revenge - and very nearly succeeds!  Ms. Tree is shot, left for dead, and must face down all of the people she has killed over the years while in hell, all the while her friends are praying the doctors can save her life.  Ms. Tree gets unexpected help in the underworld, and just as the plug is about to be pulled, she awakens with a message for one of her friends - thus ending the initial 50-issue comic run of Ms. Tree.

 

While I truly enjoyed re-reading this series from beginning to end, it is a bit bittersweet, as I know that there are no more stories to be read.  Yes, I do realize that these collection did not capture every Ms. Tree appearance.  There was the three-issue crossover with Michael Mauser (from the E-Man comic by Joe Staton) called The P.I.s, published by First Comics; there was also Ms. Tree's appearance in the "Munden's Bar" back up story in First Comics' Grim Jack issue 11, published in 1985; and there was her appearance in the Word Warriors one-shot comic published by Literacy Volunteers of Chicago in 1987.  There was also the one prose novel, Deadly Beloved, written by Collins and published by the Hard Case Crime series of novels.  I was hoping that would have spawned a series of prose novels of my favorite female private eye, but alas, that was not meant to be.

 

Thus, I have once again reached the "end" of Ms. Tree, and sadly, if I want more of her exploits, I will hae to go back and re-read this same series yet again ... and again ... and again ... and again.  If only Collins and Beatty would bring her back with new stories (hint! hint!)!

 

RATING: 10 borrowed sun hats out of 10 for hard-hitting, gritty, female P.I. action told with a twist of humor, a mix of emotion, and a whole lot of great storytelling!

 

The Shadow Guest - a Dell Gothic

This is one of those kind of books that completely takes you by surprise.  I expected it to be your standard Gothic tale - the story of a young woman swept off to a lonely house surrounded by people who seem to be her enemies, not knowing who she can trust, and frightened by things that go bump in the night.  While some of those typical Gothic elements are in the book, the author, Hillary Waugh, definitely gave readers something they would never expect!  Before we get to that, however, let's talk about the author.  The name seems to be a woman's name; but if you think that, you'd be wrong!  Hillary Waugh is actually a man: Hillary Baldwin Waugh (1920 - 2008).  Waugh was a rather prolific American mystery writer, who, in addition to his own name, used pseudonyms such as Elissa Grandower, Harry Walker, and H. Baldwin Taylor. Waugh wrote several Gothic novels during this era.

 

The Shadow Guest was reprinted by Dell in 1972 with permission from its original American publisher, Doubleday & Company. The description on the back of the book indicates "Angela Whelan, the beautiful wife of an American businessman, was drawn to the stone cottage on the lonely English coast by a force she could not name..."  Thus, the reader would expect Angela to be the main character of the story.  Surprise!  She is not.  This is one of those rare Gothic novels from this period where a male is the main character in the story.  Waugh tells this story in first-person point-of-view through the eyes of Howard Whelan, a successful architect who moves to England for an important project, bringing his wife, Angela with him.  When Angela begins to fall into a serious bout of depression, fearing death and refusing to eat or even leave her bed, Howard seeks the help of a local psychiatrist to bring her out of this downward spiral.  A sudden heart-attack brought on by stress in Howard's life brings even more changes, and Howard's physician prescribes three months rest, with no work, in a country setting.  Angela takes charges and finds the perfect place - Heather Cottage.

 

The male first-person point-of-view caught me off-guard, and I will admit, it took me a bit to get into the story.  I am so used to reading these stories from the female lead's perspective, that it threw me off reading a male perspective.  But, after a few chapters, I found myself immersed in the story, intrigued by the male point of view - his love for his wife, his willingness to do anything to help her; yet, at the same time, failing to notice the warning signs of her depression and refusing to acknowledge his own physical frailty following the heart attack - all things one would associate with an alpha male.  And, as the story progresses, and Howard and Angela end up at Heather Cottage, it is unique to see the Gothic elements from a man's point-of-view.  The fantastical things that frighten woman, creating suspenseful and terrifying moments in the story are seen as more shocking in this story, and Howard's curiosity and determination to uncover the truth about them - even if they ultimately reveal supernatural forces at work - creates a completely different atmosphere for the reader.   

 

As to those supernatural elements, Waugh gives them a nice, slow build.  What starts as a story of an only child's tragic death evolves into strange noises at night, laughter heard throughout the house, a shadowy figure seen on the grounds, a light turning on by itself in a locked attic, and the explosive sounds of a car crashing off the side of the cliffside road - a crash that occurred three years prior!  Add to that legends of a ghost haunting the cottage and an elderly woman on a bicycle who, simply put, does not exist, and throw in nightmares that lead to the discovery of a decades-old letter threatening to hunt down and kill Angela's mother, and you've got the perfect mix for a truly suspenseful story.  Waugh skillfully leads the reader down a path of non-belief to not just resigned acceptance, but unquestioning conviction in the reality of evil forces that threaten the life of the woman he loves!  It actually makes the reader question what is real and what is not, and Howard's gradual realization of what is happening keeps the reader in suspense, leading to a completely unexpected and shocking conclusion that left me ... well, for lack of a better word - flabbergasted!  Definitely not at all what I was expecting, but most certainly a dramatic ending (and proof that a Gothic does not have to have an "all's well that ends well" ending to make it a great read).

 

There is no identification of the cover artist for this particular edition published by Dell.  Oddly, this cover depicts the young woman (intended to be Angela, one would suppose) coming down a rather grand, wooden staircase, with stone walls and an arched window such as you would find in a castle, with a candle sconce affixed to the wall.  Nothing in this image fits with the description of the cottage within the story, once again showing how the publishers often smacked covers on their Gothic books that were wholly unrelated to the story within.  At least this provides a nice departure from the standard woman in a flowing dress running away from a darkened castle/house/mansion in the background.

 

This is a Gothic that I would highly recommend, not just to fans of this genre, but to anyone who enjoys a good mystery or thriller.  Waugh offers an extremely well-written, superbly plotted story in ever sense of the word.

 

RATING:  10 antique secretary desks out of 10 for surprising the daylights out of me with a male-led Gothic novel filled with suspense, mystery, and supernatural shocks! 

The Secret of the Sinistrer Specter - the first Betsy Allen Hollywood Mystery

This book was a labor of love for the author, Jack Cleveland, who is a collector of vintage children's series books (such as Nancy Drew), and his love of those series clearly shines through in the story he wrote.  This is only the first book of an intended series of mysteries starring 15-year old Betsy Allen, a young girl living in the 1930s with her father, who is a director at the famous MGM studios.  The book is filled with plenty of Easter eggs from the various vintage series, including the name of the title character - "Betsy Allen."  Any collector will immediately recognize this name as the pseudonym used by author Betty Cavanna for her Connie Blair series.  Thus, one knows from the very start, that we are going to be treated to any number of homages to the countless children's series of yester-year!

 

The Secret of the Sinister Specter introduces readers to adventurous young Betsy and her father, William Allen, a rather busy assistant director to numerous films at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, who reside not far from the studios in Culver City, California.   The two reside with their housekeeper, Mildred McDonald (who lived with them since Mrs. Allen died when Betsy was only four-years old - p. 20).  If this sounds familiar, then you'd be right! The similarities between Nancy Drew, who lived with her attorney father and their housekeeper, Hannah Gruen (who lived with them since Mrs. Drew died when Nancy was ten or three, depending on what text you read) cannot be ignored.  And, of course, there is the name of the housekeeper - "Mildred," which obviously a nod to Mildred Wirt Benson, the ghostwriter of the original Nancy Drew mysteries.  Also present in the story is young Meg, Betsy's cousin who has come to stay wit the Allens in sunny California following the death of her father and a Polio scare (p. 4).

 

The story opens with Betsy giving Meg a tour of the studios where her father works, and the two girls meet up with Mickey Rooney, who is filming his latest Andy Hardy film, Love Finds Andy Hardy, a real film that was released in theaters in 1938.   While the book is a work of fiction, Cleveland does integrate a number of real-world events and facts into the story, grounding some of the fantastic elements that one would normally never believe could or would happen otherwise.  There is reference to Judy Garland's accident during the filming of that movie (p. 52), an event that took place in the real world in May 1938.  This fact falls a bit out of line with the time line set forth in the book, but we'll get to that later.  For now, let's just say that Meg is awed by the number of stars that Betsy knows, all thanks to her father's work.  But that knowledge is also what gets her involved in the mystery, when a runaway car nearly hits Rooney while he is filming, but he fortunately has his life saved by quick-thinking Betsy who pulls him out of the way.

 

It seems someone is out to get Mickey Rooney.  Or are they?  The clues do not seem to all point in the same direction, as Betsy also receives a mysterious package that contains a photo album with pictures of her mother and father, as well as a pink baby blanket!  Are the mysteries somehow connected?  And who is that mysterious woman Betsy has seen following her?  And what is going on with Rooney's stunt double, Peter Clark?  Why does he only have negative things to say about Mickey Rooney, without whom, he would not even have a job?  (And that name!  I'm sure it's pure coincidence, but the name is an amalgamation of the names "Peter Bradford" and "Jeff Clark," two characters from the old soap opera, Dark Shadows, both of which were played by actor Roger Davis - coincidence?)  Betsy cannot seem to make up her mind about Clark, as every thing seems to point to him as the culprit.

 

The book does make a number of other references to Nancy Drew mysteries (none of them blatant, but, rather, they are subtle mentions of "album" or "trunk" or "oak" or various words taken from the titles of Nancy Drew mysteries over the years).  One, however, is quite pointed, with Cleveland having Betsy pull out a copy of The Haunted Bridge, "the latest in the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories" (p. 125).  That particular book was first published in 1937, a year prior to the real-life accident of Judy Garland in 1938.  Some research does reveal, however, that no Nancy Drew book was published specifically in 1938 (the next book did not get released until 1939), and as such, The Haunted Bridge would have continued to see print runs into 1938, making it the "latest" book in the series for Betsy to have.  Therefore, it is possible that the 1938 time-line of real life events could coincide with the events in the book.

 

Another similarity I noticed was how much this book reminded me of the 1978 two-part episode from the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries titled "The Mystery of the Hollywood Phantom."   That story also involved a film studio in California, where a phantom was seen creating havoc.  But that is as far as the similarities go.  Cleveland's tale involves a spectral ghost who is seen by only a select few, and whose ultimate goal is to pay back the studio, and a certain actor, for a wrong believed to have been done to him many years ago.

 

The book really was a wonderful read that hearkens back to the heydays of children's mystery books and pays some very nice homage to Nancy Drew and her sister/brother series.  Here's hoping Cleveland manages to write that second mystery hinted at on the last few pages of this book (and let's hope that story does not end up getting lost somewhere over the rainbow....).

 

RATING:  10 notes created from letters cut out of a magazine out of 10 for a well-written first book that provides plenty of mystery, suspense, and fun all rolled into one! 

The Brownie Scouts at Windmill Farm - Book Six of the Brownie Scout Books

At last we reach this sixth and final volume of The Brownie Scouts series written by Mildred A. Wirt (Benson), published in 1953.  This same year, Wirt had published the first book in her Girl Scouts series (which only lasted three books, published in '53, '55, and '57).  Since the Brownie Scounts graduated into the Girl Scouts, one would have thought Wirt would use the same characters; but, alas, the girls in the Girls Scouts series are not related in any way to the girls in The Brownie Scouts books.  Thus, we this book, we see the last of Connie Williams, Vevi McGuire (whose name remains "Vevi" now instead of "Veve" as it was spelled in the first four books!), Jane Tuttle, Sunny Davidson, and Rosemary Fritche, as well as their troop leader, Miss Jean Gordon.  At least their final adventure is a fun one!

 

The Brownie Scouts at Windmill Farm introduces a girl who is to become the newest member of the Rosedale Brownie Scouts - Hanny Van Der Lann. Hanny lives on a farm in Rosedale with her uncle, Peter Van Der Lann, her parents having died.  She and her uncle are both from Holland, so the Brownies (along with the reader) learn a number of things about Holland and tulips, as well as windmills.  It's interesting that Wirt should author a mystery involving the Dutch, as she previously wrote a book some 15 years prior to this one, The Wooden Shoe Mystery, which also featured a Dutch family.  The story opens with the girls learning about Holland at the Rosedale library and finding themselves with an opportunity to assist in the upcoming annual Rosedale tulip show.  These two things lead the girls to visiting "Windmill Farm," where Peter Van Der Lann has fields of the most beautiful tulips the girls have ever seen!  Hanny informs the girls that her uncle has a very special prized tulip that he will be entering into the contest at the tulip show, and she hopes that winning the first place award will help her uncle keep his farm (as he is heavily in debt).  One can easily see where the story is going to go from here...

 

A show promoter by the name of Mr. Piff is adamant about making the small town tulip show into a huge sensation, and pushes hard for the businesses of the community to sponsor his big plans - and he gets miffed when Mr. Van Der Lann refuses to donate money.  The neighbors who own the property adjacent to Windmill Farm - Mr. and Mrs. Mattox - are bitter people who have a competing farm of tulips that don't do nearly as well as Mr. Van Der Lann's, and they are determined to discover the prize tulip he intends to enter into the flower show so that they can make sure to have one better!  There's also the very enigmatic Mrs. Gabriel, the woman that Mr. Van Der Lann refuses to do business with but will not say why; the same woman that the Mattoxes are only too happy to do business with - and the same woman who ultimately searches for Vevi in order to get back a bag of bulbs she claims Vevi stole from her!  Thus, there is plenty of mystery - will Mr. Van Der Lann win first prize with his secret tulip?  Why is Mr. Piff so determined to get money from everyone in Rosedale for his idea of a super-show? And who is the mysterious Mrs. Gabriel that no one in town seems to know, yet who is making her presence known to everyone?  Plus, there's that stranger who questions Vevi about Mrs. Gabriel and is also found outside the locked shack on Windmill Farm, where Mr. Van Der Lann keeps his prized tulip bulbs - who is he, and what does he want?

 

This is a fun story that once again focuses on Vevi and Connie, with more attention on Vevi than Connie.  Sunny, Jane, and Rosemary are again relegated to simple supporting roles, playing very little part in the story.  Wirt provides plenty of educational information about Holland, tulips, and planting flowers, integrating it flawlessly into the story itself.  Wirt also manages to remind readers about the various aspects of the Brownie Scouts organization - its purpose, its history, and its meaning to the members.  This has been a rather enjoyable series to read, even though it is aimed at young readers (the same age as The Bobbsey Twins series).  It's rather a shame the series did not have the opportunity to continue beyond these six books.

 

The cover and interior art are once again provided by Marguerite Gayer.  While the cover art does not necessarily depict the most exciting scene (simply the girls admiring the Van Der Lanns' tulip garden), the interior frontis piece actually presents a rather important scene from the story - Mrs. Gabriel digging in the Scouts' recently planted garden outside of the Rosedale Library (from page 178)!  This is probably one of the best interior illustrations from the series, in my opinion. 

 

I did catch one error within the story.  When Vevi is caught in a sudden storm with Hanny on the farm, Hanny rushes out to cover one of the tulips, which Vevi guesses to be the "prize" tulip her uncle intends to enter into the contest.  Vevi says to Hanny, "It was the Golden Beauty that you covered ... I am sure of it, Vevi.  But I will never tell" (pp. 95-96).  Vevi was the one talking, and it is clear she was meaning to say "I am sure of it, Hanny," but instead, Wirt incorrectly inserts Vevi's own name into the dialogue.  It is surprising neither the author nor any editor at the publisher caught this glaring error.  It just goes to show that even the most careful of editing does not necessarily catch everything!

 

While not a masterpiece series by any means, the Brownie Scouts is a fine example of Mildred Wirt's ability to craft a perfectly-paced, fun mystery/adventure story that is an enjoyable read.

 

RATING:  8  uncut commercial diamonds out of 10 for sending off the Brownie Scouts with a fun-filled adventure of mystery, smuggling, and prize tulips!

The Secret of Barnabas Collins - the 7th Paperback Library Gothic Novel based on ABC-TV's suspense drama (Dark Shadows)

With the introduction of the vampire, Barnabas Collins, in the previous book in this series, author W.E.D. Ross (under his pseudonym, Marilyn Ross), keeps the focus on this sensational new character that took the world by storm on the daytime television soap.  Poor Victoria Winters is pushed even further into the background, and just as her character left the television show, it is only natural that Ross was required to remove the character from the book series, so that it remained somewhat tied in to the characters of the soap opera.  While the stories in these books are most certainly a far deviation from the stories seen every day on the daytime drama, the major players in both series are relatively the same (although, to be honest, once Barnabas Collins, and later Quentin Collins, took center stage, the remaining members of the current-time Collins family were only seen now and again, never truly having any major roles in the book series).

 

The Secret of Barnabas Collins is the seventh book in this series, and it brings Barnabas Collins into the "current" time.  Readers get a surprisingly abbreviated look at Barnabas' arrival at Collinwood.  Gone is any reference to Willie Loomis and his opening of the casket to look for jewels; gone is any reference to Mrs. Johnson opening the door to the "cousin from England"; gone is any surprise on the part of the various family members as to Barnabas looking so much like his "ancestor," whose portrait hangs in the foyer.  Instead, we get a brief reference to Victoria Winters opening the door to find Cousin Barnabas standing there (I should be thankful I get this all-too quick appearance by Vicki!); we get told the portrait of the original Barnabas has been taken down while work is done on the wall; and we hear Vicki relate the loss of her love, Ernest Collins (with a reference by Barnabas that Burke Devlin would make a great match for her).  On top of this, we are introduced to a vicar in Collinsport who is strangely familiar with a lot of Collins' history, and he is able to tell Vicki and Barnabas a few facts about Stormcliff, the house not far from Collinwood that burned down a century before ... a place that Barnabas knows all too well, as his mind returns to that time in 1870 ...

 

And thus begins another flashback tale of an untold story of Barnabas Collins, as he wandered the world in his vampire state.  It is evident in Ross' continuity that Barnabas was never confined to his coffin on the Collinwood estate, but actually did end up going to England, as that is where we find him as the flashback begins. Barnabas is engaged to the lovely Lady Clare Duncan, yet one more woman who resembles his Josette - only this doppleganger has blond hair.  In a twist of fate, Lady Clare discovers the truth about Barnabas, but she loves him anyway, and when he breaks the engagement and disappears, she follows his trail to France (where she must fend off another vampire posing as a doctor), and then to America, where she finds him on the Collinwood estate, staying at Stormcliff rather than the Old House.  

 

Now, let's stop for a second and look at this history of Stormcliff.  At the beginning of the book, Victoria and Barnabas view the ruins of the stone house, discussing how it burnt down a century ago.  In the flashback, we learn that Stormcliff was built in 1850 by Peter Collins for his bride, who died a few months after moving in (p. 85).  Peter Collins left Collinsport, and "[o]ne of the other Collins brothers lived in the house for a while" (p. 85), but that brother is not named.  Ross then goes on to explain that "an uncle came and stayed there until he died" (p. 85), being killed in an accident at the fish-packing factory.  So that is three Collins' ancestors, who of whom are not named, that lived in the 1850s.  There is no connection given to how they are related to any of the known Collins' family members, so trying to fit these three into the family tree seems like an impossible task.

 

Back to the story, readers quickly learn that Barnabas has now taken up a dalliance with the wife of a sea-faring captain, a woman known throughout Collinsport to be unfaithful to her husband.  Lady Clare tries to persuade Barnabas of her love for him and her desire to see him cured of his curse, but Barnabas sees only pity in her eyes.  The story takes some pretty dark twists, reminding readers that in those early days of the show, when Barnabas was still a relatively new character, he was not the reluctant vampire that he later became.  There are a number of deaths, and there is even a doomed trip aboard a freighter bound for the West Indies.  However, during the course of all this, Lady Clare does meet her future husband in the form of Nathan Forbes, the second in command on that freighter (pp. 112-13).  And no, this could not possibly be the same Nathan Forbes from the 1795 storyline on the TV show - even though both men were naval officers, the Forbes in the television drama was killed by Barnabas for telling Naomi Collins that her son was a vampire; plus, this book is set in 1870, nearly 80 years after that storyline, meaning that Nathan Forbes would have been over 100 years old at the time!  Since the Forbes on the TV show had no children, we can only guess that this Nathan Forbes is perhaps a nephew or even great-nephew of the original.  At least this Nathan Forbes escapes Barnabas' wrath and lives a long life with his bride, Lady Clare Duncan.

 

I also have to wonder just who "Ben" is - the manservant who stays with Barnabas throughout the story (although he meets an untimely demise by the end).  In the television show, Barnabas had Ben Stokes (or Ben Loomis in the '90s show) who helped him, even after he was cursed to walk the earth as a vampire. But that Ben was already middle aged in 1795, so there is no way he could still be alive in 1870, unless Barnabas turned him, giving him eternal life (which is never stated in the book).  Perhaps, like with Forbes, this is merely a distant nephew or such of the original Ben Stokes - or, perhaps, he is not even related at all, since the story never provides his last name.  There is an odd contradiction with regards to the character within the book - when we are first introduced to Ben, he is described as "a woefully heavy stopped man with sandy gray hair" (p. 27), which sounds an awful lot like Thayer David's Ben Stokes from the soap; however, later in the story, when Lady Clare is following Barnabas' trail, and innkeeper refers to Ben as "sick" and "the thin one, the servant..." (p. 38).  Either Barnabas switched manservants along the way, or Ben suddenly lost weight on the trip to go from "woefully heavy" to "thin."

 

I will say, I did enjoy this book a bit more than the previous one.  While the story deals with Barnabas' secret life as a vampire, the main character is actually Lady Clare Duncan, and the reader is asked to sympathize with her dilemma - the man she is in love with is a vampire, cursed by a scorned lover to walk the earth as the living dead; should she try to cure him, or should she destroy him before he can harm anyone else?  The Gothic elements are all there, with her doomed love for a villainous man, the dark castles and homes, the secrets and lies everywhere she goes, and the young hero who must fight to save the woman he has fallen in love with from the evil that threatens to take her away.  

 

RATING:  8 goblets of blood-red wine out of 10 for Gothic suspense, mystery, and horror in true Dark Shadows fashion. 

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories # 146 - The Ghost of the Lantern Lady

"History becomes mystery as Nancy unravels a haunting case" (cover blurb)

 

"At a haunted historic village, Nancy sees ghostly signs of foul play" (back cover blurb)

 

With this mystery, we step back into the typical Nancy Drew Mystery Stories style of storytelling (in other words, no murders, no attempted murders, no guns, no Files-level danger).  The author of this particular digest is not known; however, it is clear Simon & Schuster used a plot that was more in-line with the kind of mysteries Nancy Drew fans were used to reading.  Yet, it does seem to be we have reached the point in the series where "sabotage" has become the common theme in many of the stories.  Although I do love the title for this book, sadly, it is a bit misleading, as the "ghost" does not really play a major part of the story...

 

The Ghost of the Lantern Lady finds Nancy, Bess, and George volunteering yet again, for the purpose of uncovering the truth behind all of the weird things that have been happening at Persimmon Woods Pioneer Village, a "living history" museum located just twenty miles south of River Heights (p. 1).  It seems Nancy and her friends have done a lot of volunteering lately - at a youth facility, at the local zoo, at Carson Drew's law office, and even in Washington, D.C.!  But, I suppose their eternal summer between high school and college provides them with plenty of time for all of this volunteering, so why not?  In any event, the girls have agreed to help Anita Valdez, who lives just across the street from the Drew residence (p. 2) - Anita work a the village and is concerned that the incidents could eventually lead to someone getting hurt.  Nancy, never one to turn down a mystery, agrees to see what she can find out.

 

By the end of the first chapter, we get our first glimpse of the ghost, as the Lantern Lady makes an appearance in front of the volunteer trainees as they enjoying a hayride (p. 11).  This is the scene that cover artist Ernie Norcia has depicted in his cover painting - and, in fact, this is likely the first book that I am aware of that has the cover scene in the very first chapter!  Of course, the ghost's sudden appearance startles the horse, and several volunteers are jolted out of the cart being pulled by the horse - including Bess and her newfound friend, Cory Worth (a young man who, along with his sister Amy, are first time volunteers as well).  Thus, the adventure/mystery begins!  And, as one might suspect, Nancy knows there are no such things as ghost, so she is determined to find out whether the ghost is the one causing all the problems at the village, or someone else entirely.

 

Those involved with the village definitely come with some baggage.  Jake Parrish, a descendant of the family who originally owned the land and current chairman for the board of the non-profit running the village, seems to have quite the temper - and when Anita finds evidence that money is being embezzled, he fires her and blames her for stealing the money!  Leo Meier used to run the village, but was let go after only three years because his vision for the village did not coincide with Parrish's vision to protect the historical accuracy of the museum.  Mabel Tansy is the director who handles all of the volunteers, and organizing them all can be quite a task.  She seems quite familiar with Leo Meier, yet when confronted about it, she claims she knows little about him.  Then there is the rumor that a developer wants to purchase the land, and what better way to force a sale than to wreak havoc so as to reduce attendance and cause the village to lose money.  There is definitely plenty of suspicious behavior going on, meaning Nancy has her work cut out for her sifting through it all to find out who is really behind it all.

 

For the most part, the sabotage is destructive, but not dangerous - there appears to be nothing directed at any people that would cause injury.  Until someone sets the Windbreak house (the main house on the property) on fire, with plenty of people inside of it!  And poor Cory happened to be pulling a prank of his own, and he finds himself locked in the old beehive oven after everyone else has evacuated!  Of course, Nancy, Bess, and George get a taste of that same medicine when they are locked in a smokehouse, and someone turns the heat up - intending to cook them alive!  They get out before any real damage is done (as if there were ever any doubt), and manage to uncover the truth behind who is doing all of the destruction and why.  It turns out to be a very personal vendetta, but not from the person you would expect.

 

Overall, the story was pretty good - I just wish there had been more focus on the ghost-aspect of the story rather than the sabotage.  This could have been a great tale of hauntings and terrorizing ghosts; but, alas, that opportunity was passed by, so we'll never know what could have been.   What we do get, however, is the real reason why people say "sleep tight" (p. 6); we see more of Bess's computer knowledge and internet savvy (p. 53), which we first saw in The E-Mail Mystery; and we see an editing snafu where George referred to as a man when Nancy is relieved to see "his" ankle bandaged (p. 131).

 

Not a bad mystery, but not necessarily a great one, either.  We will see what The Case of the Captured Queen has for us with the next book!

RATING:   7 old hidden ice houses out of 10 for attempting to mix a bit of history with a bit of mystery, and throwing a ghost in for good measure.

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #34 - Death Through the Mill

It only took 11 books for Ian McMahan (writing under his pen name, Laura Colburn) to return to the world of Zebra Mystery Puzzlers.  After confronting Death in a Small World, McMahan brings back his amateur sleuth / artist Carol Gates to solve yet another murder - this time in a small town of Vermont.  I, for one, am thrilled to see the return of Carol Gates, as I rather enjoyed her first book in this series, and I was definitely not disappointed with this one - although, I did find it surprising that McMahan literally waited until about 40 pages before that sealed chapter before the murder actually took place! That does not leave much time for crime-solving - but, then again, perhaps many of the clues surrounding the mystery were already in place before the murder ever happened...

 

Death Through the Mill sends illustrator Carol Gates on a potential new assignment: illustrating a true-crime novel for Henry Marston, an author whose previous book took an unsolved murder and gave readers Marston's own solution to the crime.  His new book intends to look at several unsolved murders, not necessarily ever in the public eye, and reveal potential solutions to those horrendous killings - including one that hits very close to home.  Carol travels to Millerton, Vermont, where she learns that not everyone in this small town is thrilled with Marston's return.  There appear to be a lot of bad feelings simmering just under the surface because of what took place decades ago:  Marston's father allegedly killed John Howard's father over a land dispute; years later, Marston left town rather suddenly after a young woman with whom he was in love took off with her unborn child in tow.  There is certainly enough drama in this town to give Peyton Place a run for its money!

 

The author leads the reader through a family rivalry from the past, giving bits and pieces here and there from various members of the Millerton community, and like Carol herself, the reader must put the pieces together to figure out what really happened all those years ago.  Howard was found shot on the Marston's old mill property, the trunk of his car filled with gas cans.  Was Howard really planning to burn down the mill in order to get Marston to sell it to the land firm that was intent on building a ski resort in town?  Did Marston kill Howard to prevent him from following through with his plan?  Why did Marston refuse to sell out to the prospectors, when all the other adjacent land owners had sold out and were waiting to make their fortune off the planned resort? And why did the new land owners just suddenly walk away from the deal when Howard was killed and Marston died just months later?  And how in the world did Ellen Whittier fit into all of this?

 

A break-in at the mill seems like a simple case of an inexperienced thief looking for something of value.  But the stolen antique gun and the shattered picture frame of Ellen Whittier are bigger clues than one might first think.  Then there's an argument Carol witnesses at an auction.  And an argument at the old mill between the Marston and Howard sons.  And, of course, the rather gruesome death of Henry Marston himself - and when I saw gruesome, I mean it - described in the book as the "internal framework was gone, broken, dissolved; it had no more structure than a six-foot bag of strawberry gelatin" (p. 131).  How else would you describe the remains of a human being that was crushed after it went through the millstone?  Or, as Carol herself puts it when she calls the local sheriff, "I guess you could say he's been through the mill" (pp. 131-32).  Too soon?  (Personally, I thought it was a hilarious line!)

 

While the cover artist remains uncredited, the internal illustrations are yet again provided by the talented Sanford Hoffman.  Hoffman seems to have been doing more and more of the internals for the Zebra Mystery Puzzlers as the series progresses - perhaps the earlier titles he illustrated sold better, so the publisher decided to utilize her services more?  Whatever the reason, I have to admit, his work has rather grown on me, and I just love the fact he outlines his illustrations, with portions of the scene overflowing beyond that outline.  It gives the feeling to the reader that the action within the scene is trying to burst right off the page!  All there are clear clues in each one of the illustrations, if you simply know what you are looking for (and since I had a fairly good idea of who the killer was going to be early on, it was somewhat easy to spot the clues that pointed to him - even if I did have the wrong motive!).

 

As a fan of children's mystery series, I was surprised to see not one, but two references to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys in this particular book!  The first is the obligatory name-calling, when a has-been, drunk attorney asks Carol, "Would you like to see the medal, Nancy Drew, or have you done enough for the day?" (p. 90).  The other reference is not quite as obvious, but it is definitely there.  When Carol is seeking help in setting the stage for her big revelation at the end, she says, "The old mill holds a secret, a deadly secret" (p. 175).  This is a clear reference to the third Hardy Boys book, The Secret of the Old Mill.  I mean, seriously, could it be anything else but that?

 

This book was definitely a winner, and I'm glad to know I still have one more Carol Gates' mystery before the series ends!

RATING:  10 old-fashioned wrought iron nails out of 10 for setting up a superbly plotted murder mystery with plenty of back story, plenty of suspects, and plenty of great reading! 

Challengers of the Unknown - a novel based on the DC Comics characters

First, I found the House of Mystery novesl by Jack Olsek.  Then I discovered the Blackhawk novel by William Rostler.  Now, thanks to a friend, I was made aware of another novel based on the characters of DC Comics - this one based upon a group of adventurers that debuted back in the February 1957 issue of DC's Showcase comics (issue six, to be exact).  While credits did not appear on the pages, it has later been said the art of that original story was by Jack Kirby, and the story was by Kirby and Dick Wood.  The group appeared three more times in Showcase (issues 7, 11, and 12) before appearing in their own title, which initially ran 77 issues, was picked up for three more issues, and eventually picked up for seven more issues before finally being cancelled for good.  There have been a number of reboots, revivials, and restarts over the decades, but none of them seemed to really catch.  To be honest, I've never read any of the comics series, so going into this book, I knew very little about the team, other than the fact they were also advertised as "living on borrowed time."

 

Challengers of the Unknown is the name of this group of adventurers.  Originally, the team consisted of four men:   Kyle "Ace" Morgan, Walter Mark "Prof" Haley, Leslie "Rocky" Davis, and Matthew "Red" Ryan.  Eventually, a female member by the name of June Robbins was added to the team.  You will note that all four men had nicknames that were used, but June merely goes by her given name.  This book avoids the 'origin' trope, very briefly mentioning in conversation among the characters how they came to be together (the four men survived a plane crash that should have left them dead, so "living on borrowered time," the four decide to go out and do what they can to make the world a better place with the time they have been given).  Instead, the author, Ron Goulart (a/k/a Ronald Joseph Goulart), gives readers an exciting adventure that pits the Challengers against not only a lake monster believed to be myth, but also against an army of former Nazis who are hell-bent on reviving the Third Reich and taking over the world, starting with the South American country of Ereguay (fictional, of course).  The author, by the way, also wrote a number of Zebra Mystery puzzlers under the pseudonym of Josephine Kains (the reviews for which you can find on my blog!).

 

The story opens with each member of the Challengers facing a dangerous threat, which almost kills them - emphasis on the "almost" part.  They realize the attacks were meant more to scare them than take them out, and that is even before they get assigned to go down to Ereguay to look into a local legend about a lake monster that has been killing people in the area where a United States oil company is looking to establish a refinery.  The Challengers take the assignment, believing they will likely find there is no monster, but either a wild animal or some person working hard to make people think there is a monster.  But upon arriving in the South American country, they are asked by the president of Ereguay to look into another matter involving a potential dissident who is about to start a coup.  They divide forces, and soon both groups find themselves facing even more deadly danger, as they become targets of an unknown force who is definitely trying to do more than scare them.  They quickly learn there is a contingent of Nazi soldiers who immigrated to that country after the end of World War II and have developed a serum that will keep them young indefinitely - so as to allow them to build an army and finish what Hitler could not!  Rocky and Red get kidnapped out in the desert, while June gets kidnapped in the jungle, and the Prof and Ace find themselves facing off against a very real monster that has no hesitation about ripping a man apart with its bare hands!

 

The story moves at a pretty fast pace, and there are no lulls in the action.  Goulart manages to give the reader sufficient knowledge about each of the five members of the Challengers so that you have a good grasp on each of them, without bogging the story down with pages of exposition about their past.  Goulart sneaks in a couple of surprises here and there with regard to who can be trusted and who cannot be trusted, and the real monster of the story is not necessarily the one you would expect!  As with many superhero groups where there is only one female character, poor June is relegated to the sidelines quite a bit, and, of course, she becomes the victim that must be rescued by her male teammates.  She does have a couple of moments where she shines (showing some attackers that she is not to be underestimated) - it's just a shame that her own teammates (as well as Goulart!) fail to see her true potential on the team.

 

 The artist who provided the cover art is not identified, nor is there a signature on the art itself.  The back cover of the book merely states the "Cover Illustration copyright (c) 1977 by DC Comics, Inc."  However, thanks to Chad Lee Carter in a Facebook group called "Fear the Man-Thing," I discovered the cover artist was Enrique Torres (with an image of the clean art, provided by Mr. Carter in that group).  Torres, who is also apparently known as Enric Torres-Prat, is known for his work on many old Warren title (such as Vampirella).  More information about the artist can be found at Enric Torres-Pat.

 

One final thing I did want to mention is Goulart, in the story, reveals the chief brain behind all of the Nazi activity in Ereguay to be a man named Otto Wenzler (p. 88), who was reportedly killed in an air raid in Germany back in 1943 (but somehow survived).  That name sounded extremely familiar, and I thought perhaps that same character had been used in the Blackhawk novel I read some time ago.  Looking back, though, I did not see any reference to Wenzler in that book.  Some digging on the internet reveals this is the only book in which Wenzler appears, so I can't figure out why that name sounds so familiar...

 

Overall, the story was a fairly interesting read, it kept my attention from beginning to end, and I found the characters to be rather fun.  I may just have to pick up that Challengers of the Unknown Showcase sitting on my shelf and give it a read!

 

RATING:   8 electronic disabling devices out of 10 for good, old-fashioned comic-book danger, adventure, and excitement with fun characters and dastardly villains!

A Hearse for Dark Harbor - the second Dark Harbor Gothic Novel

"She was trapped in the old monastery with a faceless ghost ... and a cult of evil!" (cover blurb)

 

The second novel in the Dark Harbor series answered my question when reading the first book - will some of these characters introduced in Ghost of Dark Harbor show up and become featured characters in future books?  The answer is a resounding YES.  Ross (as in W.E.D. Ross a/k/a Clarissa Ross) utilizes characters and locations mentioned in the previous book as the central story in this book, albeit with some slight variations. I do like continuity, such as this, as it gives the books a more well-rounded, realistic feel to them, and also provides the reader with a soap-opera style environment, leaving us to wonder what will happen to these characters in the next book!

 

A Hearse for Dark Harbor takes place some time after the events of the first book, but there is no clear delineation as to how much time has passed.  Ross opens the story at the end, so to speak.  The reader is introduced to Rose Marks, a young woman who has clearly gone through a very traumatic experience on Pirate Island (where Dark Harbor is located), and she is in the company of Derek Mills - who readers may remember was one of the main characters in the first book.  While the whole "start at the end and tell the story in a flashback" sometimes works, I felt it was wrong for a story like this, as it pretty much gives away too much - like the fact that Rose clearly survives whatever happened to her, and whoever the villain of the story was has been defeated.  But, this was the route Ross chose to take, so I stuck with it, and by the middle of the first chapter, we start getting the back story that explains how and why Rose came to Dark Harbor...

 

Flashback:  Rose lives in New York with her roommate, Helen Grant. At a party one night, Helen meets a poet named Jules Bayliss - a man that Rose instantly distrusts. Well, as you might figure, her feelings about the man prove true, as Helen takes off one day, leaving a note explaining she has gone away with Jules to a remote island off the coast of Massachusetts, where the two will live in a commune that was one an old monastery.  When Rose loses all contact with her friend, she knows something is wrong, so she takes time off from work and heads out to Pirate Island.  She meets a man named Tex on the ferry, who happens to live in the monastery, and he agrees to take her there.  The carefree lifestyle, the free-flowing drugs, the demands for money by the man who runs the place, and the general consensus that Rose just does not fit in there give Rose reason to be cautious.  But she is determined to find her friend, no matter how many times everyone there says they never saw Helen.  Rose knows they are lying, and the more they lie, the more determined she becomes.

 

Phil Waring, the LSD-laced man who runs the place, accepts her into the commune with great caution, only allowing her to stay because of the money she offers.  He assigns to her Tex's "family," where she meets a woman named Dallas, who quickly informs her that she is Tex's main wife and Rose better not get any ideas of taking over.  Rose also meets a man named Cal, who is friendly enough, but who readily admits to staying there simply for the drugs.  Then there's the girl Susie, who is a bit of a loner, and she is the only person to truly warn Rose away, telling her the story of the Leper Mary - a ghost who is said to haunt the halls of the old monastery, her face so hideous she wears a veil to hide it.  Rose discounts the tale until she sees the ghost herself in her own room!

 

Ross does manage to build some good suspense in the story.  As Rose continues to dig deeper, the more trouble she faces - and not once, not twice, but on three separate occasions, the ghost of Leper Mary comes to Rose's rescue, saving her from certain doom - once from being drown in a locked dungeon, and twice from being pushed off the rooftop balcony!  Along the way, Rose meets Derek Mills, who comes to her aid when she is trapped on the side of the cliff, and she agree to work with him to bring an end to Waring's hold over the people at the commune.  The final climax is a bit rushed, as Ross is apt to do in his stories, and we do not actually "see" the final battle, as Rose is knocked unconscious, and we learn what happened only after Rose wakes up in the doctor's office.

 

The revelation of what happened to Helen is not too surprising, if you really pay attention as you read.  The truth about the "ghost" of Leper Mary is also not much of a surprise.  What is a surprise, to me at least, is the story Derek Mills tells about his wife.  As those read the first book may recall, he brought his wife Joyce back to Dark Harbor after she had a breakdown following the death of their child.  The story followed her fight to stay sane as someone or something was intent on making her think ghosts were haunting the estate.  At the end of that first book, it was proven there was no ghost, and everything Joyce had seen really did happen, and she found herself back in the arms of her husband, their marriage restored.  Yet, in this book, Derek relates how Joyce had another breakdown, and she went back to the mental hospital on the mainland, where the doctors have told him she will likely never recover.  He no longer wears his wedding ring, and he even admits to having feelings for Rose!  This really bothered me, as there is no explanation as to why Joyce had another breakdown, and the attention he shows Rose basically confirms Joyce's suspicions from the first book that he was cheating on her!  This definitely made me like Derek Mills even less than I did in the first book!

 

At least we also have the return of Captain Zachary Miller, who is a lovable character who always seems to offer the best advise to the damsels in distress in these stories.  I hope he is a mainstay in this series, as I find him to be one of the better characters on Pirate Island - plus, he knows so much about the history of the island!

 

Now, I do want to address a bit of inconsistency about the monastery.  In the first book, it is casually mentioned that the monastery is owned by a wealthy man, who has hippies living on the property, and whose lifestyle of drugs and possible rituals has been played down by the police on the island.  In this book, however, the man who rents the place (not owns!) is by far not rich, and the police in town, as well as the town council, want nothing more than to run Waring and his cronies off the island!  Perhaps Ross intended that the wealthy man who owns the monastery rented it to Waring, and the rich man did not actually live there?  Whatever the case, the continuity errors about the monastery and about Derek Mills' wife simply did not sit well with me while reading the book.

 

The cover art is one again, I believe, provided by Lou Marchetti.  With the monastery in the background, Rose running in that flowing white nightgown (which, by the way, she never actually wears at any time in the story), and the graveyard in the foreground, Marchetti sets the mood for a spooky, dark tale.  He even includes "Mary" on the name of the one tombstone, which one can assume refers to the Leper Mary. 

 

It's not a bad read, but if the saga of Dark Harbor is going to continue from book to book, I hope Ross does not keep changing the continuity...

 

RATING:  8 fresh unmarked graves out of 10 for pitting Rose against some deadly and very dangerous men in a God-forsaken, unrefurbished monastery that would given even the bravest of souls cause for worry!