The Unseen Enemy - a Goldsmith Book for Boys and Girls

This book was another one of those spur of the moment purchases for me.  I am not usually prone to picking up books that aren't a part of a series; however, having read one of Baxter's other books (Becky Bryan's Secret) and rather enjoying it, I thought I would give this one a chance.  Both the title and the cover art are rather unusual for a children's mystery, but the description of the story on the inside front flap of the dust jacket was enough to pique my curiosity.  This is the second of three books authored by Betty Baxter Anderson that were published under the name "Betty Baxter."  Anderson also wrote books under the pen name "Alice Anson" and her her given name of "Betty Baxter Anderson."  As much as I enjoyed the previous book, I admit I enjoyed this story even more!

 

The Unseen Enemy follows two girls - Polly Squires and Margot Graham - during their summer between high school and beginning university, where they plan to study social services.  In order to get a head start, Polly gets the bright idea of helping out at "Neighborhood House," a community center that helps children in the local area by giving them a place for activities while not at school.  But they quickly learn that the Neighborhood House is not doing well, and that the man who donated the house upon his death (one Doctor Brighton) put a stipulation into his will - if after 20 years, the House was not succeeding and a relative wanted to claim the house, they could!  Well, that 20 years is about expired, and it seems the House is having a number of problems.  First, a young girl goes missing, only to be discovered later asleep in the attic; then a young boy is injured on some climbing bars, which bars strangely disappear right after the incident; after that, another young boy falls into the water during a scavenger hunt, nearly injuring himself; then a young girl who was to be the lead in a benefit play for the House goes missing, only to be discovered later to have been struck by a car!  And what is even worse, each of these events somehow makes it into the local newspaper, despite the best efforts of Polly, Margot, and Sage Brian (who manages the House) to keep it quite.

 

An "unseen enemy" is determined to see the House fail, but the question remains:  why?  As far as anyone knows, once Doctor Brighton's wife died, years after his own death, there were no living relatives to claim the house.  So, then why is someone so determined to see Miss Brian fail in managing the Neighborhood House for the children?  Polly is determined to garner good publicity for the house, since the council overseeing funds for the House is preparing to pull those funds to give them elsewhere.  But her and Margot's plans are made difficult by Catherine Peasley, the spoiled daughter of a rather affluent man who happens to also be the president of the board who oversees the House.  Catherine could definitely give Lettie Briggs (from the Dana Girls series) a run for her money when it comes to causing trouble and using her money and family's power to get her own way.  When Polly and Margot devise a scavenger hunt for the children, Catherine takes charge and makes it way more extravagant.  When Polly and Margot plan the children's play as a fundraiser to get funds for the House, Catherine becomes angry and bitter that she was not asked the direct the play, and she executes plans that nearly sabotage the play on its opening night.

 

Baxter-Anderson provides readers with a well-plotted mystery that has several twists and turns, and while the revelation of the person behind all of the sabotage (which, after all, is what it really is) does not come as a huge surprise, the truth behind this person's actions is not quite what the reader will expect!  The author uses some rather ingenuous red herrings, as well as some subtly-placed clues that make for a really great read. 

 

Being a Goldsmith publication, there are no internal illustrations, and the cover illustration is not credited, so I have no clue who did the art.  It is rather unique (or odd, depending on your point of view), as the grey walls and floor surround a pantry door that Polly and Margot are about to enter.  While this scene does not exactly occur within the story, it does rather hint at the climax of the tale, when the girls make the big reveal about what the crook was really after in the House and who it was that was after it.  In fact, I had to smile at the way Polly manages to pull the newspaper and the Mayor into the scene, so that all can be witness to the criminal and the revelation as to his real identity!

 

A couple of things worth noting about the book.  While none of the story takes place in Florida, there are references to St. Petersburg, Florida (p. 17), from where Catherine Peasley's family seems to have come.  And as far as where the story takes place, it is in a city called "Kenwood" located in Iowa (p. 113).  There is a Kenwood that was established in Iowa back in 1886, with the plat for the town being filed in the county courthouse in 1887.  (Note, this tiny little town should not be confused with Kenwood Park, Iowa, which is located in a different county.)  Since the author is from Iowa, it should not be a surprise that she would write about the state with which she would be familiar (although, the real town of Kenwood is nowhere near the size of the city within this book).   The author also references a luxurious hotel called the Lexington (p. 182); but the only hotel in real life that is anywhere near that would be the Lexington Inn in Bedford, Iowa, which is about two-and-one-half hours away.

 

Now there is one error in the book, and not sure how it came about.  When Polly first learns about Doctor Brighton from an elderly woman in town, she is told the Doctor's wife's name is Martha.  Throughout the book, Mrs. Brighton is always Martha - except one time, where she is called "Sarah Brighton" (p. 210).  Not sure why the sudden name change, unless the author forgot the name she was using in the rest of the story, although she does refer to her as "Martha" again just three pages later.  I suppose we can simply chalk it up to a continuity and editing error!

 

RATING:  9 beautiful old teakwood boxes out of 10 for a grand treasure-hunting, sabotage-stopping mystery with some great characters and fun mishaps! 

Becky Bryan's Secret - a Goldsmith Book for Boys and Girls

This book was an unusual pick for me.  The title is certainly not the typical "mystery" title of children's series books from back in the day, and for that matter, it was not a part of any particular series (unless you could the "Goldsmith Books for Boys and Girls" a series of sorts).  But it was one of the number of books I picked up at the estate sale down in Melbourne last year, and so it is another keepsake from the home / bookstore of a dear friend.  To be honest, knowing nothing about the book, I wasn't sure if it was really a mystery at all, because it seemed like more of a typical "girl at school" book that featured daily problems faced by young girls than a mystery itself.  But, since I bought it, figured I might as well read it.  And honestly, it gave me a bit of a surprise.

Becky Bryan's Secret is one of three books written by prolific children's book author Betty Baxter Anderson under the name of "Betty Baxter" (which is rather humorous, that the alliteration of her name matches the alliteration of her character's name!).  Anderson wrote two books under the name "Alice Anson," three under the name "Betty Baxter," and thirteen books under her given name of "Betty Baxter Anderson."  Interestingly enough, Anderson graduated from University of Iowa, the same university from which Mildred Wirt Benson graduated a few years earlier!  Apparently that university has a habit of producing some great children's book authors.

The plot for this story should come as no surprise, as it centers around the secret Becky Bryan is keeping from everyone around her. A new student in the Junior class at Kent High School, Becky is anxious to make new friends and fit in at this new school.  Hilary Porter takes an instant liking to the new girl, as does the school's football star, Tad Middleton.  The Junior class's most popular girl, Victoria Heath, though, dislikes her from the start, and the reader knows she is going to be trouble (just think of Lettie Briggs from the Dana Girls Mystery Stories, and you'll have an idea of what Victoria is like!).  Everyone is interested in knowing more about Becky, but she manages to sidestep questions about her past - as she tells her Aunt Margaret, with whom she is living, "It's just got to work, this time, Aunt Margaret" (p. 26).  The question the reader asks is - what has to work?  Why is Becky not wanting to talk about her past?  What exactly is Becky Bryan hiding?  What is her secret?

I give Baxter credit - the story is rather engaging, even where the main mystery is simply what is Becky Bryan's secret.  She plants a number of clues along the way that could mean different things ... Becky rescuing her new friend's young sister by walking along a telephone wire to the side of a building (which is represented on the cover art); a slip of the tongue when she makes reference to the "Royal" family; her ability to handle the town stable's most untamed horse; and her excitement of having her father in Florida look for information, when she told everyone she was visiting her father in Chicago for the Christmas holidays.  I'll admit, I was going back and forth between several theories - was it simply that her family was rich?  Was her family in the circus?  Was her family some sort of royalty from another country?  And Victoria's constant attempts to discredit Becky before all of the Juniors ultimately force Becky to reveal the truth.

But that truth does not come out until after Becky and Hilary are faced with an actual mystery.  A little over half-way through the book, the girls get trapped in a sudden snow storm (which, incidentally, is a scene that is depicted on the spine of the dust jacket!), and they take shelter in a small cavern they discover, which has been converted into a rather comfortable living space.  It turns out the "man-cave" belongs to Aloysius Kent, who Hilary reveals died before she was ever born and whose father is the man who founded the city of Kent, where they live (p. 182).  Hilary reveals when Aloysius died, it was believed he had money, but his wife found herself penniless, so she sold their home and moved to Florida.  While in the man-cave, the girls uncover a secret panel behind a bookcase, which contains a box that holds a large number of stocks and bonds! The girls hope these will be worth a fortune to help poor Mrs. Kent, who believed her husband resented her by leaving her nothing when he died.  It is Mrs. Kent that Becky has her father locate (and it is that final act that ultimately leads to Becky having to reveal the truth about herself to her classmates).

Baxter also includes within the story a competition among the Junior class members for a spot as editor on the school newspaper when they go into their Senior year.  The competition is between Victoria and Becky, and as expected, Victoria is not above doing some underhanded things in order to get Becky kicked out of the competition.  Baxter also throws in some important football games for the school, as they do their best to make it to the state competition, and an inadvertent accident at Becky's Halloween party leaves poor Tad with a sprained ankle, unable to play - which only leads to more gossip and tricks from Victoria.  As can be expected from a book from this era, things manage to all work out in Becky's favor, and she even makes the decision to stay in Kent and finish her Senior year with all of her newfound friends.

A couple of notes about the book.  First, I was surprised when Hilary makes the exclamation, "Oh, my great and sainted Aunt Harriet!" (p. 93).  I had never seen a phrase such as this before reading the Penny Parker series, where Wirt uses that exclamation in several of her books. From what I and my fellow book club members were able to learn, the phrase "my great aunt" originated in British novels and short stories from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and it is an expression of surprise or consternation.  What's funny in this book, though, is Baxter actually has Becky respond to that exclamation in a manner that shows she has never heard it before, as Becky says, "Her name is Margaret [referring to her actual aunt], not Harriet, and she's my aunt, and not sainted" (p. 93).  That response made me laugh out loud.

Second, when Victoria and her cronies are continuing to decry Becky for not revealing her past, Hilary provides a sarcastic response, telling them that "Becky is really a princess of the banished royal house of Russia, who was stolen from her crib by the gypsies.  She was brought to this country by the Canadian Mounted Police, and thrown into a dungeon as a danger spy - " (p. 108).  I thought this to be amusing, as it made me think of The Clue in the Jewel Box, which dealt with Russian royalty (of a sort).  This book was published in 1937, more than five years before Jewel Box; however, the book was published well after the events surrounding Anastasia Nikolaevna, so it's likely this was a subtle reference to that whole situation with the Russian royal family.

Overall, a pretty good read, even though light on the mystery side of things, and I'd recommend it.

RATING:  8 green lights hung over the barn door out of 10 for a fun, adventure-filled story with a mix of mystery, competitiveness, and small-town fun!