Now that we finished the Penny Parker series, our reading group tossed around ideas on what series to start on next, and those spectacular sister sleuths, The Dana Girls, won the vote. Looking back, the idea for the Dana Girls came shortly after the success of Nancy Drew in 1930. In August 1932, Grosset & Dunlap agreed to move forward with another series written under the pseudonym of "Carolyn Keene" - after all, her Nancy Drew series was a success, so why not take advantage of that author's name while the property was still hot? It was not until December 1932, however, that Harriet Stratemeyer Adams wrote to Syndicate ghostwriter Leslie McFarlane to ask if he was interested in writing books for a new girls' series. McFarlane, best known for his work on the Stratemeyer's other popular series, The Hardy Boys, agreed to take on the project (he needed the money). Thus, in January 1933, McFarlane received a sample book (which was none other than a copy of the first Nancy Drew mystery, The Secret of the Old Clock), as well as the outline written by Edna Stratemeyer Squier. And with that, The Dana Girls were born!
By the Light of the Study Lamp is the first of The Dana Girls Mystery Stories, published in 1934, along with the second and third books of the breeder set. The title is definitely not what one would consider a typical mystery title - there is no "mystery" or "clue" or "secret" anywhere in the name! - but it certainly conjures up some unusual, almost gothic imagery. In fact, the 1949 wrap-spine dust jacket cover for this book (which was taken from the third internal illustration of the original printing) provides an almost gothic scene - a dark mansion in the background, with a light in the upper window, and a young girl (well, in this case, two young girls) in the foreground. And, of course, the story itself has some minor gothic tropes, what with the hidden panels, double identities, and the missing fortune. The mystery itself, though, is not gothic at all.
McFarlane does a decent job introducing all of these new characters to his readers. Louise Dana is "a pretty, dark-haired girl of seventeen" (p. 1), while her sister Jean has "fair hair" (p. 1). The girls are described as orphans, living with their Uncle Ned and Aunt Harriet (p. 3). We know from outlines and other documents that the Syndicate provided the character names, but one has to wonder if the names for the uncle and aunt did not come from Edward Stratemeyer ("Ned") and his daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams ("Harriet"). It would be too much of a coincidence for them not to be. In any event, Uncle Ned is the girls' "bluff, elderly relative" who was the "captain of the great Atlantic liner Balaksa" (p. 3). Their Aunt Harriet is "a good-natured, attractive maiden lady in her middle forties" (p. 3). This is one of those rare times when a series book plainly sets forth the age of on their adults - usually they are simply described as older or elderly or middle-aged or some other vague reference. Readers are also introduced to Ben Harrow, the "stuttering hired man" who is also said to be clumsy (p. 3), as well as Cora Appel, the Danas' maid whose "aggravating stupidity ... kept life interesting for Aunt Harriet" (p. 3). The maid, who is affectionately nicknamed "Applecore" by the girls, is also described as "buxom" and "red-cheeked" (p. 6). Buxom, by definition, means a plump woman, normally one with large breasts. I was surprised to see such a description in a children's series book, but being written by a man, I suppose it should not be surprising that such an attribute would be focused upon. And with that, readers are prepared to enter the world of The Dana Girls and follow along as they find themselves embroiled in their very first mystery!
The mystery begins by the end of chapter one, when an antique lamp that Uncle Ned had delivered to the house as a gift for Louise and Jean before they head back to school at Starhurst School for Girls is stolen. The girls decide to try and follow the thief, which takes them into Oak Falls to a rather seedy second hand shop owned by Jake Garbone, who is described as a "stout, swarthy individual with beetling eyebrows, dark eyes, nose like a beak, [and a] thin, cruel mouth" (p. 17). The description alone is enough to set off warning signals in the reader's mind that this man is going to be a villain. And that name - "Garbone." Perhaps it was a deviation of the name, Paul Bonnaventure Carbone, who was a well-known criminal in the Marseille underworld from the 1920s until the 1940s, when he died. In any event, the girls head back home by taking the river road, which runs along Oak River, described as "a rough, tumultuous body of water that rin swiftly between high, rocky shores that became sheer cliffs in many places ... [and] ended in the roaring cataract known as Oak Falls, a wild, fifty-foot plunge of foaming water" (p. 25). Interestingly, there is a real town of Penfield (where Starhurst is located) in New York, which has a park that runs along Irondequoit Creek, "where it drops over 90 feet in the course of one mile. The relatively steep drop in an otherwise flat region leads to some interesting rapids along its path towards Irondequoit Bay and eventually Lake Ontario" (
Waterfalls - Channing H Philbrick Park). Is it possible this area was used as the inspiration for the fictional Oak Falls and its river and waterfall? This trip ultimately leads them to save the life of a man and his dog - the man turning out to be a friend of Uncle Ned's who becomes a very integral part of the mystery. The dog, on the other hand, must be supernaturally enhanced, as the girls see the dog hit by a car, watch as it flies through the air; in fact, McFarlane describes the scene by saying the dog was struck with such force that it was thrown clear of the road, rolled down the side of the cliff, and lands with force in the torrent of water below (p. 27). Yet, miraculously, that dog walks away without one scratch!
Louise and Jean head off to Starthurst, where it turns out they are in the same grade (even though Jean is one year younger than Louise - sort of a mirror version of the Hardys, who were one year apart, yet in the same grade). They meet four of their friends - Nell Carson, Doris Harland, Ann Freeman, and Margaret Glenn - on the train to Penfield. It is rather amusing that the names of the four friends also happen to have connections to series books: NELL Speed is a pseudonym used by the Syndicate; DORIS Force is a four-book series written by the Syndicate; ANN Sterling is another series; and MARGARET Penrose is yet another pseudonym. Again, it could simply be a coincidence (I mean, let's face it, these series books basically depend on coincidences to get the mysteries solved!), but in real life, coincidences are few and far between. Regardless, the train also furthers the mystery, when the girls witness a gypsy-like woman try to steal a wealthy woman's suitcase (pp. 60-61) and are able to prevent the theft. The woman, Mrs. Grantland, ultimately plays an important part in the story, as it is revealed an expensive ring of hers was taken by the gypsy, and she aids the girls by allowing them use of her car (which is rather surprising, since she really does not know them - I suppose people were far more trusting back in the 1930s than they are now!).
At the school, readers are introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Crandall, who operate the school. Mrs. Crandall is basically the one in charge, as her husband is more focused on a book he is writing about Ancient Greece (p. 62). The name "Crandall" has both Irish and Welsh origins, meaning "ravine" or "iron dell," or in some cases, interpreted as "water course." This is an interesting choice of names, considering the girls' earlier rescue of Franklin Starr from the rapids of Oak River just a few chapters earlier! And here we also get to meet, for the first time, a character that plays an important part in the Dana Girls' lives through the rest of the series - the one, the only, Lettie Briggs! The Dana Girls' life-long nemesis is said to be "a tall, anaemic girl whose arrogant, snobbish manner" made her unpopular with the girls at the school (p. 63), and she makes it clear her father is worth $10 million (p. 65), which is unbelievable for that time, as that would equate to more than $230 million in today's dollars!
The mystery heats up when the girls stumble upon their lamp at a thrift store in Penfield, where they buy it back (much to Lettie's chagrin!) and put it in their room at Starhurst (which also happens to be the very room Lettie thought she was going to get - yet one more reason for her to hate the Danas!). The lamp seems to hold a lot of interest for a lot of people. Lettie wants the lamp for herself, having seen it in the shop but not wanting to pay $10 for it; a handyman at the school seems to have taken a keen interest in the lamp, as the girls catch him looking at the lamp every time he is in their room (as depicted in the frontis piece illustration); and even Garbone and the gyspy woman, who turns out to be his sister, Fay Violette, are anxious to buy back the lamp, indicating it was sold to the thrift store by mistake and rightfully belongs to them. That name, Fay Violette, is interesting and begs the question if it was not perhaps taken from the song "Pretty Violette," which was sung by a young woman named Fay Templeton in New York during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Again, the coincidence and timing are a bit much to be pushed asie.
Getting back to the focal point of the mystery, Lettie does manager to get her hands on the lamp, and as a trick, she gives it to the school's cook as a gift; the Danas find out and get it back, but Jean, as a way to get even, adds some very hot red pepper to some cream puffs the cook has just made and gives them to Lettie and her toady friend, Ina Mason (p. 106). This is quite amusing, as you would never see Nancy or her friends taking such action against someone who wronged them. This actually gives Louise and Jean a little bit more personality than their sister sleuths, as it reveals a more natural, human side to their characters.
The story evolves as the Danas, besides trying to learn the secret of the study lamp, also seek to aid a young girl at their school, Evelyn Starr, who is on the verge of having to leave due to a lack of money. Yes, this turns out to be Franklin Starr's little sister (another coincidence! what a shock!), and it eventually all ties into that antique study lamp, which provides Evelyn Starr with the means to stay at Starhurst and sets up her and her brother for many years to come. And, oh yeah, that dastardly Jake Garbone and his thieving sister both end up in police custody, where they belong, and Mrs. Grantland's expensive ring is recovered and returned to her. All in all, the Danas do a superb job of wrapping up their first mystery, and McFarlane finds a way to integrate the title into the very last line of the book, as Louise says, "I'll never forget how those precious jewels looked by the light of the study lamp" (p. 215). However, just because they solve the mystery in spectacular fashion does not mean the story does not have some rather ... questionable ... moments! Probably one of the biggest takes place in Chapter Nineteen, when Jean walks to the telegraph office in Penfield to send a message to Uncle Ned; when she returns to the school, she tells Louise she came back by way of the park where she saw Jake Garbone (p. 157). The girls want to catch the man, so they borrow Mrs. Grantland's car (p. 158), and Louise drives the car through the traffic of Penfield until they are "speeding along the highway" that leads out of Penfield to get to the park before Garbone leaves (p. 159). Now, I ask - how in the world did Jean walk, or even run, by the park and get back to the school so quickly, whereas the Danas are forced to use a car and drive outside of Penfield in order to get to that very same park to catch Garbone before he leaves? Is Jean bionic, by chance, and she can run as fast as any car can drive? Either that, or the distance and timing somehow changed between Jean's visit to the park and the girls' trip back to the park.
I will say, though, the girls' trip to the park does warrant a mention, as it is there the girls discover a pocket watch dropped by Garbone, which coincidentally (here we go again!) has an inscription to Franklin Starr. The title to that particular chapter happens to be "The Clue of the Watch" - a title that, perhaps, pokes a little fun at the title to the very first Nancy Drew book, The Secret in the Old Clock? And the internal illustration for that scene, when Garbone happens across the girls just as they discover the watch, bears an uncanny resemblance to an illustration from the Nancy Drew book, The Password to Larkspur Lane (p. 101), where Nancy is kneeling on the ground as a man comes barging through the bushes towards her. In fact, oddly enough, another illustration in this book (from page 112) showing the girls watching as a man creeps up on the school is extremely similar to another illustration from Larkspur Lane (p. 9), where Nancy and Hannah are watching a man running up to the front door of the Drew house. Larkspur Lane came out just one year prior to this book, so the question becomes: is it simply coincidence (again????) or did artist Ferdinand E. Warren, who illustrated this first Dana Girls mystery, take some inspiration from those earlier illustrations.
And while we are looking at the illustrations from this book, the fourth illustration, which shows the Danas looking into Mr. Garbone's second hand store through the front window, is somewhat the same as one of the later illustrations in
The Clue in the Old Album, when Nancy, George, and Bess are looking through the window of the antique store and see one of Mrs. Struther's dolls. Now, there is no denying that Warren's illustrations in this book are gorgeous. The black and white drawings are highly detailed (take a look at the scene of the sisters looking into Garbone's store for an example - the backwards lettering on the window, all of the items on the window shelf, the car in the background, the stores across the street, the clothing, the overhead lamp, etc.), and the girls (Jean and Louise) look far closer to their ages than Nancy and her friends do in the Tandy illustrations throughout those early Nancy Drew books (where Nancy and her friends appear to be closer to 30 than 18!). Warren (1899 - 1981) was a rather well-known artist later, being commissioned as the only artist to ever paint a posed portrait of the poet, Robert Frost. Later still, he was chosen by NASA to paint the launch of Apollo 14, a rather prestigious honor! He received numerous awards for his work, and he has paintings displayed in numerous galleries throughout the U.S.
I realize this post is a bit longer than normal, but there was so much to say about this book. Before I close, I would be remiss if I did not mention the trouble McFarlane had in writing the book. While records show that it only took him a month to write the book (from January 7, 1933 to February 4, 1933), they also reveal he had difficulty getting through the writing - sometimes to the point where he was "utterly fed up and discouraged" with the book! It was during this period of writing By the Light of the Study Lamp that McFarlane's wife gave birth to their daughter, which may have been part of the reason he kept plugging away at the book and got it finished - so he could get the payment needed to pay bills! In a letter from the Syndicate after receiving the manuscript, McFarlane was told they liked the story, describing it as "excellent" - and they informed him they would hear back within a week as to the next story. And, thus, The Dana Girls Mystery Stories were born!
RATING: 8 dark skirts and matching sweaters out of 10 for a rather well-fleshed out opening mystery for Louise and Jean Dana, with a some rather intense, dangerous, and even shockingly violent moments!
