Kay Tracey Mystery Stories No. 2 - The Strange Echo

In 1934, the Stratemeyer Syndicate offered  up a new series for girls - the Kay Tracey Mystery Stories.  The first book in the series, The Secret of the Red Scarf, was not a particularly good read - it was felt like a jumbled hodge-podge of circumstances and events that were mashed together to create a mystery.  While this second book in the series was written by the same ghostwriter, Elizabeth M. Duffield Ward, I thought perhaps since it was based upon an outline from a different Stratemeyer sister (Harriet, instead of Edna), the story might be more straightforward and more coherent.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.

 

The premise for The Strange Echo is a bit unique, so I can at least give the Syndicate credit for trying to come up with something different.  The main mystery involves some unusual echoes that are heard when Kay Tracey is visiting her friends, Wilma and Betty Worth, at Lost Lake.  The echoes seem to form partial words, but they do not make sense, and Kay must figure out what the echoes mean before she can figure out what is really happening at Lost Lake.  And this is where the mystery starts to go off the deep end, so to speak. It seems in addition to "the strange echo" that is heard, the tourist community is also plagued by thunder and lightning storms that bring no rain; odd glowing lights coming from a nearby valley; ghostly apparitions seen in that valley; and other sundry incidents that have Mr. and Mrs. Worth concerned about the girls going out to investigate the echoes.  Of course, Kay is not afraid, as she does not believe in the supernatural, and she knows everything has a logical explanation.

 

What is not logical are the numerous other mysteries in this book that, eventually, all tie into the strange events taking place at Lost Lake.  First, there is the foreign woman Kay meets in a department store in town who she overhears talking on the phone about echoes in the valley and who appears to be hiding something in her purse.  Second, there is the local bookseller who is upset because an antique book written in a foreign language has had pages ripped out of it, ruining its value (can you see where this is going?).  Third, there is the elderly man Kay and Mr. Worth pick up on their way to Lost Lake who is also headed to the lake in an attempt to locate a fortune his parents supposedly buried many years before when the area was destroyed by a landslide, which, coincidentally, is what created the lake (more on that later).  Fourth, there is the mysterious cabin deep in the woods, in which Kay sees a young man, along with the foreign woman AND the elderly man she met on her way to Lost Lake! Fifth, there is the "Scientific Instrument Company," from which a "sound device" is stolen.  The story has so many threads, Kay and the Worth twins hop from one direction to the next, and one wonders how in the world all of these could possibly be tied together by the end?!?!

 

In addition to the strange echo being heard, a major emphasis is placed on Mr. Nelson and his search for his family's treasure in Faraway Valley (yes, that is the name given the valley just below Lost Lake).  He appears repeatedly in the story, and Kay eventually learns that his story about the town being buried beneath a landslide many years ago, ultimately forming Lost Lake in the area, is true.  What is interesting is that Lost Lake is, indeed, a real lake located in Oregon that, once a year, completely disappears down a big hole in the lake bed (which hydrologists believe fills during the winter when streams leading to the lake are high, and then during the summer when rainfall lessens, the lake slowly drains).

 

What is more interesting about Lost Lake, however, is that 28 years after this book came out, the Stratemeyer Syndicate published their 24th Dana Girls mystery, titled, aptly enough, The Secret of Lost Lake (1962).  And before you ask, yes, the mystery centers around a community buried under a landslide many years prior, which landslide created the "lost lake."  There are other elements from this Kay Tracey mystery that appear in the Dana Girls' book - an elderly individual (in this case, a woman), whose parents were killed in the landslide, searching for a treasure in the area; unscrupulous people trying to find the treasure first; and a clue to the mystery being heard in a mysterious echo bouncing around in the valley!  In addition, one of the characters in Lost Lake is named "Simpson," which is also the name of the department store in The Strange Echo where Kay overhears the foreign woman speaking.  I suppose Harriet was running short on ideas for stories in the early '60s and decided to simply recycle a plot from a series that was not in print at the time!

 

A few tidbits from the story that are worth noting - the first is when Mrs. Tracey and Kay's cousin Bill are discussing the young sleuth, Mrs. Tracey observes that "Kay is like her father ... Roger was a newspaperman by profession, but I always felt that he should have been a detective.  He had a passion for apparently unimportant little details that most people would have passed by.  He used to work out the solution of criminal cases just for fun, and he was usually correct" (pp. 17-18), to which Bill replies, "He would have made a good lawyer.  And his daughter is like him -  a regular chip off the old block" (p. 18).  This description almost reads like a mixed description of Anthony Parker and Carson Drew!  The second tidbit is the breakfast served by Mrs. Worth at their cottage near Lost Lake - ham, eggs, and "corn pone" (p. 37).  I had never heard of corn pone before, so I had to look it up.  It turns out corn pone is a dense, unleavened bread made from cornmeal, salt, and water and usually fried or based in a skillet (sometimes using bacon drippings for flavor).  One thing we can always count on series books doing is teaching us something new every time we read one!

 

The final observation I want to make regarding this story is the utter vagueness used with regard to all of the mechanical and technological devises used in the story.  The author is so nebulous about all of them that it leaves the reader in a state of disbelief about all of them.  From the ambiguous name of the scientific company - "Scientific Instrument Company - to the vague descriptions of the various devices, such as the sound distortion machine, the strong wind device, the mechanical gadgets used to create glowing eyes and growls, and the unexplained tool used to draw in Kay and her cousin Bill, causing her to see distorted images; none of the technology is ever fully explained, nor is there any description of how they work (nor even any technical name given to the devices).  The story reads almost like one written by an elementary school student who wants to use strange devices but has no scientific knowledge to describe the machines or explain how they actually work.  This is a great disappointment coming from a Syndicate that thrived for many years on including detailed, educational explanations in their series books that provided readers with true learning experiences.  (For that matter, the fact that the "foreign" woman Hilda Arno, as well as her sister, Mrs. Alice Crosby, are both referred to as having accents and referenced as foreign women on multiple occasions, the author never actually identifies from what "foreign" country the women hail, leaving the reader to guess as to the national heritage of these sisters!)

 

The art for the original edition of this book appears to have once again provided by E.A. Furman (1879-1965), featuring a cover painting that shows Kay searching for those missing pages of the book in the isolated cabin and an interior illustration that finds the girls following Mr. Nelson into the woods.  The later Books, Inc. reprint of the book has another painted cover by "ELAINE," that unidentified artist known only by the one name, always written in all caps. Still another edition of the book, reprinted in 1964 by Berkley Highland Books, gives readers a third cover art, which depicts a rather exciting moment when Kay, Wilma, and Betty are out on the lake with a quickly approaching storm.  This third cover art is beautifully rendered and, quite honestly, could easily have been used for a Nancy Drew cover, since the characters are a redhead, a blonde, and a brunette with expressions that accurately display the personalities of Nancy, Bess, and George from that series.  The artist is unidentified, but I personally find this cover to be the most dramatic of them all and the one I prefer the most.

 

I must admit, these first two books do not provide high hopes for the rest of the series.  After reading these two, our book club has decided to move on to other books, as these are simply too convoluted and not written well enough to hold our interest.  Perhaps one day, I might come back and give some other books in this series a chance (and who knows, since Mildred Wirt took over writing of the series with book three, perhaps it improved from there!); but, for now, I think I am giving the Kay Tracey Mystery Stories a rest.

 

RATING:  5 crumpled pages torn from an antique book out of 10 for at least giving readers a unique premise on which to base a mystery, even if it lacks a well-executed follow-through. 

 

 

Kay Tracey Mystery Stories No. 1 - The Secret of the Red Scarf

The year was 1934.  The Ruth Fielding series saw her last book published, while the Dana Girls and Beverly Gray both had the first books in their respective series published.  That year also saw the start of another new Stratemeyer Syndicate series - the "Kay Tracey Mystery Stories," written by Frances K. Judd (which, of course, was a house pseudonym used by the Syndicate).  Having finished the complete Penny Parker series, and having read the first four Dana Girls books, our book club decided to branch out and try another series, and Kay Tracey won the vote!  It has been quite a number of years since I had read the Kay Tracey series, so re-reading this first book was nearly like reading it for the first time.  And, quite frankly, I was a bit surprised at how little I enjoyed the book (as I do not remember disliking the series when I first read it).

 

The Secret of the Red Scarf introduces readers to Kay Tracey and her supporting cast, but the book reads much as if this were not the first book in the series (and, in fact, there are mentions in the story that Kay has solved other mysteries, although they are not identified).  This first book in the series was outlined by Edna Stratemeyer Squier and ghostwritten by Elizabeth M. Duffield Ward, who wrote more than 70 books for the Stratemeyer Syndicate (including books in the Radio Girls, Outdoor Girls, Ruth Fielding, and Billie Bradley series, as well as the entire Blythe Girls series).  Ward also wrote a number of books under her own name, apart from the Syndicate.  While I have the Outdoor Girls, Ruth Fielding, Billie Bradley, and Blythe Girls series, I have not read any of those (with the exception of one Outdoor Girls book set in Florida, which was written by Howard Garis and not Ward).  Thus, this is my first taste of Ward's writing, and I have to say - I'm not overly impressed.

 

As one of the members of our book club pointed out - this story was nothing special.  There was nothing particularly different about the title character to make her stand out from all the other sleuths out there at the time; nor was there anything unique or spectacular about the mystery to make it more engaging or more interesting than any of the other myriad of series books on the shelves at that time.  Just like many of her contemporaries, Kay Tracey is a sixteen-year old girl with "light, waving hair that was almost golden in the sun" (p. 4).  She has two best friends (sound familiar), one of whom is Wilma, named after her father, William (gee, is there another series with a best friend who has a boy's name?), and other is Betty, named after her mother Elizabeth (hmmmm, do we know another sleuth who has a best friend whose realy name is Elizabeth?).  Wilma and Betty - funny, as this book was more than 25 years before that first episode of The Flintstones aired, yet they shared the names of the wives from that show! - are twin sisters who grew up with Kay, and the three are inseparable.  Kay lives at home with a widowed parent (in this case, it is her mother), but her uncle Bill also resides with them, and he is a lawyer (wow, that is original - I can't think of any other teen detective who lives under the roof of a lawyer who helps her out all the time, can you?).  Rounding out the cast is Ethel Eaton, a classmate of the girls who seems to have no other purpose than to try and foil every plan Kay has (a nemesis looking to cause trouble for the sleuth - I can hear Lettie Briggs crying out "copyright infringement" right now!).

 

The mystery involves a young boy, Richard Ludlow (referred to by everyone as "Dick"), who is trying to make his own way ever since his sister, Helene, disappeared.  Coincidentally enough (and let's face it, none of these mysteries would ever be solved without the coincidences), the red scarf Kay has on hand for her gypsy costume she is putting together for an upcoming school masquerade is the exact same scarf that Dick's sister wore!  Kay volunteers to help him find his sister, and after he shows her a picture, Kay knows she has seen the girl in town before.  The hunt begins, and it turns out the Ludlow children come from a wealthy family, whose parents are now dead, and a fortune lies waiting for them to claim.  Plenty of fortuitous circumstances lead Kay and the twins to locate Helene, who has been living under a false name while pursuing a career in acting, having run away from home when her father forbid her to take to the stage.  As fortune would have it, Kay strongly resembles the girl, and her gypsy costume and red scarf lead to a case of mistaken identities, which give her the opportunity to not only uncover Helene's true identity, but also reveal the culprit who has been trying to trick her into getting her fortune!

 

Surprisingly, there is only one internal illustration, which depicts a scene from the first chapter when Kay is racing to stop a runaway horse.  It is odd to see a frontis piece that shows a scene from so early in the book; however, considering the lack of exciting scenes in the book, I suppose this was the most exciting one that the publisher could find to be drawn.  The artist is E.A. Furman (1879 - 1965), who illustrated a number of books for the Saalfield Publishing company during the early part of the 20th Century.  In the 1930s, Furman worked part time as a freelance artist while keeping a full time job as a receptionist at a local bank (E.A. Furman, Artist).  I do give Cupples & Leon some credit for the creative cover design, which shows a book opened to a picture depicting a scene from within the book (in this case, Kay in her gypsy costume, peering out from behind a curtain).   It is definitely unlike any of the other series books being published around that time.

 

Despite the mediocre mystery, there were a couple of things about the book worthy of notice.  The poems that were constantly recited by Wilma were not made up by the author; they are lines from actual poems and/or songs - such as the poem on page 12 comes from the hymn, Only Wait; the poem on page 60 comes from an Alexander Pope poem, Windsor Forest; the poem on page 77 is a well-known expression from Sir Walter Scott; the poem on page 115 is from one written by Lord Byron; and so on.  I would be curious to know whether the Syndicate included these in the outline to be used, or if Ward integrated them herself into the story.

 

There is also the subject of Kay Tracey's name.  One has to wonder if the name was not perhaps a nod to the comic strip character that debuted barely three years prior, Dick Tracy.  It is an interesting coincidence (!!!!) that this new young female sleuth comes out with the similar last name to a comic strip detective who was gaining much popularity at the time.  Sure, there's an "e" added into Kay's last name to differentiate it, but c'mon - one does have to wonder...

 

According to Jennifer White's website (Series Books - Kay Tracey), the Kay Tracey series has been republished a number of times.  I have the Books, Inc.paperback editions that were republished around 1960, and while looking through it, I discovered that the story was drastically revised (which would account for the new 1952 copyright date on the inside copyright page).  One of the many revisions included changing Dick and Helene's last name from Ludlow to Corning.  Yes, that's right - that means Helene's name became Helene Corning.  Now, tell me, where have we seen that name before?  Of all the names they could have chosen, they chose "Corning"?  Apparently, all of the other similarities to the Nancy Drew series was not enough, so they thought, "Let's throw in another one, just in case readers missed all of the others!"  

 

Geoffrey S. Lapin indicates the cover art for the Books, Inc. reprints were provided by an artist by the name of "Elaine."   While the cover to this book does not identify the artist, later books in the series published by Books, Inc. have a signature of "ELAINE" (in all caps) - however, there is no way to identify who this artist is.  Some research online does not give credit to the cover artist, nor is there any site that provides information about an artist who signs his/her work with simply "ELAINE."  Even the Stratemeyer Syndicate records at the New York Pubic Library appear to have the color painting for In the Sunken Garden, and it merely states the artist as "Elaine [?]".  Thus, the artist for the Books, Inc. editions is a mystery that, for now, remains unsolved.  Not sure if this Elaine person also provided the line drawings inside the books, or if a different artist assumed that chore.

 

This book was definitely not a great start to this series, and so, I am curious to see how the second book will fare.  It was also written by Ward, but it was outlined by Edna sister, Harriet, so there is a potential for it to be somewhat better. I suppose we shall have to wait and see...

 

RATING:  5 crumpled portions of a torn letter out of 10 for at the very least attempting to cash in on the girl sleuth phenomenon of the 1930s with a new series of mysteries.