The Mystery of Adventure Island - a Ruby Lorraine Radford mystery

I honestly cannot recall where I picked this book up, but I do remember I bought it because of the attractive cover art (and yes, before you say it, I have ALWAYS been one who judges a book by its cover!).  Of course, the fact that Ruby Lorraine Radford wrote the book was just an added plus!  I have read several of Radford's books published in the line of Whitman Mystery Stories, and I enjoyed each of them - Nancy Craig, Peggy Parker, and Patty O'Neal.  Thus, with a title like this one, a striking cover such as this, and a story written by Radford, how could it be anything but good?

 

The Mystery of Adventure Island has a copyright date of 1928 by the Penn Publishing Company; however, the copy of the book I have was published by the David McKay Company.  No publication date is given, so I cannot say when this book was published - the dust jacket, though, does have a listing of Radford's books on the back, listing only four titles:  The Mystery of Myrtle Grove, The Mystery of Pelican Cove; The Mystery of Adventure Island; and The Mystery of the Bradley Pearls.  From what I found on Jennifer White's website (Books of Ruby Lorraine Radford), Bradley Pearls was copyright 1930, Myrtle Grove was 1933, and Pelican Cove was 1934.  Thus, going by those dates, I can assume that the book I have is a 1934 printing or later.  Regardless, it still contains the original story and illustrations.

 

The story centers on soon-to-be fifteen-year old Joyce Barnard, who has been sent to Rosemonde Island to spend the summer with Bruce McHenry and his wife (affectionately referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Mac).  Her father died when she was only a year old, and her mother has a difficult time returning to the island, due to the memories it brings back.  The McHenrys have maintained the family home during those years, and they have remained loyal to Mr. Barnard's wife and daughter.  But there are secrets on the island, and before you know it, Joyce begins to uncover one hidden truth after another that lead her and her newfound friend, Donald Elliott, to finding a uniquely hidden hermitage with an odd man living therein, as well as an old shipwreck that they cannot wait to explore.  But there are those who would love to know about that hermit and the shipwreck, and Joyce and Donald must work hard to keep both a secret.

 

At 298 pages of story, the book is a bit longer than many of the children's mystery stories of that time, but the plot never lags.  The pacing is such that the reader will keep turning page after page to see what happens next, and Radford makes good use of storms, swampy bogs, and treacherous sand dunes to keep Joyce and Donald from achieving their goals too quickly.  And there are plenty of characters with quirky dispositions to leave the reader wondering who can be trusted, who is telling the truth, and who has ulterior motives for what they do.  Mr. Mac is cranky and disappears for hours on end, driving his wife crazy; Frances Stafford is a whiny little thing and a sneaky tattle-tale; Edwin Stafford is a conniving thief who is crazy to find a supposed treasure on the island; and that odd hermit seems nice enough, with his little sea-life experiments, but Joyce cannot shake the feeling he is hiding something important.  Those who have been reading mysteries for any length of time will be able to figure this one out fairly early on, but it's the ride of getting there with Joyce and Donald that is all the fun!

 

Now, I would be remiss if I did not mention that this book was written in the 1920s, and one must remember that society had different opinions of people in that day than we do now.  As such, there are some references in the book (the "n" word) that appear numerous times, said casually and in some instances by the black characters themselves.  Thus, when reading the book, it is important to read the story in the context of the time period it was written and not try to force it into today's societal standards. 

The book features a beautiful frontispiece by Katharine McCollum, depicting the scene where Donald takes Joyce to see the old shipwreck that he discovered.  McCollum also painted the gorgeous cover, featuring Joyce and Donald along the coast during a storm, when Joyce gets her first taste of how exciting it can be to experience a storm on the island.  It appears she also provided illustrations for other children's books, including The Mystery of Sun Dial Court by Martha (Josephine Chase) Wickes.  From what I could find online, McCollum was not only an illustrator, but also an author, teacher, and, of all things, a puppet and marionette maker!  Clearly, the woman was talented in many areas!

 

One last comment - there are a couple of lines in the book that made me immediately think of other series books.  When Joyce and Donald first come across the hermit's abode, Joyce refers to it as a "hermitage," which made me think of the Dana Girls' book, The Secret at the Hermitage.   And the hermitage in this book definitely had some secrets!  Later, when Mr. Mac is coerced into talking about Joyce's father and his boyhood, Mr. Mac mentions a boat captain who encouraged her father and his friends to search for a supposed buried treasure - "Seems he got some papers about it from an old Chinese junk" (p. 140).  This, of course, brought to mind the Hardy Boys book, The Mystery of the Chinese Junk.  Obviously, this book was written many years before the Dana Girls or the Hardy Boys books, but it brought a smile to my face to see similar plot devices.

 

I enjoyed the stories and the characters, and it definitely piques my curiosity about her other mystery stories (which I am going to have to track down now!).

 

RATING:  9 baby jellyfish in a jar out of 10 for a great story filled with mystery, treasure hunting, and a few more surprises along the way!

Whitman Mystery Stories - Patty O'Neal on the Airways

This was a Whitman title I had never heard of before, so when I chanced upon it in DJ at a used bookstore, I went ahead a picked it up.  I've been discovering, much to my surprise, just how enjoyable these Whitman books are (even if they were published on inferior paper and rarely had any ongoing series characters, unless they were reprints of other publishers' works), so I figured this book was worth a couple of bucks.  Besides, based on the title and description, I thought perhaps the story would be similar to the Vicki Barr or Shirley Flight series (which featured stories about stewardesses who traveled the world having adventures and solving mysteries).

Patty O'Neal on the Airways is another Whitman title written by Ruby Lorraine Radford.  I have several Whitman titles written by her (Peggy Parker, Girl Inventory; Kitty Carter, Canteen Girl; Nancy Dale, Army Nurse), and the one that I have read (Peggy Parker) was very well written.  Thus, I had pretty high hopes for this one, and I was not disappointed.  While there was no real mystery, per se - other than perhaps the question of what happened to Patty's friend, John Nash, whose plane went down over the Himalayas and he has not been found since - the story is still engaging with a certain level of suspense and danger to it.

Radford opens the story with Patty getting ready to take her first solo flight.  She and her best friend, Ann Marsh, attend Carter College, where they are aviation students.  Also attending the school is another student by the name of Joan Sumerau, who is the "Nellie Olsen" of the book (and if you don't know who that is, go watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie!).  She is always berating and belittling Patty, to the point where she breaks down any self-confidence Patty has, which ultimately causes her to crash her plane, leaving her only slightly injured but very badly shaken.  While at home recovering, Patty begins to wonder if perhaps she should give up her dream of piloting a plane.

And then along comes Dal Warner...

Yes, Radford had to include a love interest, and it turns out Dal is a pretty experienced pilot.  He unexpectedly shows up flying a new commercial jet liner, and Patty gets a first class tour of the large plane.  While in town, Patty shares her feelings with Dal, and he convinces her not to give up on her dreams, but take a different path - become a stewardess first, and then once she regains her confidence, go back to obtain her pilot's license.  Patty takes him up on this idea, flying out to the West Coast to attend classes - and wouldn't you know it, Joan Sumerau (who was kicked out of Carter College for showing off and endangering herself and others) is at the very same training center, hoping to become a stewardess.  It seems Miss Sumerau has her eyes set on becoming a stewardess on Dal Warner's team - but Dal already has Patty set for the job, much to Joan's chagrin.

It is interesting to read about how stewardesses were supposedly picked for airlines back in the '40s, when this book was published.  "A stewardess has to promise she'll serve a year without marrying before they will train her," Patty is told (p. 118).  And Belton Airlines, the company Dal flies for, "is famous for its attractive stewardesses," so Patty is told she has to submit photos of herself - close up and full length, too (p. 124).  There is also an age requirement - between 21 and 26 (p. 124) - and a weight requirement of at least 100 pounds (p. 126), as well as a height requirement of 5' to 5'5" (p. 127).    Curious, I did some online searching, and I discovered that a number of ads from back in the '40s and '50s were indeed looking for these exact characteristics for their airline stewardesses - including the "attractive" part!  Talk about sexism at its worst!  But, that was all a part of the day, and thankfully, we have grown past that in today's society.

The description of the plane Patty serves on that flies over the Pacific is also rather interesting, as it is described as having an "observation lounge" (p. 170), and when passengers get restless, Patty and the other stewardess pass out decks of cards, checkerboards, and other games to keep them busy (p. 166). I was also surprised to read that when Patty woke up in the morning (the flight took several days), she "bathed and put on a fresh uniform" (p. 174).  I wasn't sure if this meant she actually bathed in a bathtub or shower, or simply used a sink to wash her face - I've never heard of an airplane having a full bath or shower in it, so I'm going to assume Radford simply meant Patty "washed up," as the saying goes.

 

There are a number of internal illustrations, by Henry E. Vallely, who seems to have illustrated a number of Whitman books (as I have seen his name in many of the books I have in my collection).  While his backgrounds are never overly detailed, I will say that his people are very nicely drawn - he captures expressions beautifully!  The joy on Patty's face (p. 125); the sadness of the missionary's wife (p. 167); the solemn seriousness of everyone as Dal points out a dangerous route to be taken (p. 195) - you can actually FEEL what the characters are feeling in each illustration.  Not every artist can capture that, but Vallely does it magnificently.

The book has a rather dramatic climax, as the crew of the passenger plane all take ill due to food poisoning (all I could think of was Peter Graves in Airplane!), and Patty is forced to call upon her days of training as a pilot to take over the huge commercial airliner and maneuver the plane through heavy clouds and around and over dangerous mountain peaks.  But, manage it she does, and she even lands the plane like a pro, something she has always had the most difficulty with.  And it's "all's well that ends well" with this story, as Patty regains her confidence and set out to get her commercial flying license!

While the mystery side of things was extremely light, the story was still enjoyable, and Radford creates some great tension and suspense there at the end, keeping the reader turning page after page to see whether Patty will succeed in getting the plane out of danger and back onto the ground.  And, oh, yes, the mystery about the poor missing John Nash is resolved as well, so no plot threads are left dangling.

RATING:  8 plates of good almond chicken out of 10 for preserving a bit of women's history in the aviation history with a dash of fiction and a just a hint of mystery!

Whitman Mystery Stories - Peggy Parker, Girl Inventor

To be honest, there are two main reasons why I picked up this book.  The first is the title character, Peggy Parker, sounds so very similar to a series written by Mildred Wirt called the Penny Parker mystery stories.  The second is that recently I read Escaping Dreamland by Charlie Lovett, in which one of the fictional series mentioned in that book was "Alice Gold, Girl Inventor."  With these two similarities, I had to give it a shot and see exactly what it was about.  I knew nothing about it when I bought it (I didn't even know who the author was, since nowhere on the dust jacket is the author's name displayed!), so when I finally opened it up and began to read it, I wasn't sure what to expect.

It turns out that Peggy Parker, Girl Inventor was most definitely a product of its time!  The story was written by Ruby Lorraine Radford, who wrote a number of other stories for Whitman, including Nancy Dale, Army Nurse and Kitty Carter, Canteen Girl, among others.  Radford (1891-1971), accordingly to what I could find about her online, wrote more than 50 books for young adults, as well as some magazine serials and even some plays.  Most of her books had female protagonists, and it should come as no surprise that Peggy Parker, Girl Inventor was set in Georgia, since she appears to have taught in the public schools in Georgia for eight years and even co-founded the Augusta Authors Club in 1928, becoming the group's first secretary.  She was named Author of the Year by the Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists in 1969, just two years prior to her death.

 

Peggy Parker, Girl Inventor was published in 1946, and thus, it was not long after the end of World War II.  Thus, the idea of a young woman working in an airplane parts plant would not be so surprising at the time, and the fact that this fictional young woman was an inventor of many time-saving inventions for her employer is probably not so far-fetched either.  Radford does not waste any time with any backstory as to how Peggy gained all of her skill and knowledge, other than to say that right after high school, Peggy got the kind of job she wanted with an airplane parts factory.  It is here that her inventing skills are put to good use, and she creates several time-saving inventions that help save the company money (and earn her not only the accolades of her employers, but monetary bonuses as well!).  Unfortunately, her younger brother is in poor health, so her family's finances are stretched thin supporting his recovery in a "sanatorium" in New Mexico.  (NOTE: at the time this was written, sanatoriums were long-term care facilities for patients with tuberculosis - and while it never comes out and says it, there are hints that the Parker family has always been worried that Joe suffered from this disease).  With their father deceased, it is up to Peggy and her mother (who is a secretary) to handle the burden of the finances.

The story quickly moves away from the cold northern city of Eastman (in an unnamed State - however, an internet search reveals that Eastman is located in Georgia, and (a) it is well below Atlanta and Macon, so (b) it would not be as cold and detrimental to Joe's health as is described).  Thus, the reader must assume Radford used Eastman as a city name since it was familiar to her as a Georgian, but she intended the reader to believe the city was somewhere in a Northern state with cold and snow.  Regardless, once Joe is determined to be healthy enough to return home, Peggy and her mother realize they have to move to warmer climates - and, as luck would have it, Peggy and Joe's great-uncle has passed away, leaving him his island plantation just off the coast of Georgia.  "Pine Island" is the name of the small plantation, and there does exist such an island in Chatham County, Georgia.   And it is the family's move to Pine Island that begins the mystery...

Great-Uncle Joe Parker was a farmer, mostly of cotton, but of vegetables as well.  The only thing is, in recent years, he has not had the finances to properly run the farm, so the plantation has fallen into disrepair.  When Peggy and her family arrive, they are greeted by Ben and Teneh Grubbs, their Great-Uncle's handyman and housekeeper.  BE WARNED - this story was written back in the mid-1940s, so there are terms used to describe Ben and Teneh, as well as other farm workers in the area, that are most definitely not acceptable in today's vernacular, such as the following examples:

 

"You mean old Ben?  Why, that' nigger's got one foot in the grave already." (p. 68)

 

"People who aren't accustomed to lots of Negroes have difficulty in distinguishing one from another." (p. 140)

 

 "These Negroes round here wouldn't realize the value of an invention - or know how to cash in on it if it was stolen." (p. 164)

 

Looking at it from today's perspective, it is sad that people ever thought in these terms.  However, the story is a product of its time, so when read with that in mind, the dialect used by Radford and the derogatory terms and descriptions should be viewed as coming from a different time when people did not know better, and that we have risen way beyond that now!  Ben and Teneh turn out to be actually very helpful to the Parkers, and the family grows very dependent on the couple and view them almost as family more than just employees.

But something is not right on Pine Island.  A ghostly figure is said to haunt the island.  A man disappears right in front of the other workers.  An invention Peggy is building to save their family's new home is stolen.  Someone is scaring the local men from coming to work on the island.  And a mechanical cotton picker Peggy and her brother invest in mysteriously breaks down so it can't be used.  Both Peggy and her brother suspect sabotage by a local man who has his eyes set on purchasing Pine Island, but they can't prove it.  Thus, the book delves into these unfortunate events and follows Peggy and Joe as they try to uncover the truth behind everything.  Along the way, Peggy discovers that she can create a time-saving improvement to the mechanical cotton picker, but she must work fast, because the deadline to repay the loan they took out to buy the machine comes due in just a few days!

Overlooking Radford's view of non-white people in the book, the story itself was actually pretty enjoyable.  I found myself rooting for Peggy to get that invention done so that she could save the family's plantation and farming business, and so the villainous man behind all of their troubles could be brought to justice.  I even was able to overlook the fact that nowhere in the story does Radford actually describe any of the details regarding Peggy's invention - Radford is careful to always speak about Peggy's inventions in the most general terms, with no details as to how she builds them, or how she installs them into the existing machines.  I think this likely stems from the fact that Radford herself had no idea, so she was just making it up as she went along - she may have known the geography and lay of the land (the description of the hurricane that whips through the island near the end was pretty intense), but she clearly had no intricate knowledge of the inner workings of the machines she used in the story.

 

I would be remiss if I did not mention the numerous illustrations throughout the book by Dorothy Colburn (notice that the book has a female protagonist, written by a female author, and illustrated by a female artist - talk about ahead of its time!).  I couldn't find much about her online, except that it appears this is the only Whitman book that she illustrated.  I did find an obituary for a Dorothy Colburn, 1926 - 2021, which, if this is the correct woman, means that she would have only been 20 years old when this book was published!  That being said, I enjoyed the internal illustrations (20 in all, one for each chapter).  The style was very much like what you would typically see in a newspaper comic strip, and while not all are necessarily action oriented (one of them was simply Peggy and the lawyer driving to his house), they do enhance the reading of the story very nicely.  I think that is one thing sorely lacking in today's books for young readers and young adults - internal illustrations add a certain level of enjoyment to the story!

This book was a one-off wonder in the series of Whitman Mystery & Adventure Stories for Boys and Girls, and Peggy Parker did not have any further printed adventures, which is rather a shame.  I think it would have been nice to see a female rival to Tom Swift!

RATING:  7 dirt-stained coveralls out of 10 for showing the young readers of the 1940s that a girl really could do anything a boy could do and encouraging an entire generation of woman!

Whitman Mystery Stories - Nancy Craig and the Mystery of the Fire Opal

Thankfully, this "authorized edition" Whitman mystery was a far cry better than the one I recently read with Bonita Granville as its star.  What is interesting though, is although the dust jacket, as well as the cover and spine show the title of the book as Nancy Craig and the Mystery of the Fire Opal, the title page and the list of available books from Whitman in the back show the title of the book as Nancy Craig and the Fire Opal of Guatemala.  I'd be curious to know exactly why there is a variation in the title of the book and what caused the change from the inside to the actual cover and dust jacket.

In any event, author Matilda Bailey provides a great little mystery here, with an interesting view of life in the Guatemala jungles.  And Matilda Bailey, by the way, is actually the pen name for Ruby Lorraine Radford, who was a rather prolific writer back in the day.  It seems she wrote a number of the Whitman authorized edition stories, and from what I've heard, some are better than others.  Thankfully, this is one of the better ones.

The mystery involves El Valle Prohibido (The Forbidden Valley), where the people of Guatemala are afraid to enter.  Nancy Craig and her friend, Dannie Marston, go to Guatemala as guests of their respective fathers, who are traveling to the country on an expedition.  Nancy's cousin, Kathy, already lives there, and Nancy will be staying with them while the men, along with Dannie, go out on the expedition.  Nancy is somewhat put off, but she is not permitted to go, as she is a girl (which definitely shows the book as a product of its time).  This is not to say that Nancy takes such a shun lying down - no, instead, she goes out and finds her very own mystery to solve!

I have to admit, I smile when I consider how similar this is to a Nancy Drew mystery of the '60s and '70s.  Nancy (choose one) goes on a vacation, stumbles across some strange superstitions, and suddenly finds herself thrust into the middle of a mystery that only she can solve.  Bailey (Radford) makes Nancy Craig a strong, independent female who, even during the late '40s, was determined not to let men - whether it be her father, her uncle, or any other man - tell her that she can't do something. And when it comes to helping someone in need - in this case, her friend Dannie - Nancy will not stop until the mission is complete.

As can be pretty much expected from the moment Nancy is told that there is something dangerous about the valley that keeps the natives from ever setting foot therein, it's pretty obvious to the reader that that is exactly where Nancy is going to end up.  And end up there she does, along with her friend Kathy.  They are searching for their friend Dannie, who mysteriously disappeared after visiting with the parents of Kathy's native friend, Maria.  Nancy is sure that it has something to do with the valuable fire opal that Dannie had been carrying, and she is also sure that the rather slick North American men ("norteamericanos" as Maria calls them) are somehow involved.

There are plenty of clues and dangers aplenty for Nancy and Kathy - from earthquakes to infections to horse hoof-prints to fire opals in the raw to butterfly nets with cobwebs and so much more.  And it certainly can't come as any surprise that the girls eventually find Dannie and also manage to stumble across an ancient native temple hidden in the Forbidden Valley, I found it rather amusing how the two girls manage to outwit the culprits in the end.

This book was definitely worth the read, and I am glad I purchased it.  I suppose this will keep my faith in these Whitman Authorized Editions enough to purchase others if I stumble across them in my book-hunting.

RATING:  8 hand-woven shawls out of 10 for providing yet another strong female amateur detective in a well-plotted mystery in an exotic land.