Dorothy Dixon and the Double Cousin - the fourth (and final) Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Story

With this book, we reach the final adventure in the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Stories.  First, our young heroine had to learn how to fly (Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings), after which she stopped some smugglers (Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane, and then she had to help find a young man find his stolen inheritance (Dorothy Dixon Solves the Conway Case).  I was curious to see what type of flying would lead Dorothy into her final mystery; what I discovered, however, is that the author (Noel Sainsbury, Jr. writing under his wife's name of Dorothy Wayne) must have run out of flying tales, as our title character never sets foot in a plane in her last adventure!  Instead, readers get a tale that is yet another twist on the whole "twins switching identities" trope in an outlandish adventure involving the United States government, spies, international thieves, and a deadly invention that could kill millions! 

 

Dorothy Dixon and the Double Cousin begins with what appears to be a simple case of mistaken identity.  While purchasing a Christmas gift for her father, Dorothy Dixon is accosted by a young man who wants to know "[h]ow in the world did you escape?" (p. 15).  Dorothy tries to ignore the man, but when he finally addresses her by the name "Janet" (p. 16), she has no choice but to set him straight.  What is rather odd is that without knowing who this man is, or ever hearing Janet's last name, Dorothy somehow knows he is referring to Janet Jordan, her first cousin (p. 17).  The author explains that Janet's and Dorothy's mothers were twins, which could account for how closely the two cousins resemble one another (p. 18), and Dorothy admits she has been mistaken for Janet before (p. 18), although this must have happened "off-screen," so to speak, since there has never been any mention of a cousin, or of the fact that Dorothy's mother had a twins sister.  In any event, this sets the stage for the latest mystery, because Dorothy learns her cousin is in serious trouble, and, of course, she is only too willing to jump in and help.

 

This final story is a departure from the previous three books.  While the first three stories involved Dorothy flying (albeit only briefly at the beginning of the third book), this book does not see Dorothy go anywhere near a plane.  Instead, she agrees to aid her cousin's fiance rescue Janet Jordan from the dilemma in which she has found herself!  Janet awakes from sleepwalking in her apartment home to find herself strategically hidden behind a screen in the room where her father is meeting with a number of business associates - unscrupulous business associates, that is!  When they discover her, she pretends to still be asleep, but the crooks do not believe her, so her father (Dorothy's uncle!) is forced to keep her locked in her room until they can determine what she knows.  Dorothy's friend, Bill Bolton, enlists the aid a Secret Service agent (Ashton Sanborn) to help them.  He immediately comes up with a plan that involves Dorothy switching places with her cousin, so she can be taken captive to the home of a professor who is creating a formula for the United States government - and who is, unwittingly, housing two foreign agents in his home who plan to steal that formula once it is complete!  It is up to Dorothy to play the innocent young Janet, who purportedly knows nothing of what is going on, while at the same time, work undercover to steal the formula before the foreign agents do!

 

This is far from your typical girls' series book mystery.  The danger is considerably greater, as Martin and Laura Lawson, the foreign agents, are murdering thieves who will not hesitate to kill anyone who keeps them from their objective (p.135)!  Dorothy is kept on her toes, especially with Mrs. Lawson, who is constantly trying to trip up "Janet" to reveal what she knows.  But Dorothy is too smart, and she eventually pits the Lawsons against one another, accusing Mr. Lawson of making overtures to her, which starts the accusations flying between the two crooks!  Meanwhile, Dorothy makes a friend in a young made named Gretchen who recognizes Dorothy as the aviatrix who she once met and got an autograph (forcing Dorothy to reveal herself and enlist Gretchen's aid).  She also has the help of the major domo of the house, Mr. Turnbridge, who, it turns out, is a Secret Service agent himself!  Dorothy has to use her wits to escape being revealed when Mr. Lawson captures her in the library right as she is about to get away with the formula!  It's a deadly showdown, with the cavalry (including Bill Bolton and Ashton Sanborn) arriving at just the right moment to save the day!

 

The book offers up some fodder for discussion, that's for sure.  First, the entire "twin cousins" premise makes me think of The Patty Duke Show (1963-66), which featured cousins, Patty and Cathy Lane, who were identical in appearance.  In more general terms, it reminds me of Mary and Marilyn: Double-Trouble Twins, published five years after this book came out, in which twin sisters that were separated at birth switch places to experience once another's life.  Then, there is the more easily recognized story, The Parent Trap, which also features twin sibling separated at birth who switch places.  This idea seems to be a common trope for children's stories.  Second, the book features some very high-level vocabulary, with words that even an English-major like me did not recognize - such as "equinoctial" (p. 31), which in this case, refers to strong storms, usually experienced in autumn; "demitasse" (p. 39), which refers to a small cup, typically of ceramic or porcelain, used to serve strong coffee; "legerdemain" (p. 62), which is the skillful use of one's hands, normally when performing conjuring tricks; "trousseau" (p. 65), which is a collection of clothing, linens, and personal items a bride assembles for her marriage; and "somnambulistic" (p. 174), which refers to the actions, characteristics, or state of being one who sleepwalks.  The book definitely offers some interesting new vocabulary!

 

There is one particular scene of dialogue that made me do a double-take (no pun intended) and had my laughing out loud.  When Janet's fiance is describing the trouble his bride-to-be faces, he informs Dorothy, Bill, and Ashton that she is to be moved from her apartment to the professor's house at midnight that very evening, to which the Secret Service agent replies, "It is now one-thirty.  That gives us exactly eleven and a half hours in which to get her out of their hands" (p. 29).  Now, I may not be a fan of math, but even I know that eleven and a half hours after one-thirty would be one in the morning, not midnight!  Apparently, not only could the author not count, but neither could the editor nor the publisher, since no one caught the error before the book went to print!

 

And with this, we've reached the end of the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Series (although this book had no airplane flights or mysteries in the air!).  There is a possibility that Dorothy appeared in at least one of Bill Bolton's books, as this one has a reference to Bill Bolton and the Winged Cartwheels (p. 24), and a quick glance through the pages of that book reveals several references to "Mr. Dixon" - so, at some point, I'll have to read that one and see if our adventure-loving aviatrix appears there.  I would be curious to know if this series ended due to low sales, due to lack of interest by the publisher, or due to Sainsbury's own lack of interest in continuing the series.

 

RATING:   8 shivering fox terrier puppies out of 10 for sending Dorothy Dixon off with one wild tale of spies, deadly weapon formulas, undercover work, and cousins ... identical cousins ... two of a kind!

Dorothy Dixon Solves the Conway Case - the third Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Story

And so we come to the third book in the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Stories.  After an introductory story in which Dorothy earns her wings and captures some thieves (Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings) and a follow-up tale in which she foils the plans of some smugglers (Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane), I had hopes that we would have yet another challenging adventure that Dorothy (and, yes, Bill Bolton returns once again - poor girl cannot seem to have her a story without him!) would have to weather - and when I say weather, I mean it (see below)!  Author Dorothy Wayne (better known as Lt. Noel Sainsbury, Jr.) seems to rely on a number of the same tropes as this third book in the series features many similar scenes that we saw in the first two books - although, Dorothy does finally shine as the quick-thinking sleuth and strong leader we all knew she could be if given the chance!

 

Dorothy Dixon Solves the Conway Case opens with our young aviatrix doing what she loves most - flying her plane, Will-O-The-Wisp (or "Wispy," for short) with her best friend, Betty, along for the ride. The only problem is, they are flying in the middle of a rough storm, and good ol' Wispy is running extremely low on gas.  Thus, Dorothy is forced to find a place for an emergency landing in the torrential downpour while flying over a dark area of forest!  Leave it to Sainsbury to put Dorothy in dire danger from the very first page - this type of situation definitely catches the reader's attention from the get-go. Of course, Dorothy, being the hero of the story, manages to set the plane down safely, and she and Betty make their way through the storm and find a secluded house (gee, it seems like each of these mysteries involves a secluded house in some form) where they think they will get shelter.  But, alas, fate has other plans - instead of a welcome party, the girls peer in the window to find a young man tied to a chair, while two other men are questioning him harshly about something (hmmmm, this also seems to be a recurring theme in this series - someone being held captive in the secluded house).  And so, the mystery begins!

 

This time around, Dorothy uses her own ingenuity, rather than relying on Bill Bolton, to rescue the young man - and Sainsbury, to his credit, gives her the quick thinking needed to get the men out of the house so she and Betty can rescue the captive man.  He turns out to be George Conway, and once untied, he and Betty form an immediate attraction; but Dorothy does not give them time to think about that, as she calls in some aid in the form of Bill Bolton, who brings along Terry Walters to help him refuel Dorothy's plane.  It is at this point we get some of the story about George Conway and the mystery surrounding his father and why so many people are interested in George, that small house his father left him, and a book titled Aircraft Power Plants.   None of it makes sense to George, but Dorothy suspects it all comes down to money in some form or fashion.

 

Sainsbury spends in inordinate amount of time on Dorothy and Bill's tramp through the woods, as they try to escape the men with guns who are after them (mistakenly believing Bill is actually George Conway!), and chapters are spent on their running in the rain through the wooded forest and up a dangerously steep cliffside (that, conveniently, Terry had previously hiked and found a secret way to climb up the side of it).  He eventually gets the duo to a cabin in the protected woodland area, which is inhabited by an old man named Abe Lincoln River "known to the world at large as Ol' Man River, but to his friends he's Uncle Abe" (p. 160).  He takes an instant liking to Dorothy and Bill and helps them out of a number of tight situations through the rest of the book.  

 

What the reader must realize is that Uncle Abe (or Ol' Man River, if you prefer) is a character that is a product of the time when this book was written. From the moment his is introduced as "an ancient, white haired negro" (p. 152), to the dialect he is given by Sainsbury (i.e., "Lordy, Lordy, you chillen is sho' 'nuf half drown'. But we's gwine ter fix date sho' nuf in a jiffy" [p. 154]), it is clear he is an over-the-top stereotype of how African-Americans were portrayed in the early part of the twentieth century, particularly in literature.  The references to Uncle Abe as "the old darky" (p. 156) and even the self-proclaimed "ol' niggeh" (p. 161) must be read in the context of the time, with an understanding that such terms, while not appropriate today by any means, were not considered in same way back in 1933 when this book was published.  Uncle Abe is a lovable character in the story, and he has no problem standing up to the white landowners who try to bully him into revealing Dorothy and Bill's whereabouts. In fact, without Uncle Abe, the two heroes would never have been able to sneak their way into the great house on the hill, rescue their friends, and reveal the crooks for who they are!

 

Sainsbury once again keeps his story real by integrating non-fictional locations into the book, such as references to "Route 124," a road "from Poundridge Village that runs to South Salem..." (p. 96).  Some quick research reveals that New York State Route 124 (called "Salem Road") is a nearly 5-mile road that connects Pound Ridge to South Salem, running through a forested area, just as it is described in the book.  And since the previous books have made it clear the Dixons and Boltons live in New York, around the tip of Long Island, then this area would not be far-fetched at all as a place where Dorothy is forced to land while flying.  There is also an interesting reference to "Bull" Durham (p. 78), but not the one from the real world.  In the story, Bull Durham is Terry's cousin, Ed Durham, who played football for the Lawrenceville university team; in the real world, however, Bull Durham was a baseball player who played for various teams in the first decade of the twentieth century.  While not a direct reference, it was probably a subtle homage to the sports hero.

 

Something else I found interesting is the author's use of the Bible in the story.  At one point, Uncle Abe is telling Dorothy and Bill how he came to be there in that cabin in the forest, and he says, "De Good Book say, 'Him what has, gits, and him what ain't got nuffin' gits dat nuffin' tak'n away'..." (p. 165). This is a paraphrased version of Matthew 13:12, which says, "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath."  This statement was made by Jesus to his disciples, just after telling the parable of the sower and the seeds.  Commentaries on the matter indicate the verse is referring to spiritual awareness: a man who has a desire to learn more about God and to do His will shall see his knowledge and understanding increased, but those who refuse to listen and believe will have what little understanding they may have had taken away.  Sainsbury takes the verse to refer to Uncle Abe and the comfort he lost with his previous master in the South to the lonely, impoverished existence he now lives.

 

While the adventure and danger are kept at a high level throughout the story, the mystery itself is somewhat subdued and not a major portion of the story; in fact, its solution is done "off-screen," so to speak, and we learn of how Dorothy uncovered the whereabouts of the missing patents owned by George's father from the crook's cook, who helped Dorothy, Bill, and Uncle Abe when they snuck into the great house in order to rescue their friends.  I found that to be somewhat of a let down, as I would have loved to have seen (or, rather, read) Dorothy's making the big find in the presence of George Conway and all of her friends.  I supposed Sainsbury may have been running out of room, so he had to wrap up this adventure so as to not exceed whatever page count or word count restrictions he had for the book.

 

Before I end this post, there is one scene at the end that had me scratching my head.  After everything is wrapped up, Dorothy and Bill take a test run in her plane in order to test one of Conway's patents - and after spending more than 100 hours straight in the air without refueling once, the plane comes in for a perfect landing.  What is unexplainable is that when the mechanics open the door, they find "side by side, grimy, worn, unkempt, were Dorothy Dixon and Bill Bolton, sleeping like children!" (p. 247).  How in the world did they land the plane if they were both fast asleep?  I did a search to see if there were automatic pilots in the 1930s that could have landed a plane, but it seems the first successful, fully automatic landing did not occur until 1937, some four years after this book.  Thus, we are left with one mystery that will never be solved...

 

RATING:  8 faded blue flannel shirts with matching overalls out of 10 for a mystery that has very little flying and lots of running, sneaking around, and climbing!

Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane - the second Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Story

The second book in the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Stories was just as enjoyable as the first.  Author Dorothy Wayne (in reality, Lt. Noel Sainsbury, Jr.) offers up a stronger mystery this time around, and while Sainsury's other series star, Bill Bolton, does appear in the story, he does not show up until nearly half way through the book.  The book was published with the same dust jacket cover art as the first book (as well as the third and fourth book) - seems like the publisher, Goldsmith, often used the same cover art for an entire series, such as the Penny Nichols series, the Peggy Stewart series, the Merriweather Girls series, and others.  This book does offer one difference, however - there is a dedication at the front:  "To Winkie, who has had a finger in each of her Mummy's books."  While I could find no direct link, it is likely this is a reference to Sainsbury's daughter with Dorothy Wayne Illick, his second wife (and from whose name came his pseudonym for this series), as his daughter from his first marriage died while still an infant (Noel Everingham Sainsbury).

 

Dorothy Dixon and the Mystery Plane seems to be set some months after the events in the first book.  Not only is Dorothy now a licensed pilot, having completed all of her training, but her father has purchased her a plane of her own (confirming for the reader that Mr. Dixon's job as the president of the town bank has made him quite wealthy!).  In addition, the cast of characters in Dorothy Dixon's world is expanded, as readers get to meet Terry Walters, a blond-headed young man who could potentially be a love interest for Dorothy.  Readers are also introduced to Phil Stanton and Betty Mayo, two more friends who are sharing an afternoon in the water at the beach club as the book opens.  Before the first chapter ends, the "mystery plane" in the title appears, and the bearded man flying it, after being forced to make a landing in the water not far from where the young people are splashing around in the Long Island Sound (more on that location later...), makes it clear Dorothy and her friends need to steer clear of him!

 

It seems that the "mystery plane" as Terry as dubbed it (p. 19) seems to fly the same route over that area at the same time every day.  After her encounter with the pilot, Dorothy suspects something is not right, and when Terry goes missing and Dorothy herself is nearly kidnapped, she knows for sure that the man and his plane are somehow involved.  Despite his concern for his daughter, Mr. Dixon does not stop her from investigating, particularly when Terry remains missing.  Dorothy takes her plane up into the sky, hoping to follow the mystery plane and learn where it is headed each day.  Of course, weather interferes, and she must face great danger in some thick fog before finally uncovering a small cottage some miles down the shore.  She concocts a plan that she feels will enable her to uncover the truth - but all it ultimately does is get her knocked unconscious, kidnapped, taken to another location, and ultimately rescued by none other than Bil Bolton (remember, I did say he ultimately appears in the story!).  He reveals he is working a case for the government, trying to find some diamond smugglers, and wouldn't you know it - that happens to be the very criminal activity Dorothy has stumbled upon!

 

Sainsbury created a wonderful pair of detectives with Dorothy and Bill - they are a semi-comedic duo who share some fun banter, face plenty of danger together, and manage to outwit criminals of pretty much any nature. We even get another reference to Dorothy as "Miss Sherlock Holmes, the famous lady sleuthhound who solved the New Canaan Bank mystery" (p. 181), referring to the first book.  Despite this being Dorothy Dixon's series, I am rather glad the author has kept Bill coming into the stories, as he compliments the main character nicely.  I just wish he allowed Dorothy to take a stronger role in the actual planning and executing of those plans.  Instead, Mr. Dixon has to remind her of her place, sternly telling her, "...if you're going on these patrols, just remember that [Bill] is the captain of the outfit and must have obedience" (p. 185), further informing her that her job "is to do what you're told and let your captain do the thinking" (p. 185).  At that point, I almost wished Dorothy had talked back to her father, or struck off on her own and proved she was capable on her own!  But, I supposed despite the plethora of series books sporting strong-willed and determined female protagonists, Sainsbury could not let go of some of the more male-dominated lines of thinking in those days, and it came out in his writing.

 

Since Dorothy already had all of her training behind her, the story did not delve greatly into the technicalities of aviation as the last book did, and readers get more of the mystery in this one.  The danger level is definitely high in this one, what with the kidnapping, the foggy aerial mishaps, and a purposeful ramming of boats in order to keep the smugglers from grabbing their loot from the water.  The climactic chapters find Dorothy and Bill following the criminals' trail through a dark tunnel into an old, abandoned castle, where they find the captive Terry and face off with guns against the smuggling mastermind and his henchmen.  And yes, you read that right.  Once again, Dorothy faces the enemy with a gun in hand, more than once in this book!  She carries a revolver (p. 85) without any trepidation, and in the final face-off, Dorothy, Bill, and Terry all three are brandishing guns (p. 242).

 

Now, back to the location of this mystery.  It is stated numerous times throughout the book that Dorothy and her friends live in New Canaan, which apparently located not far inland from the Long Island Sound (p. 29), on the Connecticut side.  New Canaan is "slightly under eight miles" from the coastal town of Tokeneke (p. 29) - which is true, as a map shows that Tokeneke and New Canaan are only 6.6 miles apart.  Sainsbury also references Lloyd's Neck, which he indicates is "just west of Oyster Bay" to the "farther side of Smithtown Bay, a distance of fifteen or sixteen miles" (p. 58).  Once again, a map of the area shows these descriptions as accurate, as Oyster Bay is approximately 15 - 20 miles from Smithtown, New York!  I love when authors employ this level of reality within their stories, as it gives them some grounding in reality to help make up for some of the more outlandish and unbelievable antics of the characters.

 

What is funny about the references to Long Island Sound, as well as North Fork and South Fork, is the fact that I just recently finished another book set in the same location (Secret at Orient Point).  These two books were published more than 50 years apart and intended for two completely different types of audiences; so what are the odds that in just a matter of a couple of weeks, I would have read both books set in the same location?  And here we thought it was just children's series books that were full of coincidences!

 

One final thing to note - the author not only has Bill Bolton appear and take an active part in the story, but he specifically references on of Bill Bolton's books!  When Bill and Dorothy are talking, he reminds Dorothy of his adventure with "the Winged Cartwheels" (p. 115), for which there is an asterisk that gives a reference at the bottom of the page to inform readers to See Bill Bolton and The Winged Cartwheels. Now that is an interesting cross-promotion for a boys' series book in a girls' series book.  I have to wonder just how rare this kind of specific cross-promotion was!

 

RATING:  10 small white boxes filled with diamonds out of 10 for an exciting mystery that braves the foggy skies and weathers the stormy waves to stop a ruthless gang of smugglers!

Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings - the first Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Story

It was time to start a new (well, technically it's vintage, but it's "new" to me, since I've never read it before!) series, and this time around it's the Dorothy Dixon Air Mystery Series by "Dorothy Wayne."  And, yes, I put the author's name in quotes, because that name is nothing more than a pseudonym.  As it turns out, "Dorothy Wayne" was actually Noel Sainsbury, Jr., who wrote a number of children's adventure and mystery stories during the 1920s and '30s.  A former naval aviator during the first World War, it would only make sense that his stories tend to involve aviation.  Sainsbury authored the Billy Smith series, as well as the Bill Bolton series, both of which had pilots as their protagonists.  The inside front flap of the dust jacket for this book advertises the series as a "new series of mystery books for girls - the stories are told by Dorothy Wayne, wife of Lieut. Noel Sainsbury, Jr., author of the famous Bill Bolton books."  It seems Sainsbury used his first wife's name when authoring the books, likely because it would have appeared odd to have a girls' series written by a male author.  All four books in this series were published by Goldsmith in 1933, and no more appeared after that.

 

Dorothy Dixon Wins Her Wings reads like a spin-off of Sainsbury's Bill Bolton Naval Aviation Series, which also ran for four books, and were all published in 1933.  On the first two pages, readers are not only introduced to sixteen-year old Dorothy Dixon, but the "famous" Bill Bolton as well!  Dorothy meets him while preparing to head out into the waters in her skiff, and when she realizes who he is, she exclaims, "I've read about you in the papers - and I know all about the wonderful things you've done!" (p. 16).  So, it's clear from the start that the young man had already made a name for himself as an accomplished aviator by the time this story begins.  Dorothy, on the other hand, knows nothing about aviation and quickly proves herself not so capable in the water either when her boat capsizes in the middle of a horrific storm by the end of the first chapter.  It's Bill Bolton who saves the day, however, when he pulls her out of the raging waters with his Loening amphibian (p. 33).

 

Sainsbury clearly knows his stuff, as the Loening amphibian was a real seaplane that could land on ground or water, designed by Grover Loening and first taking flight in 1923 (Loening Amphibian).  And the author definitely shared his knowledge of aviation and planes throughout the entirety of this first book, as Dorothy immediately wants to learn how to fly, and Bill graciously agrees to teach her (with both of their fathers' permission).  Sainsbury, through Bill's lessons, goes into painstaking detail at times about the various parts of the plane, the instruments and their different purposes, and pretty much everything one would need to know before taking a plane up into the air.  I have a feeling the author fudges with the timing a it, as Dorothy learns to fly in just a matter of days, while in the real world, as quick search online reveals it can take a month or two of regular, consistent training for someone to learn how to fly sufficiently to gain their private pilot's license.  I suppose, however, in a fictional tale such as this, learning to fly in a just a few days is relatively easy - especially for someone like Dorothy Dixon, who also is skilled in jiu jitsu (George Fayne, eat your heart out!) and was trained by her father in "running, boxing, fencing, swimming..." (p. 192).  Why, it seems there is nothing Dorothy Dixon can't do once she sets her mind to it!  (Gee, sound like another female teen detective?)

 

And speaking of similarities, I did find it interesting that Dorothy is the daughter of a one-parent home, yet her relationship with her father was not an affectionate one.  The author indicates that although the bond between father and daughter was strong, "especially since the mother's death some years earlier, neither was particularly demonstrative" (p. 103).  It made me stop and think that a number of these girl sleuths had only their father to raise them, although some had live-in housekeepers.  Perhaps this is why the young detectives are so strong-willed and, more often than not, well-versed in any number of physical and mental capabilities - because they were brought up with a male perspective and strong, masculine influence, which made them more capable and independent than most girls their age.

 

While a large portion of the story focuses on Dorothy's education in aviation, there is a mystery involving a robbery at the bank of which Mr. Dixon is the president.  Honestly, it's pretty obvious from the get-go who aided the thieves, but no one (including Bill and Dorothy!) seems to catch on.  The mystery takes a back-burner to the flight lessons, but once Dorothy starts to get the hang of flying, Bill suddenly reveals a hunch about there whereabouts of the thieves (in an isolated house on a hill, some miles away from town).  Rather than tell the police, the daring duo make their own way to the house and end up captives of the criminals.  It's actually a fairly exciting climax to the story, as Dorothy reveals her jiu jitsu skills, and she proves just how much she has been paying attention to her flying lessons as she takes the amphibian from the water and flies it right up to the front porch of the house where the criminals are hiding!  (Oh, and one of those criminals is not exactly who he appears to be, which made for a good twist in the story.)

 

Sainsbury is not shy about his female detective using guns (something Harriett Adams would NEVER allow for Nancy Drew!).  When Bill offers Dorothy a Colt .32 to protect herself and asks if she knows how to use it, her response is, "Certainly.  What do you expect me to do - release the safety catch and pull the trigger to see if it works?" (p. 159).  Near the end, when she flies the amphibian up to the front of the house, she does not hesitate to turn "the Browning [machine gun] into action and [send] half a belt of bullets whipping through the door," careful to "aim high [as she] had no desire to play the part of executioner" (p. 245).  Definitely not a Stratemeyer sleuth! 

 

I found the constant banter between Dorothy and Bill rather humorous, and loved that Bill playfully referred to her as "Miss Sherlock" (p. 85).  He even goes so far as to refer to himself as "Doctor Watson" (p. 89) to her Sherlock!  And I was surprised at the blatant use of brand names such as "Silvertowns" and "Goodyears" when Dorothy and Bill are discussing the kinds of tires the getaway car had (p. 90).  It's not often you see specific brand names used in a series book.

 

Finally, Sainsbury had a bit of fun at his own expense in the story.  When Bill asks Dorothy to go see a movie, she declines, informing him she has a writing club meeting that night.  She invites him to join her, but he quickly turns her down - until he learns the advisor for the group is none of than ... "Noel Sainsbury, the writer ... He was a naval aviator during the war ..." (p. 143).   How many authors have the fun of immortalizing themselves in their own stories?!

 

All four books in this series feature the same cover art, which is a scene taken right out of the second chapter, where Bill shows up to rescue Dorothy after her boat overturns.  There's no signature on the art, and like most series books of that time, no cover artist is identified on the title or copyright pages.  There are also no internal illustrations, which is typical of a lot of the Goldmith books.  The paper is also considerably cheaper, as this nearly 100 year old book has pages that are very brittle, meaning it had to be extra careful when I was reading it to make sure the pages did not crack or fall apart under my fingers.

 

While I did find the abundance of technical instructions about flying to be a bit tedious at times, the characters' banter and the mystery did more than make for it.  I found that I really enjoyed the story, and I'm looking forward to reading the next three books.

RATING:   10 pairs of yellow beach pajamas out of 10 for giving readers a spunky, new aviatrtix who is daring, adventurous, courageous, fearless, and loves to solve mysteries!

The Sacred Scimiter - a Hope Twins Adventure Story

And so we continue with the unusual adventures of Dave and Will Hope - the twin aviators who seem to be known around the world for having been the first individuals to make a non-stop flight across the Pacific Ocean.  I did not thin author William Dixon Bell could take these boys on any wilder adventures than they faced in the last book, but Bell did not disappoint.  This book finds the boys thrown smack dab into the middle of a Holy War, with warring religious factions in the Arabian deserts.  And the title?  Well, let's just say the title to this book does not actually come into play until, quite literally, the very end of the story.

 

The Sacred Scimiter picks up directly after the end of the last book. Astute readers will recall that at the end of the previous story, the Hope Twins were flying to Teheran (which, for those who do not know, is the capitol and largest city in Iran!) with Theodore Curtis and the young woman (who believed she was a goddess) they rescued from the Tibetan mountains.  Well, as this first chapter opens, the brothers and Theodore Curtis have arrived in Teheran - the only thing I was left wondering is - what happened to the girl?  There is only the briefest mention of their adventures in the previous book and how they rescued the girl; yet, there is no mention of her and Curtis falling for one another, and Curtis' decision to take her home with him. In fact, Curtis seems to have completely forgotten about her, as he chats with Dave and Will before taking off on his own.  Are readers left to believe the girl decided to take off on her own as well, or was she safely stored away somewhere, and Curtis just did not feel any need to mention her to the boys?  Whatever the reason, I must say that unresolved plot threads are always quite annoying...

 

As soon as Curtis takes off, the boys are met by a mysterious woman - a Persian woman who happens to speak English - a woman who is in desperate need of help - a woman who is being watched by a strange man with a bent nose and damaged ear - a woman who is willing to pay the boys $25,000 (which would be more than $570,000 in today's dollars!!!) to fly her anywhere and everywhere she needs to go to accomplish a mission about which she cannot tell them - a woman who, as it turns out, is not a woman at all, but a man in disguise!  Once again, the boys undertake a strange mission after being hired by a mysterious stranger (a plot element that is a commonality between the two books) - only this time, the brothers have no clue where they are heading with each flight, and they must deal with the odd bent-nosed man who keeps turning up everywhere they go.  To make matters worse, each time they land, their mysterious benefactor takes off, leaving them to fend for themselves in Arabian countries where they are looked at with suspicion and treated with less than respect.

 

The author spends a considerable amount of time talking about the Muslim religion, their religious practices, and their war against British rule.  Interestingly, this was likely taken from the real "holy war" that was going on at the time this book was written, as between 1936 and 1939, there was an Arab revolt in Palestine, fighting against the British rule and its policies related to Jewish immigration and the sale of land in the area.  In the story, Dave and Will find themselves in the middle of the war, slowly learning that their benefactor is a key player in this war.  Surprisingly, Bell does not have his twins take a side in the matter - in fact, they persistently complain about their distrust of their benefactor and their desire not to do anything illegal or that would place them in a precarious position with the laws of the lands they are forced to visit.  Ultimately, the man they are helping gets what he is after (the "sacred scimiter" that is somehow important to the Arabian cause, yet it is never mentioned or seen until the very last chapter, with its importance not explained until the very last paragraph of the book!), and the Hope twins are able to escape all of the turmoil of the area with the ability to finally get out from under the thumb of their benefactor.

 

The subject matter is a very odd one for a children's book, with a heavy emphasis on the war and the religious aspects of the people involved.  There is a certain level of mystery surrounding their benefactor's motives and real identity, and there is plenty of adventures as the boys fly from place to place; but the heavy emphasis on political and religious intrigue made this book read more like an adult story of spies and espionage than a children's mystery / adventure book.  And speaking of the religious aspect, at one point when the boys are flying over Kirkuk, which is a large oil field in Northern Iraq, their passenger points to the area that many believe to be the "fiery furnace" into which the king threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego for refusing to worship him (p. 100).  This location is, in reality, Baba Gurgur (literally "Father of Fire" - The Eternal Fire at Baba Gurgur), which contains a fire that is alleged to have been burning for more than 4,000 years!  Bell also has the boys come across a silversmith who claims he and his people "are the famous silversmiths of Amara ... in addition are the descendants of John the Baptist" (p. 138).  This is likely a reference to the Mandaeans, who revere John the Baptist and believe he was the final and most important prophet.  Later in the story, while flying over the Dead Sea, David jokingly asks, "Do you suppose that sea is the pillar of salt that Lot's wife turned into?" (p. 189).  In addition to all of this, the author also takes the twins into what is referred to as the Great Mosque - in the book it is called "Ka'ba" (p. 217), which in the real world is more commonly spelled Kaaba (Kaaba - The Great Mosque).  Bell's explicit descriptions and references to religious locations and stories leads one to question whether Bell was a student of the world's religions, or if perhaps, he was a Christian who had a good deal of knowledge regarding other religions (and I say that because in both books, the Hope Twins are skeptical and questioning of religious beliefs that do not acknowledge the one true God and the history set forth in the Bible).

 

Thankfully, there were not more adventures of the Hope Twins written after this book.  I have no idea how these books were received back in the late 1930s when they were first published, but they definitely do not hold up well, especially against today's world views, and the plot and characters in this particular book are much too intense for a pre-teen audience.  I would have to agree with the author of the University of Texas webpage on the author, in which he states that Bell never appears "to have made a great success as an author of novels for teenage readers" (William Dixon Bell) - because based on these two books alone, I honestly cannot imagine too many teens or pre-teens who would like these books!

 

I'm just glad to have both of these behind me now, so I can move on to "hopefully" better reading!

RATING:  6 magnificently jeweled scimiters out of 10 for sending these adventurous young aviators into areas and dangers around the world that most series book writers would never dream of taking their sleuths! 

The Secret of Tibet - a Hope Twins Adventure Story

This book is part of a series featuring Will and Dave Hope, two young aviators who happen to be twin brothers.  You do not come across too many series books which feature twins (The Bobbsey Twins are probably the first, and most popular, to come to mind), so when I come across any, I pick them up.  This particular series was mentioned in a Facebook group for collectors of children's series, and thankfully, the two books were not too difficult to find with dust jacket.  Published by Goldsmith in 1938 (although one website about the author indicates this book came out in 1938, while the next came out in 1939 - William Dixon Bell - however, both of my books show a copyright date of 1938), the books feature a strong continuity, as one book picks up literally right after the ending of the book before it.

 

The Secret of Tibet introduces readers to Will and Dave Hope, twin brothers who are in Shanghai, China after winning a contest by being the first flyers to cross the Pacific Ocean non-stop.  While there, they meet a stranger by the name of Theodore Curtis, who engages their services to fly him to the hidden city of Tibet, where he believes his friend, Professor Alfred Noll, is being held captive.  The Hope twins are suspicious at first, but Curtis convinces them and offers to have the National Scientific Society pay their expenses (but, sadly, no salary).  The boys' hesitation ends when a mysterious Chinaman with a scarred face appears everywhere they turn - and when Will is knocked unconscious after catching someone trying to sabotage their plane, the brothers realize they must help Curtis, as his friend (a fellow American) could be in serious trouble!

 

The story takes some rather unusual and, well, rather unbelievable turns as it progresses.  While the fancy, trick flying could be possible, the number of instances that the plane takes off and lands in places with little runway space is a bit far-fetched.  And when the twins, along with Curtis, find the hidden village, they come across a young woman - who happens to be Caucasian! - who thinks herself a goddess (actually, she believes she is a mixture: half Drolma, goddess of mercy, and half Dordjelutru, the god of the highest mountain [p. 126]).  And she happens to be quite fluent with the English language.  And she happens to believe the scar-faced Chinaman is a ruler of the people who can be trusted.  I cannot imagine what Bell was thinking when he wrote these elements into the story.  Plus, for this to be a book aimed at "boys and girls," as the back of the dust jacket proclaims, the fact that this girl is "almost naked" (p. 123), as can be seen on the dust jacket cover art, is a bit too risque for young readers!

 

As one might expect, the story does feature a lot of flying, and there is even a battle in the sky when the Chinaman and his villainous cohort chase our twin heroes in their speedy yellow plane, shooting a machine gun at the Hope twins!  Despite the damage done to their plane, the boys manage to climb down into a wooded area in the middle of nowhere, between the mountains, to find exactly the type of wood they need to make the necessary repairs.  How convenient is that?!  Of course, the boys ultimately outwit the villains, and not only do they rescue Prof. Noll (who they find to be naked as well [p. 177] - what is it with Bell and his naked characters?), but they also manage to sneak out the young goddess girl, who takes an instant liking to Curtis and agrees to leave her home where she is worshiped to start a new life in the outside world with Theodore Curtis!

 

One thing that did surprise me (and it was a pleasant surprise, considering some of the material in this book!) was the twins' refusal to believe in reincarnation when the young "goddess" tells them she has been reincarnated a thousand times.  Dave firmly tells the girl, "...you should be ashamed to claim to be a goddess.  There is only one God - the God who moved upon the face of the waters and gathered them together.  To Him only I pray" (p. 132).  It's not very often you see a series book character so bluntly express their belief in God and to stand strong like Dave does with his conviction of there only being one true God.  Sure, other series characters make vague references to attending church on Sundays, but outside of Christian books, I cannot recall another series that states a belief in God so firmly as this one does.  It rather made up for some of the other nonsense that goes on in this story.

 

While some online sites negatively critique Bell's writing, particularly with some of his dialogue, I actually enjoyed the banter between Dave and Will - it was fun and, to a certain extent, felt natural, with the boys constantly making snarky comments to one another.  Some of the "native" language and pidgin English is rather off-putting at times; however, the depiction of the Chinaman and the other characters the Hope twins meet along the way are nothing more than a reflection of the time in which the story was written (remember, the book was published nearly 90 years ago, and American views on foreigners, particularly between the two World Wars, were not exactly respectful).  Thus, I simply put them in that context, and they did not bother me as much.

 

One thing to note - I had assumed that this book and the next one were the only two books in the "Hope Twins" series; however, it appears there was an earlier book, The Lost Aviators (published more than ten years prior in 1924) that is the first book to feature the flying brothers.  Since this book makes considerable reference to the boys' famous flight across the Pacific, and the prize money they won for making the flight, one might assume that story is told in The Lost Aviators (which, ultimately, would make this a three-book series). Yet, some online research reveals the plot of that book involves three boys who start out on a hunt for some army aviators who were lost while traveling from San Francisco to Panama (sadly, I don't find reference to the names of these young boys, so I can't be sure if two of them are the Hope twins or not!).  Therefore, until I can snag a copy of that book and read it, I cannot be sure whether it truly is a prequel to The Secret of Tibet or not.

 

Nevertheless, the next book is a direct sequel to this one (picking up literally where this one left off), so I will be curious to see what strange adventures await the twin brothers in their next adventure!

 

RATING:  7 bridges made of slender bamboo rope out of 10 for sending two teenage boys on some crazy and unbelievable adventures into unexplored terrain between the mountains of Tibet!