A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #32 - Murder at Willow Run

This thirty-second entry into the Zebra Mystery Puzzler series introduces yet another author and another new amateur sleuth.  The author is identified as "Michelle Collins," but it is uncertain whether this is the author's action name or just another in a long-line of pseudonyms used for this series.  Other than this one and book 51 in this series, I can find no other books by this author (although I find plenty of books out there written by various writers of the same name).  The copyright for the book simply belongs to Kensington Publishing Corp., which likely means this was a house psuedonym.  In any event, Collins only offers two books within this series, and this one gives readers their first taste of art director Megan Marshall.

 

Murder at Willow Run is set in a preppy little art community called "Willow Run" in the Catskills of New York.  Megan Marshall is an art gallery director who is putting together a show for artist Evan Townsend, a young man with whom she hopes to one day develop a real relationship.  The story opens with the exciting news that Marshall has managed to get a world famous art critic, Garrett Winters, to come to the show!  Winters happens to be a long-time friend of Alfred ("Alf") Barnard, who runs the Inn in which the art show will be displayed, and he has agreed to come at Alf's request.  Megan is thrilled, Evan is hesitant, and Alf is confident that everything will work out fine.  However, from the moment Winters arrives, everything goes downhill fast!

 

Collins crafts a horrifically vile person in the character of Garrett Winters. From the moment he arrives, he has nothing but nasty things to say about everyone and everything - from Evan's art (which, at this point, he has not even seen!), to the small town setting, the decor of the Inn, and the townspeople and guests at the Inn.  In fact, the man has nothing nice to say at all!  Clearly, this man deserves to die - or, at least, that's what plenty of people think.  After a rather loud confrontation with Evan in the dining room, with Evan threatening to get rid of him, to a fierce battle in the kitchen with the chef that results in his being fired, to some snide remarks to one of the local women in town, Winters finally takes his leave, going to his room upstairs.  Before long, however, he's back downstairs, demanding a different room, as the bed is too small.  Megan accommodates him, moving him from Room 4 to Room 7, making sure he's settled in and that he has locked his door from the inside before she walks away.  So, imagine her surprise, when she and Alf come up the next morning, find the door still locked with the chain, and after breaking their way, find the critic lying dead on his bed!  The door was locked, the windows are still locked - so how in the world was he murdered?

 

It's a fantastically well-written locked-room mystery that, quite frankly, had me stumped.  The first internal illustration gave me a first thought as to the identity of the killer, but as the story progressed, my thought changed time and time again.  The clues pointing to any number of people, and Collins herself even points this out with the gossip of the townspeople:  "the culprit was variously Evan Townsend, the moody and passionate painter; Claude Monteaux, the temperamental chef; Alfred Barnard for some inexplicable reason; Bertram Van Riper, the man of mystery... (p. 72) - and even this list does not account for all of the suspects.  There were also Grace and Adelaide Wimble, the aging sisters who seemed to have a history with Winters; Shelley Barnes, a local woman "far more enamored of the artist than she was of the art" (p. 23); Quentin Lacy, the rather flamboyant and dramatic director of the theater across from the Inn; Hilda Stanwick, a former watercolor artist whose career had ended quickly after a bad review; and even Garth Hendriks, the Inn's groundskeeper who lived in the upstairs of the barn just behind the Inn.  So many suspects, so many motives, but only one of them did it.  The questions for Megan is:  which one?

 

Honestly, I was wondering if Collins would go the same route as the writers of The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries television show did with their season two opener, which features a locked-room mystery that stumped the teen detectives and nearly made them believe in vampires!  That two-part season opener offered up a rather ingenious solution, and I thought perhaps Collins had taken a page from that show, which aired two years before this book was published.  It certainly would have provided a clever twist, making the killer one of the least likely suspects!  But Collins went an entirely different route, for which I applauded her, as it made it much more difficult to figure out (for the reader).  While the clue on the front cover is very subtle, the internal illustrations offer very little actual clues - one offers no clue at all, one offers a very clear misdirect, two offer a connected clue that you have to really pay attention to catch, and the last two offers the clues that clinch it!

 

The author does reference the use of "flurazepam," which is referred to as "a soporific marketed under the trade name of Dalmane" (p. 107).  This is an actual drug that is prescribed by doctors for short-term treatment of sever insomnia.  The brand name of "Dalmane" has been discontinued in the United States, but flurazepam, which is the generic version, is still prescribed.  Obviously, this book was written long before the brand name medicine was discontinued in 2017.

 

As with most books in this series, there is no identification of the cover artist, and none of the internal illustrations are signed and no credit given - leaving it a mystery as to who provided the art.  I think it bears repeating what a disservice these publishers did back in the day by failing to give credit to cover artists, as well as internal illustrators - particularly for a series like this, where the art plays (or is supposed to play) just as important of a role in helping the reader solve the mystery as the story itself.  With this day and age of information at the tips of our fingers on the internet, one would think the information would be easy to find; but, alas, it is not.  Thus, the identity of these artists remain a mystery unsolved...

 

This mystery was extremely enjoyable, very well written, and definitely kept me guessing.  I am glad to know I will get at least one more mystery by Collins before the end of this series!

 

RATING:  10 blood-stained hotel towels in the trunk of a car out of 10 for taking the "locked room mystery" to a whole new level and giving us a fantastic new sleuth who is up for the challenge! 

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #23 - Death in a Small World

Another new protagonist and another new author enters the Zebra Mystery Puzzler series with this book.  The 23rd book in the series is the first written by Laura Colburn, being followed up by books 34 and 46.  Colburn, in reality, is Ian McMahan, an award-winning author  and developmental psychologist who under his own name wrote a number of books, both fiction and non-fiction, including the three-book Microkid Mysteries and the one ESP McGee mystery for young readers back in the early 1980s.  I was not really sure what to expect from this book, considering the author's background (but, as one might expect, it turns out one of the characters in the book is a psychologist, which provides the author with an opportunity to include his profession into the story).  However, after a bit of a slow start, the book actually turned out to be surprisingly good.

 

Death in a Small World does not refer to a ride at Disney World, but rather, to just how small our world really is when it comes to running into people from our past in the most unexpected places.  What's the old expression about being in the right place at the right time?  Only, in this case, it's about someone being in the wrong place at most definitely the wrong time.  Our amateur sleuth in this book is Carol Gates, an artist and illustrator who is a part of the '70s bohemian movement in the Soho district of New York City. She happens to be at a party thrown by two of her friends, which is attended by a number of aspiring artists, several art dealers, and a few other miscellaneous people - including Steve McCullough, a stranger known only to the hosts (or so everyone thought!), who Carol finds dead in the elevator shaft clutching a gold lighter.  Was it an accident, as the police believe?  Or was it suicide, as Carol's friend Ginny firmly thinks?  Or was it cold-blooded murder, as Carol is sure it is?  Since the police are not investigating, and no one is really questioning it, Carol takes it upon herself to find out the truth - after all, being the daughter of a retired police chief, she has an inquisitive mind and an eidetic memory, so who better to solve a murder no one believes was a murder?

 

Colburn (a/k/a McMahan) does not open the story with his main character as most of the book do; rather, he opens it with his two main suspects - Angelo and Ginny Politano, an art-loving couple who are getting ready to host a very important party for their bohemian friends.  However, news of Steve McCullough's arrival causes a massive disruption in their plans, because it seems Ginny has a hidden past with Steve, and when Angelo finds out what it is, he becomes very unlike himself.  But, the party must go on, and so it does - until Carol is ready to leave and along with a fellow guest, Bob Fletcher (manager of several local buildings, including the one in which Carol lives), they wait for the elevator to arrive.  When it does, though, it bears an unexpected surprise - the body of Steve McCullough.  Carol knows there is something off - but her roommate doesn't believe her.  Her own boyfriend doesn't believe her.  Angelo and Ginny do not believe her.  Even Steve's best friend from the army who comes to town to claim the body does not believe her.  Despite all of this, Carol knows she is right, and she begins investigating, questioning everyone she can find from the party to find out what discussions they had with this stranger that no one (except Angelo and Ginny) knew.

 

The story then follows Carol as she starts questioning everyone. Angelo and Ginny know very little about Steve, other than his past affair with Ginny.  From attorney Robert Silverman, she learns about Steve's interest in Nazis who absconded with valuable art from Germany after the war.  From Steve's best friend, Arnie, she learns about his obsession with finding one particular Nazi by the name of Hans Bruckner who disappeared after the war.  From two different art dealers, she learns just how important that stolen art might be worth and what it cost people to escape from Germany after the war.  From Bob Fletcher, the building manager who knows some art dealers, she learns that both of the art dealers have something to hide.  From Steve's own attorney, Theodore Hornby, who is handling his estate, she learns not only a lot more about Steve's past, but also that his will leaves quite a large sum of money to his former lover - Ginny Politano!  The more Carol learns, the more questions there are, and the more suspects there appear to be.  When another guest from the party turns up dead from yet another apparent accident, and when two attempts are made on Carol's life, she knows she is getting closer to the truth. With nothing else to do, and with the help of her boyfriend, Carol sets up a trap to trick the killer in to revealing himself - the only problem is, the killer turns the tables on Carol, and she is the one tricked!

 

While I was not able to get into the story at first, it quickly shifted gears and the more information Carol (and I!) learned about Steve and the possible motives and suspects, the more interested I became in the mystery.  Every time I thought I had an idea of who did it, a monkey wrench got thrown into the works, and suddenly I changed my mind and went with another suspect (however, I should always trust my first instinct, because the person my gut first told me was the killer did turn out to be the culprit!).  I have to give Colburn (a/k/a McMahan) credit for crafting a well-written mystery.

The cover art, which depicts the scene where Carol finds Steve's body in the elevator, is painted by Mel Greifinger, the same artist who provided covers for The Curse of the Golden Skull and The Final Appointment.  None of the interior illustrations identifies the artist, but the shading and drawings seem similar to some of the other books in the series, so it was likely someone who Kensington Publishing Corp. used on a fairly regular basis.  The illustrations do not, in and of themselves, point to any specific clues, but rather, they merely depict scenes that are important to the story and moments at which Carol learns (or should have learned - such as the fact that one of the suspects, who turns out to be the killer, is left handed - it's a subtle sort of thing, but it's there if you notice it) something that would ultimately lead her to the solution to this mystery.

By the end of the book, I found I rather like Carol Gates, and I'm happy to know that I'll get two more adventures with her before this series ends!

RATING:  9 heavy attache cases out of 10 for a creative plot that works overtime to mislead the reader, taking you in one direction, when the truth lies in an entirely different area!

Harlequin Gothic Romance Series No. 32007 - The Fourth Letter

"She thought the past was laid to rest - only to discover that it threatened to destroy her future" (cover blurb).

 

I can't believe I am already seven books into the Harlequin Gothic Romance series.  Even more shocking, I can't believe how much I am thoroughly enjoying each and every one of the books in this series!  But here I am, and I have no intention of slowing down - although, I will admit, I'm beginning to already feel a bit of sadness at the idea that the series only had eighteen books in it.  That means I only have eleven left to go.  Oh, well, there are plenty of other gothic books from the '60s, '70s, and '80s out there waiting for me to read them, so I suppose I should not be too disheartened.  But, honestly, I don't know that any of them have as beautiful art and as creative titles as this series does, and the uniformity of the covers is a huge plus to someone who loves uniformity and consistency, particularly in series books.  And this one has its series books moments, believe me!

 

The Fourth Letter is written by Alison Quinn and is her second (and final) book in the series.  As previously indicated in my review of her first book (The Satyr Ring), which also happens to be the first book in the series, Quinn is likely the real name of the author and not a pseudonym, since the copyright page on both books indicate the copyright is owned by "Alison Quinn."  Other than that, and the fact that she wrote the first and seventh book in this series, I am not able to find anything else about the author.  I can saw, however, that she is a very talented writer and definitely knows how to write a great gothic mystery.  In this instance, the mystery involves a young woman named Nicole Lord, whose father has died and she has left her home in Paris, France to fulfill her father's dying wish - see her grandmother and resolve the issues that caused him to leave home so many years ago.  The only thing is, Nicole is not prepared for the various secrets and machinations that exist within the walls of the Lord mansion in the hills of Vermont!

 

While Quinn integrates a number of standard gothic tropes - the isolated mansion, the secrets held by pretty much every member of the household, the dangerous cliffs, and the mysterious sounds in the dead of night - she also manages to sneak in some twists into the story and challenge what the reader thinks they know or have figured out.  Quinn throws a couple of very unexpected curve balls that have great impact on the story and the relationships among the characters. Nicole arrives to find a grandmother that is at first resistant and distrusting; a housekeeper and confidant that makes it clear Nicole is not wanted there; a housekeeper's son who is hot and cold - distant at times, friendly at others; and a doctor who is a renowned ladies' man and has set his eyes on Nicole.  The poor girl does not know who to trust, and all she wants is to pass along her father's message and move on to New York.  And therein lies the problem...

 

Nicole's father had previously written his mother three times before, but never received a response.  Nicole has in her possession a fourth and final letter her father wrote just before he died, telling Nicole to give it to her grandmother when she feels the time is right.  But Nicole cannot determine when, or even if, there will be a right time.  And why does her grandmother have this irrational hatred of art of any kind?  Why is the house filled with mirrors on the walls rather than works of art?  And what is that constant tapping she hears at night, coming from the small patroon house at the edge of the woods?  The answer to that final question ultimately leads to a deadly encounter which results in Nicole being locked in the burning building, left to die!  And I suppose there is one more question that must be answered - why in the world does everyone get so distraught when Nicole and Mark announce their engagement?  What secret could their families possibly be hiding that would prevent them from consummating their love?  Well, let's just say that Flowers in the Attic could take a queue from this story!

 

I love the fact that Quinn does not even try to hide who the villain of this story is; nor does she give readers a clear line of good and bad when it comes to Nicole's two suitors - instead, we get plenty of gray areas with both of them.  And the contents of that mysterious, sealed fourth letter, the burning of the patroon house, the threats to Nicole's life, and the secrets that everyone in the house is hiding - well, they all add up to a great gothic mystery that, in some ways, reminds me of a good Nancy Drew mystery.  In fact, the cover art (by yet another unidentified artist) is similar to the original cover art of the Nancy Drew mystery, The Clue in the Diary, by Russell H. Tandy.  Both covers feature the burning buildings in the background, both covers feature a young woman in the foreground - one reaching down for a book, the other clutching a sealed envelope. 

 

Then again, the cover also resembles a much later Nancy Drew mystery, Race Against Time, which cover art was provided by the very talented Ruth Sanderson.  In this particular cover, we see the burning building in the background (as with this book), and the young woman is now facing the fire, her hand raised up to her mouth, similar to how the young woman on the cover of this book has her hand raised up to her chest as she looks back at the burning building.  Perhaps it is mere coincidence that all of these covers feature similar aspects; I mean, after all, the Nancy Drew mysteries have always incorporated a lot of gothic elements into the stories, so why should it be any surprise the covers should not also mirror certain gothic themes?  

One thing I did find odd about the book has nothing to do with the story or cover art; rather, it is the two-page spread in the back of the book advertising the various Harlequin series.  The advertisement urges readers to "Indulge in the pleasure of superb romance reading by choosing the most popular love stories in the world."  Below this tag are six different Harlequin series:  Harlequin Romance, Harlequin Presents, Harlequin Temptation, Harlequin Superromance, Harlequin American Romance, and Harlequin Intrigue.  Surprisingly, the very series in which the ad is placed is not mentioned at all. One would think they would want to advertise the Harlequin Gothic Romance series as well, but apparently it did not make the cut for this particular advertising campaign.  Perhaps that might be part of the reason the series did not last beyond 18 books - without advertising, one cannot expect a series to succeed!

 

This was yet another fantastic addition to the world of gothic romance/mystery novels, leaving me excited and anxious to read the next one in this series!

 

RATING:  10 seven-eights leopardskin fur coats out of 10 for a superbly-written gothic tale of secrets, suspense, and soap-opera style surprises!

The Art of the Pulps - an illustrated history

This was a book I first saw at Barnes & Noble some time ago, and I considered buying it.  Instead, though, I added it to my Amazon wish list and decided to think on it some.  That was several years ago.  Every now and then I would look at it, intrigued by the beautiful art of those old pulp magazines - from heroic to horrific, from sci-fi to strange, from damsels in distress to dangerous villains.  Those old covers featured pretty much any thing you could possibly imagine in your mind's eye, bringing them to life in such vivid ways, it's no surprise they sold so well back in the day.  But alongside the beautiful art, the book provided the history of those beautifully painted covers.  Well, this past Christmas, I received the book as a present, and I couldn't have been happier!  After years of looking at it, I finally had it in my hands and could actually read it.

The Art of the Pulps takes a look at the complete history of the period of pulps, from its inception at the end of the 19th century to its heyday in the early 20th century, to its "demise" in the mid-20th century.  Edited by Douglas Ellis, Ed Hulse, and Robert Weinberg, this oversized hardcover is chock full of covers of many, MANY pulp magazines that were published throughout the decades.  After a brief foreword by F. Paul Wilson (who is probably best known for his "Repairman Jack" novels) and an introduction by Douglas, the book offers up 12 glorious chapters of pulp art, each chapter focusing on the many facets of pulp history - from adventure to detectives ... from westerns to sci-fi .... from sports to romance ... from horror to fantasy.  Just about every genre imaginable was published in pulp form.  There's even a chapter that focuses on the "heroes" of the pulp era, including The Shadow, Doc Savage, and others; and, less we forget, there's a chapter that shares some of the history of those spicy pulps that many people automatically picture when they think of "pulp" magazines - super-sexy covers with very scantily clad women (and in some instances, bold, in-your-face nudes!  The book concludes with a chapters that look at the famous artists of the pulp era and the famous writers from that time.

I will admit, I skimmed some of the chapters that discussed genres for which I have no interest - westerns and sports being the top two.  Now, that's not to say I didn't pour over the art on the covers showcased therein - but the actual history given, I ignored (no offense to Ed Hulse or Michelle Nolan, who authored those chapters).  But as for the other chapters?  I read every word, soaking in not only the gorgeous, painted covers, but the detailed history shared by the authors of those chapters - and I learned quite a bit that I did not know about pulps!  For instance - did you know the man who originally got Atlas Comics (later renamed Marvel Comics) was originally a publisher of pulps?  Nope, neither did I!  And did you know there was a pulp magazine (Spicy Mystery Stories) that featured a cover advertising a story about the "Bat-Man" - in February 1936, some three years before DC Comics would premier its own "Batman"!  Nope, I definitely didn't know that one.  And even more surprising (for me, at least) - did you know that a number of famous authors had a hand in writing pulp stories - Arthur Conan Doyle, O. Henry, Jack London, Raymond Chandler, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Heinlein, Max Brand, Edgar Rice Burroughs, among others?  I certainly did not!  This book offers up a wealth of information that I otherwise would have never known, and for that, it was well worth the money.

But, let's face it - it's really the art that is the major draw for the book.  The amount of covers reproduced in this book is awe-inspiring.  I'm not sure where they were able to get such beautifully preserved copies of these books to scan the covers (unless they were not so great and were photo-shopped to clean them up), but they are so absolutely gorgeous, you can't help but spend quite a lengthy time staring at each page, wanting to soak up every detail of every cover.  The All Story magazine ... Blue Book magazine ... Mystery Story magazine ... Black Mask ... Gun Molls ... Bull's Eye Western Stories ... Smashing Western ... Flying Stories ... Sky Aces ... Fight Stories ... Knock-Out Magazine ... Lover's Magazine ... Thrilling Love ... Thrilling Mysteries ... Dime Mystery Magazine ... Marvel Tales ... Ghost Stories ... Weird Tales ... The Secret 6 ... The Spider ... Capt. Hazzard ... Dan Dunn ... Jungle Stories ... Hollywood Nights ... Tattle Tales ... and so, so, SO many others.  I could keep looking at this book for weeks on end and probably still never take it all in.  

So many talented artists ... so many surprising authors ... and so much care was taken to put this book together.  Pulp historians Douglas Ellis, Ed Hulse, and Robert Weinberg deserve some very high praise for the effort they put into making this book as perfect as it is.  It truly is a wealth of information and reference, and based on the back cover blurb, it has over 400 "rarely seen pulp covers and original illustrations."  I just went to a local comic convention this past weekend, and there was a dealer there who specialized in pulp magazines - so I spent quite a bit of time at his booth, looking over all of his magazines, smiling to myself as I recognized not only titles that I had never even heard before before reading this book, but characters and even some of the covers (the prices, on the other hand, were something I did not even want to look at!).  This book has been an eye-opener, and it has also piqued my curiosity with some of the obscure titles (such as Gun Molls, a short-lived magazine in which women were the protagonists in the stories), and I've begun a search to find some of those issues at some reasonable prices that I can afford!

If you area fan of pulps, or even if you are just curious about the cover art (as I was), then this book is a MUST HAVE!

RATING:  10 damsels in distress out of 10 for doing such a wonderful job of preserving this era of stories and art for future generations - may the pulp live on forever!

Kit and the Mystery Man - a Children's Press Mystery

This was another of the books I picked up while in Ireland earlier this year.  Sadly, I did not find very many series books at all while there, but I did manage to pick up a few one-off mysteries that, based on the cover art, seemed pretty cool.  The first one I read, The Three Spaniards, wasn't too bad at all (The Three Spaniards), so I went into this one hoping it would be just as good, if not better.  Of course, being a completely different author, I couldn't be too sure.  But, the premise sounded intriguing and the cover provided a hint of what was to come (a young boy watching a mysterious man seeming to sneak out of a building...), and, well, let's just say, I was not disappointed.

Kit and the Mystery Man is the story of Kit Pugh, formally Christopher Marlin Pugh. Kit's backstory is a bit convoluted, and it actually took me a couple of times reading that first chapter to really get it straight (this is due mostly to the author's style of writing - almost a stream of consciousness in some places, where she has Kit daydreaming, wondering off  on tangents, while at the same time trying to maintain a third-person point-of-view to describe his life).  It seems Kit's parents are both gone, and he lives with one of his three aunts in Whitebay (which I had first assumed was in England, but after researching online have to wonder if it isn't a reference to Ireland, since I found not Whitebay in England but I did find a White Bay in the County Cork in Ireland - which, of course, would be fitting, considering that is exactly where I was when I bought this book!). So, Kit helps out his Aunt Carrie with her boarding house while his cousins Marguerite (Midge) and Madeleine (Maddy) live with his other aunt, Mrs. Morgan, in their hotel, the Royal Dragon, closer to town.  His third aunt is barely mentioned in the story.  Anyway, Kit is a daydreamer and is consistently forgetting things and getting sidetracked, much to Aunt Carrie's chagrin.  Until he meets Judy Somers...

Judy is the daughter of a professor who is a permanent resident at the Royal Dragon - but he is so wrapped up in whatever it is he does (it's never mentioned) that Judy finds herself quite alone.  She strikes up an awkward friendship with Kit, as the two of them will be traveling together every day to Langley, which is a nearby city where they attend school (now I did not find a Langley in Ireland, but I did find one in England - so again, I can't quite place where this story takes place!).  It is on one of these days that Kit happens across a painting in an old antique shop, one that captures his full attention.  Through a series of events, the owner of the shop gifts the painting to Kit only moments before a strange man shows up in the shop desperate to buy the painting.  The owner refuses to sell it, having given it to Kit, and the enraged man leaves.  Of course, as any mystery-reading fan will guess, this isn't the last Kit and Judy see of this man!

After a somewhat rocky start in the first couple of chapters, where the author seems to be grappling with how to introduce the characters, the settings, and the situations, once Kit get a hold of that painting, the story really picks up steam.  One of Aunt Carrie's boarders, a man by the name of Joe Tree who seems to have no job, no means of support, yet lives carefree and has no problems meeting his expenses, also befriends Kit and becomes instrumental in helping Kit with some of the decisions he has to make throughout the story.  Between Joe and Judy, they not only give the young man some backbone, but also help him solve the mystery involving the painting.  As it turns out, the painting could potentially by the fourth of four paintings by a very famous and elusive artist who disappeared years ago.  One collector from the States has three of the four and has been searching for years to find that fourth one.  When Kit's painting is stolen, he and Judy are determined to find the man they believe that stole it - but when they do track it down, they are in for some major surprises (although, quite honestly, they were not overly surprising to me as the reader - there are enough hints in the story to figure out exactly what is going on, whether the painting is real or not, and what happened to the artist).

A couple of things I found to be different about this book:  one is that despite being 190 pages in length, there are only nine chapters!  Each chapter is quite lengthy, so the reader is not left with the standard "cliffhangers" at the end of every chapter like you would read in the series books published in the States.  Two is that the mystery is wrapped up by the end of chapter eight, so that the entirety of chapter nine is more or less an epilogue, but one that comes with a very pleasant surprise for Kit (and one that left me feeling very happy for the young man).  Despite these differences, I did enjoy the story (once I got past those first couple of chapters) and grew to like the main characters.

 

With regard to the location of the story, since there is mention of train rides to London, I'm ultimately guessing the story takes place in England, and that the small towns are simply fictional towns made up by the author.   And speaking of the author, I've never heard of the author, Mollie Chappell, although some searching online revealed that this author wrote quite a number of books, some for young adults and others for adults, including romance novels.  I liked this one enough that I may try and track down some of her other books...

RATING:  7 airline tickets from London to New York out of 10 for a unique mystery with a different kind of protagonist!

The Pine Barrens Mystery - an Augusta Huiell Seaman mystery story

After reading my first mystery by author Augusta Huiell Seaman, I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this next book I found.  The first one seemed heavily steeped in historical references and was a mystery from the past, rather than the present.  But I had enjoyed it, and so I went into this book with relatively high expectations.  Having written more than 40 books for young readers, it's likely she's had some hits and misses over the course of her years of writing, but fortunately, the two books I have of hers are both hits!  Yes, this one turned out to be a winner as well, and, in fact, I liked this one more than the first one I read.

The Pine Barrens Mystery is set in New Jersey and follows the adventures of Roxanna Thatcher and her older brother, Christopher, as they head for the coast in hopes of finding a better climate for Christopher's health (he had been sick with pneumonia and developed a bad cough).  While their initial goal is Atlantic City, Christopher (affectionately referred to as "Chub") takes them on a side through the Pine Barrens, which he describes as "the queerest stretch of ground you've ever seen ... a patch of about fourteen square miles inland ... covered by [pine trees] so stunted that none of the trees are over five feet tall, most of them less" (pp. 4-5).  Since he is studying plant biology and chemistry of soils at Princeton, he intends to write his thesis about the land int that area.  Roxanna is reluctant at first, as she does not want to sidetrack her trip to Atlantic City, but she agrees - and when they arrive, Roxanna discovers it like being in another world - "I've never seen anything like it!" she exclaims (p. 9)  While Chub takes their dog, Pepper, off to explore and take some plant and soil samples, Roxanna explores an old, abandoned house nearby ... and while inside, she hears ominous footsteps overhead!  When she explores, no one is there, and thus, the mystery begins...

While the brother and sister do eventually go to Atlantic City, their stay is short lived, as Chub cannot take the sea air, and they end up returning to the Pine Barrens area to stay for their vacation.  In the very small town of Harwood, they take rooms at the home of Mrs. Kramer, whose thirteen year old daughter Alma reveals she was the one Alma heard in the house the previous day - she loves to explore the old mansion, but when Roxanna and her brother showed up, she snuck away to avoid being seen.  Despite the four year age difference in the girls, Roxanna and Alma strike up a rather good friendship, so while Chub focuses on his study of the Pine Barrens, Roxanna and Alma become determined to solve the mystery behind the old house that fascinates them both.  Alma reveals a hidden compartment in the fireplace upstairs, and she shares with Roxanna an old, tattered diary she found inside along with a "beautifully executed miniature painted on ivory set in a gold frame and studded all around with small but wonderfully perfct emeralds and diamonds" (p. 61).  Alma shares the history of the old house, such as she has learned from locals who have lived in the area for awhile - the house was built years ago by a man and his wife, believed to be from somewhere in Europe, before the town even really existed.  It seems the couple were happy for several years, but after the birth of their child, something happened, and one winter, the family disappeared, taking all of their belongings, and never returned.  No one knows what happened, and Alma was hoping the diary would shed some light, but it is written in another language. Roxanna recognizes the French writing, and ultimately has her brother (who is proficient in the language) interpret it for them!

The mystery may sound somewhat tame, but it is definitely anything but!  Seaman manages to squeeze in every possible Gothic trope imaginable to keep the story intriguing and forcing the reader to turn page after page to find out what happens next.  The mysterious disappearance of the original owners ... the old grave marker hidden under the tree near the house ... the scientific papers hidden somewhere on the estate that Chub is desperate to find for his thesis ... the strange old lady who lives alone in a shack in the woods, but who visits the house on a regular basis when no one is around ... the stormy night that leaves one of the siblings stranded away from the town ... the tattered old diary that holds cryptic clues to what really happened all those years ago ... and a case of mistaken identity that leads to the revelation of a lost fortune ... it truly has all the wrappings of a great mystery!

One thing I found odd about the story, though, is the fact that Alma seems to be more able to figure out the clues than Roxanna, despite being younger.  She is the one who found the secret hiding place, she is the one who figures out the identity of the elusive 'Anna' from the diary, and she is the one who persists in re-reading the diary again and again to uncover more clues.  As a reader, I found myself more drawn to Alma and her excitement about solving the mystery than to Roxanna or her brother.  And, I will admit, I was mislead into believing Alma herself might actually have a connection to the old house and the family that lived in it, so I have to give Seaman some credit here for some creative storytelling.

Now, as far as the Pine Barrens themselves, it does turn out that such a thing exists in New Jersey. Known as the "Pinelands," or the "Pines," according to online sources, this area of New Jersey is one of the largest remaining pine barrens ecosystems along the Atlantic coast.  It cross move than seven counties of New Jersey, and to this date, it remains fairly rural and unpopulated.  As accurately described in the book, the Pine Barrens are just off the Atlantic City Expressway.  It seems the Pine Barrens is also associated with a number of legends, such as the Jersey Devil, the ghost of the "Black Doctor," the ghost of "Captain Kidd," the "Black Dog," and a number of other stories.  Thus, it is easy to see how Seaman would have chosen this particular area of the Eastern coast to set this mystery of an old abandoned house and its many secrets.

Another truth brought out in Seaman's book is the cranberry industry.  There are several references in the book to the cranberry farms and plants in the town and its surrounding communities; and it turns out that New Jersey actually produces the third-highest number of cranberries in the country.  Since Seaman lived in New Jersey at the time this book was published, it stands to reason she would have knowledge of the area to be able to include it in her book.

***NOTE - I do not have a copy of the book with the dust jacket, so I have to say a special thanks to George Beatty for allowing me to use his image of the dust jacket for this post.

 

As with Bitsy Finds a Clue (the other book of Seaman's that I own and have read), the internal illustration mirrors the cover art.  The scene shows Roxanna and Alma as they find the odd old lady at the abandoned mansion, sitting on the front porch crying (which happens later in the story).  It is at this moment that Roxanna and Alma are firmly convinced that the old lady has a connection to the house that they have yet to figure out.  The end pages, on the other hand, provide a scene from early in the story, when Chub is digging in the soil while Roxanna, an artist at heart, is busy with her watercolors, painting the beautiful scene before her.  The illustrations are by Carolyn Haywood, who was also an author who wrote more than 40 of her own children's books (mostly famous for her "Betsy" and "Eddie" stories, which I remember reading when I was a child).

I really did enjoy this book, and it has made me want to hunt down and read more of Seaman's mysteries - just hope I can find them at some reasonable prices!

RATING:  10 old 'cabinet' photographs out of 10 for a wonderfully plotted mystery with engaging characters and an exciting story!