Whitman Mystery Stories - Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter

This is one of the Whitman Authorized Editions that I have been wanting for quite a while.  While I never had the opportunity to read the original comic strip in the newspaper, I do have an edition of the collected dailies and Sunday strips from 1940 - 46 (Brenda Starr Newspaper Strips), as well as the one-issue Dell Comic published back in 1963 (Brenda Starr Comic Book), plus the collected editions of her original comic book series from Four Star Publications and Superior Publishing back in 1947 - 49.  The ones I still don't have are the Charlton Comics series published in 1955.  I have enjoyed reading her adventures, which are outlandish to say the least - this amazingly gorgeous, redheaded reporter that every man loves on sight manages to get in the most unbelievable situations - yet, with her looks and ingenuity, she manages to get herself and those around her out of every scrape and, along the way, scoops the story for her newspaper, the Flash.  So, I was overjoyed when a close friend of mine sent me this book (along with a Sunday color newspaper page featuring Brenda Starr paper doll with outfits!), and I could not wait to sit down and read it.

 

Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter gives credit to the main character's creator, Dale Messick, as the author of the story, as well as the artist for all of the internal illustrations and full color cover.  I think this is only the second Whitman based on a comic strip that I have read, which is actually written and drawn by the creator of the strip (although, there is some question as to whether Messick actually penned the novel or just the plot - more on that later) - the first was a book based on the Boots and Her Buddies comic strip (Boots - Whitman Mystery), the authorship for which was credited to the strip's creator. What I found interesting is that the title page says "An original story based on the Famous Newspaper Strip 'BRENDA STARR'." Thus, I was expecting a brand new story featuring Brenda and her supporting cast. Little did I realize that was not going to be the case.

 

The story begins innocently enough, with Brenda being sent off to the slopes of Colorado (which is funny, since the most recent Zebra Mystery Puzzler that I read was also set on the slopes of Colorado - Murder by the Book) on a mysterious assignment.  She does not know exactly what the story is or what the work will entail - all her editor told her was to go to the newspaper there and ask for Larry Nickels.  When she arrives, she finds the "newspaper" feels more like a posh hotel, and the "employees" seem to do nothing but lounge around and ski all day!  When she asks for Mr. Nickels, she finds he is out on the slopes, and his secretary - Flurry Snow (p. 19 - and, yes, that really is her name!) - informs Brenda that she is to meet him out on the slopes.  Brenda is somewhat nervous, as she is a horrible skier and that fact is proven when she goes out to meet him, but ends up falling backwards down the slope (p. 24).  He rescues her, much to her dismay, and she learns that the "Cloud" (the name of his newspaper) is nothing more than a hobby, and he asked her out there to breathe some real life into his newspaper.  That story turns up pretty quickly, when Nickels points out to her a nearby lodge, described as "a vast, sprawling building with many towers and gables.  Despite its many windows and entrances, it possessed a look of strangeness and complete isolation" (p. 45).  Nickels tells her the lodge is a mystery, because people go in, but not a single soul has ever come out!  Brenda senses a big story, which is only confirmed when Nickels tells her about the man who operates the lodge: "a queer old duck who calls himself 'Professor Squell'" (p. 46).

 

Now, it is at this point, I started to sense something strange as well.  Not about Professor Squell or his lodge, but about the plot itself.  It felt extremely familiar.  So, I pulled out that collection of newspaper strips I had read before, and sure enough, there it was!  The same exact story I was now reading in prose form I had read three-and-a-half years ago when I read those newspaper strips!  Before Brenda Starr had even been published in the newspapers for a year, she was on a plane, dreaming about the blond-haired mystery man who had kissed her on New Year's Eve - exactly as she did on the opening pages of the first chapter of this book.  In fact, the dialogue was lifted straight out of the newspaper strip and used word-for-word in the book.  Now, obviously, a lot of exposition and additional dialogue was added into the book in order to flesh out the story, the characters, and the page count (otherwise, it would have ended up being a very short book, indeed!).  But if you read the book, side-by-side with the newspaper strip panels, you will see that it is literally a full adaptation of the story written and published back in 1941 and not an original tale at all.  Therefore, I'm at a loss to explain why the publisher refers to this as an "original" story based on the comic strip, when it is in actuality an "adaptation" of a story from the comic strip.

 

The story follows Brenda as she watches first Flurry, and then Nickels, go into the strange lodge and never come out.  A reward offered sends quite a few of the men from the village into the house, none of whom ever come out, and before you know it, Brenda is in hot water, being blamed for sending the men to their doom.  So, what else can she do, but go into the lodge?  Meanwhile, reporter Tom Taylor and photographer Pesky head out to rescue Brenda - and thanks to an anonymous warning, Tom knows enough to wear a gas mask before he goes into house, which saves him from the gas that takes control of all who enter - but does NOT save him from the mysterious man who knocks him out from behind.  From here, the story gets even more wild, including a basement laboratory, underground caverns, a room of pirate booty, and an impromptu wedding between Brenda and the "queer" professor who is holding everyone captive under ground.  And while the collection of newspaper strips ends with Brenda, Tom, and Nickels getting out and rescuing everyone, the book goes beyond and jumps into the next storyline involving a missing detective, a mysterious doppelganger, and a secret surprise.  This story moves much quicker than the first and take up only the last few chapters of the book.  Since I did not get to read the newspaper strips for this tale, it was completely new to me.

 

Now, some have speculated that Messick did not actually write the book, but, rather, it was simply ghostwritten as an adaptation of the strips - and since Messick wrote the newspaper strips, she was given credit for writing the book.  Whether this is actually the case or not, I have no idea.  What I do know is that Messick provided brand new illustrations for the book - 19 of them to be exact.  While some of the scenes do seem to mirror those from the strip, there are differences, which provide proof they were not merely reproduced from the art of the strip.  Messick also provides the art for the endpages, which depict the professor's planned wedding to Brenda, with Tom and Nickels standing behind her and Pesky off to the side, down in the caverns. 

 

What is odd about these endpages is that, in my copy at least, the pages are reversed in the back.  In the front, Pesky and the professor are on the left side, with Tom, Brenda, and Nickels on the right (which appears to be the correct positioning, based on the smoke drifting overhead); however, in the back of the book, Tom, Brenda, and Nickels are on the left side, while Pesky and the professor are on the right - supposedly looking at each other, but because of the repositioning of the pages, they are looking away from each other!  I wonder if this production malfunction was only in this one printing, or if all copies of this book have this error.

 

Despite the story not being original, I still enjoyed it - Brenda is a fun character to read, and her antics are always guaranteed to bring a smile, if not a full laugh, to the reader's face.  The gorgeous Messick art is only an added bonus!  Rather a shame they did not adapt more of the stories into book form - would have made a great series.   

 

RATING:  8 hats that resemble flipped over pancakes out of 10 for a fun-filled romp in the snow, under the ground, in an Easter parade, and in the clubs of Washington, D.C. - all in a day's work for Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter! 

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #25 - You'll Be The Death of Me

It's been ten books since the first of Miriam Lynch's entries into this series, and now I've reached the second (and final) offering by Lynch.  This book was a far cry better than her first Zebra mystery, so either she honed her mystery-writing skills between the time she wrote Time to Kill and this one, or that first book was merely a fluke (since online reviewers all seem to have nothing but praise to sing for Lynch's writing).  Either way, I found this book to be much more engaging, with a well-plotted mystery and plenty of misdirect and red herrings!

 

You'll Be The Death of Me takes small-town reporter Nell Willard  to the Belltown High School twenty-year class reunion, where long-time teacher Sarah Plunkett is being honored as she retires after years of service and Nell is there to cover the story.  Love her or hate her, everyone agrees that Mrs. Plunkett was strict, but she loved her students and only wanted to see them succeed.  But as the retiree prepares to give her speech, she suddenly collapses over the front table, dead!  Needless to say, Nell has an eyewitness account of the tragic event, and when it comes out the teacher was poisoned, Nell knows it's a mystery she must solve.  Police lieutenant Gerold Holbrow, Nell's somewhat boyfriend, is on the case, and although he warns her to stay out of the investigation, she cannot help herself.  After all, the woman had once been her teacher, and for the life of her, Nell cannot understand who would have reason to kill her.

 

Lynch gives readers a number of suspects, all with secrets and possible motives.  First, there is the chairperson of the reunion, Marion Hallison.  The woman is a mystery herself, with no known background, no photographs, and no friends.  Who is she, and how did she land the position of planning such an important event?  As Nell digs into her past, she learns that Marion may be holding a very fierce grudge against the teacher - but is it one that would give her cause to kill her?  Second, there are Stuart and Samuel Corbett, twins who served as co-presidents their senior year of high school, and who married the Bisbee twins (Grace and Gertrude).  The two couples became recluses after their marriages, and moreso after Samuel's wife died.  What secret did Sarah Plunkett uncover about the twins, and was it worth killing her?  Third, there is Suzanne Dixon, the beautiful young wife, married to the richest man in town (a man who could not bother to show up at the reunion, perhaps because he was too drunk!).  Why has she been making early morning visits to a local doctor, and what secret would make her want to leave her husband?  Finally, there is Dr. Harmon Gregory, one of the more successful members of the class, whose sole concern seems to be to care for his sickly wife, who also acts as his nurse at his office.  Is he having an affair with Suzanne Dixon, and if so, how would that justify killing a retiring teacher?

 

The mystery is definitely a puzzling one, and I admit, it had me stumped up until the very final chapter.  All of the suspects had dark secrets, but only one of them had a real motive for murder.  It is when an attempt to commit a second murder takes place (and the big clue is in that final internal illustration) that the killer's identity is finally revealed - and the motive is not all what you suspect.  It certainly took me by surprise, but it definitely made sense looking back at everything else Nell learns throughout the book. 

 

The cover art is provided by Mel Greifinger, who has provided the art on three prior Zebra Mystery Puzzlers. I love his work, as his visuals are stunning.  Sadly, I could not find any real clue on the cover (unless it is simply supposed to be the glass in front of her, which was poisoned.  The internal illustrations are drawn by Sanford Hoffman, marking his fifth book in the series.  As with all of his prior illustrations, he always outlines his scene, and he often has one part of the scene break through that outline (such as in the one to the right, where the gun is raised, breaking through the line).  This scene strikes me as odd, though, as the story indicates the person comes up behind Nell and strikes her on the head.  The object that strikes her is not mentioned, and it is not until later in the story we find out it was a gun - so to have it displayed so vividly here sort of gives away something (unless this picture on page 75 is meant to connect to the illustration on page 159; yet, the guns in each drawing appear different!).  I also find the gun and hand to be very out of proportion to the scene, since, if the person is behind Nell, wouldn't the perspective mean the hand and gun should be smaller?  Yet, in the drawing, they are considerably larger! Oh, well, I suppose that's just me being nit-picky!

 

This is definitely on my list of the top Zebra Mystery Puzzlers.  Loved the mystery, loved the characters, and loved the resolution.  It's just a shame this was the last offering by Miriam Lynch, meaning no more reporter Nell Willard solving murder mysteries...

 

RATING:  9 bottles of Silver Mist hair coloring out of 10 for a crafty, puzzling mystery that really does keep you guessing up until the end! 

Flash Evans, Camera News Hawk (Flash Evans #2)

Alas, with the second book in the Flash Evans series, we come to the end of this short-lived series by famed Nancy Drew ghostwriter, Mildred Wirt Benson (writing under the pseudonym Frank Bell).  It's rather a shame this series did not last beyond these first two books, as the stories are quite exciting, fast-paced, and filled with both mystery and adventure.  Benson definitely pulled out all of the stops in this series, constantly putting her title character in some of the most dangerous (and outrageous!) situations; yet, like any good, plucky series book hero, he always manages to come out of each scrape pretty much unscathed.  Both books are great reads, and even for those who are not necessarily fans of boys' series books (like me!), the stories are very enjoyable, and I would definitely recommend them.

 

Flash Evans, Camera News Hawk is set nine months after the events in the first book, and Jimmy, or "Flash" as he is called by his fellow photographers, is now seventeen-years old. As seems to be his habit of being in the right place at the right time, Flash is invited by his fellow photographer, Joe Wells, to watch Bailey Brooks, a famed aviator and parachute jumper, test out a brand new parachute of his own design.  Joe now works for a newsreel company, filming the scenes rather than simply taking still photographs.  He and Flash snag images of the successful test of the parachute, but Flash grows uneasy when he sees Brooks talking with a man named Albert Povy, who Joe says is an unsavory character that has been suspected of being a spy.  With a scar running down the side of his face, he has the typical appearance of a series book villain!

 

Similar to the first book, this one has an overarching mystery (involving a government agent and a potential theft of important papers), while at the same time putting poor Flash through the ropes with one harrowing adventure after another.  The first is a horrific train wreck (how does Flash always manages to survive these disasters with barely a scratch?!?!), in which his friend Joe Wells is injured, placing Flash in a position to take his place as a cameraman to help out his rather contentious partner, George Doyle. Doyle and Flash take an instant disliking for each other, but to help his friend, Flash agrees to do the camera work.  Their first assignment is to video the Indianapolis auto race (which may have been a vague reference to the famous "Indianapolis 500," which began as far back as 1911), and while they arrive late and other film crews have all the prime spots, Flash's luck aids them out, as their not-so-great spot turns out to be the very place a horrible racing accident occurs, which they capture it all (p. 44)!

 

From there, Flash and Doyle just happen to be at the right spot when a bridge gives out, with a speeding car going down with it (pp. 100-01).  They catch it all on film, of course; however, the driver of the car is caught in the raging waters, so Flash risks his life to dive in and save the man.  As it turns out, the man is a wanted criminal, and when Flash gets him to shore, the police are there to arrest him - and to thank Flash for catching him before he could escape!  After that, Flash finds himself on the wrong end of an oar, and he is left by a villainous cretin (and I won't spoil the story by telling you who that is!) in a river that is surrounded on both sided by an out of control forest fire (pp. 136-39)!  As can be expected, he manages to swim under the water to avoid the intense heat of the fires and swim far enough downstream to get up on shore and get away - only to wind up kidnapped by the villain and held locked in an isolated house.  The poor kid just can't catch a break!

 

All of the stories tie into the aviator and his new type of parachute, and the government agent and the attempt to rob him during the train wreck.  It is one of Flash's photographs from the night of the train wreck, as well as his keen sense of observation and a fortunate find while locked up in that house that lead to the identity of the villain being revealed and his machinations put to an end.  And along the way, Doyle and Flash manage to earn one another's respect and let go of all the animosity between them.  But Flash is nothing but loyal, and despite both Joe and Doyle trying to convince him to join them on the newsreel crew, he sticks with his job at The Brandale Ledger.  However, he admits Doyle in the last paragraph of the book that "[t]aking ordinary pictures will seem pretty tame after this.  One of these days I'll probably be back" (p. 211).  Obviously, this was an open door for Benson to later have her photographer protagonist return to newsreel filming in a later adventure, had the series continued.

 

The cover art is the same as that on the first book - but after reading this, it becomes clear that the top and bottom of the four scenes are taken from this book, while the two scenes on either side of Flash's headshot in the middle were taken from the first.  I would be curious to know if this same cover art would have been continued to be used on future books, if more had been written and published.  The interior art depicts the scene of the car pile-up from the Indianapolis raceway.  With so many thrilling moments in the story, I am sure it was hard for the publisher to decide which scene to depict on the frontis piece!

 

And with that, we reach the end of this short-lived, two-book series.  One has to wonder if Benson had any other ideas for stories in this series, and whether it was her idea, or the publishers, to end it so quickly.  In any event, poor Jimmy "Flash" Evans was put on the series book shelf, a mostly forgotten character that only die-hard collectors seek out and read!

 

RATING:  9 nail files and rusty razor blades out of 10 for keeping the danger high, the mystery exciting, and the hero resourceful - all the great trappings for a fantastic read! 

 

 

 

Flash Evans and the Darkroom Mystery (Flash Evans #1)

This two-book series was one I honestly thought I would never own.  For whatever reason (limited print run, short series, scarcity of volumes), any time these books show up for sale, they are always very high prices, especially if you want them in dust jacket!  Recently, though, I lucked upon an eBay auction where a seller was selling both books in this series, no dust jackets, for only $15.99!  While I was hoping to one day own them with dust jacket, at this price, I could not pass it up.  After all, I can always upgrade to a dust jacket later, or even use a reproduction or photocopy dust jacket.  The important thing was, I now owned Mildred Wirt Benson's two book series about the hotshot newspaper photographer, Flash Evans!

 

Flash Evans and the Darkroom Mystery introduces readers to Jimmy Evans,  a "tall, slender lad with a thick shock of dark, curly hair and frank gray eyes" (p. 3) who is all of sixteen years of age (p. 4).  Having graduated Brandale High School, Jimmy has been trying to obtain a job with any one of the local newspapers as a staff photographer.  As this book opens, he is facing rejection again from Tom Riley, city editor of The Brandale Ledger.  His best friend, Jerry Hayes, tries to convince Jimmy to find another kind of work, but Jimmy is determined to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was "city editor on the Brandale Post ... years ago before the paper folded" (p. 6).  Now that is father was dead, and it was just he and his mother, Jimmy wanted to make a go in the newspaper field.  Fortune shines on Jimmy, however, for that very afternoon, while lunching with his friend at the local drugstore counter, they witness an accident outside, and Jimmy is able to snap some great pictures at the scene.  Not only are Jimmy's pictures important to the police, as the men who caused the accident are wanted criminals - but the photos prove to be Jimmy's way to get himself a job - at The Brandale Ledger!

 

Written by Mildred Wirt Benson, the two Flash Evans books were published in 1940 by Cupples & Leon, who also published her Penny Parker series, as well as her Mildred Wirt Mystery Stories for Girls series of books.  Benson had just completed her Mystery Stories for Girls, as well as her Penny Nichols series, both of which concluded in 1939, and her Trailer Stories series had finished the year prior.  Her Penny Parker series was only in its second year, with books 3 and 4 being published in 1940, and she had books published in the Nancy Drew, Dana Girls, and Kay Tracey series that year, as well.  She had not yet begun her work at the newspaper when these books were written, but her husband at the time (Asa Wirt) had been working for the Associated Press for some time (meaning Benson was no stranger to newspapers, as as evident with her Penny Parker series).  This book (and presumably the second, also) is heavy with the inner workings of a newspaper office, and for this series, particularly with photography, the technical aspects of developing photographs, and the urgency and importance of the right photos for a rushed, important headline story!

 

As far as this first story goes, it does have an overarching mystery involving various incidents that happen in the darkroom at the newspaper - Jimmy, who gains the nickname "Flash" (p. 13), faces embarrassment at every turn. First, some photographs he is developing are damages by a wrong mix of chemicals; then, some photographs he takes of a fire disappear from the editor's desk.  Then, while he is developing an extremely important photo of some criminals he caught in the act trying to burn down a warehouse, Jimmy a/k/a Flash is knocked unconscious and his photos are stolen, getting him in trouble with both the police and his editor. His immediate reaction is to suspect his boss, Fred Orris, who has made it clear from the beginning that he disliked young Flash.  But, as the story progresses, he learns it is wrong to make assumptions about people, and it turns out that a very unlikely person was hiding a secret grudge against Flash, which resulted in all these actions.

 

Alongside this mystery, Benson fills in this book with a number of vignetttes - saving a man from a burning building (which is depicted in the frontis piece), fighting a competing photographer for photos from an out-of-state airline crash, saving a man from an insurance scam racket, flying out to a sinking ocean liner for daring photographs, and several other adventures that allows Flash to prove his worth over and over.  A couple of these scenes appear on the cover art (the burning apartment building and the sinking ocean liner).  Benson knows how to write fast-paced, exciting stories that keep the reader engaged, turning page after page to see what is going to happen next.  Benson's self-created stories are, for the most part, a far cry better than those she wrote based on outlines from others.

 

One can only assume Benson used the "Frank Bell" pseudonym for this series so that a boys' series was written by a "male" author (similar to how male authors used female pseudonyms when they wrote girls' series books). This, of course, is only one of several pseudonyms that Benson used when writing her own stories - including Joan Clark (the Penny Nichols series), Don Palmer (the Boy Scout Explorer series), and Dorothy West (the Dot and Dash series).

 

While I am not normally a fan of boys series, this book is a great opening story for a series, and it's a shame the Flash Evans series only lasted two books.  I am curious to see how the second book compares with this one.

 

RATING:   9 shattered photo plates out of 10 for a fun new character and an action packed new series about a newspaper photographer in the 1940s!

A Zebra Mystery Puzzler #15 - Time to Kill

This fifteenth book in the Zebra Mystery Puzzler series introduces readers to a new author and a new crime solving young woman (yes, at this point it is pretty obvious that this series will always have a woman as the lead character).  This is author Miriam Lynch's first entry into the series, but it is certainly not her first mystery novel.  Lynch, who has written under the pseudonyms Dolores Craig, Claire Vincent, Moira Lord, and Mary Wallace, was first published in 1957, and between then and the early '80s, she wrote more than 35 novels - mystery, romance, and gothic.  She only wrote two Zebra Mystery Puzzlers - this book and no. 25 (You'll Be the Death of Me).  She had books published under a number of various lines - Candlelight, Ravenswood, Ace, Paperback Library, Coventry, Lancer, Pyramid, and others.  I notice on the blogs I have read which feature reviews of her books, all of them raved about her writing. While this particular book put forth a fairly decent mystery, I'm not sure I would hold her in the same high standard as these other bloggers (although, to be fair, they were reviewing her gothic work, and this is a mystery).

 

Time to Kill (not to be confused with John Grisham's novel of the same name, which came out 10 years after this one) introduces readers to Nell Willard, a young woman working hard to make it as a reporter. Unfortunately, her editor seems to think she is only capable of handling obituaries or simple social functions and refuses to give her any assignments that could give her a chance to shine.  I suppose that even in 1979, when this book was published, women were still fighting for their equal rights in professions that had been male-dominated for so long (after all, 9 to 5 came out a year after this book, and that film was all about how men continued to hold women back from succeeding in the work place).  So much has changed since then, so in reading this story and the manner in which the men treated poor Nell, I had to keep reminding myself of the time period the book was written.  Lucky for Nell (but not so lucky for the victim), she happens to be in the right place at the right time (or the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on your perspective) when a not-so-famous actress' longtime friend is murdered!

 

When Nell is assigned to interview an aging actress who has returned to her small town after years in Hollywood, Nell expects to have to sit through photo albums of memories and hours of boredom.  Instead, she meets an agitated older woman who seems nervous about something.  When they discover the body of the actress's friend at the bottom of the cellar stairs - shot in the back! - Nell goes into action, calling the police and the newspaper.  Suddenly, Nell is thrust into the limelight as a possible witness for the murder investigation.  Nell feels sorry for the actress and takes time off from work to stay with her so she is not alone in the house.  From there, things only escalate.  A strange man is seen watching the house from the shadow of the trees out back.  The actress disappears for hours at a time without any explanation (or, at least, without explanations that make sense).  And Nell is knocked unconscious by an intruder in the house - was it because someone mistook her for the actress, or is someone wanting Nell to stop looking into the murder?  And how does any of this connect to a young teenager who disappeared years ago after attempting to rob a bank, a case that the local police were never able to solve?

 

Lynch does provide readers with a determined young detective in Nell Willard, as nothing deters her from getting to the bottom of all the mysteries thrown into her lap.  A grouchy detective who does not want her interfering ... a self-absorbed actress who does not want Nell to leave for even one second, yet disappears herself without explanation ... a chauvinistic editor who is making snide remarks about Nell at every turn ... and a house that holds more secrets than Nell can possibly count.  A torn up photograph, a hideous lamp, some old receipts, and a secret staircase provide important clues that lead Nell (and the reader!) to figure out what is really going on in that house - but will she put it all together before it is too late and the killer strikes again?

 

While the cover artist is not identified, the interior illustrations are signed simply by "Hoffman."  A little research reveals this interior artist to be Sanford 'Sandy' Hoffman (1937 - 2017), who was a commercial illustration in New York for most of his life.  Hoffman did the art for a lot of album covers back in the late '60s and into the '70s, as well as concert posters of that era.  This is the first Zebra Mystery Puzzler for which he provided interior illustrations, and they are very distinct in their style.  Hoffman tends to "box in" his images, and the characters are defined with dark lines and shading, with considerable detail in the picture itself.  Interestingly, the clues in the illustrations are pretty straightforward (when viewed in conjunction with the story), and so it does help in solving the mystery (which, honestly, was not overly difficult to figure out - like any good Nancy Drew book, the two mysteries that appear unrelated are ultimately tied together at the end).

 

The story does contain a number of gothic elements, leading me to believe Lynch was more comfortable with the gothic romance tales than a straight up mystery story.  We have the dark house where the protagonist goes to stay; we have the two men fighting over the young protagonist; we have all of the secrets surrounding the house and its inhabitant; we have the secret panels and hidden staircases, the stranger outside watching, and the creepy attic filled with cryptic clues as to the past of the aging actress.  I could easily seen this book having been published as a gothic story just five or ten years prior (and with only a few minor revisions, such as Nell's relation to the actress).

 

While not exactly the best book in the series, it was still a decent enough read, and I am curious as to where Lynch will take Nell in her next mystery (10 books from this one...).

 

RATING:  8 bouquets of red roses out of 10 for a fast-paced mystery that provides the necessary clues to figure it all out before the end (although several are a bit too obvious).

Helen in the Editor's Chair - a Goldsmith Book for Boys and Girls

I supposed I never really paid much attention to "career girl" books over the years, because most of them were published by companies I thought to publish "inferior" books - often, the art was not the beautiful paintings you would find on Grosset & Dunlap and Cupples & Leon covers, and the paper quality was nowhere near as strong as those in the G&D and C&L series.  Even when I got into heavy collecting of various series books as an adult, I paid little attention to those career girl books.  But recently, I've become more aware of them, particularly as I have discovered that some of those so-called inferior companies - such as Whitman, Goldsmith, Saalfield, etc. - actually published some really great stories.  This happens to be one book that I picked up at an estate sale last year - and having been enjoying the Penny Parker series by Mildred Wirt, in which the stories all involve the newspaper that Penny's father runs, the newspaper-related title caught my attention.

Helen in the Editor's Chair was written by Ruthe S. Wheeler, who wrote several other girls' books for Goldsmith (including the two Janet Hardy books).  This is the first of her books I've read, and I must say, it was rather enjoyable.  While it was not heavy on mystery, it certainly had some suspenseful moments thrown in there.  In fact, while the first chapter does a good job of introducing readers to Helen and her older brother Tom, it also sets up the drama to unfold, as the siblings discover that there is something wrong with their father (Hugh Blair, the publisher of their small town weekly newspaper).  A visit from the town doctor (back when doctors still did house calls!) reveals that Mr. Blair suffers from "lung trouble" (p. 30).  I find it interesting that a number of children's books I have read from back in the first half of the 20th Century give characters vague illnesses, for which the cure is always a prescribed rest in "some southwestern state" (p. 29).  The illness is rarely given a name, and in this book, that ambiguous lung trouble is more of a diagnosis than I've seen any other book provide.  With Mr. Blair sent out of the picture, this paves the way for Helen and her brother to take over their father's newspaper - with Helen as editor (gee, bet you'd have never guessed that one from the title of the book, eh?) and Tom as the printer.

The story is a bit of a roller coaster of events ... first, Helen and Tom have to figure out how they will get the news they need to publish each week's edition of the paper, and then, wouldn't you know, a major storm hits the small town of Rolfe, resulting in a tornado that ravages across the area.  Helen throws herself into danger in order to rescue a lone boater caught out on the lake as the storm hits, and she and Tom manage to get him to safety just in the nick of time.  And while Helen assists Doctor Stevens, as he travels the community to treat those who were injured in the storm, she also gains an all-important story that not only provides headlines for her father's paper, but opens the door for her to become a correspondent for the associated press!  Her on-location reporting of the storm impresses the big city press, and they offer her the opportunity to provide them more stories from her area (which, conveniently, provides her and Tom with the necessary additional funds to keep the newspaper and their own household going while their father is away).

From here, the story alternates between the daily struggles of putting together a weekly newspaper and the various catastrophes that provide more stories for the paper - including the disappearance of a girl on a school trip, a plane accident on the water, the near sinking of an old ferry boat, and the attempts to sabotage Helen and Tom's attempt to secure more subscribers for the newspaper.  Along the way, Helen even manages to obtain a major scoop that has eluded reporters across the country - and secures her position as a correspondent with the Associated Press as soon as she finishes high school!

The writing is smooth and easy to read, with believable dialogue and engaging characters.  The events that take place are not overly dramatized, but at the same time, they do build sufficient suspense to keep the reader turning page after page.  I was easily caught up in the siblings' efforts to not only keep the newspaper running, but to improve its content and subscriber base so as to make a greater profit for the family and provide more news for the community.  I found myself cheering for them at each success, and by the time I finished the book, I was left wanting more.  Wheeler definitely knows how to breathe life into her characters, and I hope her other books are as enjoyable as this one.  (There is one scenario that is a bit over the top, wherein Helen is asked at the last minute to step into a major role in the school play, which she pulls off like a pro despite no rehearsals and no time to actually learn the lines - but this is a children's book, after all, so Wheeler can be forgiven for the impossibility of the situation.)

The cover art is provided by Marie Schubert (based on the author's signature on the cover), depicting Helen hard at work behind her father's desk.  Schubert appears to have been a somewhat prolific artist for children's books published by Whitman, Goldsmith, and even Grosset & Dunlap (having provided art for a number of the Honey Bunch and Bobbsey Twins books).  Oddly enough, the lists of her book covers I found did not identify this book as one of her works - but, based on the signature and even the art style itself (extremely similar to those Honey Bunch covers), there's no doubt Schubert painted the cover.

One final thing I do want to mention is Goldsmith's tendency to start the first chapter of their books on page 11 or page 13 (this book starts on page 13).  I have yet to figure out why their pages are numbered such, because if you count backwards all of the pages leading up to that first page of the first chapter, it never matches the number given.  In this particular book, there are only five sheets (10 pages) prior to the first page of the first chapter, meaning that should be page 11 and not page 13.  It begs the question of whether there were frontis piece illustrations originally intended for these books, but they got omitted for some reason before publication, and they simply did not change the page numbers.  OR, does Goldsmith count the cover itself as the first two pages, and the go from there.  I've seen this issue with every Goldsmith book I've read, and it would be interesting to find out exactly why the publisher did this.

Overall, this was a great book, an enjoyable read, and book I'd definitely recommend for those who enjoy series books and the like.

RATING:  10 sandwiches with a glass of milk out of 10 for showing that even in 1932, a teenage girl could do a man's job even better then he could do it himself!