Whitman Mystery Stories - Peggy Parker, Girl Inventor

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

Mad Night - a Judy Drood Graphic Novel

Okay, without a doubt, this graphic novel has to be the absolute strangest thing I have ever read!  Not kidding!  I wasn't really sure what to expect when I bought it, but the fact that it was a mystery with a young female protagonist solving a crime, and it was done in a graphic novel format - well, let's face it, it was crying out for me to buy it.  So, I did.  I mean, after all, the questions in the synopsis would definitely hook any mystery fan:

WHO is behind the bizarre murders taking place on the otherwise tranquil campus of Lone Mountain College?

WHAT is the sinister secret guarded by members of the science faculty?

HOW is the creepy campus security guard involved?

WHERE did Aunt Azalea's gang of girl pirates come from?

WHY has the sadistic "Black Provost," dead for over a hundred years, been seen prowling the halls of the Anthropology Department?

WHEN will Judy Drood, girl detective and all-around loose cannon (along with her reluctant companion, Kasper Keene) uncover the horrible truth about the campus clock tower?

[from the back cover of the graphic novel, Mad Night, by Richard Sala]

Mad Night, a graphic novel by Richard Sala (writer AND artist), asks all the right questions to draw any mystery fan into the story.  And from the first few pages, when a shadowy figure murders a young girl in the college library and sneaks away without anyone seeing, you know this is going to be creepy.  But there is no way in the world you could ever guess exactly how creepy!  First, there's the mysterious "Knut" who turns over a camera to the hooded girl Portia.  At the same time, nerdy Kasper is given a camera by his friend Viola, who "borrowed" it from their mutual friend (one who Kasper is desperately trying to stay away from!).  As luck would have it, Knut, with his camera, knocks Kasper over as he tries to get away - but he doesn't get far before shadowy hands knock him down, take him to an unknown location and brutally kill him by putting a spiked mask on his face - then hammering it down!!

 

Yup, I told you it was going to get creepier.

 

Then there's the mysterious little man who approaches Kasper, wanting to hire him to take a very important photograph.  And there's the college girls dressed in pirate gear that are watching his every move.  Oh, and there's the puppet old woman (yes, you read that right - a puppet woman!) who is directing the pirate girls' actions.  And the faculty with names like Dr. Penumbra and Dr. Rhomus and Dr. Larva ... who seem to have a very secret agenda going on.  And, at long last, on page 31 in Chapter 2, we FINALLY get introduced to our star crime-solving detective, Judy Drood - whose very first lines, both off panel and on panel, are filled with such horrific expletives that Sala had to use symbols instead of words!  This girl detective definitely ain't Nancy Drew!

 

A few more murders really gets the story going, and before you know it, you are completely lost in this crazy tale of killers extracting something from his victims ... a black-cloaked provost who is killing people with a pitchfork ... a puppet woman who is hypnotizing the girls on campus to join her pirate gang ... a weird teacher who was supposed to be on sabbatical who Judy collides with and comes out of it with a scorpion pin ... oh, and let's not forget the young boy at the local school who is causing so much problems, biting people, running off (and who, it turns out, is not exactly what he seems to be) ... and the campus security guard who seems to be doing less to protect the students and more to cover up what is really going on.  

 

With a little over 200 pages of this madcap murder and mayhem and just plain ol' craziness, you'd think by the time you finish the story, you would be wondering what the heck just happened. But, believe it or not, there is a connection to all this madness.  Poor Kasper gets unwittingly sucked into it all, and Judy Drood drags him in to help her uncover who is killing all of these students, and even some of the professors, and just what does the mysterious Massimo Ibex have to do with any of it?  Well, by the conclusion, you'll have that answer and everything will make sense (even if it is all a bit "out there").

 

Sala's art is ... well, for lack of a better term ... unique.  I'm not sure if he purposely drew the book the way he did to fit the story, or if this style is just the way he draws.  No one looks quite human, although Judy, Kasper, and some of the students do come close.  The professors, the security guard, and the others all are misshapen look about as far from human as you can get.  This is not your typical "realistic" comic book art that artists such as Perez, Jimenez, Ordway, Ross, or any of the other big names might draw.  However, the further you read into the story, the more you begin to realize the art perfectly matches the oddness of the story and the characters therein.  (I admit, it took me quite a while to get past the cover art before I finally bought the book and gave it a try.)

 

One last comment - the names "Judy Drood" and "Kasper Keene" make me wonder if the author is taking a little stab at some of the children's mystery series that have been published over the years.  "Judy Drood" could be a combination of Judy Bolton and Nancy Drew (variation on "Drew") and "Kasper Keene" could be taken directly from the author of the Nancy Drew series, Carolyn "Keene."  It could be coincidental, but somehow I have to wonder...

 

RATING:  8 planks to avoid out of 10 for proving that quirky, odd, crazy, zany, horrific, and spooky can all be wrapped into one rather enjoyable story!

Blackwater, Part IV: The War

And the drama that is the Craskey family in Perdido, Alabama continues...

 

Book IV in the Blackwater series is simply entitled The War - and, if you've been following the lives and times of the Caskey family and the citizens of the small town of Perdido, you'd know that this refers to the Second World War, in which the United States made its entrance in December 1941.  This means that the years are passing for the Caskey family; the children are growing up, the adults are getting older, and things are changing for everyone.  And author Michael McDowell continues to integrate just enough supernatural and horror into the story to remind the reader that this is not just a simply story of the lives and times of a prospering family in the South.

The War picks up two years after the death of Mary-Love Caskey, who had been the matriarch and head of the Caskey family.  Life is moving on, as it usually does after someone passes, and Elinor slowly begins to assert herself as the new head of the family.  James is retired from the mill, and Oscar has taken over completely.  Sister Haskew has not returned to her husband, but instead has stayed on with Miriam in Mary-Love's house under the pretense that Miriam needs someone to care for her and the house.  Miriam, on the other hand, heads out each and every day to go to the beach.  In an unexpected turn of events, she up and invites her sister, Frances, to go with her one day.  And that's when everything begins to change...

Frances, who was previously ill and bed-ridden, finds that she not only loves the beach, but she actually comes alive when she goes into the water.  Without realizing it, she finds that she can spend hours and hours in the water, swimming literal miles out from shore, and she never gets tired or hungry!  Miriam barely takes notice, and at first, Frances does not realize how unusual this is.  She doesn't suspect that there is anything abnormal about her love of the water and her ability to swim beneath the surface for hours and hours.

Meanwhile, things are beginning to change for the rest of the family.  Queenie's son is arrested with a friend of his for armed robbery of a small store outside of Perdido.  Grace returns home from teaching and decides to live with her father, James.  Queenie and James strike up a rather intimate friendship, spending more and more time together.  Once the war start, business picks up at the mill, and Oscar finds that the only customer he needs is the military.  Danjo decides to join the military, much to James' sorrow.  Frances meets a nice military man with whom she develops a relationship that leads to marriage.   And poor Lucille - she faces the worst of them all when she is raped by her own brother's friend, who breaks out of jail and comes back to Perdido to seek revenge on Malcolm's family for helping to put him away - only, his revenge is short-lived, for he (as well as everyone else) is completely unaware that young Frances, who discovers Lucille after the rape, is much, MUCH more than what she appears to be!

McDowell once again keeps the horror subdued and understated, but that only serves to make it that much more terrifying.  Travis Gann's death at the hands of Frances (or, rather, at the being that is sometimes Frances) is not overly graphic, but it is definitely grotesque - even if he does deserve that and so much worse for what he did to poor Lucille.  It's a grim reminder that just below the surface (of the water and of the story itself) lurks something dark and deadly, something that could easily change the course of every life in the story.  

One thing that did bother me about this part of the series, though, is the author's apparent attitude towards his gay characters.  So, it turns out Grace is a very masculine lesbian, which is blatantly admitted when she returns home after having broken up with her latest girlfriend.  The family seems to accept her homosexuality with no real issues, despite the time period in which the story is set.  At the same time, The War reveals more about James' "feminine" side, and while Queenie and the others gloss over it, James is presented as having unnaturally strong feelings towards Danjo (his adopted son), and even goes so far as to wanting to find another baby boy to take his place.  While it's unclear whether his intentions are simply that he's a man who wants a son or a gay man who has feelings for a younger man (who happens to be his adopted son), what IS clear is that the author represents Grace as a strong person accepted in the community, while James is a weak man who is to be pitied for not being "normal."  This stark contrast between the two leaves one to wonder about the author's own beliefs (the stereotypical straight male's fantasy of two women being accepted and even sought after, while two men is abhorrent and totally unnatural).

Nevertheless, despite this questionable representation, the story seems to be building speed, as Frances now knows who an what she is, and the family continues to grow, both in prosperity and in numbers.  World War II is over, and at the end of The War, one of the Caskeys passes on (but his spirit, perhaps, lingers on...)

RATING:  9 ladybird lullabies out of 10 for building the tensions of a family struggle, while keeping supernatural undertones right at the edge of the story so the reader never forgets that horror is just around the corner...

A Ted Wilford Mystery, no. 8 - The Scarecrow Mystery

This eighth book of the Ted Wilford series is a bit odd for several reasons.  For one thing, the title is truly misleading.  For another thing, the story reads more like a news story than an actual mystery - however, it does lead one to believe that the author has actual knowledge on the subject matter, considering the amount of detail he covers in the book.  Finally, while the previous books have not always been overly adventurous and filled with danger, this one is rather dry when it comes to true adventure and mystery.  Yet, despite all of that, I found that I actually enjoyed the book overall.

I will start off by spoiling something - The Scarecrow Mystery is not actually a mystery about a scarecrow.  At least, not in the literal sense.  Yes, an actual scarecrow does eventually appear in the story, but it plays such a small part and holds very little connection to the mystery itself.  The mystery centers around a small orange canister that contains some microfilm (if you don't know what that is, Google it!).  A union leader is in possession of the microfilm, which must be presented to the Court as evidence in a case that has been brought by the trucking company employers.  However, on the way to Forestdale, Mr. Prentice's car is apparently run off the road.  Ted and his best friend, Nelson, manage to get Mr. Prentice to the closest town (Echo) so he can be checked by a doctor - and it's not until that night, when Ted gets a call from the union leader's attorney asking him to go out and search for the canister containing the microfilm.  Ted and Nelson do their best, but in the evening hours, they are unable to find it - they do, however, meet a young boy, who says he saw a scavenger looking around the car, so perhaps he might have taken it.  The boy promises to look for it the next day.

This sets off a chain of events that tie closely into the ongoing battle between the union and the trucking company.  There is a fierce battle about whether the union members will go on strike, and it seems neither side will budge.  Ted is stuck in the middle, trying not to take sides, and he and Nelson do their best to locate that missing microfilm, which seems to be at the very crux of the case.  And once they do locate the missing microfilm, things only go downhill from there.  The court battle culminates in a trial, to which Ted is called as a witness, and as a paralegal for many years, it was actually rather interesting to read the attorney's examination of Ted on the witness stand.  The writing here is exceptional, as the attorney's questions are well-crafted to elicit specific testimony, and poor Ted really gets put on the spot.  He's honest (or, at least, he thinks he is being completely honest) about the events that transpired, but the attorney puts a spin on things that makes Ted question himself.

Now, having worked in the legal field for as long as I have, the union battle and the courtroom questioning definitely had my attention - but I have to wonder if the average reader would find these legal battles as interesting.  It is somewhat dry reading, and without any background knowledge of unions or the law, some readers may find it quite boring.  One thing that was a bit disappointing for me is that Ted doesn't really solve the mystery, as much as it solves itself around him.  Without Nelson prodding him along, it is unlikely Ted would have figured out half of the clues he did uncover (leaving me to wonder if perhaps Nelson should be the top-billed character in the book).

As for the whole scarecrow thing (and this will be spoilers, so if you don't want to know what happens, do not read any further!)...

It turns out the scarecrow connection is nothing more than the fact it is a prop borrowed from someone Ted knows, and upon discovering the man's watch chain in a pocket of the scarecrow's clothes, a connection is made to some of the culprits who have been acting behind the scenes to push the feud between the union and the company men.  However, Nelson makes a passing comment earlier in the book about one of the men being a "scarecrow," meaning he was pretending to be something he was not to create the animosity.  I had never heard this kind of meaning attached to the word "scarecrow" before, so I looked it up - and sure enough, in legal terms, scarecrow (or "straw man") can refer to a person who has no interest in the situation, but merely acts as a stand-in for someone else or it can refer to an argument which is intended to distract the other side from the real issues or waste the opponent's time and effort (otherwise known as a "red herring").  Now, when taken in this context, perhaps the title to the book does actually apply to the union/labor dispute and the mystery associated therewith, because there are several characters who Ted and Nelson question their sincerity and veracity during the course of the book.

Overall, it was not a bad read, but it definitely was not one of the better books in the series.  Not sure if Pallas figured since Ted was aging in the books, the readers would also be aging and would enjoy more "adult" themed mysteries, but there is definitely a difference in the tone and direction of the story.  Next in line is The Big Cat Mystery, so we will see was that mystery has in store for us!

RATING:  7 baby pictures of the Mayor out of 10 for treating readers to a unique mystery that is likely to be unlike any other young adult mystery of its time!

A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 8 - Touch

Author Robert Innes just never ceases to amaze me.  One "impossible" murder mystery after another, and the man never runs out of ideas!  A part of me wonders if we should be concerned that someone is able to craft murders in such a way that they are nearly impossible to figure out!  (That's a joke, if you hadn't guessed!)  In any event, his exceptional plotting and wonderfully written characters are what keep me coming back for more of Blake Harte and his countryside murder mysteries!

Touch is book eight in the series and features a story that centers around the local football games (and not "football" in the American sense of the word, but football as it is played in England - what we refer to as soccer here in the States).  I was an avid fan of the British television show Footballers' Wives, and even its short-lived spin-off series, even though I have never been, and never will be, a fan of sports.  That being said, my watching of Footballers' Wives did give me a small amount of knowledge about British football, so reading this story wasn't quite as foreign as I might have expected it to be.  Of course, it probably helped that Blake Harte has just as little interest in sports as I do, so it certainly made me identify with the Detective Sergeant on a whole new level.

 

This time around, the star footballer for the Harmschapel FC (which it never really says in the book what "FC" means - but looking it up online, I'm guessing it means "Football Club"?), is murdered on the football field - only thing is, he was completely alone on the side of the field, no one was near him, and it appears his side was slashed open with a knife of some sort.  So, how in the world does a person get knifed and killed in front of hundreds, if not thousands, of spectators, and no one saw a thing?  In fact, Harte and his team get video footage which reveals there was absolutely no one around Scott Jennings when he collapsed on the field and died!  Obviously, it's up to Detective Sergeant Harte to figure it out and bring the killer to justice.

But then another young man is killed in the team manager's office, a blunt blow to the head.  No one was said to have been in the room with him, and a teammate was outside in the hall when it happened.  So, how in the world did a second body turn up in an impossible situation?

One thing I like about Innes' writing is that he never beats around the bush.  He doesn't waste time with unnecessary sidebars or scenes that are unrelated to the tale at hand.  He provides a good build up, giving the reader just enough information about the characters involved so that you have a grasp on them all (or you think you do!), and then, BAM!  A murder happens, the manner in which the person is killed seems impossible, and you are left to wonder how Harte will solve this one.  Now, I will admit, in this story, there are a few things that happen and people say that make it a bit easier to figures some things out (although I was definitely led in the direction about one of the characters, who I was starting to believe was the killer, but turned out he definitely was not!); however, Innes kept enough twists coming that the ultimate revelations were a great surprise.

And, as if two murders were not enough, Innes delves a little bit more into Harte's past with a recurring dream he is having, as well as the lingering concerns regarding his partner's almost liason with their landlady's son.  And the book ends with a rather interesting cliffhanger of sorts, which I can only assume is a prelude to the next mystery (or perhaps the start of a build-up to the 10th mystery, which is named simply enough Harte).  In either event, I look forward to what Innes has in store!

RATING:  10 bloody strips of gauze out of 10 for enhancing the mystery genre as a whole with such intricately plotted crimes that keep the reader guessing up to the very end!

The Mysteries of Maisie Hitchins, Book 7 - The Case of the Blind Beetle

The Maisie Hitchins series is one of those fun little "guilty pleasure" series that is absolutely fun to read. Yes, it is aimed at young children (perhaps 3rd to 4th graders); however, the protagonist is a quirkly little girl detective, and the mysteries, while somewhat simple, are actually well-plotted.  Only the first five books in the series were published here in America, and thankfully, Amazon offered the British-published versions of the remaining books that I was given for Christmas a year or so ago.  There are only eight books total in the series, so this seventh is the next to the last book.

The Case of the Blind Beetle finds young Maisie once again pulled into a mystery that will require all of her wits and quick thinking to solve.  Quite honestly, it's a very good mystery - the jeweled eyes of an ancient Eqyptian scarab are stolen, the Lord Dacre (an old friend of Professor Tobin, who is a tenant at Maisie's grandmother's house) is receiving mysterious threats written in hieroglyphics, and Dacre's daughter is certain that a pharaoh's curse has fallen upon their family because Lord Dacre disturbed the pharaoh's tomb and took his treasured scarab!  It definitely has all the makings of a great mystery, and there are several suspects who could have taken the priceless jewels - Lord Dacre's assistant; Lord Dacre's cousin; the scamps down by the river who supposedly "found" the scarab (conveniently missing its eyes); or even Lord Dacre's daughter, who has remained in bed, ill since the jewels were taken.  It's up to Maisie and Eddie (her little dog that goes everywhere Masie goes!) to solve the mystery.

This book also brings to light an underlying story that has been subtly placed throughout the entire series, but one never realizes the import of that subplot until this book when Maisie receives a letter from her father!  He has been away for so long, and although he has been mentioned from time to time, author Holly Webb has never made a big deal about it.  Now, though, Maisie's grandmother has a new tenant - a sailor who brings word of her father, which makes Maisie more certain than ever that her father could be coming home!  Inside the letter she received, she finds a mysterious message in Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Maisie is left to wonder exactly what it could mean.  (The one thing she does know for sure is that if her father wants her to decode the message, then that must mean he does not take issue with her mystery-solving antics!)

This new aspect of Maisie's stories is a welcome addition, and the ending of this book definitely hints at big things to come in the next (and final) book in the series.  And Webb manages to integrate some great historical lore about Egyptian artifacts that will fondly remind readers who the children's mysteries of days gone by used to include educational facts within the stories.  I've grown accustomed to the internal illustrations by Marion Lindsay, which may seem somewhat simplistic, actually have some great details (such as the sailor's tattoo on his arm, or the other passengers on the omnibus Maisie takes) and add a bit of flavor to the story.  It has taken me a bit to get used to them, but now I find them just about as enjoyable as to the story itself.

The identity of the thief will likely not come as much of a surprise, but following Maisie as she gets to that point and her ingenious way of getting the thief to reveal him/herself is all the fun!  It's just rather a shame that the next book will be the last - I do hope that Webb really pours it all into the next one, so that Maisie Hitchins gets the send-off she deserves!

RATING:  8 gold sovereigns out of 10 for another well-crafted mystery for all ages to enjoy!

Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory - a Dark Horse comics mini-series

I have been reading Dark Horse comics' Beast of Burden's series since the publication of their first mini-series back in 2009.  The series follows the adventures of a group of dogs (and the occasional feline appearance) who are not only intelligent beings, but who track down and fights the supernatural forces of darkness that try to invade this world.  While the artists have rotated over the years, the writer, Evan Dorkin, who created the series, has remained consistent (although he has had assistance, on occasion, from Sarah Dyer).  And although the title refers to the fact that the "beasts" live on or abound Burden Hill, I personally think it can also attest to the fact that these dogs (and cat) bear the burden of protecting not just their community and humans, but the entire world!

"Occupied Territory" is the fourth mini-series (not including the various one-shot specials, as well as appearances in Dark Horse anthology books) and features a look back at one of Emrys's past adventures.  Emrys is a sheepdog that is also considered one of the "wise ones" to the animals set with fighting the darkness, and he has been a featured character throughout the series.  In these four issues, Dorkin takes readers back to the year 1947, when Emrys and his companion (the human named Jonathan Hope) were sent overseas to an island in the Pacific to discover what has been causing the unusual deaths there.  

In the first issue, while scouting for information, Emrys ends up rescuing a small dog without a name (but who Emrys quickly calls "Mullins" after the name of a newspaper comic strip character).  Mullins is quite the excitable little character who, without any magical powers like Emrys and his associates, manages to be a very lovable and quirky character.  Mullins agrees to help Emrys and his human, but by the end of the first issue, discovers that battling the supernatural means expecting the most unexpected!

From this point forward, the story takes its darker turn, with Emrys, Mullins, and a group of animals that are similar to the wise dogs looking for a way to put an end to the horrors that are attacking the island.  The curse at work is a vile one, and it was put in place by an ancient being that is determined to get revenge for what the humans did to her.  But what happens when she discovers that her curse is expanding, and it is not only affecting humans, but the animal world as well?  Will she put a stop to it?  Will Mullins' life be spared?  Will the deaths come to an end?

Dorkin and Dyer's plotting keeps the story moving at a pretty quick pace, but not so fast that you don't get to know and appreciate all of the characters, whether good or bad (or somewhere in-between).  Benjamin Dewey's art is absolutely beautiful, and something I never realized while reading the story and did not notice until I was looking back over the issues a second time is that there are no text boxes to provide the reader with exposition - rather, the panels of art and the dialogue are sufficient to keep the story moving and provide everything the reader needs to know to enjoy the story.  For me, that makes for a much more cinematic telling of the tale, as it keeps the reader engaged in the story itself, rather then stepping outside the story for a second here and there to read an explanation of what has happened, what is happening, or what is about to happen.  "Show, Don't Tell" works perfectly here.

Overall, another great addition to the Beasts of Burden series of comics, and here's looking forward to the next story Dorkin has to tell!

RATING:  10 headless bodies out of 10 for showing the world that comic books with animal protagonists can be just as good, if not better, than most of the comics on the market today!