Shadow Cove Mystery - a mystery by Mary Constance du Bois

It seems I've been reading more and more books that are not a part of any particular series than I normally do - however, this book I can sort of shoe-horn into a "series," as I discovered after reading it that the same author wrote a previous book that actually featured one of the characters from this book - thus, I could consider this the second book in a "series" about this particular character (yeah, I know, that's probably stretching it a bit).  Anyway, I picked this up from a local antique mall a couple of years ago for several reasons - (1) it was a vintage mystery book aimed for young adults; (2) the cover art with the three girls reminded me of Nancy, Bess, and George (if you don't recognize those names, then you haven't been reading this blog!); (3) the description of the story on the inside flap of the dust jacket intrigued me; (4) it offered some very well drawn internal illustrations; and (5) on the title page, written in pencil along the left side of the page, were the words: "Review Copy - February 1940."  With all of those reasons, there was no way I could pass up this book (especially when it was priced at a mere $6.00!).

Published in 1940 by D. Appleton-Century Company, Shadow Cove Mystery is written by Mary Constance du Bois.  Personally, I have never heard of this author or this publishing house, but the back cover of the dust jacket lists eight other books written by the author and published by Appleton-Century, so apparently this was not a one-off book by the author.  As far as the publisher goes, a look online reveals this company published the first U.S. edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland back in 1865, as well as The Red Badge of Courage in 1895, along with a number of scientific and literary books over the course of its history.  So, apparently, this was no fly-by-night company that published a few things and then disappeared.  At any rate, let's take a look at the story and its characters, shall we.

The story features three main characters - "[t]hree girls, but not three sisters" as the author describes them - Patricia Goodwin (Patsy), Janet West, and Helen Elizabeth Nelson (Nelcie).  It is Nelcie's family who has rented the cabin in Shadow Cove.  The cabin is right on Lake Charney, which was named after the first Charney who discovered the lake so long ago - and whose descendant Nelcie is!  The mystery begins when the three girls go exploring and come across a deer park, where they meet a timid young girl who runs off before they can catch her name.  They later discover she is a waitress at a nearby Inn and learn her name is Nura - a nickname for Anna Voronkova.  She relates her sad backstory, telling the girls she and her younger brother and sister are orphans, their parents having died after coming to the States.  She was cared for by a family friend, but he married a woman who wants nothing to do with the children and wants to adopt them all out to separate homes!  So, Nura took her siblings and ran away, finding work at the Inn to support her little family - but, as fate would have it, she lost the job and is now faced with the threat of being forever separated from her siblings!

This turns out to be only one mystery in the book - the girls are also given a very special (and quite possibly expensive ring) from an old hermit (Dan Boone) who lives in the woods around Lake Charney.  No one knows who it belongs to, but when Nelcie loses the ring, the search is on!  It ultimately is returned to the girls under the most mysterious circumstances - a phantom appears in the early hours of the morning to leave it with the Nelcie as she is sleeping.  The phantom disappears as quickly as it appeared, leaving the girls to wonder who - or what! - it was.  Then, the girls and their friends are left with the task of finding Nura and her siblings when the three of them disappear without a trace!  It's a race against time, as they must find outrace a forest fire that has begun to spread in the area in order to find the missing family before it's too late.

The book is 310 pages in length and is, more often than not, rather slow moving.  du Bois spends a great deal of time describing the girls' treks through the woods, providing considerable exposition on the beautiful wooded area, the lake, and the Inn.  And when Patsy takes a job at the Inn to earn money to help Nura and her family, the story focuses on Patsy's adventures in waitressing, none of which has any actual bearing on the story or any of the mysteries.  The author seems to teeter back and forth between a mystery story and a simple "day-in-the-life" type of tale, and it's unclear whether the mystery elements are just incidental to the story, or if the day-in-the-life elements were included to lengthen the tale.  Regardless, there are a number of moments in the book that are less than exciting and seem to drag.

This is not the say the whole story is a loss.  I did rather enjoy the character of Dan Boone.  du Bois fleshes him out quite nicely - the girls are first warned that he is an odd character, one to be avoided; but after meeting him, they learn he is just a loner who happens to have a stutter, making it difficult for him to talk.  They make friends with him, and when they eventually learn he has been helping Nura and her brother and sister, it only endears him to the girls (and the reader!) all the more.  There is also J. Harrington Hart (Harry), a young man whose family owns the deer park.  He is a fun character, who take an instant liking to Nura, even though he can never quite seem to meet up with her (they inadvertently keep missing one another).  He provides the girls with plenty of assistance throughout the story, and his lighthearted nature makes him instantly likable.  

The forest fire element of the book, along with the fire tower where the ranger keeps a lookout for fires, definitely reminded me of those very same elements from Mildred Wirt's Timbered Treasure (1937), the third book in her Trailer Stories for Girls series.  That book was published three years prior to this one, making one consider that perhaps du Bois had read Wirt's story and those plot elements were on her mind when she wrote this book.  I also found it interesting that the story take place just south of the Canadian border (as there are many references to Canada and crossing the border in the book).  Wirt's books are often set close to the Canadian border, or even in Canada, and I found that to be an odd coincidence.  

 

One of the most interesting elements, however, is the Russian connection.  Nura a/k/a Anna (Anya) Voronkova is the daughter of Russian immigrants, who was born in France.  Nura's father was in the Great War in Russia, and escaped from the Red Terror to France, and ultimately to the United States (p. 93).  This has similarities to the original plot of the Nancy Drew mystery, The Clue in the Jewel Box, which was published in 1940, just three years after this book hit the shelves. Even though Jewel Box does not reference Russia, it is plainly obvious from that story involving refugees and lost treasures that the story is based on Russian events, just as this one is.

 

There is a fun little scene in the book where Chips does everything he can to encourage Patsy to attend the masquerade ball, and not just serve punch - even going so far as to offer "to strip his bedroom window of its curtain, aflame with scarlet poppies, that she might wear it as a domino" (p. 172)!  I found this humorous, because when Carol Burnette did a spoof of Gone With the Wind on her comedy show, her character took down the curtains from a window (curtain rod and all!) and turned it into a dress ("I saw it in the window, and I just couldn't resist it" she says!) - just as Chips wanted to do for Patsy!  And the fact the curtains in the book are "aflame with SCARLET poppies" makes it all the more amusing since Scarlett was the name of the character Carol was parodying in her skit!

While not necessarily the best book I've ever read, I would say it was worth the purchase.  And it did catch enough of my interest to make me want to find its precursor, Patsy of the Pet Shop, which is described as the "delightful story of a young girl whose love for dogs won her many friends in a strange city and placed her in the midst of a baffling mystery."  This is the same Patsy from this story, as she describes her job at the pet shop to the manager at the Inn when she applies for the waitressing job (p. 106).  I'm curious to read about Patsy's experience in the pet shop and what "baffling mystery" comes her way.

 

Before I take leave, I have to give credit to Elise Parks, who provided the wonderful illustrations in the book.  All seven illustrations (the frontispiece, plus six illustrations throughout the book) are beautifully rendered and remind me greatly of the Nancy Drew internals from the 1950s and early '60s.  The scenes are detailed, and the characters' expressions are dead-on (especially the one on page 157, where the customer at the Inn is more than angry at being served a most unexpected meal!).  

RATING:  7 hard brown mounds of dog biscuits out of 10 for confirming the fact that, when solving mysteries, three heads are always better than one!

Short Lived Comic Series #26 - Soap Opera Romances (Charlton Comics)

While Charlton's other "Soap Opera" title only lasted three issues, this other "Soap Opera" comic book actually made it to give issues before it was cancelled.  And just as Soap Opera Love was a reprint title, so is Soap Opera Romances.  While Soap Opera Love reprinted stories from Charlton's earlier Just Married title, Soap Opera Romances reprinted tales of Nurse Betsy Crane, who had her own title some years prior.  Soap Opera Romances was actually the earlier of the two Soap titles, as it began its run in 1982, with its first issue boasting a July 1982 cover date.  It ran bi-monthly for five issues, ending with the March 1983 issue, which was just one month after Soap Opera Love premiered in February 1983.  Confused yet?  Well, it's obvious the comic world was not really open to romance titles in the early '80s, but I have to give Charlton kudos for least giving it a try.

 

Soap Opera Romances was headlined by Nurse Betsy Crane, a career nurse who seemed to have considerable difficulty when it came to romance.  Nurse Crane first appeared back in 1961 in My Teen Diary #11, and apparently was so popular, the next issue of that title was re-named Nurse Betsy Crane!  That book continued under her name from issue 12 all the way through issue 27 before it was cancelled in 1964.  She made a few appearances after that and then disappeared into comic book limbo until nearly 20 years later when Charlton tried to revive her stories and character with this book.

Because these are stories reprinted from the 1960s, they sadly do not provide the credits for writers and artists.  Some online searches revealed that Charles Nicholas provided pencils for some of the stories, and comic greats Dick Giordano and Vince Colletta provided some of the inking.  As far as the writing goes, that's a mystery.  Which is a shame, because the stories are not really all that bad (well, let me re-phrase that - the Nurse Betsy Crane stories are not that bad - some of the short stores and one-page tales are a bit over-the-top and cliche).  Yes, the stories feature standard romance comics fare, and they are fairly simple and straight-forward; but it's their simplicity that makes them enjoyable.

"Once in a great while ... there appears on the screen of life ... a person so exceptional ... so captivating ... so exciting ... that you can never forget her ... this is ...  NURSE BETSY CRANE"  This cover blurb on the first issue was obviously meant to draw readers in, advertising the main character of this series as an exciting, captivating person who could not possibly be forgotten.  And, perhaps, that is how the powers-that-be at Charlton felt, since this was a character that previously had her own series two decades prior.  Obviously someone at Charlton still remembered her, and with these reprints, hoped that they could bring the character back to life - or, simply cash on by reprinting old stories and not having to pay for new stories and art.  Whatever the reason, it obviously didn't work, as the cancellation after only five issues proves.

The first issue featured a 20-page lead story titled "Scratch of Death."  As many of the comic stories did back in the '60s, it opens with a splash page of danger - in this case, Nurse Diane Malvern bringing her boyfriend to Nurse Betsy Crane, holding him up as he seems about to collapse!  The next page flashes back to give readers the story leading up to that moment - an effective storytelling technique of capturing the readers' attention before providing the backstory that may not be as exciting as that moment.  In this case, we learn the story of how Diane met widower Jeff Wilson and his young daughter - and we see how Jeff gradually turns rude and downright mean, even to Diane, which seems quite out of character.  Of course, Nurse Crane is the one who realizes what is going on - Jeff has hydrophobia, which Diane recognizes as a symptom of rabies!  Nurse Betsy Crane saves the day, and Jeff and Diane walk into the sunset to live happily ever after.  This first issue also features a three-page promotion for nursing as a career, describing in text and pictures just how wonderful a career in nursing is for a woman (which goes to show just how outdated this reprint was, since by the1980s, men was entering the nursing career as well!).  The issue closes out with a one-page story titled "Lady in Distress," the art and story for which are so "totally" '60s, it makes the story comical.

Issue two features two, ten-page Nurse Crane stories:  "Rebound" and "Fight for Sight."  The first story finds Betsy falling for a doctor who is heartbroken when the woman he loves marries another.  Doctor and Nurse take off for Mussar for a tour of duty to help the natives in that far country, where he begins to fall for Betsy and even asks her to marry him! But Betsy is the one heartbroken when the doctor learns his former love's husband has died, and she is free to return to him.  "It's not easy to give up someone you love," Betsy thinks at the end of the tale, "but I have my life to live .. and now I must find a new love!"  The second tale finds Betsy working hard to help a nurse who only wants perfection in a man to see just how fortunate she is to have the love of a man who may be losing his eyesight - if only she could overcome her desire for perfection!  The stories are both very cliche, but definitely fit for the soap opera theme of the comic.  In this issue, we also get a three-page story about a married couple's first fight, as well as a one-page tale titled "destination Paradise" - which was actually rather cute, as it seems a bit stereotypical in the first couple of panels as a man and woman meet on a cruise ship and fall in love at first sight - but as the final panel reveals - it's a re-enactment of the couple's first meeting that they continue to celebrate every year.  I think in this one page there is more "romance" than any other story in the series!

The third issue definitely has my favorite cover (and probably my favorite story from this series).  With this issue, we return to the longer lead-in story, with Nurse Betsy Crane starring in a 20-page tale called "The Dark Closet."  The cover hearkens back to the old Gothic tales, with the shadowy figure coming in on Betsy, as she tries to help a man who is clearly troubled.  Even the cover blurb - "What was the secret of the Old Lange Mansion?  What terror lay hidden in The Dark Closet?" - is reminiscent of the Gothic comics of the past.  The story features Betsy heading up to the Lange mansion on a stormy night, alongside a young doctor (none of these stories have the same supporting cast - there are always different doctors and nurses with whom Betsy works), to provide medical attention to Mrs. Lange.  I found this melodrama at the beginning rather humorous, as the woman was merely having an asthma attack - and as one with asthma, I know what an attack can feel like, but I've never had one so severe that I needed a doctor and his nurse to come out to my house!  (Of course, the revelation about Mrs. Lange's illness at the end of the story explains the overly dramatic nature of Mrs. Lange.)  Nurse Betsy Crane remains at the house in case Mrs. Lange needs further help, and she quickly realizes something odd is going on between the woman and her son.  She eventually discovers that Mrs. Lange is faking all of these illnesses to keep her son at home and away from a woman he loves and wants to marry.  Betsy, as usual, opens everyone's eyes to the situation, and the son finally has the opportunity to chase after the love of his life.  The three-page tale in this issue is a bit weird - a flirtatious woman flirts with the wrong man; but even after he punches her boyfriend, she still walks off with him - and when she reunites with her boyfriend, instead of dumping her, he merely asks her to flirt with men his size so he has a fair chance to beat them up!  Definitely not a lesson you would want to teach young people about dating!  Even the one-page story is bizarre - "Happy Birthday" sees a women kissing the birthday boy - and when the date she came with tries to intervene, she brushes him off and returns to kissing the birthday boy!  Not sure what these writers were thinking, but the morals of these characters are definitely lacking!

Issue four has a rather interesting cover - instead of a single scene, it actually utilizes three panels from the story, dialogue and all!  Now, granted, it is a rather dramatic scene, with Nurse Betsy Crane and a military man trying to fight their way through a dangerous flooded area to rescue a man (lifted straight from page 15 of the story) - but it leaves me wondering if perhaps Charlton simply didn't have a cover for this issue in time for publication, so simply used the inside panels as a quick way of getting the issue out.  "Medals are for Heroes" is the 20 page story this time around, wherein Betsy and two other nurses head off to Harpersville to help out at an emergency center set up for the flood victims in the area.  Betsy, though, finds the problem is not with the victims or even the flood - rather, it is with Corporal Kalin, who spends more time distracting the nurses than anything else.  When she gets stuck with Corporal Kalin on a trip into town to help a young girl and search for her grandfather, Betsy learns there is more to Kalin than she first thought - and she ultimately helps him overcome a fear that has been causing him to act so recklessly.  This issue does not have the standard three-page and one-page tales; rather, it closes out with a four-page story titled "The End of Love."  With a title like that, one would expect a rather depressing tale (which it seems to be in the first three pages); however, the conclusion gives readers a great reminder that an ending of one story may only just be the beginning of a brand new one...

The fifth and final issue of this short-lived series has a story that is probably the closest to a soap opera storyline of any in this series.  "Memories of the Past" finds Nurse Betsy Crane acting uncharacteristically - because when she comes face-to-face with Dr. Gil Roberts, a man from her past, she doesn't know how to react!  Dr. Roberts is brought into the hospital where Betsy works with a life-threatening condition, and when Besty see him, her memories of him are triggered - and readers are treated to flashbacks of their whirlwind romance and how that relationship ended when they each had to chase after the careers of their dreams.  Now, with Dr. Roberts back in her life, Betsy isn't sure what to do.  The one thing she can do (and does!) is locate donors with his rare blood type so that he can undergo surgery to save his life.  Once he recovers, Betsy talks with him, and they both come to realize that despite their past love, they have both grown up and moved on, and that they both found happiness in their careers - which is a good thing for that hospital, because as the head nurse thinks in that last panel, "I don't know what I'd do without that girl..."  We see a return of the three-page and one-page back-up tales in this issue - the three-pager is nothing spectacular, with a girl from the States falling for a Londoner, who reveals in the end he is heading for the States and they can have a relationship there.  It's the one-pager, "Never Again," that features a great little moral - don't be too quick to judge someone's actions, because it might not be what you suspect!  

And with that, Charlton's first (second?) soap opera title reaches its conclusion.  At least this title, unlike Soap Opera Love, featured one-off tales and did not have an ongoing tale that was left unfinished (well, technically not unfinished, since I could go back and find the original comics from which those stories were taken and read the rest of the stories).  Nurse Betsy Crane kind of reminds me of Cherry Ames, a children's series (1943-68), which featured a nurse that job-hopped from one nursing position to another.  I'm not sure about the original Nurse Betsy Crane comics, but based on these few stories, it seems Betsy follows in that same tradition.  

It's a shame these titles didn't take off.  I can only guess that Soap Opera Love and Soap Opera Romance where an attempt to cash-in on the popularity of soap operas in the early to mid '80s (what with General Hospital, Santa Barbara, All My Children, and the others).  I'm not sure how many soap opera fans were actually reading comics in those days, and with all the super hero comics hitting the shelves at that time, as well as the rise of independent publishers and direct-market comics, these two titles really didn't stand much of a chance.  I would love to find out who authored these stories, just to see if we could get any insight as to whether the writer was just churning out stories for a paycheck, or if he (or she!) was writing stories he actually enjoyed writing.  I guess at this point (more than half a century later!) we will never know.

RATING:  7 infected scratches out of 10 for at least attempting to revive the romance genre in a time when superheroes had cornered the market!

Death is a Tory - a political murder mystery

A good friend gifted me this book some months ago for a very specific reason.  I'm not one to normally pick up a book that is not a part of a series; but if the book has a connection to a series, then I might be apt to do so.  And this book, well, it just so happens that the author also wrote three books in the original Nancy Drew series back in the 1930s.  You might not recognize the name "Keats Patrick," but if I told you that name was nothing more than a pseudonym (just as "Carolyn Keene" is a pseudonym), then you might begin to wonder.  Well, according to my friend (as well as other sources online), "Keats Patrick" is a pen name for Walter Karig, the author of books 8 through 10 of the Nancy Drew series, as well as books 3 and 4 of the Doris Force series and books 2 through 4 of the Perry Pierce series.  My friend also shared with me that the pen name "Keats Patrick" is derived from Karig's two daughters, Keating and Patricia.  So, with these things in mind, I figured I'd sit down and read Walter Karig's political murder mystery and see how it fares.

Death is a Tory is definitely a far cry from Karig's Nancy Drew and Doris Force stories.  Published in 1935 (two years after his Nancy Drew stories were published), the book centers around a double murder in Washington, D.C.  In a nutshell - Tom and Homer are newspapermen in 1930s' D.C.  Homer takes a call at the office intended for Tom from Marshall Rich.  Marsh says that he just killed Cactus and Felix.  It turns out Cactus is his wife, and Felix is her lover.  Marsh says he came home early and found them together, so he killed them and intends to kill himself.  Tom stops him in time, but cannot prevent him from being arrested for the double homicide for which he has confessed.  Tom and Homer (and their wives) are shocked by these events, but not so shocked as Sally Shaftoe, a columnist who has a habit of sticking her nose where it doesn't belong.  Throw into the mix a congressman, A. Gilligan Lightfoot, who knew Cactus when she was just a kid, and you've got all the makings of a crafty little murder mystery.

I have to give Karig credit.  He definitely sets it all up.  The clues are all right there in front of your face, if you just know what to look for.  There's the simple fact that there were two guns at the scene - the one Marsh was holding and the one found down in the creek behind his house.  There's also the fact that Cactus was killed with one shot, while Felix's body had two - the same number of shots that happen to have been fired into the fountain in Marsh's back yard.  Then there's the fact that Marsh is proven to have been at work at the time of the murders, and he was seen by several people on his way home after the murders took place. Which all lead to the question - why in the world would this man confess to a crime there is no way in the world he could have committed?

While Sally seems to be the amateur sleuth in the story (I guess poor Karig just couldn't get away from writing those female detectives!), Tom and Mildred, along with Homer and Prentice, spend a good portion of the book going over the facts, proposing different scenarios, and discussing plenty of "what ifs."  As much as they try to stay out of it ... as much as they keep saying they don't want any part of it and want their lives to go back to normal ... they just can't seem to let go, especially once they decide that poor Marsh is innocent.  But, if Marsh is innocent, then that begs the question - who is the real killer?

I'll give you a hint.  Once of these people in the story is not really who they pretend to be!  You might say, "Well, the story is set in Washington, D.C. - is there anyone in that city that ever really tells the truth?"  And you'd be right.  But that's not how this story goes.  Karig writes the narrative as if he himself were a reporter simply telling us (the reader) the story of everything that happened.  He even gets sidetracked a few times and has to reign himself in (which makes for some interesting reading, as it leaves one to wonder if these side trips are Karig actually spilling some of his personal opinions, or just a fancy narrative meant to distract the reader from the clues planted in the story).  But the casual way in which the story is told is actually part of what draws the reader in - you don't feel like you are reading a formal mystery; rather, you feel like you're listening to a friend tell you what's happened.

Oh, and did I mention Mildred's sister, Katherine O'Day (better known simply as "Ka") plays a big part of the story?  And that she, Sally, and the congressman find themselves entangled in a love triangle (whether they want to admit it or not)?  Plus, there are the anonymous letters sent to Marsh while he is in prison, with Bible verses written on them ... and the poisoned candies sent to Sally ... and the dead dog ... and the sheriff who seems to be able to memorize anything he reads.  

I honestly thought I had it all figured out, but Karig threw in a rather interesting twist there near the end - and an even BIGGER twist in those final pages!  I was quite impressed, because it takes a lot these days for  murder mystery to surprise me as much as this one did.  Of course, once the killer is revealed, it all made perfect sense - which just goes to show that Karig had the writing skills to tell a marvelously engaging adult mystery.  This book may never have been one I would have picked up and read on my own, but I definitely thank Geoffrey for gifting it to me, as it is now a treasure on my bookshelf in the library!

RATING:  9 wadded up envelopes in the trash out of 10 for a murder mystery truly unlike any other I've read - one that manages to keep you guessing literally up to the very end!

Samantha Wolf Mysteries, Book Nine - The Mystery of Old Gully Trail

After the rather turbulent events in the last book, author Tara Ellis tones down the mystery a bit for the ninth book in the Samantha Wolf series. It's actually been kind of nice to read a series where the characters grow, not only physically, but emotionally and intelligently as well, and where the mysteries vary, so that there is not just a standard, formulaic plot in each book.  Samantha and her friends, Ally and Cassy, have matured as the series has progressed, having learned from experience - and Sam has even learned to accept the punishment her parents dole out each time she breaks the rules to solve a mystery (even if she breaks the rules for a good cause!).  It's actually rather refreshing to read a series where actions actually do have consequences (as they would in the real world), so I give Ellis props for keeping it real.

The Mystery of Old Gully Trail opens at the end of the school year, with the girls helping Cassy's aunt clear out some trails for her horse-riding classes.  They happen across a young girl, who is rather precocious and who happens to be lost (not that she will admit that).  It turns out she is a descendant of Old Man Gully, who owned a house set deep in the woods, and about whom are plenty of stories told in town that keep the kids away from the place!  Of course, it's not really haunted, and the young girl lives there with her aunt and uncle.  Her name is Penelope Gully, but everyone calls her Penny for short.

Now, let's stop a moment and think about that name.  "Penelope."  That is not a generally used name for girls, and yet when it comes to children's mystery series, there are two series from back in the day that used this same name for the title character (and both series happened to be written by the same author - Mildred Wirt Benson!).  Penny Nichols and Penny Parker.  The formal name for both characters was Penelope, and yet both went by the name Penny to all who knew them.  I find it very interesting that Ellis would chose this name for the character, and have to wonder if perhaps Ellis is familiar with those series by Benson and inserted the name as a way to pay homage to those characters from the '30s and '40s.

In any event, let's get back to the story, shall we?  Penny, as the descendant of Old Man Gully, inherited the property, including all of the riding trails on the property, and her aunt is managing her affairs until she turns legal age.  Everything seems just fine, until her aunt reveals that someone is trying very hard to buy the property, and they are taking legal action to prove that the property never really belonged to Old Man Gully in the first place - meaning Penny could lose everything, including the elaborate tree house on the back of the property that Penny and her mother used to use.

The mystery of who is behind the legal action ties into the town's Founder Day celebration, as the citizens prepare to dig up and open a time capsule buried by the town's founders 100 years ago.  And, needless to say, one of those founders was Old Man Gully, and Sam, Ally, and Cassy are anxious to see what the old man buried in the capsule, as they are hoping it will provide evidence that Gully owned the property after all.  Along the way, there is a stolen medallion from the town library, an overheard conversation between two men about being double-crossed, and a hidden key that unlocks a box hidden deep within the woods, and you've got a fairly decent (and somewhat tame) mystery for the girls to solve.  Add into this the fact that young Penny is known for telling tall-tales, leaving them with the question of what to believe and what not to believe when she tells them something ("The Boy Who Cried Wolf" anyone?), and it provides a nice build up to a chase through the woods, a false accusation, and a surprising reveal as to who is trying to take the property from Penny!

Again, there's not really much danger in this mystery, but that's okay.  Ellis provides plenty of riddles to be solved and treasure hunts through the woods, and there is a scene involving Sam and Ally being chased through the woods by one of the bad guys that is rather humorous (and shows not only Sam's ingenuity and quick thinking, but also Ellis' talent for foreshadowing).  The final chapter provides a nice wrap-up to the story as Sam celebrates her birthday with her family and friends and receives a birthday gift surprise that she has been wanting for a while!

Aside from the "present-tense" story telling (not sure why that bothers me so much, but I still have difficulty with it and basically read it in past tense, regardless of how it is written), it's another great tale of Samantha Wolf and friends that is worth the read.

RATING:  8 "x"es that mark the spot out of 10 for keeping the variety in mysteries so each story is different and enjoyable!

Torchy Blane - The Lady Bloodhound with a Nose for News!

Now for something a little different.  While this blog has always been about books (as well as comics and graphic novels), this is one post that I just felt I had to make, even though the topic isn't something I read.  Rather, this post is about a series of nine films put out by Warner Brothers Pictures between the years 1937 and 1939.  The title character of these films, "Torchy" Blane, is a wise-cracking female reporter who always manages to stay two steps ahead of her police detective fiance, Steve McBride, in solving crimes.  I had never heard of this character or the films, but back in January, TCM was showcasing films that featured female detectives every Friday night - and, as fate would have it, on Friday the 13th, TCM featured five of the nine Torchy Blane films.  David recorded them for me, thinking I might enjoy them, so I figured if he took the trouble to record them, the least I could do is watch them.  Boy, was I in for a huge surprise!  By the end of the first film, I was completely hooked, and I set about finding a way to watch the remaining films in the series.  I tracked down a Warner Brothers Archive Collection of all nine films and bought it without hesitation.  And now that I've finally been able to see all nine films, I can share my thoughts with the rest of the world (or, well, the few people who actually do read my blog!).

 

Smart Blonde is the first film, and it introduces the little firecracker known as Torchy Blane (her real name is Theresa, but that is not revealed until the second movie and only said twice in the entire nine films!).  The plot centers around Torchy witnessing the murder of a man she just interviewed - a man who was set to buy a Club and all of the gambling enterprises of one Fitz Mularkey.  Torchy's boyfriend, Steve McBride, is assigned to the case, and although he tries to keep Torchy out of the way, she manages to insinuate herself into every situation, ultimately exposing the true masterminds behind the murder!  The movie, released in 1937, is subtitled "The Adventures of Torchy Blane," and definitely establishes Glenda Farrell as Torchy, alongside Barton MacLane as police detective McBride.  The two actors have a natural chemistry that explodes on screen, keeping the comedic dialogue real and believable!

 

Farrell returned as Torchy in the second film, Fly Away Baby, which also used "The Adventures of Torchy Blane" subtitle (and was the last of the films to do so).  This movie featured more action than the previous one, as Torchy inserts herself into a contest with a competing newspaper reporter to fly around the globe!  After a jeweler is found murdered and his collection of diamonds stolen, Torchy's fiance McBride is on the case.  Torchy tags along, and soon comes to suspect the other reporter of the crime! Thus, she convinces her editor to let her race the reporter around the world, hoping she can find the evidence to prove him guilty!  Along the way, though, she uncovers the true identity of the killer and locates the stolen diamonds!  Despite being filmed so quickly (the movie was released only five months after the first one!), it was actually very well done, considering the number of action sequences and stunts involved!

With the third film, Torchy Blane's name takes the headline over the title, The Adventurous Blonde, proving the success of this series (which I believe was largely in part to Farrell's superb portrayal of the character).  The story opens with Torchy and a fellow train passenger reading each other's telegrams by mistake.  Torchy learns her fiance has a minister lined up and ready to marry them as soon as she arrives home!  Unfortunately, fate has other plans when four reporters jealous of Torchy's success plan a fake murder that they hope will lead Torchy to publish a false story.  The plan backfires when the actor they hired to "play" dead turns up dead for real, and Torchy scoops them all once again!  Postponing their wedding, Torchy and McBride set about the solve the case, and Torchy uses a fake confession of one of the suspects to lure the real killer into the light!  This film set the stage for the constant postponement of Torchy Blane and Steve McBride's pending nuptials - every time you think they are ready to tie the knot, something gets in the way!  Once again, it was another fast-filmed movie, as this one was released just five months after the second film!

Blondes at Work was the title of the fourth film, and it was Farrell's last appearance as Torchy Blane (well, so she thought).  The story in this movie was a bit different from the previous ones.  The focus of the film is on McBride being told to keep Torchy from getting all the scoops from the department, as they are getting heat from other newspapers that they are playing favorites.  When the son of a department store mogul turns up dead, McBride and Torchy each run their own investigations - and Torchy seems to spend most of her time trying to trick the other papers!  Torchy winds up behind bars herself for revealing the verdict of a jury trial before the jury announces it, and she misses out on the confession of the real killer (but don't worry - McBride does her a favor of calling in the story to her paper, so she still managed to get the scoop from behind bars!).  Released in February 1938, this was probably one of the fastest filmed movies of the series, as it came out only three months after the last one!

Actress Lola Lane takes over the role of Torchy Blane in the fifth film, Torchy Blane in Panama.  Interestingly enough, McBride was also replaced with another actor (Paul Kelly).  The plot involves a bank robbery, where the thief hides out among the Loyal Order of Leopards, of which McBride's inept sidekick on the force, Gahagan, is a member.  Torchy follows the Leopards onto a cruise ship headed for Panama, where she finds the thief but also finds herself kidnapped and held captive by him and his cohorts.  McBride and Gahagan have to track her down and rescue her before it's too late (although Torchy was already planning a way to escape her predicament).  Although the story was pretty good (and pretty standard Torchy fare), Lola Lane just did not have the spunk or spirit that Farrell had, and film did not do well at the box office. Lane and Kelly were out, and Warner Brothers brought back Farrell and MacLane for the next movie.

Torchy Gets Her Man is the last film of the series to come out in 1938, and thankfully brought Farrell and MacLane back into the roles they truly defined.  This time around, Torchy overhears a secret service agent ask the police to help him catch a counterfeiter they believe will be passing phony money at the race track. McBride keeps Torchy in the dark about the sting, but she still manages to learn about it through Gahagan, and she manages to track the counterfeiter to his hideout.  She,of course, gets kidnapped right along with Gahagan, and this time a dog happens to be the one to save the day!  This story was actually a pretty creative one, since the crook turns out to be the very person asking the police for help, and Torchy is the only one who grows suspicious of the man!

The first film in 1939, Torchy Blane in Chinatown, proves the writing for these stories can get craftier and craftier!  The story centers around three former adventurers who brought back some priceless jade tablets from one of their adventures.  They are receiving death threats, and after the first of the men is murdered, and the second one is killed and his body disappears, McBride and his force work overtime to protect the third man.  Torchy uncovers some inconsistencies in the stories and discovers a plot to extort money from a Senator that leads to a rather unique conclusion involving a payoff at sea and a submarine rescue!  I think this is probably one of my favorite of the series, simply because the plot is so intricate and actually makes you think in order to figure out what is really going on!

Farrell and MacLane make their last appearance as Torchy and McBride in the eight installment of this series, Torchy Runs for Mayor.  Torchy is getting a lot of heat for articles she is writing about the mayor, accusing him of colluding with a local crime boss.  The newspapers are warned away from any future stories, and Torchy ends up getting a small publisher to print her story, distributing the paper herself along with Gahagan's help.  When the publisher is murdered, Torchy ends up as a new candidate for major!  Torchy, of course, gets kidnapped once again, and McBride begins to wonder if Torchy's articles didn't hold some truth to them.  It's a race against time as he rushes to rescue his fiance, and the crime boss gets his just deserves when he is blown up by a bomb meant for McBride!  The film has a humorous ending, as Torchy ends up winning the election as mayor, but quickly resigns when she finds out she has to hold babies for photographs!

The final Torchy Blane film was released on Augut 12, 1939, and as with the previous film without Farrell and MacLane, it doesn't hold up well.  Torchy Plays With Dynamite (also known as Torchy Blane ... Playing with Dynamite) features Jane Wyman in the title role, with Allen Jenkins assuming the role of McBride.  While Wyman does an okay job as Torchy, Jenkins is absolutely horrible as McBride.  This last tale involves a series of bank robberies by Denver Eddie, who seems to be able to evade the police at every turn.  Through a series of events, Torchy gets herself thrown in jail so she can cozy up to Denver Eddie's girlfriend and hopefully get the inside scoop on the man.  When she saves Jackie's life, Jackie suggests she and Torchy escape from jail, saying her boyfriend will help them out.  With McBride in on the plan, the girls escape and head to San Francisco.  There is a series of close calls, and Gahagan goes undercover as a wrestler (which results in a few humorous physical scenes).  Ultimately, they catch Denver Eddie, and with the reward money for his capture, McBridge and Torchy have the money they need to get married!

An interesting note about that final film - Jane Wyman, who takes over the role of Torchy Blane, appeared in the very first Torchy flick, Smart Blonde, playing the character Dixie, the hat check girl at the Million Club.  As for the overall series, Tom Kennedy is the only actor to appear in all nine films, in his role as Gahagan, police detective Steve McBride's bumbling sidekick who loves to spout poetry at the most inopportune times.  Actor George Guhl appeared in eight of the nine films as the front desk sergeant, Graves, but for unknown reasons, he was replaced in the last movie (and, in fact, the entire set for that front area of the police headquarters was changed).

Despite the films having different writers, the character of Torchy Blane was pretty consistent throughout (even though when played by Lane and Wyman, she lacked the spunk that Farrell brought to the character).  What I did not realize, until after I researched the movies, is that the first film was based upon a detective stories by Frederick Nebel called MacBride and Kennedy.  Of course, those stories were about two men, and Warner Brothers revised it to make Kennedy a woman and shortened the name of MacBride to McBride.  It's interesting to note that McBride was played by MacLane ("Mac"Bride) and Gahagan was played by Tom "Kennedy," so there are some funny coincidences between the original source material and the actors in the films.

The most surprising thing I discovered was that Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel has been said to have used Farrell's portrayal of Torchy Blane as the inspiration for his character, Lois Lane, and that Lois' name was actually taken from actress Lola Lane, who played Torchy in the fifth film!  So, in a way, I suppose we have Torchy Blane and the woman who played her to thank for comic book's most famous female reporter!

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the movies and found them to be fun, for the most part well-written, and in most cases, well-acted. A part of me would love to see the character brought back to life today in a television series or series of films, but ONLY if they stick to the source material and keep Torchy and her supporting cast exactly as they were in these films!

RATING:  9 disappearing bodies out of 10 for some fantastic, fun-filled films with a title character that is truly memorable and enjoyable to watch!

Whitman Mystery Stories - Tillie the Toiler and the Masquerading Duchess

"Tillie the Toiler" is a newspaper strip that I had never heard of, and I certainly was unaware that Whitman Publishing had published a book about the character.  But, my friend Kevin told me about it one day, saying he would love to find the book - so I went on eBay, and lo and behold, I found several fairly inexpensive copies of the book in great condition, so I figured why not.  I purchased two copies - one for Kevin and one for me.  Now, mind you, this was well over a year ago, and the book has sat on my "to be read" stack of books for some time.  Well, I finally pulled the book down and decided it was time to read it and see just who Tillie the Toiler really is.

Tillie the Toiler and the Masquerading Duchess lists neither the author nor the illustrator; however, it is based upon the syndicated comic strip by Russ Westover.  The front inside flap of the dust jacket provides some background information on Westover, as well as the character of Tillie Jones.  It is interesting that Westover used his wife as the model for Tillie in his strip.  The comic strip ran in newspapers from 1921 through 1959, for an impressive thirty-eight years.  And doing some research, it appears that Cupples & Leon collected some of the comic strips in a series of eight books, and Dell Comics published fourteen issues of a comic book series that reprinted the strips.  Additionally, the character appeared in a silent film in 1927, and later a "talkie" in 1941!  So, for a character I never heard of prior to my friend telling me about this book, Tillie the Toiler definitely got around back in the day!

This book appears to be an original story based upon the characters in the syndicated comic strip.  Tillie is a stenographer for clothing mogul J. Simpkins. She lives with her mother, Mrs. Jones, and has a turbulent friendship with a co-worker by the name of "Mac."  Mac, of course, is in love with Tillie, but she does not return the feelings.  This obviously creates humorous scenes in which Mac tries to prove himself to Tillie in order to win her love (or at the very least, catch her attention), but his attempts often backfire and result in causing trouble for Tillie or push her into the arms of a more handsome, wealthier young man (much to Mac's chagrin!).  

The story opens with Mrs. Jones learning that the house in which she and Tillie live is about to be foreclosed.  She tries to keep it a secret, but Tillie learns the truth, and she vows to ask her boss, J. Simpkins, for a raise.  That, of course, turns into a series of mishaps and misunderstandings, and instead of asking for a raise, she falls asleep at his desk!  Too embarrassed to ask now, she sheepishly leaves, wondering what she is going to do now to help save her home.  Mrs. Jones reveals that a woman who is called "the Duchess" is intent on taking the house, and it appears the bank is helping her.  Mrs. Jones knows she had a letter from the bank confirming she had paid ahead on her interest and that they would not foreclose, but she can't find it - and the bank appears to have no record of the letter.  With foreclosure looming in just mere days, Tillie must find a way to pay the debt owed to they aren't forced to leave their home.

While the story mainly focuses on the Joneses' financial difficulties and the antics of Tillie and Mac, there is a slight mystery involved.  Tillie "loses" her mother's heirloom brooch while at a party, and it later turns out the brooch may have been stolen, as were a number of other valuable items from the wealthier citizens of the city.  Additionally, there is the mystery behind the mysterious Duchess who has her eyes set on the Joneses' home and why she is so intent on seeing the foreclosure finalized so she can take ownership of that house.  What is so special about the house and why does this woman want it?  Tillie is determined to find out, but ends up getting herself in hot water when she impersonates a bank employee and winds up with the police after her!

This is definitely a book the reader cannot take too seriously.  It is based on a humor-filled comic strip, so it only stands to reason that a novel based upon the strip is going to be a bit campy and filled with good-natured fun!  The ongoing mishaps of both Mac and Tillie in pretty much every adventure they attempt will make you smile, if not giggle a bit, and the climactic resolution (because, let's face it, we know Tillie is going to succeed in the end, regardless of all the misadventures along the way) will make you cheer for the young stenographer.  If you are looking for a serious mystery in the vein of Nancy Drew or Penny Parker, then this is likely not the book for you.  If, however, you are looking for a fun, easy read that will put a smile on your face with a light-hearted mystery, then this is definitely the book for you!

RATING:  8 good cups of coffee out of 10 for mixing a little bit of mystery with a lot of mirth and mishaps, and a touch of romance for good measure, all of which results in a fun little read!

Penny Parker Mystery Stories No. 7 - The Clock Strikes Thirteen

The more Penny Parker books I read, the more I really enjoy this series.  I can definitely see why Mildred Wirt Benson enjoyed writing this series so much more than the Nancy Drew books.  The freedom she has with this series to express herself and to write her characters makes for much better stories, and, in fact, much more adult drama!  I find that the stories in this series, for the most part, could easily translate into adult mystery stories.  I can't believe it has taken me this long to finally start reading this series, and now that I am, I don't want it to end (although, sadly, I know it ends with the 17th book, which is a real shame - I'd love to know the real reason why this series was cancelled - was it the publisher's decision, was it Millie's choice - or were there other factors that came into play???).

The Clock Strikes Thirteen is the seventh book in the series, and the plot centers around a group of bandits who are targeting truck farmers in an effort to coerce them to join a community cooperative.  Penny and her father happen to get involved by pure chance, when they witness a barn burning and stop to assist its owner.  They learn that a group of "night riders" are potentially the cause of the fire, and they follow a trail of hoofprints to the home of Clem Davis, who the sheriff believes is behind the fire.  Penny is not convinced of his guilt, believing instead that he has been framed.  Tied into this mystery is the strange thirteenth ring of the town clock, which hangs in the Hubell Clock Tower.  No one believes that Penny heard thirteen rings, so she goes to speak with the caretaker - only to discover he has been let go, and another, more curmudgeonly man has taken his place!  When she tracks down Old Seth McGuire at his home (interestingly named "Sleepy Hollow"), she is thrilled to learn that he also heard the thirteen rings.

While Penny is trying to figure out that mystery, she also becomes involved with helping the Riverview Orphans Home, who is purchasing property for a summer camp.  Clyde Blake, the real estate man involved in the transaction, seems to only be interested in garnering publicity for himself, and Penny has some concerns about the purchase of the land.  Penny visits the Orphans Home with reporter Jerry Livingston, and it's there they meet Adelle, a young girl whose parents were killed when a hit-and-run driver ran them off the road a year ago, leaving poor Adelle an orphan.  Since then, Adelle has been afraid of cars.

It should come as no surprise that the two mysteries eventually intertwine, and Penny is not only able to reveal the reason for the thirteen strikes of the clock, but also uncover the identities of the Black Hoods terrorizing the farmers, locate the man who has been sending her father disparaging letters, and discover who it was that ran Adelle's parents off the road!  Along the way, she also helps Old Seth get his job back as caretaker for the clock tower and find Adelle a new home!  For Penny Parker, it's simply all in a day's work.

There are a number of interesting tidbits in this book worth mentioning.  The first involves a party Penny decides to throw for the children of the Orphans Home.  She suggests hosting a watermelon party (p. 73), which Jerry agrees to help her plan.  And while the party is a huge success with the children, it turns out not to be a watermelon party, but rather, a cantaloupe party!  In four different places, Millie expressly identifies the melons as cantaloupes (pp. 87, 89, 93, and 95/6), leaving one to wonder why there is no mention of the change from watermelons to cantaloupes.  Obviously the cantaloupes are smaller and easier to throw, which Jerry, Penny, and some of the boys did when the Black Hoods showed up to steal the farmer's truck load of melons (pp. 89-90); perhaps Millie changed her mind about the type of melons to use and forgot to go back and change the reference when Penny suggested the party.

As far as the Black Hoods, the name given to the night riders who are attacking and terrorizing the farmers in the communities surrounding Riverview - one of the members of our reading group pointed out that the elements in the story mirror those of the real life Black Donnellys.  The Donnellys were an Irish family who migrated to Ontario, Canada and were involved in the same kind of intimidation tactics as used in this book, including barn burning, threats, theft, etc.  The scene at the end of this book is similar to the events in which the Donnellys faced their final conflict, with their assailants bursting in on them as Mr. Parker, Jerry, Salt, and the rest did at the clock tower.  We even hypothesized that the name Millie chose for the group, "Black Hoods," could have been taken from the Black Donnellys as a subtle reference to them.

And speaking of not-so-subtle references - the Hubell Clock Tower in The Clock Strikes Thirteen is likely to have been taken from the large clock tower that stands in The West Side Market in Cleveland, Ohio.  That clock tower was constructed by an architectural firm by the name of Hubbell & Benes, and hence, the name "Hubell" chosen by Millie for the clock tower in this book!

We do get another reminder in this book of just how wealthy the Parkers are.  Mr. Parker makes a passing comment that he would willingly pay $100 to anyone who could locate Ben Bowman, the man who was sending him crank letters about his newspaper - and Penny takes him up on it!  So, when she ultimately finds the man, Mr. Parker says it was "worth the price" (p. 207).  Now, $100 may not sound like much now, but when you consider the time period - $100 in 1942 equates to more than $1,800 in today's dollar!   Thus, Mr. Parker paid his daughter the equivalent of $1,800 in today's money just to find a man sending him harassing letters!  Would we all have a father like that!

A final note must be made on the number of times Millie uses the term "queer" in this book.  While I do understand that the word meant "strange" or "odd" back in the time this book was written, it is rather amusing that she used the word so many times in just one book:

        p. 11 - "Queer that all three of them could disappear so quickly..."

        p. 64 - Salt makes the comment that Mr. Blake was always a "Queer duck"

        p. 65 - "Blake always was a queer fellow..."

        p. 69 - "It's mighty queer," the reporter muttered...

        p. 128 - Panny said with a gay laugh

        p. 188 - "I thought it was queer to be having another meeting so soon..."

        p. 197 - "You queered my deal with the Orphans Camp Board..."

Yes, one of those instances was "gay" and not "queer," but since it has the same connotation today, I threw it in there.

Once again, another fantastic read, and I can't wait to see what's in store in the next book!

RATING:  10 midnight meals at Toni's out of 10 for a superbly plotted mystery and a reminder of just how "real" the relationship between Penny and her father is!