Daisy Blackwood, Pilot for Hire - Vol. 5 - The Buccaneer's Bounty

I can't believe it's been over a year since I read book four in the Daisy Blackwood series of graphic novels.  It certainly does not seem like that long.  I have thoroughly enjoyed these stories - Ryan Howe writes some fun, fast-moving, action-packed stories and his art, while a bit on the cartoony-side, definitely work with the stories.  In a way, I suppose I'm glad I put off reading this one for as long as I did, because it seems this is the last book in the series.  This was published back in 2021, three years ago now, and I haven't seen any indication of any new stories on Howe's website.  Which is a real shame, as this character is just too good to put on a shelf and let collect dust.  Daisy Blackwood needs more adventures!

The Buccaneer's Bounty opens not with the title character; rather, Howe starts this story with a sky pirate who inadvertently discovers the secret to the "treasure of the three captains."  A locket he discovers could be the key to locating that treasure, and it just so happens his girlfriend is a medium who can contact the dead - a medium who used to be a student of the professor, and who happens to have stolen the Skull of K'Tuck, a supernatural artifact the professor is hoping to have Daisy Blackwell recover.  And thus, finally, on page 22, we see our favorite pilot-for-hire enter the picture, as she has been summoned by the professor to locate the skull.  And locate it she does, but with the most unexpected results!  It seems the medium has unwittingly freed the spirit of Luisa Costa, a pirate who has been dead for several hundred years, give or take.  And now that spirit is dead-set (pun intended!) on regaining a mortal body, and it's up to Daisy and her crew to put a stop to it.

 

From here, the action picks up speed, and Howe crafts another dangerous and exciting adventure, as Daisy must obtain one of the items that Costa needs to restore her spirit into human form - an anastasis stone, also referred to as a "resurrection" stone - and in order to get one, she must face off against her grandfather - which is a well-written, fun scene, since Daisy and her grandfather basically hate each other!  What struck me about this scene is that just as Daisy is about to win the auction for the stone, her grandfather receives a mysterious message and simply gets up and leaves!  It would seem to me this is a hint of some future story Howe has planned ... yet, since there don't seem to be any more stories, I'm left wondering exactly what that message was and why the mystery surrounding it?

A kidnapped friend, a race against time, and a fight against a giant sea monster round out this story, making it another fun and exciting read.  And while Daisy does ultimately rescue her friend and recover not only the skull, but also the stone, for the professor, the story ends with a cliffhanger of sorts.  Perhaps Howe will one day return to this series and pick up where he left off.  I did notice, however, that on his website, it appears he has some other series, such as We've Got Spirit, Bad Karma, and Captain Flynt.  I suppose I need to check those out to get my fill of Howe's writing and artistic talents.

If you enjoy comics, if you enjoy adventure stories, and if you enjoy daring female pilots, then you will absolutely LOVE the Daisy Blackwood series.  I highly recommend it!

RATING:  10 sultry evening dresses out of 10 for closing the book on Daisy Blackwood with a truly exciting tale of pirates and treasures!

Shadow of a Witch - an Ace Gothic by Dorothy Eden

Not gonna lie - I picked this book up mainly for the cover art.  Sure, it's a gothic mystery, so that, in and of itself, is appealing to me.  But for this particular book, it was the cover that that attracted me to it.  Yes, it has the standard gothic trope - a woman running in the foreground, looking back at a dark, foreboding castle/mansion with just one light in an upper window, shining out against the darkened sky.  But it is the young woman that caught my eye - her facial expression, her hand coming up to her mouth, her eyes ... quite frankly, I would swear the art is done by Hector Garrido, who provided very similar art on the cover to the 75th Nancy Drew Mystery, The Emerald-Eyed Cat Mystery.  But, more on that later...

Shadow of a Witch is the first gothic novel I've ready by author Dorothy Eden.  And if the rest of her books are anything like this, it definitely won't be the last.  While the story was a bit slow in getting started, once it did, it had me hook, line, and sinker!  The protagonist is a young woman - Julia French - who is determined to land an interview with the elusive architect, Mark Winterton, who has completed work on the restoration of an old church.  Winterton is known for his aloofness and his unwillingness to discuss his private life after the death of his wife in a plane crash some time ago.  Julia has no intention of falling for the man, particularly after seeing him with his daughter and a woman she wrongfully assumes to be his wife (but who turns out to only be taking care of the daughter). But, in true gothic fashion, fall for him she does, and soon enough, he falls for her, and the two are married - and that's when all the problems begin.

Eden writes a tale with a number of twists and turns (and, surprisingly, several different points of view).  While Julia is the main focus of the story, Eden also provides moments from the point of view of Estelle, the woman taking care of Winterton's young daughter, Flora, and who also happens to be vying for Winterton's attentions.  But her motives are less than pure, as Julia soon discovers when she overhears a conversation between Estelle and a woman named Beryl.  We also get a few brief moments from Beryl's point of view, as well as that of Estelle's aunt, Gertrude.  Yet, despite the differing points-of-view, the story flows smoothly, and the tension builds as the mystery presents itself.  Young Flora is nearly run down by a car when she thinks she sees her mother alive and well across the street, beckoning for her.  Winterton is upset by his daughter's actions, and Winterton's older sister, Kate, who lives with them, believes Flora is merely still trying to process her mother being gone and her father taking a new wife.  All too soon, though, there is real concern that Eugenie Winterton is still alive, in which case, Julia's marriage would be a legal nullity!

The only drawback to the story is that Eden reveals too much early on.  Any astute reader (and perhaps even some not-so-astute readers) will be able to spot the devious plot that is being hatched as soon as it begins.  I think if Eden had avoided giving readers the scenes from Estelle's, Beryl's, and Gertrude's points-of-view, it might have made the revelation at the end a lot more exciting than what it was.  Yes, it was fun to read along with Julia as she slowly pieces together the parts of the puzzle, and I found myself rooting for her to realize who the real villain was before she walked into his trap.  Thus, even though the scheme was obvious way too soon, I still enjoyed the read.  Eden made Julia French into not only a very likable character, but also an almost Nancy Drew-like protagonist.  Which brings me to the cover art for this edition of the book (yes, there are other editions that have different cover art).

Sadly, the publisher does not identify the artist, and nothing I could find online revealed the name of the artist; however, the face, the post, the positioning of the hand, the opened mouth, all of these things combined, particularly when compared to Hector Garrido's other art (especially on The Emerald-Eyed Cat Mystery) leads me to believe Garrido may very well have provided the painted art for the book.  At the very least, it is evident the same modeling photo was used for both books, albeit in mirrored images.  But I definitely prefer the art on Shadow of a Witch better - it has a darker mood to it, the castle/mansion in the background reflects a much more gothic architecture, and for some reason, those tree branches right behind Julia as she runs from the castle really strike a frightening chord.  It is funny, though, that this scene depicted on the cover never actually takes place anywhere in the story.  For that matter, there is no "witch" in the story at all - about the closest we get to any reference is when Kate refers to her brother's deceased wife as a witch, in a figurative sense, not in the literal sense.  I can only assume the title stems from the fact that poor Julia is living in the shadow of her new husband's deceased wife, who was not a very nice person at all.

Overall, I enjoyed this read, and I look forward to reading more of Eden's works.  Hopefully they stand up as well as this one does!

RATING:  8 delicious chocolate eclairs out of 10 for tension-filled tale with a number of twists and turns that, while not totally unexpected, do make for a great read!

Mystery at Redtop Hill - a Whitman tween-age book

This is one of those rare one-off books that I picked up because I had seen it often enough in used book stores and antique malls, and I'd seen enough people mention it online, that I decided I might as well give it a try.  Finding a copy of the book in good condition is not easy, as the Whitman hardcover books had a tendency to come apart fairly easy.  Thankfully, I found one that, even though it has some bumps on the top and bottom of the spine, is still tightly bound with crisp, clean pages and a brightly colored cover.  I was not really sure what to expect with the story, as I literally knew nothing about it, other than the cover that shows three youngsters watching a car coming up the road - oh, and the fact it is labeled as "A Whitman Tween-Age Book."  This phrase, according to the first page (before even the title page!), is an "In-between books for in-between readers" - or, as described in the back of the book: "Not too easy, Not too hard, Just LOTS OF FUN!"  And quite frankly, I think that is the perfect description for this book.

Mystery at Redtop Hill is the story of Steve Lambert, his best friend, Tod Wilson, and Tod's annoying little sister, Nancy.  In the story, the Lamberts and the Wilsons spend every summer in the country hills of New York on property they bought from Major Clyde Elting, a widower whose own farmhouse is in disrepair and who never leaves his house.  Until now!  And this is where the mystery begins for these three youngsters.  A mysterious stranger has come to the area, and he makes frequent visits to Major Clyde's farm, sometimes taking the Major away for a bit before bringing him back.  The children are curious, so they spy on the meetings, hoping to figure out what is going on.  The Major enjoys having the children visit his farm each summer, but this stranger takes an instant disliking to them (and that feeling is mutual!).  Sure enough, the kids uncover a clue that reveals the true nature of the stranger's visits, and it is up to them to save Major Clyde from making a huge mistake.

The mystery is not overly complicated, and it's not one that needs numerous clues for the children to solve the case.  Rather, it is a simple case of a stranger trying to trick an aging man into selling him his property so he can renovate it into something he deems to be more profitable for the times.  The author, Marjory Schwalje, is new to me.  It turns out she has written a number of books for young readers (including a few Raggedy Ann and Andy books), with this one being the only one I see for "in-between" readers.  I found her obituary online, revealing she died in 2012.  She was a teacher and freelance writer, having authored more than 20 books, and she was also a Braille transcriber.  Her writing style is clear and concise, and she manages to give each of her characters a distinct personality that make the story enjoyable to read.

The book is illustrated by Charles Greer, who I recognize as having illustrated some of the Miss Pickerell books that I read growing up.  There are a number of full-page illustrations in the book, as well as several two-page, color spreads that add some life to the story.  The drawings are a bit rough and cartoony, but they are fun, and let's face it - that's what this story is intended to be. 

One thing about the story that did bring a smile to my face is the fact that the nearest town to Redtop Hill in the story happens to be Cooperstown, New York!  Having just visited there myself last year, it was fun to read yet another story set around the area.  At one point, the children even go with their mothers to Cooperstown, where they take a boat tour on Lake Otsego, and the captain of the boat provides a brief history of the lake's name, as well as points out the mountain, known as The Sleeping Lion, at the northern end of the lake (p. 81)!  It turns out this book, published in 1965, came out seven years before the Nancy Drew book set in the same location (The Secret of Mirror Bay).

Taking into consideration the age group the book is aimed at, I'd say the author did a great job telling a fun, enjoyable, easy-to-read story.

RATING:  8 large brown stoneware crocks out of 10 for a mystery worth the read for book lovers of any age.

A Sinister Sense - the 2nd Raven's Nest Bookstore Mystery

It was definitely time to return to Raven's Nest bookstore to see what trouble Clara Quinn and her cousin, Stephanie Quin, will find themselves in this time.  Surprisingly, the author, Allison Kingsley, moved away from telling the story from both cousins' points-of-view and instead focuses more on Clara in this book.  We only get one brief chapter from Stephanie's point-of-view, and it is merely her trying to get ready as she and Clara prepare to confront the person they believe to be the killer.  Personally, I prefer the story being told from one character's point-of-view, as the alternative POVs can become a bit much at times.  So, I'm happy Kingsley settled on just one character to take us through this second mystery in the Raven's Nest Bookstore Mystery series.

A Sinister Sense does not give us a time frame for how long it has been since the cousins managed to unmask the killer in the previous book.  There are a couple of mentions in passing of the women having involved themselves in the last murder mystery, but it comes across as if that happened months ago, if not longer.  Clara and Stephanie have settled into their routine at Raven's Nest, with the help of their young assistant, Molly, and Clara continues to fight her obvious attraction to that hunk of a man who works at the hardware store across the street, Rick Sanders.  And, of course, that ever-bothersome Roberta Prince still runs her stationary store next door, and she still has her eyes set on Rick, even though he has absolutely no interest in her whatsoever.  Life has settled back to normal in Finn's Harbor, and we all know what that means - time for another murder!

Kingsley starts the story innocently enough - Rick's ex-wife has dropped off their humongous shaggy dog for him to take in; and the first thing it does is chase after poor Roberta, who made the mistake of offering it a few dog biscuits, in the hopes of getting in good with its owner.  The next thing you know, the dog chases Roberta into Raven's Nest, and Clara has to prevent the dog from damaging the store!  Rick shows up, bandaged finger and all, to reclaim the dog and explain the situation to Clara (who, by the way, was not even aware Rick had an ex-wife!).  Rick explains how he hurt his finger, giving details about the man who came in asking directions to city hall, the other customer browsing through the garden tools, and him trying to keep control of an uncontrollable dog.  Little do any of them realize that all of these daily things are about to lead to a murder...

The next day, Clara learns that a body was discovered in the back of Rick's truck, apparently placed there last night while Rick was at the bowling alley.  He is only a person of interest at first, since the body was found in his truck and the police have no clue as to the identity of the victim.  Soon enough, however, the evidence against Rick starts piling up.  The victim was in Rick's store the day before the murder.  The hammer used to kill the victim was from Rick's store.  And the clenching piece of evidence is Rick's DNA discovered from the blood on the sleeve of the victim's shirt!  The mayor is clamoring for Rick to be arrested, charged, and convicted so that the tourist town can once again be safe.  But Clara is confident Rick is innocent, and that little voice inside her head (otherwise know as the "Quinn Sense") is telling her the same thing.  The question is, though - who did kill the man and why?

Kingsley crafts a wonderful tale filled with plenty of suspects, and she keeps the clues given by the Quinn Sense vague enough to keep the reader guessing.  But every whispered word Clara hears, and every vision she sees, they all connect and point to a very specific person as the murderer.  For seasoned mystery readers, the killer will likely comes as no surprise (as with the first book, the identity of the killer is not hard to spot - it's the motive that takes some time to figure out); but it's getting there that is all the fun!  The "Quinn Sense" is not overused, nor is it a crutch that Clara is able to rely on to give her clues at exactly the right moment; rather, it is an unreliable tool that requires Clara to research and dig more into things to figure out what the clues mean.  Kingsley also manages to sneak in a bit more about Clara's past in New York and what happened between her and her fiance, which gives the reader a stronger sense of sympathy for the main character, making you root even more for her and Rick to get together!

 

One other thing I enjoyed about this book is seeing (reading?) more about Clara's relationship with her mother.  There is some strain, some love, some contrast, some battles, and ultimately some family bond that shines through, and it comes across very natural and real.  

 

Definitely a must-read for mystery fans and especially those who love these type of cozy mysteries.  It's truly a shame the series didn't make it past four books, but I guess those four are better than none at all!

 

RATING:  9  Northern Italian dinners out of 10 for another fantastic mystery with just a touch of psychic thrown in to make it all the more interesting!

Jane, Stewardess of the Air Lines - a Goldsmith Book for Boys and Girls

Since I've been enjoying the books by Ruthe S. Wheeler (or Graham M. Dean, as has been alleged), I thought I'd go ahead and read another of her (his) books from back in the day.  While not part of any particular series, it is included in the "Books for Girls" published by Goldsmith, under which banner a number of series were published - the 2-book Janet Hardy series, the 4-book Penny Nichols series, the 2-book Peggy Stewart series, the 4-book Dorothy Dixon series, among a number of single titles.  I regret spending so many years thinking title published by Goldsmith, Saalfield, and Whitman were inferior in quality simply because the art and paper did not compare with the bigger publishers - I have discovered a number of really great books by these publishers, and this happens to be one of those!

Jane, Stewardess of the Air Lines was published back in 1934, some twelve years prior to the Patty O'Neal book published by Whitman (Patty O'Neal on the Airways), which also dealt with a stewardess - only the books are reversed.  In Patty O'Neal, a girl wanting to learn how to fly eventually becomes a stewardess, while in this book, a girl who becomes a stewardess gets a desire to learn how to fly!  No real mysteries in this story (well, unless you want to count the very brief episode in which an entire group of passengers, along with Jane herself, become violently ill after someone poisons their food); rather, this book is more about Jane's career as a stewardess and the many adventures she finds along the way - and boy, is this girl a magnet for trouble!

I think one of the most interesting aspects of this book is that when the story opens, Jane Cameron and her best friend, Sue Hawley, are attending their graduation from Good Samaritan hospital in University City, where they are both receiving their nursing diplomas.  It is after the graduation ceremony that they are informed by the supervisor of nurses that Federated Airways is looking for girls to serve as stewardesses on their flights, a new service being offered.  I never thought of nurses moving into the field of flight attendants (or stewardesses as they were referred to back then, since it was only women who served in those roles); however, some research revealed that way back in 193e0, a registered nurse by the name of Ellen Church is the one credited with convincing Boeing that having nurses aboard their flights would be of great assistance to passengers, and Boeing agreed - hiring female nurses at a salary of $125 per month (Commercial Flight in the 1930s).  Wheeler must have been aware of this salary, because in this book, Jane and Sue are offered $125 per month in their new positions with Federated Airways (p. 52).   That's not exactly an extravagant salary, considering that in today's money, that would equate to only $2,894.83 per month!  According to the research, the height and weight requirements of 5'4" or shorter and 118 lbs or lighter also coincides with the requirements Wheeler writes into her story (p. 19).

With regard to the story, Jane and Sue find themselves in one tight spot after another without any break!  On their first training flight with several other stewardesses-in-training, the plane they are on crashes, and the girls are forced to help their teacher rescue the pilot and co-pilot before the plane explodes!  From there, Jane gets called to assist an extremely wealthy woman as a private stewardess in her cross-country flight to see her ailing son in New York.  Before you know it, aerial bandits are forcing the plane down to take Mrs. Van Verity Vanness (gotta love that name!) for ransom!  They manage to evade the bandits, and Jane is rewarded not once, but twice - first, with a check for $500 from a newspaper who wants an exclusive story of the plane's bout with the bandits (p. 139), which was definitely no small sum back in the day, the value of which today would be more than $11,000; and second, with a $1,000 bonus (p. 142) from Ms. Vanness herself - which would have been a HUGE bonus for the day, as such amount would be worth $23,308.36 in today's money!  Off that one incident, Jane certainly got rich!  Oh, and that reporter from the newspaper who got the exclusive - her name was "Ruthe" Harrigan (p. 139).

Wheeler does not provide her heroine a time to rest, for before you know it, Jane ends up taking on the role of a stunt pilot (she had been taking lessons from a rather handsome pilot who was showing her favor and attention) in a movie being filmed at the Federated Airways airfield in Cheyenne - a role that nearly costs her her life when the plane does not function as it goes flying towards the ground!  Jane jumps out and parachutes to safety as the planes crashes in a ball of fire and metal, all while being filmed (making it the best crash scene filmed by the camera crew!).  From here, Penny and her teacher are called upon to travel to a remote town to deliver some much needed medicine for sick children during a turbulent storm, and, of course, the plane is forced down - but they make it out alive, just in time to get the medicine to the children, saving their lives.  And without time to blink, Jane then heads off on yet another flight, on which a child movie star and his mother are aboard - along with two unsavory men who end up hijacking the plane and taking the child, his mother, and Jane hostage!  But Jane manages to outwit them, using their own sea plane as a means for her to escape with the star and his mother.

I think Jane says it best as the book ends, just one year after she and Sue become stewardesses:  "Jut think how much more can happen in the coming year," replied Jane, wondering vaguely what new adventure might be ahead of them.  Good grief, after everything they went through in just that one year, one would think the poor girl would want a break from it all!

The cover art depicts the scene from the first airplane crash in which Jane is involved, as she watches the plane go up in flames.  And I love how the cover art extends over onto the spine as well (with part of the burning wing and one of the young stewardesses running from the wreckage visible there). That same "Two Taylors" signature that adorned the covers of the Janet Hardy books appears here as well.  I would love to know just who that is....

This was a good read, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys vintage children's series books, even though it does not have any mystery element to it.   I'd call it more of a career girl / adventure story.

RATING:  9 prepared lunches of sandwiches and salads out of 10 for high-flying adventure and danger wrapped up in a wonderful story with a truly likable young heroine!

 

Janet Hardy in Radio City - Book Two of the Janet Hardy Series

So, after enjoying the first Janet Hardy novel so much, I did not want to wait long to read the second book in this series.  Interestingly, the copy of this second book that I have is larger and thicker than the first book.  My copy of Janet Hardy in Hollywood measures only 5" x 7.5", while my copy of this book measures a bit over 5.5" x 8".  Additionally, Hollywood is only a bit over one inch in thickness, while this book is nearly one-and-a-half inches thick.  The additional thickness is likely due to the heavier paper stock used for this book, as I noticed the pages are nowhere near as thin and brittle as the first book.  Both have a copyright of 1935, so I honestly don't know if one is an earlier printing than the other, or if all copies of these books were printed in these different formats.  Regardless, the dust jacket contains the same cover art, with the same description of the series on the inside front flap.  And this second book picks up literally right where Hollywood left off...

Janet Hardy in Radio City opens with Janet and her best friend, Helen, getting ready for their next acting gig - another western filmed by Billy Fenstow and starring Curt Newsome. Author Ruthe S. Wheeler (who, it has been suggested, is actually a pseudonym used by Graham M. Dean) manages to get in a recap of the previous book in the first chapter, giving new readers a quick review of how the girls came to be in Hollywood and the adventures they had filming their first movie.  Interestingly, this book follows the same pattern as the first book with regard to how the story advances.

The first half of the book is spent in Hollywood, with the girls starring in the new film, Water Hole, which is being filmed on location at a secluded ranch.  The film crew and cast get on a bus (hmmm, if you've read the first book, perhaps you can see where this might be heading) and head out to the desert to film the movie.  Oddly enough, when the film is near completion, Janet and Helen's nemesis from back home, Cora Dean and her lackey, Margie Blake, show up at the ranch and manage to talk themselves into a bit part during the crowd scene at the end of the film.  They quickly leave, and it's a good thing they do - because when the film crew heads back to Hollywood on the bus, they have one mishap after another.  The bus breaks down; they get it fixed, and then it breaks down worse; then they discover there is a brush fire heading their way; and just when they get the bus fixed and head out, they have a flat tire!  By the time they make it back to the ranch, the fire is well on its way - and they once again hop onto the bus and head for higher ground.  They manage to find a stream with a bank nearby under which they can hide from the flaming onslaught.  It is a weary, damaged group that walk their way slowly back to the ranch, where all of the buildings have been burned to the ground - and just when they think all hope of help is gone, Helen's father shows up with a rescue team to help get the girls and the film crew back to Hollywood!  (And in case you missed the first book, there is a similar scenario in the first book where Janet, Helen, and their school friends are trapped on a bus in the middle of a deadly blizzard, and it is Janet's father who shows up in the nick of time - from the freezing cold of a blizzard to the deadly heat of a desert and fire!  And in both instances, buses were involved!)

The second half of the book follows Janet and Helen as they return home to not only register for college, which the plan to attend in the fall, but also to ready themselves for a ten-day trip to New York City, where they will join several other cast members of the film to promote the movie filmed in the last book over a radio broadcast.  The girls take a rather lengthy train trip (from their midwestern home town of Clarion - which, there is such a town in Iowa - through Chicago and on to Jersey City, before taking a ferry to New York City), and their arrival in the Big Apple is filled with awe as they take in the wonders of the skyscrapers and crowds.  Curt Newsom is there, and they meet the radio director, Ben Adolphi, as well as fellow radio star Rachel Nesbit, who thinks quite a bit of herself and takes an instant dislike to Janet.  (Again, this scenario seems very reminiscent of the second half of the first book!)  As with the previous book, the second act is where the mystery comes in, as someone steals a manuscript that Janet had been working on in her hotel room, and there is a suspicion that someone in the radio drama is intending to lead the movie's plot and ending in order to stop World Broadcasting Company from getting the rights to air this radio preview of the film.  Needless to say, Janet ends up in the thick of things, and she gets chloroformed (but not kidnapped this time, thankfully), there's another theft, a car chase, and an ultimate showdown with the culprits behind the sabotage, which results in Janet and Helen both being offered jobs at WBC as a writer and actress, respectively!

Despite the mystery not being central to the entire story, I still enjoyed reading this one as much as I did the first. Janet and Helen remain very likable characters, and even though the author follows the same format with both books, the stories are actually pretty engaging.  I became interested in knowing whether Janet and Helen would actually sign on with the studio and stay in Hollywood, or whether they would go home to pursue their college education.  And, yes, the saboteurs of the radio program are fairly obvious from the moment they are introduced, but it doesn't make the mystery any less exciting, as you find yourself rooting for Janet and Curt to stop the culprits before they get away with the manuscript and ruin the station's chance at getting the studio's contract.  My only wish is that Goldsmith had included internal illustrations, like nearly all of the other publishers did at the time, even if it was only a frontis piece.

With this, the adventures of Janet Hardy come to a close, as Goldsmith did not offer up any more books in this series.  I have to wonder if it was because sales were not high enough to warrant more, or if the author was simply not interested in writing more tales of these characters.  At this point, I suppose it doesn't matter, as no more Janet Hardy stories were publishers, and fans like me are left to cherish the two we do have.

RATING:  9 glowing masses of steel out of 10 for keeping these midwestern girls hopping from one coast to the other, and taking them from film to radio!

Flyin' Jenny - the collected strips

This is a collected edition I picked up on a complete lark.  I was in the Half-Price Bookstore in either Kentucky or Georgia (can't recall which at this point), and I happened to see this hanging in a plastic bag near the front counter.  I was curious as to whether this was some kind of magazine, or prose story, or a comic book, so I had the young lady behind the counter take it out so I could examine it.  Imagine my surprise to discover it was a collected edition of a newspaper strip from the late 1930s and early 1940s about a young woman flyer.  The price was definitely right, so I picked it up and brought it home, and I have finally sat down to give it a read.

Flyin' Jenny was a little known newspaper strip that ran from 1939 through 1946 (so I don't think this book collects all the published strips, although I could be wrong).  According to the introduction, the original creator, writer, and artist for the strip, Russell Keaton, graduated from flying school himself and obtained a pilot's license the same year this strip was first published.  Flyin' Jenny came out just two years after Amelia Earhart made her fateful flight, and as indicated in this book's introduction, the character was inspired by a real plane, the JN-40 World War I training plane affectionately referred to as the flying jenny (based on its call letters).  The young aviatrix who is the star of the strip is a blonde pilot who is not only a superstar at flying, but she also knows the mechanics of the planes she flies.  

The strip was distributed by the Bell Syndicate, and it ran both daily and Sunday strips, although the daily strip had a different ongoing storyline than the Sunday pages.  Researching the strip and its creator online, I discovered that while Keaton drew the strip from its inception until he fell in the mid-1940s, he gave up the writing chores to Frank Wead, and later, Glen Chaffin.  By 1942, Gladys Parker began drawing the strip, and ultimately Keaton's assistant, Marc Swayze took over the art until the strip ended in 1946 (a year after Keaton passed away at the age of 35 from acute leukemia).  The strips collected in this edition are all signed by Keaton, so I'm assuming these are the initial strips from 1930 until possible early 1940.  I wish Arcadia Publications, who printed this collection, would have collected more, as I would love to see where the strip and its characters went from here!

The art is magnificent.  I'm not sure, but I'm guessing Arcadia enlarged the panels for this publication, as there are only six panels per page, and they are considerably larger than a normal size panel you would see on the funny pages in the newspaper.  The line art, though, is magnificent - and while the characters themselves are a bit on the cartoony-side at times, the backgrounds are fleshed out nicely, and the aerial shots are amazing and spacious, giving the reader a real sense of being in the open air.  Jenny Dare herself is drawn as a beautiful blonde bombshell, despite her pants and leather jacket, and her hair style is a typical grown-out bob, with lots of voluminous curling at the bottom (sort of the same look Russell Tandy gave the original Nancy Drew on those early covers in the 1930s).  While Jenny does not have any boyfriends to speak of in these early strips, it's clear that the men admire her for her beauty and her brains!

The stories are fairly simple in the beginning.  The strip opens in this collection with Jenny getting hired by the Swiftwing Aero Fuel Coporation, at the insistence of its sales manager, Hoot Sasser.  He knows having a "Swiftwing Aero Girl" for the company will boost sales, and he's determined to play her up as the "Glamour Girl of the Air"!  Her first assignment, however, sends her to get a contract for the fuel company with Blackdart Airlines - run by a woman named Wanda Blackdart, who happens to hate Jenny.  Thus,she has to somehow prove herself in order to get that contract and keep her job - and that opportunity opens itself up when a mail plane goes down, putting the delivery behind schedule, which would be a black mark on Blackdart's record.  So, Jenny goes, grabs the mail, and gets it back in record time to save the company's record, much to the gratitude of Wanda's father, who owns the airline, and who immediately signs the contract with Swiftwing!

This leads directly into the second storyline, as the man who was competing for the contract is fired, and his position is given to a woman named Dolly Flash.  Dolly is determined to prove she is better than Jenny, so she challenges her to a cross-country race (can you see a pattern developing of strong female characters being threatened by Jenny's success?).  But both woman face problems when the man Dolly replaced suddenly throws himself into the race with the goal of showing up both of them.   Jenny has a pretty good lead, until she sees a smoke signal and lands to discovery a downed pilot who is injured and needs help.  Despite knowing it will lose her the race, she aids the man, getting him back to the final landing place well after Dolly has arrived.  But news of Jenny's rescue travels fast, and she soon becomes the object of the news reporters, who see her as a hero.  

Unfortunately, the head manager at Swiftwing doesn't see it that way, as he fires Jenny for not winning the race - only to rehire her shortly thereafter, when it turns out the man she rescued is the son of Swiftwing's biggest shareholder!  This takes readers into the third storyline, in which Jenny is sent to a boat service between Shark Island and the mainland to discover why their planes are having trouble after using Swiftwing gas.  This turns out to be the most interesting - and dangerous! - stories thus far.  Jenny discovers there is sabotage, but her nosing around puts her in the crosshairs of the saboteurs, who end up kidnapping her and are prepared to kill her - when one of the saboteurs discovers the other is actually a member of the Fifth Column Legion!  "I'm a crook but I ain't lost my patriotism! He can't pick on my country!" the man says about his co-kidnapper.  Thus, Jenny gets aid from an unexpected source, and she ultimately brings both criminals to justice and saves Swiftwing's contract with the boat service at the same time,

It's a thoroughly enjoyable strip, and quite frankly, the character would have made a great children's series book protagonist, similar I suppose to Ruth Darrow, Airplane Girl, Linda Carlton, Dorothy Dixon, or the Girl Flyers.

RATING:  10 samples of sugar-filled gas out of 10 for a high-flying adventure strip with a plucky female flyer who should never fade into obscurity!