Peyton Place - the Explosive Best Seller of a Respectable New England Town

Growing up, I can remember hearing my mom and some of her friends mention or talk about Peyton Place.  The only thing I ever really knew about it was that it was a soap opera and that Ryan O'Neal starred in it when he was young.  I never paid much attention, although I was admit I was surprised when I found out the television show was based on a movie of the same name.  It was not until many, many, MANY years later that I discovered that not only was the television show based on the film, but the film was based on a novel by Grace Metalious.  Well, wouldn't you know it, a couple of years ago while on vacation, I happened across the novel, Peyton Place, as well as its sequel, Return to Peyton Place, in a thrift store.  Being curious, I picked them up, and finally got around to reading the original story this month.  

"...Peyton Place, the best-seller about small town U.S.A. which has been damned and banned--and hailed as 'one of the most extraordinary literary discoveries of recent years'" reads the blurb on the back of the book.  The copy I purchased is a Dell Publishing Company edition, first published in September 1957, the year after its original release.  Now, with a blurb like that, I was curious about what could possibly be so controversial about a book written in the 1950s that would have caused it to be banned.  I mean, after all, they made it into a feature film in 1957 and eventually into a television series that ran for five years (1964-69).  Thus, I went into the book expecting it to be a typical romantic, soap-opera style drama with perhaps some unfaithful spouses or maybe even an abortion or two that would be considered scandalous at the time.  Boy, was I in for a shocking surprise!

Although written in the mid-1950s, the story actually takes place in 1939 through the mid-1940s.  There are a number of characters in the book, so it's hard to pinpoint exactly who the main character is supposed to be, but if I had to guess, I would say that Allison MacKenzie, a middle-schooler getting ready to make the move into high school as the book opens, is the protagonist of the story, although the author definitely delves into the lives of many other characters in the town of Peyton Place.  

Metalious opens the book very cautiously, endearing the reader to her small-town setting, with Indian summer leading the townspeople into a false sense of serenity before the hard winter hits.  There's the typical group of old men in the town square, who are probably bigger gossips than any of the local housewives.  There's the old doctor who still makes housecalls.  There's the wealthy man who runs the mill (and basically runs the town).  There's the spinster school teacher who wonders if she is reaching any of the students she teaches.  There's the family who live over in one of the shacks, where only the poor and degenerates live.  There's the single mom (Allison's mother, Constance) who is doing her best to raise a child on her own while running her own thrift store.  There's the town drunk, who manages to waste all the money he makes on alcohol, leaving his wife and two kids to suffer.  There's the young lawyer in town who wants to do what's right.  And there are a crew of teens and pre-teens who are eager to enter adulthood, discovering things about themselves and the opposite sex that lead them down the path of temptation and desire...

All of that seems pretty tame, especially by today's standards.  Well, just like Metalious's opening to the book provides a false sense of calm, so does the book provide the reader with a false sense of normalcy.  It isn't long after the story opens that readers discover Constance is keeping a huge secret from her daughter (and the whole town!) regarding Allison's father.  It is also revealed that Allison's friend, Selena, must deal with an abusive step-father and protect her younger brother, since their mother seems to be unable and unwilling to prevent her father's drunken outrages.  One night changes everything for both girls when Selena is raped by her own step-father while Allison watches from outside the shack where the Cross family lives.  She ends up pregnant, and with no one to turn to, she runs to the town doctor, who, upon finding out who put her in this condition, does the unthinkable (and illegal) act of aborting the child.  It's a secret they keep between them, but one that comes back to haunt them both before the end of the book...

Then there's the introduction of Michael Rossi, the school's new principal.  He takes an immediate liking to Constance MacKenzie, but eventually, that relationship leads to trouble between Constance and Allison, and the truth about Allison's father comes to light, forever changing that family dynamic.  There's also the mill owner's son, Rodney Harrington, who has never been held responsible for anything and fancies himself a ladies' man - but all the while, he is hiding the truth of his own virginity.  When he finally does get the chance to bring truth to all his lies, it's a road that leads to his own destruction, which begins the downfall of his father and his hold over Peyton Place.  The town is just chock full of people with secrets, from the Page sisters and their hatred of their late brother's widow to the woman everyone deems a witch who likes to watch through a hole in the shrubbery as her neighbors go at it to the town drunk who locks himself and three other men in a basement for weeks while they drink themselves into a stupor to the young girl who gets her arm mangled and torn right off in a faulty carnival ride to a shack-dwelling mother who hangs herself in Allison's closet to the young girl who kills her own step-father rather violently rather than let him lay one more finger on her.   Peyton Place may seem idyllic on the outside, but it's blacker than the most sinful soul once you start peeling away its layers...

And we must not forget poor little Norman Page.  This boy is quite an odd character in this book (which says a lot, considering the nature of many of these characters).  Introduced in the second chapter as "Little Norman Page," he is depicted as a fairly pathetic young boy, unable to defend himself.  He is later shown to be a mama's boy, to the extreme that it is revealed he enjoys having his mother give him enemas, and much later, the reader learns his mother continued to breast-feed him until he was four years old (with rumors she still fed him that way on occasion now).  There is a scene at the end of chapter 17 of Book One (the book is divided into three "books") that truly defines Norman's relationship with his mother - one of complete and utter co-dependency, with one unable to live without the other.  Reading this, it made me think of Norman Bates' relationship with his mother in the film and novel, Pyscho.  Turns out Psycho, written by Robert Bloch, was published in 1959, three years after this book came out.  Leaves one to wonder if perhaps Bloch got inspiration for his character from little Norman Page...

This book definitely features a lot of racy content for a book published in the mid-1950s!  By today's standards, it's probably not all that sensational.  Despite this, I definitely got caught up in the lives of these characters, and I found myself rooting for some and anxiously waiting for others to get their just desserts!  But I do wonder just how much of the book actually made it into the film, and what parts were removed or toned down for the film and later television series.  I see the two films and most of the television series are available on DVD on Amazon, so I'm thinking I need to purchase those and find out!

RATING:  9 goldenrod-filled clearings out of 10 for a tale of small town America fraught with every possible soap opera trope one can imagine, and then some!

Ghost Gables - a Mystery Story for Girls

A gable, according to Wikipedia, "is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches."  Basically, it is the portion of a wall that is just below the point where the roof edges meet at the top.  Gothic and classical Greek styles of architecture used sharp gable roofs in their designs.  In America, houses with gables in the front were popular between the early 19th century into the early part of the 20th century.  Now, with that bit of information fresh on your mind, we can take a look at second of the last two books Mildred Wirt (Benson) wrote in her Mystery Stories for Girls series.  As with The Painted Shield, this book was published first by Cupples & Leon and later reprinted by The World Publishing Company in their line of World Junior Library books.

Ghost Gables utilizes a number of tropes common to children's series books - a ghost, a locked room, an abandoned house, a family separated, and a secret "treasure."  Wirt definitely goes all out with this story, and as with most of her Mystery Stories for Girls, there is more than one protagonist. Readers are first introduced to Lois McDonald, a senior in high school whose family lives in Big Bear River not far from Ardmore College.  Across the river is a house that has stood abandoned for as many years as Lois can remember - but someone is moving in to the old house, and Lois is thrilled at the idea.  Soon enough, Lois (and readers) meet Glenna Brockman, a young girl ready to begin her freshman year at Ardmore.  Glenna has rented the property with the hopes of turning it into a boarding house and earn money to pay her way through college.  Lois warns her this may not be easy, since the house comes with its very own ghost!

Thus begins the mystery, as Lois jumps in to help Glenna get the house cleaned up and ready for boarders, more out of curiosity to see the inside of the house than anything else.  Neither truly believe in ghosts, so they are soon able to get four boarders, all of whom are also freshman.  During the exploration of the house, however, Lois and Glenna come across a locked room on the second floor for which Glenna has no key.  The realtor tells them the owner of the house does not wish anyone in that room, and they are told to stay out.  Well, this only makes Lois more determined than ever to get into that room.  There's also the mysterious painting in the first floor library which goes missing not long after Glenna opens the house to boarders.  And there's the nosy neighbor who seems intent on causing problems for Glenna, complaining about the noise, her dog, and anything else that could potentially make Glenna want to leave.  Oh, and we can't forget that pesky ghost that is seen briefly from the windows now and again, walking through the gardens and heading off into the woods!

Wirt also gives the house a back story involving a family separated by a trail of misunderstandings.  It seems the owner of the house picked up and left just after the first World War started and never looked back.  Her heart broken by a son who picked up and joined the armed services and never returned, combined with her belief that the brother she trusted her encouraged her son to enlist, forced her to abandon her home to get as far away from the memories as she possibly could.  But Lois, who can't seem to let anything rest, believes there is more to the story, and despite the efforts of the nosy neighbor and a college professor who want to leave the past in the past, she persists in investing the history of the house and its owner.  Of course, as we can all easily expect, she ultimately unlocks the secrets to the past, discovers a shocking connection to events in the presents, and reunites a broken family.

Once again, Wirt integrates her love and knowledge of swimming into the story.  When two of the boarders capsize their canoe into the river (p. 42), Lois does not hesitate to jump in to save them.  "Lois dived feet first from the pier, because she was unfamiliar with the water depth, and with a smooth, unhurried crawl stroke, swam out toward the overturned canoe" (p. 44).  She even acknowledges that "[e]ven for a strong swimmer, it was not easy to carry another person seventy-five yards in the river, especially one who wore heavy clothing" (p. 44).  I suppose with her expert knowledge of swimming, it was easy for Wirt to write some kind of life-saving swimming scenario into each of her books.

Something else I found to be interesting in this story is the fact that Lois is described as being only fifteen years old, yet she is said to be a senior in high school (p. 4), and she tells Glenna that she will be attending Ardmore as a freshman the next year (p. 7).  From what I could find online, it seems back in the 1930s, it was common for high school students to graduate after completing their eleventh grade of schooling.  But even then, one would think Lois would have to be sixteen or even seventeen to complete her eleventh year.  Either Lois was exceptionally smart and jumped ahead a grade or two, or if perhaps she simply took extra classes to gain enough credits to graduate early (as I found some blogs online from people that talked about graduating at fifteen when they skipped some elementary grades and took extra credit classes to get ahead).  So, graduating at fifteen may not have been the norm, but apparently it wasn't unheard of either.

There are some "non-mystery" elements to the story, including Glenna's having to deal with the antics of one of her boarders who insists on consistently breaking the rules, and her having to ready house and manage the day-to-day activities of caring for boarders while trying to keep up with her school schedule.  But Wirt manages to balance those elements of the story nicely with the mystery elements, making it a fairly good read.  I also appreciate the fact that there is some character growth when it comes to Lois, who is first described very firmly as a tomboy, and acts as such throughout most of the book; however, when graduation time comes and she begins to prepare for life after high school, she suddenly becomes more aware of her appearance and manners!  Another way in which the freedom from Syndicate restrictions allowed Wirt to develop her characters, rather than continually writing cookie-cutter characters who maintain the same characteristics book after book after book.

Oh, and one last thing - one may notice a bit of a story resemblance with a book Wirt wrote five years later for the Syndicate, involving a musical score that is discovered and ends up being quite valuable!

RATING:  9 plump strawberries picked for shortcake out of 10 for an engaging story and rather unique revelation regarding the identity (or, perhaps I should say identities!) of the ghost!

Hardy Boys Adventures, Book 25 - The Smuggler's Legacy

As with Nancy Drew, so with the Hardy Boys - the twenty-fifth book in the Hardy Boys Adventures series is going to be the only one published this year.  Fans will have to wait until 2024 for the next adventure in this series to be published.  It still wouldn't surprise me at this point if Simon & Schuster wasn't planning to reboot both of these series yet again.  While I have no problem with once a year publications if the books were considerably longer and better written; but it still feels like S&S is simply phoning it in with these series, expecting them to sell on the familiarity of the name without any advertising, publicity, or the such to promote the books.  And while both series have had some actually pretty good plots, and while the Hardy Boys' series is honestly better written than the Nancy Drew series, neither of them have the quality that made so many children fans of the series back in the day.  There is definitely something to be said about the Stratemeyers' care for their series books back when they had the rights to them.

The Smuggler's Legacy is a fairly interesting read.  Frank and Joe are heading off to New York City with their fellow classmates in the Bayport High History Club to explore the museums and historical sites of the city, particularly those relating to the Jazz Age and Prohibition.  Of particular excitement for the kids is the visit to the Gilded Top Hat, a prohibition bar located behind a small grocery store that has been restored to its original glory.  The curator, Jennifer Hawking, is thrilled to show the group the museum, as it has been her life's work to discover as much as she can about the era and, in particular, about the Gilded Top Hat and its believed owners - Gino and Sal Facchini.  Their descendants still run the store that provides a "front" to the speakeasy.  As she leads the group through an underground tunnel, though, Frank has an accidental fall that reveals a hidden space in the wall that contains an old metal lockbox.  This, of course, turns out to be a huge find, as the weathered and yellowed documents inside reveals some long hidden secrets regarding the speakeasy and its owners!  The only problem is - someone is determined to keep those secrets from coming to light.

The boys, along with Charlene Vale (the classmate on which Frank is currently crushing), quickly find themselves digging into the mystery of who wants to silence Ms. Hawkings and destroy those documents.  First come the warnings, then come the vandalism, and ultimately, Ms. Hawkings is kidnapped.  The brothers find that a candidate for Mayor of New York City, one Trent Kensington, happens to be a descendant of the man who is now discovered to have owned the speakeasy back in the Prohibition era, and they believe he could be behind everything.  But how can they prove it?  Especially when the police who are investigating the case have made it absolutely clear that they do not want Frank and Joe anywhere near the case.  Plus, who are the men in black that seem to be following Frank and Joe everywhere they go?

Along with the mystery, which is actually really good, the ghostwriter for this book provides plenty of historical information about the Prohibition era and those who lived at that time (including some of the Jazz greats of the era).  Whether it be in the tours taken by the students, or in the research performed by Frank, Joe, and Charlene, the author provides quite a bit of history in this book (which, surprisingly, is 162 pages in length, which is one of the longer books in this series!).  It reminds me a bit of the books from the '70s, which seemed to always be filled with plenty of educational facts alongside the mysteries.

One thing that did bug me about this mystery is how much more Charlene did to investigate the crimes than Frank or Joe.  Quite honestly, had they replaced Charlene with Nancy Drew, it would have made more sense (and would have made a great Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys cross-over mystery!).  While I like the idea of Frank having a girlfriend (whatever happened to Callie), I feel that since this is a Hardy Boys book, the boys should actually be the ones doing the most detective work and figuring out the clues.  On the other side, a good thing about this book is the appearance of Chet Morton, who has not really appeared in too many of thee books since the reboot.  Plus, while they don't necessarily mention the title, they do make reference to the mystery they solved on the Mayhem Express (which was just two books prior).

The climax to this story is actually quite exciting, almost like something you would see on a television show, with timed bombs, huge explosions, tunnel cave-ins, and a daring escape.  The  amount of destruction is sizeable to say the least, and the fact that it occurs in an actual city (New York City) rather than a fictional city (such as Bayport or River Heights) is surprising.  But it does make for a great read, that's for sure.

Of the twenty-five books in this series, I would judge this one to be the best in terms of actual mystery and writing.  While it might not measure up exactly to the original series, it does rate much higher than the Nancy Drew Diaries series and higher than many of the books in this series.  Now, it's time to just sit back and wait a year for the next book to come out and see what it holds in store.

RATING:  8 bricks with warning messages attached out of 10 for providing readers with a mystery that is engaging, educational, and somewhat suspenseful.

Sara Lone - a Sumerian comics mini-series

It's pretty much a given that when I come across comic books with female protagonists published by independent comic book publishers, I'm going to pick them up.  I'm not sure if it's because I started reading Nancy Drew books at an early age and fell in love with the female sleuth, or if it's because from the moment I read my first comic book back in 1979 that I gravitated toward the female characters, such as Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, Ms. Marvel (the original), She-Hulk, and later, Huntress, Power Girl, Black Canary, Hellcat, Night Nurse, Ms. Tree, Somerset Holmes, and others.  Or maybe it simply because the male characters seem to always be much more prominent on book shelves and comic book racks that I wanted to see more of the lesser publicized characters.  Whatever the reason, I do enjoy reading a good story about a strong female lead.  Heck, that may even be why I love horror films (slasher flicks) so much, is because 99% of the time, it's a final girl who manages to one-up the killer and survive at the end!

Whatever the reason may be, Sara Lone definitely caught my attention when I came across it in the Previews some months back.  I picked it up, unaware it was actually a French comic book that has now been translated and published here in America.  The story center around Sara Lone (whose real name is Joy Carruthers), a young woman who, after a fight with her father, runs away to New Orleans, where she eventually becomes a burlesque dancer.  When her father's body is discovered buried at a beach in Texas, his head separated from his body, the police pay a visit to New Orleans to inform Sara.  From there, circumstances spiral, as Sara's boss makes a play for her, and Sara knocks him unconscious, taking some of his money and a box that seems to be important.  A fellow dancer takes advantage of the situation, stealing the rest of the money from the safe and killing the boss, framing Sara for the murder.  Before Sara can be charged with the crime, however, a government agent steps in and whisks her away, taking her under his wing.  Of course, his protection doesn't come without a price...

Erik Arnoux crafts a very intricate tale with a number of players, secrets, and entanglements.  Set in the early 1960s, at a time when John F. Kennedy is elected President, the story involves some very dark, behind-the-scenes events involving the Cuba missile crisis, Lee Harvey Oswald, and a plot to remove a President who refuses to follow orders.  At the same time, it involves a sunken ship, a stolen treasure, and a cursed idol; it involves the racism of the '60s and the misogyny of that period; and it involves a woman's desire to live her own life on her own terms. The art is beautifully rendered by David Morancho, with soft colors that belie the dark nature of the story.   

The four issues cover a period of nearly four years - from the election of John F. Kennedy to the assassination of the President.  And while the comic tells the story of Sara Lone, it also tells a (fictional?) behind-the-scenes story of the events leading up to Kennedy's death.  The players on this chess board are definitely far from the cardboard cut-outs one might normally see in a story like this - Sara is running from the law, dealing with the death of her father, handling the day-to-day business of her father's fishing business, searching for a long-lost treasure that could save the company and the livelihoods of her employees, and learning to adjust to a new life as a pawn in a covert government operation.  Plus, she has to deal with the startling secret she learns about the man who has been "protecting" her for the past four years.  Meanwhile, Rip Vandoorne thinks he is simply using a woman that is an expert with a gun, unaware that his higher-ups have their own agenda that might not quite mesh with his; he is unaware that Sara has discovered the secrets of his past; and he is unaware that his own ethics and morals will soon create a conflict between his job duties and his own personal code, leading up to a double-cross that could cost both him and Sara their lives.

It's definitely a complicated story, but most certainly an enjoyable one.  I had empathy for Sara and the life she has had to lead, and I grew to appreciate Rip and the job he was trying to do within the confines of his superiors' orders.  While nothing in the story changes the historical facts of what actually happened in the real world, it does give the reader a sense of what possibly could have been going on behind closed doors (and on park benches and in secluded warehouses) that led up to that tragic day in November 1963.  And while the story reaches a logical conclusion, there is certainly room for more stories about Sara, which I would love to see one day.  Whether that will happen or not is a whole other mystery...

RATING:  9 hot dogs with double pickles and extra cheese sauce out of 10 for telling an out-of-the-ordinary comic story with excellent writing and gorgeous visuals!

With a Spirit of Vengeance - the seventh Bay Island Psychic Mystery

I so love rejoining my favorite friends for a new mystery!  And that's exactly what author Lena Gregory has turned Cass, Bee, and Stephanie into - friends.  For the past six books, I have found myself completely invested in their lives, their ups and downs, their dangerous adventures, and their loyalty to one another.  Now, with the seventh book, I couldn't wait to find out what happens next (particularly since the author already made it clear that Bee really shines in this book, and let's face it - EVERYONE wants a friend like Bee!).

With a Spirit of Vengeance pretty much picks up where A Spirit Seeks Asylum left off.  After the events surrounding the Twin Forks asylum were put to rest, and after Cass helped the police solve a current day murder, while at the same time proving a spirit reaching out was innocent of the murders she was convicted of doing nearly a century ago, she thought that whole mess was behind her.  But it seems the spirit of Ophelia Wilson is not yet done with her. Cass's new assistant, Thea Newburgh, is still being plagued by nightmares, and since the girl is a descendant of Ophelia, Cass is worried that Ophelia wants more than just vindication - she wants vengeance against the people who wronged her.  The only problem is, those people would be long dead.  And wouldn't you know it, just as Cass and Bee start to look into the lineage of Ophelia Wilson, another of her descendants turns up dead, his body discovered by Cass and Bee.  Did their investigation put a target on his back?  Before long, a second body turns up, and Cass knows that she has to find out what exactly Ophelia really wants - if it really is Ophelia at all!

Gregory spins another great mystery that involves spirits of the past as well as a vicious killer of the present, and all of it is tied into the new Paranormal Pursuits outfit that not only wants to prevent Twin Forks from being torn down, but they also plan to compete with Simone Carlson, the psychic who is starting up a new ghost tour business on Bay Island.  As usual, there are a number of players involved, and plenty of motives to go around, and it's up to Cass and Bee to figure it all out before a third body turns up.  Along the way, Bee gets set up to take the fall for the second murder, and Cass discovers that her house has been bugged, and the closer they get to uncovering the truth, the more dangerous the killer becomes.  And just what secrets does Ophelia Wilson's journal hold, and why does it seem like everyone wants to get ahold of that little book?  Gregory throws in a couple of great twists (she definitely got me, because there was a clue dropped that I thought hinted at the identity of the killer, only to find out later that is was pure coincidence and nothing but a red herring!) and provides a very suspenseful conclusion that will have readers on the edge of their seats!

Bee truly does shine brilliantly in this book.  Not only is he there for Cass in some dire situations (page 141 is probably one of the best scenes of the series, which gives a perfect example of Bee's prowess!), but he works overtime in this book to overcome his fear of all things spiritual.  And while Stephanie does not play a large part in the book, it is absolutely touching to see how she is handling her newly adopted son, who is on the spectrum and is quite the little handful.  Gregory keeps readers up to date on the personal lives of the characters while still telling an amazingly well-plotted mystery.  This is why I feel like Cass, Bee, and Stephanie are friends - their lives are just as much a part of the mysteries as the murder mysteries themselves!  We get treated to more of Beast, and there is some developments in Cass and Luke's relationship that die-hard fans of this series are not going to want to miss.  The only thing I'm still waiting to see is for Bee to finally find someone - I mean, after all, Stephanie has a husband, Cass is dating Luke, but poor Bee remains single.  Guess we will have to wait and see what future books hold in store.

And speaking of future books ... there's nothing listed on Amazon or the author's pages, so I hope and pray this is NOT the last Bay Island Psychic Mystery.  This series is a true gem, and I want to read many more adventures of my three friends here!

RATING:  10 containers of left-over barbecue out of 10 for keeping the stories fresh, the characters real, and the mysteries exciting!

The Painted Shield - a Mystery Story for Girls

So, moving on to yet another of the Mystery Stories for Girls written by Mildred Wirt, we come to The Painted Shield, published in 1939.  This is another stand-alone mystery that Wirt wrote for Cupples & Leon, which was republished by The World Publishing Company for their line of World Junior Library.  According to Geoffrey Lapin's Bibliography of Wirt's published works, this and Ghost Gables were the last two books in her "Mystery Stories for Girls" series, both being published in 1939.  This is not to say she did not write other books, but they do not appear to have been published under the "Mystery Stories for Girls" series.  (I'm still missing The Hollow Wall Mystery to complete my set of this series, but I figure sooner or later I'll come across a dust jacketed copy that I can afford!)

The Painted Shield, like The Twin Ring Mystery that I recently read, features more than one protagonist.  In this book, it is Frances Wayne Kellog and her younger brother, Benny.  Frances is said to be fifteen-years old, while Benny is only thirteen ("Almost fourteen," Benny quickly corrects his father - p. 7), so they are a bit younger than the regular sleuths in the children's mystery stories of that day (remember - Nancy Drew was sixteen, later eighteen).  The young sleuths' parents are also featured in the story, as Frances and Benny travel with them to Texas to inspect a property that an old friend of Mr. Kellog's has been instructed to sell - but Mr. Leigh (the old friend) received an anonymous communication urging him to check on the property.  Mr. Leigh advises the owner lives in Mexico, and the property has a rather strange history - having been built by the widow of a disgraced military man.  The Calverton Place has remained abandoned, and the descendant of the original builder is ready to sell the property.  Mr. Leigh is somewhat reluctant to have his business partner, Sidney Harmond handle it, so Mr, Kellog agrees, even though it means the family will be utilizing their planned vacation time for the trip.  Of course, for Frances and Benny, this turns out to be the most adventurous vacation they could have ever dreamed of!

While the mystery definitely surrounds the strange house known as Calverton Place (an octagonal shaped house, built after a fort down in Mexico), Frances also suspects there is a mystery surrounding a young girl she sees at a gas station traveling with Mexican husband-and-wife, as well as a well-dressed gentleman who does not appear to be very kind.  Frances sees the girl is upset, but when she asks if there is anything she can do to help, she is quickly rebuffed.  As one may suspect, this is not the last the reader will see of this young girl and her traveling companions.  Soon enough, Frances, Benny, and their parents arrived at Calverton Place (after dark, of course) and discover that someone has been in the house!  Not only that, but Mr. Kellog find a revolver in one of the upstairs rooms!  Before you know it, Frances and Benny discover a small cottage on the grounds of the estate, and surprise! surprise! - the young girl and the Mexican husband-and-wife happen to be staying there!  Wouldn't you know it, as coincidence would have it, the young girl happens to be the daughter of the woman who owns the property and is trying to sell it.  Seems she is up here in Texas looking for her brother, who came weeks before to check on the property and was never heard from again.  The man who was with them turns out to have been Sidney Harmond, Mr. Leigh's business partner - talk about a small world after all!

At this point, with the mysteries merged, Wirt delves into the REAL mystery, which turns out to be a hidden treasure that could not only help free the Calvertons from the shadow under which they have been living for so many generations, but it would return lost historical treasures to the Mexican people.  Frances and Benny are more than willing to help young Lolita in finding both her brother and the treasure, and when Frances finds a piece of paper with a painted shield emblem on it, Lolita confirms the paper belongs to her brother and he was definitely in the house.  While Wirt plays on the whole "who can we trust?" scenario, leaving the young sleuths trying to figure out - can they trust Harmond?  Can they trust the Mexican couple?  Plus, there is the mysterious man in the woods, and there are the three bandits who seem to also be searching for the treasure.  And when Frances uncovers the final clue to the location of the treasure, it's a race against time as the Kellogs hire a driver to take Lolita back to Mexico (a trip on which Frances and Benny quickly join - now remember, she's only 15, and he's only 13, and Lolita is said to be their age - so this means Mr. Kellog hires a driver that he doesn't know to drive three young teenagers, completely unchaperoned, down into Mexico!  That's one trusting father!). 

An overturned vehicle, a climb up the side of a pyramid, a kidnapping at gunpoint, and a daring fight on the edge of the pyramid leads to an exciting climax.  I have to give Wirt credit, she definitely knows how to build up to a great final battle (so to speak), and manages to save the three teens without going too far out of the realm of believability.  And, interestingly enough, Wirt concludes the book with a jump in time, as the entire Kellog family has returned to Texas, while the Calvertons have come up from Mexico to see if their property holds one last secret...  (and no, I'm not going to spoil that part of the book - you'll have to read it yourself to find out what the final secret is!).

Something odd I found while reading the book - this was published in 1939, meaning Wirt wrote it in 1938 or early 1939 ... however, on page 37, when Frances finds the piece of paper in the octagonal house, she sees it has a date written on it:  12 julio de 1949 (which means July 12, 1949).  That date is ten years AFTER the book was written!  Yet Frances indicates the date was three months ago.  So, was this a simple editing error, or did Wirt perhaps think the book was not going to be published for another 10 years?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Another odd bit involves a trained monkey that has escaped its owner - the monkey, whose name is Cheta, happens to belong to Lolita, and after Frances and Benny find the monkey (or rather, it finds them!), they return it to Lolita.  The monkey does ultimately play a small part in the mystery, actually helping the young sleuths by keeping a criminal from getting his hands on an important clue - but what I found odd about the monkey bit is that two years later, Wirt used another escaped monkey in The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion, which was published in 1941.  This leaves one to question if Wirt intentionally utilized this same plot device, or if it was simply a coincidence (and we all know how these children's series books are full of coincidences!).

 

Final note - when the book was republished for the World Junior Library, new artwork was provided (for this one, as well as for Ghost Gables in a similar style with a purple border above and below the cover art).   It's funny that the the new covers for this and Ghost Gables were similar, featuring the two main characters pointing in shock at a house (or ghost, as the case may be) in the distant background).

Overall, this was another fun read. It's a real shame that Wirt never did anything further with these characters from her Mystery Stories for Girls series, as some of them are rather likable!

RATING:  8 folded sheets of heavy paper, yellow with age out of 10 for a treasure-hunting adventure of the mysterious kind with some very dangerous villains and some very determined young sleuths!

The Virginia Mysteries, Book 10 - Pirates on the Bay

After the last book in this series went overboard with what felt like the author trying to make a political statement and join the bandwagon of far left, liberal wokeness, completely losing any element of mystery to the book, I had pretty much decided I was done with The Virginia Mysteries.  Up until that book, the stories had been very good, the mysteries fun as well as educational, and the characters had been slowly growing and evolving.  But book nine in the series was a total step away from what made this series so good, and I was afraid Steven K. Smith had lost sight of what these books are.  So, I let book ten sit in my Amazon want list for ages.  I eventually, though, decided I kind of liked the pirate theme of this book, so I decided to give it a shot (figuring if it continued the ideology of the previous book, then I would simply end it with this one).  Now, I'm glad I bought it.

Pirates on the Bay returns Sam, Caitlin, and Derek to their roots - solving mysteries!  This time, though, it's the mystery of a pirate's treasure that is believed to have been left by the infamous Blackbeard on a small island off the coast of Virginia.  While on vacation at Virginia Beach, the trio of sleuths learn from the boys' father that legend has it Blackbeard had buried some of his treasure somewhere in that area.  Derek is all excited at the thought of treasure, but Sam is not sure he believes there is any.  And then they meet One-Eyed Jack.  After helping the man after he is harassed by some local kids, the wanna-be pirate tells the three youngsters the story of Edward Treach, otherwise known as Blackbeard.  It's a great story, but they wonder if that is all it is.  Until Jack gives them a map - one that he says will lead them to the hiding place of Blackbeard's buried treasure!

Treasure hunts are always fun, and this book is no exception.  Smith manages to keep the reader in suspense all the way through - is there a treasure? where is the treasure?  what is the treasure?  And this book gives readers a whole new look at the characters - Derek suddenly takes centerstage, as he is the one intent on finding the treasure, and he'll stop at nothing to get to it - even if it means disobeying his parents and even breaking a few laws (such as sneaking into a military training center, "borrowing" a boat [a/k/a stealing!]).  Caitlin seems to be a bit more adventurous in this book; while she's still a know-it-all, with an encyclopedic mind full of knowledge, she has relaxed her uptightness a bit and is willing to go along with some of Derek's more outlandish plans.  And Sam ... poor Sam ... he appears to have regressed a bit in this book - or perhaps it's just all of the adventures that have come before are making him more timid.  In this adventure, Sam is afraid of lighthouse stairs ... afraid of dark caves ... afraid of tight places ... afraid of shark-infested waters.  In fact, he spends a good portion of the book afraid of something!

The fact that the Jacksons and the Murphys happen to have rented yurts just down the beach from a military training site had me wondering if perhaps the mystery might actually involve the military - but thankfully, that was not the case.  Although the training site and the military do have some importance to the story, Smith manages to keep the focus on Blackbeard's treasure.  And, as with all of the prior books, along the way, he slips in plenty of factual history about Virginia and its past.

The villain of this tale is not really hard to spot at all, and perhaps Smith intended it that way.  His name (SPOILER ALERT!) is Mike Prince, which sounds oddly a lot like "Mike Pence," and it left me wondering if the similarity was intentional on the author's part (particularly after the political leanings of the last book).  But I let it go and just enjoyed the ride as I followed the kids on their hunt.  And I give Smith credit for keeping the three youngsters true to form, because even when Prince threatens them, they don't hesitate to help him when he gets hurt.

The one thing I found a bit disappointing is that the story ends without some resolution as to the trouble Sam, Derek, and Caitlin face once they are rescued and returned to their parents.  I mean, let's face it - they do some incredibly illegal things in this book - trespassing, destruction of property, theft, and not to mention the amount of lies they tell their parents so they can sneak off and go treasure hunting.  But there is no payoff, so I'm hoping it will at least get a mention in the next book, because I can't imagine Smith leaving his young readers to think that they can do all of these things and get away without any punishment at all!

Overall, this as a refreshing tale of mystery and treasure hunting, and an enjoyable read.  Definitely brings me back into the series, and I look forward to book 11.

RATING:  7 crusty chain necklaces with oval lockets out of 10 for returning the series to its roots and putting the kids in some truly dangerous adventures!