Greenbacks in the Green Mountains: Trixie Belden #22- "The Mystery at Mead's Mountain"

Forgive my fan-girly squealing. This is one of my favorite Trixie books of all time. Definite top 5. Maybe even top 3. I love it to pieces. It has a great location, an interesting mystery, in-character characters, and the right amounts of danger! and intrigue! During this re-reading, I noticed something I had never realized before. The remote location and cast of characters makes this story feel like an old-fashioned whodunit. Even the cover is good and accurate, right down to the color of the Bob-White’s sweaters. Let us rejoice in the re-telling.

It’s Christmastime, but all is not merry and bright for the Bob-Whites. The insurance payment on the Bob-White station wagon is due at the first of the year, and they are out of cash. In a profitable coincidence, Mr. Wheeler is in need of some “spirited young people” to check out a small ski resort in Vermont he is thinking about buying. He wants to turn it into a natural recreation area. He hires the Bob-Whites to inspect the resort and give him detailed reports on what they liked, what they disliked, and ways to improve the resort. They leave two days after Christmas and will stay for a whole week. Nice.

Oh, there’s a ghost, too. The resort is located on Mead’s Mountain, named for a cranky local trapper who tried to stop the settlement of the area. He was eventually hanged in the town square. Some think his long white-haired ghost haunts the area near the resort.

The Bob-Whites travel in-style in Mr. Wheeler’s private jet. The arrive in Groverville just in time for a snow storm. As Miss Trask is driving to Mead’s Mountain, Trixie thinks she sees a white-haired man out walking through the snow in the woods. The others say it was just her imagination, but Trixie isn’t so sure.

They arrive at the resort without further incident. I feel the need to introduce the cast of characters who are staying or working at the resort, because they will all play a role in the story.

Pat and Katie O’Brien- married couple who are the lodge’s caretakers. They have a mischievous but adorable four year-old daughter named Rosie. She and Bobby would get along well. Pat and Katie seem nice, and they obviously love Mead’s Mountain.

Linda and Wanda Fleming- twin sisters who run the lodge’s restaurant. They make very good food, and seem nice. Actually, everyone in this book seems nice, on the surface at least.

Jack Caridiff and Bert Mitchell- vacationing merchant marines. They seem out of place at a ski lodge, and they seem amused by the idea of teen-aged detectives. In fact, everyone at the lodge laughs at Trixie and Honey’s detecting aspirations. They will not be laughing long.

Eric- the lodge’s young and handsome ski instructor. He’s very good at his job, but he seems moody and tense at times. He and his mother were supposed to stay at the lodge for two weeks, but Eric showed up alone and looking for work. Suspicious, wouldn’t you say?

The Honeymooners- Exactly what it sounds like. A couple on their honeymoon. We don’t see much of them. They do baby-sit Rosie once during this book, which I find very mysterious. It wasn’t that many years ago when I was on my honeymoon, and baby-sitting was the last thing on my mind.

Strange happenings begin almost right away. Someone trashes the Bob-Whites suite and leaves a note saying “Leave my mountain now!” Signed T.L.M. Apparently Thomas Mead’s ghost can write. Someone locks the girls out of their room the next morning after they take an early morning swim.

Honey loses a valuable watch while the Bob-Whites are out at their first skiing lesson. She’s certain she left it on the dresser, but it’s gone when they get back. Wanda also mentions that a jar of quarters is missing from her room.

During their first skiing excursion, the Bob-Whites find an old cabin hidden back in the woods. Trixie is intrigued, of course, but the others laugh it off and laugh at her. Back at the lodge, Eric tells them the cabin is abandoned and rotted. Trix thought she saw smoke coming from it, but doesn’t say anything.

The next day is even crazier. Mart gets caught in an avalanche, but Super Jim and the rest of the gang manage to rescue him before he suffocates. Back at the lodge, the lights mysteriously go out just after dinner. Trixie, Honey, and Mart investigate and find another note lying next to the main breaker box. “Your life is in danger!” Mart is not amused, but Trixie asks him not to say anything. That night, she can’t sleep. Trixie steps out onto the balcony and overhears Eric below her, talking to someone whose voice she doesn’t recognize. She hears phrases like “The money looks good” and “search the woods.”

Trixie is determined to do some searching of her own the next day. She and Honey check out the cabin. Not only is it not abandoned, they find a grouchy old man living there. He’s not in the mood for visitors and he tells them to leave and never come back. Trixie notices that the blinds are shut and that the places smells like alcohol. The gang thinks he might be making alcohol, and dub him “Mr. Moonshine.” But being grumpy and making your own alcohol aren’t technically against the law. Trixie feels there is more going on, though.

Wanda and Linda invite the group to go to dinner in town that night, and Eric goes along with them. He ends up paying for dinner for everyone. Trixie wonders how he has that much money, and why he seems nervous after the meal.

On the way back from the restaurant, the van the Bob-Whites are riding in is almost crushed by a tree limb. A tree limb that has been sawed off! Another brush with death, another note. Trixie takes note of the boot prints near the tree. Since ghosts usually don’t use saws or wear boots, she figures all they have to do is find the person at the lodge whose boots match the prints and they will have their suspect.

Skiing the next day, the Bob-Whites see Mr. Moonshine skiing alone. He skis himself right into a tree, and the Bob-Whites give him first aid. Diana recognizes him as the famous but reclusive artist Carl Stevenson. She met his daughter Ellen Johnson at a benefit her parents hosted. This would explain his ink-stained hands and his not being a people person. Trix is a bit disappointed that he’s just an artist and not a criminal.

Back at the lodge, Katie tells the group that Rosie was the one who took Honey’s watch and Wanda’s quarters. Like a raccoon, Rosie is attracted to shiny things. She apologizes and all is forgiven. The mystery seems to be winding down, but Trix still wants to know who the ghost is and what Eric’s mysterious conversation was about.

As the Bob-Whites week at the lodge draws to a close, the mysterious happenings draw to a climax. Counterfeit bills are being passed in town, and Trixie thinks Mr. Moonshine may actually be Mr. Counterfeiter. She and Honey go back to the cabin, but this time Carl Stevenson drags them inside and locks the door. Instead of doing bad things to them, Carl starts lamenting about everything going wrong and wondering what to do now. He tells the girls that two people have kidnapped his daughter and are forcing him to make counterfeit bills for them before they will release her. Eric is Ellen’s son and Carl’s grandson. He knows what’s going on, and has been searing the woods for his mother. Carl can’t tell who the two people are; they always wear masks and are completely covered. One is short and one is tall. Two men, or maybe a man and a woman. They’re supposed to meet Carl at a nearby pond that night to make the final drop, and then they will tell him where Ellen is. Trixie and Honey promise to help and not to go to the police.

The girls are excited to get back and tell the boys what they found. But the boys aren’t buying it. Mart tells them that they just bought a sob story and let a counterfeiter get away. However, Jim says he will go with the girls to the pond tonight just to be sure. If no one shows up, they will go to the police.

Things go about like you’d expect at the pond. The bad guys show up driving Pat O’Brien’s truck. Trixie, Honey, and Jim are upset that he turns out to be a bad guy. Jim disables the truck and takes out the bad guy. How many has he knocked out at this point? I’m surprised he hasn’t broken his hand yet.

In true Scooby-Doo fashion, Trixie unmasks the villain, but he’s hiding behind a fake Pat O’Brian mask. No, not really, but it’s not who they think it is. Tall bad guy is Bert Mitchell, and the short one is Jack Cardiff. They are no longer doubting Trixie’s detective skills. Ellen is found in some nearby caves, and the Bob-Whites wrap everything up and return to the lodge in time to ring in the new year.

Last paragraph cheese (not too bad in this one): “Above the dark woods was the peak of Mead’s Mountain, gleaming in the moonlight. What a wonderful place to finish off a great year, she (Trixie) thought. I wonder what new places and mysteries this year will bring. If it’s anything like last year, what a very happy new year it will be, indeed!”

Merry Christmas from Brian's Jalopy!

Isn't that cool? It's a Trixie Belden Christmas Tree! I want! I found it here at Madonna's Mementos: http://www.madonnasmementos.com/Christmas.html You can order one for yourself, though I doubt it will get here before Christmas.

I want to thank everyone who has stopped by and checked out my blog over the past ten months. I hope you have enjoyed it. Please feel free to leave a comment on any of the posts; I love reading them! I've also joined Twitter and will be sending out blog updates there. Please follow me: http://twitter.com/briansjalopy Seriously. Please. I have no followers. I feel like a loser. Don't worry; it will be mostly blog updates. I won't spam you with daily tweets about what I had for breakfast or how often I changed my socks or anything.

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy and safe new year. I will be back in January with more recaps, new series, and of course, more Trixie! Thank you so much for your support. God bless!

Butlers Without Hats and Horses With Socks: Trixie Belden #26- "The Mystery of the Headless Horseman"

I’m so sorry for the delay. I started a new job, and then Christmas, so life got crazy for a bit (not that it still isn’t!)

I also apologize for the crappy quality of the cover pictures. I'm trying to take my own photos and not bootleg them whenever possible, but my camera refuses to take a good quality picture unless the flash is on. When the flash is on, I get a big glare spot in the middle of the photo. Grrr. Anyway...

I didn’t get this recap up in time for Halloween by a long shot, but it will still work. Despite the title, it’s not really a Halloween story. It does take place in the Fall, though. The Bob-Whites are planning a charity bazaar to benefit UNICEF. Everyone is excited, but Trixie is worried because Diana is avoiding her. She seems worried and preoccupied. The Bob-Whites are finally able to talk to her about it on the bus. Di explains that Harrison (the Lynches proper and uptight butler) is missing. He got a phone call the evening before and left suddenly, saying he would be back in an hour or so. But he never returned. Diana feels responsible because her parents are away and she wants the household to run smoothly. Plus, Harrison is supposed to oversee the bazaar tomorrow. It’s the mystery of the missing butler, and of course Trixie and the Bob-Whites spring into action. They immediately saddle the Wheeler horses and go looking for him. Regan says he saw Harrison last night, riding a bicycle along Glen Road.

The Bob-Whites split up when they get to the woods, and Honey and Trix find a trail of bike tires. They follow it to a little home set back in the forest. It always amazed me that Trixie and Honey (well Trixie at least) have lived in this area for years, yet they’re always stumbling across houses that they didn’t know were there. The place is called Sleepyside Hollow. They find Harrison’s bicycle propped against the front porch, and they find Harrison inside, locked in the cellar. He has a gash on his forehead and his cold and a little shaken up, but otherwise OK.

Harrison says he came to the house to feed the cat when the owner, Mrs. Rose Crandall, was called away. He says he fell down the stairs and hit his head, and the door locked behind him. Trixie is, of course, suspicious, because the basement door was bolted. Which would indicate either that someone else was in the house with Harrison, or that Mrs. Crandall has one clever and crafty cat. Trixie’s suspicion causes friction between her and Diana which continues throughout the book. Di says what Harrison was doing is really none of their business (and she’s kind of right, really), but you know Trix isn’t going to let it go.

At the Belden family dinner that night, the children tell their parents about the days events. Mr. Belden tells them about Rose Crandall’s husband, Jonathan. He was curator of the Sleepyside Museum until he died suddenly of a heart attack. Mr. Crandall had taken a priceless Ming vase home with him for safekeeping that same weekend, but he passed away and no one knew where he had put the vase. A lot of the townspeople thought he stole the vase, so his reputation became tarnished. Even Mr. Belden isn’t sure. Harrison was a good friend of Jonathan Crandall’s, though. Mr. Crandall was one who loved puzzles and games, and had also hidden his wife’s birthday present the same weekend. He gave her a clue (“It’s elementary”), but she never could find it.

That night, Trixie and Honey venture back to the house because they’re afraid they left the cat locked in the cellar. They bike back to Sleepyside Hollow after dark, where they see a figure all in black riding a horse near the house. A headless figure! The horse glides silently by, without even making the sound of hoof beats. Like he was wearing socks (would that really deaden the sound of hoof beats that much? Horses aren’t exactly lightweight.) Honey wants to leave (smart girl), but Trixie wants to investigate. But Mrs. Crandall is home, and she sees them and invites them in for cookies. I want to live in Sleepyside; every time the Bob-Whites end up at someone’s house unexpectedly, there are always fresh cookies waiting for them.

The girls talk to Mrs. Crandall about Harrison, and she tells them that she got a nasty phone call the night before. Someone called telling her that her sister had taken ill, so Rose rushed to the hospital. Her sister wasn’t ill, so it looks like someone was trying to lure her away from the house. The girls don’t say anything about the headless horseman.

The bazaar must go on, and Mrs. Trask agrees to head it up in Harrison’s absence. There is a nice scene for the ‘shippers of Jim and Trixie picking up donations, and Harrison’s derby hat (which was left behind in the Wheeler stables the night before). Di insisted that Jim bring it over. Trixie thinks Di is being bossy, but Jim suggests that maybe Trixie is used to being the boss and doesn’t like someone else taking over. Hee! Good call, Jim.

Trixie and Jim stop by the hospital to see Harrison. Someone steals the hat from the station wagon, which is odd because the wagon is full of much more valuable items than that. Trixie and Jim see a “mysterious” man and woman leaving Harrison’s room, but when they ask him, he says he has had no visitors. Trixie is upset that Harrison is lying to them again.

She is also upset later at the bazaar, when Mart says he told Di about Trixie’s suspicions. Di gives Trixie the GLARE and head toss of DOOM, so things are not well between them. Trixie wants to find the vase and clear Jonathan Crandall’s name, but pursuing the mystery will continue to cause friction between her and Diana. You know she’s not going to let it go, though.

Stuff happens…they keep seeing Harrison and his cronies around town, and around Sleepyside Hollow. Trix thinks they are looking for the vase as well. She and Honey end up hiding in a hayloft of an old barn, again, and they overhear Harrison and the man and woman talking about the vase. She’s more convinced than ever that Harrison is a thief, and this splits the whole Bob-White group into factions. Even Brian and Mart are on Di’s side. Dan suggests that the girls get together and do something girly like go shopping together to remember why they’re such good friends in the first place. Honey sets it up. Di and Trixie are cold to each other at first, but Honey loses it and tells them to grow up, basically. Honey rocks. Trixie agrees to let the business with Harrison go, and things are OK for a while. But then she sees one of Harrison’s accomplices on a bicycle and can’t let it go.

Di gets mad and takes Trixie and Honey to the Sleepyside Museum to settle things once and for all. The mysterious woman and man are both there. The woman is a museum lecturer, and the man is a guard. Di says they have been friends with Harrison for years. She is feeling good about winning, so she takes the girls up to a display of an Oriental jade figure that was donated by her family. When Di sees the statue, she gets very upset and runs out of the museum. Later, she tells the Bob-Whites that the statue in the museum is a fake. Harrison is the one who delivered it there, and now she believes Trixie that he is indeed a thief. She had been worried all along that Trixie was right (because, let’s face it, Trix is usually right about these things), and that’s why she was so upset.

The gang heads back to Sleepyside Hollow. Trixie thinks the vase is probably in the same hiding place as Mrs. Crandall’s birthday present. They go back to the barn, and Mart finds the Headless Horseman’s costume. It’s a cape on a wooden frame that is made to fit over the head, so the rider will look headless. Someone is definitely trying to scare Mrs. Crandall away so they can find the vase. The Bob-White head back to the house, because Trixie has finally figured out where the vase is hidden. Under one of Mr. Crandall’s grafted fruit trees. It has the letters LMN on it. Elementary? LMN tree? Get it? Harrison is at the house as well, and the Bob-Whites are about to attack, but Trixie stops them. Harrison and his buddies were only trying to find the vase to save Jonathan’s reputation. The real bad guy is the museum’s current curator, Alfred Dunham. He shows up with a gun, but the boys make quick work of him, with a little help from Reddy. Mr. Crandall’s name is cleared, Mrs. Crandall gets her last birthday present, and a thief is captured.

I’ve realized the last few lines of these books are usually incredibly cheesy, so I’m going to start closing my posts with them. This book ends thus:

“Not bad, Miss Sherlock,” Mart told her. “Not bad at all.”

Everyone laughed as Trixie chuckled and answered, “Why, it was elementary, my dear Mart!”

It's Two-Fer Tuesday- on Wednesday!

To make up for my absence last month, I present you with not one, but two quick reviews! I found both of these books at the library by chance. I had read them in the past but couldn't remember the title or author or anything. Serendipity rocks.





Free Fall by Joyce Sweeney is the story of four teen-aged boys who go to explore a cave. Neil is the oldest and the main character. Along for the ride are his younger brother David, David's best friend Terry, and Neil's best friend Randy. Of course, they get lost and trapped. No one has any idea where they are, so they have to survive and escape on their own.

This isn't just a story of survival. There's a huge load of emotional baggage that the boys bring into the cave with them, starting with the fact that none of the boys get along. Neil and David's little sister died a couple of years earlier when their house burned down. It's technically David's fault, but Neil blames himself and has shut David out. He also has never told his best friend about this (Randy moved to their town after the fire). I find it hard to believe that no one at school ever mentioned this to Randy, but whatever. Terry is a wuss, and Randy is sarcastic and mouthy. He and David both have hot tempers and muscular builds, and may just kill each other before this whole thing is over. Being trapped and possibly close to death, the boys are forced to come to terms with their issues and work together to survive.

There is action in the form of cave exploration, rattlesnakes, a climb that doesn't work out, and a daring escape. The emotional stuff is heavy- we're talking dead sisters, abusive fathers, divorce...This is also a story about teen-aged boys, and they act the part well. There is swearing up to and including the "F" word, bathroom humor, sex talk (but no actual sex), and fighting. this is not G-rated Trixie Belden stuff. I found Free Fall to be an effective and exciting enough story. And I'm a sucker for a story about siblings, so that was a plus. But again, this book is loaded with profanity, so consider yourself warned.


The second book I found is Murder at the Spaniel Show by Lynn Hall. It's pretty obscure, so I'm not going to bother with the cover art. Tabby is a teenager who works at Quintessence, a springer spaniel kennel in rural New York. The kennel is set to host a national springer spaniel show when things get wacky. Someone starts sending threatening notes to the Ted Quinn, the man set to judge the Best In Show competition. Ted is the twin brother of Turner Quinn, the blind owner of the kennel, and he has flown in all the way from England to judge.

Tabby is just the "kennel girl," but she manages to be right in the middle of everything that happens at Quintessence. No one is really sure if the threats are serious or just a sick prank, but Tabby grows increasingly anxious as the three days of the show wear on. She does manage to figure out who the culprit is, but it's too late. Sort of.

Lynn Hall has apparently written over 80 books, but I hope most of them are better than this one. Honestly, I found it a bit boring. I didn't feel like I really knew Tabby, other than she's slightly overweight and kind of sarcastic. There is a lot of information about dogs and dog shows here, but I still didn't get any sense of Tabby's "passion" for dogs. In hindsight, the culprit is pretty obvious, but I'm still not really sure what that person was trying to accomplish. To be fair, I may be expecting too much from a book that is geared towards grades 6-9.

OK, back to Trixie after this. Since Halloween is coming, I feel it only appropriate to read The Mystery of the Headless Horseman. I hope to have it up in a couple of weeks.

Unicycling Poachers: Trixie Belden #5- "The Mystery Off Glen Road"

I have to admit, I was dreading this re-read. This is a book I’ve never had much desire to go back to. I know it’s by the original author and a lot of fans love it and all. But I have a very low threshold for embarrassment, and Trixie has to do some really silly things to accomplish her goal in this book.

With that said, the book wasn’t quite as bad as I remember it, except for one scene. There is a great moment between Brian and Trixie; probably the best in the whole series. And, most importantly, it explains the title of this blog! So here we go.

It’s November, and a storm is brewing. A hurricane! Trixie and Honey are down at the Bob-Whites now-finished clubhouse, admiring their work. Trixie is worried that the storm might knock down one of the big trees surrounding the clubhouse and damage the roof. But there is no time to stand around and worry. Tom and Celia’s wedding and reception are in an hour. Is getting married during a hurricane good luck or bad luck? Seems like a sign of things to come. (just kidding- I love being married.) Sidenote- Celia’s gown is described as “lace over satin,” which sounds really pretty.

The wedding goes OK, but the storm does a lot of damage. Trixie’s worries come true; one of the tall spruce trees beats the clubhouse like a red-headed step-child. The roof is torn off, and the back wall is damaged. There is no money in the treasury to fix it. None of the Bob-Whites have any cash, except for Brian. He has saved fifty dollars to buy a used jalopy from Mr. Lytell. I looked up “jalopy” expecting to find a specific vehicle from the 50’s. But wikipedia says jalopy is just a term for an old, beat-up, piece of junk car. The book does say the car is in good condition and is a steal at fifty dollars. It is referred to as a Ford later on.

Because he is so honorable and noble, Brian insists on giving up his fifty dollars to fix the clubhouse. They can’t wait any longer because winter is almost here and the clubhouse won’t survive without a roof. Trixie suggests that the Bob-Whites work as gamekeepers for the Wheeler game preserve, since the old gamekeeper just quit. The Bob-Whites like the idea, but they still won’t have the money until after the first week, and by then the car will be gone. Mr. Lytell is only holding it until Saturday.

This is where things get wacky. Trixie comes up with an idea. She tells Honey that she can give the diamond ring that Jim gave her to Mr. Lytell as collateral to hold the car another week. By the end of the week, they will have the fifty dollars from the gamekeeper job and can buy the car for Brian. It’s a good idea, but her parents have put the ring in a safety deposit box at the bank. Honey says no one is going to believe she suddenly wants to wear a diamond ring, so she’s going to have to gradually start acting girly. Honey says she should fall in love- because that’s what makes girls suddenly change overnight. Her cousin Ben Riker is visiting for Thanksgiving, and Honey says he would be the perfect candidate. One problem- Trixie can’t stand him. But this is for Brian, so she will go along with the plan. I never understood this, even as a kid. Why not just tell her parents what she wants to do and have them get the ring? Trixie just says that she would never get permission (I guess because of the ring’s value), but I think she underestimates them. If I had a kid who wanted to do something that nice for their sibling, I would be really proud.

Anyway, Trixie starts fluttering around, moaning about dishpan hands and how Ben wouldn’t like it and all that. She comes down to dinner in a dress and starts dropping hints about how she should really have her nice ring to wear, to impress Ben. It’s really, really embarrassing, so I’m gonna skip over it. It eventually works, and Mr. Belden does get the ring for her.

The girls give the ring to Mr. Lytell, who agrees to hold the jalopy another week. They also get the game keeper job, so they start patrolling early mornings before school while the boys are busy working on the clubhouse.

Oh, yeah, there is a mystery in this book. The girls find strange footprints in the preserve. They see an older man in outdated clothing leaving Mr. Lytell’s store. And they find a deer carcass lying in the preserve. They think that the dogs (Reddy and Patch) ran it down and killed it. They agree not to say anything to the boys, because the dogs would undoubtedly be put down.

Honey gives Trixie a fake diamond ring to wear, since hers is at Mr. Lytell’s. Ben comes, and the girls convince Diana to capture his attention so that Trixie doesn’t really have to flirt with him. Because Diana is so beautiful that no boy can resist her, it works like a charm. Trixie sneaks off back to the place where she found the deer carcass and discovers it is gone! She also finds strange bike tire tracks. Single, like a unicycle, not double like a bicycle. How can she tell the difference? Wouldn’t they look the same? And why does her mind automatically go to “unicycle?” Wheelbarrow, hello? She and Honey have some funny conversations about an escaped circus performer, balancing on his unicycle while toting a deer carcass over his shoulders. Honey points out that circuses “aren’t insane asylums. People don’t escape from them.” Heh.

The boys...oh yeah, the boys tease the girls a lot in this book, as usual. They don’t like Ben either, and don’t really want Trixie with him. Jim is jealous and Brian is clueless, but Mart is suspicious. The girls tell him about the suspected poacher, and he agrees that they should keep investigating.

The day before Thanksgiving, Trixie and Honey go for an afternoon patrol. The horses bolt, and when they finally stop, they’re in a clearing with a cabin in it. Maybe the poacher lives here? Pretty brave of him, to live right in the middle of someone else’s land. Or the cabin could belong to a squatter. During all of this, Trixie loses the compass she was wearing. It belonged to Bobby, and that’s not good. She gets back home for the evening and Bobby insists that he needs the compass, so Trix has to confess that she lost it. This doesn’t go over well, as you can imagine. After the smoke clears, Mart tells Trixie he will lend Bobby his compass if she tells him why she wanted the ring. She does, and Mart is ecstatic. He says he and Honey will try to find the cabin tomorrow, while Trixie helps Moms get ready for their Thanksgiving open house.

Everything comes to a head Thanksgiving Day. Honey and Mart don’t find the cabin. Bobby finds Trixie’s (fake) ring and takes it, to get back at her for losing his compass. Then, Bobby disappears as well. The Bob-Whites initiate a frantic search. Trixie finally finds him up at The Robin (the trailer that now belongs to Tom and Celia, who are apparently taking a very very long honeymoon). He says the ring “sorta slipped down the drainpipe” in the sink. Bobby is upset, but Trix tells him it wasn’t real anyway. She explains about using the real ring as collateral for the car, and then hears someone behind her. It’s Brian, and he heard the whole thing. He gets kinda choked up, and there are warm fuzzies all around. Very nice scene.

Honey and Trixie wrap up the mystery of the poacher/squatter by finally getting back to the cabin the next day. It belongs to the man they saw at Mr. Lytell’s store earlier. His name is Maypenny, and his family has owned some land right in the middle of the preserve for years. He’s kind of a hermit, and he has permission to hunt and set snares for his food in the preserve. So there wasn’t really a mystery at all, and I kind of hate that in “mystery” books. The girls think Mr. Maypenny would be a perfect gamekeeper, and he agrees to take the job. He also helps the boys get the clubhouse fixed, just before the snow flies. The Belden parents find out about Trixie’s ring swap and they aren’t mad. Oh, and Mrs. Belden insists that Ben Riker is a nice boy, but “you can’t expect an only-child to be as well-adjusted as one with siblings.” This only child objects, Moms.

I will be on vacation the second week of September, so this blog will be on a little break. I should be back either at the end of September or beginning of October. I really am wowed by all the positive response so far. Please, if you have any comments, leave them- I would love to hear from you!

Jewel Quest: Trixie Belden #14- "The Mystery of the Emeralds

This is the type of story that seems to appear in every children's mystery series. It involves cleaning out the attic on a rainy day, old letters, the Civil War, the Underground Railroad, and the Old South. It's an interesting mystery, but the plot does hinge on one really HUGE coincidence that I find a bit hard to swallow.

The books opens with Trixie doing some kind of wish ritual that I had never heard of before. It involves saying "Rabbit, Rabbit" right before going to sleep and just after waking up. I don't know if it's real or if the author made this up. Of course, our girl wishes for another mystery.

It's summertime at Crabapple Farm. It is also raining, which makes it a perfect day to clean out the attic. Trixie and her mother are going through the mountains of old stuff that seem to multiply in every attic, looking for stuff for a White Elephant Sale, which is like a yard sale, I guess. Trix loses her balance and crashes through a wall, opening up a long-closed crawl space. She finds a old canteen that looks Civil War-Era, and they wonder if they could get anything for it at the White Elephant Sale. ?! 88Keys cringes at the thought of a real Civil War artifact being sold at a yard sale. Trixie also finds a letter in the pocket of some old clothes.

Trixie, Honey, and Jim read the letter before the Bob-White meeting that afternoon. I won't quote the whole thing, but it is from someone named Ruth and is written to her sister. Mrs. John Sunderland, Croton-on-Hudson. Ruth is in Virginia, at a place called "Rosewood Hall." Ruth writes of tensions between the North and South. She is sending one of their (freed) slaves north along the Underground Railroad with this letter. The letter also mentions an emerald necklace (still hidden at Rosewood Hall). There are instructions on how to find it hidden "in the place where we spent the last afternoon you were here."

The Bob-Whites mull over the letter during the meeting. Trixie is determined to try and find the necklace, even though it is apparently in another state. The others really defer to her in this book, and try to make sure she gets her way and shield her from all disappointment. Trix and Honey bike ride to Croton the next day, and find the only Sunderland listed in the phone book, a Miss Julie. She is very nice, but elderly and scatter-brained. Apparently Ruth was her aunt, and she did indeed go south to get married and never came back to New York. The girls tell her about the letter, and she gives them some old diaries of her father's to look through. She encourages them to try and find the necklace.

At Miss Julie's, the girls also meet Neil, a boy about their age who helps Miss Julie out. Trixie takes an instant dislike to him, just like she did to Dan. Neil seems suspicious of the girls as well. He has dropped out of school because he loves horses and wants to get a job on a ranch. He goes inside, and Trixie and Honey take the diaries and leave.

The diaries are pretty dull reading, but they do reveal that Rosewood is in Clivenden, Virginia. Trix is bummed, until Diana asks if Clivenden is anywhere near Williamsburg. Why yes, yes it is! In an amazing coincidence, Di says her parents are leaving the next day for Williamsburg and had wanted her to go with them, but she begged out of it. She says she will ask her parents if they will take all the Bob-Whites on the trip. Of course, they say yes, and that the trip will be her birthday present. And of course, the Beldens let their kids out of their chores, again. (Chronologically, this is their seventh trip in, like, a year, which you will see in future recaps.)

The group takes a quick tour of Washington and Williamsburg, but of course their minds are on getting to Clivenden. Trixie thinks she sees Neil on the way down, but isn't sure. Mr. Lynch lets Jim drive the group around while he and Mrs. Lynch are doing their business-type stuff. They meet Lizzie James at the post office, who directs them to Rosewood Hall. Unfortunately, all that's left is a ruin and some horses. An unfriendly man who says he owns the place makes them leave.

Just down the road they find another old plantation, and this one is intact. It's called "Green Trees," and is owned by Edgar Carver. Green Trees is set up like a little museum, with tours every Thursday. The Bob-Whites tell Mr. Carver about the letter, and he says Ruth was his grandmother. He did sell Rosewood Hall to Jenkins (the nasty man who ran them off), but he still owns Green Trees and the family burial ground. He gives the Bob-Whites permission to hunt for the necklace.

Jim and Trixie search the burial vault and find a locket with a picture of Ruth and a little piece of paper with further instructions. This is the place Ruth and her sister spent their last afternoon together? Creepy! Neil catches them and thinks they're robbing the grave. He and Jim fight, Jim wins, and Neil runs off. Trixie has a change of heart about him and thinks he might not be such a bad guy. I have no idea what brought this about; this is the guy she took an "instant dislike" to a few pages ago. She thinks he must have a gentle side, the way he took care of Miss Julie. But also that he is probably trying to find the emeralds, because why else would he have ended up in Virginia?

The instructions in the locket say to look in the secret passageway between the two homes, behind the brick marked with an "X." Is it a rule of fiction that every old home has to have a secret passageway? Mr. Carver isn't aware of any passage, but he lets the Bob-Whites look around.

The next day, the Bob-Whites find Mr. Carver out of his wheelchair, and with a nasty knock on his head. He doesn't remember what happened and thinks he just fell out of the chair. The Bob-Whites think someone (maybe Jenkins) attacked him. While future doctor Brian hones his bedside manner, Neil shows up and wants to talk to Trixie alone. He has been working for Jenkins on his horse farm, but he says Jenkins is cruel both to him and to the horses. He did tell Jenkins about the necklace, and they have been looking for it together. But now Neil wants to get away from him. Trixie says that the Bob-Whites will help him.

Mr. Carver is OK by the next day. His friend Ms. Bates brings by a copy of the plans for the house. Ms. Bates is kind of mouthy and jerky, so I won't talk about her much. Trixie notices that there is some extra space between two of the rooms. It's very clear on the blueprint, but apparently no one has noticed it for the last hundred years. Of course, it's a stairway to the secret tunnel connecting the two houses.

They don't find the brick right away, and Jenkins shows up on the final day to say that he has found the necklace. He brings it over to show them and offers to sell it to Mr. Carver, since it's in the family and all. The girls can tell right away that it's just junk jewelry, but they play along. Mr. Carver says he will think about it and Jenkins leaves.

Finally, Trixie and Jim find the marked brick in the tunnel. They can hear someone (Jenkins) digging on the other side of the wall. They get the brick out, and there is an old box behind it. The necklace! The group confronts Jenkins, who scrams. Mr. Carver says he will use the money from the necklace to have an operation that should allow him to walk again. Mr. Lynch is going to buy Rosewood Hall and restore it, and Neil will get the job of taking care of the horses. In the end, Trixie helps another poor orphan, makes the lame walk, and continues her jewel-finding streak. Not bad for a few days' work. Still, wasn't this supposed to be Diana's birthday trip, not Trixie's?

I'm really sorry for the delay on this. Summer is a busy time around here. I've even been canning tomatoes (just like Trixie!). We are going on vacation at the beginning of September, and I hope to have at least one more recap up before then.

"You've probably heard of it-The Last Frontier, all that stuff." Norman Tuttle on the Last Frontier

I found this book at a library sale for $1. It involved a teenaged boy growing up in Alaska with a fisherman for a father. Being the mildly obsessed Deadliest Catch fan that I am, I had to buy it.

Norman Tuttle on the Last Frontier is written by Tom Bodett. Yes, "I'm Tom Bodett, and we'll leave the light on for ya." That Tom Bodett. Norman Tuttle is a thirteen year-old boy growing up in Alaska in, well, I don't know when, but it's a fairly recent book. Norman is the oldest of five children, and yearning to be treated more like an adult and less like his younger siblings. His dad takes him for granted until he falls off of his fishing boat into the chilly Alaskan waters. Dad vows to treat him better after that, and their relationship does improve. Unfortunately, Norman gets his first girlfriend shortly after this, and it's all downhill from there.

Each chapter in the book is a short story, so you get these kind of snapshot views of a couple of years in Norman's life. It's that weird time between childhood and adulthood, where suddenly your friends aren't as cool as they used to be, but they're still preferable to your ancient parents. The giddy haze of first love, the gradual growing apart, the heartache after the relationship crashes and burns.... man, I don't miss those days.

Norman grows sullen and distant from his family after he and his girlfriend break up. A plot to "rescue" her from a baby-sitting nightmare to make her appreciate him again ends up making things worse. Said girlfriend gets revenge by getting Norman in a lot of trouble with his parents. He's finally sent away for the summer, to live and work on a farm with family friends in Oregon.

This book is funny. Like literally laugh-out-loud funny in a lot of places. Bodett really makes the character of Norman come alive through situational anecdotes and simple language. The stories are poignant without being sappy, and realistic enough to make the point that growing up in Alaska is really no different than growing up anywhere else. I found myself alternately cheering for Norman and wanting to slap him. I found the conclusion a bit disappointing, because I'm not sure that Norman really learns the lessons he needs to learn by the end of the book. But maybe that is the point Bodett was trying to make; that the awkwardness and mistakes of adolescence can't always be neatly tied up and resolved by the time you become an adult, or by the last page of a novel.

I haven't forgotten about Trixie; I'm working on The Mystery of the Emeralds right now. I hope to have it up next week.