Spelunking Sleuths: Trixie Belden #11- "The Mystery at Bob-White Cave"

Nice cover, and fairly accurate, except that the artist drew a girl with black hair who looks a lot like Diana, even though she’s not in this book. Not sure why Slim is dressed like a detective, either.

I have to be honest. Upon re-reading it, I did not like this book as much as I remember liking it. This is the first time that has happened, and it was a surprise to me. I will try to be at least somewhat positive, but I’ve given fair warning that this is not my favorite.

The Bob-Whites are visiting the Belden’s Uncle Andrew in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri. No explanation is given as to why they are there, so I guess it’s just a vacation. (I seem to remember Uncle Andrew being in an earlier book, though. The one set in Iowa, maybe?) They’re not having much fun as the story opens. It’s pouring rain and they are stuck in Uncle Andrew’s lodge home. Trixie is throwing a fit about how she’s bored and she hates it here, and the others call her on her rotten attitude pretty quickly. She apologizes and flips through a magazine to kill time. Trix finds an article about ghost fish. They live in the springs that run through the caves in the area. A scientific journal is offering a $500 reward for three ghost fish specimens in various stages of development. Trixie insists that the Bob-Whites have to find the fish and get the reward so they can donate the $500 to buy a station wagon for handicapped children. She is really, really pushy about it. She wants to leave right away (it stopped raining while she was explaining all this), but the others convince her to wait for Uncle Andrew to get back. At the moment, they are at his home with his housekeeper, Mrs. Moore and her teenaged daughter Linnie. They live behind Uncle Andrew in a three-room log cabin. Mrs. Moore’s husband Matthew disappeared when Linnie was four. He went on a fishing and hunting trip and never came back.

After lunch, the Bob-Whites go fishing, though Trix is secretly on the lookout for a cave to explore. Another storm comes up, and they do indeed find a cave to take shelter in. Trixie is nearly attacked by a wildcat. At the last second, the cat drops dead, shot clean through the head by a rifle. The Bob-Whites don’t see anyone around who might have fired the shot. This is the first of many “ghost” encounters in this book.

Back at the lodge, Trixie is still wound up about the ghost fish. Even Honey seems reluctant to get involved. In a rare moment of total honesty, Honey tells her that sometimes she wishes they could just go places and have fun, and that Mart said the same thing. Wow. Trixie accuses her of not caring about the handicapped children, (again, wow) and Honey gently tells her she knows that isn’t true. She just wants to have fun. Trixie says exploring caves and finding the fish will be fun. After dinner, Mrs. Moore shares some creepy local ghost stories and insists that a ghost saved Trixie’s life that day. Uncle Andrew agrees to her plan, but he insists that they follow the rules of cave exploring (go in threes, leave a note saying when you go in and expect to come out, etc.) and that they have proper gear. Oh, and that they take a guide with them. He suggests a local youth named Slim Sanderson. Trixie is unhappy with the delay (it will take a whole day to get to town, get the gear, and meet Slim), but she agrees.

In town the next day, Uncle Andrew buys the Bob-Whites helmets with carbine lamps, rope, candles, etc. Very generous of him. They also meet Slim, to whom Trixie takes an instant dislike. She kind of does that with a lot of people. Although Slim is, well, a jerk. He thinks they don’t need all the cave exploring equipment, and he seems to dislike Trixie. He’s cruel to both her and Honey. But he agrees to meet them at 8am the next day to go exploring.

They head off to a cave on Uncle Andrew’s property, which has to be reached by boating across a small inlet of water. On the way over, they see a man who has fallen out of his boat and is drowning. The Bob-Whites rescue him and take him back to the lodge. His name is Glennending, and he’s come to Missouri all the way from England. Trixie sees a dip net and cave exploring equipment in his canoe, and she thinks he might be after the same thing they are.

Finally, that afternoon, they make it inside the cave. Their is an underground stream, and they do think they see ghost fish swimming in it, but they don’t catch any. Slim agrees to come back the next day, though the Bob-Whites are already sick of him. He does something mean to the bats that live inside the cave, scaring them outside so the hawks can eat them. The Bob-Whites tell him to get lost and the boys take Slim back across the water. They get permission to explore alone from Uncle Andrew. Trixie finally gets one ghost fish, but it isn’t enough.

There is a whole sub-plot involving ghosts and a cabin and a strange man/possible ghost that I’m not going to get into here, or this post will be way too long. The Ozark people in this book are depicted as very primitive and superstitious. And while I know that was probably true in the 60’s, and maybe still somewhat true in some areas today, it’s still kind of odd to read about. To be fair, they are also very generous and helpful to one another, particularly towards people like the widowed Mrs. Moore. They have a wonderful party that night, which brings out all the locals. There is food and music and dancing, and it sounds like fun. However, someone sets a fire late that night which nearly burns down Uncle Andrew’s lodge and Mrs. Moore’s cabin. Some of her property (chicken coop, shed for the mules) is damaged. All of the neighbors come back to fight the fire. The Bob-Whites think Slim may have set the fire, but Uncle Andrew insists they need proof before accusing him. He is worried that the locals will hang Slim if they think he was responsible.

The Bob-Whites plus Linnie go back to the cave the next day. Trixie had left a bait bucket with the fish in it and someone took it, but then returned it. They think it was Slim, but why would he bring the bucket back? They do find Slim in the cave and throw him out, but not before they accuse him of setting the fire. He tries to throw the blame on the mysterious man living in the “ghost cabin,” but the Bob-Whites aren’t buying it.

A postcard arrives from Moms back in Sleepyside. She wants them to come home the coming weekend because she is going to have to go out of town. Only three days left to get the fish and claim the prize. Uncle Andrew’s neighbor Bill Hawkins agrees to go to the cave and keep a look-out for Slim while the kids explore.

The Bob-Whites split up, with Brian and Jim looking for rock samples outside and Honey, Trixie, and Mart looking for fish inside. In the part of the book that I always remember most, Trixie goes down into a sink hole which has a shallow stream at the bottom of it to catch fish with her net. She’s tied to a rope which is tied to a stalagmite and held by Mart and Honey. It goes well until a storm comes up and the sinkhole starts to flood. Mart can’t pull her up. She’s about to drown when the others come in and pull her to safety.

Uncle Andrew is mad at Bill Hawkins for letting her go (even though he didn’t know about it and he was keeping watch out for Slim like he was supposed to be), and Bill Hawkins is mad at himself, but no one really blames Trixie, even though it was kinda her fault for doing something stupid. Unbelievably, she wants to go back the next day and try again. Even more unbelievably, Uncle Andrew lets her, after the Bob-Whites agree to put some beams and a rope ladder across the top of the sinkhole, and to keep a close watch for rain. Trixie goes back down, and she finds all three specimens of fish they are looking for.

When they come out of the cave, they find Slim attacking a man by the water. Jim fights him off and they tie Slim up to be delivered to the local law. The man he was fighting is the one who has been living in the ghost cabin. In a coincidence that is, frankly, too fantastic for me to believe, he turns out to be Mrs. Moore’s long-lost husband Matthew. He fell and hit his head years ago, losing his memory. He was living in a state hospital, but something drew him back to this area. He is the one who shot the wildcat and saved Trixie. He’s been trying to help Mrs. Moore and Linnie, though he didn’t know why at the time. Brian’s explanation: “I think something happened and he lost his memory. When his head was battered by Slim, his memory must have returned.” I think Brian has been watching too much Gilligan’s Island. It doesn’t work like that in real life.

On their final day in Missouri, they go into town to turn in the fish and claim the reward. Bad news- the specimens they found aren’t the ones the scientific magazine was looking for. But the Bob-Whites did find some kind of fish that was even rarer than the ghost fish. So they are promised a reward at least as big as the $500 one. They will be contacted “in a week or so.” I say don’t buy it, Trixie! After a last meal at the lodge, the Bob-Whites head home. Money is raised, a criminal is captured, and the dead are brought back to life.

Last line: “Oh, dear, I wonder if we’ll ever have another project as exciting as this one turned out to be!” Wait until you get to St. Louis in a few books, Trixie!

"He was close, dangerously close, to loving them." - A Time of Darkness

Wow. I honestly did not realize that I hadn't updated in two months. I am extremely sorry for that. (And I seriously thought it had only been one month. Wow). Real life interfered for a bit, but I think I'm back on track now. Anyway...




I received this book as a hand-me-down years ago. I read it, enjoyed it, then promptly lost it. I couldn't remember the title or the author; just vague ideas of what had happened in the book. Finally, with the help of the kind folks at The Dairy Burger, I was able to track it down. The title is "A Time of Darkness," published as "Rocco" in Australia. The author is Sherryl Jordan.

Rocco Makepeace is a teenager in Australia (I think, though the book doesn't actually say that). His father is a stay-at-home dad and potter; his mom is a career woman who doesn't seem to like him very much. Rocco has been having strange dreams about being in a cave and being attacked by a wolf. The dreams are really really real, and he doesn't know what to make of them. He is seeing the effects of the dreams in real life as well. He feels tired and sore from being attacked by the wolf. His eyes burn from sitting by a campfire. Rocco isn't sure what to make of all this. His family doesn't believe him and they think he may be on drugs and stuff.

Rocco reluctantly goes to visit his elderly grandmother (father's mother) in a nursing home. After he gets home, he falls asleep and wakes up in the Valley of Anshur, which is populated by a primitive tribe of humans. He is an outsider, but the village's sage, an elderly woman named Ayoshe, tells them to let him stay. Rocco has no idea how he got there or how to get back, so he begins to learn the ways of the tribe and how to live among them. But throughout, he is conflicted; torn between the feeling that he doesn't belong and his growing love for the tribe and the people in it. Will he be able to get back home? Does he really want to leave? How did he get there in the first place, and how did Anshur come into existence?

This is a beautifully written book, y'all. It's just lovely. The characters, the setting, the ways of the tribe...everything felt very real. I wanted to live in Anshur by the time it was over. The books raises some interesting questions about destiny and fate, and points out the power of simple acts. I can't really say much else without spoiling the whole thing. But if you can track this book down, I highly highly recommend it.

More Trixie in my next update. Promise. I'm setting myself a target date of May 23rd to have it up. You can hold me to it. If you're still reading, thank you for your patience.

"This school should serve insurance policies with lunch"- Eat Your Poison, Dear

I read this book over and over again as a kid. It says "another Sebastian Barth mystery" at the top, but so far, I've only been able to track down three of these books. This one was definitely my favorite of the three.

Sebastian Barth is a fairly typical eighth-grader in a small town in Connecticut. Funny and well-liked, Sebastian apparently likes to solve mysteries and figure out strange happenings when they, well, happen. When the school nerd Milo Groot (seriously, how could he not be the nerd with a name like that? Poor kid!) throws up at lunch, it doesn't seem too mysterious at first. But gradually, more and more kids keep getting sick. Sebastian has a hunch that this is more than just the flu going around, so he volunteers to work in the cafeteria to check things out. When over 100 students throw up in one day (EWW!), the cafeteria is immediately shut down and a full fledged investigation is launched by the state board of health. Suspicion falls on spinster lunch lady Dorothy Swille, then on school bully Edward "Harley" Davidson. But Sebastian learns a hard lesson about not jumping to conclusions when he finally realizes that the culprit may be the one person nobody suspected.

The chapters in this book are very short, and very dialogue driven. We learn more about the characters by what they say than what they do. Both words and actions can be deceiving, as Sebastian finds out the hard way. The dialogue is sharp, with lots of humor, and the characters feel real. Definitely a recommended read for junior high ages, or for adults like me who still enjoy this stuff.

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.