"Not twenty-four hours after newspaper headlines acclaim Ginny Gordon for capturing a jewel thief, she is knee-deep in another mystery. Who stole Mrs. Arnold's valuable pin? Was it the same person who set fire to John's workshop? Why did the hoarse voice over the telephone sound so familiar? Was that a face at the grimey window of the old cupola? A bit of fluff on the window sill set Ginny on a trail --- through a secret passage, down a lonely dark road, into a musty attic --- a trail as breath-taking as the one she followed in Ginny Gordon and the Disappearing Candlesticks."
Here we are at book 2 in the Ginny Gordon series. This is probably the book I remember most from the series because I found it so creepy. Although the plot is different from the first book it's also the same; an item accidentally given to the Swap Shop by an older resident disappears and Ginny has to find it. You could totally mix both book titles and they would still work fine; The Missing Candlesticks, The Disappearing Heirloom. Yep, there's no real difference. Anyways lets get into it.
- The last book set up the ground work for this mystery. It casually mention that a sewing box was donated to the Swap Shop by Mrs. Arnold. The box is looked at by customers but never bought. John takes the box to his grandmother's to see if she'd like to purchase it but she happens to already have an exact copy of the box. At this time Mrs. Arnold's chauffeur, Carson, shows up at the Swap Shop saying Mrs. Arnold changed her mind about selling the box because she believes a piece of her jewelry is still inside it. At the end of the book John tells Ginny the piece of jewelry was not inside the box and is considered missing and it's up to the Hustles' to find it lest the Swap Shop gets a bad reputation for losing something in their possession.
All of this fits into the first story really well. The box being looked at by customers is mentioned because the box is worth $5 and the Hustlers' need the $5 to pay the shop's electric bill. Carson showing up at the shop is important because at the time Ginny was trying to be alone in the shop to hunt for the secret passageway. I'm actually impressed by how smoothly Campbell was able to do this. However since this book came out two years after the first it must have been quite annoying waiting for the mystery to continue after being mentioned at the end of the first book.
- Ginny and John talk about how the Swap Shop hasn't "made a cent so far" yet in the last book they sell an ashtray. I remember because Whiz was annoyed at having to use his own money to buy supplies and Lucy said he didn't have to because she'd made a sale and Ginny teaches him how to use petty cash vouchers.
- I'm not sure why Whiz is drawn so much smaller than Ginny. The last book said he was almost 13 and Ginny is 14 so pretty much only one year apart but he's drawn almost 2 heads shorter than Ginny.
- In the last book Babs had gone to visit The Hermits cottage and doesn't come back. Whiz is worried about her so goes to look for her and ends up injured when he falls into a hole in The Hermits yard. In this book Babs goes to check on a secret tunnel that leads to the Bascom's house and doesn't come back. Whiz is worried about her so goes to look for her and ends up slightly injured when he gets caught in a cave-in in the tunnel. For some reason I felt re-using such a similar scene was annoying.
- Babs, Lucy, and John all go missing in this book and Ginny has to find out what has happen to them. I guess Campbell really liked this plot device. Funny how nowadays a cellphone would completely destroy this.
- I liked Lucy's little adventure to New York. Maybe it's because Lucy is timid and easily scared but it was fun seeing her do her own detective work and I liked how Mr. Trentor was so kind after finding her hiding in his backseat.
- It was interesting seeing a culprit that is actually mentally insane.
- The first time I read this book I had no idea who the culprit was. I was also terribly creeped out by the two phone calls to Ginny, the lonely stretch of road to Mrs. Arnold's, and the showdown with the culprit. Since I remembered who the culprit was this time I didn't find it so mysterious or creepy.
To be honest I found some parts of the book to be...overdeveloped I guess would be the word for it. There was a lot to the culprit's evil plan and so many suspects and so much going on that I felt a little overwhelmed at times.
The end of the first book and beginning of this book fit together so well that I feel more like they're one book together, simply in two parts; Ginny Gordon and the Swap Shop Mysteries.
