The Secret of Grange Farm

    Years ago I saw this book on Etsy and was intrigued with the name and cover. I had never heard of it before but it seemed interesting. It was for sale for a long time and I finally ended up spending the $14 to buy it. I recall being a little disappointed in it, both the story and the appearance. The dustjacket was more scuffed up than it had appeared in photos and the book is actually rather small. As for the story I had anticipated something along the lines of the Meg series meets Betty Cavanna. But there was no chance of that once I realized this is a British book. I find there's a huge difference in styles when it comes to British and American books, even when they're from the same time period and aimed at the same audience.

    I didn't completely dislike like this book, I actually remember feeling it had similarities to The 39 Steps by John Buchan, which is an amazing action/adventure book. My biggest qualms with it was that just when the exciting part begins to happen to our main character it switches over to the side character and we later hear about all the excitement in a retelling and don't actually get to be there for it first hand. I remember quite a bit about this book but have no idea if I'll like it or not.

    While sixteen year old Bette is at school her mother has married an unknown man and gone off to France for her honeymoon. Bette is temporarily staying with her aunt during the summer holidays but as her aunt is about to head to Scotland to meet up with her husband, Bette has plans to stay with her friend Mavis. At the last minute Mavis writes that Bette can not come because her sibling has come down with the measles. Bette doesn't want to be a burden on her Aunt, who is very excited to go meet up with her husband, so she instead decides to invite herself to Grange Farm.

    Grange Farm is owned by Nicholas Ferndale, or Nicky, who is Bette's cousin. Bette has wonderful childhood memories of staying on the farm with her kind, dotting cousin and is excited to see him. While fighting in Cyprus with the British army Nicky was at one point missing and considered dead when he suddenly returned looking rougher and with a harder personality. He came back to the farm, shooed away his cousins Hugh and Clover, and replaced all the workmen.

    When arriving in town Bette is mistakenly taken to Hugh and Clover, who run a small shop. They tell her they're surprised to hear she is going to the farm as Nicky is not very hospitable. Bette receives a cold reception at the farm and Nicky tells her she can not stay. At that moment a plane crashes and Nicky and Bette rush out to rescue the pilot. 

    He is Ian Trent, a former Cyprus fighter, and refers to Nicky by the name Smiler. The man must stay at the farm until he can be moved to the hospital and Nicky has Bette, who has had nurse training, stay to take care of him. After Ian and Nicky have a private conversation, Ian tells Bette he is in danger there and asks her to help him escape in the night and tells her that if anything should happen to him to call a man named J.B. Smith and inform him. Bette feels that Ian must be delirious from the crash but changes her mind when she returns to the farm, after visiting Hugh and Clover, and finds Ian gone.

Nicholas claims a friend came to pick up Ian but Bette later finds a message written in the dust on a shelf in Ian's room saying "Got me. Old Quarry, heard them. Tell Smith". 

    Later that evening Bette notices and unwisely remarks that Nicky is missing the tattoo on his arm. Bette then realizes that this man is not her cousin Nicky, rather an impostor who stole Nicky's identity and inheritance, presumably after the real Nicky had died in battle.

    After nightfall Bette sneaks out of the house to call J.B. Smith at a payphone but finds him out of town. She then heads to the Quarry where at the bottom she finds Ian Trent who has miraculously survived being thrown over the edge. Trent confirms that "Nicholas" is in fact Smiler, a tough customer who he knew in Cyprus and that Bette must not return to the farm house. She then plans to go get a doctor for Ian and then flee to Hugh and Clovers, however when she emerges from the quarry she finds the men searching for her. 

    She is able to communicate to Bobby, a little neighbor boy who is out searching for his lost pet, that a man is hurt in the Quarry and to go tell his father who just happens to be a policeman. Then the men spot her and she is forced to run into the Wychwood Forest where the men attempt to hunt her down with dogs. She crosses a stream to break the scent trail and, inspired by Charles II, climbs into a large oak tree where she waits. 

    Once the men have given up the search for the night she goes farther into the woods where she takes a nasty fall and goes unconscious. Upon waking in the morning she finds herself hopelessly lost and eventually stumbles upon a cottage where an elderly woman lives. The woman feeds her and mends her clothes but when Bette tries telling her story and expressing the importance of her getting medical help for Ian Trent, the woman does not believe her and advises Bette to rest while she contacts Grange Farm to come get her. 

    Fear over takes Bette and she runs out of the cottage looking for a house where she can use a telephone but all of them are closed for the season. Finally coming to the road Bette hails a van and accepts a ride from a man who turns out to be working for the fake Nicholas and takes her right back to Grange Farm where she is placed in a room in the cellar.

    Meanwhile Bobby, who is afraid of tell his father he had been out in the night, is able to get his friend to make an anonymous call to his policeman father and thus Ian Trent is rescued, which leads to a number of questions. Unfortunately Ian cannot answer them since he's unconscious.

    From here the story switches to Hugh and Clover who have been impatiently awaiting Bette. They receive a telegram signed by her stating that she has gone to London however they feel uneasy about the message and that feeling grows when they learn of Ian Trent mysterious presence in the Quarry. 

    Hugh and Tim, a sharp witted young man who is temporarily working at Hugh and Clovers shop, bike out to Grange Farm to ask some questions. While they are gone the fake Nicholas arrives at the shop and gives Clover a lovely box containing jewelry for them to sell, however he insists the box must be returned to him later. Meanwhile Hugh and Tim have received a rude welcoming from Mrs. Della, the house keeper, and decide to sneak into the house where they find Bette's locket in one of the rooms. On the way out they run into Nicholas who informs him he left Bette at the train station that morning. 

    They then bike to the train station where the man working there informs him no one fitting Bette's description had been there. Very worried they sit down on a bus stop bench to talk things out. The elderly woman next to them overheard and informs them that Bette had been to her cottage in the woods that morning but that she had ran away after the woman hadn't believed her story. 

    Tim then calls J.B. Smith from a telephone and finds he had arrived home that morning but was out at the present time. As they bike back to the shop Tim, who is familiar with Smith, recognizes him coming out of Grange Farms driveway where he had been to ask questions regarding Ian Trent. Tim and Hugh explain the situation to the man who seems to take the news very seriously and appears worried. He visits the shop later that night to acquire more information and after he leaves Hugh and Tim take a look at the box Nicholas brought and become suspicious of it's small interior. Tim, always sharp, looks for a false bottom and finds one in which is money and 2 printing plates. They become suspicious that Nicholas is printing counterfeit money and brought the box to their shop to hide it since so many policemen have been around the farm asking questions about Ian Trent. 

    They tell their story to an inspector but when Nicholas shows up he denies ever seeing the box before and the inspector appears to believe him. The next day they find a plainclothes policeman watching their shop and it's clear that they're under suspicion. Clover asks Hugh and Tim to go back to Grange Farm and when they arrive they find it completely deserted aside from the farm animals. It appears that "Nicholas" and his gang have cleared out.

    Then miraculously the real Nicky makes a surprise appearance at the shop soon followed by J.B Smith. We learn that Nicky had been having trouble reentering the country without his identification, which had been stolen by Smiler, but that J.B. Smith had helped fix things. J.B. then tells the group that Grange Farm is on fire and they all head over to extinguish it. 

    The next morning J.B. and Nicky pick up Hugh and Clover to go see Bette who is safe. Bette has been laying low at the old lady's cottage in the woods and after her reunion with Nicky they all settle down to hear her story.

    After being placed in the cellar Smiler comes to talk to Bette and tells her that she knows too much and therefore he can't release her and gives indications that he plans to keep her quiet for good. Later Mrs. Della says she will help Bette escape as long as she promises to stay in hiding for one week. J.B Smith then informs Bette that her "escape" was actually Smiler's plan as it gave him and the gang a week to clear out. Once Bette is out of the farm house she makes a run into the woods headed for the cottage when she is grabbed by a man, J.B. who had been keeping a constant eye on the farm. Fearing that he was one of the gang she kicks him and runs for it, he trails her and seeing her arrive safe at the cottage leaves her be. 

    Then Nicky tells his story. He had met Smiler, who was not a fellow soldier but a wealthy gangster in Cyprus, when he had been captured and injured. While recovering in a hospital Smiler visits him and suggests he take a 2 week trip on his yacht. Nicky takes him up on his offer and has a lovely time until one night when he is beaten, robbed, and tossed overboard. He later is rescued but suffers from amnesia. Upon recovering his memory he tries to come home just to be told Nicholas Ferdale had already returned home a year ago. 

    This is where J.B. Smiths story comes in. Smith, a lawyer who had been working on solving the mysterious counterfeiting, had gone to Grange Farm upon receiving the message Bette had left for him. There he immediately recognized Smiler and so begins his search for the real Nicholas. And then the real kicker comes in; J.B. Smith is the unknown man Bette's mother had married which explains why he was not home when Bette called, he was on his honeymoon.

    The book ends one month later with J.B., Bette's Mother, Nicky, Bette, Clover, Hugh, Tim, and Ian all enjoying a good time at Grange Farm. Smiler has been caught, Tim has been permanently hired on at the shop, Hugh and Nicky are now partners at the farm, Bette adores her new step-father, and there even seems to be some chemistry between Bette and Ian.

- When looking at other peoples reviews almost all of them mention this book as talking about WW2 when it mentions Nicholas's army experiences. But it's actually the Cyprus Emergency that he fought in. This book does not have a copyright date but looking it up it was published in 1961 which lines up with the Cyprus Emergency which took place 1955-1959 (if you're unfamiliar with this historical event as I was, it was when Cyprus fought to end the British's ruling over it). It also mentions EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) which confirms it.

- There's a chapter called The Nine Lives of Ian Trent which is just such a cool chapter title to me. This is one of the things that remind me of The 39 Steps along with Bette's being pursued on foot, meeting people along her journey, and being captured and locked in a room.

- After Bette has been captured the rest of the story switches to Hugh and Clover and we don't see Bette again until the end. This is really frustrating as Hugh and Clovers part of the book is not as interesting as Bette's.

- The whole bit with the inspector and the box is kind of annoying. When Clover, Hugh, and Tim show the inspector the printing plates and forged money he appears to believe Nicholas over the three. What's more likely; that 3 teenagers with a small second hand shop are printing excellent counterfeit money or that the wealthy grown man with a large isolated farm who is under suspicion for a pilot becoming seriously injured and an underage girl disappearing, while both in his care, has been printing counterfeit money on his large, isolated farm?

- On page 147 Clover is accidentally called Bette ("What on Earth?" cried Bette who sat in the shop polishing some old glass."). I'm curious if this mistake is removed from the Retro Classics Publishing edition of this book.

- Is it just me or are sparks flying between Bette and Ian at the end. I kind of need a sequel telling me what happens with those two.

    I didn't really take a lot of notes as I was rather engrossed in the story, it's a good book. I do still get a bit annoyed when the story switches over to Hugh and Clover. Not much is happening with Bette at the time so it makes sense that the story switches but still, I wish it would switch back and forth or even switch to J.B. at some point. There just wasn't enough with Hugh and Clover to stay on them for 90+ pages in my opinion. 

Sara Gay Model Girl

    I heard about this series years ago and was extremely intrigued by it but because it's a British series it can be a little hard to get at an affordable price overseas.

    

    I recall thinking it was an alright book but not good enough that I had to immediately get the other 3 books in the series. I can't really remember anything about it except for a little fashion show Sara and the other models at school give as well as Sara's audition at the end with the water and funny hat.

- Pretty quickly into the story I remember why I didn't like it; the rivalry between Sara and Nina.

Sara can't afford to attend the Lena Lane modeling school so Ms. Lane puts her up for the schools scholarship. However Ms. Lanes assistant, Lydia, is trying to get her niece, Nina, the scholarship. Nina is already an up-and-coming model with plenty of money but winning the scholarship is apparently such an honor that it gives your reputation a big step up in the modeling world.

    To help make sure Sara doesn't receive the scholarship Lydia lies to her about the interview time being changed, which Sara blinding believed even though Ms. Lane had made the actual time very clear. After showing up late for the interview Sara runs into Nina who straight up tells Sara she has no chance of getting the scholarship, especially when compared to herself ("Poor Aunt Lydia, however could she have seen you as any sort of competition for the scholarship!"). 

    Nina's dialogue is extremely over the top to let you know she's the evil enemy. It made me roll my eyes. Sara of course remains super sweet and believes Nina when she says she's better than Sara which makes it a total surprise when Sara is awarded it. I think we're suppose to take this as meaning Sara is humble but it comes off as gullible.

    It's annoying, it's overdone, and it's transparent. Not only that but I can't stand books where the main character has a nemesis that's always causing trouble. It's one of the reasons I don't enjoy The Dana Girls series.

- One of Sara's fellow students is Marion Richards who everyone is shocked and disgusted to see because eww, she's fat or, as the book says, "lumpy" and a size fourteen...the horror! Sara assumes Marion must be very conceited to think she could ever be pretty enough to be a model. I get that this is a book about models in the early 1960's which was known to be a negative environment but damn, this turns into intense bullying. The modeling students share a cafeteria with the charm school class and the models remarked that the other girls obviously aren't there for the modeling school cause so many of them are fat like Marion.

    "That explains it." a third girl remarked. "I didn't think they looked like future models. Some of them are quite fat."

    "They're not the only ones," Nina said and stared pointedly at Marion Richards, who flushed scarlet and turned away.

- Marion's weight is constantly discussed, it's like they're obsessed with it. When Sara goes out to lunch with Anne and Elspeth they talk about how Marion should be made to feel bad because, as Anne says "people should know their limitations and not try to put themselves where they don't belong". 

    They continue to talk about it on the walk back to the school, laughing over Marion being a model for diet pill "before" pictures. Then the meet up with Jean and Sylvie and they all talk about it. Upon arriving at the school they see Marion get out of a limo and decide she must be rich and have bought her way into the modeling school for which they immediately start to bully her in the coatroom. They surround her and start to verbally assault her, then Marion understandably gets upset and shoves her way out of the room they use that as "proof" that's she's a bad person, getting offended that she would leave when they were in the middle of hurling insults at her.

- A physiotherapist reviews all the students bodies and individually gives them exercises to reduce or build up any areas that are not ideal measurements. Sara is perfect and doesn't need to receive any. When all the girls go to the hair salon to get makeovers Sara is the only one whose hair is left untouched. She also naturally knows how to model without being taught. Ugh, perfect characters are so boring.

- One student is named Honey Wei. Even though we're told her name she is still referred to as "the Chinese girl" ("Sara (...) was classified with Nina and the Chinese girl").

- Sara ends up finding out the Marion doesn't actually want to be a model. Don't worry, she doesn't think she's pretty after all. She actually wants to be a vet and live on a farm with her boyfriend who she says isn't good looking either. 

    Marion confides in Sara that she's very unhappy because her mother is constantly trying to force her into her deceased sisters place. Her sister, Eva, was her mothers favorite and they shared a love of fashion, elegance, and refinement. After her passing Mrs. Richards started forcing Marion to occupy her place, all against Marion's will. 

    Mrs. Richards then shows up carrying a bouquet of tea roses (Eva's favorite flower) for Marion and then begins to complain about Marion wearing ready made clothes. Mrs. Richards then compliments Sara's looks and Sara admires the dress Mrs. Richards is wearing. Sara then decides Marion is clearly a selfish brat and should be thrilled to have a mother so interested in fashion. Who cares if she controls Marion whole life, forcing her onto a starvation diet, putting her into a modeling school where she gets bullied, forbidding her to follow her true career dreams, or ever see the man she loves because eww, he's poor.

- Things get even weirder with Mrs. Richards when she begins trying to turn Sara into Eva. She gives Sara one of her dresses, invites her to a charity ball and insists Sara spends the night and stay in Eva's room, which she has previously forbidden anyone else staying in. Sara is on-board because she gets a wealthy older friend who gives her expensive things and invites her to glamourous events. She continues to scold Marion over not appreciating her mother and tells Marion she should just be the daughter her mother wants.

- Apparently getting the Lena Lane scholarship and Gold Medal Award gets you to the top of the modeling world yet it didn't help Sara because she had a bad modeling photo. You'd think the clients would be interested in seeing her in person if she won the scholarship and award with such a bad photo. It doesn't add up.

- The photographers young assistant takes Sara out to dinner where she eats spaghetti for the first time. He admires her for being so willing to try something "so foreign". This was written in 1961 when spaghetti was already a common household meal in Britain. I guess the author didn't know any actual foreign foods.

    I think this is an interesting topic for a book series but I wasn't much of a fan of this. I rolled my eyes constantly over Sara and how perfect she was, the way she switched between timid and conceited so much, and her strange unsolicited advice to Marion. I'm still interested in reading the rest of the series eventually but I'm gonna let this one go for now.

Arden Blake: The Orchard Secret

The Orchard Secret is the first book in the Arden Blake series by Cleo F. Garis. I've been interested in this series mainly because Cleo is the daughter of Lilian Garis who wrote the Melody Lane series, among other books. I adore the Melody Lane books and I'm hoping Cleo's work is just as good as her mothers.

This 3 book series can be hard to get your hands on like many of the other series published by A.L.Burt. Unlike others this one was never republished by Saalfield or any other budget publishers. However I recently found all 3 books on Project Gutenberg so now I can delve into these mysteries without having to spend a fortune, or even spending anything at all (it's also available on Archive.org).

I read this book over 9 months so when I started writing this review I wasn't yet adding detailed plot summaries to my posts so I didn't have one for this. I'll just give a quick summary: Arden, Sim, and Terry have just arrive at Cedar Ridge College for Girls. Immediately they begin hearing about mysterious happenings going on in the school's apple orchard and they experience these first hand when they go into the orchard at night for a freshman hazing quest. Throughout the book they also rescue two men who have been mysteriously injured in the orchard. The other mysterious happenings is the school's old fire alarm bell ringing even though it's rope pull has long since been cut. Arden wants to solve these mysteries while also tracking down a missing young rich man who there is a $1,000 reward for.

- To my knowledge Arden Blake is just a normal girl with no previous involvement or interest in mysteries. However she says to Terry “If there’s any mystery here at Cedar Ridge we’ll have the time of our lives solving it. But I don’t believe there is." Why does Arden feel so confident that the 3 girls can solve a mystery so easily? Also how do they know no other students might what to solve it themselves?

- The cliffhanger at the end of chapter one is quite weak. Sim mentions swimming in the campus pool;

"“Listen, freshie!” she exclaimed, “let me tell you something about that pool!”

The three girls looked at their guide apprehensively. Was there something mysterious about the pool, as the taxi-man had intimated there was about the orchard?"

No, Miss Everett simply tells the girls that the pool is long broken and used to store vegetables now.

- When asked why the pool hasn't been fixed Miss Everett says it's due to lack of money partially because of the depression. I adore when these old books have plots effected by the great depression, it adds a sense of realness to them.

- The hazing in these old college books is always so creepy to me. On the first day there the dean pretty much tells the freshmen girls to shut up and take it;

"Miss Anklon, “Tiddy” to the initiated, implied that as far as instructions along those lines went, the sophomores would not be long in making such matters clear to the freshmen. But it was all to be taken in a sporting manner and in the end would do much to cement friendships and foster school spirit, smiled Tiddy."

Cause nothing fosters school spirit like being abused and degraded daily, right?

- When the girls go to the post office they stop to look at the wanted posters. Arden becomes interested in one of an attractive and familiar looking young man. The poster reads;

"“Harry Pangborn,” the statement read, “is not wanted on any criminal charge whatever. He disappeared from his friends and his usual haunts merely, it is surmised, because he was expected to assume the duties and responsibilities of the large estate he was about to inherit from his grandfather. It is understood that he stated he did not want the inheritance just yet. Of a high-strung and nervous temperament, Mr. Pangborn is believed to have gone away because the responsibilities of wealth are distasteful to him and also, perhaps, because he seeks adventure, of which he is very fond. If this meets his eye or if anyone can convey to him the information that he will be permitted to assume as much or as little of the estate as he wishes, a great service will have been done. All that is desired is that Harry Pangborn will return to his friends and relatives as soon as possible. His hasty action will be overlooked. It is rumored that Mr. Pangborn may be in the vicinity of Morrisville, though he may have gone abroad, as he was fond of foreign travel."

I feel like this is way too much personal information to be sharing on a wanted poster. Why not have it simply say he is not a wanted criminal, his inheritance is waiting for him, and his family wants him home. Also it's very obvious Tom is Harry Pangborn and the $1,000 reward will be used to fix the swimming pool, I'm calling it now.

- Multiple times it mentions that "so much" had happened on the girls' first day at college but that's really not true. All that happened was they were shown to their room, the dean addressed all the girls in the freshman hall, they invited girls back to their room for cake, and they wrote letters home before bed. How is that "so much"?

- When the girls find Tom unconscious in the orchard and think he might be a dead body they run up to him instead of away. That's one thing I like about the 1930's series, the girls were just tougher.

- I find it annoying how the dean grounds the girls for Sim breaking curfew. They're grown adults in college, being grounded is too juvenile.

- Arden is constantly thinking people look familiar but not able to place them. I'm surprised she doesn't think Sim and Terry look familiar but can't figure who they are.

- As Arden and Terry are walking to class Anson Yaeger tells them to stay out of the orchard and starts to explain what's going on there when Terry interrupts by telling Arden "lets not stand here and listen to him". This was dumb and annoying.

- Arden's form is seen leaving the police station and everyone, including the dean, immediately assumes a college girl was arrested and it's scandalous. This is also dumb and annoying.

- At 9 o'clock the lights in the housing building all go out, including in all the dorms. This means people don't have control of their lights in their own rooms which is really weird.

- The girls along with 3 other girls decide to get a midnight snack from the kitchen and end up taking 4 pies and 2 chickens! That's so much for a snack for 6 and I feel like it's kind of rude since that food is for all the students.

- Arden is so positive the Dean is lying about a ram causing the attacks in the orchard that she goes to investigate. Then a ram appears and tries to attack her. This made me burst out laughing. She was so sure there was no ram that it was just really funny ("I don't see any ram hooves marks, obviously there was no ram" *turns around* "oh god, a ram!").

- As I expected the answer to the mystery was not so mysterious. I expected this since this is how Cleo's mother, Lilian, wrote mysteries. Tom, of course, ends up being Harry Pangborn but Arden doesn't realize until he shaves his mustache at the end (how big must his mustache have been to disguise his whole face?). He's run away to learn to grow apples since that's his dream and with that accomplished he is heading home. The girls beg to be allowed to claim the reward money for finding him, even though they didn't find him.

    All the other mysterious happenings were caused by Anson who wanted to create a mystery just so he could solve it with the hope it would get him a raise but all he got was fired.

Overall I did not like this book. I thought it occasionally had good atmosphere like the foggy day when Arden sneaks off campus to the post office but as for the story itself, it's just not substantial at all. It felt very weak and boring. I don't think Cleo Garis was a very talented writer and assume she just gave it a try because that was the Garis family trade. I might end up reading the other two books someday but certainly not for awhile.

Peggy Lane: Peggy Plays Off-Broadway

    This is the first and only Peggy Lane book I have read. I recall finding the beginning boring but liking it once I got farther in. I consider the Peggy Lane series to be one of the three "glamorous series" Grosset and Dunlap put out at this time. The other series all feature more average girls; Nancy Drew is a suburban daughter, Judy Bolton is a housewife, Cherry Ames is a nurse, the Dana Girls are schoolgirls, pretty much they are all embellished version of everyday women. However Peggy is an actress who later travels to Hollywood, Vicki Barr is a flight stewardess who travels to exciting locations, and Connie Blair is a big city career woman. Anyways I'm getting off topic in my analysis of Grosset & Dunlap series.

    "In the second book of a thrilling new series for girls, Peggy Lane, aspiring young actress, takes her first important step up the ladder of success. She lands a small part in Randy Brewster's experimental play Come Closer--a part she secretly suspects Randy wrote especially of her.

Unknowns all, the cast is headed by lovely Paula Andrews, an inspiration on stage but something of a problem otherwise. Hit's don't just happen for an experimental group. They are created out of hardships and disappointments. The show's production is threatened with financial difficulties, and everyone's hopes now depend in the special presentation they are to give for a prospective backer. When Paula, at the last minute, backs out, Mal Seton, the director, blows up. Peggy, he says, can have the part.

    Peggy, knowing she is not yet ready for a leading role, proposes a radical solution. The, trying to help Paula, who appears tense and troubled, Peggy inadvertently discovers a mystery that cannot be unraveled until Peggy herself resolves a dilemma!"

- I think it was pretty mean of Peggy to tell Paula how she knows the director and that Paula will most likely get the part. What if she didn't? She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up like that when she wasn't sure.

- There's a lot of talk about how actors have to look just right for the part, that it doesn't matter how good they can act if they don't look just right. But then Mal tells Greta he cast her because of her acting and her appearance will have to be changed to match the characters. I hope no one was hoping to get casting advice from this book.

- The Penthouse Theater sounds interesting. The main floor is rooms for rehearsal, the second is the theater, and the third is rented rooms for actors. Apparently Peggy finds the theater for her friend in the first book and there's a mystery involved with it. Definitely has me intrigued.

- I don't understand why any of these girls in any of these series can't have steady boyfriends. Peggy and Randy have some weird non-relationship kind of relationship where they date, kiss goodnight, and Peggy even gets jealous thinking about him dating other girls in the past yet it's made very clear they are not dating.

- I think it's very selfish of Paula to accept money from Peggy and her friends. Paula wouldn't need money if she would give up her expensive park avenue apartment but she won't because she "likes it there". I Remember how this book ends and so I know Paula actually has money and is just playing some strange game of "poor girl". The people she's taking money from are actually trying to make it on their own and need that money themselves. Not only that but couldn't Mal just give her an advance on her pay since he was given a lot more money then he had asked for from that British backer.

- I find it strange that Amy and Peggy skip a night of rehearsal to set up a little friendship party in Paula's apartment. This isn't a school play put on for fun, it's a professional one with a lot riding on it's success. They aren't getting paid to skip rehearsals.

- The final chapter opens with Peggy writing a letter to her friend Jean Wilson. It took me forever to figure out where I'd heard that name before. I kept thinking it must have been in a Nancy Drew book or maybe even an episode of I Love Lucy. Finally I remembered it's from an episode of Faulty Towers.

    Overall this book was alright, it dragged a little in places and wasn't filled with very many thrills but it did go by fast.