Joyce of the Secret Squadron

    Captain Midnight is the chief of the Secret Squadron, a secret military force consisting of the best aviators and agents. Their base is located on a small camouflaged island in the pacific. One day he is visited by a man who gives his name as Mr. X. He says a new experimental and highly secretive plane called the Flying Wing has gone missing on it's first test flight. Capt Midnight is being tasked with searching for the plane around it's last known location out in the pacific.

    Meanwhile on another island not too far away is the base for The Barracuda and his "swarm" of cutthroats. The Barracuda is a sadistic outlaw whose allegiance lies with the highest bidder which happens to be Japan. He is aware of the Flying Wing's disappearance because it was him who made it disappear. His men managed to capture the pilot but the plane went missing when one of his swarm was flying it back to their base. It's current whereabouts are unknown to him. The Barracuda has hired Carla Rotan, a beautiful spy, to make contact with the squadron and discover the planes whereabouts so the Barracuda can swoop in and steal it after it's discovery.

    While young Joyce Ryan and Chuck Ramsay, both members of the squadron, are out for a pleasure flight, Carla and her pilot Jack Carson make contact with the two. Carla claims to be out searching the pacific for her lost brother but is in need of supplies. Joyce and Chuck reluctantly take the two back to the secret base where Capt. Midnight gives them supplies then orders them to be escorted to the mainland.

    The next day just as the group of searchers finishes loading their plane the noise of the Barracuda and his swarm flying into the vicinity can be heard. Midnight, Joyce, Chuck, and Ichabod Mudd, a mechanic and code maker, jump in the sky ship and take off along with Carla and Carson, and several other Squadron planes. A fight ensues in the air with the squadron losing one plane and the Barracuda many.

    Once it is over the four head to their destination area and after night has fallen they find an island they believe the Flying Wing might have landed on.

    The next day Carla and Jack show up at the same island and Carla attempts to get on friendly terms with the group who remain suspicious of her. They also discover a schooner with rough sailors anchored by the island. They assume they're pearl fishers and decide to stay away and try to stay unknown to the sea men.

    The next several days focus on a new code being made as it's clear the Barracuda has gotten hold of the squadron's old codebook. A new code had been locked away at the squadron base for just such an incident but Ichabod must remember how he created the code and recreate it or else the group will be left on the island with no means of safe communication back to their base.

    While he does this Joyce and Chuck venture around the island a little bit and find the area of a very old crash landing. They discover a 1920's airplane that has been destroyed and turned into a makeshift home, presumably by the surviving pilot. As they head back to their camp to inform the Midnight of this they hear their plane starting up and upon reaching their camp they see the castaway pilot attempting to steal their plane. He crashes it and is pulled out of the cockpit unconscious by Midnight and Ichabod. In his pockets they find a pilots license for Bill Madison, a famous flyer who went missing during a 1927 flight.

    Upon regaining consciousness Bill is terrified and speaks of a Capt. Burley who is trying to kill him to gain possession of a bag of pearls, a gift Bill had received from the native people of the island.
Capt. Burley soon arrives with armed men demands Bill be handed over to him. As the group is out dealing with these sailors Bill slips away.

    He returns the next night and the squadron promises Bill they will protect him and get him home. The sailors show up again and the squadron barricades themselves in the plane which the sailors then surround and are just about to unload their ammunition into when Bill uses a special call to bring his native friends to his rescue.

    The next day Carla is visited by the Barracuda who is losing patience with her. She is then visited by a desperate Capt. Burley who asked for her partnership in getting the pearls. She agrees to do this after the Flying Wing is discovered but Burley doesn't trust her so he goes to the Barracuda with the offer instead. Like Carla, the Barracuda agrees with the intent of double crossing him and keeping the pearls. All these events are being observed by Bill, Joyce, and Chuck who have climbed up an overlooking rock formation.

    Borrowing Bill's gun Joyce runs down to the beach where the schooner is anchored. She lights a small fire in the jungle to bring the Capt. on land then holds a gun on him while discussing a deal. She'll get Bill to give him half the pearls in exchange for use of the schooner. With Bills help the group has deduced that the Flying Wing crash landed on a nearby island but with their plane damaged by Bill they have no means of getting there. The Capt. enthusiastically agrees to this once Joyce informs these men, who have been at sea for a year, that the world is at war and the Barracuda and Carla are working against the United States.

    The group plans to sail out under cover of darkness which is quickly approaching. Capt. Midnight radios for more squadron members to meet him at the nearby island and just as he finishes sending the message the Barracuda flies over, dropping a bomb on the recently evacuated plane and spitting machine gun fire at the fleeing men and woman.

    They trek through the jungle and come to the anchored lagoon. A boat comes to the shore to meet them and on it is Carla and Jack. They order the group to give up the bag of pearls and location of the Flying Wing while pointing a sub machine gun at them. 

    After refusing Carla pulls Joyce out of the group to be executed first. Joyce, preying on Carla's womanly vanity, asks to powder her nose first. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out Bill's gun which she shoots at Jack. 

    The sight of the gun sets everyone in motion: Jack begins shooting, Midnight tackles Jack, and Chuck tackles Joyce. Midnight manages to beat Jack unconscious while Carla is restrained by Ichabod and Bill. The schooner is boarded and heads to the nearby island.

    They reach it as dawn approaches and as they are dropping boat for land the Barracuda approaches from air in a full out attack. Midnight is able to carefully aim and fires at the ammunition on the plane causing it to explode in air. The Barracuda's swarm arrive just as the requested Squadron members show up and an air battle ensues while Capt. Midnight finds the crashed plane in the jungle and sets it on fire, destroying it and keeping it's secrets safe from enemy hands. The battle is, of course, won by the squadron and all can head back to the secret base and the USA.

- Carla is said to be in her thirties and also called young throughout the book. I found this extremely refreshing.

- The secrecy of the location of the Secret Squadrons headquarters is stated very clearly right at the beginning of the book but then Joyce and Chuck bring two strangers to it without a second thought.

- I had written down a note about how I wished Joyce was written as less of a stereotyped woman of the time period but then I realize Joyce was not written as a stereotyped woman, she is simply illustrated as one. 

    Through out the book Joyce is described as wearing pants yet she is illustrated as wearing a dress. Even in the scene where Joyce is worried she will be mistaken as a man from a distance and accidentally shot because of her pants, she is still drawn as wearing a dress. In almost all the images of her she is wide eyed with her mouth open in shock or her brows furrowed in worry. Worst of all is the illustration of Chuck helping her climb a rock while she is on her hands and knees looking weak and fragile without the help of a man. This is not how she was written at all so it's quite annoying.

- Speaking of illustrations Ichabod is not illustrated at all, even in pictures of scene he is in and when the rest of the group are pictured he is still not illustrated, why?

- The more I read the more it became clear that Chuck has no business being in the secret squadron. He doesn't believe Carla is a spy cause she's pretty and flirty, he doesn't believe Joyce found a part of an airplane in the jungle because he doesn't want her to be right, and when Joyce sees Bill for the first time he accuses her of seeing things. If he were in charge the whole squadron would have already been captured or dead.

- Bill states that he has seen Capt. Burley kill a ton of natives on the island but once Burley agrees to work with them the squadron decides that he's actually a good guy. They ignore that he's a murderer who's been trying to kill Bill over pearls. And no, the pearls didn't belong to Burley. They belong to the island natives who gave them as gifts to Bill.

- Chuck gets so excited when a sub machine gun bullet goes through his trouser leg but misses his flesh because he can "tell this story for the rest of his life". I thought that was pretty cute.

- Capt. Midnight sets the flying wing on fire to destroy it, ignoring the fact that that's going to cause a huge gasoline fueled fire in the jungle and kill wildlife and possibly native inhabitants.

    Overall this book is so good! I loved it the first time I read it and I loved it this time. There's no boring parts and it moves along really smoothly. It appears this was the only Whitman book written by this author, Russ Winterbotham, and that makes me quite sad. This was excellently written and I would have loved to read more.

Sylvia Sanders and the Tangled Web

    Southern girl Sylvia Sanders has just arrived in Chicago to start her career on the radio. Back home in Carolina Sylvia has already dominated the air waves and if she wishes to have her career grow she has to step up to a bigger city. Her parents have allowed her to go to Chicago for the summer where she can stay with her cousin, Beth, who lives in the city for college. 

    Upon arriving Sylvia shares a cab with Helena Steiner, a sophisticated looking woman who writes and voices a radio advertisement for a jewelry store. She gives Sylvia her card and the southerner is excited to have made a radio connection already.

    Once at the apartment building Sylvia meets Hal Graham, the nephew of Beth's next door neighbor. He's a nice young man who has just started his own recording studio.

    That night over dinner Beth tells Sylvia her heavy accent is going to make finding a radio job difficult. She suggest Sylvia tone down the accent and introduces her to Eileen DeWolf, a voice coach. Miss DeWolf agrees to help Sylvia but when the girls arrive the morning of her first lesson they find the house in a tizzy. A set of antique silver goblets has been stolen from the woman during the night. The lesson is postponed but not for long and Sylvia speech quickly improves.

    Feeling confident she heads out to a radio company. She has a letter of introduction to a man at the company but when she gets there she finds the man has left to work in Hollywood a number of months ago and she is not permitted to have an introduction with his replacement. She then calls various talent agencies but finds they're all filled with girls hoping to find the same jobs as herself.

    Wyman Middlecoff is a young man that Beth often dates and he is eager to have Sylvia come out with the two of them some night. Sylvia does not want to intrude on Beth's love life but she agrees to a night out after she learns that Helena Steiner is Wyman's older sister and she will be coming along. Soon the woman has invited the girls, Wyman, and Hal to visit her home on Lake Michigan where her reclusive husband, Carlos Steiner, lives.

    The home is built hidden among trees behind a hill which blocks off the view of the lake. Once arriving by boat they are greeted by two strange employees; one with a peg leg and one with an eye-patch. Happy to be out of the city Sylvia decides to explore the grounds and is startled to find a large fenced off ravine guarded by watch dogs. Quickly turning to flee the dogs she finds she has been followed and spied upon by Pete, the man with the peg leg. She heads back into the house feeling disturbed.

    That night at dinner she meets Carlos Steiner and finds him intimidating. The next day Hal and Sylvia end up alone while swimming in the cove and discuss their mutual suspicions of the place. They decide to sneak off and explore during the evening which leads them to find a hidden cove with a secret tunnel built into stone.

    In the tunnel they find a door and are unable to open it before a storm erupts and starts flooding the tunnel. They quickly begin retracing their path back to the house when a tree branch comes flying at Sylvia. Hal blocks her from it, fracturing his hand in the process. Wyman drives him back to the city that night to see a doctor and the girls are offered to stay an extra night which Beth eagerly accepts.

    After dinner Sylvia heads back out to view the hidden cove and soon sees Pete heading that way. He meets up with a man who has boated into the cove and takes a heavy suitcase from him. The next morning Sylvia notes the suitcase is sitting by her and Beth's luggage by the front door. When she asks about it Wyman says he's bring some of his summer suits back to the city with him but on the boat Sylvia tests the weight of the suitcase and finds it much too heavy just to contain suits.

    Once back home she visits Hal who is struggling to do his own secretarial work with only one working hand. Sylvia decides to take a job for him as his secretary.

    While at lunch one day with Hal Sylvia notices Pete at the same lunch counter. That night Sylvia gets off work quite late and by the time her cab pulls up to the apartment building it's completely dark. As she crosses the sidewalk a man appears, grabs her purse, and sends a dagger flying at her. Sylvia quickly ducks and it sticks deep into the apartment door. Although shaken she tries to make light of the incident while also being conscious of the fact that Pete was in the city on the same day.

    Sylvia visits Helena at her apartment in the city to receive a script Helena has written just for her. It's custom made to show off Sylvia's acting range. She will make a recording of her performing it at Hal's studio then pass it around to the radio studios in the hope of landing a job. During the visit Helena tells Sylvia her chances of getting a job in Chicago are non-existent and she should try New York instead. When Sylvia refuses Helena admits she's worried for the girls safety and thinks she would be safer if she fled to New York.

    Helena has also hired Sylvia to do some typing for her. When Sylvia shows up at her apartment with the completed work she finds Carlos present as well as Maizie, Helena's sister. Helena looks as tho she's been crying and makes defiant remarks against her sister and husband. When Maizie request Sylvia to deliver a package to Friedman's Jewelry store Helena tries to make Sylvia decline but Sylvia's polite nature holds out and she accepts the errand.

    After leaving the apartment with the small package in hand Sylvia trips running across a crosswalk and is knocked unconscious. She awakes in the hospital with a bad cut and bruise on her forehead. She's disturbed to see the package has been badly damaged and even more disturbed when she sees the contents of the package. While inspecting the damage to the box a paperweight falls from inside with a note reading "So you can't be trusted". Sylvia is greatly insulted.

    With Beth on vacation and Hal holding down the studio alone Sylvia is at a loss who to call. Then she remembers Nat Hudson, one of her father's oldest friends who visits the Sanders every year for a fishing trip. He lives in Chicago where he works for the FBI. The hospital calls him and he arrives quickly and insists on Sylvia staying with him and his family until Beth's return. Sylvia explains everything that's happened since her arrival to the city and he is greatly interested in Carlos Steiner. He is able to replace the damaged box with a new one and requests Sylvia to complete her errand as though nothing had happened.

    Several days later he requests Sylvia to again visit Helena's apartment in the hopes of Maizie giving her another package to deliver to Friedman's . She does and as she is handing over the package two policemen bust in and arrest Mr. Friedman. Inside the package is one of Eileen DeWolf's stolen goblets and a package of cocaine.

    Carlos and his gang are arrested and tried with Sylvia having to testify as a witness. Helena is found to not have been involved with her husbands criminal dealing and her and Sylvia are able to continue their friendship. Wyman, who was a part of the gang, gets a light sentence but thankfully Beth has gotten engaged to an old boyfriend back home in the south so she won't be heart broken over it. And to really wrap up with a happy ending Sylvia and Hal get engaged and Sylvia is offered a part in a new radio show.

- After the receptionist at the radio studio was rude to Sylvia both her and Beth agree the woman was simply jealous because she must be a failed radio actress. This is so delusional and immature. Some people are just rude and assuming it's because they're jealous is just a way to pump up your own ego.

- Sylvia mocks the people who come into Hal's recording studio to make recordings of their singing. She thinks they're conceited to think they deserve to be recorded. I found this extremely rude and unnecessarily judgmental. These people are paying to have recordings made, it does not matter if the person has a good voice or not. Not to mention that Sylvia has no way of knowing why the recording is being made, she just assumes everyone is going to use them to try and get on the radio. Maybe they want them to send to a family member or loved one.

- I can't help but feel that Ruby Lorraine Radford was inflating her own ego when it came to Sylvia's southern accent. Sylvia only gets a job when her natural accent comes out because it is considered so beautiful. Normally I would assume this was a message about being yourself but it's not written that way. Sylvia has been advised to tone down her accent because she's hard to understand. Obviously this will impact her as a voice actress. She is never made fun of for her accent or told it sounds ugly or anything of that sort. So when Radford, a southerner, writes about how beautiful southern accents are I can't help but feel she's complimenting herself. This is the same thing I felt she did with Christianity in some of her other books.

    This book reminded me of Radford's other book, Nancy Craig and the Mystery of the Fire Opal (written under the name Matilda Bailey), because they both are very unique stories which are boring at first but very interesting in the second half.
    I found Sylvia arrival in the city and the stay at the Strikers home a bit boring and really had to force myself to read through it. Things didn't pick up until after Sylvia goes to the hospital. I also did not like how Beth disappears for the last half. It seems strange to me that she would take a vacation to Sylvia's home while Sylvia is visiting her in Chicago. Even stranger that she decides to not come back. It's also a little annoying that a plot is centered around Sylvia getting on the radio just for her to get a job on the last page and not get to experience any of that.

    Overall it's not bad and I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author in the future.

An Update

    I thought now would be a good time to write a little update regarding my reading progress and future content of this blog.

    In my first post I explained how I am currently re-reading my entire collection of books. Although other collectors would most likely laugh at the small size of my collection, it had become much too big for my living space. Numerous times I had tasked myself with selecting books to get rid of in order to clear out space however I never was able to successfully do this since I could not remember the contents of the majority of books I owned. I had only read most of my books once and could not recall anything about the plot. Even Nancy Drew books which I had read numerous times were blurry in my mind since it had been so long since reading them. And so roughly two years ago I began my re-reading campaign. At this point I have re-read about half of my collection, a number of books I read before starting this blog.

    I would also like to address several things about my blog, firstly my long book summaries. Yes, I realize that my summaries are quite long and may seem overly detailed. This is because I am selling or donating about half the books I read. I want to be able to re-visit a book and it's whole plot without having to re-purchase one. There has been a number of times where I read a book, did not enjoy it, and got rid of it just to later doubt my own memory of the book. I will wonder "was it really that bad? Am I sure I didn't like it? Maybe I should give it another try". I then re-purchase the book just to re-read it and remember exactly why I didn't like. Writing detailed summaries helps me remember exactly why I did or did not like a book and thus save myself time and money in the future. With that being said a number of my future post which have already been drafted have condensed summaries so there will be some variation.

    I also know that my posts may be hard to read as I am quite uneducated when it comes to writing. I often struggle to make my thoughts concise and honestly have no clue what I am doing when it comes to paragraphs. I hope this can be forgiven as I'm not trying to pass myself off as a brilliant writer or reviewer. 

    I am aware that some of my earlier posts have formatting problems, mainly with the font size. I will be fixing these in the future when I have the time to re-do them. 

    That's all I have to say for now. I plan on doing more updates whenever I make significant progress in my re-reading. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for checking out my blog!

Dorothy Lamour and the Haunted Lighthouse

    When I first got this book I had very high hopes for it. It's part of the celebrity editions Whitman Publishing put out in the 1940's. The majority of those books were written by Kathryn Heisenfelt whose writing I do not enjoy. So I was very happy to acquire one of the books by a different author. This one was written by Matilda Bailey who also wrote the last book I read, Nancy Craig and the Mystery of the Fire Opal. 

    When I had originally read this book five years ago, I read it right after reading Nancy Craig. I remember thinking they were both great books however upon re-reading Nancy Craig I had very mixed opinions, this makes me wonder how I will receive this book.

    Dorothy Lamour is just a typical, non-famous girl who has just taken a job as a typist for Larry Edmunds. Mr. Edmunds is a young ww2 veteran who is writing a memoir about the war and also working as the lighthouse keeper in the seaside town of Pilot Town. 

    After her train arrived two hours late Dorothy takes a bus into town. The woman next to her, Mrs. Parker, tells Dorothy that the lighthouse she will be staying at is haunted and two other typists have already quit the job after their experiences there. Once the bus has arrived Dorothy befriends Kathy and Pat O'Leary, siblings around Dorothy's age who offer her a ride to the lighthouse. They first stop at the O'Leary house for supper where Dorothy is told more about the supposed haunting.

    The former typists claimed they heard a ghost ascending the side of the lighthouse at night. Dorothy is also told Mrs. Parker is the daughter of Vernon Parker who was the lighthouse keeper right before Mr. Edmunds. He was fired from the job for his strange behavior but is still going around town calling himself the lighthouse keeper. He now lives in a small house on the coast not far from the lighthouse.

    On the drive to Dorothy's destination the siblings also tell stories about how during the war enemy submarines had been found in the area with supplies from local stores meaning that traitors had been in the town and were helping the enemy, they were never caught and their identities are unknown.

    Upon arrival Dorothy is warmly greeted by Larry and Eleanor Edmunds and all get along famously from the start. Dorothy's room is on the second floor while the Edmunds and their baby sleep in a room on the first. That night Dorothy hears the ghostly sounds, a noise that sounds as if someone is climbing the wall right behind her bed. Although shaken she resigns herself to keeping her composure and not telling the young couple about this experience.

    The next day she begins her job as typist then has a picnic supper on the beach with Larry, Eleanor, and Kathy. She tells Kathy of the previous nights happenings and together they decide to find out the cause of the ghostly sounds.

    Several days later Dorothy joins the O'Learys for Sunday dinner. They've also invited Captain Tupper who tells of some interesting happenings in town; there is a river in which ships come in from sea, at the river opening a tugboat meets the ships and pulls it to dock. Several nights ago, sometime between when the ship entered the river and arrived at the dock, $50,000 worth of jewelry was stolen from the passengers. After a meticulous search of passengers and ship no jewelry was found and the culprit remains unknown. This is the third time its happened in six months and the belief around the dinner table is that the mysterious criminals may be hiding in the vast marshes on the other side of the river. A cabin was recently discovered somewhere among the many islands. Pat is interested in finding and visiting it and the girls wish to come along so plans are made for the next day.

    Once they get into the overgrown jungle-like place they hear the motor of a boat. Stealthily they are able to spy of the occupants of the boat; Vernon Parker and his son Jerry. After the Parker's have left Pat guides their boat in the direction the Parker's came from. There on an island they find the extremely well hidden cabin. Pat, who aspires to be a member of the FBI, uses dust marking to build a theory that the cabin is being used to move goods from one party to another.

    The following days Dorothy spends at the lighthouse working. The longer she's there the more she becomes curious about Larry and how he has extended absences during the day. He will often take off for the evening or even the whole day and Eleanor never says anything about it nor does anyone tell Dorothy where he goes or what he does during these times. Soon Dorothy hears the ghostly noises again in the night. She decides to write down when each strange occurrence happens as well as record when other things happen, such as seeing the Parker's in the marshes.

    Soon Larry has to go to new York for several nights to meet with his book publisher. While Eleanor is busy with a sick baby Dorothy becomes responsible for lighting and extinguishing the lighthouse light everyday. When the light needs polishing she goes into a storeroom in the back of the tower looking for polishing cloths. It's a strange triangle shaped room built in between the curved wall of the lighthouse and the straight wall of house, specifically the addition to the house that Vernon Parker had built quite awhile ago. 

    Dorothy notices that one of the walls is crooked when it should be straight and she deduces that there must be a hidden passage way somewhere in the storeroom. She begins looking through the items in the room, things that Mr. Parker is still storing there according to Eleanor. She examines a large trunk and finds its bottomless and concealing a trap door in the floor. She descends a latter in the trunk and finds a latter mounted to a concealed wall of the lighthouse tower. Climbing up it she finds another secret entrance that leads to the top of the tower and halfway up the latter there is a nook with a camouflaged door. Inside this nook is a cedar box containing the jewelry that was stolen from the ship.

    After examining it Dorothy decides to put it back in it's place. She fears if the culprit finds it missing she, Eleanor, and the baby would not be safe alone in the house with Larry gone. She then realizes that it's possible Larry put the jewelry there and him and Eleanor could be using the lighthouse as a front for criminal activity. 

    Larry soon arrives home and Dorothy finds her self struggling with what to do; she wants to report her find to the FBI but fears implicating the Edmunds. Kathy soon calls and invites Dorothy out to go crabbing with her and Pat that night. Once out in the boat Pats reveals that the crabbing trip is just an excuse to be present at the jetties of the river entrance when a ship comes in. He believes the jewelry thief is working with an off-ship collaborator and hopes to catch them in action.

    The group decides Kathy and Dorothy will stay hidden on the north jetties while Pat stakes out the south. As the ship comes in the three see someone toss something from a porthole and a boat stealthily come out to pick it up in the cover of darkness. Pat quickly makes after them on his boat and the criminals speed away. A chase ensues out of sight of the girls but soon they hear a gun shot. They're left in suspense over the fate of Pat for several minutes until his boat comes back. The mysterious men had shot at him but thankfully missed.

    They hurry back to the lighthouse to call the FBI and report what's happened. There they find the house absent of occupants and fully locked along with the lighthouse tower. Pat calls the FBI and while they wait for them to show up Dorothy and Kathy go upstairs to change into clean clothes. Once in Dorothy's room they hear the ghostly footsteps; someone is in the secret passageway but how if the tower is locked?

    Soon the FBI shows up and Larry is with them. Dorothy leads the men to the passageway and shows them the secret compartment, however it's empty. The girls are then sent into the house while the men stay and search for another entrance to the passage. Eleanor, who has been at the O'Leary is then brought home by Mr. O'Leary and the three girls sit up until early morning when Larry shows up saying that Vernon Parker, his sons, and accomplices have been caught and the jewelry recovered. 

    Dorothy learns that Vernon Parker had been using the secret passage to hide money, plans, and goods for the Nazis he was aiding during the war and flashed coded messages from the lighthouse to the enemy subs. Larry, although not a member of the FBI, has been working closely with them to solve these cases.

- I found myself greatly annoyed at the mention of the Edmunds attending church and Dorothy's happiness over going. This is because in the last book I read by Matilda Bailey, Nancy Craig and the Fire Opal, Christianity was used to show superiority of believers over non-Christians. Christianity was used as an example of an educated person while traditional religious beliefs of the area were to show how uneducated and ignorant the South Americans were. It was written offensively and has clearly left a bad taste in my mouth that is still lingering on with this book.
    At one point Dorothy looks around at the church-goers and wonders if the criminals operating in town were among them because, she says, some bad people will use church to hide their evil deeds. To me this looks as if Matilda Bailey was saying people who do bad things only use church as a disguise because no one who is a Christian would do bad things, as if being Christian makes you a good person by default.
    I think it's clear that Matilda Bailey was a Christian and that she held some ignorant beliefs about people involving religion.
    For the record I don't have any problem with Christianity, I simply do not like how Bailey used it to insult non-Christians as ignorant.

- Many times throughout out the book it is mentioned that Dorothy is so happy to have found young people her age to be friends with. Pat and Kathy's ages are not given but they're continuously described as young and Pat is in college so I assume he is in his late teens or early twenties. Kathy is younger so I believe she is in her late teens. Mrs. O'Leary also mentions that she is happy Kathy will now have a young friend her age.
    The Edmund's ages are also not mentioned but they are said to be young and close to Dorothy, Pat, and Kathy's age. Also since their child is only two I assume they're in their twenties. When Dorothy goes to the O'Leary for supper an uncle, Don O'Leary is there. He is thirty and not considered young. All this got me curious how old Dorothy Lamour actually was so I looked it up and to my amusement I learned that Dorothy Lamour was 33 when this book was published.

- Before Dorothy goes into the storeroom Eleanor tells her not to touch anything in there because it's not the Edmunds stuff. But when Dorothy goes in she wonders why tidy Eleanor would keep so much junk piled in a storeroom. Dorothy completely ignores that Eleanor just said it's not hers. Did Matilda Bailey forget what she wrote?

    Overall I think this book is quite good. No where does it get boring, drag, or feel like filler. It has a good storyline and good characters. I definitely think it's one of the better books in this series, miles ahead of Kathryn Heisenfelt's editions.

Nancy Craig and the Mystery of the Fire Opal

    This book is somewhat of a mystery itself. Years ago when I was looking to buy Whitman editions of the Polly Brewster set I purchased a book lot on Ebay, this was one of the books included. I had never heard of this book before which was surprising because I am fairly familiar with Whitman titles. This book also seems to have three different titles; Nancy Craig and the Mystery of the Fire Opal is printed on the cover, Nancy Craig and the Fire Opal is printed on the spine, and Nancy Craig and the Fire Opal of Guatemala is featured through out the book. "Authorized Edition" is printed on the spine, indicating that Nancy Craig is a pre-existing character outside of books but, try as I might, I can not find out who she is. She does not appear to have been a celebrity, a character in a radio show, or a comic strip. Who is Nancy Craig?

    When reading this book previously I recall finding it wonderfully adventurous but at the end I realized there was one problem with it; the main character did not have to be present for the actions of this story to happen. With or without Nancy Craig present the results of the story would have happened the way they did. I will talk more about this later.

    Fifteen-year-old Nancy Craig is on a plane piloted by her father heading for Guatemala. On the plane is her friend, sixteen-year-old Dannie Marston, who is heading to Guatemala with his father, archaeologist Dr. Marston, and a group of other research men. 

    Nancy is jealous because, unlike Dannie, she does not get to participate in the archaeology expedition into the Guatemalan jungle. She is going to visit her cousin, Kathy Wilson, who moved to the south American country a year ago when her father, uncle Ronnie, went into Foreign Service and was assigned there.

    Once they arrive Kathy tells Nancy about Maria Paso, a Guatemalan girl who boards with Kathy's family during the school year. She has invited the girls to visit her at her family's home during the current summer holiday. Kathy tells Nancy that Maria's family owns a vast amount of land, part of which is called the Forbidden Valley. Superstition says it's a dangerous place that no one must step foot onto. Nancy is instantly eager to visit it, brushing off superstitions as nonsense.

    After Nancy's father leaves Nancy, Kathy, Uncle Ronnie, Dannie, and Dr. Marston all head to Kathy's family's home where they meet Maria. As everyone is getting settled in their rooms Nancy and Kathy hear Maria talking rudely to two men who have come delivering produce from her family's farm. After the men leave Maria explains to the girls that the men are North Americans who are renting a hut on her family's land, right outside of the Forbidden Valley. They claim to be there to catch butterflies and locate flowers but Maria is suspicious of them because they've offered her father such a large sum of money to rent the hut.

    Ted, Kathy's younger brother, has been collecting rocks while living in Guatemala and is eager to show them to Dannie. One in particular catches Dannie's eye; he believes it to be an opal, possibly a fire opal which Dannie is very interested in and eager to find one for himself. Ted is excited by this possibility and agrees to have the stone taken to a member of the archaeology group who can cut it open to verify.

    Nancy and Kathy later join Uncle Ronnie when he goes into town to run errands. While the girls wait in the car they see the two North American men and feel they are up to something suspicious.

    Soon the archaeology groups heads out on their expedition. Dannie will be tasked with coming into town occasionally to get mail and supplies. His first trip is set for Wednesday but when the day arrives Dannie does not. Nor does he the next day. Uncle Ronnie insists there's nothing to worry about because, he says, Dannie is smart enough to take care of himself.

    Nancy and Kathy then head to the Paso's house where they will be guests for a week. During supper Maria talks about Dannie stopping by their house on his way to town Wednesday. Nancy and Kathy becomes instantly worried, Dannie had evidently started on his journey but never reached his destination. Mr. Paso follows the route Dannie had planned to take and asks everyone along it if they've seen him; no one has.

    That night an earthquake shakes the house. The Paso's and Kathy are use to them but Nancy has never experienced one and has been living in fear of them since arriving in South America. The experience leaves her quite shaken.

    As a distraction from worrying about Dannie the three girls and Tomás, Maria's brother, go for a picnic at some old ruins. The trail there leads past the rented hut and Maria once again voices her dislike of the renters. Tomás remarks that the men and their horses are gone every single day but he doesn't know where. 

    The ruins are close to Forbidden Valley and Nancy is eager to catch even a glimpse of it. Maria and Tomás vocalize their fear of the valley and share the legend that anyone who goes into the valley will never come out alive. Nancy brushes off this superstition and persuades the hesitant Kathy to walk up a bluff that over looks the valley. They notice hoof-prints and upon investigation find more prints going both toward and away from the valley. Evidently someone has been going into the valley and coming out alive, could it be the men renting the nearby hut?

    On top of the bluff they admire the beauty of the valley and persuade Maria and Tomás to join them. The two are shocked at seeing how beautiful the place is, they had believed it to be a barren wasteland. Trying to take advantage of the opportunity to rid the family of their superstitions Nancy says she's going to walk down the bluff into the valley to gather a flower. But as she descends down the rough slope an earthquake begins and she is tossed down and covered with debris. 

    On the whole she is fine but her leg has gotten cut and she's bleeding badly. She manages to climb back up the bluff and the Guatemalans, believing the evil spirits attacked her for entering the valley, are shocked she is alive. By this time Nancy has become woozy from blood loss and the two girls are having to carry her. 

    Tomás never stopped running after the earthquake began and has told the renters what happened as he ran past their hut. The men, Pearson and Conners, come find the girls and begin berating them for being so near the valley. They don't lighten up until Maria threatens to have them removed from her father's land. After this they lend the girls a first aid kit to bandage Nancy's leg, then lend a horse for her to ride back to the Peso's.

    Nancy spends the next day keeping off her leg and the Paso's prepare to take their produce and wares to market the following day. Around dinnertime Dr. Marston, Uncle Ronnie, and another man from the expedition show up to inquire if any information about Dannie has been found. Uncle Ronnie confides to Nancy that he fears Dannie has been robbed and murdered while on his way to town. 

    After the men leave the family discusses Dannie's visit and it is revealed he asked the Paso's endless questions about the forbidden valley. Nancy and Kathy come to believe this is where he had gone.

    The next day the Paso's are headed for the market when Nancy claims her leg isn't well enough to join in and Kathy insists on staying with Nancy. Once the family leaves for the day the American girls pack a lunch, water, and a field kit. They saddle the Paso's old burro and head to the forbidden valley in search of Dannie. The burro is slow and balks constantly which costs them time. As they get closer to the rented hut the girls hear horse steps and hide in the bushes. They see Conners and Pearson ride by heading to the market which releases them of the anxiety of running into the men in the valley. 

    Once in the valley they rein the burro by a stream then continue on foot. The valley is filled with lush fruit trees, mahogany trees, and what the girls believe to be opal stones. It's not long before they find a blazed trail which they assume the two men have made. They follow the trail calling for Dannie at intervals. 

    By the time they sit down to lunch Nancy's leg wound has opened and is bleeding. She's determine to carry on tho. Not long after they continue their trek through the jungle an earthquakes erupts causing a tree to fall and their packs become trapped under it. Kathy has a brief moment of weakness where she wants to run back to the mule but upon realizing Dannie has been in the jungle for multiple earthquakes and could have met the same fate as their packs, they continue on. 

    The farther they go the more lost in the wilderness they become and Nancy's leg gets worse and worse and she's soon struggling to walk. The girls discuss finding a sturdy tree to sleep in for the night, once they find one Kathy climbs it and from her viewpoint she sees an ancient pyramid and temple in the near distance. Finding this a safer place to sleep they head to it and climb to the top of the pyramid. They call for Dannie from this height and get a response; he's under the temple. 

    Once in the temple Dannie instructs the girls on how to unbar and lift a stone from the floor that works as the dungeon's entrance. Dannie is freed from his prison and reveals he was put there by Conners and Pearson. He tells his story of being curious of the forbidden valley and venturing in on Wednesday. He begins finding opal stones when Conners and Pearson appear. Enraged that the boy has found the natural treasure they have been stealing, they keep him prisoner so he can tell no one of it.

    By now Nancy is not able to continue on the journey and it's too dark to safely navigate the jungle so they spend the night in the temple. In the morning Nan's leg is worse and showing serious signs of infection. They decide that Dannie will go back through the valley for the burro so Nancy can ride out. The girls are placed into a caved-in nook on the side of the pyramid where they are to hide for several hours until Dannie's return. They figure here they will be safe if Conners and Pearson arrive. 

    The men do arrive and it's clear by their packed horses and attire that they are about to flee the country, they are just setting Dannie free first. The girls sneak down the pyramid and into the temple. One man goes into the dungeon after receiving no reply from their calls to Dannie, Kathy then sneaks up on the other and shoves him backwards into the dungeon opening. They secure the entrance then soon hear horses. A rescue party including law officials, Dr. Marston, Uncle Ronnie, and Ted appear with Dannie who they met in the jungle. The rescue party had been formed the previous night after the Paso's returned home to find a note from Kathy telling of their plans.

    The two men are arrested, Nancy's is given medical treatment, Dr. Marston has a new archaeological find with the pyramid and temple, and the Paso's are free of their superstitions and will now find great wealth with all the natural resources the valley contains.

- The way Guatemalans are looked down upon for their cultures religious beliefs is kind of annoying. I try to be extremely open-minded with old books, I know it was a different time when reliable information was not as easily available and so stereotypes, myths, and misinformation were taken as fact but this book was so rude. 

    It constantly talked about how Guatemalans who believed in their countries traditional religion were ignorant and uneducated. It mentions how Christian leaders were working to educate the country so they will adopt Christianity. I found it especially laughable when Nancy observes how the "ignorant and uneducated" people light incense on the church steps to their gods while the "educated modern" ones light candles in the church. Matilda Bailey clearly did not see how laughable this comparison was.

    Not only that but the savior theme of this book got on my last nerves, I've never come across a more intense version if it. For example there's a scene when Uncle Ronnie stops at a villagers house on the side of the road to purchase melons from the owner. Inside the home a young woman has sprained her ankle. A medicine man is there waving herbs over the ankle and all the natives are confused as to why this has not instantly cured the ankle. Our savior Nancy then comes in and mystified these ignorant and uneducated people by teaching them that hot water can ease pain.

    And it's not just that Nancy happens to help these people with basic knowledge but she actually sees it as her duty. When Dannie first goes missing Mrs. Paso tries to comfort Nancy and Kathy by saying she'll burn an offering to protect Dannie from evil spirits. Instead of being thankful for this act of kindness and empathy, Nancy feels guilty for not immediately trying to convince Mrs. Paso that offerings and evil spirits are not real.

- To make things even worse Nancy's cut leg is later treated with a poultice of herbs by Mrs. Paso to ease the pain. Even though they work and do ease Nancy's pain she does not change her opinions of people using them in the traditional healing practices.

- There a definite plot hole with how much destruction happens with each earth quake. For example when the earthquake happens when Nancy is descending the bluff to pick a flower. Rocks, dirt, trees, etc. all fall down around and on top of her. But if there was a large earthquake the night before and regular earthquakes every few days how was all that not dislodged previously. The same happens when the girls go into the jungle; there's no note of fallen trees from previous earthquakes but after one happens while they are there suddenly trees have fallen blocking the paths.

- The same meal is mentioned over and over; albondigas, tortillas, and boiled corn. I think this is the only South American meal Matilda Bailey knew of.

    Overall I feel conflicted about this book. I really enjoy the part that takes place in the valley and, to a slightly lesser extent, at the Paso's. I think the premise is good and it makes a wonderfully adventurous story but the judgmental overtones of the whole book really ruin the majority of it. I also found the parts taking place at Kathy's house and that surrounding area quite boring. 

    I'm not sure if their are any other girls books from this time period set in the Guatemalan jungle as it seems like a unique setting but if so then I would really love to find them and see if they got it right where Matilda Bailey got it wrong.

    Now as for what I mentioned at the start of this review about Nancy and Kathy not needing to be present for the actions of this book to turn out the same. I am going to copy and paste what I wrote about that from my previous review years ago:

    "Dannie had been kidnapped by 2 men and hidden in the dungeon of a temple in the jungle. The girls find and release him but it's then too dark to venture back so they sleep there. The next morning Nancy's leg wound is too painful/infected for her to walk back so Dannie goes to get the burro the girls left yesterday to carry her back. While they wait they hide and then the 2 men show up. The men were going to release Dannie that morning and then immediately leave the country, saying that by the time he walks out of the jungle they would already be gone. It's stated that it would only take a couple hours to get out of the jungle on foot. Well starting that morning the police had started looking for men who they had been suspicious of for sometime. So if the men had then left the jungle after releasing Dannie they would have been apprehended and Dannie would have walked back to the city or been found on his way back. Not only that but Ted had already told the authorities he had found the opal Dannie was interested in, in that jungle so the authorities were already on their way there looking for Dannie and thus would have ran into the 2 men. Regardless of if the girls had come the day before to find him, Dannie would have been on his was home and the 2 men would have been arrested on that same day around the exact same time."

    So as you can see the girls did not need to go into the jungle to save Dannie. The whole point of them going alone was that they claimed it would take too long to contact Dr. Martson or Uncle Ronnie to have authorities go but this is proven false. Therefore the girls endangered their lives and Nancy may have gotten blood poisoning for nothing.