Barbara Ann: Mystery Across the Boarder

 

    When Barbara Ann's father has to take a business trip to Mexico City Barbara and her best friend Beverly join him. Barbara's unofficial boyfriend Bob and his friends, Mort, Jerry, and Jimmy, all decided to take a trip to Mexico City too. 

    As they're driving through Texas on their journey Barbara's father allows her to take the wheel and do some driving. Unfortunately Barbara ends up in a minor bang up with a car parked on the side of the road. This car belongs to Mr. Stedman who begins to bawl out the teenage girl. However when he learns her name is Barbara his attitude completely changes to kind and friendly. 

    Once across the border the group of Americans stay at a quaint Inn suggested to them by Mr. Stedman. It is owned by Mr. Sweizer who tells Barbara about Stedman's tragic life; 

    Stedman, a widower, had lost his only daughter and son-in-law in an automobile accident. His only remaining family was his granddaughter, Barbara, who he had custody of and doted on shamelessly. One day while at the beach with her nanny the three year old child went missing. It was ruled that the child had drowned but as her body had never been found Stedman holds onto hope that she is alive. She would now be 16 years old. 

    Once in Mexico City the party pays a visit to Mr. Stedman and meets his nephew, Gordon. Barbara senses a coldness between the two which is enhanced when Gordon makes it clear to Barbara that he does not approve of his uncle's hope that little Barbara is alive. 

    I'm going to stop my summary here because when it comes down to it the book is mostly filler. Barbara Ann of course finds little Barbara in Mexico, completely by coincidence. The nephew, of course, organized the child's kidnapping, and grandfather and granddaughter, of course, are reunited. 

    Mexico was a very popular place for books to be set in and I have read numerous ones taking place there, specifically in Mexico City. However I've never read one in which Mexico is looked down upon so much. The food is described as disgusting and inedible, the women as fat, the children as dirty, and the locations are picked apart. Almost all these old books in Mexico include a trip to the floating gardens of Xochimilco and this one is no exception but instead of describing the beauty of the place and the thrill and excitement of mingling with floating musicians and merchants who pass by the place is called "beautiful from a distance" and a complaint is made about Mexicans tossing their food waste into the water as well as complaints about it turning into a floating market where natives make money off of tourists. 

    To me it appeared as if no one in their tourist party was enjoying the experience of a different country. So it felt very ingenuine when Grosby writes the characters as being sad to leave Mexico. From their reactions throughout the whole book I thought they would be happy to leave. 

    I don't have much to say about this book. It's a typical Barbara Ann book in that the mystery doesn't take up much space and there's plenty of filler events. I did however find it less tedious than I did after my first reading and I think it is a step up from the last book in the series. 

Jane Stewardess of the Airlines

 

    Jane, along with her best friend Sue, have just completed their nurses training and are spending their graduation night worried about their lack of employment. Lucky for them the dean of their nursing school has received a request from Federated Airlines for two trained nurses. The company plans on hiring them as stewardess which was a newly created job field at this time. 

    The girls have to catch a flight to Federated's headquarters for their interviews. This is their first time on an airplane and to their misfortune the plane crashes. Jane helps the injured pilot escape from the cockpit right before the plane goes up in a fiery explosion. Due to her leadership behavior during the incident Jane is immediately given a job. 

    Jane's first assignment is to accompany the wealthy Mrs. Van Verity Vanness on a last minute dash across the country to reach her ill sons bedside. The flight takes place at the same time air bandits have been active and there is a close call with the bandits almost overtaking Jane's plane before the U.S. military comes in with aerial guns blazing. 

    Jane is paid by a newspaper to tell her story about the incident and Mrs. Van Verity Vanness gives Jane a check as a thank you. Jane uses this money to take flying lessons and get her pilot license. 

    When a film company comes to town to use the airport as a filming location Jane is giving the job of stunt pilot. The special effects equipment on her plane malfunctions causing a fire and Jane has to parachute out of the plane as it dives into an explosive crash landing, all while film cameras roll.

    Jane is soon given a promotion to assist in training new flight stewardess which comes with a substantial raise.

    As winter comes along many flights get cancelled due to snow. As Jane is checking in at the airport one day to learn her flight has been cancelled she overhears that an isolated village is having a flu outbreak and no medicine has been able to be transported to them due to the snow. Veteran pilot Slim Bollei decides to make the dangerous trip to the village and Jane accompanies him. The plane gets lost in the snow then makes a minor crash landing but still gets the medicine safely to the villagers. 

    As the one year anniversary of Jane and Sue becoming stewardess rolls around Jane happens to be a passenger on Sue's plane. Aboard the flight is child film star Jackie Condon as well as two shady looking men; Bardo and Mellotti. The two men end up hijacking the plane and kidnapping the boy. The passengers and pilot are dropped off at an isolated area in Canada but Sue and Jane are kept on to take care of the child. The men take the plane to an isolated shoreline bare of anything except two cabins and a seaplane. After night arrives the three kidnapped victims escape the cabin to the sea plane in which Jane flies them to freedom at dawn. The criminals pursue in the commercial plane but the U.S. coast guard is spotted just in time to make a rescue of the three.  

- Out of the first four plane trips in this book two of them end in crashes and one is attacked by air bandits. Not the best publicity for the newly emerging commercial flight business.

- This book had a lot in common with Vicki Barr and I read them as existing in the same world. So when Jane is walking through the Chicago Airport I got a little sentimental thinking that this is the same airport Vicki would be walking through 13 years later. 

- The movie stars names were based off of real movie stars and I found that really amusing. For example child actor Jackie Condon would have been fictionalized Jackie Coogan, leading lady Claudette Bennett would have been Constance Bennett, etc. 

- The kidnappers/hijackers are an example of anti-Italianism that was common at the time. I always find these offensive depictions of Italians very interesting as it seems to be a forgotten part of America's history.

- Jane is a bit of a boring character because she is perfect. She is top of her class at nurse school and she instantly becomes the top stewardess and pilot when she ventures into those fields. She's so perfect that she is constantly offered fabulous job opportunities; besides being given one of the two open stewardess positions she is also offered to accompany Mrs. Van Verity Vanness on an around the world trip, and offered a job in Hollywood as an actress. If the book didn't end when Jane, Sue, and Jackie are rescued by the coast guard Jane would have probably been offered a job with them. 

- One part I really liked was when Sue was on a flight that had almost crashed. After they land safety and Sue gets all the passengers off and on their way she sits down in the empty plane and has a cry. I wish Jane had done something like this as it would make her seem more human. Instead Jane goes through multiple plane crashes and air chases but never seems to have much if any negative emotions due to it. 

    Overall it's a fun easy read with amazing cover art. If you enjoy Vicki Barr than I would recommend this book.

Mystery of the Jade Idol

    While on vacation at their aunt and uncle's Mexico plantation, cousins Judy and Susanne find themselves entrusted with a key to a valuable ancient artifact. The plantation soon becomes a hotbed of crime as the key is stolen, all of Susanne's jewelry is stolen, the Jade idol is stolen, Rosetta the maid is shot, and strange ghosts even begin to appear. Suspicion lays mainly on Phil, a young man who befriends the girls and disappears as soon as the Jade idol is gone. However there is no short supply of suspicious person around the plantation.

- Judy and Susanne are 17 but they act like 12-year-olds. They're just plain stupid. They talk so openly about having the key and where they're going to hide it that it would have been more surprising if it wasn't stolen. They also act very carelessly and put themselves in dangerous situations, then when Colonel Thompson scolds them for it they have hissy fits saying "he's not the boss of us!".

- Rosetta is dying of a bullet wound and they don't get a doctor because the closest one is fifty miles away. Why do they not consider a doctor just cause of that? There's plenty of horses to ride to a doctor on.    

    After doing some research I've learned that with one horse they could have covered about 40 miles in one day meaning they could have had a doctor there in tree days max and that's if the doctor did not have a car. However if they took multiple horses, which the plantation had, and switch between them on the ride then they could have rode the 100 mile round trip in one day.

- I felt like the ending was a little strange and not well thought out. There's a culprit who was a totally surprise which is always nice and then one who was really obvious from the first sentence they're mentioned in.

- Why doesn't the uncle come back in the end?

    I wrote this book review in 2017 but after a recent re-reading I found that my thoughts were more or less the same. I enjoyed the book less this time around and found it a bit boring and drawn out. 

Mystery of the Laughing Mask

    Gail works as a secretary for an old friend of the family, Mr. Allen. While at a trading post in the Florida Everglades Gail finds a pin in the shape of a theater laughing mask. Unable to find the owner, she keeps it for herself. Later she meets Sara Breckenridge, the daughter of Doctor Breckenridge, a colleague of Mr. Allen. Sara is worried that her father has been kidnapped while delivering a valuable piece of jade jewelry. Before he left he had received an anonymous note warning him against delivering the Jade pendant and strangely enough it was signed with a laughing mask. Throw into the mix an abandoned mill, a damaged yacht, and two wealthy women both trying to acquire the pin and Gail's got quite a mystery.

- I loved that Gail is staying at a boarding house. I thought it was a great way of giving a 16-year-old girl all the freedom she needed to solve a mystery.

- I also loved that the main cast had Mr. Allen instead of a parent, brother, or boy friend. A girl solving a mystery with her employer, especially one she is not dating/romantically interested in, is very unique.

- The locations are wonderful. A trading post in the Florida Everglades with a long, rough road leading to it, the Surf Club on the beach where Mr. Allen lives, the abandoned warehouse with the sky light chain that Gail slides down. The gave a great atmosphere. 

- So much of the dialogue is written so strangely that it's hard to believe a talented writer like Mildred Wirt wrote it. "I am" and "do not" are constantly used instead of "I'm" and "don't" giving me flashbacks to True Grit. Also Sara and Mr. Allen are constantly saying Gail's name at the end of dialogue:

Glancing up, he asked: "What do you have in mind, Gail? I know you've concocted some scheme."

"Not a very good one. However, I hesitate to meet Mrs. Deva tomorrow because she'll recognize me at first glance. Now I thought if you would be willing to take my place—" 

"What good would that do, Gail?" 

"You're very clever at judging character," she said flatteringly. "After talking with her you could tell what sort of person she really is." 

"You over-estimate my powers, Gail."

Another example:

"Then you believe Doctor Breckenridge's disappearance is truly serious?" 

"I do, Gail." Henry Allan arose, and walking to the window, gazed down on the rooftops of the Commodore Hotel. "Aside from the fact that the doctor possessed a valuable jewel, he had many bitter enemies." 

"Persons who might wish to harm him?"

"I am afraid so, Gail. The nature of Doctor Breckenridge's work in China was such that he stirred up antagonism. On the other hand, I know of no man more highly respected and loved by the people he served."

"He never would have cheated Madam Alexandre as she claims?" 

"Such an accusation seems ridiculous, Gail. Utterly so."

- Sara is worried about her father yet she's hesitant to go to the police. If she was truly worried she would have gone immediately.

- This is yet another book by Mildred Wirt that has villains with stereotyped ethnic features. One of the villains is described as having a large hooked nose.

- Gail litters a lot. She throws a linen handkerchief into water while in the everglades and 4 rolls of exposed film from her car window.

- One thing I didn't understand is why did the Laughing Mask organization sent Doctor Breckenridge an anonymous letter telling him not to deliver the jade pendant. Didn't they want him to deliver the pendant so they could capture him and steal it? I'm not sure if there is an explanation to this or if the letter was simply included to tie Gail's pin in with the mystery.

- The end of the book contains the first chapter to The Runaway Caravan, the first book in the Trailer Girls Series. This was a good marketing move at the time but now it's a terrible tease as the Trailer Girls Series is hard to acquire. Will I ever find out what happened to Uncle Nathan and the automobile accident?

    Overall I enjoyed this books. I think it has unique elements not often seen and the story moves along well so you don't lose interest. However I can't stop thinking about the strange overuse of Gail's name. That writing decision is the true mystery of this book.

The Mystery of the Tolling Bell (Original)

    "Nancy becomes involved in another mystery when she accepts an invitation from Mrs. Chantry, a client of Mr. Drew, to vacation at her cottage in a picturesque seaside town. Carson Drew has promised to join his daughter, but fails to arrive. The alarming disappearance of Mr. Drew and the odd circumstances surrounding his rescue are only the start of a series of highly dangerous adventures for Nancy and her friends Bess and George. Mrs. Chantrey's story about a nearby cliff side cave reputedly inhabited by a ghost intrigues Nancy and she decides to investigate. Several frightened townspeople claim to have seen an apparition and heard the weird sounds of a tolling bell just before water rushes from the cave. Will Nancy discover the true cause of these mysterious occurrences?"

- Yet again Bess who is often described as simple minded and cowardly saves the day. She rescues herself and George from drowning.

- Too much goes on when Nancy goes to see her father at the hotel; being told to come, being told to not come, the note in the lobby, finding him, losing him, Ned losing Nancy, Ned getting false information. It was just too much misdirection going on while also trying to move the story forward.

- It seems that everyone in Candleton was very eager to give their life savings to a stranger traveling through town selling stock. Surprised these people haven't been duped before.

- Nancy and Ned drive to Yorktown in Ned's car yet Nancy grabs a map "that she always kept in the car". Clearly the writer forgot whose car they were in.

- If I were Nancy I would have been absolutely livid at the fisherman who tries to "rescue" her from the back of the cave by tossing a fishing net over her and hauling her up the cliff. If Nancy hadn't something to grab onto at the last minute she would have died because of this idiot.

- A dwarf man is compared to an elf many times and the villain of the book is physically deformed which is all a bit ableist. Also the other culprits are described as darker skinned, larger features, and all those racial villain stereotypes.

- I really like the names Sweet Chimes and Mon Coeur and the heart-shaped compact. Not hard to see why people would buy it, good packaging is so important with make-up.

- Nancy and George staying in the cliff house after Ned leaves for the police department is so dumb. They should have waited for him to return.

- George going down the tunnel after Nancy instead of going for help was also extremely dumb. She should know better by now.

- I think the culprits happening to be the one to rear end Ned was not necessary. Why did every unfortunate incident have to be them? That's too much coincidence.

- At the end when Ned and Nancy find the bell in the cave it says Nancy opened the door and walked back into the cliff house yet when they went down the tunnel it says they made sure to prop the door open so they wouldn't get locked in.

- I've never heard of the tired swimmers carry that Bess uses for George. I looked it up and could only find an old video from 1933. Not sure if it's an outdated technique or not.

Source: Dissolve

    This book is very coincidence heavy and most of it involves Nancy happening to be at the right place at the right time. I do enjoy the seaside setting and Ned's presence as well as the lack of Nancy getting a concussion or being caught and bound by the bad guys. I think it's a bit unethical of her to keep the bell at the end however.

    Overall it's one of the better Nancy Drew books and significantly better than the re-written version. The cover is also stunning.

Connie Blair: The Puzzle in Purple

    Connie has just enrolled in a local art night school and on her first day she meets two boys who take an interest in her; handsome and cocky popular boy Roby Woodward and shy and awkward Eric Payson who is Mr. Woodward's protégé. 

The school is having a fancy dress ball in two weeks. The art school is located inside of an large, old residence and the Fairy Tale Ball is to be held in the ballroom. Some of the senior students have been tasked with painting murals of fairy tale scenes to hang in the room for the event. Eric is creating a Rapunzel mural and for reference has borrowed an expensive purple cape from Miss Catherine, an elderly woman who admires Eric and so happens to be Roby's aunt. On Connie first day the cape goes missing from the model's locker which causes Eric worry.

    A week later Eric musters up the courage to ask Connie to the ball and she decides to go with him and invites her twin, Kit, to come too. The next day Roby asks Connie to the ball but she informs him she already plans to go with Eric. Roby laughs and insists he'll deal with Eric and Connie will go with himself instead. Connie gets furious at Roby's conceit and tells him off.

    Kit arrives and the two girls dress as Snow Queens for their ball costumes. They are so identical in looks, voice, and costume that no one can tell them apart. As the dance is about to start the ballroom doors are opened and inside stands a skeleton, used by the school for anatomy reference, draped in the missing cape and all the murals, with the exception of Eric's, have been covered in purple X's.

    Despite the act of vandalism and queer prank the ball goes smoothly until everyone is walking home. Feeling playful in the snow Connie begins a game of tag with Eric which results in him stepping on a broken grate and breaking his leg.

    The twins go to visit him in the hospital the next day where they meet Roby's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Woodward. Eric lives with them and works at Mr. Woodward's factory. It appears they are sort of parent figures to the boy. While there Mr. Woodward complains that Roby has not yet come to visit Eric and that he is probably sleeping in till noon as usual. Miss Catherine also arrives for a visit and invites the twins to tea the following day.

    As they are leaving the hospital Roby arrives and gives the girls a ride home. He says Eric is his parents favorite child and that he only came to visit because it was expected of him. He also joyfully says Uncle Francis doesn't like Eric either but the subject is changed before Connie can respond.

    At tea the following day Connie learns that Eric is an orphan and Miss Catherine had met him when he was a small child and she was doing social-service work. "Uncle Francis" then arrives and turns out to be Mr. White, the superintendent of the art school building (a glorified janitor as Roby describes it). He, almost happily, states that the school has Eric as their number one suspect of the mural vandalism which could result in his expulsion.

    Eric asks Connie to bring him his sketchbook from his school locker. Roby brings her the locker key from home and inside Eric's locker she finds the purple paint which was used for the purple X's on the murals. Eric returns to school and is instantly informed he is the main suspect.

    Five large paintings worth $5,000 each were loaned to the school from Reid and Renshaw's to be used as decorations for the ball. With that over the paintings are packed up and shipped back to the advertising company. Connie is there when the paintings are delivered and opened to reveal they've all been slashed with a large X. With this serious crime in the mix an investigation is started by two detective from the insurance company. Eric is still the main suspect and being questioned constantly.

    Kit comes into town on a buyers trip for the hardware store and while at lunch with Connie she talks about her experience with Roby at the ball; Roby, mistaking Kit for Connie, shares the information that Miss Catherine has made Eric her sole heir and with the suspicion of vandalism she is likely to change her will now. 

    Connie makes an impromptu visit to Miss Catherine and supports Eric's innocence. The older woman informs Connie that she has never liked her brother Francis much and that he was a disappointment to the family. She confides to Connie that she is concerned over a knife she had gifted to Eric, that it may be used as evidence against him.

    Connie spends time with Eric on the weekend and, learning that the knife is in his school locker, she decides it would be best if they go remove it. They sneak in through the cellar and dig through Eric's locker but can't find the knife. Francis White and Mr. Jenkins, the school dean, arrive and the two young people try to sneak back out but Eric realizes he's forgotten his jacket in the locker room. They attempt to sneak back to the room and retrieve it but Mr. White discovers it first. Then the two come face to face with the detective who have been monitoring the school and saw them sneak in. Eric's coat is brought to the detectives who find the knife in a pocket.

    At this point Connie has realized that Mr. White is the real culprit and is able to explain her theory and get Eric off the hook. The book ends with them at Connie's family house for the weekend.

- I read my old review before starting this book and I'm afraid it blinded me a bit. In it I had said that the culprit was obvious from page 40. With this reading I assumed that meant Roby who was written with every sign pointing to him as being it. Much like how Eric could not be guilty because the clues point towards him to a suspicious degree, Roby could not be it because Betsy Allen has given the reader clues that point towards him to a suspicious degree.

- Fritz was just...not necessary. I didn't include him in my summary because his inclusion in the book is pointless. He is a obvious red herring. He is only included in the story at times where Connie needs to be suspicious of someone other than Roby. 

- Roby is the reddest red herring to ever herring. There is so much written just to make Roby look guilty in every single way yet not a single person suspects him, including Connie. As we learn more and more about him throughout the book we find he is not a good person yet at the end of the book when he's no longer needed for misdirection he is suddenly described by the other characters as a really great guy. This is quite annoying.

- Eric is described as being awkward and shy but instead of these being flaws Connie actually finds them endearing. Meanwhile smooth, confident Rob gets on her nerves. I thought this was nice. Normally characters are likeable despite their awkwardness but never for it.

- This book reminded me of the Nancy Drew Files with how the three suspects were laid out and all had their moments that make them look suspicious.

To continue on with examples of how the Connie Blair series is in fact not sexist:

• Connie is working fulltime and going to school. She supports herself with her job and she earned her school tuition through her work in the last book.
• Kit is still running the hardware store and going on buyer's trips alone despite her young age.
• Miss Catherine is a strong, independent woman and described as being "made of iron".
• Roby is good looking and charming yet Connie does not fall for his smooth talking and chooses for herself who she wishes to attend the ball with.
• Yet again no mention is made about Aunt Elizabeth being single and childless.

Connie Blair: The Riddle in Red

    With her temporary modeling job at Champions over Connie has gone back home to wait on the results of her job interview at the advertising agency Reid and Renshaw. Although Connie's life path was suppose to include college she decides she would rather head into the working world. Her father's unfortunate and unexpected heart attack drains the family financially and her parents consent to her taking a full time job.

    With her letter of employment Connie heads back to Philadelphia to continue rooming with her 28-year-old aunt Elizabeth and begin her job as a receptionist.

    On her first day she finds that the former receptionist was fired for using Angela Murray makeup products. Cleo Marville, who owns Cosmetics by Cleo, is the agency's biggest client and so the employees are subject to her eccentricities, which include using her makeup exclusively.

    Connie is asked to deliver an envelope to Cleo directly and when she arrives at the cosmetic factory she find an employee, chemist Mr. Paul, heatedly yelling at Cleo and throwing things around the office. It is Connie's arrival that deescalates the situation.

    Back at Reid and Renshaw the copy writers are struggling to create an acceptable advertisement for Cleo's new revolutionary nail polish created from a top secret formula. Connie mentions to her co-worker that the research department should conduct a survey with test samples to find out how the customers feel about the product. This idea gets passed along and accepted and Mr. Renshaw offers Connie the job of distributing the samples.

    After picking up the samples from the factory Connie goes to Cleo's glamorous house where she is told who to distribute the samples to; a stenographer, a homemaker, a college student, a wealthy women, etc. 

    Upon leaving Connie stops at a random house in the wealthy neighborhood to give a sample to the woman of the house. The home turns out to be occupied by Baron Von Glekin, the scientist that created the nail polish formula. Connie doesn't know who he is until later but gets bad vibes from him. While in the house she notices letters written on Angela Murray's stationary.

    Later while in a taxi with a chatty cab driver Connie learns that Cleo had a previous falling out with her sister. Connie checks with an edition of Who's Who to verify her belief that Angela Murray is Cleo Marville's sister.

    A conference meeting with Cleo is scheduled for the first work day after Thanksgiving. When she does not arrive at the advertising agency Connie is tasked with calling around to try to get a hold of her. However Cleo Marville seems to have suddenly disappeared. No one knows where she currently is and her last known whereabouts had been a football game the previous evening. The friends she had attended with said she left for an appointment but no one knows where or with who. Suspicion of foul play grows once the police find Cleo's car parked at the train station with the keys still inside. All her associates are questioned with the exception of the Baron who is suddenly out of town.

    One night after work Connie and Ken, a co-worker she occasionally dates, drive out to view Cleo's house. As they pass the Baron's house Connie sees a light flash in one of the windows. She notifies the police who put a watch on the house and catch a man running in through the back door, he is the same man as the butler Connie met on her first visit there and she finds him suspicious.

    The police decide to search the house and Connie and Mr. Renshaw come along. All three floors are fully searched with the exception of two padlocked rooms which, for some ridiculous reason, the police don't insist on searching. Connie is the only one taking Cleo's disappearance seriously and when the search does not turn her up Mr. Renshaw and the police act exasperated by Connie, perceiving her as a meddling child.

    Back at the office Connie has been given a new responsibility of opening and sorting all the mail. When she opens a package of advertisement proofs she finds one for Angela Murray has accidentally been included; it's for a new revolutionary nail polish made from a top secret formula. Guessing that the Baron has sold the same formula to both sisters Connie believes more than ever that Cleo has been abducted by him.

    Connie and Ken sneak out to his home in the late morning and climb a trellis to enter through a window. With the aid of a metal file they saw through the padlock on the locked room upstairs and find Cleo bound and gagged. She instructs Connie to run downstairs and call the police. Just as Connie has done this the butler returns but the police arrive before he discovers the couples presence.

    With the mystery solved Connie asks Cleo to reconcile with Angela which she does. A private lunch is thrown in which it's announced the Baron, fake Baron as it turns out and con man, has been captured, that Cleo and Angela will be combining their companies, and that Cleo wants to finance art classes at night school for Connie as a reward.

- I don't like Mr. Renshaw. He seems like an idiot and quite rude sometimes.

- Combining cosmetic companies is a stupid idea. The women have feuded for years then they get along for an afternoon and decided to combine companies.

- After Cleo is found Connie really becomes a busybody the way she tries to make Cleo reconcile with Angela. Connie doesn't know about the situation between the sisters. She's invested herself way too much in their private affairs.

- The police were dumb not to search the padlocked rooms and I have a very, very hard time believing they wouldn't. If you think someone is being held prisoner in a home obviously the locked rooms will look suspicious. I feel like Cavanna, or Allen as she's credited here, could have come up with something better.

- We never find out the Barons real name and that bothers me a tiny bit, I'm curious.

- I have no idea what the "red" in the title refers to. Nothing was especially mentioned as red. Cleo's hair is auburn but it's barely mentioned.

- Like I said in my last review, Connie Blair has been falsely dubbed as "sexist" when it is in fact the most feminist of all the female detectives series. Here's the example from this book, check my last review to see examples from the first book.

• When Connie thinks about her career goals it says "Connie was always seeking new worlds to conquer".
• After their father has a heart attack the girls take over being the providers for the family; Kit takes over the hardware store and Connie gets a job in an office. Kit is fully running the hardware store, including going on buyer's trips, and she's only 17. Connie is working as a receptionist and in her first month already gets opportunities to work on a large advertising campaign. She also plans to work her way up to higher position such as art department or copy writer and is willing to work hard to achieve her goals such as by going to art school at nights.
• Miss Cameron is an executive at Reid and Renshaw. She is well respected and Connie admires her for her business skills.
• Cleo Marville is a very successful business woman, as is her sister, and called a legend in her own time. She is always cool, collected, and in control even when being held prisoner.
• The men of authority like Renshaw and the police don't take Connie seriously because she's a young woman but Connie makes fools of them all by being right.
• And just like the last book there is no mention of 28-year-old Aunt Bet being single and childless.