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.