This books is by Doris Schroeder who also wrote Patty Duke and Mystery Mansion. The books have always reminded me of each other but it's just today I realized they were written by the same author. Schroeder wrote the majority of the Annette books as well as two of the Annie Oakley books, both Patty Duke books, and The Lennon Sisters book, all for Whitman Publishing. I find these all to be great books with the exception of Mystery Mansion which I have a suspicion I didn't like because it's weak in comparison to Mystery at Moonstone Bay.
Its also worth noting that although these books are based on the tv segment, Walt Disney Presents: Annette, I've never seen the show and my knowledge of Annette only comes from these books.
Also a little fun fact: the tv show was itself based on a book called Margaret by Janette Sebring Lowrey. Lowerey also wrote the ever-famous The Pokey Little Puppy as well as Rings on Her Fingers which was turned into a very popular movie in the 1940's.
As the book starts out Annette is saying goodbye to her friend Lisa. Lisa is going off for the summer vacation and although invited Annette must stay home. An old family friend is visiting her Aunt and Uncle, with who Annette lives. The friend is Jim Burnette and his daughter Sandy. Annette and Sandy have not seen each other since childhood and both are happy about a reunion. Mr. Burnette has spent years and years trying to strike it rich in the oil industry and several weeks before he finally found a big oil well. He's now extremely wealthy and plans to permanently move out to California with Sandy.
Aunt Lila and Annette go to the airport to pick up uncle Archie, Jim, and Sandy and are shocked when they see Sandy made up as some glamorous movie star. She's wearing a mink stole, 4 inch heels, and a full face of makeup. She also appears sullen and moody.
Once at home Sandy overheard Aunt Lila criticizing her appearance to Annette and becomes emotional. Sandy explains that she hadn't chosen her wardrobe herself, her father had, purchasing all the most expensive things and made Sandy give up her normal wardrobe. Mr. Burnette doesn't want anyone to know they had previously been poor and is trying to hide their past with expensive appearances. Annette helps Sandy pick out some subtler clothes and lends her some of her own clothing items so she can fit in better.
The next night Annette's invites all her friends over to meet Sandy and everyone gets along great. The girls get invited on a picnic/swim outing the next morning. It will involve horseback riding to the picnic location and although Sandy has never ridden a horse before, she's very eager to go. So Annette takes her to the stables an hour earlier to get some practice. Sandy does fine on the ride to the picnic spot but once there her horse becomes startled by a dog and makes a wild run knocking Sandy off and into the path of another running horse. Annette comes to her rescue which seems to cement the girls friendship. Sandy decides she'll start taking riding lessons immediately and also that's she's going to have her father purchase a house by Annette.
However when the girls get home Mr. Burnette informs them he's found a large manor 100 miles away he is looking to buy. He and Sandy head out the next day to look the place over and end up staying as guest of the current owner, Mrs. Glaven. On the 5th day Sandy calls Annette asking her to come because she is scared.
Annette arrives the next day and nearly has a collision in the driveway with a young man who we later find out is Mrs. Glaven's stepson, Brod, who has just had a heated argument with his stepmother.
Once greeted inside Sandy explains that every day her father gets more and more interested in buying the place. She then shows Annette a note that had been slipped under her door that says "Word of warning. Justice will be done. Do not buy this house or you will be sorry.". Annette and Mr. Brunette brush it off as a joke but Sandy remains worried.
The visitors of Moonstone Bay have been invited to participate in an upcoming fox hunt in the next week. Annette worries that Sandy is not skilled enough on a horse to be able to safely participate so she begins teaching her using the horses in the properties private stables. One horse that is off limits is Black Prince. He had belonged to the late Mr. Glaven but, according to his widow, has become vicious since it's owners passing. Annette finds Black Prince to be gentle but Mrs. Glaven still has made plans to sell him.
When the girls make a trip into town to get riding outfits for the fox hunt they stop at a gas station and Annette recognizes the attendants as Brod Glaven. The girls are curious about him and his apparently sour relationship with Mrs. Glaven. They hope to quietly find out more information about him around the manor.
After lunch the girls go for a horseback ride planning to visit the original Glaven house which is a historic adobe building out in the woods. By the time they arrive it's pouring down rain and they go inside to get warm. They're surprised to see that the place is spotlessly clean and when the go into one of the bedrooms they find boxes of books, papers, and horsemanship trophies. A car then pulls up and into the house comes Brod.
He explains that he's not living there, just storing the boxes that the girls have already seen. The items in the box had been a part of his fathers study. After his passing Mrs. Glaven had turned the study into a sitting room and put all it's contents into storage. The storage fees had not been paid and so the items were about to be sold. Brod had been informed of this by a storage employee and so raised up enough money to reacquire his father possessions. Among the trophies are some of Brods own that he had won with Black Prince who it turns out was his horse. After his father passed Mrs. Glaven was able to transfer ownership of Black Prince into her name instead of Brods who it was suppose to go to. The girls inform Brod of the upcoming sale of the horse and he is outraged. The girls dry off and chat with Brod about less serious topics and it appears Sandy has quite a crush on the young man.
As the girls are riding back to the manor they are discussing the situation with Black Prince when Annette comes up with an idea. She suggest that Sandy tell her father that she wants to buy the horse knowing that Mr. Burnette will use his new found wealth to outbid anyone else for it. Mrs. Glaven who is in desperate need of money surely couldn't refuse to sell to them.
The plan is all set but almost becomes ruined when that night Annette sees Brod sneaking into the stables. Assuming he plans to steal the horse she rushes out to stop him and arrives at the stables just in time to see Brod getting "caught" by a stable hand. A fight ensues with the stable hand yelling "robber!". When the other stable-hand, Patrick who is fond of Brod, arrives Annette and Brod sneak into an empty stall and hide. Patrick tells the other one the "robber" was probably just an old employee who often comes by to visit the horses. The two go off and Brod and Annette are able to sneak out undetected.
They stop infront of the house to talk for a bit; Brod says he wasn't planning on stealing Black Prince, just on saying goodbye before he's sold. Annette shares the girls plan for Sandy to purchase the horse and Brod is thrilled but he's not happy at the prospect of the Burnettes buying Moonstone Bay. He tells Annette that the property is half his but that his fathers missing will has kept him from being able to claim his half. His step mother has banned him from the manor to thwart any attempt to find the will. He also sheepishly admits to writing the warning note and having one of the servants slide it under Sandy's door. When Annette goes inside she's surprised to find Sandy in her room. Sandy had seen Annette and Brod together outside and assumes they had sneaked out for a late night rendezvous. She throws an emotional fit until Annette explains the situation to her.
The next morning Sandy tells her father of her desire to own Black Prince. He's hesitant but when the girls start talking about all the blue ribbons Mr. Burnette would win with the horse he decides to purchase it.
The girls talk to Mary, an old time servant who is fond of Brod and says that she has looked all over the house for the missing will but mentions a locked desk drawer in Mrs. Glaven's room that she has never been able to get into. Sandy sneaks into the room and attempts to open the drawer with a hairpin. She is almost caught when Mrs. Glaven comes in but is able to hide behind a screen in time to avoid detection. She overheard the woman make a call to an interior decoration with whom she owes money. She promises to pay them $5,000 cash the next day. Later in Annette's room the girls are pondering where she plans on getting the money when Mr. Burnette enters the room giving Sandy a ruby necklace he has just purchased from Mrs. Glaven for $5,000. He plans on taking it to a jeweler the next day to have it appraised to be insured. Mrs. Glaven attempts to persuade him not to and when he insists she becomes cold.
The girls go for a horse ride to the old adobe house to visit Brod. Annette has Sandy go on ahead of her so she can have some alone time with Brod. However she quickly comes back saying the two had quarreled after Sandy told him of her acquisition of the ruby necklace. Brod claims that was his mothers necklace and Mrs. Glaven had no right to sell it. The two return to the manor and Sandy finds that someone has been in her room and the jewelry case for the necklace has been opened. Sandy however had hid the necklace in a vase for safe keeping. Soon they see Brod appear at the house and then leave angrily not long after. Mrs. Glaven claims Brod had demanded the necklace and had made threats which neither of the girls believe.
That evening Sandy is down playing bridge with her father, Mrs. Glaven, and some visitors while Annette is writing a letter to her aunt in her room. She hears someone enter Sandy room and when she goes to look she is attacked from behind by someone who holds a blanket over her head until she loses consciousness. She awakes to find the household around her, the ruby necklace missing, and Brod's well know red and white striped hat is laying on the floor. Mrs. Glaven claims that Brod had snuck in to steal the necklace, assaulting Annette in the process. When the girls stand up for him and point out somethings such as Brod's hat having gone missing days before and the culprit smelling of tobacco when Brod doesn't smoke, Mrs. Glaven makes up more and more lies to incriminate Brod.
The police are called and they plan on questioning Brod. Annette sneaks out and drives over to Brod's boarding house to warn him but just as she arrives the police show up so she has no choice but to head back to the manor. There Sandy and Annette discuss things and come to the conclusion that the actual thief is Higgens, the stable hand who Brod had fought with the other night. It was during their scuffle that he had lost his hat. Plus the girls had seen Higgens hanging around the house that evening. The decide they must search his room and discuss this with Mary and her husband Patrick, the stable hand that likes Brod. They both agree to help keep Higgens and the other employees busy so the girls can investigate.
The next morning Mary wakes Annette up telling her now is her chance to investigate. Annette tries to wake up Sandy but she's too tired to get up so she goes alone to Higgens room. Before she can do any searching Higgens comes in and while Annette hides in the closet he takes something from his dresser and heads to the service yard where he throws the item in the incinerator. Annette tells Mary and while burning garbage she looks thought the ashes. Mary finds some melted red glass and Annette decides to take them to a jeweler to be sure of what they are. The jeweler becomes suspicious when she asks about rubies and after she leaves he phones the police.
The next day is the fox hunt. As the girls are having breakfast Mary slips in and hands them a note from Brod saying that he had found the will in his fathers diary and to meet him at the adobe house. Little do the girls realize that Mrs. Glaven has overheard them. When the girls arrive at the fox hunt they see the police sergeant there and worry he may become suspicious if both of them slip away so they plan for Sandy to go alone and Annette to remain. Not long after Sandy takes off for the adobe house Annette sees Higgens disappear in that direction. She quickly follows and finds Sandy on the ground with her horse no where in sight. Higgens had come up being her and scared her horse so it knocked her off. Her and Annette head to the adobe house and begin to sneak up on it. Inside they hear Higgens fighting with Brod. As they're about to enter the sergeant arrives, accuses Annette of being Brods accomplice and tells Sandy to keep an eye on her while he goes after Brod. However at that moment Brod appears tossing a limp Higgens at the police sergeant. Higgins is taken to police headquarters where he confesses all;
Mrs. Glaven had long ago sold the ruby necklace and the one she sold Mr. Burnette was only a glass imitation. Once Mr. Burnette bought Moonstone Bay she planned on asking to buy the necklace back for "sentimental reasons". However when he planned on getting it appraised and insured she panicked and hired Higgens to steal it and plant evidence to put the blame on Brod. She also hired Higgens to follow the girls to Brods hide out and steal the will so she could destroy it.
Mrs. Glaven ends up being held for trial, Brod is granted his half of the house, Mr. Burnette purchases the house, and Brod plans on moving into the adobe house. The book ends with Annette parting with a very happy Sandy to return home to her aunt.
- While on the horse ride Sandy says that riding a horse is actually easy. Annette thinks that Sandy is just lucky because she didn't have a high spirited horse but why would someone ever be put on a high spirited horse for their first ever horse ride. Sandy is not "lucky", she's just a standard beginner.
- Glaven is such a funny name because it reminds me of Professor Frink on the Simpson's and that's how I kept saying it in my head.
- I think the ruby necklace being an imitation was pretty obvious and I'm not sure why Mr. Burnette didn't get it appraised before purchasing it or right after purchasing it.
- At first it says Sandy only has over the top glamorous clothes and that she can't borrow Annette's because she's so much taller than her but suddenly she has normal clothes out of nowhere.
Overall the book was alright. It was fast paced and moved along very well. The plot is obvious but it's still entertaining.
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