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.