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.