Island Nurse

    Carol is a new nurse whos first job is taking care of elderly Elizabeth Stafford who is recovering from a broken hip. As Mrs. Stafford is recovering quickly she encourages Carol to spend some time out with her 17 year old grandson, Herb, and his girlfriend Flo.

    Flo's older cousin Ronnie has just purchased a fancy new yacht to enter in the yearly race so the group goes to check it out. There Carol meets the handsome and flirty Ronnie and quickly is asked to attend a dance with him which she accepts.

    Back at the Stafford house Carol is visited by Flo's mother Lisa who wants to hire Carol to take care of her grandfather, William Elliot, who is suffering from diabetes and a weak heart. Carol asks to think over this offer but after Ronnie declares his love for Carol at the dance she decides to accept the job to remain close to him.

    The Elliot family reside in a grand old house on Myrtle Island, across the bay from the Stafford's. The inhabitants are Mr. Elliot, the patriarch. His grandson David, his Granddaughter Lisa, Lisa's husband John, and their three children Flo, Julie, and Billie. Ronnie is also his grandson but lives on a separate island that was gifted to his now deceased parents by Mr. Elliot.

    Mr. Elliot, despite his red hot temper, is kind and approves of Carol instantly. While Carol is meeting the family for the first time Billie runs up saying a man has just gone overboard out in the water. He, David, and Carol rush to rescue the man with Carol having to revive him. He remains at the house for the night then quickly leaves the next day. Julie believes she had seen the same man wandering around the swamp on the families property the day before. And when Lisa reports there's been several cases of poisoning from illegal moonshine on the nearby marine base she works at, they start thinking the mysterious man was a revenue agent looking for a hidden still. 

    Carol is invited out for a boat ride with Herb, Flo, Julie, and Billie but once on their way they inform her they're going to the swamp to look for the still. They worry that if it's found by the law the public might believe it's Mr. Elliot's and they want to protect him from any possible scrutiny that could affect his weak heart. However they don't find it. 

    Lisa and John are holding a party to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Ronnie attends making it the first time Carol has heard from him since the dance despite several weeks passing. Although she wants to be angry about his absence she quickly falls for his charm, much to the displeasure of David who has developed feelings for her. Broken hearted he heads out of town the next morning.

    Carol attends another dance with Ronnie where she notices he's sweating a lot and out of breathe as well as has a nasty cut on his hand. Despite her advice to see a doctor immediately he brushes it off and again declares his love for her and insists they get married. Carol thinks he's being ridiculous and when he kisses her she wishes it was David. 

    The next day a hurricane is approaching. The large oak trees surrounding Myrtle Island make it a safe haven during a storm but when Mark, Ronnie's hired man, shows up saying Ronnie is delirious with a fever and needs immediate medical attention Carol must leave the safety to help him. She hates to leave Mr. Elliot but knows the worry over his grandson could cause a life threatening episode. 

    After traveling through stormy waters to get to Ronnie's house, Hilda, the housekeeper, brings Carol dry clothes to change into: bedroom slippers, lingerie, and a dress, all of which she says have been left there after "weekend parties". 

    Carol cleans and disinfects Ronnie's wound and monitors him until his fever reduces. Then, due to the storm, she must spend the night there.

    The next morning there is a lull in the storm when Carol awakes and finds Ronnie on the mend. She demands to be taken back to the Elliot house as she is terribly worried about Mr. Elliot. Mark informs her they are in the eye of the hurricane and he can try to find a boat to get her back but they will have to be quick. Ronnie however tells her to stay and doesn't seem to care his grandfather could die without her aid. 

    David then bursts in looking disheveled. He arrived back in town shortly after Carol had left the previous day and quickly went after her, not trusting Ronnie. However his boat's motor died and he was washed up to the swamp. There he sought shelter in the old cotton gin where he discovered a still placed there by Ronnie and Mark. 

    Disgusted by Ronnie's illegal actions as well as his "weekend parties" Carol quickly leaves with David and they make it back to Myrtle Island to find Mr. Elliot in a horrible state. He desperately needs oxygen but with the roads flooded and the storm still raging there's no way to get him to a hospital. David suggests getting an oxygen tank from the marine base hospital and him and John set out against the storm in an effort to save their beloved grandfather's life. 

    A nervous two hours ensues before they return victorious and the elderly man's heart quickly stabilizes bringing him back from the brink of death. Carol and David confess their love and get engaged with Mr. Elliot gifting them nearby land to build a home. 

- I really liked Mrs. Stafford. Despite her age she loves to keep up with the goings on of the young people and she's never judgmental about what they're doing or how they're acting. She's not a "back in my day" kind of person at all. She's also an ideal patient as she follows Carol's instructions perfectly so she will be up on her feet as soon as possible as she refuses to become wheelchair bound in her old age.

- Carol is very level headed when it comes to Ronnie's love bombing which is a nice change of pace for a romance book. When he declares his love for her on the first date, and when he proposes marriage on the second, Carol thinks he's being ridiculous and dramatic. 

- The book was written by Marcia Ford which was a pen name for Ruby Lorraine Radford. I have reviewed several of her juvenile mystery book on this blog already. One thing that's clear from her writing is that she's a proud southerner. It's quite nice reading something that takes place somewhere that the author is not only very knowledgeable about but also passionate about. 

- One thing that did make me quite sad was dialogue between David and Carol where they talk about how awful it is that the rest of the country stereotypes southerners as ignorant, backwoods morons. The way it was written seemed very personal and it made me sad to think Radford was probably talking about her own experience with being discriminated against. I really don't think its okay to be cruel to people based on where they come from. After all no one chooses where they are born.

- Radford was around 67 years of age when this book was written. I was shocked! It reads very youthful. I've read books before that were clearly written by someone older but that's not the case here. Radford was certainly able to change her writing with the times and, as someone who can't write at all, I admire that.

    Overall I really enjoyed this book. Like most Avalon books it was paced fairly quick, making me want to keep reading to see what would happen next. It also wasn't very suspenseful with it's mystery which I appreciated. I need a break from suspense after reading My High Love Calling.

Here's Barbie

    This was the first Barbie book and what helped shape Barbie. It gave her a full name which has stuck to this day and gave lore to her relationships with Ken and Midge. It consists of seven short stories.

Barbie be my Valentine

    Barbie is new in town and excited for the valentines dance. It's a costume dance and Barbie goes as Cinderella, hoping to meet her prince charming. Once their Barbie dances with a boy who trips and they both fall down in front of everyone. Barbie feels embarrassed and it puts her in a sour mood. Her heel has also broken making her unable to dance for the rest of the night. Despite her bad attitude ken, dressed as prince charming, is determined to become friendly with her. After warming to him he asks her to dance and after she tells him about her heel situation he suggests she get her gym shoes from her locker. 

Barbie's Big Prom

    Barbie's cousin comes to visit and attend Barbie's prom. However when she arrives Barbie is surprised to see she's become very beautiful and glamorous. Ken seems to notice too and the two of them are always sneaking off. Barbie is upset until at the prom she finds out they had been sneaking off to plan a surprise for her. 

The Easter Hat

    In this play Barbie is working at a rest home. While discussing the upcoming Easter celebration with an elderly woman she kindly gives Barbie her old Easter hat to wear in the parade. The hat is outdated and Barbie already has a new hat she wants to wear. Unsure what to do, and not wanting to hurt the woman's feelings, Ken suggests they gather their friends and put on a private parade for the woman while dressed in old timey clothing. It's a big success and frees Barbie to wear her new hat in the real parade. 

The Size 10 Dress

    When Barbie's unfashionable schoolmate Bertha decides to have a glow up she models herself after Barbie; dressing like her, doing her hair like her, joining Barbie's after school activities, and even trying to steal Ken's affections. Barbie uncomfortably stays quiet until Bertha copies Barbie's sewing project: a yellow, size 10 dress that Barbie had custom designed. 

The Michael Tree

    When ornaments go missing from the school's Christmas tree Barbie and Ken investigate and find that a little boy named Michael has been stealing them. His mother is off having a baby and the boy wants to decorate a Christmas tree to welcome his new sibling home. Barbie and Ken work to help decorate the family's house and make Michael's wish come true 

Mirror Mirror Crystal Ball

    After Barbie's friend Jody has her fortune told at a fair she makes astrology her entire personality, forcing it onto her friends, refusing to interact with people that don't have a compatible zodiac with hers, and reducing her friends personalities to their zodiac descriptions. Barbie and Jody's friendship is almost destroyed by this hyper fixation until a new boy arrives at school and Jody almost misses his romantic interest due to misdetermining his zodiac sign 

Captain Hooten's Return

    Barbie accepts an invite from her aunt to spend a month on the Maine seaside. Unfortunately the resort they stay at turns out to be a gloomy old isolated house. It is owned by Ms. Hooten who inherited it when her brother, Captain Hooten, was lost at sea along with his crewmate John Metcalf. Two children staying there tell Barbie they've seen Captain Hooten's ghost at night. Barbie brushes off the whole idea of ghosts but when she sees a mysterious figure in black out on the dunes at night she becomes curious. Barbie goes searching for traces of the mysterious figure the next day and is surprised when they pop up in the distance. But they quickly run away when Barbie calls to them. That night she stays up to spot the figure again and sees it heading for the house. She catches it trying to sneak into the kitchen and finds it's actually a girl, the orphaned daughter of John Metcalf who ran away from an orphanage. Ms. Hooten takes the girl in and Barbie solves the mystery. 

    It's hard to judge this book appropriately as it is for children. Oh course a lot of the books I read were written for children, such as Nancy Drew, but this one is for a younger audience. So it was hard to keep my interest and for me to finish some of these stories. I am also not a fan of short stories in general so I didn't look forward to reading these if I'm being honest.

    The one I liked the most was Captain Hooten's Return which is the longest out of the seven and does the best at setting up a story. If that one had been a full book I think I would have enjoyed it quite a bit.

Nancy Drew: Stay Tuned for Danger

    Nancy and Bess are visiting Nancy's aunt Eloise in New York City when Eloise asks Nancy to take on a case for her downstairs neighbor, soap opera actress Mattie Jenson. Mattie is concerned over threatening letters her costar Rick Arlen has been receiving however Rick himself acts nonchalant about them. Nancy reluctantly takes on the case, in part to keep an eye on Bess who has instantly fallen for Rick's charms and heavy flirting.

    Nancy and Bess hang around on the filming set and witness a klieg light almost fall on top of rick after which the set is locked down. The girls take jobs as extras so they can continue to have access to the studio.

    The list of suspects is long as Rick has shamelessly used and abused anyone he could to climb his way to fame but the standout suspects are Lillian, the assistant director who Rick loved and left after meeting her Hollywood connections, Mr. Pappas, the producer who is furious over Rick trying to break his contract to star in a movie, and Dwayne Casper, an actor turned talent agent who use to represent Rick before Rick left for a bigger agency. Nancy tries to learn more about these suspects while also trying unsuccessfully to keep Bess' feet on the ground.

    Despite the klieg light incident and almost being run over by a car Rick doesn't take his situation seriously until a vanity mirror explodes in his face. Fortunately he was wiping off his stage makeup with a towel at the exact instant of explosion which protected his eyes and left only his hands injured. It's at the hospital that Nancy and Bess overhear his realization that his life is in danger as well as hear him confess his love for Mattie, someone he had previously dumped.

    Rick returns to work the next day but after a close call with acid tainted makeup he has enough and leaves. At this point Nancy has begun receiving threatening messages herself including a disguised phone call and a ticking alarm clock.

    When Lillian calls her and insists on meeting at the studio set in the morning Nancy is suspicious but eager to hear what she has to say. She reveals that she discovered disguises hidden in a studio closet and afterwards began receiving threatening messages. Just as she's about to reveal the culprit Dwayne Casper appears holding a gun and reveals he is the attempted murderer, his motive being Rick leaving his agency, and "stealing" Mattie's love.

    Thinking fast Nancy turns on a fog machine giving her and Lillian a place to hide but Dwayne quickly turns on an industrial fan to counter it. With her hiding place quickly dispersing Nancy lunges at Dwayne knocking the gun from his hand, discharging it. Police quickly rush in, having been sent there by Eloise who felt uneasy about Nancy's secret meeting.

    With Dwayne now put away Rick is safe, ready to marry Mattie, and released from his contract by Pappas.

- I was happy to read this books as I played the computer game of it as a child and recently watched a stream of a youtuber play it. Because of this I already knew the who, why, when, where, and how but it was still fun seeing the original version.

- I don't think it did well at making the suspects suspicious. I think the most suspicious person was actually Kay, the makeup artist who is present for two incidents and has access to the set. However for some reason Nancy never suspects her.

- Dwayne and Lillian are written too over the top. Basically everything they say is about hating Rick.

- I also think Dwayne Casper is a terrible name. The game changes it to Dwayne Powers which sounds much better.

Stranger to my Heart

    Louisa Adams, an older single woman, is up late reading one night when a knocks comes on her door. She opens it to see a petite, young, platinum blonde who says "Aunt Louise, I'm your niece Mary" before fainting. Louisa is confused as she has no niece and her name is not Louise but she is thrilled that some excitement has come into her life.

    She telephones her nephew Christopher who rushes over, bringing his doctor friend Ted Beach. Chris is instantly smitten with the girl but Ted, who is rapidly losing patients due to his judgmental prying into their lives, believes the girl is a runaway criminal or escaped mental patient and should be taken to the charity ward at the hospital.

    Louisa and Chris refuse and move the girl into the guest bedroom where she awakens. When questioned she says her name is Mary Halliday from New York and she is looking for her aunt Louise Adams.

    Louise is a kind and lonely neighbor of Louisa's but she is currently vacationing in Europe. Louisa insists Mary stay with her until her aunts return. Ted strongly disapproves and begins scouring newspapers for any notice of a missing girl while Louisa encourages a romance between Chris and Mary.

- This story was very cozy. I loved the setting of Louisa's apartment especially on a stormy night.

- There is a character named Marcia and she is Christopher's fiancé. I thought the author was quite cruel to her. She is described as being from "the wrong side of the tracks" and she does in fact come from a poor family who are rather content staying in poverty. Despite her working hard to get an education and better her life she is treated somewhat like a person who doesn't know their place and as tho she should be shoved back to the wrong side of the tracks when she crosses them. Not just because she comes from poverty but also because she is Italian. Throughout the book she is deceived by an older man, stolen from and blackmailed by her brother, and cheated on and ghosted by her fiancé. Her "happy ending" is that she goes to visit her mother for the weekend, a mother we are told mocked and ridiculed her for daring to go to school. 

- I enjoyed Louisa a lot. She's older, single, and very independent. She's also open minded, enjoys keeping up with her young nephew, is very kind, and loves mystery books. I think she is the type of character you can admire.

- I didn't like Chris, I thought he was a jerk and incompetent. He got mad at Marcia when she was open with him about her feelings that he was rushing their engagement and then cheats on her without a second thought.

- I also didn't like Mary. I guess Louisa was really the only one I liked. Mary is overdramatic. She could have told her story from the start but instead she drags it out and answers questions with deep sighs and overly sad looks. She reminds me of the kids in junior high who thought being sad and moody made them look cool. She also causes a ton of problems for everyone, most strongly Marcia who she literally plots to steal Chris from and purposefully hurts Marcia to get in-between her and Chris. 

    Despite not liking the characters I actually did enjoy this book a lot. The cozy atmosphere and the low stakes plot made it a very relaxing read. 

My High Love Calling

    Gabrielle Clark is a young woman on vacation with her roommate Marty. They are vacationing at Lake Lacoma, staying in a rented cabin in the woods.

    Gabrielle had planned on using her vacation time to finally take a trip to France. Her mother was French and she feels a very strong connection to her French ancestry especially due to her parents unfortunate passing when she was young. However when Marty's father comes back from a fishing trip at Lake Lacoma, and tells her about the quaint isolated cabins situated by a forest that conceals a castle inhabited by a mad professor, the girls decide to head there. Marty is content to spend her time relaxing amid the wilderness with a stack of mystery novels but hopeless romantic Gabrielle is eager to see the castle.

    The cabins are owned by Mrs. Wilkins, a middle aged woman who clades herself in expensive jewelry but claims she's on such financially hard times she will soon sell the cabins and forest land to a developer. The girls, and an unseen fisherman, are to be the last customers she has.

    While in the woods one day Gabrielle sees an unkempt, harsh looking man with a jagged scar across his face. She believes him to be the mad professor and is relieved when he passes by without noticing her presence. Later she comes across another man, this one handsome and friendly. And with him a large, sweet dog named King. The two chat for a short time but Gabrielle gets nervous around such a gorgeous man and quickly excuses herself.

    When she sees the mad professor out in a boat on the lake she decides this would be the perfect opportunity to sneak a glimpse at the castle. Once upon the castle grounds she encounters the handsome man who she now finds out is the "mad professor" although he's not mad at all. He's a college professor, half French, and the two instantly fall in love and become engaged.

    Gabrielle is invited to dinner so she briefly returns to her cabin to change into a dinner dress. She informs Marty of her new fiancé and Marty and Andre briefly meet when he comes to pick Gabrielle up.

    After dinner at the castle Andre sits down with Gabrielle and tells her he needs to inform her of his, and his family's past. Long ago his grandfather, a circus performer from a poor farming family, had won the wooded land around Lake Lacoma in a game of cards. Some of this land was sold to the state when the Eerie canal was enlarged making him a wealthy man. He then invested this money into business and became even wealthier. Andre's father, Justin, was not business minded but big hearted and he diminished the family fortune by handing it out to those in need, creating a vast amount of friends in the process. 

    Justin married a French woman, had Andre, and then sadly became a widower. Him, Andre, and Andre's French speaking grandmother lived happily at the castle until one day a strange and rude woman named Agnes Wilkins came knocking on the door asking for a meal. When she announces she would like to stay at the castle Justin offers her a job as housekeeper. After several years she becomes frusterated at Justin not making any romantic advances at her and threatens to ruin his reputation about town if he does not marry her. He agrees to with the understanding that the marriage is in name only.

    Once Andre is grown and away in college Justin suddenly dies. Agnes claims he fell from a boat into Lake Lacoma and drowned but Andre knows better. His father never would have gone out onto the lake as it is against the local indigenous tribes belief's and Justin believed he should respect that.

    Justin's will leaves everything to Andre but says Agnes can live in the original, historic house by the lake and can have the money from renting the cottages out.

    After his fathers death Andre began investigating Agnes' past and learns that she is the daughter of the man his grandfather beat in the card game. She also already had a husband, Dick Wilkins, when she first arrived at their door, he was in prison for murder and got out right before Justin's death.

    Andre has not slept on this information but passed it on to Jim Colwell, the sheriff, and policemen have been maintaining watch of the castle. Although there's enough evidence to have Agnes arrested for bigamy Andre wants to wait. He knows she is plotting to murder him next and if he can catch her on it she will receive a longer prison term.

    When Gabrielle informs him of Agnes plans to sell the land the cabins are on, and of the "fisherman" staying in a cabin, Andre realizes an attempt on his life is to happen sooner than he had anticipated.

Earlier in the day when giving Gabrielle a tour of the castle Andre had noted a trunk missing from one of the castle towers. The two now decided to go looking for it in Agnes house under cover of darkness. The house belongs to Andre and technically he has a right to enter it but with a killer stalking nearby the couple has to be stealthy. 

    They climb in through an attic window, tearing Gabrielle's dress and stocking along the way, and after searching the house they find the missing trunk concealed in the attic. Busting it open, inside they find the skeleton of Justin giving them evidence of Agnes crime.

    As they're carrying the trunk out Agnes and Dick appear. Gabrielle and Andre are undetected as they hide in a room but overhear the couples sinister plot to murder Andre ASAP. Gabrielle and Andre escape from the house undetected as a huge storm erupts, drenching them as they run through the muddy forest floor with the trunk.

    Once safely back at the castle they bath and sleep until morning. With her dress destroyed Gabrielle is stuck wearing Andre's oversized clothing, pairing them with her high heels from last night.

On her way to the kitchen a man appears from the cellar, he is from the power company and making rounds repairing power outages from last nights storm.

    Jim Colwell soon appears and is brought up to speed on last nights events. He takes possesion of the trunk and his men are on the alert for Agnes and Dick, having enough to arrest them on.

    Feeling safer now Gabrielle wants to go back to her cabin to change and to let Marty know she's safe after not coming home last night. They decide it's not safe for Andre to leave so it's arranged for Gabrielle to catch a ride with the man from the electric company. He drops her off down the road from her cabin and she makes it back safe. After changing her clothes she fills Marty in on everything and Marty informs her she ran into Mrs. Wilkins earlier and, while having a casual conversation, let it be known Gabrielle and Andre were engaged.

    Realizing she's now in danger Gabrielle decides to take Marty's car to drive back to the castle. She wants Marty to come with her but she refuses, promising to keep herself safely locked inside the cabin.

As she driving back towards the main road Gabrielle sees the power company truck parked strange and a hand leaning out the window. Worried the repairman had an accident and needs help she leaves the safety of her car to check on him. What she finds is his dead body, his throat slashed. Racing back to her car she is met by Dick carrying a revolver. He gets in the backseat of the car and orders her to drive back to the castle and then honk the horn until Andre comes out. Once Andre is in the car he order Gabrielle to drive back towards the lake.

    The couple uses the time driving to get in Dick's head, slowly and subtly dropping bits of information they know about him, and creating suspicion in Agnes over her plans to double-cross him.

    As they drive down a wooded road by the lake, slick with mud from the storm, Gabrielle purposefully allows the car to slide off the road and violently crash into the woods. Dick is temporarily stunned letting Andre get control of his gun but soon he has Gabrielle at knife point, ordering Andre to drop the weapon. With the gun tossed aside Gabrielle gets loose and soon the two men are in a violent fight. Gabrielle searches for the gun in the overgrown forest floor but soon after she gets ahold of it Dick gets knocked onto his own knife and dies.

    Emotional over escaping death Gabrielle rushes to embrace Andre, accidentally shooting him in the shoulder in the process. He falls backwards down an incline and hits his head on a rock, going unconscious.

    Gabrielle starts to rush back towards the cabins to get Marty's help but she is soon met by Agnes in her car who, after a brief conversation, attempts to run her over. Missing her, Agnes turns around and makes another attempt but suddenly a loud crack is heard and her car swerves and flies over the embankment, going into the lake. Marty then appears with a shot gun, she had shot out Agnes tire.

    The three return to the cabin and soon Jim, the police, and King show up. They go back to the spot of the car crash to make their reports, take photos, and collect evidence and Dicks body. Gabrielle waits nearby, not wanting to revisit the scene of her brush with death. She wanders closer to the lake and falls in but is recused by King pulling her to shore.

    Later that day they go to the police station where they all relay their stories and it is revealed Marty had left the cabin after Gabrielle had headed back to the castle to snoop through Dick's cabin. There she had found guns, knives, and homemade bombs. She took his rifle for her own protection and hid out in the woods keeping an eye on Agnes who waited in her car for Dick. When Agnes took off Marty followed and arrived in time to save the day.

    With all the lose ends tied up, peace is finally granted to Andre and him and Gabrielle soon head to France on their honeymoon.

- The quickness of Gabrielle and Andre "falling in love" was a little silly but I didn't mind it too much since this is a romance book and that's pretty normal for them.

- One thing I did kind of mind was the skeleton. It's endearing that Emily Cary didn't realize the horror that would be a dead body left to decompose in a trunk and thought it would simply become a clean skeleton but it took me out of the story a bit.

    Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was so thrilling and it could best be described as a page-turner. I think the setting was ideal, from the castle to the cabins, the storm, the heavy fog, it was all magnifique as Gabrielle might say.

Miracle at Seaside

    Kristie Marlowe moves to Seaside, San Francisco after inheriting her grandfather's old houseboat. Despite the waterfront area being know to collect derelicts and hippies Kristie is excited to make the move and start an independent life. 

    Kristie's boyfriend Tom also lives on the waterfront in a houseboat and she soon makes friends with others in the floating neighborhood. 

    Kristie has signed up to take acting classes from a old silent film star to work towards her dream of an acting career but to earn money in the meantime she becomes a nanny for the problem child of a handsome but standoffish relator named Mark. 

    From her first night at Seaside Kristie experiences some frightening moments due to a mysterious someone prowling around at night, even breaking in and ransacking the place. 

    Kristie is also having to deal with Mark's real estate agency trying to have the houseboat inhabitants kicked out and their homes destroyed to make room for a yacht club. Forced to bring their homes up to code, including installing expensive knew waste management units Kristie and her friends organize a play to raise money which succeeds. 

    Due to the prowler Kristie moves in with her friend but Heather, the child she nannys, is unaware of this when she goes to Kristie's houseboat looking for her. Kristie and Mark rush to retrieve her but come face to face with the prowler who has the child captive. Soon the police, along with help of Kristie's cat, apprehend the prowler and learn he was looking for a secret stash of pearls Kristie's grandfather had hidden away in his home. 

    Kristie finds them, Tom gets a scholarship to study art in Paris, and Mark and Kristie decide to marry.

- It was a little dull. I felt like the acting classes and putting on a play were just distractions from the mystery and I didn't enjoy reading those parts as much. 

- At first I thought Tom was going to be the culprit. Once it was clear it was not him I knew it was going to be a minor character mentioned a few times, there was no one else.  

    It wasn't the worst book I've ever read but I wasn't super thrilled with it. I don't think I'll read it again. 

    I had my own copy of this book but it is available for free from Archive's Lending Library. 

The American Girl Book of Mystery and Suspense Stories

    This book is a collection of 10 stories that were original published in The American Girl magazine, which was a magazine by Girl Scouts and shouldn't be confused with the modern American Girl magazine published by Pleasant Company, the makers of American Girl dolls. Several other books containing short stories were published such as Sports Stories, First Date Stories, etc. 

    This one, as you can tell by the title, is Mystery and Suspense stories. I have my doubts as to how suspenseful a short story can be as I personally don't feel there's enough time to build up interest in a mystery but we shall see!

The Legacy of Canyon John

    Jerry and Linda are two teenage photography enthusiasts who are hoping to win a cash prize in a photography contest to pay for college.

    They go to the post office to pick up their new telescopic camera lens and also receive a letter. Its from a nurse at the local mission hospital telling them that their friend Canyon John has passed away. He was a native American and the last of his tribe. Before his passing he had a nurse dictate a letter for the two kids giving them directions into Canyon Del Muerto where he says something very precious is located with its existence being known only to his tribe.

    The two horseback into the canyon where they find Dawson, a hospital employee, pickaxing the canyon wall. He had read the letter and is hoping to steal whatever treasure he assumes is there. He orders Linda and Jerry away at the point of a shotgun.

    Once the two are some distance away they use their telescopic lens to catch a picture of Dawson as evidence for the police. But Dawson quickly sees them and fires the shotgun. They leave the canyon and head home to develop the film.

    Once they do they find they have a wonderful picture of Dawson taking aim at them and the picture also captures something else; up on a cliff is a nest of California condors. Canyon Johns precious gift was the knowledge of the endangered birds home.

- This one was alright. It was a little longer than I think it should be but certainly not the worst in the book at all.

Night Flight

    Lyn, an air force flight nurse has a passenger go into early labor on a flight. The plane makes an emergency landing and the woman is taken to a nearby rural hospital to give birth. However the hospital doesn't have the resources to take care of a premature baby so it must be flown to a different hospital. It's a dangerous trip for the fragile newborn to make but Lyn gives it her all and the baby safely makes it.

- This one was sweet but I didn't like how Lyn named the baby. When they're travelling to the second hospital she decides to call the baby Susie and keeps referring to her as that. I thought it was really weird and if I had been the mother I would have been creeped out and felt really disrespected. 

Strange House

    The main character of this book is unnamed since it is written in first person however it's mentioned that her father's nickname for her is "minx" so I'll use that.

    Minx is taking a summer college course in New York and her aunts have offered to let her stay at their old brownstone house since they are out of state on a vacation.

    Strange things happen such as the sound of someone walking up the stairs despite no one being there and things being moved like Minx's hat she left on a bench being moved to the hat rack.

    One stormy night the sky light crashes in and Minx has to go downstairs to get a washtub to catch the rain, during which she hears the footsteps again.

    She doesn't worry about the goings on because she is too busy with her college class but at night they give her the chills.

    When she comes home from class one day she sees a table has been moved and a small rug has been hung over the banister. A letter from her aunt is waiting for her and when she reads it she learns the aunts have a cleaning women that comes every other day which solves part of the mystery.

    She sits outs on the front steps and begins making small talk with the elderly man that lives next door. He tells her the old homes on the street are all built alike but opposite. After he goes inside Minx does too and she hears the footsteps again, they're the neighbor walking up his staircase which is on the other side of the wall of her staircase.

- This one was good. It was spooky and I liked how brave Minx was. I was really invested in finding out what was causing the strange noises however I also wasn't aware that brownstone houses were attached to each other which probably would have tipped me off to the answer.

Spring Tornado

    Debbie has just been given an aeroplane by her father and is planning on selling it to pay for college. When a tornado comes along Debbie is about to fly her plane to safety when she sees a family with a flat tire on the side of the road. She decides to drive her car to safety so she can bring the stranded family with her, leaving her plane in the tornados path. Her plane ends up surviving and the family gifts her a scholarship to college as a thank you for her unselfishness in saving them from the tornado.

- It was hard to see a teenager complain about money when she owns her own plane.

The Boathouse Mystery

    Gail and her friends have been granted permission to use cranky old Mr. Slaters boat house as a concession stand while he is out of town. After hearing gunshots in Mr. Slaters private woods they realize someone is hunting out of season and have to catch the dangerous men.

- This is the longest story in the book yet is shortest of my summaries because I didn't like this one. I didn't find the characters likeable or having common sense.

Locked In!

    Valborg works in a department store and hopes to save enough money for a ski outfit. When she falls asleep on the sofa of a display set she wakes up to find it's night and she is locked in the department store. She soon finds a little boy lost in the store and cares for him for the night. The next day she is rewarded with a new ski outfit by the boys mother.

- This one was kind of weird. The writing felt awkward and Valborg has to have lapses of commen sense for it to play out in a suspenseful way.

- Like Spring Tornado the lesson of the story is to be kind and help people...because then they will give you money and/or presents. I hate that.

Kay Uses the Evidence

    While working as a candy striper in the hospital a little boy is brought in after being hit by a car. He keeps calling for "luto". With the help of a blurry newspaper photo Kay deduces that "luto" is the boys pet dog named Pluto and recovers the dog from the local animal shelter.

- The age of this one shows as I don't think anyone would connect "luto" to Pluto the dog so easily. It was a cute story tho.

Fire at Egg Ranch

    Vicky is left home alone with her little brother as a blazing forest fire creeps closer to her family's chicken farm. The roads are shut off so no help will come but Vicky's conscious can not let her flee and leave the thousand chickens behind so she uses her fathers tractor to create a fire break as the fire rages inches from her. 

- This one was really good. It builds up the suspense well as Vicki watches the fire get closer and closer as she impatiently awaits her parents return home. Her bravery in taking the tractor into the heat of battle, so to speak, despite her being untrained on the dangerous machinery to save the lives of innocent animals was really beautiful.

- My only complaint is that the severity of smoke in the air during a wild fire was kind of downplayed. In reality I think it would have been much more of a challenge for Vicky to deal with.

Prowlers in the Night

    Bitsey is suppose to leave for a trip right after her graduation ceremony but when her cranky great aunt Melissa does not show up Bitsey foregoes her trip to return to her aunts house despite the fact that her aunt was also suppose to leave for a trip that night.

    Bitsey finds the house empty and the utilities turned off as her aunt had planned. Feeling as tho she skipped her trip for nothing she hears a repetitive tapping in the empty house and soon a prowler appears. Evading the prowler until he leaves Bitsey builds up her courage to investigate the tapping and finds her great aunt trapped in the houses elevator due to the electricity being scheduled for disconnection due to her trip. The "prowler" was her chauffer looking for her. 

- This one felt very similar to Strange House but that's not a bad thing. I think both Bitsey and her aunt Melissa were brave in different ways.

Amateur Sleuth

    Elly and her boyfriend Butch head to Elly's grandfather's house out in the countryside. They are visiting the retired judge to earn money for a school projecting by doing odd tasks. While in the yard working a man comes by looking for the judge's residence. He is an escaped convict looking for revenge on the judge and the two teenagers must out wit him to protect Elly's grandfather.

- This one was actually my favorite. I think the setup was great and I loved the location. I also loved how Elly and Butch work together. I would happily read a whole book with these characters

    This book is available from Archive's lending library (if only I had know that before buying a copy).