The Secret of Grange Farm

    Years ago I saw this book on Etsy and was intrigued with the name and cover. I had never heard of it before but it seemed interesting. It was for sale for a long time and I finally ended up spending the $14 to buy it. I recall being a little disappointed in it, both the story and the appearance. The dustjacket was more scuffed up than it had appeared in photos and the book is actually rather small. As for the story I had anticipated something along the lines of the Meg series meets Betty Cavanna. But there was no chance of that once I realized this is a British book. I find there's a huge difference in styles when it comes to British and American books, even when they're from the same time period and aimed at the same audience.

    I didn't completely dislike like this book, I actually remember feeling it had similarities to The 39 Steps by John Buchan, which is an amazing action/adventure book. My biggest qualms with it was that just when the exciting part begins to happen to our main character it switches over to the side character and we later hear about all the excitement in a retelling and don't actually get to be there for it first hand. I remember quite a bit about this book but have no idea if I'll like it or not.

    While sixteen year old Bette is at school her mother has married an unknown man and gone off to France for her honeymoon. Bette is temporarily staying with her aunt during the summer holidays but as her aunt is about to head to Scotland to meet up with her husband, Bette has plans to stay with her friend Mavis. At the last minute Mavis writes that Bette can not come because her sibling has come down with the measles. Bette doesn't want to be a burden on her Aunt, who is very excited to go meet up with her husband, so she instead decides to invite herself to Grange Farm.

    Grange Farm is owned by Nicholas Ferndale, or Nicky, who is Bette's cousin. Bette has wonderful childhood memories of staying on the farm with her kind, dotting cousin and is excited to see him. While fighting in Cyprus with the British army Nicky was at one point missing and considered dead when he suddenly returned looking rougher and with a harder personality. He came back to the farm, shooed away his cousins Hugh and Clover, and replaced all the workmen.

    When arriving in town Bette is mistakenly taken to Hugh and Clover, who run a small shop. They tell her they're surprised to hear she is going to the farm as Nicky is not very hospitable. Bette receives a cold reception at the farm and Nicky tells her she can not stay. At that moment a plane crashes and Nicky and Bette rush out to rescue the pilot. 

    He is Ian Trent, a former Cyprus fighter, and refers to Nicky by the name Smiler. The man must stay at the farm until he can be moved to the hospital and Nicky has Bette, who has had nurse training, stay to take care of him. After Ian and Nicky have a private conversation, Ian tells Bette he is in danger there and asks her to help him escape in the night and tells her that if anything should happen to him to call a man named J.B. Smith and inform him. Bette feels that Ian must be delirious from the crash but changes her mind when she returns to the farm, after visiting Hugh and Clover, and finds Ian gone.

Nicholas claims a friend came to pick up Ian but Bette later finds a message written in the dust on a shelf in Ian's room saying "Got me. Old Quarry, heard them. Tell Smith". 

    Later that evening Bette notices and unwisely remarks that Nicky is missing the tattoo on his arm. Bette then realizes that this man is not her cousin Nicky, rather an impostor who stole Nicky's identity and inheritance, presumably after the real Nicky had died in battle.

    After nightfall Bette sneaks out of the house to call J.B. Smith at a payphone but finds him out of town. She then heads to the Quarry where at the bottom she finds Ian Trent who has miraculously survived being thrown over the edge. Trent confirms that "Nicholas" is in fact Smiler, a tough customer who he knew in Cyprus and that Bette must not return to the farm house. She then plans to go get a doctor for Ian and then flee to Hugh and Clovers, however when she emerges from the quarry she finds the men searching for her. 

    She is able to communicate to Bobby, a little neighbor boy who is out searching for his lost pet, that a man is hurt in the Quarry and to go tell his father who just happens to be a policeman. Then the men spot her and she is forced to run into the Wychwood Forest where the men attempt to hunt her down with dogs. She crosses a stream to break the scent trail and, inspired by Charles II, climbs into a large oak tree where she waits. 

    Once the men have given up the search for the night she goes farther into the woods where she takes a nasty fall and goes unconscious. Upon waking in the morning she finds herself hopelessly lost and eventually stumbles upon a cottage where an elderly woman lives. The woman feeds her and mends her clothes but when Bette tries telling her story and expressing the importance of her getting medical help for Ian Trent, the woman does not believe her and advises Bette to rest while she contacts Grange Farm to come get her. 

    Fear over takes Bette and she runs out of the cottage looking for a house where she can use a telephone but all of them are closed for the season. Finally coming to the road Bette hails a van and accepts a ride from a man who turns out to be working for the fake Nicholas and takes her right back to Grange Farm where she is placed in a room in the cellar.

    Meanwhile Bobby, who is afraid of tell his father he had been out in the night, is able to get his friend to make an anonymous call to his policeman father and thus Ian Trent is rescued, which leads to a number of questions. Unfortunately Ian cannot answer them since he's unconscious.

    From here the story switches to Hugh and Clover who have been impatiently awaiting Bette. They receive a telegram signed by her stating that she has gone to London however they feel uneasy about the message and that feeling grows when they learn of Ian Trent mysterious presence in the Quarry. 

    Hugh and Tim, a sharp witted young man who is temporarily working at Hugh and Clovers shop, bike out to Grange Farm to ask some questions. While they are gone the fake Nicholas arrives at the shop and gives Clover a lovely box containing jewelry for them to sell, however he insists the box must be returned to him later. Meanwhile Hugh and Tim have received a rude welcoming from Mrs. Della, the house keeper, and decide to sneak into the house where they find Bette's locket in one of the rooms. On the way out they run into Nicholas who informs him he left Bette at the train station that morning. 

    They then bike to the train station where the man working there informs him no one fitting Bette's description had been there. Very worried they sit down on a bus stop bench to talk things out. The elderly woman next to them overheard and informs them that Bette had been to her cottage in the woods that morning but that she had ran away after the woman hadn't believed her story. 

    Tim then calls J.B. Smith from a telephone and finds he had arrived home that morning but was out at the present time. As they bike back to the shop Tim, who is familiar with Smith, recognizes him coming out of Grange Farms driveway where he had been to ask questions regarding Ian Trent. Tim and Hugh explain the situation to the man who seems to take the news very seriously and appears worried. He visits the shop later that night to acquire more information and after he leaves Hugh and Tim take a look at the box Nicholas brought and become suspicious of it's small interior. Tim, always sharp, looks for a false bottom and finds one in which is money and 2 printing plates. They become suspicious that Nicholas is printing counterfeit money and brought the box to their shop to hide it since so many policemen have been around the farm asking questions about Ian Trent. 

    They tell their story to an inspector but when Nicholas shows up he denies ever seeing the box before and the inspector appears to believe him. The next day they find a plainclothes policeman watching their shop and it's clear that they're under suspicion. Clover asks Hugh and Tim to go back to Grange Farm and when they arrive they find it completely deserted aside from the farm animals. It appears that "Nicholas" and his gang have cleared out.

    Then miraculously the real Nicky makes a surprise appearance at the shop soon followed by J.B Smith. We learn that Nicky had been having trouble reentering the country without his identification, which had been stolen by Smiler, but that J.B. Smith had helped fix things. J.B. then tells the group that Grange Farm is on fire and they all head over to extinguish it. 

    The next morning J.B. and Nicky pick up Hugh and Clover to go see Bette who is safe. Bette has been laying low at the old lady's cottage in the woods and after her reunion with Nicky they all settle down to hear her story.

    After being placed in the cellar Smiler comes to talk to Bette and tells her that she knows too much and therefore he can't release her and gives indications that he plans to keep her quiet for good. Later Mrs. Della says she will help Bette escape as long as she promises to stay in hiding for one week. J.B Smith then informs Bette that her "escape" was actually Smiler's plan as it gave him and the gang a week to clear out. Once Bette is out of the farm house she makes a run into the woods headed for the cottage when she is grabbed by a man, J.B. who had been keeping a constant eye on the farm. Fearing that he was one of the gang she kicks him and runs for it, he trails her and seeing her arrive safe at the cottage leaves her be. 

    Then Nicky tells his story. He had met Smiler, who was not a fellow soldier but a wealthy gangster in Cyprus, when he had been captured and injured. While recovering in a hospital Smiler visits him and suggests he take a 2 week trip on his yacht. Nicky takes him up on his offer and has a lovely time until one night when he is beaten, robbed, and tossed overboard. He later is rescued but suffers from amnesia. Upon recovering his memory he tries to come home just to be told Nicholas Ferdale had already returned home a year ago. 

    This is where J.B. Smiths story comes in. Smith, a lawyer who had been working on solving the mysterious counterfeiting, had gone to Grange Farm upon receiving the message Bette had left for him. There he immediately recognized Smiler and so begins his search for the real Nicholas. And then the real kicker comes in; J.B. Smith is the unknown man Bette's mother had married which explains why he was not home when Bette called, he was on his honeymoon.

    The book ends one month later with J.B., Bette's Mother, Nicky, Bette, Clover, Hugh, Tim, and Ian all enjoying a good time at Grange Farm. Smiler has been caught, Tim has been permanently hired on at the shop, Hugh and Nicky are now partners at the farm, Bette adores her new step-father, and there even seems to be some chemistry between Bette and Ian.

- When looking at other peoples reviews almost all of them mention this book as talking about WW2 when it mentions Nicholas's army experiences. But it's actually the Cyprus Emergency that he fought in. This book does not have a copyright date but looking it up it was published in 1961 which lines up with the Cyprus Emergency which took place 1955-1959 (if you're unfamiliar with this historical event as I was, it was when Cyprus fought to end the British's ruling over it). It also mentions EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) which confirms it.

- There's a chapter called The Nine Lives of Ian Trent which is just such a cool chapter title to me. This is one of the things that remind me of The 39 Steps along with Bette's being pursued on foot, meeting people along her journey, and being captured and locked in a room.

- After Bette has been captured the rest of the story switches to Hugh and Clover and we don't see Bette again until the end. This is really frustrating as Hugh and Clovers part of the book is not as interesting as Bette's.

- The whole bit with the inspector and the box is kind of annoying. When Clover, Hugh, and Tim show the inspector the printing plates and forged money he appears to believe Nicholas over the three. What's more likely; that 3 teenagers with a small second hand shop are printing excellent counterfeit money or that the wealthy grown man with a large isolated farm who is under suspicion for a pilot becoming seriously injured and an underage girl disappearing, while both in his care, has been printing counterfeit money on his large, isolated farm?

- On page 147 Clover is accidentally called Bette ("What on Earth?" cried Bette who sat in the shop polishing some old glass."). I'm curious if this mistake is removed from the Retro Classics Publishing edition of this book.

- Is it just me or are sparks flying between Bette and Ian at the end. I kind of need a sequel telling me what happens with those two.

    I didn't really take a lot of notes as I was rather engrossed in the story, it's a good book. I do still get a bit annoyed when the story switches over to Hugh and Clover. Not much is happening with Bette at the time so it makes sense that the story switches but still, I wish it would switch back and forth or even switch to J.B. at some point. There just wasn't enough with Hugh and Clover to stay on them for 90+ pages in my opinion. 

Sara Gay Model Girl

    I heard about this series years ago and was extremely intrigued by it but because it's a British series it can be a little hard to get at an affordable price overseas.

    

    I recall thinking it was an alright book but not good enough that I had to immediately get the other 3 books in the series. I can't really remember anything about it except for a little fashion show Sara and the other models at school give as well as Sara's audition at the end with the water and funny hat.

- Pretty quickly into the story I remember why I didn't like it; the rivalry between Sara and Nina.

Sara can't afford to attend the Lena Lane modeling school so Ms. Lane puts her up for the schools scholarship. However Ms. Lanes assistant, Lydia, is trying to get her niece, Nina, the scholarship. Nina is already an up-and-coming model with plenty of money but winning the scholarship is apparently such an honor that it gives your reputation a big step up in the modeling world.

    To help make sure Sara doesn't receive the scholarship Lydia lies to her about the interview time being changed, which Sara blinding believed even though Ms. Lane had made the actual time very clear. After showing up late for the interview Sara runs into Nina who straight up tells Sara she has no chance of getting the scholarship, especially when compared to herself ("Poor Aunt Lydia, however could she have seen you as any sort of competition for the scholarship!"). 

    Nina's dialogue is extremely over the top to let you know she's the evil enemy. It made me roll my eyes. Sara of course remains super sweet and believes Nina when she says she's better than Sara which makes it a total surprise when Sara is awarded it. I think we're suppose to take this as meaning Sara is humble but it comes off as gullible.

    It's annoying, it's overdone, and it's transparent. Not only that but I can't stand books where the main character has a nemesis that's always causing trouble. It's one of the reasons I don't enjoy The Dana Girls series.

- One of Sara's fellow students is Marion Richards who everyone is shocked and disgusted to see because eww, she's fat or, as the book says, "lumpy" and a size fourteen...the horror! Sara assumes Marion must be very conceited to think she could ever be pretty enough to be a model. I get that this is a book about models in the early 1960's which was known to be a negative environment but damn, this turns into intense bullying. The modeling students share a cafeteria with the charm school class and the models remarked that the other girls obviously aren't there for the modeling school cause so many of them are fat like Marion.

    "That explains it." a third girl remarked. "I didn't think they looked like future models. Some of them are quite fat."

    "They're not the only ones," Nina said and stared pointedly at Marion Richards, who flushed scarlet and turned away.

- Marion's weight is constantly discussed, it's like they're obsessed with it. When Sara goes out to lunch with Anne and Elspeth they talk about how Marion should be made to feel bad because, as Anne says "people should know their limitations and not try to put themselves where they don't belong". 

    They continue to talk about it on the walk back to the school, laughing over Marion being a model for diet pill "before" pictures. Then the meet up with Jean and Sylvie and they all talk about it. Upon arriving at the school they see Marion get out of a limo and decide she must be rich and have bought her way into the modeling school for which they immediately start to bully her in the coatroom. They surround her and start to verbally assault her, then Marion understandably gets upset and shoves her way out of the room they use that as "proof" that's she's a bad person, getting offended that she would leave when they were in the middle of hurling insults at her.

- A physiotherapist reviews all the students bodies and individually gives them exercises to reduce or build up any areas that are not ideal measurements. Sara is perfect and doesn't need to receive any. When all the girls go to the hair salon to get makeovers Sara is the only one whose hair is left untouched. She also naturally knows how to model without being taught. Ugh, perfect characters are so boring.

- One student is named Honey Wei. Even though we're told her name she is still referred to as "the Chinese girl" ("Sara (...) was classified with Nina and the Chinese girl").

- Sara ends up finding out the Marion doesn't actually want to be a model. Don't worry, she doesn't think she's pretty after all. She actually wants to be a vet and live on a farm with her boyfriend who she says isn't good looking either. 

    Marion confides in Sara that she's very unhappy because her mother is constantly trying to force her into her deceased sisters place. Her sister, Eva, was her mothers favorite and they shared a love of fashion, elegance, and refinement. After her passing Mrs. Richards started forcing Marion to occupy her place, all against Marion's will. 

    Mrs. Richards then shows up carrying a bouquet of tea roses (Eva's favorite flower) for Marion and then begins to complain about Marion wearing ready made clothes. Mrs. Richards then compliments Sara's looks and Sara admires the dress Mrs. Richards is wearing. Sara then decides Marion is clearly a selfish brat and should be thrilled to have a mother so interested in fashion. Who cares if she controls Marion whole life, forcing her onto a starvation diet, putting her into a modeling school where she gets bullied, forbidding her to follow her true career dreams, or ever see the man she loves because eww, he's poor.

- Things get even weirder with Mrs. Richards when she begins trying to turn Sara into Eva. She gives Sara one of her dresses, invites her to a charity ball and insists Sara spends the night and stay in Eva's room, which she has previously forbidden anyone else staying in. Sara is on-board because she gets a wealthy older friend who gives her expensive things and invites her to glamourous events. She continues to scold Marion over not appreciating her mother and tells Marion she should just be the daughter her mother wants.

- Apparently getting the Lena Lane scholarship and Gold Medal Award gets you to the top of the modeling world yet it didn't help Sara because she had a bad modeling photo. You'd think the clients would be interested in seeing her in person if she won the scholarship and award with such a bad photo. It doesn't add up.

- The photographers young assistant takes Sara out to dinner where she eats spaghetti for the first time. He admires her for being so willing to try something "so foreign". This was written in 1961 when spaghetti was already a common household meal in Britain. I guess the author didn't know any actual foreign foods.

    I think this is an interesting topic for a book series but I wasn't much of a fan of this. I rolled my eyes constantly over Sara and how perfect she was, the way she switched between timid and conceited so much, and her strange unsolicited advice to Marion. I'm still interested in reading the rest of the series eventually but I'm gonna let this one go for now.

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.

Peggy Lane: Peggy Plays Off-Broadway

    This is the first and only Peggy Lane book I have read. I recall finding the beginning boring but liking it once I got farther in. I consider the Peggy Lane series to be one of the three "glamorous series" Grosset and Dunlap put out at this time. The other series all feature more average girls; Nancy Drew is a suburban daughter, Judy Bolton is a housewife, Cherry Ames is a nurse, the Dana Girls are schoolgirls, pretty much they are all embellished version of everyday women. However Peggy is an actress who later travels to Hollywood, Vicki Barr is a flight stewardess who travels to exciting locations, and Connie Blair is a big city career woman. Anyways I'm getting off topic in my analysis of Grosset & Dunlap series.

    "In the second book of a thrilling new series for girls, Peggy Lane, aspiring young actress, takes her first important step up the ladder of success. She lands a small part in Randy Brewster's experimental play Come Closer--a part she secretly suspects Randy wrote especially of her.

Unknowns all, the cast is headed by lovely Paula Andrews, an inspiration on stage but something of a problem otherwise. Hit's don't just happen for an experimental group. They are created out of hardships and disappointments. The show's production is threatened with financial difficulties, and everyone's hopes now depend in the special presentation they are to give for a prospective backer. When Paula, at the last minute, backs out, Mal Seton, the director, blows up. Peggy, he says, can have the part.

    Peggy, knowing she is not yet ready for a leading role, proposes a radical solution. The, trying to help Paula, who appears tense and troubled, Peggy inadvertently discovers a mystery that cannot be unraveled until Peggy herself resolves a dilemma!"

- I think it was pretty mean of Peggy to tell Paula how she knows the director and that Paula will most likely get the part. What if she didn't? She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up like that when she wasn't sure.

- There's a lot of talk about how actors have to look just right for the part, that it doesn't matter how good they can act if they don't look just right. But then Mal tells Greta he cast her because of her acting and her appearance will have to be changed to match the characters. I hope no one was hoping to get casting advice from this book.

- The Penthouse Theater sounds interesting. The main floor is rooms for rehearsal, the second is the theater, and the third is rented rooms for actors. Apparently Peggy finds the theater for her friend in the first book and there's a mystery involved with it. Definitely has me intrigued.

- I don't understand why any of these girls in any of these series can't have steady boyfriends. Peggy and Randy have some weird non-relationship kind of relationship where they date, kiss goodnight, and Peggy even gets jealous thinking about him dating other girls in the past yet it's made very clear they are not dating.

- I think it's very selfish of Paula to accept money from Peggy and her friends. Paula wouldn't need money if she would give up her expensive park avenue apartment but she won't because she "likes it there". I Remember how this book ends and so I know Paula actually has money and is just playing some strange game of "poor girl". The people she's taking money from are actually trying to make it on their own and need that money themselves. Not only that but couldn't Mal just give her an advance on her pay since he was given a lot more money then he had asked for from that British backer.

- I find it strange that Amy and Peggy skip a night of rehearsal to set up a little friendship party in Paula's apartment. This isn't a school play put on for fun, it's a professional one with a lot riding on it's success. They aren't getting paid to skip rehearsals.

- The final chapter opens with Peggy writing a letter to her friend Jean Wilson. It took me forever to figure out where I'd heard that name before. I kept thinking it must have been in a Nancy Drew book or maybe even an episode of I Love Lucy. Finally I remembered it's from an episode of Faulty Towers.

    Overall this book was alright, it dragged a little in places and wasn't filled with very many thrills but it did go by fast. 

Robin Kane: The Monster of Wolf Point

    After an earthquake strikes while Robin Kane is at school her science teacher, Mr. Smith, tells the class how earthquakes can disrupt the depth of the ocean and cause elusive and mysterious sea creatures to appear. School is let out early and Robin, her brother Kevin, her best friend Mindy, and Mindy's brother Mike all head to the beach. There they run into an excited Mr. Smith who informs them he has just sighted a strange, Loch Ness type creature in the water. Mr. Smiths story spreads fast and although Robin and her friends believe him the rest of the town is skeptical, especially after a second appearance of the creature turns out to be a dummy constructed with items from Mr. Smiths office. 

    Robin is eager to prove Mr. Smith correct and takes up watching for the creature whenever she can. When Robin and Mindy's families arrange a joint outing to Rancho Lucia, a ranch owned by Mindy's father, Robin takes Mindy and her younger sister, Amy, on a horseback ride to a cliff overlooking the bay where they can look for the creature. Robin and Mindy leave Amy with the horses while they go take up a watch and are ecstatic when they both see the sea creature. 

    Soon after they hear Amy scream and as they run to her aid they fall through the ground into an underground cavern. They remain there for a worrisome hour until their fathers come to rescue them. Then they finally find out the reason for Amy's scream; two trouble maker boys, Frank and Art, stole two of the horses. This convinces everyone the Frank and Art were responsible for the dummy creature and stole the horses to make a quick getaway (even tho no one suspects them and there's no legal trouble they could get in for making the dummy). 

    Robin, Mindy, Kevin, and Michael sneak out in the night to hunt for Frank and Art and they find them in the same cave from the first Robin Kane book (the one Robin and Mindy hide from El Gato in). They barricade the boys in the cave and get the sheriff. 

    The next day the foursome head to the bay with a movie camera and raft and capture moving pictures of the creature thus proving Mr. Smith right.

- A big problem I have with Robin Kane books is how things are explained with dialogue. When being told some of Robin's experiences in the other books it's given as dialogue instead of a narrator telling the reader. This makes it super awkward because the people it's being explained to already know because they were apart of it.

- I like how the girls' father come to their rescue. I thought it was sweet.

- I really do not understand why Frank and Art try to skip town when they were not in any trouble. Stealing the horses is what gets them in trouble and they end up in juvie for it.

- Mr. Smith quiting his job to "bring sanity back to the town" makes no sense at all and just seems over-dramatic.

    Overall this book was alright. When I read the Robin Kane series the first time I recall this being my favorite book. 

Patty and Jo, Detectives

    Pat and Jo Faraday are 16 year old twin orphans. For the past 8 years they have lived at Miss Langdon's School for Young Ladies. As the arrival of Christmas comes close the twins receive a letter from their mysterious guardian, Welton Duer, who was their father's best friend and who they have yet to meet. He is writing to ask them to spend the holiday with him at Harker's Cove in Michigan. The girls excitedly accept and jump on a train to Harker's Cove.

    The train arrives in a desolate area of wilderness. After waiting in the cold and being scrutinized by the station master a car arrives to pick them up. It is driven by Yamoto, a Japanese man working for Mr. Duer. On the way to Duer's home Yamoto informs the girls that Mr. Duer has been called away and shan't return during their visit. The girls feel suspicious of this and their suspicion grows after meeting Miss Gruber, the nervous housekeeper. Yamoto and Gruber remain elusive over questions of Mr. Duer and when Pat sees Yamoto dragging a locked trunk from Mr. Duer's study, a room they've been forbidden to enter, she grows suspicious these servants have murder their guardian and his corpse has been hidden in the trunk.

    However we're not kept in suspense long as the story switches over to Yamoto who is bringing the trunk to a cabin in the woods where Welton Duer is staying. He hasn't been murdered nor has he been called out of town, he's simply a woman hater and the thought of sharing his house with two women was too much for him so he's exiled himself to the cabin out in the snowy woods. 

    When Welton's friend and neighbor, college age Dick Prentiss, visits Welton explains that he had begin to feel he wasn't doing enough for his wards and thus invited them but immediately regretted it. Dick is excited by the twins presence and makes their acquaintance at once. He invites them to go chop down a Christmas tree; Jo accepts but Pat begs off claiming to have a headache. Really she just wants a chance to sneak into the woods and find the mysterious trunk. 

    She journeys far into the woods but loses her way when it starts storming. Turning back she becomes even more lost and after trekking for an unknown but extensive amount of time she finds she has been walking in circles. Just as she collapses from exhaustion and cold someone grabs her, it's Welton Duer. He takes her back to the cabin where he warms her up with blankets and soup. At first she believes him to be an escaped convict she had heard about, a story which he goes along with to keep his identity hidden, but Pat quickly figures out who he really is. She decides to let him play pretend for the time being. 

    During this time Jo and Dick have been in a different part of the woods cutting down a Christmas tree. Jo becomes angry at Dick after he mocks Pat's theory that Duer could have been murdered. This leads Jo to refuse to move from where the tree is going to fall and Dick refuses to chop it in a different direction which results in the tree falling on Jo and her ankle becoming injured. Dick carries her to a cabin, a different cabin some miles from Duer's, and they're surprised to find a mysterious someone has been living in it, more surprised to find that mysterious someone has been peeping on them through the window.

 

    Several days later the twins are enjoying the holiday festivities at the Prentiss house. Among the other guests there is Mavis Martin, a 30 year old woman with the vivaciousness of a teenage girl, and Tommy, one of Dicks friends who takes a liking to Pat. While at the Prentiss Pat tells Jo about Welton Deurs presence in the cabin and decides that they must sneak out to the cabin during that evening and bring him back to the party. After a little comedic scene where Dick and Tommy mix up Pat and Jo while dancing the girls are able to sneak out the back door and into the darkness of the winter night, excited to confront their guardian. 

    Unfortunately at that moment their guardian is arriving at the front door dressed as Santa Claus, a little scheme that Dick put together so that Welton could interact with his wards without any pressure. While "Santa" is handing out presents he becomes startled to see one labeled for Mavis Martin. He asks to give her the present while alone so they go into the library and it's reveled that Mavis Martin is a woman from his past. They had had a falling out many year before which is what cause Welton to become a woman hater. However they immediately have a reconciliation, Welton informs her of his plan to adopt the twins, and Mavis proposes to him. They're just about to kiss when Dick burst into the library to say the twins are missing.

    The girls have made it to the cabin after trekking through the cold, dark forest and find a light burning inside but no Welton Duer. The place is a mess and a dirty old hat is laying around. The girls clean up while they wait and when Duer still has not returned they begin to feel uncomfortable in the gloomy dark silence. Pat then notices the mysterious trunk and decides this is their chance to finally investigate it. While the girls are stooped over the trunk they hear the creak of the door and embarrassed to be caught by Welton snooping through his things they hesitantly turn around. They come face to face with, not their guardian, but the muzzle of a gun being held by a disheveled, cross looking man. They quickly identify him as the escape convict. He has been enjoying the cabin and it's food with Welton gone for the evening. He orders Jo to approach for him to "get a look at" and when she doesn't he roughly drags her by the wrist. Pat tries to help her but he shoves her violently back. The two girls attack him together which makes him mad enough to decide to kill them. Just as he draws his gun Yamoto appears searching for the girls. He knocks the gun from the convicts hand and fights him skillfully with jujitsu however the convicts is able to reclaim his gun and just as it seems all is lost Duer, Dick, and Mavis appear. Duer shoots out the light with his gun and takes advantage of the dark to wrestles the convict down (even though a bright fire was burning in the fire place?). They then tie him up and get him to town with Yamoto receiving the reward money for his capture. 

    A few days later Welton, or Welty as everyone now calls him, Mavis, Dick, and the twins all go for a skate and picnic at the lake and Welton and Mavis inform the girls of their plans to marry and adopt them. Everyone is happy and the girls head back to school to finish the term.

    When everyone has returned from the winter holidays the Faraday girls host a tea in their dorm, served in the fine China Mrs. Prentiss gave them for Christmas, and share of their adventures. Their friend Liz suggest they write up their story and enter it into a short story competition currently being held. The girls do this and at the end of the school year find they have won first prize of $500. However Liz, who we're suddenly told needs money, has not won anything for her story so the girls and Mrs. Prentiss, who along with Dick and one of his school mates have all come to attend the girls' graduation ceremony, come up with a plan. 

    The $500 is given to Mrs. Prentiss and under her name she donates it to the school to be given as an award for the first honors student who, of course, is Liz. At the graduation ceremony a new award, the Service Award, is given to Pat and Jo along with $500 scholarship from an Anonymous donor. The girls get another surprise when they see Welty and Mavis who flew in from the west coast just to see the girls graduate. Everyone is happy, everyone is loved, they embrace, and we reach the end.

- For some reason Mavis Martin reminds me of Paulette Goddard.

- The convict remarks that Duer keeps the girls "in red up for him". I had never heard this phrase before and had to look it up, to "red up" means to clean up so he thinks Duer has them come clean the cabin.

- The first time I read this book I felt like the way the convict told Jo to come closer for him to "get a look" at her as well as him saying no one can hear her screams made it seem like he was going to sexually assault her, which would be an interesting bit of realism and really made the situation more fearful. However on this reading I'm not sure how to interpret it.

- The whole "Welton is a woman hater because of Mavis" is just so dumb. I know this book is old but that's just such an outdated concept for a book. I feel like fear of being a good parent would have made more sense.

- My copy of this book is from the 1940's and I thought that made it very interesting to have a Japanese character. Yamoto is, unfortunately, a Japanese stereotype but he also is a good character. He's kind, understanding, and brave and knows how to handle Welton Duer. At one point it's even stated that Welton loves Yamoto which I found cute, and he also plans to make sure he is taken care of in his old age. But when I looked it up I found this book was originally published in 1933 which makes more sense. 

- Pat jumps to the conclusion that Welton has been murdered very quickly and I feel like it's way too much of a leap. Jo thinks the theory makes sense only because she is very tired after their long trip to the cabin but in the morning finds the idea silly.

    Overall the book is ok. I think the setup with the convict was interesting. He's mentioned twice before the climax of the story but you don't think much about it until later, I like that as it keeps from giving the story away. I think the last chapter about the girls returning to school wasn't very pertinent but it wasn't too bad. Lastly I want to mention the cover art which was done by an unknown artist. It's simple but very lovely.

    There's another book in this series; Patty and Jo and the Case of the Toy Drummer. I plan on reading it sometime in the future and I'm very interested in seeing if it involves the girls traveling with Welton and Mavis as is discussed in this book.

Madge Sterling: The Missing Formula

    "Orphan Anne Fairaday faces a life of poverty upon the death of her father. The only thing that can prevent it is finding his latest experiment. She enlisted her new found friend, Madge Sterling, an outdoors girl who has a knack for finding missing things. But they must race against time as there are also several people who will stop at nothing to get it first" [x]

    The first time I read this book I was quickly thrown for a bit of a loop. Everything within the first few pages was so familiar and not in a vague way. I already knew the characters, the setting, and the whole story. I quickly realized that this book was the uncredited basis for a computer game I had played; Miss Clue Formula For Danger.

    The Miss Clue games are pretty much rip-offs of the Nancy Drew computer games so it's not surprising they're based off of other books by Mildred Wirt. The two other books in the Madge Sterling series also have games based off them. I'll add more info about the games at the bottom of this post because I actually really like them.

- The way Madge's parents are mentioned it seems as though there could have been plans for her to find her missing father if the series had continued à la the Maxie series.

- Would Anne be legally allowed to remain on Steward Island alone? She is a minor after all.

- When Anne mentions trying to get a loan from the bank Madge remarks that her uncle said banks were reluctant to give loans at the time. That's because it was the great depression. I've remarked before how I love when real life events are worked into these old books.

- It really is great luck Madge just happened to be interested in the Kippling book instead of one of the many books in the Fairaday library.

- After Anne's house gets robbed in the night of her silverware, she thinks someone could be trying to scare her away. She ignores the fact that Clyde had showed up saying she owed him money and then her semi valuable silverware is gone. Also her fathers laboratory is ransacked the same night Clyde says he has Anne's fathers formula. C'mon girls, use your logic.

- Madge just happens to take a wrong trail on Stewart island and happens to trip on the log containing the missing silverware.

- The girls debate on leaving the book with the secret formula at Stewart island or at the Lodge before deciding on the lodge. I don't understand why they would leave it anywhere, they should have been keeping that book within their arms 24/7.

- It's very foolish of the girls to hide the book in the cabin in the woods. Especially when Madge thinks someone was watching them.

- The first time I read this book I was annoyed at how Clyde is allowed to go free and receives no legal action against him. This time I'm ok with it. I guess it seemed less serious because Clyde had worked with Anne father, knew Anne, and had been in her home a lot during his work. It seems more like he was an old family friend, even if not on friendly terms anymore.

    I'm not really sure how I feel about this book. It's not my favorite, that's for sure, but it's not terrible. I think the game might have affected the way I see it..

    By the way, when I started this book I was in a bit of a reading slump so I decided to give an audio book a try. I listened to this on LibirVox, which is a wonderful site full of free audio books all read by volunteers. This one was read by Mary Escano who even did all the characters dialogue in voices. Lack of distinction between characters speaking is a big reason I don't normally listen to audio books so I really appreciated that. If you like audio books then I recommend it.

    Now let us talk about the Miss Clue games. These games started coming out years ago on virtualfamilykingdom.com. They were free to play and released in serialized chapters. There was 5 games made; three Madge sterling ones; Formula for Danger, Cruise Most Deadly, The Haunted Garden, and then Peril at Pemberly and Trials of Salem which are not related to Madge Sterling. The last seemed to be an attempt to pre rip-off the Nancy Drew game Midnight in Salem. Although there was plans for more games there hasn't been any updates in over a year. At this point I don't have much hope there will be more but I certainly would love it if there was.

Anyways I believe the games are still free on VK, I couldn't remember my account login info so I couldn't verify but it's still being advertised on the website. 

    Because I listened to an audiobook I didn't have a physical copy to scan so the image I used comes from an eBay listing of this book which is long gone.