by Margaret Sutton

“No wonder she’s afraid.”  Judy said aloud. ” I told you the box was empty. Someone stole those heads and tried to scare us. You know they couldn’t have walked out of the box alone. See! It’s empty!”
She lifted back the cover!
Lorraine screamed! Then she fell back into Arthur’s arms and began sobbing hysterically.
That head with horns had popped out at her for all the world as if it had been alive.

Just when a mystery is heating up near Farringdon, Judy is about to leave for a month’s vacation at a girl’s camp at The Thousand Islands near the Canadian border. She is not a happy camper. On assignment from the paper, Horace takes her along to the scene where Chief Kelly has just busted up a counterfeiters’ ring. Some of the criminals are still at large, and Judy is sure the police could use her help. On top of that, Arthur Farringdon-Pett has just bought an airplane. Oh well, I guess Judy will have to endure a boring month of swimming, boating and other camp activities with her friends instead of chasing criminals and joy-riding in airplanes.

Fear Not. Before they even arrive at the camp, Judy has acquired a huge crate full of horrific-looking Indian Masks at an auction and will be keeping them with her at the camp along with her two cats Blackberry and Ghostie. On top of that, she meets a strange old crone called “the Cat Woman” who is headed to the same area. The suspicious old woman tells the friends that the masks are cursed and will bring “sickness, trouble, and death” to all in their vicinity. Hopefully the strict matron will not raise any objections to Judy’s unexpected accoutrements.

Besides dealing with the less-than-thrilled Mrs. Dinwiddie, Judy has plenty else on her plate. First the scary Masks seem to have taken on a life of their own, mysteriously disappearing out of the trunk, then spotted parading through the camp. Have the “Ghosts of Dead Warriors” come to life? Next Blackberry and Ghostie have violent fits and Blackberry scratches Judy’s vain sometime frenemy, Lorraine Lee, on the face. Judy along with Pauline, Honey, and Irene take the beloved pets to the Cat Woman who owns an island nearby. She cures them and takes care of them since they have been banned from the camp. On the way back the girls almost drown during a violent storm on the River, and then Mrs. Dinwiddie gets deathly ill herself. Judy saves her life using the same treatment that The Cat Woman used on the cats (don’t ask, it’s gross) and things are just getting started. Lorraine disappears just as Arthur shows up in his new plane and then the plane disappears! Judy tracks Lorraine to Cat Island looking for a cure for the scar on her face. And who should show up but Slippery McGuirk, the head of the Counterfeit Ring! And weirder still, he is married to the Cat Woman, who is old enough to be his mother!

This is a Judy Bolton that is very action-packed with some character exploration as well. Lorraine Lee shows her bad side as well as a good side, as does Arthur Farringdon-Pett. We get the first clear hints that Judy’s destiny lies not with rich sophisticated Arthur, but with her longtime friend Peter Dobbs. Pauline, Judy’s New York City friend, who is my favorite character besides Judy, played a strong role in this book. In the teaser for the next book, The Yellow Phantom, we are told that talented but poor Irene’s life will be changed forever. Pauline is in that one too.