Adventure

The Mysterious Half Cat (Judy Bolton #9)

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By Margaret Sutton

“Holy Christmas!” Horace exclaimed way down in his throat. “What do you call that?” “The Half Cat!” gasped Scottie, one had to her heart. Even Judy found herself clutching Arthur’s coat sleeve in that moment of frozen terror… Let’s get out of here,” Horace whispered hoarsely and began helping Scottie through the window…..“Wait a minute!” Judy detained him “I have an idea.”

I had decidedly mixed feelings about this one. At the beginning of the book, Judy is awakened from a horrible nightmare in which Blackberry, her beloved cat, is hit by a car and cut in half! Peter and Arthur appear and Blackberry, still cut in two, gets up and follows them. The top half follows Arthur and the bottom half follows Peter as they head in opposite directions. Although obviously symbolic of Judy’s feelings being torn between the two young men, this image was very disturbing to me and it is one of the recurring themes in the book. An old beggar approaches the front porch where Judy is telling Honey about her dream and Honey buys the old man’s dream book to interpret it. The old man warns her against dreaming of cats, a coincidence which startles Judy. Peter comes by and shows the girls a mysterious coded note which he found in front of Wing Lee’s Chinese laundry. Judy is intrigued.

When the mail comes, Judy is surprised and pleased to receive a letter from an old playmate, Dora ”Scottie” Scott, who had moved to Alaska before the Roulsville flood. Scottie is coming back home with her little sister Carol. She is all alone in the world now and hopes to stay with the Boltons while she searches for lost relatives. Judy is very excited and of course the Bolton family starts making preparations to welcome Scottie and Carol into their home. Remembering that Scottie was always one for adventure and excitement, Judy thinks that maybe the mysterious note might be a good mystery for them to solve together. Judy goes to talk with Wing Lee about the note and he tells her that “spooks” come to his laundry every Wednesday. This is right up Judy’s alley and she hides out in his basement overnight (on a school night no less!) to investigate. She gets locked in and hears strange sounds and someone talking about splitting a cat in half! What?! How can Judy’s dream be connected to an old beggar, and nefarious doings in Wing Lee’s cellar? I, for one, was baffled. Surely Judy does not have psychic dreams?!

In addition to the mystery of the coded note and the “Half Cat”, Scottie and Carol’s troubles take center stage. When Scottie arrives, she is nothing like the girl Judy remembers. She is unpleasant, ungrateful and unappreciative of Judy’s efforts to make her welcome and involve her in adventure. She is also exhausted because she can not let Carol out of her sight. There is something wrong with Carol’s brain which causes her to go into trances or fly into destructive rages. She also seems to be hearing impaired. Poor Scottie has a lot on her plate, but sometimes the interested, curious, and fun-loving Scottie peeks through. Judy powers through Scottie’s sometimes nasty behaviour and sets to work to help her and Carol and solve the mystery of the “half-cat” into the bargain.

One has to appreciate the unusual step of incorporating a child who, these days, would be considered “on the spectrum” or having serious brain damage into a children’s mystery series. But it was disturbing and painful. Margaret never shied away, even in her early books, from addressing controversial topics to her young readers. In fact, Carol’s problems reflect a tragic circumstance in Margaret Sutton’s own life. How Carol’s behavior affects Scottie emotionally is very layered and authentic. The portrayal of the old beggar is also complex with paranoia, guilt, hoarding, the corruption of wealth, and repentance coming into the mix.

How Judy’s dream seemed to be repeated in real life is neatly explained at the end, to my satisfaction and relief. And Judy’s efforts, with the help of the whole gang, result in tying a kind of “half-cat”, the old beggar, and Scottie and Carol together into a hopeful happy ending. The end of the book sees Judy graduating from high school and and anxiously looking towards an uncertain future.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The Mystic Ball (Judy Bolton #7)

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By Margaret Sutton

As Judy stepped upon the stage she lifted her chin proudly and looked straight into Madame Wanda’s cat-like eyes….she walked cautiously over and peered down into the mystic ball….Madame Wanda burst out explosively.”Tell me! Tell the audience! Tell the whole world what you see!”
Was the woman crazy?…But to her great disappointment, there was nothing there. …“What’s the matter with it? I don’t see a thing.”
“Ah clever weren’t you?” she mocked. ”But not clever enough to see your own future! Why? Because you haven’t any future.”
Gasp went up from the audience. “Don’t you know what it means…? “Have you never heard the word–Death?”

This book has some of Judy’s best sleuthing as well as plenty of personal drama regarding one of Margaret’s most interesting character creations, Judy’s friend, Irene. I would call Irene a divisive character, but I doubt that there is any serious Judy Bolton fan who would not admit the girl is flipping crazy (as much as they might defend her and try to explain her.) Thankfully, she does get better as the books go on. And her fiance Dale is another piece of work. Irene and Dale met and got engaged in the previous book, The Yellow Phantom. In this one, they are almost torn apart thanks to Irene’s stubborn belief in a fortune teller.

The adventure begins with Judy and all of her Farringdon friends going to the theatre to watch a movie and a show featuring Wanda the Wonderful. While passing by the theatre, Judy notices a lot of electronic equipment being carted into the theatre. Now these days, anyone would know that electronic equipment + a psychic predicting the future = Fraud and Skulduggery. But remember this book was written in the 1930s when the X-ray machine was considered the latest in medical innovations and a source of amazement. Wanda singles out Irene and tells her a disastrous fortune with enough details from her past life to win her trust. The most alarming part is that she tells her that her father will die and Dale doesn’t really love her and is after her money. Like several other victims, she is given a card and sent to a special room in the back for “the remedy” to the horrific fortunes.

Judy is suspicious but as convinced as she is that Wanda is a crackpot and a con woman, she cannot convince superstitious Irene to believe in Dale’s love rather than a creepy stranger and her crystal ball. And how was Wanda so accurate about Irene’s music, her engagement to Dale and the Tower House? Irene seems to be almost under a spell by the menacing fortuneteller and insists on going back to the theatre to give her a sealed envelope. Knowing that doing so would be the last straw as far as Irene’s nerves are concerned, the girls decide they will change places with each other with Judy delivering the envelope to the theatre and Irene going back to Dry Brook Hollow to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Smeed. Irene insists that when she gets Dale’s next love letter, Judy read it and answer back in her place. I’ll let that sit a minute. I told you she was crazy. When Judy does exactly that, it results in Dale almost breaking the engagement and Irene angrily repudiating Judy as a friend. It’s quite a letter, but poor Judy meant well.

By the end of the book, Judy meets a new friend, Sylvia, gets on stage and challenges Madame Wanda, is trampled during a fake fire alarm, is hospitalized, exposes the crystal-gazer and sees her convicted of grand larceny, wins back Irene’s friendship and re-unites the two lovers. Also, the differences between Judy’s two potential swains, Peter and Arthur, are highlighted. As always with Margaret Sutton’s series, we will meet young Sylvia again in future books and will even see the Crystal Ball again which was given to Judy as a reward for her outstanding sleuthing which resulted in getting a cruel and dangerous fraudster off the streets.

This is one of Margaret’s most entertaining books, in my opinion. Irene and Dale never disappoint.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Ghost Parade

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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.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Seven Strange Clues (Judy Bolton #4)

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By Margaret Sutton

“All kinds of ghastly things may have happened in this tunnel. What’s that?”

The others turned as he said it and when they saw what had frightened Horace he looked a little sheepish. Blackberry was climbing down the ladder. But the cat certainly made an eerie picture as his agile body descended noiselessly….Irene shivered and clutched Horace’s arm.

“There’s something about cats that I don’t quite like,” she said “….not black ones in cellars.”

The shadow of the murdered Vine Thompson still lingers over Judy’s house on Grove Street and once again, her evil doings continue to provide Judy with mysteries to solve and adventures to be had. There is more than one mystery in this fourth book in the series. It starts out innocently enough with Judy and her school friends planning to enter a poster contest to celebrate “Health Week”. Meanwhile, Dr. Bolton has rented out his garage to two strangers who board at Irene’s house. They offer to build a workbench in the Bolton’s cellar with some lumber in the garage. Judy, and Honey will work on their posters there.

Despite her distinct lack of artistic talent, Judy decides to paint a bowl of fruit for her poster.

Golly! It’s bright [Horace] exclaimed “What is it? The sun?”

“Of course not, Silly. Can’t you see it’s in a blue dish?”…

I thought that was the sky.”

“You had the picture upside down.”

“So I did. Hmm! I see now. It’s an orange. Looks as if it’s beginning to go bad. But Judy, seriously, orange leaves aren’t yellow and they aren’t as long as this”…If you just put a little more green in those leaves——

“But they’re not leaves. They’re bananas!”

When Judy wins first prize, everyone is in shock. Sweet Mrs. Bolton wonders if Judy’s poster was taken “for one of those modernistic paintings.” When they go to the exhibit at Brandt’s department store where the posters are being displayed, they see that someone has put Judy’s name on someone else’s beautifully done poster. Why? What are the strange sounds coming from the cellar, and why are papers missing and who ate the apple out of Judy’s bowl of fruit? Why has snobby, mean, and hateful Kay Vincent suddenly befriended poor Irene? Why is Honey behaving so strangely? Why does Kay’s poster have a missing corner and a smudge on it? And most importantly of all, who burned down the High School?

All eyes turn to Judy and she is persona non grata when it is suspected that she took someone else’s poster and claimed it as her own. To make matters worse, it is Honey’s poster that someone has put Judy’s name on, and Honey is not happy. Rumors are spreading that, incredibly, Judy or Honey is the one who burned down the school! And why are the shades always drawn on the car that Irene’s boarders are keeping in Judy’s garage? It all comes to a head when Judy discovers a secret room underneath the Bolton’s cellar complete with a tunnel leading to their garage. I will say no more except to point out that this book was written in 1932, 1 year before Prohibition ended.

This one excelled in tying all of the diverse mysteries into a neatly packaged whole. Both the personal dramas and the genuine criminality that Judy uncovers make for one of the better books in the series. Judy single-handedly extracts a confession from the culprit who started the school fire,  and her detective work leads to the disgrace of a prominent citizen of Farringdon. At least we hope so. She even is responsible for getting Irene out of the drudgery of her life as a mill worker. This book advances the relationships between Judy and her friends, and justice is served on all fronts. But have we seen the last of Kay Vincent? Time will tell.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Invisible Chimes (Judy Bolton #3)

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By Margaret Sutton

Judy’s hands trembled and her gray eyes were dark with apprehension as she lifted the loose floorboards and looked.
“Good Heavens!”
The two boards fell back across the open space with a crash as Judy uttered this startled exclamation. She simply sat back on her heels and refused to think until her mind had been prepared for this appalling thing she had discovered.

In the last book, we learned that Peter is the son of Grace Thompson who was rejected by her parents, Peter’s grandparents, The Dobbses, after she ran off with the oldest son of Vine Thompson, a criminal gang leader. When Grace died, after having another baby, who apparently also died, The Dobbses adopted her 3-year-old son, Peter, and raised him.

This book opens with Arthur driving Judy and her friends out to the country to visit an antique store and tea room. After admiring the antiques, they go into the tea room for a snack. Horace asks a pretty girl who is playing the piano to dance. But they soon suspect that her loud piano playing was to distract the owners and guests from the antique store being robbed. The thieves and the piano player make their getaway by stealing Arthur’s beloved car. After the police come, Judy and her friends chase them down and end up almost getting run over by the gang when they get out of their car and try to block the road. At the last minute, the young girl turns the wheel from the driver and saves their lives. She is injured and the grateful Boltons take her home to recover where they learn she has amnesia.

The heart of this book is uncovering the mystery of the girl’s background. Judy calls her “Honey” as they don’t know her name and she has honey-colored hair. She is sweet, eager to please, and grateful to the Boltons for taking her in. But is she a thief and part of a criminal family? Or was she kidnapped? Judy uncovers some lies Honey has told but doesn’t want to believe that Honey is anything other than the good and lovely person she appears to be. But whom was Honey meeting in secret in the dead of night and what was in the package that the stranger gave her? And what are those chimes Judy keeps hearing in her home seemingly out of nowhere? To uncover the truth Dr. Bolton invites a psychiatrist friend from New York City to observe Honey. Thus, we meet Pauline Faulkner, his daughter, who becomes a good friend of Judy and plays a part in this and several other of her mysteries down the road. Judy starts keeping a notebook to record clues and observations and discovers many inconsistencies that make Honey suspicious (to the reader, at least). She wants to catch the thieves that almost killed her and her friends as well as recover the stolen antiques and discover what the connection is between the gang and Honey. When Mrs. Dobbs, Peter’s grandmother, has a stroke she becomes strangely attached to Honey and starts calling her “Grace,” the name of her dead daughter.

While Honey is caring for Mrs. Dobbs, Judy discovers a musical vase that was stolen from the antique store hidden under the floorboards in Honey’s bedroom. That solves the mystery of the chimes but things are looking very dark indeed for the Boltons’ young house guest. Judy feels angry and betrayed. Can Honey really be the sneaky and criminal liar that all the evidence seems to indicate? Judy thinks so and wants her arrested immediately. The cooler heads of her parents and Peter persuade Judy to not judge until they hear Honey’s explanation.

When Judy gets a letter from Pauline who has been doing some detective work for her in New York City, she thinks she has all of the answers and confronts Honey with her disturbing discoveries. But she is not prepared for the story that Honey has to tell. By the end of the book, there are tears aplenty but they are tears of happiness and Honey will start her life anew with a “clean slate.”

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Mystery on Judy Lane (Judy Bolton #13.5)

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by Beverly Hatfield

Judy sighed. I can’t decide if this mystery is interfering with Christmas or if Christmas is interfering with the mystery.

Before going to the third book in the Judy Bolton series, we take a short detour to celebrate the season, with The Mystery on Judy Lane, which is set during Christmas time. This book is a later addition to the series and was written by Beverly Hatfield who co-authored book # 39, The Strange Likeness (A Judy Bolton Mystery, #39).. It is set in 1940 between The Name on the Bracelet, in which Judy and Peter become officially engaged, and The Clue in the Patchwork Quilt, which sees the death of both of Judy’s grandparents, The Smeeds. Of natural causes, I hasten to add. So this one gives us an opportunity to see Judy and Peter as a newly engaged couple and their working relationship in Peter’s Roulsville office as attorney and secretary. It is also a fond farewell to kind hard-working Grandpa Smeed and loving but moody and somewhat intimidating Grandma Smeed.

The mystery involves the Pipers of The Unfinished House and Ruth Piper’s mother-in-law, Ella. Mrs. Ella Piper comes to visit Peter to sign her will, which seems to have some complications and mysteries attached to it. Earlier, while Judy was shopping for Peter’s Christmas present, she senses she is being spied on by a strange woman. What follows is a mystery involving the Roulsville Paper Mill, a land dispute, threats against Peter’s law practice, and finally criminal mischief in the form of rocks through windows. Why are Judy and Peter being targeted? Both Mrs. Piper and George the owner of the stationary store where Judy bought Peter’s present fall under suspicion, as well as Ruth’s cousins-in-law who are possible claimants to an inheritance. Interspersed with the sinister goings-on are the Christmas secrets and plans of Judy and her friends and family. We get to spend valuable time with the Smeeds when Horace and Judy are stranded there overnight during a snowstorm. Finally, with the help of Horace’s investigative reporting skills, Arthur’s inside information, Honey’s spying from George’s store, and Judy’s derring- do (and female intuition), all is solved satisfactorily for all just in time for Christmas. And of course, Peter helps too.

Though not written by or based on any input from Margaret Sutton, this book fits right into the series perfectly. Past mysteries are referred to and future mysteries and occurrences are foreshadowed, and sometimes quite poignantly. The writing style perfectly mirrors the original author’s and all of the characters’ personalities are faithful to her original creations. One can tell a lot of knowledge, love, and respect went into this one. Like Margaret, Beverly incorporated true events in her own life into this story. After reading this, Margaret Sutton’s daughter gave her blessing to its publication and asked Beverly to co-author The Strange Likeness which so successfully brought closure to the Judy Bolton series.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

My Brother Michael

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By Mary Stewart

“I think the secret is that it belongs to all of us – to us of the West. We’ve learned to think in its terms, and to live in its laws. It’s given us almost everything that our world has that is worthwhile. Truth, straight thinking, freedom, beauty. It’s our second language, our second line of thought, our second country. We all have our own country — and Greece.”

I remember this book as not being a favorite, not coming near the high bar set by all of her other titles. Except for The Ivy Tree another of Mary Stewart’s books I wasn’t too fond of. It is precisely because of that, and because consequently, I had only read this novel twice before, that I decided to give it another chance and listen to it on Audible. Hopes were high, but I’m sorry to say that it lived down to my memories.

Of course, Mary Stewart’s prose and her descriptions of the countryside and attractions of the Greek precinct of Delphi were as masterful as ever. But I found the plot and mystery to be rather boring and uninvolving. Our heroine and our hero, the same. They share a lot of character similarities with her other creations, but there is nothing that sets them apart or makes them particularly engaging or interesting. Most of her other lead characters, especially the women, had something about them that stood out and made them uniquely likable or admirable. One of the problems may have been that Stewart’s usual teenage boy sidekick with whom our heroine can banter and look after is missing in this one. She is basically on her own, except for Simon, the hero, whom she barely comes to know. With no one to bounce off of, so to speak, Camilla remains rather one-dimensional. We learn hardly anything of her backstory other than she has recently broken off an engagement. The romance is so slight as to be almost non-existent. We only assume that they have growing feelings for each other. Nothing beneath the surface is shared with the reader. On a more shallow note, I found it distracting that Camilla was tramping and fleeing over the rough and rocky Greek countryside in a dress and presumably heels. I mean, it’s 1959 girl. Put on some trousers, Not to mention all of the cigarettes consumed.

One scene in this book that has always remained with me, did not disappoint. Camilla is being stalked by the ruthless murderer. She is hiding in plain sight but knows he will soon be able to see her and he is coming up the steep hillside after her. Instead of waiting for the inevitable she steps out, brushes herself off, and meets him instead of cowering in hiding without hope of escape. I could feel her terror and inability to deal with the suspense. Indeed, the last 20% or so of the book contains some of the most harrowing and tense action in a Mary Stewart book, culminating in a to-the-death fight between Simon and the villain.

I hate to give a Mary Stewart book any less than 3 stars, but the ending lacked closure regarding Simon and Camilla’s relationship, and how they were going to deal with a wondrous discovery that they found hidden deep in a cave.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

The Haunted Attic (Judy Bolton #2)

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by Margaret Sutton

“Judy, You weren’t talking to the mill girls?” “Why not? They are our neighbors, you know.”… “That’s all the more reason why you should be careful of your associates. Suppose you were classed as one [them]? You wouldn’t have a single friend in High School.”… Please Judy, for my sake, keep away from the mill girls. they’re not our kind.”

Picking up right where The Vanishing Shadow left off, this 2nd in the Judy Bolton series has plenty of mysteries and drama to occupy her as she settles into her new home in Farringdon. In addition, Margaret Sutton also explores class snobbery and the cruelty that popular cliques can inflict on outsiders.

After moving into the big rented house on Grove Street which is said to be haunted by the ghost of Vine Thompson, a sort of Ma Barker character, Judy starts to experience strange sightings and mysterious attic noises herself. The whole community thinks the house is haunted and this is affecting Dr. Bolton’s formerly thriving Roulsville practice as no one wants to come to his home office. Judy, who does not believe in ghosts, vows to solve the mystery in time for the big Halloween party she intends to throw. Along the way, Judy and her brother Horace discover hidden jewelry on the property, and a big trunk full of fancy vintage clothing and poignant love letters, not to mention a half-starved white kitten Horace adopts and names “Ghost.”

Meanwhile, Judy is having trouble fitting in at school despite her friendship with socially prominent and popular Lois Farrington-Pett. Lois gives her a friendship ring identical to the one she gave her friend Lorraine a long time ago but wants Judy to keep it secret. Judy’s confidence and optimism take a blow when she is not immediately accepted by the popular kids. She is not rich, is a stranger, makes more than one faux pas, and has become friendly with the wrong crowd who go to the high school on the poor blue-collar side of town. To make matters worse, Lorraine’s ring has been stolen by burglars and when she sees what she thinks is her ring on Judy’s finger the accusations start flying. As in The Vanishing Shadow, Judy’s refusal to break a promise results in all sorts of mayhem, and unfortunately, Lois is quarantined at home with Scarlet Fever and can’t come to Judy’s defense and straighten things out. Things get a lot worse before they get better which makes for a very exciting and dramatic book.

And that’s not even the end of it! In addition to ghosts of dead criminals, the discovery of stolen loot, and teen drama, we have the mystery of  Judy’s friend and supporter, Peter’s, parentage which has been kept secret from him by the Dobbses, whom Peter calls his grandparents. All finally gather at Judy’s Halloween Party (which is a story in itself!) where all of the mysteries are solved, ghosts uncovered, and criminals caught. It is truly a party for the ages, the likes of which surely had never been seen before in sophisticated and staid Farringdon. We even have social progress made with somewhat of a truce between social factions and Judy accepted by both the popular kids and the factory girls. The third book in the series will continue to build on the secrets of Peter’s past and the criminal Vine gang in very unexpected and shocking ways.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Last Hellion

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By Loretta Chase

This was my second book by Loretta Chase and it does measure up to Lord of Scoundrels. I listened to it on audible read by the very talented Kate Reading who has a voice perfectly matched to both of the dynamic couples in the books. I wearied of Historical Romances quite some time ago, but Loretta Chase reminds me of why I used to gobble them up. When I finished the first novel, I was hoping that it wouldn’t be the last I saw of the unforgettable Lord and Lady Dain so I was very pleased to see them again in this, and not just in passing. Not to mention the large and very surprising role the dutchess’s hapless silly brother Bertie has in it!

In 1820s London Lydia Grenville is a crusading journalist who also writes best-selling serials in secret. She meets our bad boy hero Vere Mallory, Lord Ainsworth, after practically running him down in her carriage while in hot pursuit of a bawd who has kidnapped still another young innocent country girl for nefarious purposes. He follows her with mayhem in mind and they face off in a dark alley which ends with the Amazonian Lydia, as always accompanied by her mastiff Susan, knocking him down in the mud. In full public view. Coralie temporarily escapes Lydia’s wrath but the rescued country girl, genteel and well-educated Tamsin, becomes Lydia’s girl Friday. There are many subplots in this which makes the book a bit episodic. It is very action-packed. Lydia continues to pursue and outwit Coralie, the infamous and evil madam, steals back Tamsin’s stolen rubies, rescues a pitiful new mother from prison, participates in a dangerous and exciting carriage race, and foils a kidnapping. Somehow Ainsworth always seems to be around to either lend a hand or to complicate matters, to Lydia’s frustration. It is a passionate battle of wills and they are evenly matched. They fall in lust, then love, quarreling and fighting every inch of the way right up to the altar (she lost a bet). Meanwhile, we learn about their tragic backstories and uncover the mystery of Lydia’s parentage. Tamsin is no slouch either and has her own story and romance as well.

It’s a wild ride and very entertaining with lots of caustic and amusing banter, comedy, adventure, and drama. Social conditions and women’s issues are given due attention. To top it off, the passionate and satisfying romance was free from silly misunderstandings, deceptions, and stupidity. They were made for each other for many reasons, but mostly because they both hide hearts of gold.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Gabriel Hounds

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by Mary Stewart

I listened to this on audio, read by Ellie Haydon, who makes Christy and Charles, the two leads, posh but likable. Strangely, Christy’s Lebanese driver, Habib, is read as an English cockney. Christabel Mansel is on a guided bus tour of the Mideast. She semi-coincidentally meets her older cousin Charles. “I met him on a street called Straight” is the attention-grabbing first sentence in the book. They were raised together in England and are first cousins, both the children of twin brothers. I’ll let that sink in though I have no comment. My understanding is that in later, possibly in the U.S. editions, the editors changed this to second cousins. Because by the end of the novel, they are well on the way to marriage and presumably children. Christy is the first to admit that both she and Charles are spoiled and entitled, but it doesn’t really come through in their words and actions. They are likable and nice. Christy in particular has a lot of gumption and is not afraid of confronting the bad guys later in the book with her tart sarcastic tongue.

Charles reminds Christy that their eccentric Great Aunt Harriet lives near Damascus in a Castle called Der Ibrahim. She fancies herself as a latter-day Lady Hester Stanhope. Christy doesn’t really remember her too well, but Charles was always a favorite and he plans to go visit her. Meanwhile, Charles has to go meet someone on business, and Christy decides to steal a march on him. Because that is how she rolls. She is successful in getting into the decaying castle and meeting her elderly sick Aunt’s caretakers, who seem OK at first but may or may not be shady, and finally her reclusive and anti-social Aunt, who is really odd and creepy. Before she leaves two days later she notices that the local girl servant is wearing her great aunt’s ruby ring, a family heirloom. Something is not right.

When Christy and Charles meet up again Christy tells him the whole story. The easy and sometimes amusing banter between the two cousins is a strong point in the book. On her way to meet Charles in Beirut (or Damascus?), she is kidnapped and taken back to Aunt Harriet’s castle by a man who looks strangely familiar. From there, Christy and the Reader are confronted with being drugged, smuggling, poison, dungeons, murder, a raging fire, and the truth about Aunt Harriet.

Most of the book is, fair to say, heavy on the description and travelogue aspects and light on the plot. As exotic, romantic, and nostalgic as the 1960s Middle East is, it does slow the book up a bit. The last quarter of the book is full of action and excitement and of course, Romance. It even has a heart-touching scene. Christy and Charles make a great team and have a great relationship. Reading about the 1960s in the 2020s is nostalgia gone wild. With a touch of melancholy. Not that I ever was in Syria or Lebanon, of course. But Mary Stewart is so great at conjuring up that world and the sights and experiences that a beautiful, rich, spirited, and smart girl might have had there, (even without all the excitement) it reminds me of why I love to read. Calgon, Take me Away.

Rating: 4 out of 5.