Detective Series

Knave of Diamonds

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By Laurie R. King

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“I loved my big brother,” the younger man said at last. “He stood up for me, even sometimes when he shouldn’t have. And his wife was the greatest person in the world. Judith always treated me like a trusted friend, even though she must have known I could be pretty crooked. I loved my nephew, Levi, who was a weird kid with a brain like a clock. He’d have done great things for the world. And…” He reeled his gaze in from the far distance to meet Holmes’ eyes. “I love my niece. I let her down when she needed me, and the decisions I made after that might not have been the right ones. But I won’t do it again. Not with anything that matters.” Oh, Jacob, Holmes thought sadly. You just had to add that caveat at the end, didn’t you?

While all of Laurie R. King’s mysteries, after Dreaming Spies have been top tier for me, the one before this one, Lantern’s Dance was on the level of her earlier books and one of the later ones, The Murder of Mary Russell. There definitely have been some peaks and valleys along the way, as is to be expected in a long series. But as with another historical mystery series I was devoted to, Anne Perry’s Charlotte and Thomas Pitt books, they will continue to be auto-buys for me on both Kindle and Hardcover as long as they continue.

In this one, we are re-introduced to Mary’s long lost Uncle Jake. We had met Jake before in a short story, Mary’s Christmas. (Found in Mary Russell’s War.) That little adventure occurred when Mary was 11 years old and her brother and parents were still alive. Reading that story first is not necessary, but would add to the enjoyment of this book. Jake, who was disowned from the Russell Family for bad behavior, shows up on Russell and Holmes’ doorstep after they have returned home from the wedding of Holmes’ son, Damian Adler. Significantly, Jake appears after Holmes leaves to meet with his brother Mycroft at his request about an “old case that had come to life.” As it turns out, Mycroft wants Holmes’ help in locating the stolen Irish Crown Jewels. New information has come to light in this case that Holmes originally investigated back in 1907. His recommendations were ignored, and the jewels were never recovered. The robbery is true history and the mystery of what became of the Jewels is still unsolved to this day. LRK always incorporates real historical figures and events into her books. It is a big part of their appeal for me.

Meanwhile, back in Sussex, Jake asks Mary’s help in locating the same jewels. He was an accomplice in their theft which just might be one reason why Jake has taken pains not to cross paths with the great detective. Even though it goes against her own ethical values and will potentially put her at odds with her husband, Mary decides to accompany Jake to Ireland to try to find the treasure. Despite everything, he was her childhood hero and she still feels love and loyalty towards him. But unbeknownst to Jake, Mary ensures that Holmes will follow them by leaving him clues as to her whereabouts. And that she is safe. When Holmes returns to their empty home and reads Mary’s seemingly innocuous note, it doesn’t take him long to figure it all out. He has no interest in assisting Mycroft find the jewels, but he is very very interested in the health and safety of his wife. Mary and Jake are not alone together in their quest for long.

The books in this series are usually told primarily from Mary’s first person point of view. Sometimes we also switch to Sherlock Holmes’ 3rd person perspective. In this one we also have Jake’s 1st person account of the adventure and it is interesting to see glimpses of Russell and Holmes through his eyes. I love the way Laurie differentiated the first person narration of Mary and her Uncle Jake. Mary says “One could hear America in his voice.” And this was true on the page as well.

My enjoyment of the book was somewhat compromised in that I really did not like Jake right from the get go, and my dislike did not diminish much as the book went on. I found myself rooting for some kind of takedown. I found him shifty and smug, and his supposed charm was lost on me. He is never truthful with Holmes or Mary unless it suits his interests. The fact that they saw through him from the beginning and still he persisted in trying to obfuscate made me feel contempt as well as distaste. We weren’t meant to trust him or take him at face value, so maybe those feelings were unfair. Even the reveal of his true motives at the end did not restore him to my good graces.

As always in the books, Holmes and Mary spend a good deal of time apart, but that only heightens the anticipation for when they meet up again. I’ve long since stopped hoping for warmth or any obvious loving intimacy between the two. In fact, I don’t know what I would think if their feelings for each other were conspicuous rather than between the lines. This is what passes as grand romance between the two:

He stared at me, seated firmly on a man’s back, then saw the front of my coat. “You’re bleeding!” he exclaimed.
I looked down at my front, and my hands. “It’s not mine. The dogs—” But to my surprise, he yanked me to my feet, and flung his arms around me. Then, more reassuringly, he stood back and seized both my shoulders to berate me.

After the matter of the Jewels are satisfactorily disposed of, we are left to wonder if we will ever see Jake again. I wouldn’t bet against it. But I hope it won’t be for a while. Another character is introduced in this one that I know will become a fixture, at least for a while. And we still have Mycroft’s reaction to the secret revealed in the last book to look forward to. The perfect ending. **4 1/2 stars**

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The Bullet That Missed

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by Richard Osman

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“The pool would still be here in the summer.” “Ah, but we may not be,” Joyce had replied, and she was right. It was best to grab everything while you could. Who knows when your final swim might come, your final walk, your final kiss?”

The Bullet That Missed was another great one, the third, in The Thursday Murder Club series. It picks up immediately after the second one leaves off. I found it better than the first but not quite as good as the second. It’s a close call though. I may have liked the second one better because I had forgotten how gently funny and/or wise some passages were and how endearing and well crafted were the characters, even the bad guys (well-crafted not endearing). So it was a lovely and a bit of an exciting surprise. Also, as good as Fiona Shaw was narrating this one, Leslie Manville was brilliant in the second one. In The Man who Died Twice, I was so pleased that DCI Chris Hudson had gotten himself together health and looks-wise, thanks to his new relationship with Patrice, Donna’s mother. And that a spark developed between Constable Donna and Bogdan, a character who was only supposed to be in one scene in the first book, but who was just too interesting to go quietly. In “Bullet”, the relationships are progressing happily, the latter two agreeing that they are “boyfriend and girlfriend” now. And that makes me happy.

Early in this one, Elizabeth and Stephen, her dementia-plagued husband, are kidnapped by an international money launderer, known as “The Viking”. He threatens to kill Joyce if Elizabeth does not kill a rival money launderer, who happens to be an old KGB leader and former lover of hers, Viktor Illyich. Meanwhile, A famous TV journalist asks The Thursday Murder Club to investigate the 10-year-old disappearance and murder of a young journalist who was as close as a daughter to him. Their investigation leads them to the prison where the prime suspect is imprisoned on other charges and which is also home to “Died Twice” ‘s inimitable and ruthless con-woman, Connie Johnson. As she is there courtesy of our gang, she is out for revenge. As always, murder and mayhem follow our intrepid and canny investigators, and as in the preceding book, the two plots eventually merge themselves into a highly entertaining and unlooked-for conclusion.

The twists that crop up throughout the novel, not even including the solution to the murder(s), were delicious. I don’t like using that word but it’s the perfect one. It’s hard to pick a favorite scene, but what occurs when The Viking comes for Joyce is hilarious. I love Joyce. The poignancy of Elizabeth’s beloved Stephen’s mental decline is tempered by flashes of his brilliance of old. It is he who unravels the mystery of the Viking’s identity, which eventually leads to another (delicious) twist.

Everything culminates in an exciting conclusion with answers and solutions aplenty. In both books, the titles have more than one meaning, and are more significant than you might think. Yet we are left with a few loose ends and unrevealed secrets which I sure hope will be picked up in the 4th book in the series. They better be. And that goes for the new characters we get to know. Sure wouldn’t mind even seeing Connie Johnson making a re-appearance. I have a feeling about her.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Man Who Died Twice

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by Richard Osman

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“More women are murdering people these days,” says Joyce. “If you ignore the context, it is a real sign of progress.”

“I’m involved about as much as I want to be with the Thursday Murder Club. If they can plant cocaine in someone’s cistern, I don’t want to think about what they’d do with my love life.”


The Thursday Murder Club, the initial book in this series is about what happens when a group of murder mystery-loving retirees are confronted with a real life murder in their own retirement community. I liked it quite well. I do not remember too much about the actual mystery, except that I have the vague feeling I was a little disappointed in that part. What I liked was the writing, the humor and the characters. However, books two, three, and four came out in the series and I let them go by with only just a little regret. But with all the publicity about the upcoming Netflix movie they came back to my attention and I decided to listen to the second one on Audible. With The Man Who Died Twice, I got the whole package. The mystery and the other goings on interested me much more than the first one, and the humor and characters were even better. I really grew attached to all in the club and their allies and the bad guys were equally entertaining. The conclusion was touching and satisfying. Justice was done, and extraordinarily so. I also want to add that the narration by the great actress Lesley Manville was brilliant.

Elizabeth, the formidable and fascinating ring leader of the Thursday Murder Club, is contacted by her ex-husband, Douglas, who wants to engage her and her friends to protect him from several organizations or personages that are looking to get back 20 million pounds worth of diamonds that they think he stole. (That pounds as in monetary unit, not weight-Ha Ha.) He believes his life is in danger and he would be right. Meanwhile, Murder Club mainstay Ibrahim, beloved by all, is attacked and beaten by a teenage thug and it is heartbreaking. Murder, Mayhem, Skullduggery, and Retribution ensue. In undertaking their changing goals as far as the Douglas assignment and their relentless pursuit of justice for Ibrahim, much is revealed about our crew. And of course our crew includes Chris, the local DCI and his partner Donna, a police constable. They are trying to put away Connie Johnson, a menace of a drug dealer and all around baddy, who has been a thorn in their side for ages.

Bogdan, a character whom I don’t even remember in the first one, was one of my favorites in this one. He is vital to the success of the Club’s missions, and and there are some personal developments regarding him, as well as Chris and Donna, that make me eager to read the third in the series to see where it all goes. The often underestimated Joyce’s emotional intelligence and Elizabeth’s experience and savvy continue to delight and amaze. We learn a lot more about Elizabeth’s background and adventures as a MI5 agent. Although it is tinged with sadness, her loving relationship with her Dementia-stricken husband Steven, was one of my favorite aspects of the book. I fully expect Ibrahim’s physical and mental recovery to be all but settled in the next entry.

I enjoy being surprised and confounded when reading a mystery as well as seeing through some red herrings and predicting some twists. This one delivered with both. I fear I may have gotten into spoiler territory in a couple of places which is not good territory to be in when reviewing a mystery. If, like me, you had some reservations over Richard Osman’s first book even if you enjoyed it on the whole, please give this one a go.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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 Voice in the Suitcase (Judy Bolton #8)

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By Margaret Sutton

It’s a man!” Honey, do you think he’s dead?”

“I guess so.”

“Maybe he’s just drunk,” she said…”I just want to shake him to see.”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Why not? If he’s dead he can’t hurt us and if he’s only drunk it may rouse him up….”

“I don’t want to rouse him up,” cried Honey in a panic…If you touch him I’ll scream!

“That might rouse him too.”

So, this was the first Judy Bolton I ever read. It got my attention to say the least. It starts off pretty tamely with Judy and Honey at a school picnic discussing a recent burglary of the Hamilton house. They are at a state park and the kids encounter some bums begging for food.  Remember this was written during the depression. Judy is intrigued to hear what sounds like a voice coming from one of their suitcases. Due to a misunderstanding, the school bus leaves without them and they start to walk home (40 miles!). On the way, they encounter one of the bums seemingly dead or drunk in a ditch with his suitcase. Luckily, because a girl named “Tagalong”, of the prominent Hamilton family, alerted  Peter and Horace that Judy and Honey had been left behind, they show up in the car to pick them up. They give the man a ride, but on the way he asks to be let off at a lonely house in the middle of the boonies. The name on the mailbox is “Brady.”

Back at home, Judy’s young friend Tagalong introduces her to the poor but proud Brady family. Tagalong’s BFF is Selma Brady, a friendship she keeps secret from her socially prominent and snobby family. Tagalong is a little rebel.  The Brady father’s parents, who live at the old house that “the bum” asked to be dropped off at,  are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary on Thanksgiving weekend. Selma has been dragooned into  visiting them to help them prepare for the big party and Judy volunteers to go in Tag’s place to help her. Also, Selma is afraid to go their house alone. Of course, Judy’s main interest is to further investigate the talking suitcase which she believes is still at the Brady home. To add to the excitement, we also learn that Selma’s father, Walter Brady, has been arrested for the burglary of the Hamilton home, one of a series of recent burglaries in Farringdon.

What really stood out about this, my first Judy Bolton, was how many times I thought to myself when reading, “This would never happen to Nancy Drew!” Selma’s grandmother is a hateful old witch who claims to have psychic powers. She threatens to shoot her granddaughter (and Judy) and resents all of their hard work trying to clean the house and prepare for the family reunion/anniversary party. Their house is absolutely filthy and every inch is covered in trash and dirt except for some paths through the dirty clothes and litter. Margaret description of the house and its inhabitants  is priceless. For dinner, they have dry bread dunked in milk, which the Grandfather eats  with “a sucking sound.” That night, Judy and Selma sleep in dirty beds, and are awakened by scurrying sounds and chains rattling. That morning, when Judy looks in a mirror, she sees animal tracks across her face, which Judy surmises are rat tracks. Judy’s Thanksgiving was shaping up to be one to remember, and it is just the beginning.

By the end of the story, The Brady’s house is clean, the party is a great success, The old couple have mellowed (a bit), and a falsely accused man has been proven innocent. And the voice in the suitcase has been revealed. No spoilers but the clues are all there for the alert reader

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 Yellow Phantom (Judy Bolton #6)

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by Margaret Sutton

“Irene, nothing!” she fumed. “That girl’s Johanna Holiday, the wench who made away with her mother’s poetry. I know you!” She pointed a shaking finger at the trembling Irene.

Judy, standing near the old lady, caught a whiff of her breath and guessed that she had taken an overdose from the bottle that she called her tonic. She had noticed how frequently her employer resorted to the stimulant.

Margaret Sutton originally wrote this book as a stand-alone unrelated to the Judy Bolton series. When it didn’t sell, she revamped it into a Judy Bolton book. In many ways, it falls very seamlessly into the series, but it does incorporate some elements that seem a little unusual for a girl’s series book. Judy’s friend, Irene, who is barely 17 and still in high school has a serious romance with and becomes engaged to a man who is well into his 20s. One of the characters is an eccentric literary agent with a drinking problem and some of the situations in which Judy and her girlfriends find themselves seem more appropriate or realistic for older girls.

At the end of The Ghost Parade, Judy’s friend Pauline, the daughter of Dr. Faulkner who made an appearance in The Invisible Chimes, invites Judy and Irene to her home in New York City to finish out their extended summer vacation while Farringdon’s new high school is being built. Dr. Faulkner really gets around. Apparently, every crazy person in New York City was or is a patient of his. Lots of coincidences in this one. On the bus to Pauline’s luxurious home in Gramercy Park, the girls’ attention is caught by a handsome young(ish) man. Irene declares him her “ideal” and the girls hope to meet him in New York. It seems unlikely but Judy discovers he is an author of murder mysteries. She has no trouble getting a job with his agent, the eccentric and gruff Emily Grimshaw, in an effort to pursue their acquaintance. And, indeed, it isn’t long before Dale Meredith shows up. When Judy brings Irene along to the office, the formidable tough-as-nails editor takes one look at her, goes into hysterics, and insists she is someone named “Joy” who we find out is the dead daughter of one of her clients, the poet and recluse, Sarah Glenn. Dale and the 3 girls become friendly but it isn’t long before Dale’s preference for Irene becomes obvious (much to Pauline’s irritation). In fact, it is love at first sight. Meanwhile, some valuable manuscripts of the poet mysteriously disappear and Irene also mysteriously and alarmingly disappears soon after. Is there a connection between Sarah Glenn, her dead daughter, Joy, whom Irene so strongly resembles, Irene, and the stolen manuscripts?

Judy has her work cut out for her in this one. In her desperation to find Irene while fearing the worst, she is also trying to protect her from being suspected of stealing the manuscripts. She is at her wit’s end when Peter, Arthur, and her brother Horace show up to help her with the search, ably supported by New York’s finest.

The Yellow Phantom makes good use of its New York City setting. the girls have a night out on the town, and later, Judy ventures alone into the wilds of Brooklyn following clues to Irene’s whereabouts. In addition to the baffling mystery of what happened to Irene and how the manuscripts disappeared from Ms. Grimshaw’s secure office in broad daylight, we have a bonafide serious romance, attempted murder, evil villain, fear of insanity, and a sad tale of a tragic romance, bad poetry, and a yellow phantom in a tower window. Peter and Judy’s relationship is moved forward, and the hapless Irene seems to have fallen into a secure future with an inheritance and Dale. Lord knows she needs someone willing and able to take charge of her. The only quibble I have is the solution to how the manuscripts disappeared is pretty preposterous and somewhat of a letdown.

We can only hope that it will be nothing but smooth sailing ahead for Dale and Irene’s romance. I guess we will find out in The Mystic Ball. Wink, wink.

Rating: 4.5 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 Lantern’s Dance

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

By Laurie R. King

I usually read Laurie R. King’s Russell/Holmes mysteries in book form so I can look for clues and check for understanding as I read. And I collect, and therefore buy, her books in Hardback because they, or at least the dust jackets, are so beautiful. I read this one on Audible because I had a credit I kinda needed to use. Nevertheless, I enjoyed listening to this 18th in the series. Forgetting the well-done audible performance, the book itself was extraordinary. To me it was right up there with her first three: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, A Letter to Mary, and her 14th book, The Murder of Mary Russell. King peoples many of her novels with real-life historical personages who intermingle with fictional icons which adds so much to their appeal. In the course of the series, we meet people such as Lord Peter Wimsey, Kimbal O’Hara (Rudyard Kipling’s Kim) Dashiell Hammett, Cole Porter, Elsa Maxwell, T.E. Lawrence, and J.R.R. Tolkien. But like The Murder of Mary Russell, one of the most compelling aspects of this book is the exploration of the backstories of Arthur Conan Doyle’s creations by way of Laurie R. King by way of Mary Russell’s journals. In King’s books, Sherlock is not a fictional character created by Doyle but a real person whom his friend Watson (who is only mentioned in passing a time or two and whom Mary calls “Uncle John”) has based a series of famous detective stories. The resulting fame is sometimes very much an irritation and inconvenience to the real detective. The books begin after Holmes has “retired” to the country and meets 15-year-old Mary Russell, who gives him a new lease on life. He takes her on as an apprentice and later marries her. Or she marries him, maybe I should say.

In The Murder of Mary Russell King delved into Mrs. Hudson’s eye-popping history. In this one, the curtain is flung open on Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes’ family background and a past childhood tragedy. Of course, this tale of Holmes’s past is not based on ACD canon. All we know from the creator of Sherlock Holmes is that Sherlock’s grandmother was the sister of non-fictional French Artist, Horace Vernet. From that little nugget, King weaves a fantastical yet meticulously researched tale that is grounded firmly in Sherlockiana lore and respected speculative theories concerning the great detective. I won’t go into detail, but I will just say that Laurie takes it to a whole new level. I was blown away by the great reveal at the end which I suspect that I would have suspected had I been able to carefully read the book rather than listen to it. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Having just arrived home from Transylvania, Holmes and Russell are looking forward to a quiet visit with Holmes’ son, the artist, Damian Adler, and his little family. But it is not to be. The Adler home was broken into by a machete-wielding intruder shortly after some mysterious trunks and crates had arrived for Damien. Now the Adler family has gone missing. Mary, hobbled by a broken ankle is left to her own devices while Sherlock tracks down his son. Of course, Damian’s mysterious boxes are not safe from Mary’s curiosity. What she discovers in the trunks keeps her well-occupied in decoding and translating the fascinating journals of a girl named Lakshmi. We are introduced to her as a child as she is transplanted from France to India. The journals end with her settled in England after fleeing India under great danger. But what does she have to do with the Vernets, Sherlock Holmes, or Damian Adler? Or is the connection with his mother Irene?

The answer is both intriguing, moving, and even amusing. I had a lump in my throat and at the last, was chuckling. And I can’t wait for King’s next entry in the series. I hope and trust the plot will pick up where this one leaves off and build on the last sentence: Well,I thought, This is certainly going to make for an interesting conversation when next we see Mycroft.”

Rating: 5 out of 5.