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His Official Fiancée

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By Berta Ruck

After listening to the dodderings and drivels and despairs of girls who aren’t cold, I’m rather thankful that I am. At least I can be fond enough of people in a sensible sort of way. I could be of Sydney. I suppose it will end in my getting him to marry me….But not yet. I haven’t even got his address!

If a girl were the least bit inclined to fall in love with Billy Waters—and I see now that some girls might be; though not, of course, any girl of my type, capable of this kind of frank friendship that puts anything else out of the question!—well, if she were, she’d find it much easier to complete the process here at Porth Cariad than anywhere else that I can imagine him. Some men—generally the nicest—are so much more themselves in the depths of the country. He is.

It is important to remember that this book was written and set in 1913, shortly before WWI. Otherwise the actions and feelings of our heroine make little sense. More than once, I wanted to box her ears. I didn’t get her passive aggressive resentment of her likable fake fiance. I didn’t understand her fits of umbrage that led her to sulk and goad him with constant microaggressions hidden behind a sweet and humble facade. Especially since she was otherwise such a likable and rather admirable girl. Monica is a formerly wealthy society girl, who due to her late father’s debts and her brother’s profligacy is now forced to work for a living. She calls her change of fortune “The Smash.” She is just one of a typing pool and known as a hard-worker but not all that good at her job, though popular enough. When the boss, William Waters, known by the girls as “Still Waters” due to his reserved and formal “fault-finding automaton” personality calls her in to his office, she (and everyone else) assumes she is going to be fired. Instead, he has quite the proposition to put in front of her. He needs a fiance for a year for an unspecified reason, and he offers Monica 500 pounds to put herself at his disposal and take on the purely business assignment. For a girl slaving away for 25 shillings a week this is quite the temptation. I looked it up and it is as someone scraping by on 125 pounds a week was offered almost 50,000 pounds. Even so, Monica plans to refuse because such a proposition is beneath her dignity and quite improper. But when her irresponsible brother calls her from South Africa and tells her he has gotten into hot water (again) and needs 100 pounds desperately, she agrees to Waters’ proposition.

The book is in first person and I found Monica’s tone to be quite modern: open, confiding, and humorous. She shares her more rebellious thoughts with the reader about her situation while outwardly putting on a demure and proper facade. She does not understand William Waters, and doesn’t particularly like him because he is so different from the rich and idle young men she grew up with. That all starts to change when she is invited to stay with his family in the country so they can get to know her. It turns out that his mother is warm, lovely, and welcoming and far from the steely aristocratic matron she had envisioned He also has two sisters who are bright and lively and who immediately take to Monica (or Nancy, as they know her-William told his mother he was engaged to a girl from his office but since he did not even know Monica’s name, he just said her name was Nancy, when he was asked.)

While there at Sevenoaks, his family home, she starts to realize that there is more to “Still Waters” than she originally thought. Although she won’t admit it to the reader or herself, he compares quite favorably with the man she was almost engaged to in her other life. When her father died and “The Smash” happened, Sydney Vandeleer “coincidentally” went off with his mother to Europe, never sealing the deal with the suddenly poor Monica. At the beginning of the novel, she still has hope that he may still come up to scratch. He does seem to still pine for her, but she soon realizes, as she spends more time with “Billy” and his family that he is nothing but a weak artsy-fartsy dilettante.
She is happy being back in the kind of comfortable household she was raised in, with all of the little luxuries, but it adds to her resentment of William because it is only a temporary respite from the hardscrabble life she will have to go back to once the year is up. Also his family is so nice that she is embarrassed to have to lie and deceive them. Finally, William gets tired of her games and they have a showdown with the result that they agree to be friends and work together. She is invited along on a family vacation to the Welsh seaside where she finally falls in love with “Her Official Fiance,” though she won’t admit it. That is, until she thinks she might lose him to a pretty flirty French girl.

I picked this up because I like vintage novels and this one was described as having a very modern feel, and rather unconventional for the times. I saw that right away and was rather enjoying it, but it was easy to put down. I took about a 2 month break in the middle to read other books and during that time, I happened to re-watch the movie, A Room with a View. That movie, a real favorite, was set during this exact time period with the same class of people, and the same type of environment.It helped me to picture the world and relate to the ways of the characters in this novel a little better. In the context of the movie, I returned to the book having a better understanding of and liking for Monica and I happily finished it in a couple of days. It must have been a very popular book in the day, because in 1919 they actually made a Hollywood movie out of it. It was Berta Ruck’s (Mrs. Oliver Onions) first novel and she was to go on to write 89 more. Born in 1878. she lived for a 100 years. In 1970, she was interviewed by the BBC and you can find the interview on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv6V1… I recommend it.

Rating: 2.5 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.

Wild Strawberries

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by Angela Thirkell

From their earliest days the Leslie children had thought of their mother as doing or making something, handling brush, pencil, needle with equal enthusiasm, coming in late to lunch with clay in her hair, devastating the drawing-room with her far-flung painting materials, taking cumbersome pieces of embroidery on picnics, disgracing everyone by a determination to paint the village cricket pavilion with scenes from the life of St Francis for which she made the gardeners pose. What Mr Leslie thought no one actually knew, for Mr Leslie had his own ways of life and rarely interfered. Once only had he been known to make a protest. In the fever of an enamelling craze, Lady Emily had a furnace put up in the service-room, thus making it extremely difficult for Gudgeon and the footman to get past, and moreover pressing the footman as her assistant when he should have been laying lunch.”

I enjoyed this as much or more than many of Angela Thirkell’s books. It was fairly short and the world in which I found myself was fairly confined and not bursting with various characters which were hard to keep straight, nor was I roaming from one country house or family circle to another. I was most definitely helped by my trusty copy of Angela Thirkell’s World, which traces all of the characters in her Barsetshire Novels from the early 1930s, through WWII to the late 1950s.

So when Dodo Bingham and her twin daughters show up for Martin’s 17th birthday party,  learning that the carefree David actually married one of those twins in book 15 , Peace Breaks Out, it was a laugh. Wild Strawberries is book #2 in the Barsetshire universe.

We are introduced to the Leslie Family: Lady Emily, her curmudgeonly husband, and their grown children, John, Agnes, and David. Also, their grandson, Martin, whom they are raising since his father was killed in WWI. His mother is not in the picture. Apparently not in a bad way, necessarily, because according to ATW, the future children of Martin’s Uncle David stay with her in America. Visiting for the summer is Mary. A meek and mild second cousin (reminded me of Jane Austen’s Fanny Price), she is young, pretty, and very nice. The book centers around her crush on David, the Leslies’ entitled and irresponsible younger son. Her heart is destined to be broken but for David’s very responsible and very good older brother John. As the book opens, he is  a sad widower,  but when he falls for the shy and reticent Mary as she plays and sings at the piano when she thinks no one is paying attention,  the path to the happy ending becomes clear. All is straightened out, as well as some other unrelated developments,  on the night of Martin “Thanks Awfully” Leslie’s 17th birthday party.

But that bare bones of a plot, if you can call it that, is really just foundation to sketch, reveal, and affectionately skewer the personalities of the family and their friends. I grew fond of all of the Leslies but my favorite characters were Lady Emily (who reminded me of an older Laura Morland), Agnes, and Martin. I didn’t care for or approve of David much, but we aren’t meant to. He is the type who, instead of being gainfully employed like his older brother, fancies himself a novelist. Luckily for him he has an independent income “owing to the ill-judged partiality of an aunt.” He doesn’t doubt that his awful novel will be a bestseller, and although it isn’t even finished, is already confidently planning a play and a film script. Lady Emily, the benign and gentle matriarch, floats through her home, Rushwater, swathed in myriad shawls and scarves, frequently calling on her adoring family and protective servants to retrieve them and any other various accoutrements that she realizes she has mislaid. Usually they are within arm’s reach.  When she inevitably trails a scarf through her soup, she rinses it in her wine glass. Her daughter Agnes, married to the always absent Colonel Graham, is lovely and sweet-natured. She dotes on her 3 lively children, and nothing can shake her out of her calm and placid approach to life. When her children cause upset in the house, whether it is which cereal they will or will not eat or falling in the goldfish pond, her response is to laugh “Oh Wicked Ones!” with pride and affection and call for Nannie. In a bit of a side plot, she is totally oblivious to the wild passion she has inspired in the 19-year-old son of the Leslies’ new French neighbors. This is a common Thirkell trope. He’ll get over it.

Wild Strawberries is the type of book where several pages are devoted to a servant’s relationship to the dinner gong. If you’re up for that type of book, you will find yourself transported to another world of which you might certainly disapprove and even look upon with disdain. But while disapproving, you are in the hands of a very talented writer. So you might also find yourself chuckling and being charmed by the frivolity of it all. In 2024 it is a fantasy world, but it’s important to remember that less than 100 years ago it was an authentic slice of life.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Fletcher’s End

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By D.E. Stevenson

This was another pleasant and enjoyable D. E. Stevenson that takes you to another world where not much happens. And that’s OK when there are so many other joys to be found. I listened to this on Audible, so I will have to rely on my main impressions. The book opens with Bel (from Bel Lamington) about to be married to Ellis Brownlee. Her dear friend Louise is trying to find her a house near her and her father in The Cotswolds. She happens upon Fletcher’s End, a dilapidated 400-year-old stone “cottage” that has gone to rack and ruin from neglect. Bel falls in love with it and Ellis buys it for her from the absentee owner, Roy Lestrange, a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy. With Bel safely married, we know that one of the main plot lines is going to be about finding the beautiful and vivacious Louise, whom all men fall in love with instantly, a husband. Will it be Andrew Drummond whom she turned down in the previous book because of her disrespect for his lazy self-indulgent ways? Or Reggie, the likable but plain architect the Brownlees hire to restore their cottage? Or perhaps the mysterious Roy Lestrange, whom the executor of his Aunt’s will calls a “rapscallion” due to his neglect of Fletchers End?

The book concerns itself mostly with painting a picture of the old house, its rebirth, Bel and Ellis’s happy marriage, and meeting the Brownlee’s new friends and neighbors and hearing their stories. Events do happen in the narrative which reveal true character, present dilemmas, amuse, or create heartache or joy, or disgust or satisfaction. They build on each other to create somewhat of a storyline. But what would be boring blips in more action-packed tightly plotted stories, take on importance and significance in this novel. I cared about these people and was interested in every little thing. At Bel’s wedding reception, we see Bel finally coming out of her shell and gaining new confidence. Finally! When Louise and Bel go to London for lunch with Roy Lestrange we meet his mousy cousin who provides some background to Bel’s house and the former owner. We also gain insight into charming Roy’s true character. A beautiful painting of a former owner of Bel’s house is bought for over the mantelpiece and we are enchanted and amused. An old friend’s family business is ruined, his former wealth stolen, and his life is in ruins. We are angry. But the disaster leads to his dream coming true. Bel finally shows her mettle when she is responsible for turning a friend’s heartbreak and despair into joy. And finally, the contents of a secret drawer in an old bureau shakes the newlyweds to their core and causes great fear and a moral crisis.

The book ended with satisfactory closure which I can’t always say about DES novels. We are denied a final joyful scene in which Bel will share happy news with Ellis (not what you think). But in this case, I could well imagine it in my mind as we have gotten to know them so well. I was happy that passive Bel developed some agency and gumption once happily married although she did have a weak moment near the end. I enjoyed this much better than the previous book with Bel. She didn’t make me mad this time. I look forward to spending more time with the Shepherdsford community (and maybe Louise, Bel and Ellis?) in future books.

Rating: 4 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 Friendly Air

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By Elizabeth Cadell

When I think of an Elizabeth Cadell book, this is the type of book I think of. It’s set in sunny Portugal as many of her books are and involves a nice heroine (sometimes it is the hero) who is engaged to the wrong person who is usually extremely unpleasant. This one also features an eccentric old lady, as many of her books do.

Upon the death of her grandparents, Emma Challis took the self-serving advice of her Godfather and moved to London. Alone and friendless, she fell into an engagement with her Godfather’s son, Gerald Delmont, a prominent fashionable attorney. Unfortunately, Gerald is a boor and almost deliciously nasty. In 2024 he would be labeled a metrosexual type, and not in a good way. Of course, that word hadn’t been invented yet when this book was written in 1970. So why does the beautiful, good-humored, and likable Emma put up with him? It’s hard to explain, except that she is too kind-hearted for her own good. But I couldn’t get too frustrated with her. Despite putting up with his petulance and bossiness, Emma pretty much goes her own way and does have a mind of her own when push comes to shove. Plus, We know from the beginning that their marriage will not take place. It’s Elizabeth Cadell, and we know that Emma will meet and fall in love with someone much more suitable.

When Emma goes up to Yorkshire on business of her own, Gerald asks her to pry a “Lady Grantly” away from her father’s neighborhood where she has bought a house. The possible soon-to-be neighbors despise each other and Gerald wants her resettled in London for his father’s convenience and peace of mind. But when Emma and the delightfully dotty Lady Grantly meet, it is almost love at first sight. They are kindred spirits, even though Lady Grantly is vocally horrified when she finds out that Emma is engaged to the disagreeable Gerald. Not adverse to moving, but yearning to recapture her happy youth in sunny climes, the very wealthy Lady Grantly (with the help of astrology and cards) decides to move to Portugal, not London. Much to Gerald’s distress, Emma decides to accompany her to make sure she gets there safely and is set up comfortably. Portugal is a revelation to the sheltered Emma. In addition to enjoying Lady Grantly, she loves the people, the climate, the countryside, and Mrs. Grantly’s lovely house and garden by the seaside. As the days go by, She realizes she is not only relishing not being in London, but also away from Gerald.

When a family of squatters, a woman and her 5 children, set up residence in a moving crate in Lady Grantly’s garden, it all comes to a head. It turns out they might have a legitimate claim to the house! Emma’s deadline to return to her old life has arrived but she can’t leave Portugal and Lady Grantly now! She is dispatched to enlist the help of Lady Grantly’s half-English local lawyer. Their encounter is maddening and then hilarious. Emma has met her match and thank goodness, he has Lady Grantly’s seal of approval. When Gerald shows up to drag Emma back to London and her duties as his fiance, the inevitable happy ending is not far behind.

This is a sunny tale both literally and figuratively. Breezy, charming, and old-fashioned, it was a delight. But if you’re looking for a high-stakes nail-biter or a complex thought-provoking emotional drama, this isn’t for you. Save it for when you need a peaceful comforting trip to another time and place.

Rating: 4 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.