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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.

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.

Charlotte Fairlie

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

by D.E. Stevenson

Spoilers

As much as I enjoy D.E. Stevenson’s writings, settings, and stories, there is always a little fly in the ointment. For one, most of the time her endings are way too abrupt and often leave an unresolved problem and a lack of closure. I can live with that if it is the first of a trilogy or there is a sequel. She avoids drama like the plague. Exciting and longed-for confrontations and comeuppances often happen behind the scenes and the reader is told about what happened later. And sometimes her heroines do everything in their power to avoid happiness. They make decisions that sacrifice their happiness for the sake of others. Again, this would be OK if the greater good was served by the sacrifice, but often it is based on a lack of self-esteem. Sometimes they are wet noodles and won’t stand up for themselves often to the detriment of others as well as theirselves. This book features three of these plot elements. Thankfully, being a wet noodle is not Charlotte Fairlie’s problem.

We meet our heroine as the new headmistress of an elite girls’ school, St. Elizabeths. Although young for the job, being in her late twenties, she is an Oxford graduate and eminently qualified. She is a former student, who was boarded there when she was thrown out of her beloved father’s life by her new stepmother. Her sad past has only made her strong and empathetic. She proves to be very popular and respected by the staff and students but one long-tenured teacher, Miss Pinkerton, becomes her nemesis. The older woman is wracked with hatred and jealousy towards Charlotte. She feels sure that the longed-for post of headmistress would have been hers but for the young upstart. I loved the way Charlotte navigated all of Miss Pinkerton’s machinations with wisdom, tact, and sense. She won me over completely early in the book when faced with a malignant threat from Miss Pinkerton, she gets out in front of the problem with aplomb. Thus, what could have resulted in scandal and calamity for both her and a young student turned into a powerful friendship with the head of St. Elizabeth’s board of directors and a strong bond with the student.

That unusual young student, Tessa, is a charming and fearless young girl who obviously hero-worships and loves Charlotte. When she invites her headmistress to spend her vacation at Targ, her beloved island home in the highlands of Scotland, Charlotte decides to throw caution to the winds and accepts. She and Tessa’s divorced father, the laird, fall deeply in love with each other. He proposes marriage and here comes the fly in the ointment. She refuses him for a couple of cockamamie reasons when all of her objections could have been easily overcome by some honest communication. It flies in the face of what we have come to know about Charlotte and how she always handles her business. Of course, all ends happily with one of D.E. Stevenson’s trademark rushed endings, but I was still disappointed in Charlotte, whom I had come to trust and admire.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and esteemed Charlotte Fairlie up until the point when she did her darndest to break her own heart and the hearts of the two people who have come to mean the world to her. In addition to the love problems, there is a side story of Tessa’s best friend at school, Donny, and her two brothers. The three siblings are the victims of a toxic parent and their story almost ends in the worst tragedy imaginable. It was shocking.

The large and small joys, dramas, and adventures at the school and on Targ were as involving as I have come to expect from D.E. Stevenson. It is almost magical the way she makes outwardly ordinary characters and their journeys fascinating and gripping. She makes small things seem big. And when big things really do happen it’s jaw-dropping.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.