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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

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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.

The Mystery on Judy Lane (Judy Bolton #13.5)

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by Beverly Hatfield

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

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

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

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

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Haunted Attic (Judy Bolton #2)

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by Margaret Sutton

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

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

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

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

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

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Vanishing Shadow (Judy Bolton #1)

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By Margaret Sutton

“Nothing exciting like this ever happens to me,” Judy Bolton thought as she turned the pages of the latest book in her favorite series.

Thus begins the first paragraph in the first book of the Judy Bolton Mystery series. That is, in the edition I have, which is the 1964 revision of the original 1932 version. The book was originally written as the first of a series called Melissa of Dry Brook Hollow, but when Grosset and Dunlap agreed to publish it, Margaret made many changes to transform it into the first of her new Judy Bolton series. As with all of her books, Margaret based at least one aspect of the plot on a real incident in her life. This one is based on a real flood that devasted the town of Austin, Pennsylvania when the dam burst. 78 died in that disaster when Margaret was 8 years old. In this novel, thanks to the heroics of Horace, Judy’s brother, only 3 men died. And those 3 men were villains whose criminal actions caused the dam to burst to begin with. So serves them right, I say.

But first, we meet Judy a 15-year-old student spending her summer in Dry Brook Hollow with her grandparents and brother Horace while her parents, Dr. And Mrs. Bolton, are away on vacation and good for them. Judy is bored and lonely with only a girl named Edna to do things with. Horace is not the witty energetic courageous reporter he will become in subsequent books. He is frail and cowardly. His nickname is “Sister” or “Sissy”. Judy wants little to do with him. Luckily for Judy and the reader, Judy does not remain bored for long.

First, she overhears an argument about the Roulsville dam between the workers who are building a new road between Farringdon and Roulsville where the Boltons live. The workers threaten Judy and her weak friend Edna and when Judy tells the truth about overhearing everything they said. They end up kidnapping our heroine (who, they can tell will be a threat to their scheme) and locking her in a nasty shed until she agrees to promise not to “speak” about anything she overheard. While Judy is pondering what the deal is with the dam and stressing about what to do about her promise not to tell what she knows or even that she was kidnapped, lots of not-boring things happen to formerly bored Judy. She has a big fight with Grandma Smeed who virtually stole Judy’s share of the spending money her parents left her and Horace to buy Horace a new suit. The Smeeds and Horace think Judy ran away in anger when in reality she was being held captive in the shed. After they let her go (depositing her with a bag over her head at her home in Roulsville) she wins first place in the community Spelling Bee and is the Belle of the Ball of the party and dance afterward. She goes to pick blackberries but her too-frisky horse runs away with her and she almost collides with a moving train. She is rescued by a childhood acquaintance, Peter Dobbs, and he gives her a kitten she calls “Blackberry”. We also meet Arthur Farringdon-Pett, his sister Lois, and her friend Lorraine. These 3 will also become familiar characters in the series. I loved the way all of these characters are introduced for the first time and their future relationships foreshadowed. It is from architect Arthur, who is something of a hero in this book, that she learns that the dam is poorly constructed by a shady company and is in danger of breaking upon the next hard rain.

Although this book is not a favorite of many Judy Bolton fans, or indeed of Margaret Sutton herself, there is some excellent writing in this. There are some dodgy parts including Grandma Smeed’s character, Judy not going to the authorities immediately when she learns about the dam, and Horace’s over-the-top humility about his actions. But there are some genuinely terrifying and evocative descriptions, especially of Horace hearing the dam breaking, the flood, and his courage (although partially in spite of himself) in warning the citizens of Roulsville and saving thousands of lives. Judy is safe at home above the dam when she and her grandmother hear the terrible storm and rain approaching and hear the dam breaking. Her terror and guilt for Horace’s fate and her search for him is quite affecting. In the aftermath, Judy nails the criminals who are responsible for the tragedy. Horace’s reputation and indeed his character are forever changed by his heroic actions. By the end of the book, the stage is set for Judy’s new life and hopefully new friends and adventures in the neighboring city of Farringdon, since Roulsville as it was, is no more.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Listening Valley

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by D. E. Stevenson

“Don’t be frightened of life, it’s good. Make friends with life…”

I swear, every time I read a D. E. Stevenson novel I declare it’s the best one yet. And this one is no exception. This was an Audible so I don’t have all of the facts or details at my fingertips and some things are a little fuzzy. It is another journey of a young city girl who is too shy, too easily dominated, and too insecure who stiffens her spine enough to live a normal happy life in the Scottish countryside.

We follow Tonia (our heroine) and her beautiful, spirited, and charming sister Lou through their childhood. Lou is everything Tonia is not, and as a result, Lou protects and does everything she can to make Tonia’s life as stress-free as possible. In addition to her diffident personality, Tonia has weak hands so is always dropping things and appears awkward and clumsy. In addition, when things get too much for her, she sometimes goes into a kind of trance, which Tonia calls her “listening valley”. On the outside, when she does this in front of people, it looks like she is not quite all there mentally (to put it kindly). But the two sisters love each other very much. Their well-off, unshakeably respectable, but uncaring parents ignore the girls and particularly belittle Tonia constantly. They are just terrible parents (which DES writes so well). The mother particularly never lets an opportunity go by to let them know what a disappointment they are. It’s hateful, especially since they are totally oblivious to the fact that they are the ones at fault for their odd ways. Lou escapes first when she shockingly elopes while still a teenager. Luckily she picks a good guy from a good if rather nonconformist family (his mother was divorced-horrors) and they are happily married. Unfortunately, this leaves poor Tonia at the mercy of her mother with no support, especially after her beloved Nanny is laid off. Fortunately, she soon catches the eye of a colleague of her father and despite the 40-year age difference, they marry. Marriage to Robert proves to be Tonia’s salvation. Wealthy and brilliant, he sees through to Tonia’s beautiful soul (I cringe when I write that, but it is perfectly true) and loves her devotedly. He dedicates himself to her development and to making her happy. They are married for about 5 years, before Robert, who is a great character, dies from stress and overwork as a vital contributor to the war effort in London.

Tonia is alone again, but thanks to Robert, she is a different person and is well able to handle herself, while still remaining kind, gentle, and rather unworldly. She also is now very very wealthy. She escapes London, her dominating sister-in-law, and her mean and shallow daughter who only want to take advantage of her wealth. Because of an old act of generosity to her old Nanny, she has inherited a country “cottage” in Ryddleton, a popular setting for several of Stevenson’s novels. And there, summarizing half the book in one sentence, she makes friends and finds love with an old childhood schoolmate who is now a dashing R.A.F. squadron leader. And just to add a touch of intrigue, he is engaged to a two-faced French baggage who turns out to be spying for “Gerry.”

Stevenson has a gift for drawing you into her world and making every ripple in her characters’ rather calm lives totally engrossing. She makes me care about everything that happens no matter how trivial. She often creates situations that could lead to dramatic juicy scenes, but unfortunately, she tends to avoid big drama and confrontation, though some do sometimes sneak through. Many scenes do stand out in this book, but I will mention only a few.

Robert questioning Tonia on what the doctors had said about her hands, and what treatments they had recommended. He is disturbed to find out that her parents had never bothered to look into what was wrong. Too self-involved. Too busy with their own lives and concerns. It is then that Robert realizes he has to marry Tonia, get her away, and start repairing the damage.

Robert’s conversation with Lou when he and his new bride travel to visit her and her husband in India. Lou, though seeing how happy Tonia now is, can’t help but be a little suspicious and standoffish with Robert. She gets him alone to probe his motivations but the tables are turned. He is obliged to explain that he married Tonia not only because he loves her, but to undo the harm that she, Lou, did to her. Lou is flabbergasted. Robert explains that her over-protectiveness and then her abandonment was almost Tonia’s undoing. Lou thinks about it, and replies, “What a beast I am!” I love that she got it.

Tonia’s night in a London bomb shelter where she helps the doctor who becomes a family friend, and makes tea for everyone with the help of a young boy. We are anxious and on edge worrying about how Robert is faring with the bombs raining down all night. But Tonia remains strong throughout.

I immediately loved Bay, a mischievous and carefree school friend who teasingly calls Tonia “butterfingers.” Tonia senses he does not mean it unkindly but in an affectionate way. He disappears from the book for a stretch when he is expelled after being framed for pulling a particularly nasty prank on the whole school. It turns out that the guilty party is Nita, who will turn out to be Tonia’s unlikable and avaricious niece-in-law. Tonia is the only one in the school who believes that he is innocent and tells him so. It is no surprise (but greatly hoped for) when Bay comes back into her life as an adult, never having forgotten her insight and faith in him.

And finally, Nita showing up without warning in Ryddleton to get her to come back to London to ‘share expenses” with her and her mother (Even though Tonia has virtually given the two her London house to live in rent-free). She is shortly followed by one of her trustees wondering why she hasn’t used any of the money that her late husband left her. Nita is horrid as usual, but the trustee proves to be savvy, understanding, and very approving of Tonia’s choices and friends.

As always with D.E.S’s novels written and set during WWII, there is a certain poignancy and intense immediacy about them. They must be read in the context of their times. We should try to forgive the unconscious classism, where the “lower orders” are always happy to serve “their betters.” But we should also respect that when she wrote about rationing and deprivation, the bombing, and getting to know the young American pilots as well as the British ones, she didn’t know, despite the bravery and optimism, what the future outcome of the war would be. The book has a “happy ending” but it is a shaky one. Yes, Tonia marries her squadron leader, but is another tragedy looming in her future? As the readers of 1944 closed the book, I’m sure they thought, “Well, I hope they will be OK.”

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The Strange Likeness (Judy Bolton #39)

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By Kate Duvall and Beverly Hatfield

 45 years after the Judy Bolton series was abruptly canceled and 11 years after Margaret Sutton’s death at the age of 98, this final book appeared in 2012. It finally put a fitting end to the beloved series. It was written by Kate Duvall, president of the Phantom Friends, and Beverly Hatfield, a devoted Judy Bolton fan since childhood and who has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Judy. The book, sanctioned by her estate, was based on an outline by Margaret Sutton and incorporated Margaret Sutton’s final wishes for the conclusion to the series. It is illustrated by one of Margaret’s daughters, Marjorie Sutton Eckstein, and was edited by another daughter, Lindsay Sutton Stroh.
So yes, this book is the real deal, totally legit, and no doubt would have had Margaret’s Seal of Approval if she had had one.

It begins with Honey and Judy doing their final holiday shopping on Christmas Eve in Brandt’s department store. Judy sees her husband Peter shopping at the jewelry counter while gazing down at the hectic scene from the escalator. While another shopper creates a diversion, Judy thinks she sees Peter shoplifting a necklace. Of course, this cannot be. FBI agent Peter is either working undercover trying to infiltrate a gang of criminals or it’s not really Peter. She remembers that a month ago her car was almost hit by another driver who bore an uncanny resemblance to her husband. Later he confided to her that a man who resembled him was being investigated by the FBI.

Meanwhile, Honey has gotten a returned “address unknown” letter from her adopted brother Mike whom she grew up with before being returned to her real family, brother Peter and her grandparents (The Invisible Chimes Judy Bolton #3). Peter’s double keeps popping up and one night, Judy and Peter’s house is burgled. Once they learn Mike is in New York City safe and sound the two girls go there to find him, give hopeful mystery writer, Horace’s, manuscript to literary agent Emily Grimshaw and employer of old friend Pauline, and also attend Irene and Dale Meredith’s New Years Eve open house party. While Honey reconnects with Mike and her troubled past, Judy searches for her stolen Wedgewood china and antique doll collection in the NYC antique stores. And she keeps seeing Peter’s suspicious double who is referred to as the “UnPeter” throughout the book. The mystery of the “UnPeter,” his identity (could he actually be related to Peter?), his involvement with the break-in, and his other nefarious activities really take a backseat to Honey’s attempt to deal with her past, and questions regarding the criminal family that raised her. Only after she has come to terms with her emotions regarding her early history and had her questions answered will she be free to become engaged to Judy’s brother Horace with a clear conscience.

This book ends the series on the strongest of notes. In some ways, Margaret Sutton, in some of her later books, had lost the way a bit. She sent Judy all over the country, and too much time was spent away from her roots, family, and friends in Farringdon. Margaret was very socially conscious and incorporated many of her concerns and causes in her books from the very beginning. But in the later books, in many readers’ minds, her agendas seemed to overwhelm the plots of some of her stories in ways that may have been too much for her younger readers. This one answers some questions and provides closure to aspects of Honey and her brother Peter’s past that were raised way back at the beginning of the series. And plus, it is just fun. We have humor, suspense, a tight plot, interesting side characters, old friends, romance (both new and long-established), and Judy at her smartest and most observant. There is even a scene at Dale and Irene’s New Year’s party that is almost too scary and disturbing. (Just icing on the cake, for me.) It is tight, well put together, and organized with no pesky plot holes or unanswered questions. By the end of the book, we see Mike settled near his adopted sister with a possible new romance with an old friend of Judy’s, Horace and Honey happily engaged, Horace soon to be a published author, and Judy’s stolen belongings well on the way to being returned. And best of all, Judy and Peter are expecting a baby(s?) with names already picked out. Just like Margaret wanted.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Secret of the Sand Castle (Judy Bolton # 38)

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by Margaret Sutton

Thus endeth the Judy Bolton series. At least the ones written by Margaret Sutton. This one is pretty good. Even though I gave the last one 5 stars, it was not really for the story but for Margaret’s daring to tackle the issue of racial prejudice and right-wing hate groups. This one is almost 4 stars.

Roxy, Judy’s look-alike cousin we first met in #14 The Clue in the Patchwork Quilt, wants Judy to investigate a piece of property she inherited through her stepmother who treated her equally with her biological children. She will get a 24th share of The Sand Castle, a seaside cottage on Fire Island. Roxy knew that Judy will be visiting her great friend, Irene, on Long Island to celebrate her daughter, Little Judy’s birthday. Also joining them will be Pauline, another NYC friend I think we first met in #6, The Ghost Parade, and Flo, another friend of Irene and Judy that we met in #30 The Phantom Friend. Coincidentally Flo is a cousin of Roxy, but not a cousin of Judy, even though Roxy and Judy are cousins. This is because Judy’s mother was sisters with Flo’s dead biological mother and Flo and Roxy were related through her stepmother. This story could really have used a family tree because there are so many relatives involved and many of them have important roles to play. Also coincidentally the Sand Castle is the little cottage on the beach that Dale and Irene rented last summer, and Dale and Irene want to buy it. Also coincidentally, The shady lawyer handling the estate is Dale and Irene’s lawyer. There are a lot of coincidences in this book as there are in most children’s mystery series.

Instead of a quick day trip, the girls (and little Judy-because Dale, Irene’s husband is hopeless) the girls are stranded on Fire Island because of an impending storm and spotty boat service since it is off-season. While there, Judy encounters A mysterious Woman in Black (No not that one), who may or may not be one of Roxy’s relatives, a ghost, or someone else entirely. Also, buried jewelry, stolen loot, harmful family gossip, a jilted lover, an old bank robber fresh out of prison who is also a relative, and a plane crash that kills a father and maybe a 12-year-old child (not to mention a young pilot-Judy Bolton is not for the faint-hearted), a kidnapping, and a daring rescue (yay, Pauline!). Also, it turns out that Flo being on the expedition to Fire Island is not such a coincidence after all. Judy finds the Jewels and the warring family is semi-reconciled, although still difficult. As usual, Peter comes in at the end, if not to the rescue, at least to arrest the bad guys. The book ends with **Spoiler**Aggie, the little 12-year-old, who is not dead after all, reunited with her rehabilitated bank robber Grandfather and finding a home with Aunt Hazel, whom Judy got to know on the bus to Long Island (coincidentally). And Little Judy has her birthday party.

The book ends with a teaser for what was planned to be the next book, The Strange Likeness, but alas, it was not to be. The longest-running juvenile series by a single author was canceled. Based on conversations with Margaret before she died at age 98 in 2001, the book was completed 45 years after Sand Castle by 2 of Margaret’s devoted fans using Margaret’s own outline and with the full cooperation and participation of two daughters.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Penny Plain

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by O. Douglas (Anna Masterson Buchan)

I couldn’t take any pleasure in myself if my face were made up.” Pamela swung round on her chair and laid her hands on Jean’s shoulders. “Jean,” she said, “you’re within an ace of being a prig.

“Jean, I’m afraid you’re a chirping optimist. You’ll reduce me to the depths of depression if you insist on being so bright. Rather help me to rail against fate, and so cheer me.”

This started off fairly promisingly with the rich and fashionable but very likable and down-to-earth Miss Pamela Reston retreating to the small Scottish village of Priorsford because she has become bored with the social whirl of London and wants to rest and rediscover herself and the joy of living. Her exotic ways have quite an impact on the villagers there and vice versa. Of particular interest is the very well-read Jean Jardine, her next-door neighbor, and her little family who are genteelly poor, but very happy and delightful. Some of the initial exposition, Pamela’s description of the town and her new neighbors takes place in letters to her brother, Biddy, Lord Bidborough, who is on business in India. The tone reminded me of the letters comprising 2 Jean Webster books, Daddy Long Legs and Dear Enemy. Of course, we know that Pamela’s description of her new friend and her charming family is going to intrigue Biddy to no end and that he will come to Priorsford the first chance he gets to visit his sister and proceed to quickly fall in love with both Jean and her family. Unfortunately, the letters ceased way too soon. As the book’s focus shifted to Jean and her three brothers, It wasn’t long before it started to remind me of the children’s classic, Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.

This book was a mainstay of my childhood reading history. I read it over and over, loving it very much, although I was an adult before I could ever find the longed-for sequels to the original story, in which Polly Pepper and her family (3 brothers, and the youngest little sister Phronsie) grow up into upstanding citizens and get married. I won’t go into all of the parallels, but the main one is the utter and unremitting goodness of both Polly Pepper and Jean Jardine, the two heroines, and their self-sacrificing devotion to their brothers. But I am no longer an innocent and naive little girl appreciative of a stellar role model like Polly Pepper. Jean was just too good for me.

I was led to the author of Penny Plain by her association with a favorite “old-timey” author, D.E. Stevenson. Loving her novels, I am no stranger to lovely, kind, and good heroines. But I am afraid that Jean was just too much. I started to lose touch with her when she gave a bedraggled sad stranger a valuable and treasured book when he confides that it contains a song that his mother used to sing to him when he was a child. She pretty much lost me when she turned down Biddy’s inevitable marriage proposal because “We belong to different worlds” and also,


“My feelings,” said Jean, “don’t matter at all. Even if there was nothing else in the way, what about Davie and Jock and the dear Mhor? I must always stick to them—at least until they don’t need me any longer.”

Girl. But praise be, it turns out that the poor stranger was in fact a very wealthy but dying man who leaves his entire fortune to Jean because of her little act of generosity. Even though Jean and her little family have been living pretty much hand to mouth, she views this windfall not with joy and gratitude, but with suspicion and fear. She doesn’t want it. She is persuaded to see the value of her legacy (she can use the fortune to do good works and give to charity! Yay!) Eventually, she even buys a spiffy car and buys some nice clothes in Glasglow. Another big plus is that now she is worthy of Lord Biddy!

There were enough enjoyable things about this novel that kept me going to the end fairly happily. Most of the character sketches of the Jardines and their neighbors were well done and engaging. Most of the townspeople were very lovable and even the two flies in the ointment the snobby Mrs. Duff-Whalley and her shallow, fashionable, but surprisingly self-aware daughter were entertaining and had a few layers to their personality. I loved the wise and gentle parson and his merry big-hearted wife, Mrs. Macdonald, and their little story. She liked the place kept so tidy that her sons had been wont to say bitterly, as they spent an hour of their precious Saturdays helping, that she dusted the branches and wiped the faces of the flowers with a handkerchief. I was moved by how Jean helps Miss Abbot the dour local seamstress who is going blind but is too proud to ask for help. But sometimes the book took off on short tangents that had nothing to do with anything and added nothing to the plot or character development. Peter the beloved family dog going missing for example. It was further hampered by the use of archaic words and long passages written in the Scottish vernacular and in dialect, which unlike in most books set in Scotland that I have read, was largely indecipherable without a lot of effort and research. In addition, the book is littered with cultural and literary references that were no doubt familiar to readers of the day (World War I era) but which have since been lost to obscurity. (a song called Strathairlie, “Mary Slessor of Calabar”, Mrs. Wishart, Maggie Tulliver, Ethel Newcome, Beatrix Esmond, Clara Middleton, John Splendid, the Scylla of affectation nor the Charybdis of off-handedness, King Cophetua, and on and on. I looked up everything I didn’t “get”, or tried to. As an aside, Mary Slessor needs to have a movie made about her life.

If I had had a daughter, I would have given her this book to read as a child and been very happy if she liked it. But in the future, when I next want to read a wholesome old-fashioned novel, I’ll just stick with D.E. Stevenson or Elizabeth Cadell.
**2 1/2 stars**

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

P.S. In looking up Five Little Peppers for this review, I discovered that there was a series of movies based on their adventures and some of them are available on YouTube. Can’t wait! And I just may re-read the book.

The Search for the Glowing Hand (Judy Bolton #37)

/ Rebekahrox / Leave a comment

By Margaret Sutton

When a Muslim family is burned out of their store and Mosque, Judy gets involved. Who set the fires and why? And who pulled the fire alarm across town diverting the firefighters from the real fire? Suspicion has landed on 10-year-old Ken Topping because his hands now glow under ultraviolet light. The police had coated the alarm handle with a chemical to catch those responsible. But Judy thinks he is innocent partly because Ken is friends with the Muslim boy who was injured in the fire.

As Judy investigates, she discovers an organized international group of bigots that share more than a passing resemblance to groups who are operating today, almost 60 years after Margaret Sutton wrote this book. They are called The Wasps (John Birch Society?), and yes, they are against anyone who is not White, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant. Their mission is to infiltrate high schools and church groups to spread their hate disguised as Patriotism and traditional Christian values. A number of Judy’s acquaintances, including the snobby trouble-making Vincent family, have found much to like in their agenda.

While trying to find the real culprits, Judy finds plenty of excitement, including riots in the streets of usually peaceful Farringdon. A house that the Muslim family, The Wards, was buying in an exclusive neighborhood is set on fire and burned. According to Lindsay Stroh, Margaret Sutton’s daughter, The issue of inclusion and diversity hit close to home for Margaret. Her nephew Victor married a Muslim woman and also converted to Islam himself. Margaret was also heavily involved in encouraging the integration of her community and joined Martin Luther King’s March on Washington. This book is based on an actual incident, as all of the Judy Boltons are. One of Lindsay’s schoolmates was Indian and when they moved into a wealthy white neighborhood, they were the victims of arson.

Unfortunately, Margaret’s message for her young readers was muddled somewhat by the introduction of the controversy of the local high schools becoming co-ed instead of Boys Only and Girls Only. The ”Anti-Wasps” who were protesting the segregated schools were almost as unsympathetic as The Wasps. Also, a number of loose ends were left untied, and we never really see if or how the original families who were against “Heathens” living in their exclusive neighborhood had a change of heart. We are told that the whole community banded together to welcome the Wards and their mosque to the neighborhood once the outsiders were arrested by Peter and the rest of the FBI. A little too pat and rushed.

According to a friend and fellow member of The Judy Bolton Discussion Group, William Land, Some of the problems with some of Margaret’s later books could possibly be laid at the feet of the publishers who considerably reduced the page count of the Judy Bolton books and other children’s series starting in the 1960s. Sometimes Margaret seems to have been trying to tackle too much in the fewer pages allotted to them. Also, the series was coming to an end and Margaret still had a lot to say (my speculation entirely).

Nevertheless, despite its lack of clarity and lingering questions, This book deserves 5 stars for the difficult and controversial issues that Margaret Sutton addressed in this particular volume. Especially for the time it was written. There are a lot of tense scenes, and Judy proves her moral and physical courage on more than one occasion. She was a real heroine in this. I’m sure many of Margaret’s young readers were influenced by her take on the integration and inclusion of those of different faiths and ethnicities. Although there is no doubt where Judy and her friends stand on the issues, it is not always easy, simple, and straightforward for all of the characters we meet in this book.

Rating: 5 out of 5.